Glasgow Area Research Articles

Text Messages With Financial Incentives for Men With Obesity

Effective weight loss interventions are needed for men with obesity. To determine whether an intervention that combined text messaging with financial incentives attained significant weight loss at the 12-month follow-up compared with the control group and whether an intervention of text messaging alone attained significant weight loss at the 12-month follow-up compared with the control group. An assessor-blinded randomized clinical trial conducted in Belfast, Bristol, and Glasgow areas in the UK. A total of 585 men with body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more were enrolled between July 2021 and May 2022. Final follow-up occurred June 2023. Participants were randomly assigned to 12 months of behavioral focused text messages combined with financial incentives (n = 196), 12 months of behavioral focused text messages alone (n= 194), or a waiting list (control group; n= 195). The financial incentive consisted of a monetary reward that was lost if weight loss targets were not met. All participants received weight management information and a pedometer at baseline. The 2 primary comparisons were the 12-month comparison of within-participant weight change between the text messaging with financial incentive group and the control group and the comparison between the text messaging alone group and the control group (minimum clinically important difference, 3%). The P value defined for statistical significance was P < .025 for each comparison. Of the 585 men (mean [SD] age, 50.7 [13.3] years; mean weight, 118.5 [19.9] kg; mean BMI, 37.7 [5.7]; 525 [90%] White), 227 (39%) lived in postal code areas with lower socioeconomic status, and 426 (73%) completed the 12-month follow-up. At the 12-month follow-up, compared with the control group, the mean percent weight change was significantly greater in the text messaging with financial incentive group (mean difference, -3.2%; 97.5% CI, -4.6% to -1.9%; P < .001) but was not significantly greater in the text messaging alone group (mean difference, -1.4%; 97.5% CI, -2.9% to 0.0, P = .05). The mean (SD) weight changes were -5.7 (7.4) kg for the text messaging with financial incentives group, -3.0 (7.5) kg for the text messaging alone group, and -1.5 (6.6) kg for the control group. The 12-month mean (SD) percentage weight changes from baseline were -4.8% (6.1%) for the text messaging with financial incentives group, -2.7% (6.3%) for text messaging alone group, and -1.3% (5.5%) for the control group. Of 366 adverse events reported, the most common were infections (83 [23%]). Of the 23 serious adverse events (6.3%), 12 (52%) occurred in the text messaging with financial incentives group, 5 (22%) in the texts messaging alone group, and 6 (26%) in the control group. None were considered related to participating in a trial group. Among men with obesity, an intervention with text messaging with financial incentive significantly improved weight loss compared with a control group, whereas text messaging alone was not significantly better than the control condition. These findings support text messaging combined with financial incentives to attain weight loss in men with obesity. isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN91974895.

First record of the salmon salad fungus Guepinia helvelloides in the Glasgow area, Scotland

First record of the salmon salad fungus Guepinia helvelloides in the Glasgow area, Scotland

Greater Glasgow pond amphibian surveys 2022

In 2019, Clyde Amphibian and Reptile Group (CARG) decided to organise a spring 2020 common frogspawn (Rana temporaria) survey of the Greater Glasgow area, Scotland. The COVID-19 lockdown postponed this project until 2022. The 2022 survey area was spread across four council districts: Glasgow City, South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire. The primary aim of the surveys was to collect records of amphibian breeding throughout the Greater Glasgow Area, with secondary aims of: (1) revisiting the ponds to see if the ponds supported the spawn through to tadpole and froglet stages; (2) assessing the condition of the ponds for amphibians; (3) identifying areas for habitat enhancement work; and (4) collecting data on breeding common toads (Bufo bufo) and newts (Lissotriton, Ichthyosaura and Triturus spp.). A total of 45 volunteers participated in the surveys. Surveys were completed between March and May 2022, with a primary focus between March and April in order to capture frog spawning data. Surveyors were asked to record amphibian population data, and habitat data in order to estimate Habitat Suitability Indices. In total 162 ponds were surveyed, with evidence of breeding common frogs found in 66.1% of ponds with 11,478 frogspawn clumps counted on the first set of surveys. Only 12.2% of ponds were found to contain common toads, and small newts (Lissotriton spp.) were identified in only 7.4% of ponds. In relation to the quality of breeding habitat, 24.5% of ponds were assessed as drying out annually, which significantly reduces the suitability of these ponds for breeding. This figure is predicted to increase with anthropogenic climate change reducing the number of breeding ponds available to amphibians in the absence of intervention. Furthermore, the majority of the ponds surveyed were assessed as offering poor or below average suitability for great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) and nearly half of the ponds surveyed were found to have poor or bad water quality, which can increase stress levels for larval amphibians and may adversely affect mortality levels. However, as the analysis of water quality was subjective, these findings should be treated with caution.

