Welcome to WIRE

(Wolverhampton Intellectual Repository and E-Theses)

WIRE is an open access repository for the research publications and other outputs from postgraduate students and staff at the University of Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton staff: to deposit your publication to WIRE, go to: https://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/research/wire/

Use the search box above or the browse function on the left to discover publications from the research community at the University of Wolverhampton.

University students and staff can also search WIRE using LibrarySearch

For further information or help, contact the Scholarly Communications Team at wire@wlv.ac.uk

 

  • Football and fetishism

    Geal, Robert (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023-12-31)
    Professional association football functions as a fetish which disavows both the foundational loss inherent to subjectivity and more subsidiary forms of symbolic castration produced by contemporary capitalism. This article analyses the various forms of castration and its disavowal inherent to the game and its fandom, and argues that football ritualises and reinforces the ideological illusion of the subject as an active rational agent within an actuality of passivity and loss.
  • Treatment adaptations and outcomes of patients experiencing inflammatory bowel disease flares during the early COVID-19 pandemic: the PREPARE-IBD multicentre cohort study

    Saifuddin, Aamir; Kent, Alexandra; Mehta, Shameer; Hicks, Lucy; Gonzalez, Haidee A; Segal, Jonathan P.; Brookes, Matthew; Subramanian, Sreedhar; Bhala, Neeraj; Conley, Thomas E; et al. (Wiley, 2022-10-05)
    Background: The COVID-19 pandemic offered a unique opportunity to understand inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) management during unexpected disruption. This could help to guide practice overall. Aims: To compare prescribing behaviour for IBD flares and outcomes during the early pandemic with pre-pandemic findings. Methods: We performed an observational cohort study comprising patients who contacted IBD teams for symptomatic flares between March and June 2020 in 60 National Health Service trusts in the United Kingdom. Data were compared with a pre-pandemic cohort after propensity-matching for age and physician global assessment of disease activity. Results: We included 1864 patients in each of the pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts. The principal findings were reduced systemic corticosteroid prescription during the pandemic in Crohn's disease (prednisolone: pandemic 26.5% vs. 37.1%; p < 0.001) and ulcerative colitis (UC) (prednisolone: pandemic 33.5% vs. 40.7%, p < 0.001), with increases in poorly bioavailable oral corticosteroids in Crohn's (pandemic 15.6% vs. 6.8%; p < 0.001) and UC (pandemic 11.8% vs. 5.2%; p < 0.001). Ustekinumab (Crohn's and UC) and vedolizumab (UC) treatment also significantly increased. Three-month steroid-free remission in each period was similar in Crohn's (pandemic 28.4% vs. 32.1%; p = 0.17) and UC (pandemic 36.4% vs. 40.2%; p = 0.095). Patients experiencing a flare and suspected COVID-19 were more likely to have moderately-to-severely active disease at 3 months than those with a flare alone. Conclusions: Despite treatment adaptations during the pandemic, steroid-free outcomes were comparable with pre-pandemic levels, although concurrent flare and suspected COVID-19 caused worse outcomes. These findings have implications for IBD management during future pandemics and for standard practice.
  • Metal distribution in first flush in highway runoff of one of the busiest motorway junctions in the UK

    Zakharova, Julia; M Pouran, Hamid; Wheatley, Andrew (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023-05-12)
    Although the ‘first flush’ phenomenon has been extensively studied, there is still a niche remaining for a further contribution to this topic. The work reported in this paper addresses the challenges connected with the first flush from junction 24 of the M1 motorway in the UK. The event monitoring indicated that such factors as ADWP, rainfall intensity plus the catchment cleanliness and the loss of roughness, acting in combination, are the key factors in determining the presence of pollutants in the first flush. In addition, this study has also helped us to better understand the mechanism of iron release due to the presence of anaerobic and aerobic conditions – it showed the greatest proportion of its mass (73.6%), compared to other pollutants, in the first 30% of the runoff volume, which would suggest that the local conditions of the catchment can confound such a simple theory as that of pollutant dilution. The unexpectedly high presence of dissolved iron could be attributed to dissolved organic carbon, humic substances and anaerobic microbial activity.
  • The analysis of gut microbiota in patients with bile acid diarrhoea treated with colesevelam

    Kumar, Aditi; Quraishi, Mohammed Nabil; Al-Hassi, Hafid Omar; El-Asrag, Mohammed E.; Segal, Jonathan P.; Jain, Manushri; Steed, Helen; Butterworth, Jeffrey; Farmer, Adam; McLaughlin, John; et al. (Frontiers Media, 2023-03-17)
    Introduction: Bile acid diarrhoea (BAD) is a common disorder that results from an increased loss of primary bile acids and can result in a change in microbiome. The aims of this study were to characterise the microbiome in different cohorts of patients with BAD and to determine if treatment with a bile acid sequestrant, colesevelam, can alter the microbiome and improve microbial diversity. Materials and methods: Patients with symptoms of diarrhoea underwent 75-selenium homocholic acid (75SeHCAT) testing and were categorised into four cohorts: idiopathic BAD, post-cholecystectomy BAD, post-operative Crohn’s disease BAD and 75SeHCAT negative control group. Patients with a positive 75SeHCAT (<15%) were given a trial of treatment with colesevelam. Stool samples were collected pre-treatment, 4-weeks, 8-weeks and 6–12 months post-treatment. Faecal 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis was undertaken. Results: A total of 257 samples were analysed from 134 patients. α-diversity was significantly reduced in patients with BAD and more specifically, in the idiopathic BAD cohort and in patients with severe disease (SeHCAT <5%); p < 0.05. Colesevelam did not alter bacterial α/β-diversity but patients who clinically responded to treatment had a significantly greater abundance of Fusobacteria and Ruminococcus, both of which aid in the conversion of primary to secondary bile acids. Conclusion: This is the first study to examine treatment effects on the microbiome in BAD, which demonstrated a possible association with colesevelam on the microbiome through bile acid modulation in clinical responders. Larger studies are now needed to establish a causal relationship with colesevelam and the inter-crosstalk between bile acids and the microbiome.
  • Delphi consensus survey: the opinions of patients living with refractory ulcerative proctitis and the health care professionals who care for them

    Selinger, Christian; Lamb, Christopher; Linger, Rachel; Brookes, Matthew; Hart, Ailsa; Gaya, Daniel; Segal, Jonathan; Bloom, Stuart; Arnott, Ian; Smith, Philip; et al. (BMJ Publishing Group, 2023-05-24)
    Background Refractory ulcerative proctitis presents a huge clinical challenge not only for the patients living with this chronic, progressive condition but also for the professionals who care for them. Currently, there is limited research and evidence-based guidance, resulting in many patients living with the symptomatic burden of disease and reduced quality of life. The aim of this study was to establish a consensus on the thoughts and opinions related to refractory proctitis disease burden and best practice for management. Methods A three-round Delphi consensus survey was conducted among patients living with refractory proctitis and the healthcare experts with knowledge on this disease from the UK. A brainstorming stage involving a focus group where the participants came up with an initial list of statements was completed. Following this, there were three rounds of Delphi surveys in which the participants were asked to rank the importance of the statements and provide any additional comments or clarifications. Calculation of mean scores, analysis of comments and revisions were performed to produce a final list of statements. Results In total, 14 statements were suggested by the focus group at the initial brainstorming stage. Following completion of three Delphi survey rounds, all 14 statements reached consensus following appropriate revision. Conclusions We established consensus on the thoughts and opinions related to refractory proctitis from both the experts who manage this disease and the patients living with it. This represents the first step towards developing clinical research data and ultimately the evidence needed for best practice management guidance of this condition.

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