STORRE Community: This community contains ePrints produced by staff from the Senior Management Team.

Working-Class Readers and Literary Culture in North-East England: The Allendale Lead-Miners’ Libraries

2026-03-12T01:01:44Z

Title: Working-Class Readers and Literary Culture in North-East England: The Allendale Lead-Miners’ Libraries Author(s): Blair, Kirstie Abstract: This article investigates the surviving borrowers’ catalogues (c.1850–70) of the Allendale lead-miners’ libraries, situating these within the wider history of workplace libraries in the North-East of England. It considers popular reading habits in this community and the patterns of borrowing among individuals, suggesting that these give us insight into the way in which working-class readers used libraries, especially those founded through management initiatives, and their reading preferences in the mid-Victorian period.

Zoledronic-acid plus neoadjuvant therapy is associated with provoking outcomes in Her2-positive breast cancer

2025-03-21T01:32:24Z

Title: Zoledronic-acid plus neoadjuvant therapy is associated with provoking outcomes in Her2-positive breast cancer Author(s): de Paula, Bruno; Cexus, Olivier; Townsend, Paul; Crocamo, Susanne Abstract: First paragraph: Dear Editor, We recently came across Mei Liu et al meta-analysis, a comprehensive study published in 2023, and wish to discuss a few aspects.

Development and preliminary evaluation of a suicidal risk assessment protocol in a randomised controlled trial using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

2025-09-20T06:11:30Z

Title: Development and preliminary evaluation of a suicidal risk assessment protocol in a randomised controlled trial using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Author(s): Wileman, Vari; McGuinness, Serena; Sweeney, Louise; Norton, Christine; Miller, Laura; Stagg, Imogen; O’Carroll, Ronan; Moss-Morris, Rona Abstract: Background Participants in research trials often disclose severe depression symptoms, including thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation, in validated self-administered questionnaires such as the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). However, there is no standard protocol for responding to such disclosure, and the opportunity to support people at risk is potentially missed. We developed and evaluated a risk assessment protocol for the IBD-BOOST randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN71618461 09/09/2019). Methods Participants completed the PHQ-9 at baseline and 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. The trial database automatically alerted the research team to risk assess participants. Trial researchers, trained in the protocol, contacted participants by telephone, completed the risk assessment, and signposted participants to appropriate professional services. Results Seven hundred eighty participants were randomised in the trial; 41 required risk assessment. One participant declined assessment, so 40 risk assessments were completed. Twenty-four participants were assessed as low-risk and 16 participants as medium-risk, with 12 declaring previous suicide attempts. None were rated as high-risk. Trial participants expressed appreciation for being contacted, and all except two wished to receive information about professional support services. Trial risk assessors reported positive experiences of conducting the risk assessment with suggestions for improvement, which resulted in minor modifications to the protocol. Discussion Our evaluation demonstrated that it was viable for a research trial team to successfully conduct a risk-assessment protocol for trial participants reporting thoughts of self-harm, with training and support from senior colleagues. Resources are required for training and delivery, but it is not unduly onerous. Trial participants appeared to find completing the assessment acceptable.

Association between circulating inflammatory markers and adult cancer risk: a Mendelian randomization analysis

2025-03-11T01:26:40Z

Title: Association between circulating inflammatory markers and adult cancer risk: a Mendelian randomization analysis Author(s): Yarmolinsky, James; Robinson, Jamie W; Mariosa, Daniela; Karhunen, Ville; Huang, Jian; Dimou, Niki; Murphy, Neil; Burrows, Kimberley; Bouras, Emmanouil; Smith-Byrne, Karl; Lewis, Sarah J; Galesloot, Tessel E; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Vermeulen, Sita; Townsend, Paul A Abstract: Background Tumour-promoting inflammation is a “hallmark” of cancer and conventional epidemiological studies have reported links between various inflammatory markers and cancer risk. The causal nature of these relationships and, thus, the suitability of these markers as intervention targets for cancer prevention is unclear. Methods We meta-analysed 6 genome-wide association studies of circulating inflammatory markers comprising 59,969 participants of European ancestry. We then used combined cis-Mendelian randomization and colocalisation analysis to evaluate the causal role of 66 circulating inflammatory markers in risk of 30 adult cancers in 338,294 cancer cases and up to 1,238,345 controls. Genetic instruments for inflammatory markers were constructed using genome-wide significant (P < 5.0 × 10−8) cis-acting SNPs (i.e., in or ±250 kb from the gene encoding the relevant protein) in weak linkage disequilibrium (LD, r2 < 0.10). Effect estimates were generated using inverse-variance weighted random-effects models and standard errors were inflated to account for weak LD between variants with reference to the 1000 Genomes Phase 3 CEU panel. A false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected P-value (“q-value”) <0.05 was used as a threshold to define “strong evidence” to support associations and 0.05 ≤ q-value < 0.20 to define “suggestive evidence”. A colocalisation posterior probability (PPH4) >70% was employed to indicate support for shared causal variants across inflammatory markers and cancer outcomes. Findings were replicated in the FinnGen study and then pooled using meta-analysis. Findings We found strong evidence to support an association of genetically-proxied circulating pro-adrenomedullin concentrations with increased breast cancer risk (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.10–1.29, q-value = 0.033, PPH4 = 84.3%) and suggestive evidence to support associations of interleukin-23 receptor concentrations with increased pancreatic cancer risk (OR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.20–1.69, q-value = 0.055, PPH4 = 73.9%), prothrombin concentrations with decreased basal cell carcinoma risk (OR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.53–0.81, q-value = 0.067, PPH4 = 81.8%), and interleukin-1 receptor-like 1 concentrations with decreased triple-negative breast cancer risk (OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.88–0.97, q-value = 0.15, PPH4 = 85.6%). These findings were replicated in pooled analyses with the FinnGen study. Though suggestive evidence was found to support an association of macrophage migration inhibitory factor concentrations with increased bladder cancer risk (OR: 2.46, 95% CI: 1.48–4.10, q-value = 0.072, PPH4 = 76.1%), this finding was not replicated when pooled with the FinnGen study. For 22 of 30 cancer outcomes examined, there was little evidence (q-value ≥0.20) that any of the 66 circulating inflammatory markers examined were associated with cancer risk. Interpretation Our comprehensive joint Mendelian randomization and colocalisation analysis of the role of circulating inflammatory markers in cancer risk identified potential roles for 4 circulating inflammatory markers in risk of 4 site-specific cancers. Contrary to reports from some prior conventional epidemiological studies, we found little evidence of association of circulating inflammatory markers with the majority of site-specific cancers evaluated.