Publications by authors named "Barker L"

Background: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is treated with immediate primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) to restore coronary blood flow in the acutely ischaemic territory, but is associated with reperfusion injury limiting the benefit of the therapy. No treatment has proven effective in reducing reperfusion injury. Transcoronary hypothermia has been tested in clinical studies and is well tolerated, but is generally established after crossing the occlusion with a guidewire therefore after initial reperfusion, which might have contributed to the neutral outcomes.

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Background And Hypothesis: While maternal schizophrenia is linked to chronic childhood medical conditions, little is known about the risk of acute asthma exacerbations among children whose mothers have schizophrenia. This population-based study used health data for all of Ontario, Canada to evaluate whether having a mother with schizophrenia was associated with increased risk of asthma exacerbations.

Study Design: The study cohort included 385,989 children diagnosed with asthma from age 2 years onward, followed from the time of their asthma diagnosis up to a maximum of age 19 years.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and rights globally. However, little is known about the experiences of people with disabilities accessing SRH services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this community-engaged qualitative study, we examined COVID-related impacts on access to SRH services for people with disabilities.

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Aims: To explore the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency, 'undetectable' vitamin C status, and scurvy features, in adult hospitalised patients with protein-energy malnutrition diagnosed using validated malnutrition screening and assessment tools commonly used in clinical practice.

Methods: This study included adult inpatients from four acute hospitals within a single Australian tertiary health service, over a 3.5-year period.

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PROpel (NCT03732820) was a positive phase 3 trial that demonstrated a clinically significant improvement in radiographic progression-free survival with olaparib plus abiraterone versus placebo plus abiraterone in first-line metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. For a subset of PROpel patients, steady-state concentrations of olaparib, abiraterone, and Δ-abiraterone were measured in blood samples collected before and at several time points after dose administration. The pharmacokinetics (PK) for each drug and metabolite were evaluated to determine whether any clinically relevant drug-drug interactions between olaparib and abiraterone occurred.

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Aim: To explore the effect of blended tube feeding compared to conventional formulas on nutritional status, quality of life, anthropometry, diarrhoea and tube blockages in adults receiving tube feeding.

Methods: The protocol was registered (PROSPERO CRD42022372443). Five databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, CENTRAL) were searched from commencement of database to 14th June 2023 to identify studies comparing blended tube feeding to conventional formulas in adults receiving tube feeding.

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Background And Aims: In the United States, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occurs primarily through injection drug use (IDU), but transmission also occurs through other ways. This study examined HCV prevalence and disparities among US residents aged 12-59 years with no IDU history.

Methods: We analysed 2013-March 2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data to calculate the HCV prevalence among people with no drug use history and only a non-IDU history, collectively referred to as no IDU history.

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Objective: With increased utilization of virtual care in mental health, examining its appropriateness in various clinical scenarios is warranted. This study aimed to compare the risk of adverse psychiatric outcomes following virtual versus in-person mental health follow-up care after a psychiatric emergency department (ED) visit.

Methods: Using population-based health administrative data in Ontario (2021), we identified 28,232 adults discharged from a psychiatric ED visit who had a follow-up mental health visit within 14 days postdischarge.

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Background: Parents have reported increased symptoms of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study evaluated changes in mental health and addiction (MHA)-related health service use among mothers and other birthing parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using health administrative data in Ontario, Canada.

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Background: Many studies have described barriers to gender-affirming surgery (GAS) in Canada; however, few have explored why these barriers persist. To address this knowledge gap, we sought to describe documents related to public health insurance (Medicare) for GAS to identify the types of procedures covered, variations in coverage across provinces and territories, and changes in policy over time.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study using an environmental scan approach.

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Background: Group psychotherapy is an effective treatment for postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms, and interpersonal connection and support through the group process can aid recovery. Little is known about the implication of the delivery of interpersonally oriented group therapy in this population through videoconferencing.

Objective: To pragmatically evaluate the implementation of a conversationally-oriented postpartum videoconferencing psychotherapy group for depression and anxiety within the clinical setting.

