Publications by authors named "Allison Jones"

The burden of uterine cancer is growing and, in the US and UK, mortality rates are poorest among black women. Early detection of these cancers is critical and poor performance of ultrasound in black women may contribute to adverse outcomes. Limited data on this topic are available from Africa.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) is a competitive strategy used by bacteria, particularly mediated by proteins called CdiA, which inject toxic regions into neighboring cells to inhibit their growth.
  • CdiA is made up of two distinct domains: the C-terminal ionophore domain, which forms a structure capable of crossing cell membranes, and an N-terminal entry domain that can vary in structure and function, allowing the toxin to insert into other bacteria.
  • Researchers have identified various receptor proteins for these toxins, with significant diversity in immunity proteins (CdiI) that provide protection against specific toxins, highlighting a complex and highly specific interaction network among bacterial species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Accurate emergency triage is essential for timely and appropriate care based on patient acuity. We sought to evaluate triage accuracy among emergency department (ED) nurses and examine potential influencing factors.

Methods: We conducted an observational study using an electronic medical record chart review of 100 patients admitted at one of three EDs in a large academic medical system in the southern United States from December 1 to 7, 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the reliability of the Illumina Methylation array platform in measuring DNA methylation by evaluating the consistency of repeated measures using both type I and type II Infinium probes.
  • A new method is proposed to identify unreliable probes by using dynamic thresholds for mean intensity (MI) and unreliability scores based on simulations that factor in technical noise.
  • Validation across multiple datasets indicates that probes with low MI tend to show higher variability in β values, and an R package is introduced to help researchers calculate MI and unreliability scores for better data analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Propofol, a commonly used agent for short- and long-term sedation, is associated with acute pancreatitis. The main indirect mechanism of propofol-associated acute pancreatitis is by inducing hypertriglyceridemia. Patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia often require prolonged mechanical ventilation and sedation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most prevalent gynaecological cancer in high-income countries and its incidence is continuing to rise sharply. Simple and objective tools to reliably detect women with EC are urgently needed. We recently developed and validated the DNA methylation (DNAme)-based women's cancer risk identification-quantitative polymerase chain reaction test for endometrial cancer (WID-qEC) test that could address this need.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Tissue-specificity for fimbrial fallopian tube ovarian carcinogenesis remains largely unknown in mutation carriers. We aimed to assess the cell autonomous and cell-nonautonomous implications of a germline mutation in the context of cancer immunosurveillance of CD3 CD56 natural killer (NK) cells.

Methods: Premenopausal mutation carriers versus age-matched non-carriers were compared.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Tobacco use is a major modifiable risk factor for adverse health outcomes, including cancer, and elicits profound epigenetic changes thought to be associated with long-term cancer risk. While electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been advocated as harm reduction alternatives to tobacco products, recent studies have revealed potential detrimental effects, highlighting the urgent need for further research into the molecular and health impacts of e-cigarettes. Here, we applied computational deconvolution methods to dissect the cell- and tissue-specific epigenetic effects of tobacco or e-cigarette use on DNA methylation (DNAme) in over 3,500 buccal/saliva, cervical, or blood samples, spanning epithelial and immune cells at directly and indirectly exposed sites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Lifting of masking restrictions at key periods during the COVID-19 pandemic may have disproportionately negatively impacted the mental health of individuals with disabilities.

Objective: This study examines the prevalence of depression-related symptoms in individuals with and without disabilities preceding and following the US rollback of COVID-19 masking mandates.

Methods: Pandemic-era data on reported symptoms of depression from the federal Household Pulse Survey from dates surrounding two major announcements on masking relaxations were analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Nurses' preparedness to provide hemorrhage control aid outside of the patient care setting has not been thoroughly evaluated. We evaluated nurses' preparedness to provide hemorrhage control in the prehospital setting after a proof-of-concept training event.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of evaluations from a voluntary hemorrhage control training offered to a group of experienced nurses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Researchers are investigating the effectiveness of a new DNA methylation test (WID-qEC) compared to traditional imaging tests for detecting uterine cancer in women experiencing abnormal uterine bleeding.
  • The study, called EPI-SURE, involved women aged 45 and older attending a gynecological diagnostic center and collected cervicovaginal samples alongside standard imaging tests.
  • Out of 474 potential participants, 399 women were included for analysis, and initial findings highlighted that approximately 47% received recommendations for further examination based on the imaging tests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Accurate triage assessment by emergency nurses is essential for prioritizing patient care and providing appropriate treatment. Undertriage and overtriage remain an ongoing issue in care of patients who present to the emergency department. The purpose of this literature review was to examine factors associated with triage accuracy in the emergency department.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Analysis of cell-free DNA methylation (cfDNAme), alone or combined with CA125, could help to detect ovarian cancers earlier and may reduce mortality. We assessed cfDNAme in regions of ZNF154, C2CD4D and WNT6 via targeted bisulfite sequencing in diagnostic and early detection (preceding diagnosis) settings. Diagnostic samples were obtained via prospective blood collection in cell-free DNA tubes in a convenience series of patients with a pelvic mass.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Uncontrolled trauma-related hemorrhage remains the primary preventable cause of death among those with critical injury.

