Publications by authors named "Barber P"

Dementia is a health priority for Indigenous peoples. Here, we reviewed studies on the prevalence of dementia or cognitive impairment among Indigenous populations from countries with a very high Human Development Index (≥0·8). Quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute risk-of-bias tool and CONSolIDated critERia for strengthening the reporting of health research involving Indigenous peoples (CONSIDER), with oversight provided by an Indigenous Advisory Board.

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  • - The study aimed to explore how acute kidney injury (AKI) affects 3-month mortality rates in patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent mechanical thrombectomy (MT).
  • - After reviewing 3,314 studies, only 18 met the criteria for analysis, ultimately focusing on 3,229 patients, finding a pooled odds ratio for mortality at 3 months in AKI patients to be 5.8.
  • - Results indicated that AKI significantly increased mortality risk, with diabetes as a contributing factor, whereas younger age and less contrast media appeared to be protective factors.
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The gut microbiome has a well-documented relationship with host fitness, physiology, and behavior. However, most of what is known comes from captive animals where diets and environments are more homogeneous or controlled. Studies in wild populations that experience dynamic environments and have natural life history variation are less common but are key to understanding the drivers of variation in the gut microbiome.

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Background: Although the incidence and case-fatality of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) vary within countries, few countries have reported nationwide rates, especially for multi-ethnic populations. We assessed the nationwide incidence and case-fatality of SAH in New Zealand (NZ) and explored variations by sex, district, ethnicity and time.

Methods: We used administrative health data from the national hospital discharge and cause-of-death collections to identify hospitalised and fatal non-hospitalised aneurysmal SAHs in NZ between 2001 and 2018.

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  • APECED is a serious genetic autoimmune disorder linked to variants in the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene, with 16% of evaluated patients lacking known harmful variants, most of whom are of Puerto Rican descent.
  • Researchers discovered a deep intronic variant (c.1504-818 G>A) in these patients that causes a cryptic splice site leading to a dysfunctional protein through pseudoexon inclusion.
  • They developed an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) that corrected this genetic issue, demonstrating the potential for targeted treatments in APECED patients.
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Animal gut microbiomes are critical to host physiology and fitness. The gut microbiomes of fishes-the most abundant and diverse vertebrate clade-have received little attention relative to other clades. Coral reef fishes, in particular, make up a wide range of evolutionary histories and feeding ecologies that are likely associated with gut microbiome diversity.

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Seagrasses provide critical ecosystem services but cumulative human pressure on coastal environments has seen a global decline in their health and extent. Key processes of anthropogenic disturbance can operate at local spatio-temporal scales that are not captured by conventional satellite imaging. Seagrass management strategies to prevent longer-term loss and ensure successful restoration require effective methods for monitoring these fine-scale changes.

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  • Cutaneous protothecosis is an uncommon infection that affects the skin and can spread systemically, requiring long-term treatment with medications that may have harmful side effects.
  • The case study focuses on a patient whose skin infection did not respond to standard triazole treatment.
  • The patient showed significant improvement after being treated with a new oral formulation of amphotericin B, which was effective without causing any toxicity.
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  • - Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a condition caused by compression of nerves or blood vessels in the upper body, leading to inconsistent symptoms, making it hard for doctors to diagnose and treat effectively.
  • - TOS is categorized into three types: neurogenic (nerve-related), arterial (blood vessel-related), and venous (vein-related), often linked to certain postures and repetitive activities like sports and heavy lifting.
  • - There isn’t a single reliable test for TOS, which complicates diagnosis, but rehabilitation is crucial for recovery, particularly for neurogenic cases and for those undergoing surgery for arterial or venous types.
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  • The study aimed to describe the clinical features and outcomes of patients with myelopathy and neuropathy linked to recreational nitrous oxide use from 2016 to 2023.
  • Twelve patients (6 women, average age 27.5) showed symptoms like numbness, weakness, and mental changes, with some using large amounts of nitrous oxide and vitamin B12 supplements.
  • At follow-up, 75% of patients managed to achieve functional independence, highlighting the significant health concerns related to nitrous oxide abuse. *
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Background: Patient outcome after stroke is frequently assessed with clinical scales such as the modified Rankin Scale score (mRS). Days alive and out of hospital at 90 days (DAOH-90), which measures survival, time spent in hospital or rehabilitation settings, readmission and institutionalization, is an objective outcome measure that can be obtained from large administrative data sets without the need for patient contact. We aimed to assess the comparability of DAOH with mRS and its relationship with other prognostic variables after acute stroke reperfusion therapy.

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  • Researchers tested a humanised PSMA minibody (IAB2M) linked to a fluorescent dye (IRDye 800CW) for imaging prostate cancer during robot-assisted surgeries.
  • In a study involving 23 men, they administered various doses of the imaging agent before surgery and evaluated its effectiveness using advanced imaging techniques.
  • Results showed high sensitivity for detecting cancerous tissue, indicating that this imaging approach is safe and could enhance surgical outcomes in prostate cancer treatment.
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Background And Purpose: Infarcts in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients may continue to grow even after reperfusion, due to mechanisms such as microvascular obstruction and reperfusion injury. We investigated whether and how much infarcts grow in AIS patients after near-complete (expanded Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction [eTICI] 2c/3) reperfusion following endovascular treatment (EVT), and to assess the association of post-reperfusion infarct growth with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Data are from a single-center retrospective observational cohort study that included AIS patients undergoing EVT with near-complete reperfusion who received diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 2 hours post-EVT and 24 hours after EVT.

