Introduction: Gynaecological oncology patients experience a high burden of physical and emotional symptoms that can affect their psychological and relationship well-being, yet not much has been published on women in Asian countries like Singapore. The current study compares levels of psychological distress (depression and anxiety), relationship satisfaction, and sexual disturbance between patients with gynaecological cancer and an ethnicity, age, and education-matched comparison group.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which 104 gynaecological cancer patients and 223 women with no history of gynaecological cancer were recruited from a tertiary-level hospital in Singapore. Using propensity score matching, 87 pairs of patient-comparisons were compared on their self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, relationship satisfaction, and sexual disturbance.

Results: Patients reported significantly higher levels of sexual disturbance in contrast to their comparisons (M=18.94 vs 14.54, p=0.002) but not in anxiety, depression, and relationship satisfaction. However, when the subset of women below the median sample age (<45 years) were examined, both depression scores (M=5.23 vs 3.79, p=0.04) and sexual disturbance scores (M=18.13 vs 13.91, p<0.01) in the patient group were significantly higher than the comparison group.

Conclusions: Sexual dysfunction is an important area to assess and target in gynaecological cancer patients to improve their quality of life and well-being. Women with gynaecological malignancies and who are younger are at higher risk of depression

QuantuMDx is developing a handheld device, the Q-POC, which will diagnose infectious diseases such as HPV, TB and STIs in less than 30 minutes at lower level of healthcare systems. This is particularly important in low-/middle-income countries, where laboratory testing is not possible. The device will provide a user-friendly, reliable, accurate and low-cost method for disease detection. This instrument relies on an effective and robust microfluidic DNA extraction system, which will facilitate nucleic acid concentration and purification from biological sample types of interest, such as swab, blood or urine.

My research involved the investigation of DNA extraction efficiency of this device and optimisation of buffers, which was crucial for achieving the best results and identify the pathogenic DNA. Certain sample types, such as urine, have extremely variable content, which can affect DNA extraction efficiency. DNA extraction from urine samples from certain donors was problematic and occasionally very low DNA yields were recovered from samples with controlled DNA concentration, which caused problems in the optimization of a novel DNA extraction system; therefore, it was crucial to find a method which can reduce this variation. During my project, I managed to develop a lysis buffer which can overcome these problems caused by urine samples.

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder, which commonly follows stroke. Individuals with aphasia often report difficulties with spoken production, for example, finding words, producing sentences, holding a conversation. Previous research has found these difficulties to significantly contribute to an individual’s quality of life; they are often the reason for a client to present to Speech and Language Therapy. However, there has been limited research into which aspects of spoken production are most relevant for people with aphasia.  

This project investigated what individuals view as most important about their spoken production, helping to inform assessment and treatment from Speech and Language Therapists. A thematic analysis of five spoken interviews was conducted. Themes identified included: ‘ability’, ‘support’, ‘social functions of speaking’ and ‘factors relating to what is important’. There was a distinct link between ability and the importance of a factor. Within the interview, clients also completed a ranking task, rating activities along a scale from ‘important’ to ‘not important’. The relative importance of activities varied according to the severity of the client’s aphasia. The fundamental use of speech to ‘get things I need’ was important for those with severe aphasia, whereas those with mild aphasia considered ‘speaking about complex ideas’ important. The difference in priorities demonstrates the individual variability present in aphasia, which is important for Speech and Language Therapists to consider when planning client-centred management plans.

William J. Doherty, Thomas A. Stubbs, Andrew Chaplin, Avan A. Sayer, Miles D. Witham, Antony K. Sorial

Introduction

Independent validation of risk scores after hip fracture is uncommon, particularly for evaluation of outcomes other than death. We aimed to assess the Nottingham Hip Fracture Score (NHFS) in predicting a range of important outcomes after hip fracture.

Methods

Consecutive, surgically managed hip fracture patients were identified from the Northumbria hip fracture database between 2014-2018. C-statistics were calculated to test the discriminant ability of the NHFS, Abbreviated Mental Test Score (AMTS), and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade for mortality and functional independence at discharge, 30 days and 120 days; length of stay; and postoperative complications.

Results

We analyzed data from 3208 individuals, mean age 82.6 (SD 8.6). 2192 (70.9%) were female. 194 (6.3%) died during the first 30 days, 211 (6.8%) had no mobility at 120 days, 141 (4.6%) experienced a postoperative complication. Median length of stay was 18 days (IQR 8-28). For mortality, C-statistics for NHFS (0.68-0.69) were similar to ASA and AMTS. For postoperative mobility, C-statistics for NHFS (0.74-0.83) were similar to AMTS and better than ASA (0.68-0.71). Length of stay was significantly correlated with each score (P < .001 by Jonckheere-Terpstra test), with NHFS and

AMTS showing inverted U-shaped relationships. For postoperative complications, C-statistics for NHFS (0.54-0.59) were similar to ASA and AMTS.

Conclusions

The NHFS performed consistently well in predicting functional outcomes, moderately in predicting mortality, but less well in predicting length of stay and complications. There remains room for improvement by adding further predictors such as measures of physical performance in future analyses.