Study Objective: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the types of trauma associated with critical injury and trauma-related hemorrhage, and to determine the time to definitive care among patients treated at major trauma centers who were predicted to require massive transfusion.

Methods: A secondary analysis was performed of the Pragmatic, Randomized, Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios (PROPPR) trial data (N = 680).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Researchers developed a new index called WID™-qtBC that uses DNA methylation levels to help identify women at risk for breast cancer, going beyond traditional genetic assessments.
  • The study showed that women with a combination of high polygenic risk scores and elevated WID™-qtBC levels have a significantly increased risk (9.6 times) for developing breast cancer.
  • The WID™-qtBC can be influenced by lifestyle factors like age and body mass index, and may be modifiable through preventive treatments, highlighting the interaction between genetics and environmental factors in cancer risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: High-risk HPV infection is responsible for >99% of cervix cancers (CC). In persistent infections that lead to cancer, the tumour breaches the basement membrane, releasing HPV-DNA into the bloodstream (cHPV-DNA). A next-generation sequencing assay (NGS) for detection of plasma HPV circulating DNA (cHPV-DNA) has demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in patients with locally advanced cervix cancers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Individuals experiencing mental illness make up a significant portion of the world's population. Individuals with mental illness experience higher rates of morbidity and die on average at least a decade earlier than individuals without mental health disorders. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Issues of stigma, diagnostic overshadowing, premature closure, inadequate workup, fear and lack of training negatively impact the care of individuals with mental illness.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The incidence of endometrial cancer is rising. Measures to identify women at risk and to detect endometrial cancer earlier are required to reduce the morbidity triggered by the aggressive treatment required for advanced endometrial cancer. We developed the WID-EC (Women's cancer risk IDentification-Endometrial Cancer) test, which is based on DNA methylation at 500 CpG sites, in a discovery set of cervical liquid-based cytology samples from 1086 women with and without an endometrial cancer (217 cancer cases and 869 healthy controls) with a worse prognosis (grade 3 or ≥stage IB).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Cervical screening with HPV testing and cytology is being adopted globally, but cytology has limitations, particularly in younger women; this study aimed to create a reliable triage test called WID™-qCIN that efficiently predicts progression to CIN3+ in HPV-positive patients.
  • - The WID™-qCIN test, analyzing specific human gene regions, showed impressive results: 100% sensitivity for invasive cancer detection and 78% for CIN3, with a specificity of 90%, effectively identifying at-risk women, especially those with initially negative cytology.
  • - The study concludes that WID™-qCIN represents a significant advancement over traditional cervical screening methods, suggesting it could provide an affordable and
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Cervical screening is shifting from using cytology to primarily testing for high-risk HPV, but there's a need for a specific test to identify which HPV-positive women require further investigation for serious cervical conditions like CIN3+.
  • Researchers analyzed DNA methylation patterns across thousands of samples to develop a new test called WID-CIN, which successfully identifies higher-risk cases of CIN3+ with impressive sensitivity and specificity.
  • The WID-CIN test demonstrated a 92.7% sensitivity in women over 30, making it a promising tool for better triaging patients and potentially improving cervical cancer screenings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Many women experience abnormal vaginal bleeding, but only a few actually have endometrial or cervical cancer, highlighting the need for better diagnostic tests.
  • The newly developed WID-qEC test analyzes DNA methylation to identify women with suspicious symptoms using liquid cytology samples.
  • In studies, the WID-qEC test showed very high accuracy in detecting both types of cancer, significantly outperforming traditional cytology methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Actinic keratoses (AKs) are pre-malignant skin lesions that can give rise to squamous cell carcinomas. Involvement of adnexal structures by AKs has been postulated to confer resistance to therapy and facilitate malignant progression. In our study, we identified several factors associated with increased risk of adnexal involvement of AKs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Endometrial cancer (EC) incidence has been rising over the past 10 years. Delays in diagnosis reduce survival and necessitate more aggressive treatment. We aimed to develop and validate a simple, noninvasive, and reliable triage test for EC to reduce the number of invasive diagnostic procedures and improve patient survival.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF