Publications by authors named "Bharucha T"

The global population is increasingly reliant on vaccines to maintain population health with billions of doses used annually in immunisation programmes. Substandard and falsified vaccines are becoming more prevalent, caused by both the degradation of authentic vaccines but also deliberately falsified vaccine products. These threaten public health, and the increase in vaccine falsification is now a major concern.

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Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cellular environments leads to oxidative stress, which underlies numerous diseases, including inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Oxidative stress can be particularly damaging to biological membranes such as those found in mitochondria, which are abundant with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Oxidation of these biological membranes results in concomitant disruption of membrane structure and function, which ultimately leads to cellular dysfunction.

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This document has been developed to provide a guide for basic and advanced reporting in paediatric echocardiography. Furthermore, it aims to help clinicians in the interpretation of echocardiographic measurements and functional data for estimating the severity of disease in different paediatric age groups. The following topics will be reviewed and discussed in the present document: (i) the general principle in constructing a paediatric echocardiographic report, (ii) the basic elements to be included, and (iii) the potential and limitation of currently employed tools used for disease severity quantification during paediatric reporting.

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Background: Inverted left atrial appendage (iLAA) is an infrequent complication following cardiac surgery, seen both in children and adults. Following a recent encounter, this review article is aimed to remind the reader about its occurrence, clinical manifestations, differential diagnoses, and management options.

Case Summary: A 3-month-old baby underwent successful surgical repair of a large ventricular septal defect.

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Background: There is limited data on the organisation of paediatric echocardiography laboratories in Europe.

Methods: A structured and approved questionnaire was circulated across all 95 Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology affiliated centres. The aims were to evaluate: (1) facilities in paediatric echocardiography laboratories across Europe, (2) accredited laboratories, (3) medical/paramedical staff employed, (4) time for echocardiographic studies and reporting, and (5) training, teaching, quality improvement, and research programs.

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Substandard (including degraded) and falsified (SF) vaccines are a relatively neglected issue with serious global implications for public health. This has been highlighted during the rapid and widespread rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. There has been increasing interest in devices to screen for SF non-vaccine medicines including tablets and capsules to empower inspectors and standardise surveillance.

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Article Synopsis
  • - This study explored the long-term outcomes and factors that predict mortality in children under 18 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) associated with various RASopathy syndromes, including Noonan syndrome and others.
  • - Researchers analyzed data from 149 patients over an average follow-up of about 16 years, finding that 15.43% of these children died, with survival rates differing significantly based on the specific RASopathy syndrome.
  • - Key predictors of mortality and sudden cardiac death included the type of RASopathy, symptoms at diagnosis, heart failure presence, and certain heart function measurements, particularly highlighting a milder HCM type within Noonan-like syndrome that still had poorer survival rates.
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Good communication is central to good healthcare. As a result of poor communication between parents and healthcare professionals (HCPs) in clinical settings, this study aimed to address this problem by developing a communication tool to empower parents and act as a prompt for HCPs to talk about the child's care and gather information at the point of admission to hospital about what is important to families, therefore supporting patient-centered communication. A design thinking process was used to develop a physical copy of Chloe's card and evaluate its use.

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Preventing, detecting, and responding to substandard and falsified vaccines is of critical importance for ensuring the safety, efficacy, and public trust in vaccines. This is of heightened importance in context of public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in which extreme world-wide shortages of vaccines provided a fertile ground for exploitation by falsifiers. Here, a proof-of-concept study explored the feasibility of using a handheld Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) device to authenticate COVID-19 vaccines through rapid analysis of unopened vaccine vials.

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Introduction: To decrease psychological risk for content moderators, the study initiated the first steps of developing a robust employment screening tool, namely, the Cognitive Adaptability and Resiliency Employment Screener.

Method: The study consisted of three phases with 4,839 total participants.

Results: In Phase 1, a set of 76 items were developed and tested via exploratory factor analysis, yielding three factors (i.

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Background: Patients with suspected encephalitis continue to represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, even in highly resourced centres. In February 2018, we set up a monthly in-person multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT). We describe the experience and outcomes of the MDT over three years.

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Article Synopsis
  • - RASopathies contribute to about 20% of childhood hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) cases and are linked to a risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD), but the specific risk factors for SCD in this group hadn’t been thoroughly researched until now.
  • - The study analyzed 169 children with RASopathy-related HCM across 15 cardiology centers and found that 6.5% experienced SCD or similar events, with many of those categorized as low risk by the existing HCM Risk-Kids model.
  • - Key predictors for SCD identified were unexplained syncope and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia, indicating that the current risk prediction model may not effectively identify risks in this
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Although neurological complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection are relatively rare, their potential long term morbidity and mortality have a significant impact, given the large numbers of infected patients. Covid-19 is now in the differential diagnosis of a number of common neurological syndromes including encephalopathy, encephalitis, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, stroke, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Physicians should be aware of the pathophysiology underlying these presentations to diagnose and treat patients rapidly and appropriately.

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Background: COVID-19 has caused significant worldwide morbidity and mortality. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is likely to increase vulnerability and understanding the predictors of adverse outcomes is key to optimising care.

Objective: Ascertain the impact of COVID-19 on people with CHD and define risk factors for adverse outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • Japanese encephalitis virus (JE) is a major cause of neurological infections in the Asia-Pacific region, and current detection methods are lacking in remote areas.
  • Researchers aimed to identify a unique protein signature in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from JE patients to improve rapid diagnostic tests and understand the immune response.
  • Through advanced mass spectrometry techniques, they identified a nine-protein diagnostic signature that showed 82% accuracy in distinguishing JE from other neurological infections, which could be further refined for practical use.
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Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is commonly seen in surgically palliated patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and when significant, is associated with an increase in both morbidity and mortality. Tricuspid valve dysfunction appears to be the result of a combination of inherent structural malformations and the unique physiological circumstances resulting from right ventricular pressure and volume overload. Valve dysfunction evolves rapidly, and manifests early on in the surgical pathway.

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Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a pathogen of increasing public health concern, being a widely distributed arbovirus and the causative agent of the potentially fatal Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. Hazara virus (HAZV) is a genetically and serologically related virus that has been proposed as a surrogate for antiviral and vaccine testing for CCHFV. Glycosylation analysis of HAZV has been limited; first, we confirmed for the first time the occupation of two N-glycosylation sites in the HAZV glycoprotein.

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Objectives: Bisphosphonates are used in childhood osteoporosis but can cause an acute phase reaction (APR) and hypocalcemia. We present a child with cardiac thrombosis following zoledronate, a previously unreported complication.

Case Presentation: An 11-year-old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and steroid-induced osteoporosis presented 48 h after first zoledronate infusion with fever, tachycardia, tachypnoea and hypoglycaemia.

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Background: The mainstay of diagnostic confirmation of acute Japanese encephalitis (JE) involves detection of anti-JE virus (JEV) immunoglobulin M (IgM) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Limitations in the specificity of this test are increasingly apparent with the introduction of JEV vaccinations and the endemicity of other cross-reactive flaviviruses. Virus neutralization testing (VNT) is considered the gold standard, but it is challenging to implement and interpret.

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Article Synopsis
  • Up to 50% of childhood cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) occur before age 12, but this demographic hasn't been thoroughly studied.
  • The research aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics and progression of children diagnosed with nonsyndromic HCM under 12 years old, utilizing data from the International Paediatric Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Consortium involving 639 children.
  • Results showed that younger patients had similar symptoms and cardiac issues compared to older children; however, they experienced serious events like mortality at younger ages, with a notable difference in surgical and device interventions between the two age groups.
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Background: Maximal left ventricular wall thickness (MLVWT) is a risk factor for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). In adults, the severity of left ventricular hypertrophy has a nonlinear relationship with SCD, but it is not known whether the same complex relationship is seen in childhood. The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between left ventricular hypertrophy and SCD risk in a large international pediatric HCM cohort.

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Objectives: Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and dengue virus (DENV) represent important causes of encephalitis in Asia. Brain imaging may provide diagnostic clues about the etiology of infectious encephalitis. We performed a systematic review of brain imaging findings in Japanese encephalitis (JE) and DENV neurological infection (dengue) to identify characteristic lesions.

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