Publications by authors named "Amanda Cox"

Background: Pollen-food allergy syndrome (PFAS) is common among patients with allergic rhinitis. Treatment recommendations for patients with PFAS remain variable.

Objective: To develop consensus recommendation statements for managing patients with PFAS.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Sarcoptic mange is a serious disease affecting wild bare-nosed wombats, leading to severe skin issues and potential death if untreated.
  • In Australia, moxidectin is approved as a treatment, but there is limited documented evidence of its effectiveness.
  • A case report described two male wombats treated with moxidectin, showing significant improvement in their skin condition and complete clearance of the mites after the treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Atopic dermatitis (AD) and food allergies are 2 atopic conditions that tend to develop early in life. Their interrelationship has been a topic of controversy and many studies. The presence of atopic dermatitis in infancy and early childhood, particularly if severe, is a risk factor for the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) -mediated food allergies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The emergence of spatial profiling technologies in recent years has accelerated opportunities to profile in detail the molecular attributes of a wide range of tissue pathologies using archival specimens. However, tissue treatment for fixation and storage does not always support generation of high-quality genomic data. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of Proteinase K (ProtK) treatment, as a way to increase target transcript exposure, on downstream sequencing data quality metrics for spatial transcriptomic data using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Scientists studied how tick bites affect skin to understand diseases caused by ticks.
  • They found many genes that behaved differently in skin right after a tick bite compared to skin taken later, showing how the body reacts over time.
  • The research could help identify markers to predict how a person will respond to tick bites and help with treatments in the future.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sarcoptic mange is a debilitating disease that affects bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus). One of the drugs currently used for treatment is moxidectin, as it has a relatively high efficacy against endo and ectoparasites and side effects are uncommon in domestic species, thus it is considered a relatively safe drug to use at the recommended doses. Developing further understanding of the pharmacokinetics of moxidectin will aid in developing treatment regimens for sarcoptic mange in wombats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Foods can induce adverse reactions by a variety of mechanisms. An understanding of the characteristic signs and symptoms and the related mechanisms of adverse food reactions allows the clinician to efficiently diagnose and treat patients. Adverse reactions to foods can be classified based on whether there is a nonimmunologic or immunologic basis for symptoms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Elevations in the gut metabolite trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) have been linked to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Whether elevated TMAO levels reflect early mechanistic involvement or a sequela of evolving disease awaits elucidation. The purpose of this study was to further explore these potential associations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Chronic alcohol use disorder (AUD) leads to neurodegeneration in the brain, primarily through mechanisms like chronic neuroinflammation affecting neuron survival.
  • Research has identified the gene α-synuclein as a potential player in AUD, but its specific role in alcohol-related brain damage remains unclear.
  • A systematic review found a significant gap in studies connecting α-synuclein and neuroinflammation specifically to AUD, with most research instead focusing on the TLR4 signaling pathway and other inflammatory responses in different neurodegenerative diseases.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The contributions of the gut microbiota to obesity and metabolic disease represent a potentially modifiable factor that may explain variation in risk between individuals. This study aimed to explore relationships among microbial composition and imputed functional attributes, a range of soluble metabolic and immune indices, and gene expression markers in males with or without evidence of metabolic dysregulation (MetDys).