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Article Synopsis
  • Injection drug use (IDU) significantly contributes to viral hepatitis, HIV, and drug overdose, but national data often lacks IDU information, hindering accurate assessment of its impact.
  • This study utilized 2019-2021 hepatitis C case data to compare different methods of imputing missing IDU information, including listwise deletion and multiple imputation models like logistic regression, predictive mean matching, and random forest.
  • Results showed that random forest methods, particularly the fast implementation, provided the most accurate and efficient estimates of IDU prevalence, suggesting they could improve surveillance and prevention strategies for IDU-related health issues.
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Background: Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection causes significant morbidity for hospitalized patients. A large medical intensive care unit had an increase in C.

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Importance: Understanding antidepressant mechanisms could help design more effective and tolerated treatments.

Objective: Identify DNA methylation (DNAm) changes associated with antidepressant exposure.

Design: Case-control methylome-wide association studies (MWAS) of antidepressant exposure were performed from blood samples collected between 2006-2011 in Generation Scotland (GS).

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Background And Aims: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) underestimates the true prevalence of HCV infection. By accounting for populations inadequately represented in NHANES, we created 2 models to estimate the national hepatitis C prevalence among US adults during 2017-2020.

Approach And Results: The first approach (NHANES+) replicated previous methodology by supplementing hepatitis C prevalence estimates among the US noninstitutionalized civilian population with a literature review and meta-analysis of hepatitis C prevalence among populations not included in the NHANES sampling frame.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections pose significant risks for patients undergoing hematopoietic cell and solid organ transplants, with existing treatments limited by toxicity and resistance.* -
  • Advanced practice providers (APPs) are becoming crucial in managing CMV infections, particularly complex cases that require multiple antiviral regimens.* -
  • The article emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach led by APPs to improve patient outcomes with CMV, advocating for well-designed protocols for prevention and treatment.*
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Although effective communication is fundamental to nutrition and dietetics practice, providing novice practitioners with efficacious training remains a challenge. Traditionally, human simulated patients have been utilised in health professions training, however their use and development can be cost and time prohibitive. Presented here is a platform the authors have created that allows students to interact with virtual simulated patients to practise and develop their communication skills.

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Message sticks are wooden objects once widely used in Indigenous Australia for facilitating important long-distance communications. Within this tradition an individual wishing to send a message would carve a stick and apply conventional symbols to its surface. The stick was entrusted to a messenger who carried the object into the territory of another community together with a memorised oral statement.

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Article Synopsis
  • The PROpel study showed that combining olaparib with abiraterone significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), regardless of genetic mutation status.
  • This report presents safety analyses, revealing that olaparib plus abiraterone has notable adverse effects when compared to placebo plus abiraterone, particularly concerning anemia, nausea, and fatigue.
  • The most severe side effects occurred early in treatment, and a higher percentage of patients discontinued due to adverse events, especially anemia, when taking the olaparib combination.
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Multi-drug-resistant infection is a significant public health risk. Rapidly detecting and antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) determinants by metagenomic sequencing of urine is possible, although high levels of host DNA and overgrowth of contaminating species hamper sequencing and limit genome coverage. We performed Nanopore sequencing of nucleic acid amplification test-positive urine samples and culture-positive urethral swabs with and without probe-based target enrichment, using a custom SureSelect panel, to investigate whether selective enrichment of DNA improves detection of both species and AMR determinants.

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Article Synopsis
  • Observational studies are essential for understanding health inequities, but it's unclear how well they report equity-related factors in their design and analysis.
  • The authors reviewed 16,828 articles from 2020 to 2022, selecting 320 studies to analyze their focus on populations facing inequities and data collection methods.
  • Findings showed that while many studies acknowledged health equity, only a small percentage effectively reported key design aspects related to equity, indicating a significant gap in the methodology of health equity research.
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Aim: Objective structured clinical examinations have long been used in dietetics education. This observational study aims to describe the development, deployment, feasibility and validity of assessment using an oral interview in place of traditional objective structured clinical examinations, and to determine the ability of this assessment to identify students who are either not ready for placement or may require early support and/or remediation.

Methods: Student assessment data were collected over a two-and-a-half-year period and used to test the predictive ability of an oral interview to determine dietetic placement outcomes and highlight a need for early remediation.

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Plasmids carry genes conferring antimicrobial resistance and other clinically important traits, and contribute to the rapid dissemination of such genes. Previous studies using complete plasmid assemblies, which are essential for reliable inference, have been small and/or limited to plasmids carrying antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). In this study, we sequenced 1,880 complete plasmids from 738 isolates from bloodstream infections in Oxfordshire, UK.

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