The Big Scran: building community resilience through a volunteer movement in partnership with homelessness charity, Blue Triangle, and the Health and Social Care Partnership.&amp;nbsp;&#x0D;

Ben View Community Resource Centre has been a leading community anchor organisation within the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board Area for two decades, diligently uniting the community by co-designing and building volunteering movements to meet community needs in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.&#x0D; In partnership with homelessness charity, Blue Triangle, and the West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership, a new volunteering movement, entitled ‘The Big Scran’, has been created to provide essential practical support, food, heat and social interaction. In tandem, the partnership has addressed wider needs, effecting generational change for individuals and families, such as maximising income or supporting delivery of health outcomes.&#x0D; Ben View’s expertise in anticipating local needs and galvanising community resources positions them as expert. Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis and complex public health challenges facing the community, such as gender-based violence, substance misuse, youth homelessness and other population health themes, the partnership, including Blue Triangle and West Dunbartonshire HSCP are a force for good. Their approach addresses immediate needs (hunger, heat and social interaction) and affects generational change, taking a person-centred and trauma informed approach, building individual relationships, leveraging the skills, talents and local knowledge of volunteers, supporting translation of needs assessment into meaningful interventions.&#x0D; Against all the Social Determinants of Health, West Dunbartonshire fairs poorly internationally. The burden of depression, anxiety, mental illness, substance misuse, alcohol dependency, smoking and interpersonal violence are key drivers contributing to our burden of disease, more so in West Dunbartonshire. The impact of social isolation and loneliness on individual’s physical and mental wellbeing has been well documented. It increases the risk of stress, anxiety and depression and doubles the risk of dementia. &#x0D; The Health and Social Care Partnership understands that the status quo is no longer an option and that building a resilient and compassionate community of people, is essential to tackle the complex social justice challenges facing the population. The thought leadership from this initiative builds the compassionate community by creating and co-producing a new volunteering movement, in partnership with service delivery organisations and the Health and Social Care Partnership, which carries the statutory duty for health and social care.&#x0D; The relational approach to health improvement by creating a volunteering movement of local people, supported by known and respected local organisations, builds the community resilience required during the harsh global financial crisis. The success of this initiative has been such that other communities are now launching their own ‘Big Scran’.&#x0D; ‘The Big Scran’s’ processes and assets have been created to be transferable and scalable to all communities. Other communities across Scotland are using this model and their assets and to build similar partnerships and volunteer movements in their own areas. This fits with the policy landscape in Scotland and beyond and its desire to create and connect compassionate volunteering movements across Scotland and globe. The success and impact of the Big Scran movement is informed and sustained by people’s needs. All involved, recipients and volunteers positively gain from this replicable model.

