To determine the personal, National Health Service and wider societal resource use in relation to caring responsibilities for carers of people living with non-memory led dementias (NMLDs); and to design a resource use measure (RUM) that can be delivered in the Better Living with Non-memory-led Dementia (BELIDE) randomised controlled trial, part of the Rare Dementia (RD) - TALK research programme.

The first stage was to identify and review any existing RUMs that could be used or adapted to the trial population and setting. If no measures were identified, the second stage was initial informal discussions with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and the programme patient and public involvement representatives to inform the perspective, settings of care and main resource items to develop a new RUM. In the third stage, a first draft of the RUM was tested for content and face validity in a modified Delphi study comprising HCPs and carers. The measure was revised and, in the final stage, piloted in the first 3 months of the BELIDE trial to assess acceptability and feasibility of collecting the economic outcomes and the completeness of data collection. The key drivers of resource use and costs were assessed, and appropriate face validity checks were applied to ensure accurate description of the treatment pathways.

Carers and family of people living with NMLD recruited from Rare Dementia Support members in the UK, and a broad range of HCPs with experience of working with people who have NMLD to capture the different dimensions of experience, grade and skill mix.

In total, 20 people participated in the modified Delphi study, 11 HCPs and 9 carers. Rare Dementia Support groups and 1:1 calls were highly rated, as were general practitioner appointments. The greatest consensus was in the productivity and carer tasks; all caring tasks were highly rated. Healthcare practitioners rated healthcare items as higher importance than carers themselves.

Unpaid carers and HCPs are the experts in the resource impact of caring for someone with NMLD and have been underserved in research to date. This research, as part of preparatory stages of the BELIDE trial, has enabled the timely development of a comprehensive and valid RUM for unpaid carers of people with NMLD.

CRD42022356943.

NCT06241287.

To assess whether transgender women who have sex with men (TGWSM) sampled in men who have sex with men (MSM) biobehavioural surveys in Ukraine experience different levels of sexual risk, stigma, HIV prevalence and engagement in the HIV care than cisgender MSM (CMSM).

Analysis of secondary data from three population-level cross-sectional surveys.

The analysis was conducted on data from three rounds of integrated biobehavioural surveys of MSM in 27 cities of Ukraine from 2013 to 2018.

Data from n=18 621 MSM with n=18 102 CMSM and n=503 TGWSM.

The primary outcomes were differences in sexual risk behaviours, HIV testing and treatment uptake, and the secondary outcomes were differences in lifetime experiences of stigma, coercive sex and physical assault (in the 2018 survey only) between CMSM and TGWSM.

Compared with CMSM, TGWSM were more likely to be clients of non-governmental organisations (adjusted OR, aOR: 1.39, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.67), engage in commercial sex (last month; aOR: 1.28, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.61), have group sex (aOR: 1.31, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.61), more long-term sex partners (last month; adjusted incidence rate ratio: 1.14, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.27), history of imprisonment (aOR: 1.51, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.31) and engage in chemsex (last month, aOR: 1.58, 95% CI 1.12 to 2.23). We found no difference in HIV prevalence (5.17% in TGWSM vs 5.43% in CMSM, p=0.065). In 2018, more TGWSM reported lifetime experience of stigma from family and friends (aOR: 3.58, 95% CI 2.54 to 5.04), general social stigma (aOR: 3.13, 95% CI 2.22 to 4.41), anticipated healthcare stigma (aOR: 3.63, 95% CI 2.53 to 5.16), physical assault (aOR: 2.73, 95% CI 1.85 to 4.03) and coercive sex (aOR: 3.01, 95% CI 1.99 to 4.55) than CMSM.

TGWSM in Ukraine may be at increased risk of HIV acquisition compared to CMSM due to many factors including elevated levels of stigma and violence. Services specifically tailored for transgender people are needed to help reduce these high-risk behaviours.

Maternal and child mortality has markedly decreased worldwide over the past few decades. Despite this success, the decline remains unequal across countries and is overall insufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa bear most of the burden of maternal and child morbidity and mortality. Major gaps persist in our understanding of the causes, timing, diagnostic thresholds and risk factors for adverse outcomes in these regions. Addressing these gaps requires new ways to prevent and treat disease, from novel diagnostics to precision public health strategies, all of which rely on high-quality clinical data from diverse populations. The Pregnancy Risk, Infant Surveillance, and Measurement Alliance (PRISMA) Maternal and Newborn Health Study aims to estimate population-level prevalence of morbidities and mortality and to assess biological, clinical and sociodemographic risk among mother–infant pairs in India, Pakistan, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia.

This study is a prospective, open cohort study with a planned recruitment of about 6000 women annually across six research sites in five countries. Participants are pregnant women enrolled less than 20 weeks gestation, as determined by ultrasound, identified through active house-to-house and facility-based surveillance. Robust clinical data will be collected at 12 scheduled study visits during antenatal care, labour and delivery, and through 1 year postpartum. A total of 34 outcomes will be captured. The primary analysis will estimate the burden of adverse outcomes and examine associated risk factors to inform future intervention strategies. Data will also be used to develop normative values for pregnant and postpartum women, as well as predictive models to assess pregnancy risk.