Methods: This case-control study included healthy males (n=15; 41.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sexual minority men (SMM) face severe health inequities alongside negative experiences that drive avoidance of medical care. Understanding how SMM experience healthcare is paramount to improving this population's health. Patient-centered care, which emphasizes mutual respect and collaboration between patients and providers, may alleviate the disparaging effects of the homophobia that SMM face in healthcare settings.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death to children worldwide, and playgrounds pose a significant risk of injury. Those aged 5 and 6 years are particularly vulnerable to playground injuries. Previous interventions have typically targeted environmental modifications or increased supervision to reduce playground injuries; however, minimal research has focused on implementing behavioral interventions that seek to change children's safety knowledge and risk-taking behaviors on the playground.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The review focuses on precautionary allergen labeling (PAL) in food, highlighting its lack of regulation and inconsistent application by manufacturers, which causes confusion for consumers.
  • It points out that both allergic patients and healthcare providers often misinterpret PAL, indicating a need for better education and clearer guidelines.
  • As there is no regulatory framework currently in place, the review suggests that patients and providers must engage in shared decision-making to navigate PAL and tailor approaches to individual needs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The aim of the current study was to determine whether daily fucoidan supplementation ( extract containing >85% fucoidan, 1 g/day) for three-weeks in a double blind-placebo controlled cross-over trial (ACTRN12621000872831) could modulate alterations in faecal (calprotectin, lysozyme and IgA) and salivary (lactoferrin, lysozyme and IgA) markers of mucosal immune competence typically observed in response to both acute physical activity, and a period of intensified exercise training, in healthy recreationally active men ( = 12). Participants responded positively to the intensified training with 16-19% improvement in mean power that was not different between supplement groups. Faecal biomarkers and concentrations of lactoferrin, lysozyme and IgA from resting saliva samples were largely stable over the supplementation period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * In males with alcohol use disorder (AUD), miR-146a-5p levels rise regardless of liver cirrhosis status, while in females, levels are lower in those with AUD, pointing to sex-based differences and the influence of alcohol severity.
  • * Despite findings showing lower levels of TRAF6 in those with AUD complications, there was no correlation between miR-146a-5p and the other genes studied, highlighting the need for more research on inflammatory pathways that could help with treatment options for AUD. *
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sarcoptic mange in wombats results from a skin infestation by Sarcoptes mites and if untreated, results in a slow and painful death. Moxidectin is a pesticide used to treat internal and external parasites in cattle, but has shown to effectively treat other animals, including wombats. Two methods were developed to analyse wombat plasma, and methods were also developed to analyse faeces and fur.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Substance use treatment settings can play a critical role in ending the HIV epidemic. Community-based methadone clinics are potentially useful sites to offer biomedical HIV prevention, but little is known about how clinicians and other clinic staff communicate with patients about sexual behavior and HIV-related topics.

Methods: Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted at two methadone clinics in Northern New Jersey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study investigated how changes to a semi-automated DNA extraction kit affect the analysis of gut microbiota from fecal samples of healthy adults.
  • It found that while overall diversity remained similar across methods, significant differences appeared in the abundance of key bacterial groups, with lower Firmicutes and higher Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria when extra pre-processing wasn't used.
  • The results emphasize the need for standardizing DNA extraction methods to ensure more consistent and comparable microbiome data across studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Medical mistrust is a barrier to health care utilization and is associated with suboptimal health outcomes. Research on mistrust among sexual minority men (SMM) is limited and largely focuses on Black SMM and HIV, with few studies assessing mistrust among SMM of other race/ethnicities. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in medical mistrust among SMM by race.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Early phase clinical research provided initial support for the use of a multispecies probiotic supplement to improve quality of life (QoL) in adults with seasonal allergic rhinitis (AR) and reduce the use of AR symptom relieving medication. This study aimed to confirm these early phase findings in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Individuals, aged 18-65 years, with a minimum 2-year history of AR, moderate-to-severe AR symptoms, and a positive radio-allergosorbent test to Bermuda (Couch) Grass were randomized to receive either a multispecies probiotic supplement (total colony-forming units 4 × 10/day) or placebo twice daily for 8 weeks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Optimizing the biological identity of nanoparticles (NPs) for efficient tumor uptake remains challenging. The controlled formation of a protein corona on NPs through protein absorption from biofluids could favor a biological identity that enables tumor accumulation. To increase the diversity of proteins absorbed by NPs, sera derived from Influenza A virus (IAV)-infected mice were used to pre-coat NPs formed using a hyperbranched polyester polymer (HBPE-NPs).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: fopen(/var/lib/php/sessions/ci_session1fhmb02eioc3p5mckh5mm0iklpfhf0jt): Failed to open stream: No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 177

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_start(): Failed to read session data: user (path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Session/Session.php

Line Number: 137

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once