Forcibly displaced refugee women entrepreneurs in Glasgow-Scotland

PurposeForcibly displaced refugee entrepreneurs face extra challenges that are beyond the barriers that face immigrants and hosts in their journey towards starting up, growing and developing their businesses. This study aims to critically examine the opportunity identification (OI) of forcibly displaced refugee minority women entrepreneurs in Glasgow.Design/methodology/approachQualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 10 participants were conducted, including 6 forcibly displaced women entrepreneurs and 4 stakeholders. A six-step thematic framework for data analysis with NVivo 11 was used.FindingsFindings revealed that forcibly displaced refugee women’s entrepreneurial opportunities occur through a dynamic identification, discovery, recognition and exploitation of opportunities. Women-led businesses remain underdeveloped due to restrictions imposed by the Scottish Government, Westminster Government and local council authorities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was only conducted in Glasgow areas, although this is where most of the forcibly displaced groups live. The research team suggests that further studies with a large sample cutting across more local authorities beyond Glasgow should be conducted.Practical implicationsThe empirical findings serve practitioners, local authorities business managers, researchers and policymakers. The study reveals a gap and lack of support and specific training and programmes that could positively benefit forcibly displaced refugee women entrepreneurs within the host communities.Originality/valueThe novelty of this study lies in the research topic which is still understudied. This is together with the new empirical findings of entrepreneurial OI and the provision of insights related to challenges facing forcibly displaced refugee women entrepreneurs in Glasgow.

Cultural backstages as urban creative ecologies: The case of Glasgow

Amid growing interest in the creative industries and their influence on urban planning and regeneration strategies, this article revisits cultural backstages and their underlying infrastructural conditions. By cultural backstages, we mean those urban production sites which accommodate small-scale, independent and often invisible cultural producers and businesses who operate from the margins of the creative sector in cities. This study approaches backstages as urban creative ecologies because a complex set of relationships and interactions exists between the physical spaces, the individuals, their activities and the resources required for cultural production in cities. It also argues that these relationships are defined by four infrastructural conditions: (a) financial models, (b) social networks, (c) public interfaces and (d) the adaptive capacity of their spaces and organisations. Based on a fieldwork-led comparative analysis, the research examines the ecologies of four production sites in the Barras area of Glasgow’s East End and analyses how their fourfold infrastructural conditions are constantly negotiated between top-down strategies and bottom-up initiatives. It concludes that while the relationships, interactions and infrastructures within these ecologies differ, they still share common ground: they operate in close proximity to each other and rely heavily on localised yet collective forms of support. Together, they form a wider ecology at the neighbourhood scale and they add cultural and social value to its function. This article concludes that cultural policies and urban planning strategies need to consider the complexity and dynamic nature of these ecologies and design recommendations ought to prioritise these fourfold infrastructural conditions to safeguard diversity in the public culture of cities.

1237-P: Proteomic Indicators of Metabolic Health in Diabetes and Social Vulnerability

Introduction: Understanding the health impacts of socioeconomic deprivation (SED) and its interaction with type 2 diabetes is important for patient care and effective public health initiatives. Large-scale proteomic profiling using aptamer-based technology to measure 7,000 proteins has facilitated the development of blood-based proteomic signatures for 10 cardiometabolic SomaSignal Tests (SST), including a test that predicts the 4-year risk of a cardiovascular event (CV risk). Methods: The cross-sectional PsoBid study recruited participants from socioeconomically deprived and affluent areas of Glasgow, Scotland with similar age ranges and equal proportions of male and female, to identify relevant health disparities. We used regression analyses to estimate the association between SSTs and socioeconomic status (affluent (n = 257, 50.7%), deprived (n = 250, 49.3%)) and prevalent diabetes (n = 27 (5.3%), 7 (2.7%) affluent, 20 (8.0%) SV). Results: Diabetes was associated with SST predicted increased visceral fat, lean body mass, liver fat, body fat percentage, resting energy rate, and CV risk score, and worse proteomic predictors of cardiorespiratory fitness, glucose tolerance, alcohol impact, and kidney health (p&amp;lt;0.05). SED was associated with SST predicted increased visceral adiposity and CV risk score, and decreased cardiorespiratory fitness, glucose tolerance, and kidney health (p&amp;lt;0.05). The association between diabetes and CV risk score was highest among socioeconomically deprived participants (interaction p-value: 0.01). Conclusion: These results demonstrate that participants with diabetes and SED have proteomic phenotypes consistent with decreased cardiometabolic health compared to participants without diabetes or SV and SED is associated with worse predicted cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetes. Proteomics may be useful in identifying and monitoring the health effects of diabetes and SED or the impact of relevant interventions. Disclosure M.Simpson: Employee; SomaLogic Operating CO., Inc. R.Ostroff: Employee; SomaLogic. S.A.Williams: Employee; SomaLogic. N.Sattar: Advisory Panel; Amgen Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly Alliance, Novartis, Roche Diagnostics, Consultant; Afimmune Limited, Hanmi Pharm. Co., Ltd., Pfizer Inc., Other Relationship; Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH&amp;Co.KG, Eli Lilly and Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Research Support; AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH&amp;Co.KG, Novartis, Roche Diagnostics.

