Towards Open Data for Public Accountability: Examining the US and the UK Models

As demand for greater public accountability and transparency in the UK health care system continues to grow, surgeons of all specialties are in discussion on how best to produce outcome data specific to individual clinicians. In the US individual outcomes for cardiac surgery have been published in some states for almost 20 years, yet surgeons here and abroad remain sceptical as to whether the benefits of public reporting outweigh the negatives.

Download Full-text

Differences in the sodium content of bread products in the USA and UK: implications for policy

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s136898001700324x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (03) ◽

pp. 632-636 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Kasey J Coyne ◽

Abigail S Baldridge ◽

Mark D Huffman ◽

Katharine Jenner ◽

Dagan Xavier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Data ◽

Sodium Content ◽

Salt Reduction ◽

Product Categories ◽

Department Of Health ◽

The Us ◽

Reduction Strategies ◽

The Usa ◽

Packaged Foods ◽

The Uk

Abstract Objective Americans consume Na in excess of daily recommendations. Most dietary Na comes from packaged foods, and bread is a major contributor. In the UK, national Na reduction strategies contributed to lower Na levels in packaged foods and lower population Na intake. Similar initiatives are emerging in the USA and require surveillance to assess effectiveness. We aimed to examine Na levels in bread products in the USA and compare levels with similar UK products. Design Na data for bread products were obtained from the US Label Insight Open Data Initiative (n 4466) and the FoodSwitch UK database (n 1651). Mean, median and range of Na content, and proportion of products meeting Na targets established by the National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) and the UK Department of Health (DH) were calculated overall, by bread type and by country. Results Mean (sd) Na content in bread was 455 (170) mg/100 g in the USA and 406 (179) mg/100 g in the UK. In both countries, savoury bread had the highest mean Na (USA=584 mg/100 g, UK=543 mg/100 g) and fruit bread the lowest mean Na (USA=345 mg/100 g, UK=277 mg/100 g). Na content of US bread products was 12 % higher than in the UK, with 21 % of US bread products and 31 % of UK bread products meeting the NSRI and DH targets, respectively. Conclusions US bread products have, on average, 12 % more Na than similar products in the UK. Variation in Na content within product categories, and between countries, suggests the feasibility of manufacturing products with lower Na to lower dietary Na intake.

Download Full-text

Research Funding for Male Reproductive Health and Infertility in the UK and USA [2016 to 2019]

10.1101/2021.08.23.456936 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Eva Gumerova ◽

Christopher J. De Jonge ◽

Christopher LR Barratt

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Health ◽

Male Infertility ◽

Research Funding ◽

Open Data ◽

Research Groups ◽

Research Activity ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Us ◽

The Uk ◽

Male Reproductive Health

There is a paucity of data on research funding for male reproductive health. We investigated the research funding for male reproductive health and infertility by examining publicly accessible databases from the UK and US government funding agencies. Information on the funding provided to male–based and 40 female–based research was collected using public accessed web databases from the UKRI–GTR, the NIHR's Open Data Summary, and the US' NIH RePORT. Funded projects that began research activity between January 2016 to December 2019 were recorded, along with their grant and project details. Strict inclusion–exclusion criteria were followed for both UK and US data with a primary research focus on male infertility, reproductive health and disorders, and contraception development. Funding support was divided into three research groups: male–based, female–based, and not–specified research. Between the 4–year period, the UK is divided into 5 funding periods, starting from 2015/16 to 2019/20, and the US is divided into 5 fiscal years, from 2016 to 2020. Between January 2016 to December 2019, UK agencies awarded a total of 11,767,190 GBP to 18 projects for male–based research and 29,850,945 GBP to 40 projects for female–based research. There was no statistically significant difference in funding average between the two research groups. The US NIH funded 76 projects totaling 59,257,746 US dollars for male–based research and 99 projects totaling 83,272,898 US dollars for female–based research. There was no statistically significant difference in funding average between the two groups. The findings of this study cannot be used to generalize and reflect global funding trends towards infertility and reproductive health as the data collected followed a narrow funding timeframe from government agencies and only two countries. Other funding sources such as charities, industry and major philanthropic organizations were not evaluated. This is the first study examining funding granted by main government research agencies from the UK and US for male reproductive health. This study should stimulate further discussion of the challenges of tackling male infertility and reproductive health disorders and formulate appropriate investment strategies.

Download Full-text

‘To see oursels as ithers see us’: Reflections on Scottish Independence from the United States

Scottish Affairs ◽

10.3366/scot.2014.0036 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 381-388 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Euan Hague ◽

Alan Mackie

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

The Us ◽

Scottish Independence ◽

The Uk ◽

Scottish Diaspora

The United States media have given rather little attention to the question of the Scottish referendum despite important economic, political and military links between the US and the UK/Scotland. For some in the US a ‘no’ vote would be greeted with relief given these ties: for others, a ‘yes’ vote would be acclaimed as an underdog escaping England's imperium, a narrative clearly echoing America's own founding story. This article explores commentary in the US press and media as well as reporting evidence from on-going interviews with the Scottish diaspora in the US. It concludes that there is as complex a picture of the 2014 referendum in the United States as there is in Scotland.

Download Full-text

Identity Politics and Migration

Anthropological Journal of European Cultures ◽

10.3167/ajec.2008.01701010 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 155-158

Author(s):

Vytis Čiubrinskas

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

Identity Politics ◽

Host Country ◽

Social Anthropology ◽

The Us ◽

And Migration ◽

The Uk ◽

A Current ◽

Respective Host

The Centre of Social Anthropology (CSA) at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas has coordinated projects on this, including a current project on 'Retention of Lithuanian Identity under Conditions of Europeanisation and Globalisation: Patterns of Lithuanian-ness in Response to Identity Politics in Ireland, Norway, Spain, the UK and the US'. This has been designed as a multidisciplinary project. The actual expressions of identity politics of migrant, 'diasporic' or displaced identity of Lithuanian immigrants in their respective host country are being examined alongside with the national identity politics of those countries.

Download Full-text