Harpenden

Researchers are exploring the benefits of personalised music for people living with mild to moderate dementia in care homes. This feasibility study aims to develop efficient methods to create and deliver personalised music playlists and to assess the responses of residents to this music. The study also includes a pilot sub-study using fMRI to investigate how personalised music affects brain activity and a larger sub-study inviting families to use a WebApp to create playlists for loved ones with dementia living at home or in the community. Participants will have a long-list of about 100 tracks created based on their musical tastes and background, especially from their teenage years. Short music listening sessions will be conducted where residents listen to 30-second excerpts while wearing a wrist monitor to track movement and pulse rate, and sessions will be filmed to analyse facial expressions and movements. A refined playlist of 10-20 tracks will then be generated. Residents will listen to their personalised playlists multiple times during the study, with delivery methods such as wireless headphones and smart speakers evaluated for ease of use and effectiveness. Throughout the study, researchers will collect both quantitative and qualitative data including facial expression analysis, heart rate monitoring, and feedback from residents, carers, and care home staff. Well-being will be assessed using behavioural and psychological symptom inventories and quality of life measures at several points during the study. Focus groups and interviews will explore the impact of personalised music on residents' moods, behaviours, and care experiences. The study will last about six months per participant, with ongoing monitoring of responses and acceptability of the music delivery methods.

Researchers are studying patients with rotator cuff injuries who are undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery. This study collects real-world data on the outcomes of using the REGENETEN Bioinductive Implant System, a medical device designed to manage and protect rotator cuff tendon injuries where there has been no significant loss of tendon tissue. The registry involves multiple centers across the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia and plans to enroll up to 400 patients. Participants will receive arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery augmented with the REGENETEN Bioinductive Implant as part of their standard medical care. The implant is intended to support tendon healing in either partial or full thickness tendon tears. This is a prospective, single-arm study without a comparison group, focusing on collecting data after surgery. Patients will be followed and evaluated at multiple time points up to two years after surgery. Assessments include quality of life, arm and shoulder function, shoulder pain levels, and overall shoulder evaluation using several validated scoring systems. Data will be collected at baseline before surgery and at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months post-surgery to monitor recovery and outcomes over time.