D2 Digital by Design: service delivery innovation award runner-up

Service users are sent personalised messages of support by the Response Prevention Project team. Photograph: Jason Lock/Jason Lock Photography

Text messages that support people recovering from alcohol misuse has significantly cut the number of people who relapse and have to be referred back to services.

Daily personalised support messages – which prompt a service user who has recently completed an alcohol misuse programme to reflect on their recovery – are delivered automatically as part of the Bolton Response Prevention Project called Shine.

The questions take into account the user's triggers to drink, such as the time of day they are likely to crave alcohol and also what motivates them to stop drinking such as their relationships with their family.

Service users are also asked whether they feel OK, or are struggling and need more support, and are sent appropriate messages.

Project manager Renate Kalnina at digital technology company D2 Digital by Design in Manchester, which is behind the initiative, says: "If they respond 'OK' we send them back a congratulatory message; if they are 'struggling' then the personalised intervention messages come into play.

"If they say that they need more support then the services get notified within 15 minutes and they get in touch with the client."

Service users are also sent a reminder via text message for appointments as part of the project, which ran from April 2010 to December 2012 in partnership with alcohol misuse services in Bolton.

Only 2.2% of Shine service users had to be re-referred for treatment, compared to 9.5% of non-Shine service users; a significant" reduction according to an analysis of the project.

Clients' attendance rates for relapse prevention programmes improved – rising from 42% to 72% in tier three services (medical intervention and psychosocial support) and from 17% to 72% in tier two services, which offer less intensive support and aftercare, the analysis revealed.

It is estimated the initiative has saved between £68,260 and £399,150, depending on individual client need.

D2 Digital by Design is in discussion with Public Health England about using the same model to support opiate users.

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Digital visualization in 3-D of cervical nerves in a healthy person

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Radiology / Nuclear Medicine
Article Date: 15 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Digital visualization in 3-D of cervical nerves in a healthy person

High-resolution multilayer X-ray computer tomography and 3.0T superconducting magnetic resonance myelography are known to obtain a more complete and continuous two-dimensional original data.

Three-dimensional reconstruction nerve models are classically obtained from two-dimensional images of "visible human" frozen sections. However, because of the flexibility of nerve tissues and small color differences compared with surrounding tissues, the integrity and validity of nerve tissues can be impaired during milling.

Jiaming Fu and colleagues from the 98 Hospital of Chinese PLA successfully developed a three-dimensional digital visualization model of healthy human cervical nerves, which overcomes the disadvantages of milling, avoids data loss, and exhibits a realistic appearance and three-dimensional image. Furthermore, vivid images from various angles can be observed due to minimal pattern distortion. This model revealed the morphology, distribution, and spatial relations of the major nerves of the neck, and provided three-dimensional morphological data for anatomical teaching and morphological observation of regenerated nerves, nerve block anesthesia, and surgery.

These results are published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 20, 2013).

Article: " A three-dimensional digital visualization model of cervical nerves in a healthy person," by Jiaming Cao1, Dong Fu2, Sen Li3 (1 Department of Anesthesiology, the 98 Hospital of Chinese PLA, Huzhou 313000, Zhejiang Province, China; 2 Department of Surgery, Hospital of 8691 People's Armed Police Force, Huzhou 313000, Zhejiang Province, China; 3 Department of Spinal Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou 646000, Sichuan Province, China)

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.20.001; 2013;8(20):1829-1836.

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