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In this issue
- Merry Christmas from everyone at CEDAR
- PhD Studentships at Cambridge
- Current vacancies at CEDAR and the MRC Epidemiology Unit
- What is to be done? Making sense of all the evidence
- Also happening at the MRC Epidemiology Unit
- Upcoming seminar – 23 February
- Our latest publications
- Your information and preferences
Merry Christmas from everyone at CEDAR!
We know it has been a challenging year for many, and we would like to take a moment to say thank you to our collaborators and partners who have worked hard to keep us safe, healthy, and informed – and who have generally kept the show on the road!
Thank you to our academic collaborators for your insights and support. And to our research participants, thank you for your loyalty to our studies, and for your enthusiasm in volunteering for new ones.
While the year has been dominated by a virus, the threat of non-communicable diseases driven by unhealthy environments has not gone away. We hope the past months have provided opportunities to re-evaluate existing structures and routines and find more healthy and sustainable alternatives. We will continue to commit our research to supporting policies, interventions and ways of working that can help achieve this.
We wish you all a happy Christmas, and the best for the New Year. We look forward to seeing many of you in 2021 – we hope in person, not just through a screen.
PhD Studentships at Cambridge
Studentships commencing October 2021
PhD Studentships in Public Health Research (Diet and Physical Activity)
Opportunities for PhD studentships in Public Health Research (Diet and Physical Activity) are available at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The studentships will commence in October 2021 and enable students to explore and develop their own area of research, within the context of the broader aims of:
- Understanding the determinants of dietary and physical activity behaviour at individual, community and societal levels
- Developing, evaluating and modelling the outcomes of interventions that may affect dietary and physical activity behaviour including those outside the health sector, such as fiscal and transport policies
- Estimating the longer term costs, benefits and trade-offs of behaviour change
PhD Studentships in Genetic Epidemiology, Nutritional Epidemiology or Physical Activity Epidemiology
Opportunities for PhD studentships in Genetic Epidemiology, Nutritional Epidemiology or Physical Activity Epidemiology are available at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The studentships enable students to explore and develop their own area of research, within the context of the broader aims of the following MRC Epidemiology Unit research programmes:
- Aetiology and Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders of Later Life
- Early Life Aetiology and Mechanisms of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders
- Nutritional epidemiology
- Physical activity epidemiology
Current vacancies at CEDAR and the MRC Epidemiology Unit
Research Assistant – evaluating retail impacts of planning policy to regulate takeaway food outlets
We are seeking to appoint a Research Assistant with a track record of rigorous desk-based internet data collection, data entry, data cleaning and management skills, to work on important public health research on takeaway food outlet ‘exclusion zones’ around schools, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
- Closing date 3 January 2021
- Full details at www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/27773/
Research Associate – evaluating retail impacts of planning policy to regulate takeaway food outlets
We are seeking to appoint a Research Associate, with a track record of using geographical information systems (GIS), and proven expertise in natural experimental methods including difference-in-differences analysis, to work on the research project “Evaluation of planning policy to regulate takeaway food outlets for improved health in England”, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
- Closing date 3 January 2021
- Full details at www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/27771/
Senior Research Associate – Social Sciences applied to Public Health
The post offers an outstanding opportunity for an ambitious social scientist with an established interest in applied public health research. The position is based in the Unit’s Population Health Interventions research programme and will also work closely with the Behavioural Epidemiology and Interventions in Young People research programme and the Prevention of Diabetes and Related Metabolic Disorders in High Risk Groups research programme.
- Closing date 11 January 2021
- Full details at www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/27914/
What is to be done? Making sense of all the evidence
CEDAR researchers continue to contribute to public health policy discussions.
On 1 December, Esther van Sluijs was among experts giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. You can watch the evidence session here. Some of Esther’s contributions on the effects of the pandemic on physical activity and health were quoted in a subsequent article in Mail Online.
Meanwhile, CEDAR researchers and colleagues have looked a little deeper into how we use research evidence to make decisions about the right public health interventions with a new paper Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: building a dry stone wall (BMJ Global Health).
But why a dry stone wall? Are we approaching evidence synthesis in the right frame of mind? And do we need to get our hands a little dirty?
