Serial position scores on verbal memory tests are sensitive to early Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related neuropathological changes that occur in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. The current study examines longitudinal change in serial position scores as markers of subtle cognitive decline in older adults who may be in preclinical or at-risk states for AD.

This study uses longitudinal data from the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Project. Participants (n = 141) were included if they did not have dementia at enrollment, completed follow-up assessments, and died and were classified as Braak stage I or II. Memory tests were used to calculate serial position (primacy, recency), total recall, and episodic memory composite scores. A neuropathological evaluation quantified AD, vascular, and Lewy body pathologies. Mixed effects models were used to examine change in memory scores. Neuropathologies and covariates (age, sex, education, APOE e4) were examined as moderators.

Primacy scores declined (β = −.032, p < .001), whereas recency scores increased (β = .021, p = .012). No change was observed in standard memory measures. Greater neurofibrillary tangle density and atherosclerosis explained 10.4% of the variance in primacy decline. Neuropathologies were not associated with recency change.

In older adults with hippocampal neuropathologies, primacy score decline may be a sensitive marker of early AD-related changes. Tangle density and atherosclerosis had additive effects on decline. Recency improvement may reflect a compensatory mechanism. Monitoring for changes in serial position scores may be a useful in vivo method of tracking incipient AD.

Patients with mental health disorders are known to have worse physical health outcomes. ‘Consultant Connect’ (CC) is an app-based communication platform which aims to improve patient outcomes and experience, by offering clinicians direct access to consultants working in a partnership acute Trust, so they can seek advice and guidance for their patients’ physical health problems. This creates whole system efficiencies by avoiding unnecessary referrals to an Emergency Department or outpatient clinics. This poster describes the implementation of CC in a large UK Mental Health Trust. Initially designed for GPs, this is the first time a UK Mental Health Trust has used CC.

Consultant Connect was launched in the Mental Health Trust's inpatient services in June 2020 as part of a Trust-wide programme of work aiming to improve the physical healthcare of mental health patients. In July 2021 it was rolled out across all services, including all community services. All platform activity was monitored and the implementation team collected data to determine: a) origin of call, b) which specialty was required, c) numbers of calls successfully connected, and in a subset of calls d) outcome of call. In addition, 183 call recordings were analysed, to identify clinical training needs and inform further development of the platform.

In the period June 2020 – December 2021, there were 1422 use episodes of the CC platform by Mental Health Trust clinicians. There were 401 Trust registered downloads of the CC App by the Trust clinicians. 53 different clinical specialties were contacted, with cardiology (414 calls), diabetes and endocrinology (243 calls), and haematology (124 calls) the most frequently called. 68% of queries received a response. 48% of calls had an outcome recorded, with 70% of these resulting in the physical healthcare being delivered by the mental health team, following the advice received (i.e. referral or admission avoided, or the patient treated out of hospital).

CC is being progressively embedded into clinical practice and has become a well-used pathway for mental health clinicians seeking immediate clinical advice from acute hospital Consultant colleagues. Further qualitative and quantitative work is planned with mental health clinicians, patients and carers to better understand their experience and determine if it improves care from both the clinicians’ and patients’ perspective.

Describe nutrition and physical activity practices, nutrition self-efficacy and barriers and food programme knowledge within Family Child Care Homes (FCCH) and differences by staffing.

Baseline, cross-sectional analyses of the Happy Healthy Homes randomised trial (NCT03560050).

FCCH in Oklahoma, USA.

FCCH providers (n 49, 100 % women, 30·6 % Non-Hispanic Black, 2·0 % Hispanic, 4·1 % American Indian/Alaska Native, 51·0 % Non-Hispanic white, 44·2 ± 14·2 years of age. 53·1 % had additional staff) self-reported nutrition and physical activity practices and policies, nutrition self-efficacy and barriers and food programme knowledge. Differences between providers with and without additional staff were adjusted for multiple comparisons (P < 0·01).

The prevalence of meeting all nutrition and physical activity best practices ranged from 0·0–43·8 % to 4·1–16·7 %, respectively. Average nutrition and physical activity scores were 3·2 ± 0·3 and 3·0 ± 0·5 (max 4·0), respectively. Sum nutrition and physical activity scores were 137·5 ± 12·6 (max 172·0) and 48·4 ± 7·5 (max 64·0), respectively. Providers reported high nutrition self-efficacy and few barriers. The majority of providers (73·9–84·7 %) felt that they could meet food programme best practices; however, knowledge of food programme best practices was lower than anticipated (median 63–67 % accuracy). More providers with additional staff had higher self-efficacy in family-style meal service than did those who did not (P = 0·006).

Providers had high self-efficacy in meeting nutrition best practices and reported few barriers. While providers were successfully meeting some individual best practices, few met all. Few differences were observed between FCCH providers with and without additional staff. FCCH providers need additional nutrition training on implementation of best practices.

Studying phenotypic and genetic characteristics of age at onset (AAO) and polarity at onset (PAO) in bipolar disorder can provide new insights into disease pathology and facilitate the development of screening tools.

To examine the genetic architecture of AAO and PAO and their association with bipolar disorder disease characteristics.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and polygenic score (PGS) analyses of AAO (n = 12 977) and PAO (n = 6773) were conducted in patients with bipolar disorder from 34 cohorts and a replication sample (n = 2237). The association of onset with disease characteristics was investigated in two of these cohorts.

