Publications by authors named "Anna Watts"

Background: Cauda equina syndrome (CES) results from nerve root compression in the lumbosacral spine, usually due to a prolapsed intervertebral disc. Evidence for management of CES is limited by its infrequent occurrence and lack of standardised clinical definitions and outcome measures.

Methods: This is a prospective multi-centre observational cohort study of adults with CES in the UK.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Patients sustaining fragility fractures of the C2 odontoid peg have 30-day mortality rates as high as 10% rising up to 34.1% at 1 year. Substantial controversy exists regarding optimal management of these fractures and there is a lack of national guidance to inform best practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A novel inactivated vaccine, comprising three serovars of (Enteritidis, serogroup O:9; Typhimurium, serogroup O:4; Infantis, serogroup O:7) grown under conditions of iron restriction and adjuvanted with aluminium hydroxide, was evaluated for efficacy following challenge by homologous and heterologous serovars. Chickens were vaccinated at 6 and 10 weeks of age by the intramuscular route and challenged 4 to 9 weeks after the second vaccination with serovars belonging to serogroup O:9 (Enteritidis), O:4 (Typhimurium and Heidelberg), O:7 (Infantis and Virchow), and O:8 (Hadar). All vaccinated birds produced a marked systemic antibody response against each of the component vaccine antigens by the time of challenge.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The natural history of nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenomas (NFPMA) after surgical resection is variable, with guidelines unable to define the duration of radiological follow-up. In this first Australian series, we identify risk factors for regrowth/recurrence of NFPMA to assist with guiding recommendations for long-term follow-up.

Design: Retrospective analysis of all radiotherapy-naïve cases with NFPMA resected between 1995 and 2013.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Design Single-blinded study. Objective To assess the suitability of three types of cadaver for simulating pedicle screw insertion and establish if there is an ideal. Methods Three types of cadaver-Thiel-embalmed, Crosado-embalmed, and formaldehyde-embalmed-were draped and the spines exposed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

YouTube contains a large volume of medical educational material. This study assessed the quality of respiratory auscultation videos contained in YouTube. Videos were searched for using the terms 'breath sounds', 'respiratory sounds', 'respiratory auscultation' and/or 'lung sounds'.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Cellular senescence is an irreversible side effect of some pharmaceuticals which can contribute to tissue degeneration.

Objective: To determine whether pharmaceutical glucocorticoids induce senescence in tenocytes.

Methods: Features of senescence (β-galactosidase activity at pH 6 (SA-β-gal) and active mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) in cell cycle arrest) as well as the activity of the two main pathways leading to cell senescence were examined in glucocorticoid-treated primary human tenocytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We show that the fundamental seismic shear mode, observed as a quasiperiodic oscillation in giant flares emitted by highly magnetized neutron stars, is particularly sensitive to the nuclear physics of the crust. The identification of an oscillation at approximately 30 Hz as the fundamental crustal shear mode requires a nuclear symmetry energy that depends very weakly on density near saturation. If the nuclear symmetry energy varies more strongly with density, then lower frequency oscillations, previously identified as torsional Alfvén modes of the fluid core, could instead be associated with the crust.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF