Opioid-related deaths in Ontario correctional facilities and penitentiaries (2009-2019).

The opioid crisis is a significant public health issue in North America that began in the 1990s with opioid-related deaths increasing each year. Although studies have been published regarding the incidence of opioid-related deaths in the general population, there is limited information regarding deaths in the prison population. To investigate the impact of the opioid epidemic in this vulnerable population, a retrospective study of all drug-related deaths that occurred in correctional facilities and penitentiaries in Ontario, Canada, between January 2009 and December 2019 was conducted.

The effect of pre-analytical variables on downstream application and data analysis of human endometrial biopsies.

Study Question: What are the effects of pre-analytical variables on the downstream analysis of patient-derived endometrial biopsies?

Summary Answer: There are distinct differences in the protein levels of the master regulator of oxygen homeostasis, hypoxia-inducible factor-1-alpha (HIF1α), and the protein and mRNA levels of three related genes, carbonic anhydrase 9 (), vascular endothelial growth factor A () and progesterone receptor () in human endometrial biopsies, depending on the pre-analytical variables: disease status (cancer vs benign), timing of biopsy (pre- vs post-hysterectomy) and type of biopsy (pipelle vs full-thickness).

What Is Known Already: Patient-derived biopsies are vital to endometrial research, but pre-analytical variables relating to their collection may affect downstream analysis, as is evident in other tissues.

Study Design Size Duration: A prospective observational study including patients undergoing hysterectomy for endometrial cancer (EC) or benign indications was conducted at a large tertiary gynaecological unit in the UK.

Telomere and Telomerase-Associated Proteins in Endometrial Carcinogenesis and Cancer-Associated Survival.

Risk of relapse of endometrial cancer (EC) after surgical treatment is 13% and recurrent disease carries a poor prognosis. Research into prognostic indicators is essential to improve EC management and outcome. "Immortality" of most cancer cells is dependent on telomerase, but the role of associated proteins in the endometrium is poorly understood.

Human Endometrial Carcinogenesis Is Associated with Significant Reduction in Long Non-Coding RNA, TERRA.

Telomeres are transcribed as long non-coding RNAs called TERRAs (Telomeric repeat containing RNA) that participate in a variety of cellular regulatory functions. High telomerase activity (TA) is associated with endometrial cancer (EC). This study aimed to examine the levels of three TERRAs, transcribed at chromosomes 1q-2q-4q-10q-13q-22q, 16p and 20q in healthy ( = 23) and pathological ( = 24) human endometrium and to examine their association with cellular proliferation, TA and telomere lengths.

Investigating the Role of Telomere and Telomerase Associated Genes and Proteins in Endometrial Cancer.

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the commonest gynaecological malignancy. Current prognostic markers are inadequate to accurately predict patient survival, necessitating novel prognostic markers, to improve treatment strategies. Telomerase has a unique role within the endometrium, whilst aberrant telomerase activity is a hallmark of many cancers.

Comparing Parent and Teacher Ratings of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in 5-year old Children who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing.

Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) are at higher risk of developing mental health problems. This study reports on the parent and teacher ratings of emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) in 5-year old DHH children. It explores the similarities and differences between informants, and the risk and protective factors associated with parent and teacher-ratings of EBD.

The Changing Nature of Palliative Care: Implications for Allied Health Professionals' Educational and Training Needs.

CareSearch is an Australian Government Department of Health funded repository of evidence-based palliative care information and resources. The CareSearch Allied Health Hub was developed in 2013 to support all allied health professionals working with palliative care clients in all clinical settings. This cross-sectional online survey sought to elicit allied health professionals palliative care experiences and subsequent considerations for educational and clinical practice needs.

Telomerase and Telomeres in Endometrial Cancer.

Telomeres at the termini of human chromosomes are shortened with each round of cell division due to the "end replication problem" as well as oxidative stress. During carcinogenesis, cells acquire or retain mechanisms to maintain telomeres to avoid initiation of cellular senescence or apoptosis and halting cell division by critically short telomeres. The unique reverse transcriptase enzyme complex, telomerase, catalyzes the maintenance of telomeres but most human somatic cells do not have sufficient telomerase activity to prevent telomere shortening.

Orthographic Learning in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between orthographic learning and language, reading, and cognitive skills in 9-year-old children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and to compare their performance to age-matched typically hearing (TH) controls. Method Eighteen children diagnosed with moderate-to-profound hearing loss who use hearing aids and/or cochlear implants participated. Their performance was compared with 35 age-matched controls with typical hearing.

Language development in deaf or hard-of-hearing children with additional disabilities: type matters!

Background: This study examined language development in young children with hearing loss and different types of additional disabilities (ADs).

Method: A population-based cohort of 67 children who were enrolled in the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment study took part. Language ability was directly assessed at 3 and 5 years of age using the Preschool Language Scale, Fourth Edition and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition.

Factors influencing parents' decisions about communication choices during early education of their child with hearing loss: a qualitative study.

Objective: To explore the factors influencing parents' choice of communication mode during early education of their child with hearing loss.

Design: Qualitative descriptive analysis of semi-structured interviews of parents of children with hearing loss.

Study Sample: Fourteen parents of children who participated in the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment study.

Factors Influencing Caregiver Decision Making to Change the Communication Method of their Child with Hearing Loss.