Earlier AAO was associated with a higher probability of psychotic symptoms, suicidality, lower educational attainment, not living together and fewer episodes. Depressive onset correlated with suicidality and manic onset correlated with delusions and manic episodes. Systematic differences in AAO between cohorts and continents of origin were observed. This was also reflected in single-nucleotide variant-based heritability estimates, with higher heritabilities for stricter onset definitions. Increased PGS for autism spectrum disorder (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), major depression (β = −0.34 years, s.e. = 0.08), schizophrenia (β = −0.39 years, s.e. = 0.08), and educational attainment (β = −0.31 years, s.e. = 0.08) were associated with an earlier AAO. The AAO GWAS identified one significant locus, but this finding did not replicate. Neither GWAS nor PGS analyses yielded significant associations with PAO.

AAO and PAO are associated with indicators of bipolar disorder severity. Individuals with an earlier onset show an increased polygenic liability for a broad spectrum of psychiatric traits. Systematic differences in AAO across cohorts, continents and phenotype definitions introduce significant heterogeneity, affecting analyses.

Moral injury (MI) refers to psychological distress resulting from witnessing or participating in events which violate an individual's moral code. Originating from military experiences, the phenomenon also has relevance for healthcare professionals dealing with wars, natural disasters and infectious diseases. The deontological basis of medicine prioritises duty to the individual patient over duty to wider society. These values may place healthcare professionals at increased risk of moral injury, particularly in crisis contexts where they may be party to decisions to withdraw or divert care based on resource availability.

We conducted a systematic review of medical literature to understand the extent and clinical and socio-demographic correlates of moral injury during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We conducted a systematic review of reports included in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, BNI, CINAHL, EMBASE, EMCARE and HMIC databases using search terms: “moral injury” AND “covid” OR “coronavirus” OR “pandemic”. We also searched Google Scholar and Ovid Database and conducted reference searching. We searched for published quantitative primary research as well as advance online publications and pre-print research. Findings are reported in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses (PRISMA). Two authors independently assessed the included studies’ methodological quality using a seven-item checklist.

Our databases search identified 498 records and other sources identified 4 records. We screened 391 records after removing duplicates. 4 reports met our protocol requirements.

Three papers used cross-sectional designs. One reported longitudinal outcomes of their sample already described in one of the three papers. Only one study used a MI scoring system validated for healthcare professionals. Others used scoring validated in military populations. These papers reported outcomes from 3334 subjects, with a higher proportion of females. The largest study (3006 subjects) reported MI in 41.3% of their sample. Overall, factors associated with greater MI included: providing direct care to COVID-19 patients; sleep troubles; being unmarried; aged <30 years; female gender; and Buddhist/Taoist faith. Nurses reported a greater severity of MI than physicians. MI significantly correlated with anxiety, depression and burnout. The longitudinal study reported that more stressful and less supportive work environments predicted greater MI at 3 months follow-up.

The average quality assessment score of these studies was 4/7.

It is important that we are able to address moral injury awareness training as part of workforce preparedness and burnout prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic and other disaster responses across the globe.

Scientific quality and feasibility are part of ethics review by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). Scientific Review Committees (SRCs) were proposed to facilitate this assessment by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) SRC Consensus Group. This study assessed SRC feasibility and impact at CTSA-affiliated academic health centers (AHCs).

SRC implementation at 10 AHCs was assessed pre/post-intervention using quantitative and qualitative methods. Pre-intervention, four AHCs had no SRC, and six had at least one SRC needing modifications to better align with Consensus Group recommendations.

Facilitators of successful SRC implementation included broad-based communication, an external motivator, senior-level support, and committed SRC reviewers. Barriers included limited resources and staffing, variable local mandates, limited SRC authority, lack of anticipated benefit, and operational challenges. Research protocol quality did not differ significantly between study periods, but respondents suggested positive effects. During intervention, median total review duration did not lengthen for the 40% of protocols approved within 3 weeks. For the 60% under review after 3 weeks, review was lengthened primarily due to longer IRB review for SRC-reviewed protocols. Site interviews recommended designing locally effective SRC processes, building buy-in by communication or by mandate, allowing time for planning and sharing best practices, and connecting SRC and IRB procedures.

The CTSA SRC Consensus Group recommendations appear feasible. Although not conclusive in this relatively short initial implementation, sites perceived positive impact by SRCs on study quality. Optimal benefit will require local or federal mandate for implementation, adapting processes to local contexts, and employing SRC stipulations.

Resource allocation planning for emergency medical services (EMS) systems determines appropriate resources including what paramedic qualification and how rapidly to respond to patients for optimal outcomes. The British Columbia Emergency Health Services implemented a revised response plan in 2013.

A pre- and post-methodology was used to evaluate the effect of the resource allocation plan revision on 24-hour mortality. All adult cases with evaluable outcome data (obtained through linked provincial health administrative data) were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for variations in other significant associated factors. Interrupted time series analysis was used to estimate immediate changes in level or trend of outcome after the start of the revised resource allocation plan implementation, while simultaneously controlling for pre-existing trends.

The derived cohort comprised 562,546 cases (April 2012–March 2015). When adjusted for age, sex, urban/metro region, season, day, hour, and dispatch determinant, the probability of dying within 24 hours of an EMS call was 7% lower in the post-resource allocation plan-revision cohort (OR = 0.936; 95% CI: 0.886–0.989; p = 0.018). A subgroup analysis of immediately life-threatening cases demonstrated similar effect (OR = 0.890; 95% CI: 0.808–0.981; p = 0.019). Using time series analysis, the descending changes in overall 24-hour mortality trend and the 24-hour mortality trend in immediately life-threatening cases, were both statistically significant (p < 0.001).

Comprehensive, evidence-informed reconstruction of a provincial EMS resource allocation plan is feasible. Despite change in crew level response and resource allocation, there was significant decrease in 24-hour mortality in this pan-provincial population-based cohort.