PRISMA received institutional and national ethical approvals. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed open-access journals and disseminated at national and international forums to inform clinical guidelines and public health practice.

NCT05904145.

The prevalence of depression and mood disorders has been steadily rising in Australian youth, with a concomitant increase in antidepressant pharmacotherapy prescription rates. Yet, the tolerability and efficacy of antidepressant drugs in youth remain poor. Pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing, or the personalised and guided treatment of medication based on genetic data, has been suggested to improve the effectiveness and tolerability of antidepressants. However, limited studies have evaluated the utility of antidepressant PGx-guided treatment in adolescent and young adult populations. Thus, this pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT), the GENE-YD Study, will evaluate the feasibility for a large-scale RCT assessing the effect of PGx-guided antidepressant prescription vs treatment as usual in youth with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Eighty young people between 16 and 24 years of age and in the early stages of pharmacotherapy treatment for MDD will be recruited. Following initial screening, participants will be randomised on a 1:1 ratio to either the intervention or control study group. Participants in the intervention condition will have their treatment tailored based on their PGx profile. Participants randomised into the control group will have their prescription based on current best practice recommendations, or treatment as usual. Individuals will be assessed at drug prescription baseline and again 6 and 12 weeks following drug prescription. The primary outcome of the study will be to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the GENE-YD protocol. Specifically, this study will explore participation recruitment strategies and attrition to the study protocols to guide the recruitment processes of a large-scale RCT, along with participating satisfaction in overall study protocols. Secondary outcomes will inform the utility and variability of specific measures (eg, depression rating scales, quality of life measures and medication adherence scales) that may be scaled up for use in a future full-scale trial.

Ethics approval was granted by the Department of Health, Western Australia’s Human Research Ethics Committee (RGS0000006822) and recognised by the University of Western Australia’s Human Research Ethics Committee (2024/ET000685). All participants will be required to provide written informed consent. Results will be published in international peer-reviewed journals.

ACTRN12624000760572.

In recent decades, transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) has become a widely used non-invasive method for modulating brain function in clinical and non-clinical populations. However, existing tES trials exhibit substantial methodological heterogeneity, often limiting the reproducibility and interpretability of findings. There currently exists a paucity of consensus-driven, standardised recommendations outlining the key factors that should be reported and/or controlled in tES studies. Accordingly, this project aims to develop Consolidated Guidelines for Reporting and Evaluation of studies using tES (CoRE-tES), a tool designed to assess the methodological quality and reporting of laboratory-based and home-based tES studies. These guidelines will support improved quality, consistency, replication and transparency in research involving tES modalities, including transcranial direct current stimulation, transcranial alternating current stimulation and transcranial random noise stimulation.

CoRE-tES will be developed and disseminated over five stages. Stage 1 will comprise a review of recent tES literature to assess methodological and reporting quality. Stage 2 will employ a Delphi process to seek agreement among international tES experts on a list of items for inclusion in CoRE-tES. In stage 3, a consensus meeting will be held to synthesise and prioritise the agreed items to form CoRE-tES. Stage 4 will involve production of the final CoRE-tES checklist and an accompanying evaluation and elaboration document. In stage 5, CoRE-tES will be disseminated via journal publication, conferences, professional meetings and social media campaigns.

Ethics approval has been obtained from the Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number H16803). Findings will be disseminated through scientific conferences and peer-reviewed journal publications, and CoRE-tES will be indexed on the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research Network website.

Carers of people with non-memory-led dementias such as posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) face unique challenges. Yet, little evidence-based support and guidance are available for this population. To address this gap in services, we have developed a novel, web-based educational programme: the Better Living with Non-memory-led Dementia programme (BELIDE). BELIDE was co-designed with people with lived experience of non-memory-led dementia and a previous pilot study confirmed its feasibility as an online intervention. This protocol outlines the randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of BELIDE.

This is a parallel-group, single-blind, RCT of 238 unpaid caregivers of people diagnosed with PCA, PPA or bvFTD recruited internationally among members of the UK-based organisation Rare Dementia Support. The intervention (BELIDE programme) consists of six structured online educational modules tailored to each phenotype, a virtual onboarding session, real-life practice tasks and up to two follow-up facilitation sessions. The group receiving the intervention will be given access to the programme, while the control group will receive treatment as usual and be placed on a wait-list to receive access to the programme once they complete their participation in the trial. The allocation ratio will be 1:1 stratified by dementia diagnosis and gender. The primary outcome is reduction in caregiver depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes include stress, anxiety, self-efficacy, quality of life and caregiver-patient relationship quality. Data will be collected online via Qualtrics surveys at baseline, 8 weeks and 6 months post-randomisation. A mixed-method process evaluation with a subgroup of intervention participants will explore barriers and facilitators for engagement. A health economics evaluation will also be conducted to assess cost-effectiveness. If effective, this programme could improve access to caregiver support for non-memory-led dementias by providing scalable, tailored education.

Ethical approval has been granted by University College London Research Ethics Committee (8545/007). The results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications, conferences, stakeholder events and open-access resources.

This trial has been registered prospectively on the Clinical Trials registry, first posted on 5 February 2024 under registration number NCT06241287.