Shifting prime retailing pitches. A GIS analysis of the spatial adaptations in city centre retail markets

ABSTRACT In this paper, the density and location of retail properties located within the primary retailing areas of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool and Nottingham are investigated over a 17 year period. The study is novel due to the original spatial databases developed and unique combination of established methods employed to explore spatial change within these northern UK cities. The paper starts from the premise that retailing markets display adaptive resilience where adaptations in use and variation in retail clustering will occur in response to endogenous and exogenous shocks that disturb the market’s agglomerative and competitive effects. The results suggest that significant new retail-led developments have intra-urban spatial outcomes that impact on the size and location of prime and secondary retailing pitches. In urban retailing centres where there have been no substantive supply disruptions, disturbances in the socio-economic environment can create contractions at the peripheral edges of the prime retailing pitch. This study is significant in providing a historical perspective of the micro-level effects of new development, changing customer shopping habits and shifting retailer location preferences. In addition, the research develops replicable and robust methods that can be employed to examine and monitor spatial change in urban centres. Understanding these dynamic micro-spatial effects are important for the future management of urban centres.

General and age-specific fertility rates in non-affective psychosis: population-based analysis of Scottish women

PurposeWomen diagnosed with non-affective psychosis have a lower general fertility rate (GFR) and age-specific fertility rate (ASFR) than women in the general population. Contemporary data on GFR in this group remain limited, despite substantive changes in prescribing and management. We calculated contemporary estimates of the GFR and ASFR for women diagnosed with non-affective psychosis compared with the general population of women without this diagnosis.MethodsA population-based design combined routinely collected historical maternity and psychiatric data from two representative areas of Scotland. Women were included from the NHS Grampian or Greater Glasgow and Clyde areas and were aged 15–44 between 2005 and 2013 inclusive. The ‘exposed’ group had a diagnosis of non-affective psychosis (ICD-10 F20–F29) and was compared to the general population of 'unexposed' women in the same geographical areas.ResultsAnnual GFR between 2005 and 2013 for women with non-affective psychosis varied from 9.6 to 21.3 live births/1000 women per year in the exposed cohort and 52.7 to 57.8 live births/1000 women per year in the unexposed cohort, a rate ratio (RR) of 0.28 [p < 0.001; 95% CI (0.24, 0.32)]. ASFR for all 5-year age groups was lower in the exposed cohort than amongst unexposed women.ConclusionWe highlight continued low fertility rates in women with a diagnosis of non-affective psychosis, despite widespread availability of prolactin-sparing atypical antipsychotics. Accurate estimation of fertility rates remains crucial in developing needs-matched perinatal care for these women. Methodological improvements using routine datasets to investigate perinatal mental health are also urgently needed.

Predicting mortality after hospitalisation for COPD using electronic health records

BackgroundFew prognostic models exist for patients hospitalised with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); most are based on small cohorts enroled by specialists in academic centres. Electronic health records (EHRs) provide an opportunity to develop more representative models, although they may not record some variables used in existing models. Materials and methodsfor this retrospective cohort study, using EHRs, we identified 17,973 patients with an unplanned hospitalisation for COPD (in any diagnostic position) in the Glasgow area between 2011 and 2017. Patients with known lung cancer were excluded. EHR were linked to prior admissions, community prescribing and laboratory data. A pragmatic, parsimonious multivariable model was developed to predict 90-day mortality. Resultswe identified 12 variables strongly related to prognosis, including age, sex, length of index hospitalisation stay, prior diagnosis of cancer (excluding lung cancer) or dementia, prescription of oxygen or digoxin, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and serum chloride, urea, creatinine and albumin. The model achieved excellent calibration with reasonable discrimination (area under the curve: 0.806; 95% CI: 0.792–0.820). A risk-score was developed and an electronic risk-calculator is provided. Conclusionsa small number of variables, including prescriptions and laboratory data obtained from routine EHRs predict 90-day mortality after a hospitalisation for COPD. The risk-calculator provided might prove useful for service-evaluation and audit, to guide clinical management and to risk-stratify and select patients to be invited to participate in clinical research.

The influence of demographics and comorbidity on persistence with anti-seizure medication.

To examine the rate of persistence with anti-seizure medications (ASMs) in a cohort of patients with epilepsy, and to investigate the impact of a range of clinical and demographic factors on persistence METHODS: Patients receiving ASMs for epilepsy were identified from linked, routinely collected data within the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area between January 2011 and August 2019. Persistence with individual ASMs at 365-days after initiation was assessed using a 90-day allowable gap between individual prescriptions. Univariate logistic regression was used to estimate the association between 1-year persistence with ASM and demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and medication characteristics. In total, 6,449 patients with epilepsy were identified - 1,631 were new users of ASMs at baseline and 4,818 had been prescribed at least one ASM prior to baseline. Persistence with individual ASMs ranged 11.8% to 78.6%. Persistence was significantly lower in younger patients and patients who had previously been non-persistent to ASMs. Persistence was higher amongst those with cardiac comorbidities, previous stroke, or higher overall comorbidity, as well as those prescribed newer ASMs. Persistence varied widely. Demographic factors, previous non-persistence and overall number of comorbidities were more important determinants of persistence to anti-seizure medications than specific individual comorbidities. Interventions to improve persistence should be targeted at younger patients from more deprived backgrounds and those who have previously been non-persistent with ASMs.

The distribution of /w/ and /ʍ/ in Scottish Standard English

AbstractThe Scottish English phoneme inventory is generally claimed to have a /ʍ/-/w/ contrast, although several studies have suggested that this historical contrast is weakening for Scottish English speakers in the urban areas of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Little is known about whether the /ʍ/-/w/ contrast is maintained in supraregional Scottish Standard English (SSE). This study sets out to explore, based on the phonemically transcribed ICE-Scotland corpus, the distribution of [ʍ] and [w] in SSE, their acoustic properties and potentially influencing social and language-internal factors. A total of 1,241 &lt;wh-&gt; tokens were extracted from the corpus, together with a matching number of &lt;w-&gt; tokens, and the median of harmonicity was measured. The results show that [ʍ] and [w] produced for words beginning with &lt;wh-&gt; are acoustically distinct from [w] produced for words beginning with &lt;w-&gt;. [ʍ] is relatively frequent in SSE, but most speakers use both [ʍ] and [w] interchangeably for &lt;wh-&gt; and some never use [ʍ]. The realisation of &lt;wh-&gt; as [ʍ] is determined by preceding phonetic context and speaker gender.

The stinkhorn Phallus impudicus and the dog stinkhorn Mutinus caninus from around the Glasgow area, Scotland

The stinkhorn Phallus impudicus and the dog stinkhorn Mutinus caninus from around the Glasgow area, Scotland

Recent records of the box tree moth Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae, Spilomelinae) from the Greater Glasgow area, Scotland

Recent records of the box tree moth Cydalima perspectalis (Walker, 1859) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae, Spilomelinae) from the Greater Glasgow area, Scotland

People, power, Pollokshields

A social work perspective of dawn raids of refugees and asylum seekers within the Pollokshields area of Glasgow, which were stopped by community action. The hostile environment whipped up by politicians and the ongoing oppression of refugees and asylum seekers is considered within the context of counter terrorism legislation and the need for grassroots community social work working.

