Aim: To assess community optometristsÕ attitudes and current behaviour regarding provision of smoking cessation advice in their practice. Methods: A self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to community optometrists in north-west England identified from the General Optical Council's practice lists. Results: Of 709 optometrists identified, 71.8% (509/709) returned the completed questionnaire. Few community optometrists routinely asked about smoking habits: only 6.2% (95% CI: 4.1-8.3) (n ¼ 31) at new patient consultations, and 2.2% (95% CI: 0.9-3.5) (n ¼ 11) at follow-up visits. Reasons for optometrists not routinely providing smoking cessation advice included: not their role (35.4%, n ¼ 180), lack of time (22.0%, n ¼ 112) and forgetting to ask (21.4%, n ¼ 109). Overall 67.6% (95% CI: 63.5-71.7) (n ¼ 344) of community optometrists wanted to improve their knowledge of smoking and visual impairment with 56.2% (95% CI: 51.9-60.5) (n ¼ 286) requesting further training. Conclusion: Despite low levels of current involvement, many optometrists were keen to receive training on smoking cessation topics. We suggest that there are untapped opportunities to develop brief interventions to promote smoking cessation services in community optometry settings.

This article draws on a systematic literature review to identify stressors in emergency and trauma nursing settings, and their potential effects on staff. After a search of relevant databases, six articles were chosen and analysed, and the main causes of stress in the workplace for emergency and trauma nurses were identified. These stressors include work demands and lack of time, lack of managerial support, patient aggression and violence, and staff exposure to traumatic events. Their effects on nurses include burnout, compassion fatigue, somatic complaints, mental health problems and difficulties in life outside work. The article goes on to discuss the implications of the findings on practice.

Q fever is a zoonotic disease caused by the highly infectious Gram-negative coccobacillus, Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii). The Q fever vaccine Q-VAX® is characterised by high reactogenicity, requiring individuals to be pre-screened for prior exposure before vaccination. To date it remains unclear whether vaccine side effects in pre-exposed individuals are associated with pre-existing adaptive immune responses to C. burnetii or are also a function of innate responses to Q-VAX®. In the current study, we measured innate and adaptive cytokine responses to C. burnetii and compared these among individuals with different pre-exposure status. Three groups were included: n=98 Dutch blood bank donors with unknown exposure status, n=95 Dutch village inhabitants with known natural exposure status to C. burnetii during the Dutch Q fever outbreak of 2007-2010, and n=96 Australian students receiving Q-VAX® vaccination in 2021. Whole blood cytokine responses following ex vivo stimulation with heat-killed C. burnetii were assessed for IFNγ, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, TNFα, IL-1β, IP-10, MIP-1α and IL-8. Serological data were collected for all three cohorts, as well as data on skin test and self-reported vaccine side effects and clinical symptoms during past infection. IFNγ, IP-10 and IL-2 responses were strongly elevated in individuals with prior C. burnetii antigen exposure, whether through infection or vaccination, while IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα responses were slightly increased in naturally exposed individuals only. High dimensional analysis of the cytokine data identified four clusters of individuals with distinct cytokine response signatures. The cluster with the highest levels of adaptive cytokines and antibodies comprised solely individuals with prior exposure to C. burnetii, while another cluster was characterized by high innate cytokine production and an absence of C. burnetii-induced IP-10 production paired with high baseline IP-10 levels. Prior exposure status was partially associated with these signatures, but could not be clearly assigned to a single cytokine response signature. Overall, Q-VAX® vaccination and natural C. burnetii infection were associated with comparable cytokine response signatures, largely driven by adaptive cytokine responses. Neither individual innate and adaptive cytokine responses nor response signatures were associated retrospectively with clinical symptoms during infection or prospectively with side effects post-vaccination.

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The purposes of the study were to assess and compare the validity of both 300-yd and 500-yd shallow water run (SWR) tests to predict peak aerobic power (VO 2peak ). Participants included 18 women and 18 men who performed a graded exercise treadmill test to predict VO 2peak and then performed a 300-yd and 500-yd SWR for time. In addition to SWR times, other independent variables included age, gender, body weight, height, leg length, percent body fat, and 300-yd and 500-yd SWR heart rate and rating of perceived exertion. Correlation coefficients with measured VO 2peak were r = -.84 and -.87 for the 300-yd and 500-yd SWR times, respectively. Multiple regression analyses revealed that prediction of VO 2peak from 300-yd SWR time improved by including gender and body weight (R = .919; SEE = 0.360 L·min -1 ). Similarly, prediction of VO 2peak improved from 500-yd SWR time by including gender, body weight, and leg length (R = .940; SEE = 0.316 L·min -1 ). Equations were also developed for use in pools of varying water depths. In conclusion, the 300-yd and 500-yd SWR tests can provide accurate and valid estimates of aerobic power.Recently, aquatic exercise has become a popular method of training and conditioning. Individuals of all fitness levels and health conditions are discovering that water exercise provides a relatively injury-free environment from physical injuries associated with land-based exercise. Specifically, aquatic exercise reduces the likelihood of injuries from high-impact, overuse, and heat-related problems typically associated with land-based exercise (Koszuta, 1986). Shallow water running, the most common mode of aquatic exercise (Midtlyng & Nelson, 1991), has become a simple alternative and/or supplement to land-based running programs.Aerobic power is related to the risk of cardiorespiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, and all-cause mortality in men and women (Blair et al., 1989). Aerobic power determines the peak amount of oxygen that can be used by the body during moderate-to high-intensity exercise lasting longer than four or five minutes. The direct measurement of peak oxygen uptake rate (VO 2peak ) during a graded exercise test is the most accurate assessment of aerobic power (Shepard, 1968;Taylor et Oliver Bellevue is with the