- Find out in this short blogpost
- Read the full paper: Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: building a dry stone wall David Ogilvie, Adrian Bauman, Louise Foley, Cornelia Guell, David Humphreys, Jenna Panter. BMJ Global Health 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004017
Also happening at the MRC Epidemiology Unit
Some other stories making the news at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, which leads CEDAR:
Replacing red and processed meat with cheese, yogurt, nuts or cereals may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. In a paper published in Diabetes Care, a research team led by scientists at the Unit and the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University in Denmark found that replacing red and processed meat with cheese, yogurt, nuts or cereals was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
PHE publish latest UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (NDNS RP). The NDNS RP is a continuous cross-sectional survey of the general population that has been running since 2008. It is currently carried out by a consortium of NatCen Social Research (NatCen) and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre at the MRC Epidemiology Unit. The report shows results for 2016-2019 and the changes in our food and nutrient intake since 2008. Changes include a fall in consumption of free sugars, and a decrease in folate levels. But meanwhile some things don’t change – fruit and veg intake remains too low, particularly in children.
Unit scientists join call for urgent action to address global diabetes epidemic. Researchers from the MRC Epidemiology Unit are part of the international team behind a new report in The Lancet summarising the best evidence for effectively managing and preventing diabetes. This encompasses areas such as sustained weight reduction, reducing blood sugar, the use of risk-reducing drugs, better integrated care, and structured lifestyle interventions.
Open-access reference genetic dataset for the world’s largest study of incident type 2 diabetes. In a paper published in Scientific Data, researchers describe the results from a genome-wide association studies (GWAS) examining more than 8.9 million genetic variations and type 2 diabetes risk among 22,326 individuals in the EPIC-InterAct study. A problem facing researchers undertaking genetic research on type 2 diabetes is that GWAS data is not publicly available for individual studies, so researchers have made the summary GWAS statistics for this study available on an open platform for researchers to use.
- More MRC Epidemiology Unit news at www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/news/
Upcoming seminar – 23 February
All our seminars have now moved online.
Past and future seminars, including slides and recordings, are available via
www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/seminars/They are free to attend, but please note that you will need to register in advance to attend live. Subscribe for direct updates via www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/subscribe/
There is currently one seminar confirmed:
23 February 2021, 11:00 – 12:00 GMT (postponed from December 2020)
Dr Anthony Laverty, Imperial College London
Title TBC
Our latest publications
The following papers have been published since the last CEDAR Bulletin. All are Open Access.
You can search all CEDAR publications 2008 to 2020 by journal, author, publication year and keywords on our new publications database: cedar-publications.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/
We welcome feedback on this new database to comms@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
General public health
- Acceptability of a cessation intervention for pregnant smokers: a qualitative study guided by Normalization Process Theory. Jones SE, Hamilton S, Bell R, Araújo-Soares V, White M. BMC Public Health.
- Age-related and socioeconomic inequalities in timeliness of referral and start of treatment in colorectal cancer: a population-based analysis. Hayes L, Adams J, McCallum I, Forrest L, Hidajat M, White M, Sharp L. J Epidemiol Community Health.
- Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health With Adolescent Health Behaviors in the UK Millennium Cohort. Hoare E, Werneck AO, Stubbs B, Firth J, Collins S, Corder K, van Sluijs EMF. JAMA Netw Open.
- How do associations between sleep duration and metabolic health differ with age in the UK general population? Arora A, Pell D, van Sluijs EMF, Winpenny EM. PLoS One.
- Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: building a dry stone wall. Ogilvie D, Bauman A, Foley L, Guell C, Humphreys D, Panter J. BMJ Glob Health.
- Road user charging: a policy whose time has finally arrived. Laverty AA, Vamos EP, Panter J, Millett C. Lancet Planet Health.
- The impact of adult behavioural weight management interventions on mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Jones RA, Lawlor ER, Birch JM, Patel MI, Werneck AO, Hoare E, Griffin SJ, van Sluijs EMF, Sharp SJ, Ahern AL. Obes Rev.
