Background And Aims: Malignant biliary strictures (MBS) pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to the frequent indeterminate results after initial sampling. Next generation sequencing (NGS) panel (BiliSeq) offers promise in MBS detection, but real-world performance remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess standard sampling techniques alone and with BiliSeq for malignancy detection in biliary strictures, and to evaluate management changes based on NGS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection has worldwide public health concerns and lifelong medical impacts. The standard therapy, acyclovir, has limited efficacy in preventing HSV subclinical virus shedding, and drug resistance occurs in immunocompromised patients, highlighting the need for novel therapeutics. HSV infection manifests in the skin epidermal layer, but current drug discovery utilizes Vero cells and fibroblasts monolayer cultures, capturing neither relevance nor tissue environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Technol Assess
December 2024
Replications are important for assessing the reliability of published findings. However, they are costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower-cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions could accelerate assessment for rapid policy implementation in a crisis and help guide a more efficient allocation of scarce replication resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: This study explored the prospective use of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires-3 in follow-up after cardiac surgery.
Materials And Method: For children undergoing cardiac surgery at 5 United Kingdom centres, the Ages and Stages Questionnaires-3 were administered 6 months and 2 years later, with an outcome based on pre-defined cut-points: Red = 1 or more domain scores >2 standard deviations below the normative mean, Amber = 1 or more domain scores 1-2 standard deviations below the normal range based on the manual, Green = scores within the normal range based on the manual.
Results: From a cohort of 554 children <60 months old at surgery, 306 participated in the postoperative assessment: 117 (38.