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BackgroundHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global epidemic with an estimated 71 million people infected worldwide. People who inject drugs (PWID) are overrepresented in prison populations globally and have higher levels of HCV infection than the general population. Despite increased access to primary health care while in prison, many HCV infected prisoners do not engage with screening or treatment. With recent advances in treatment regimes, HCV in now a curable and preventable disease and prisons provide an ideal opportunity to engage this hard to reach population.AimTo identify barriers and enablers to HCV screening and treatment in prisons.MethodsA qualitative study of four prisoner focus groups (n = 46) conducted at two prison settings in Dublin, Ireland.ResultsThe following barriers to HCV screening and treatment were identified: lack of knowledge, concerns regarding confidentiality and stigma experienced and inconsistent and delayed access to prison health services. Enablers identified included; access to health care, opt-out screening at committal, peer support, and stability of prison life which removed many of the competing priorities associated with life on the outside. Unique blocks and enablers to HCV treatment reported were fear of treatment and having a liver biopsy, the requirement to go to hospital and in-reach hepatology services and fibroscanning.ConclusionThe many barriers and enablers to HCV screening and treatment reported by Irish prisoners will inform both national and international public health HCV elimination strategies. Incarceration provides a unique opportunity to upscale HCV treatment and linkage to the community would support effectiveness.

Background Preventing transmission of COVID-19 within prisons is both important and challenging. The confined conditions in prisons can encourage person-to-person spread with the potential for outbreaks occurring. Contact tracing is an important contributor to the longer-term management strategy for COVID-19 in prisons as well as in the community but is highly resource-intensive. This paper describes the approach to contact tracing taken by the Irish Prison Service (IPS). Methods The IPS National Infection Control Team, in collaboration with the National Quality Improvement (QI) team and Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland, implemented a programme to develop and train in-prison contact tracing teams (CTTs). CTTs were run by prison staff with experience of working with detainees, prison IT systems and CCTV. Protocols for undertaking contact tracing for both detainee and staff cases of COVID-19 were established. Results All prisons, and two support agencies, within the IPS now have fully functional in-prison CTTs. Every CTT has responded to at least one case COVID-19, undertaken contact tracing and instigated quarantine of contacts. Conclusions A partnership approach with development of prison-led CTTs can provide an effective mechanism for contact tracing of COVID-19 cases within the prison setting.

Summary A linear assessment trait evaluation system is proposed to allow quantitative description of the static conformation of the horse. Measurements were made on 27 selected traits. The system was tested initially for repeatability of measurements on 4 horses. Twenty‐one of the selected traits were satisfactory and 6 proved unsatisfactory in terms of reproducibility. A population of 101, superior 2‐ and 3‐year‐old Thoroughbreds and 19 premium Thoroughbred stallions were similarly assessed. More than 65% of the traits exhibited large (CV>10%) phenotypic variation within the sampled population. It is proposed that such a system of static conformation assessment, in conjunction with a similar system for dynamic linear assessment, would provide useful quantitative selection criteria in the description and breeding of horses.

In patients with severe acute pancreatitis (AP), enteral nutrition is delivered by nasojejunal (NJ) tube to minimise pancreatic stimulation. Nasogastric (NG) feeding represents an alternative route. The primary objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of NG feeding. Secondary objectives were to compare the NG and NJ routes and assess the side effects of the former. The primary endpoint was exclusive NG feeding with delivery of 75 % of nutritional targets. Additional outcomes included change to total parenteral nutrition (TPN), increased pain or disease severity, vomiting, diarrhoea, delivery rate reduction and tube displacement. Among the retrieved studies, six were found to be eligible for the qualitative review and four for the meta-analysis. NG nutrition was received by 147 patients; exclusive NG feeding was achieved in 90 % (133/147). Of the 147 patients, 129 (87 %) received 75 % of the target energy. In studies where all subjects received exclusive NG nutrition, 82 % (seventy-four of the ninety patients) received . 75 % of the intended energy. Compared with NJ nutrition, there was no significant difference in the delivery of 75 % of nutritional targets (pooled risk ratio (RR) 1·02; 95 % CI 0·75, 1·38.) or no increased risk of change to TPN (pooled RR 1·05; 95 % CI 0·45, 2·48), diarrhoea (pooled RR 1·28; 95 % CI 0·62, 2·66), exacerbation of pain (pooled RR 1·10; 95 % CI 0·47, 2·61) or tube displacement (pooled RR 0·44; 95 % CI 0·11, 1·73). Vomiting and diarrhoea were the most common side effects of NG feeding (13·3 and 12·9 %, respectively). With respect to the delivery of nutrition, 11·2 % of the patients required delivery rate reduction and 3·4 % dislodged the tube. Other side effects included elevated levels of aspirates (9·1 %), abdominal distension (1·5 %), pain exacerbation (7·5 %) and increased disease severity (1·6 %). In conclusion, NG feeding is efficacious in 90 % of patients. Further research is required to optimise the delivery of NG nutrition and examine 'gut-rousing' approaches to nutrition in patients with severe AP.