The communication journey of a child with hearing loss is often a complex, interwoven process in which the child's use of language or method of communication may change numerous times. As there has been limited research exploring the caregiver decision making process behind making such changes, this qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore the factors which influence the caregiver decision making process to change the communication method of their child with hearing loss. Individual semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with seven caregivers of children with hearing loss in Australia.

Hearing aid fitting and developmental outcomes of children fit according to either the NAL or DSL prescription: fit-to-target, audibility, speech and language abilities.

Objective: This study examined the influence of prescription on hearing aid (HA) fitting characteristics and 5-year developmental outcomes of children.

Design: A randomised controlled trial implemented as part of a population-based study on Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI).

Study Sample: Two-hundred and thirty-two children that were fit according to either the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) or Desired Sensation Level (DSL) prescription.

Spoken language and everyday functioning in 5-year-old children using hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Objective: This study investigated the factors influencing 5-year language, speech and everyday functioning of children with congenital hearing loss.

Design: Standardised tests including PLS-4, PPVT-4 and DEAP were directly administered to children. Parent reports on language (CDI) and everyday functioning (PEACH) were collected.

Age at Intervention for Permanent Hearing Loss and 5-Year Language Outcomes.

Objectives: Universal newborn hearing screening has been implemented to detect permanent childhood hearing loss (PCHL) early, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes through early treatment. However, there is disagreement between studies on the size of this benefit and in some cases whether it is significantly different from 0. There have been no studies of sufficient size in which researchers have determined reliably whether the effect varies with degree of PCHL.

Psychosocial Development in 5-Year-Old Children With Hearing Loss Using Hearing Aids or Cochlear Implants.

This article reports on the psychosocial development and factors influencing outcomes of 5-year-old children with cochlear implants (CIs) or hearing aids (HAs). It further examines differences between children with CIs and HAs with similar levels of hearing loss. Data were collected as part of the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment study-a prospective, population-based study.

Factors influencing speech perception in noise for 5-year-old children using hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Objective: We investigated the factors influencing speech perception in babble for 5-year-old children with hearing loss who were using hearing aids (HAs) or cochlear implants (CIs).

Design: Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) for 50% correct identification were measured in two conditions - speech collocated with babble, and speech with spatially separated babble. The difference in SRTs between the two conditions give a measure of binaural unmasking, commonly known as spatial release from masking (SRM).

Language and speech outcomes of children with hearing loss and additional disabilities: identifying the variables that influence performance at five years of age.

Objective: This study examined language and speech outcomes in young children with hearing loss and additional disabilities.

Design: Receptive and expressive language skills and speech output accuracy were evaluated using direct assessment and caregiver report. Results were analysed first for the entire participant cohort, and then to compare results for children with hearing aids (HAs) versus cochlear implants (CIs).

Psychosocial development of 5-year-old children with hearing loss: Risks and protective factors.

Objective: The aims of this paper were to report on the global psychosocial functioning of 5-year-old DHH children and examine the risk and protective factors that predict outcomes.

Design: A cross-sectional analysis of data collected from a prospective, population-based longitudinal study.

Study Sample: Parents/caregivers of 356 children completed questionnaires on psychosocial development (CDI, SDQ), functional communication (PEACH) and demographic information.

Delivery of crop pollination services is an insufficient argument for wild pollinator conservation.

There is compelling evidence that more diverse ecosystems deliver greater benefits to people, and these ecosystem services have become a key argument for biodiversity conservation. However, it is unclear how much biodiversity is needed to deliver ecosystem services in a cost-effective way. Here we show that, while the contribution of wild bees to crop production is significant, service delivery is restricted to a limited subset of all known bee species.

Implementation of an intraoperative blood transport and storage initiative and its effect on reducing red blood cell and plasma waste.

Background: The national waste rate for hospital-issued blood products ranges from 0% to 6%, with operating room-responsible waste representing up to 70% of total hospital waste. A common reason for blood product waste is inadequate intraoperative storage.

Study Design And Methods: Our transfusion service database was used to quantify and categorize red blood cell (RBC) and fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) units issued for intraoperative transfusion that were wasted over a 27-month period.

Deficits in sequential processing manifest in motor and linguistic tasks in a multigenerational family with childhood apraxia of speech.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a global deficit in sequential processing as candidate endophenotypein a family with familial childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Of 10 adults and 13 children in a three-generational family with speech sound disorder (SSD) consistent with CAS, 3 adults and 6 children had past or present SSD diagnoses. Two preschoolers with unremediated CAS showed a high number of sequencing errors during single-word production.

Associations among measures of sequential processing in motor and linguistics tasks in adults with and without a family history of childhood apraxia of speech: a replication study.

The purpose of this study was to address the hypothesis that childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is influenced by an underlying deficit in sequential processing that is also expressed in other modalities. In a sample of 21 adults from five multigenerational families, 11 with histories of various familial speech sound disorders, 3 biologically related adults from a family with familial CAS showed motor sequencing deficits in an alternating motor speech task. Compared with the other adults, these three participants showed deficits in tasks requiring high loads of sequential processing, including nonword imitation, nonword reading and spelling.

Prognosis following upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Background: Upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is one of the most common, high risk emergency disorders in the western world. Almost nothing has been reported on longer term prognosis following upper GI bleeding. The aim of this study was to establish mortality up to three years following hospital admission with upper GI bleeding and its relationship with aetiology, co-morbidities and socio-demographic factors.