Publications by authors named "Andrew Nicholson"

Background: Pathologic confirmation of lung cancer influences treatment selection for suspected early-stage lung cancer. High pre-treatment tissue confirmation rates are recommended. We sought to define management and outcomes of patients undergoing surgery for primary lung cancer in a UK multi-centre clinical trial.

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Background: We sought consensus among practising respiratory physicians on the prediction, identification and monitoring of progression in patients with fibrosing interstitial lung disease (ILD) using a modified Delphi process.

Methods: Following a literature review, statements on the prediction, identification and monitoring of progression of ILD were developed by a panel of physicians with specialist expertise. Practising respiratory physicians were sent a survey asking them to indicate their level of agreement with these statements on a binary scale or 7-point Likert scale (- 3 to 3), or to select answers from a list.

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  • The study surveyed pathologists and thoracic surgeons from the IASLC to evaluate their views on the R classification for lung cancer, with a response rate of 72% from 447 professionals.
  • Findings revealed geographic differences in R classification usage, with Europe and Asia often reporting R status, while 70% of North American pathologists rarely do, and varied practices regarding who assigns R categories between regions.
  • The "uncertain resection" category (R(un)) is largely unused globally, highlighting the need for more evidence and standardization in reporting surgical margins and R categories in pathology.
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Introduction: With the implementation of low-dose computed tomography screening, multiple pulmonary tumor nodules are diagnosed with increasing frequency and the selection of surgical treatments versus systemic therapies has become challenging on a daily basis in clinical practice. In the presence of multiple carcinomas, especially adenocarcinomas, pathologically determined to be of pulmonary origin, the distinction between separate primary lung carcinomas (SPLCs) and intrapulmonary metastases (IPMs) is important for staging, management, and prognostication.

Methods: We systemically reviewed various means that aid in the differentiation between SPLCs and IPMs explored by histopathologic evaluation and molecular profiling, the latter includes DNA microsatellite analysis, array comparative genomic hybridization, TP53 and oncogenic driver mutation testing and, more recently, with promising effectiveness, next-generation sequencing comprising small- or large-scale multi-gene panels.

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Introduction: Sex as a biological variable (SABV) may help to account for the differential development and expression of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among trauma-exposed males and females. Here, we investigate the impact of SABV on PTSD-related neural alterations in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) within three core intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs): the salience network (SN), central executive network (CEN), and default mode network (DMN).

Methods: Using an independent component analysis (ICA), we compared rsFC of the SN, CEN, and DMN between males and females, with and without PTSD (n = 47 females with PTSD, n = 34 males with PTSD, n = 36 healthy control females, n = 20 healthy control males) via full factorial ANCOVAs.

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Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide, although some patients with early-stage disease can be cured with surgical resection. Standardised reporting of all clinically relevant pathological parameters is essential for best patient care and is also important for ongoing data collection and refinement of important pathological features that impact patient prognosis, staging and clinical care. Using the established International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR) procedure, a representative international expert panel of nine lung pathologists as well as an oncologist was convened.

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  • Lung carcinoids (L-CDs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors more common in women and categorized into typical (TCs) and atypical carcinoids (ACs), with ACs having worse prognosis.
  • A study of 15 L-CDs revealed two distinct subtypes, L-CD-PanC, likened to pancreatic tumors, and L-CD-NeU, akin to neuroendocrine tumors, differentiated by their genetic and epigenetic profiles.
  • L-CD-PanC tumors showed changes related to metabolic and pancreatic genes, while L-CD-NeU tumors exhibited high mutational loads and specific environmental mutational signatures, suggesting different underlying causes and potential treatment implications.
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Purpose: We undertook a trial to test the efficacy of a technology-assisted health coaching intervention for weight management, called Goals for Eating and Moving (GEM), within primary care.

Methods: This cluster-randomized controlled trial enrolled 19 primary care teams with 63 clinicians; 9 teams were randomized to GEM and 10 to enhanced usual care (EUC). The GEM intervention included 1 in-person and up to 12 telephone-delivered coaching sessions.