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  • Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS-1) is a severe genetic disorder resulting from AIRE deficiency, leading to self-reactive T cells causing autoimmune damage in various organs.
  • The study investigated the role of interferon-γ in APS-1 by analyzing patient samples and conducting experiments with mice, finding that high levels of interferon-γ correlate with disease activity.
  • Treatment with the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib significantly reduced interferon-γ levels and improved symptoms in APS-1 patients, suggesting that targeting this pathway may be a viable therapeutic approach.
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The assessment of bone marrow iron stores is typically performed on an aspirate smear slide that has been manually stained by a technologist using a commercially available kit. This approach can contribute to inconsistent results and limit the broad use of iron staining in bone marrow specimens, particularly when laboratories have low staffing and/or high specimen volumes. Here, we describe the adaptation and validation of the Ventana Benchmark automated stainer and iron stain kit for routine clinical use of staining iron in bone marrow aspirate smear slides.

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Background: Individuals with minor ischaemic stroke and intracranial occlusion are at increased risk of poor outcomes. Intravenous thrombolysis with tenecteplase might improve outcomes in this population. We aimed to test the superiority of intravenous tenecteplase over non-thrombolytic standard of care in patients with minor ischaemic stroke and intracranial occlusion or focal perfusion abnormality.

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  • The study investigated the impact of endovascular therapy (EVT) on cognitive outcomes following a large vessel occlusion stroke, using data from the ESCAPE trial.
  • Cognitive assessments were performed 90 days post-stroke and included various tests to evaluate memory and cognitive function, with results indicating that EVT significantly improved cognitive outcomes across all tests.
  • Findings showed that EVT was associated with better cognitive performance (higher odds ratios for favorable outcomes), and both final infarct volume and cognitive function had notable correlations, suggesting that both factors influence recovery.
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Background: Almost half of acute ischemic stroke patients present with mild symptoms and there are large practice variations in their treatment globally. Individuals with an intracranial occlusion who present with minor stroke are at an increased risk of early neurological deterioration and poor outcomes. Individual patient data meta-analysis in the subgroup of patients with minor deficits showed benefit of alteplase in improving outcomes; however, this benefit has not been seen with intravenous alteplase in published randomized trials.

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Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and confocal fluorescence studies of a porphyrin-based photosensitiser (meso-tetraphenylporphine disulfonate: TPPS) were evaluated in 2D monolayer cultures and 3D compressed collagen constructs of a human ovarian cancer cell line (HEY). TPPS is known to be an effective model photosensitiser for both Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and Photochemical Internalisation (PCI). This microspectrofluorimetric study aimed firstly to investigate the uptake and subcellular localisation of TPPS, and evaluate the photo-oxidative mechanism using reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation probes combined with appropriate ROS scavengers.

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Compared to aquatic ecosystem, terrestrial systems have been subjected to fewer investigations on the exposure to halogenated flame retardants (HFRs). Our study utilized peregrine falcon eggs collected from multiple habitats across North America to retrospectively explore both spatial distribution and temporal changes in legacy (e.g.

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Background: Deep learning using clinical and imaging data may improve pre-treatment prognostication in ischemic stroke patients undergoing endovascular thrombectomy (EVT).

Methods: Deep learning models were trained and tested on baseline clinical and imaging (CT head and CT angiography) data to predict 3-month functional outcomes in stroke patients who underwent EVT. Classical machine learning models (logistic regression and random forest classifiers) were constructed to compare their performance with the deep learning models.

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Human impacts are dramatically changing ecological communities, motivating research on resilience. Tropical reefs are increasingly undergoing transitions to short algal turf, a successional community that mediates either recovery to coral by allowing recruitment or transitions to longer turf/macroalgae. Intense herbivory limits turf height; subsequently, overfishing erodes resilience of the desirable coral-dominated reef state.

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  • Cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke incidence, is a significant health issue among Indigenous populations, yet there is limited research available on this topic.
  • A systematic review of literature from 1990 to 2022 identified 24 studies across seven developed countries, revealing higher stroke incidence rates among various Indigenous groups compared to non-Indigenous populations.
  • The studies varied in design and quality, with many lacking adequate involvement of Indigenous stakeholders and not meeting established reporting standards for Indigenous health research.
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Background And Aims: Stroke is a leading cause of death in Aotearoa (New Zealand), and stroke reperfusion therapy is a key intervention. Sex differences in stroke care have previously been asserted internationally. This study assessed potential differences in stroke reperfusion rates and quality metrics by sex in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

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Purpose: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesion expansion after endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is not well characterized. We used serial diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure lesion expansion between 2 and 24 h after EVT.

Methods: In this single-center observational analysis of patients with acute ischemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion, DWI was performed post-EVT (< 2 h after closure) and 24-h later.

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