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BackgroundHealth inequalities in the UK have proved to be stubborn, and health gaps between best and worst-off are widening. While there is growing understanding of how the main causes of poor health are perceived among different stakeholders, similar insight is lacking regarding what solutions should be prioritised. Furthermore, we do not know the relationship between perceived causes and solutions to health inequalities, whether there is agreement between professional stakeholders and people living in low-income communities or agreement within these groups.MethodsQ methodology was used to identify and describe the shared perspectives (‘subjectivities’) that exist on i) why health is worse in low-income communities (‘Causes’) and ii) the ways that health could be improved in these same communities (‘Solutions’).Purposively selected individuals (n = 53) from low-income communities (n = 25) and professional stakeholder groups (n = 28) ranked ordered sets of statements – 34 ‘Causes’ and 39 ‘Solutions’ – onto quasi-normal shaped grids according to their point of view. Factor analysis was used to identify shared points of view. ‘Causes’ and ‘Solutions’ were analysed independently, before examining correlations between perspectives on causes and perspectives on solutions.ResultsAnalysis produced three factor solutions for both the ‘Causes’ and ‘Solutions’. Broadly summarised these accounts for ‘Causes’ are: i) ‘Unfair Society’, ii) ‘Dependent, workless and lazy’, iii) ‘Intergenerational hardships’ and for ‘Solutions’: i) ‘Empower communities’, ii) ‘Paternalism’, iii) ‘Redistribution’. No professionals defined (i.e. had a significant association with one factor only) the ‘Causes’ factor ‘Dependent, workless and lazy’ and the ‘Solutions’ factor ‘Paternalism’. No community participants defined the ‘Solutions’ factor ‘Redistribution’. The direction of correlations between the two sets of factor solutions – ‘Causes’ and ‘Solutions’ – appear to be intuitive, given the accounts identified.ConclusionsDespite the plurality of views there was broad agreement across accounts about issues relating to money. This is important as it points a way forward for tackling health inequalities, highlighting areas for policy and future research to focus on.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-3884-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Abstract:The number of reported natural and human-made disasters continues to rise worldwide. Nurses comprise the highest percent of health and medical workforce. Nurses must understand the national disaster management cycle. The present study was aimed to examine nurses' knowledge, attitudes, practices and familiarity regarding disaster and emergency preparedness-Saudi Arabia. Cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted using five tools to obtain data from 252 two registered batches of bridging nurses students. Five tools were demonstrated to collect data about demographic data, questionnaire for knowledge, attitude and practice to measure disaster preparedness and emergency preparedness information questionnaire to measure nurses' familiarity. The study findings revealed that the mean age score was 26.36±1.82 and for the knowledge level was 21.2 ± 6.0. A highly significant difference was found for attitude and practice regarding disaster preparedness as well familiarity concerned emergency preparedness P≤.000. Based on the present study results; lacking of knowledge and practices with acceptable level of attitude regarding disaster preparedness and neutral familiarity with emergency preparedness were concluded. Thus an integration of clearly titled theory and practice teaching courses about disaster and emergency preparedness into nursing curricula are crucial needed and provided in respect to their learning/training preferences. Further, follow up research are necessary for maximizing nursing education and nursing quality in these critical areas applied to healthcare and community setting.

Cyperus species represent a group of cosmopolitan plants used in folk medicine to treat several diseases. In the current study, the phytochemical profile of Cyperus laevigatus ethanolic extract (CLEE) was assessed using UPLC-QTOF–MS/MS. The protective effect of CLEE at 50 and 100 mg /kg body weight (b.w.) was evaluated on hepatorenal injuries induced by thioacetamide (100 mg/kg) via investigation of the extract’s effects on oxidative stress, inflammatory markers and histopathological changes in the liver and kidney. UPLC-QTOF–MS/MS analysis of CLEE resulted in the identification of 94 compounds, including organic and phenolic acids, flavones, aurones, and fatty acids. CLEE improved the antioxidant status in the liver and kidney, as manifested by enhancement of reduced glutathione (GSH) and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), in addition to the reduction in malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8OHdG). Moreover, CLEE positively affected oxidative stress parameters in plasma and thwarted the depletion of hepatorenal ATP content by thioacetamide (TAA). Furthermore, treatment of rats with CLEE alleviated the significant increase in plasma liver enzymes, kidney function parameters, and inflammatory markers. The protective effect of CLEE was confirmed by a histopathological study of the liver and kidney. Our results proposed that CLEE may reduce TAA-hepatorenal toxicity via its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties suppressing oxidative stress.