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  • Diaphragmatic hernias (DH) are defects in the diaphragm allowing abdominal contents into the thoracic cavity, which can be either congenital (like Bochdalek hernia) or acquired, often due to trauma.
  • A 69-year-old female experienced acute abdominal pain and was found to have a right posterolateral DH containing part of her colon, leading to an urgent surgical intervention.
  • The surgery initially attempted laparoscopically was converted to an open procedure for better access, successfully repairing the hernia without tension or mesh, and the patient was discharged shortly after.
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Congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAMs) are rare multicystic lung lesions typically diagnosed antenatally. We present a case of a term female neonate with antenatally diagnosed CPAM who required pleuro-amniotic shunting at 22 weeks of gestation. The patient was born with a right-sided pneumothorax and severe cardiorespiratory distress, necessitating extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

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Hearing loss is common among Veterans, and extensive hearing care resources are prioritized within the Veterans Administration (VA). Severe hearing loss poses unique communication challenges with speech understanding that may not be overcome with amplification. We analyzed data from the VA Audiometric Repository between 2005 and 2017 and the relationship between hearing loss severity with speech recognition scores.

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  • E-cigarettes (ECs) could be a potential harm reduction method for individuals with chronic conditions like COPD, asthma, and heart diseases who currently smoke combustible cigarettes (CCs).
  • In a pilot study, patients were randomized to use either ECs or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) combined with counseling, and outcomes such as cigarette use and symptom improvement were measured over six months.
  • Results showed both groups reduced their cigarette use significantly, with the EC group showing notable satisfaction and improvement in respiratory symptoms, indicating ECs may be a safer alternative to CCs for these patients.
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Background: Extended pleurectomy decortication for complete macroscopic resection for pleural mesothelioma has never been evaluated in a randomised trial. The aim of this study was to compare outcomes after extended pleurectomy decortication plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone.

Methods: MARS 2 was a phase 3, national, multicentre, open-label, parallel two-group, pragmatic, superiority randomised controlled trial conducted in the UK.

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Introduction: Intensive weight management programs are effective but often have low enrollment and high attrition. Lack of motivation is a key psychological barrier to enrollment, engagement, and weight loss. Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) is a unique imagery technique that increases motivation for behavior change.

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Introduction: The goal of surgical resection is to completely remove a cancer; it is useful to have a system to describe how well this was accomplished. This is captured by the residual tumor (R) classification, which is separate from the TNM classification that describes the anatomic extent of a cancer independent of treatment. The traditional R-classification designates as R0 a complete resection, as R1 a macroscopically complete resection but with microscopic tumor at the surgical margin, and as R2 a resection that leaves gross tumor behind.

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Introduction: Spread through air spaces (STAS) consists of lung cancer tumor cells that are identified beyond the edge of the main tumor in the surrounding alveolar parenchyma. It has been reported by meta-analyses to be an independent prognostic factor in the major histologic types of lung cancer, but its role in lung cancer staging is not established.

Methods: To assess the clinical importance of STAS in lung cancer staging, we evaluated 4061 surgically resected pathologic stage I R0 NSCLC collected from around the world in the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer database.

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Introduction: The TNM classification of lung cancer is periodically revised. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer collected and analyzed a new database to inform the forthcoming ninth edition of the TNM classification. The results are herewith presented.

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Background And Objective: Bronchoscopic transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) is a guideline-endorsed alternative to surgical lung biopsy for tissue diagnosis in unclassifiable interstitial lung disease (ILD). The reported incidence of post-procedural bleeding has varied widely. We aimed to characterize the incidence, severity and risk factors for clinically significant bleeding following TBLC using an expert-consensus airway bleeding scale, in addition to other complications and diagnostic yield.

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Background: Overnight desaturation predicts poor prognosis across interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether nocturnal desaturation is associated with pulmonary vasculopathy and mortality.

Methods: A retrospective single centre study of 397 new ILD patients was carried out including patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) (n=107) and patients with non-IPF fibrotic ILD (n=290).

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A 74-year-old man presented to our department with progressive dyspnea on exertion over the last year. The patient did not report any other symptoms. He had previously smoked with a 60 pack-year history.

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Healthcare workers (HCWs) across the globe have reported symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moral Injury (MI) has been associated with PTSD in military populations, but is not well studied in healthcare contexts. Moral Distress (MD), a related concept, may enhance understandings of MI and its relation to PTSD among HCWs.

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Background: Increased age is a well-known risk factor for development of osteoarthritis. Total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) is a common treatment option for patients with severe glenohumeral osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the septuagenarian, octogenarian, and nonagenarian populations and postoperative outcomes following TSA.

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Introduction: Pathologists are staging thymic epithelial tumors (TET) according to the 8th UICC/AJCC TNM system. Within the French RYTHMIC network, dedicated to TET, agreement on pathologic tumor stage (pT) among the pathology panelists was difficult. The aim of our study was to determine the interobserver reproducibility of pT at an international level, to explore the source of discrepancies and potential interventions to address these.

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