A syndemic of psychiatric morbidity, substance misuse, violence, and poor physical health among young Scottish men with reduced life expectancy

BackgroundScotland has the shortest life expectancy in Western Europe, driven by high rates of cancer, suicides, alcohol-related causes and drug-related poisonings. These disparities cannot be explained solely by socioeconomic deprivation. Our aim was to investigate whether a syndemic in a socioeconomically deprived area of Glasgow might account for premature mortality among men. MethodsWe analysed data from two cross-sectional population surveys: a national sample of 1916 British men and another of 765 men in Glasgow East. The survey included men aged 18–34, and was undertaken in 2011 to study correlates of violence. Questionnaires covered current physical health, psychiatric symptoms, substance misuse, and crime and violence. Syndemic components were identified using confirmatory factor analysis. Associations and synergistic interactions between these variables and health status were estimated using logistic regression. ResultsAn aggregation of multiple health conditions and health-related behaviours was found in Glasgow East. A syndemic model of joint effects, adducing a four-component latent variable (violence, substance dependence, psychiatric morbidity and a diathesis of biological/behavioural risk) showed synergy between components and explained persistent disparities in poor physical health/chronic health conditions. Effect modification was found between the general syndemic factor and contextual variables at individual and social environmental level according to location. ConclusionsSyndemic effects from synergistic interactions were confirmed between psychiatric morbidity, substance misuse, violence, and biological/behavioural risk for physical health. A hypothetical model was developed to explain how the syndemic leads to potentially life-threatening risks to young men, both currently and as precursors of physical health conditions which may shorten their lives in the future.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PREVALENCE ESTIMATES OF HYPERTENSION OF 856,878 ADULTS IN GLASGOW

Objective: Systematic reviews estimate the prevalence of hypertension in high income countries to be 28.5%, with 55.6% of hypertensives on treatment and 28.4% of those on treatment having controlled hypertension. We used these estimates to determine the proportion of untreated hypertensives in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde population and to evaluate if the estimated proportion of untreated hypertension translated into increased CV mortality. Design and method: Dispensed prescription and mortality data were obtained on 856,878 adults who attended either primary care or secondary care in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area between 2010 and 2016. Age-specific hypertension prevalence were obtained from the Scottish Public Health Observatory (2018) and for high income countries from Mills et al (Circulation 2016). Individuals were considered to be on hypertension treatment if they had at least 6 months of 2011 covered by their antihypertensive prescriptions. Cardiovascular deaths from 2012–2016 were obtained from mortality records through record linkage. Generalised estimating equations (GEE) were used to assess the relationship between proportion of untreated hypertension and CV mortality. Results: The estimated number of hypertensives was 308,208 (35.9%) and the numbers treated and untreated were 181,662 (58.9%) and 126,546 (41.1%) respectively. Age-stratified analyses showed the highest proportion of untreated hypertensives was in the 30–40-year (72%) and 40–50 year (58%) age groups while the lowest proportion was the 70–80 year group (28%). Stratification by SIMD showed SIMD 1 (least deprived group) had the lowest proportion of untreated hypertensives (34%) while the most deprived groups 4 and 5 had 49% and 43% respectively. Cardiovascular mortality rates increased with each decade of life -0.95/1000 among 30–40 years old group and rising to 233/1000 in the 80+ age group. These results were maintained even after adjusting for age and SIMD using GEE. Conclusions: Estimating prevalence of untreated hypertension in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde region do not show correlation with five-year cardiovascular mortality. This discrepancy indicates more accurate estimation of hypertension prevalence and treatment using home BP is required for formulating effective health policies on hypertension.

