Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust which provides hospital and community health services in North Tyneside and hospital, community health and adult social care services in Northumberland.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that often leads to gait impairments and an increased risk of falls, negatively impacting quality of life. Inertial-based wearables have extended gait evaluation beyond clinical settings, but their technical integration and general accessibility hinder widespread adoption. Smartphones, equipped with inertial sensors, present a scalable approach for gait assessment and retraining/rehabilitation. Auditory cueing, specifically music, has shown promise to retrain gait, yet its use and uptake is often limited by a lack of personalisation. This paper outlines an exploratory and experimental protocol to evaluate CuePD, a smartphone application/app that delivers near real-time gait assessment and personalised auditory cues (including music) for gait retraining in people with PD (PwPD). The protocol characterises beneficial and non-beneficial responses to different cueing strategies and presents separate analysis for the technical validation and gait response outcomes to reduce interpretive ambiguity between measurement performance and behavioural effects. Specifically, the protocol presents: 1) validation of CuePD's spatio-temporal gait characteristics in a controlled laboratory setting; 2) process to understand the usefulness of various auditory cues (metronome beats, instrumental music, and vocal music) to improve gait stability (i.e., increase gait speed and stride length while reducing gait variability); 3) evaluation of acceptance and preference of PwPD for personalised music cues; and 4) relationship between PwPD's musicality and their ability to adhere to auditory cues. Findings from the study will inform the suitability of gait retraining via smartphone-based app technology, personalised to the individual. Personalisation (gait characteristics and music) may potentially encourage long-term engagement for gait retraining which could lead to reduce falls and improved quality of life for PwPD. By explicitly accounting for individual variability, this protocol aims to clarify for whom and under what conditions auditory cueing is appropriate. Future work should systematically evaluate this approach as responses to auditory and/or music-based cueing in PwPD are heterogeneous with possible neutral or adverse effects, e.g., cognitive overload or exacerbation of freezing. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06941779).
This article examines how healthcare workers may encounter rare infectious diseases such as prion diseases in clinical practice. It discusses the different types of prion disease that humans may inherit or acquire, and emphasises the importance of infection control regulations specific to prion diseases. The article argues that adherence to these regulations is imperative in order to protect both workers and patients from transmission.
This study evaluated the radiological and functional outcomes of anterior lumbar reconstruction for collapsed discs following recurrent disc prolapse (RDP) using stand-alone anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). We assessed functional outcomes, fusion success, and changes in disc height and lumbar lordosis. A retrospective review was conducted on prospectively collected data from 71 patients. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), including VAS for back and leg pain, ODI, and EQ-5D-5 L, were recorded preoperatively and postoperatively. Fusion was assessed using thin-slice CT scans and dynamic flexion-extension radiographs. Disc height, segmental lordosis, and total lumbar lordosis were measured before and after surgery. The mean follow-up period was 36.8 months. The average surgical time was 72 min per level (range: 55–110). Preoperative disc height averaged 5.8 mm (range: 3–10) and increased to 13.1 mm (range: 9–17) postoperatively (p < 0.001). Significant improvements were observed in segmental and total lordosis. The CT-confirmed fusion rate was 98.6
Robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) has transformed UK surgical practice, with GIRFT emphasising the need for structured and equitable training. This study explores trainee experiences of robotic surgery training within the first UK deanery to adopt a centralised robotic surgery programme. A mixed-methods cross-sectional survey was distributed to surgical trainees in the Northern Deanery, collecting quantitative data on RAS experience, expectations, and training provision. Qualitative data on perceived benefits and barriers, was analysed thematically. There were 60 survey respondents. Support for formal RAS training was near-universal (97