- The Lancet Commission on diabetes: using data to transform diabetes care and patient lives. Chan JCN, Lim LL, Wareham NJ, Shaw JE, Orchard TJ, Zhang P, Lau ESH, Eliasson B, Kong APS, Ezzati M, Aguilar-Salinas CA, McGill M, Levitt NS, Ning G, So WY, Adams J, Bracco P, Forouhi NG, Gregory GA, Guo J, Hua X, Klatman EL, Magliano DJ, Ng BP, Ogilvie D, Panter J, Pavkov M, Shao H, Unwin N, White M, Wou C, Ma RCW, Schmidt MI, Ramachandran A, Seino Y, Bennett PH, Oldenburg B, Gagliardino JJ, Luk AOY, Clarke PM, Ogle GD, Davies MJ, Holman RR, Gregg EW. Lancet.
- Using satellite imagery to estimate heavy vehicle volume for ecological injury analysis in India. Goel R, Miranda JJ, Gouveia N, Woodcock J. Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot.
Diet
- Anticipatory changes in British household purchases of soft drinks associated with the announcement of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy: A controlled interrupted time series analysis. Pell D, Penney TL, Mytton O, Briggs A, Cummins S, Rayner M, Rutter H, Scarborough P, Sharp SJ, Smith RD, White M, Adams J. PLoS Med.
- Associations of early adulthood life transitions with changes in fast food intake: a latent trajectory analysis. Winpenny EM, Winkler MR, Stochl J, van Sluijs EMF, Larson N, Neumark-Sztainer D. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act.
- Nonalcoholic and Alcoholic Beverage Intakes by Adults across 5 Upper-Middle- and High-Income Countries. Vanderlee L, White CM, Kirkpatrick SI, Rynard VL, Jáuregui A, Adams J, Sacks G, Hammond D. J Nutr.
- The potential health impact of restricting less-healthy food and beverage advertising on UK television between 05.30 and 21.00 hours: A modelling study. Mytton OT, Boyland E, Adams J, Collins B, O’Connell M, Russell SJ, Smith K, Stroud R, Viner RM, Cobiac LJ. PLoS Med.
Physical Activity
- A whole family-based physical activity promotion intervention: findings from the families reporting every step to health (FRESH) pilot randomised controlled trial. Guagliano JM, Armitage SM, Brown HE, Coombes E, Fusco F, Hughes C, Jones AP, Morton KL, van Sluijs EMF. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act.
- Birth weight, cardiometabolic risk factors and effect modification of physical activity in children and adolescents: pooled data from 12 international studies. Bernhardsen GP, Stensrud T, Hansen BH, Steene-Johannesen J, Kolle E, Nystad W, Anderssen SA, Hallal PC, Janz KF, Kriemler S, Andersen LB, Northstone K, Resaland GK, Sardinha LB, van Sluijs EMF, Ried-Larsen M, Ekelund U; International Children’s Accelerometry Database (ICAD) Collaborators. Int J Obes (Lond).
- Cohabitation and marriage during the transition between adolescence and emerging adulthood: A systematic review of changes in weight-related outcomes, diet and physical activity. Werneck AO, Winpenny EM, Foubister C, Guagliano JM, Monnickendam AG, van Sluijs EMF, Corder K. Pr ev Med Rep.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the GoActive intervention to increase physical activity among UK adolescents: A cluster randomised controlled trial. Corder K, Sharp SJ, Jong ST, Foubister C, Brown HE, Wells EK, Armitage SM, Croxson CHD, Vignoles A, Wilkinson PO, Wilson ECF, van Sluijs EMF. PLoS Med.
- Integrated Impact Assessment of Active Travel: Expanding the Scope of the Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for Walking and Cycling. Götschi T, Kahlmeier S, Castro A, Brand C, Cavill N, Kelly P, Lieb C, Rojas-Rueda D, Woodcock J, Racioppi F. Int J Environ Res Public Health.
- Keeping kids safe for active travel to school: A mixed method examination of school policies and practices and children’s school travel behaviour. Ikeda E, Mavoa S, Cavadino A, Carroll P, Hinckson E, Witten K, Smith M. Travel Behav Soc.
- Reach, Recruitment, Dose, and Intervention Fidelity of the GoActive School-Based Physical Activity Intervention in the UK: A Mixed-Methods Process Evaluation. Jong ST, Croxson CHD, Foubister C, Brown HE, Guell C, Lawlor ER, Wells EK, Wilkinson PO, Wilson ECF, van Sluijs EMF, Corder K. Children (Basel).
- The social and physical workplace environment and commute mode: A natural experimental study. Patterson R, Ogilvie D, Panter J. Prev Med Rep.
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