The Chav Youth Subculture and Its Representation in Academia as Anomalous Phenomenon

The Chav Youth Subculture and Its Representation in Academia as Anomalous Phenomenon

An app-, web- and social support-based weight loss intervention for adults with obesity: the \u2018HelpMeDoIt!\u2019 feasibility randomised controlled trial

BackgroundSocial support has an important role in successful weight loss. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an app-, web- and social support-based intervention in supporting adults with obesity to achieve weight loss.MethodsThe intervention and evaluation methods were tested in a feasibility randomised controlled trial. Adults in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area of Scotland with a body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2 were recruited and randomised 2:1 (intervention to control). The feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and trial methods were assessed against pre-specified progression criteria, via process, economic and outcome evaluation. Three primary outcomes were explored: BMI, diet and physical activity, as well as a number of secondary outcomes. The intervention group had access to the HelpMeDoIt! intervention for 12 months. This encouraged them to (i) set goals, (ii) monitor progress and (iii) harness social support by inviting ‘helpers’ from their existing social network. The control group received a healthy lifestyle leaflet.ResultsOne hundred and nine participants were recruited, with 84 participants (77%) followed-up at 12 months. The intervention and trial methods were feasible and acceptable. Participants and helpers were generally positive. Of the 54 (74%) participants who downloaded the app, 48 (89%) used it. Interview data indicated that HelpMeDoIt! promoted social support from existing social networks to support weight loss. This support was often given outside of the app.Outcomes were compared using linear regression models, with randomised group, the baseline measurement of the outcome, age and gender as predictor variables. These analyses were exploratory and underpowered to detect effects. However, all pre-specified primary outcome effects (BMI, diet and physical activity) had wide confidence intervals and were therefore consistent with clinically relevant benefits. Objective physical activity measures perhaps showed most potential (daily step count (p = 0.098; 1187 steps [− 180, 2555])) and sedentary time (p = 0.022; − 60.8 min [− 110.5, − 11.0]). However, these outcomes were poorly completed.ConclusionsThe study demonstrated that a novel social support intervention involving support from participants’ close social networks, delivered via app and website, has potential to promote weight loss and is feasible and acceptable.Trial registrationISRCTN, ISRCTN85615983. Registered 25 September 2014

Borehole temperature log from the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site: a record of past changes to ground surface temperature caused by urban development

As part of the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site (GGERFS) project, intended as a test site for mine-water geothermal heat, the GGC-01 borehole was drilled in the Dalmarnock area in the east of the city of Glasgow, starting in November 2018. It was logged in January 2019 to provide a record of subsurface temperature to 197 m depth, in this urban area with a long history of coal mining and industrial development. This borehole temperature record is significantly perturbed away from its natural state, in part because of the ‘permeabilizing’ effect of past nearby coal mining and in part due to surface warming as a result of the combination of anthropogenic climate change and creation of a subsurface urban heat island by local urban development. Our numerical modelling indicates the total surface warming effect as 2.7°C, partitioned as 2.0°C of global warming since the Industrial Revolution and 0.7°C of local UHI development. We cannot resolve the precise combination of local factors that influence the surface warming because uncertainty in the subsurface thermal properties trades against uncertainty in the history of surface warming. However, the background upward heat flow through the shallow subsurface is estimated as only c . 28–33 mW m −2 , depending on choice of other model parameters, well below the c . 80 mW m −2 expected in the Glasgow area. We infer that the ‘missing’ geothermal heat flux is entrained by horizontal flow at depth beyond the reach of the shallow GGC-01 borehole. Although the shallow subsurface in the study area is warmer than it would have been before the Industrial Revolution, at greater depths – between c . 90 and &gt;300 m – it is colder, due to the effect of reduced background heat flow. In future the GGERFS project might utilize water from depths of c . 90 m, but the temperature of the groundwater at these depths is maintained largely by the past effect of surface warming, due to climate change and urban development; it is thus a resource that might be ‘mined’ but not sustainably replenished and, being the result of surface warming rather than upward heat flow, arguably should not count as ‘geothermal’ heat in the first place. Our analysis thus indicates that the GGERFS site is a poor choice as a test site for mine-water geothermal heat. Supplementary material : A summary history of coal mining in the study area is available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4911495.v2