Digital Foetal Scalp Stimulation Versus Foetal Blood Sampling to Assess Foetal Well-Being in Labour: A Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial.

Objective: To establish whether digital foetal scalp stimulation (dFSS) performs better than foetal blood sampling (FBS) in terms of reducing the rate of caesarean section (CS) in labour, without adversely affecting perinatal outcomes.

Design: A multicentre parallel-group randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Maternity centres in Ireland.

A case of myocardial infarction in a teenager with new diagnosis of granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

A 16-year-old male with newly diagnosed granulomatosis with polyangiitis presented to the emergency room with chest pain. He was found to have a myocardial infarction involving the right coronary artery and the left circumflex artery. He underwent mechanical thrombectomy and stent placement without significant sequelae.

Isothermal Detection Methods for Fungal Pathogens in Closed Environment Agriculture.

Closed environment agriculture (CEA) is rapidly gaining traction as a sustainable option to meet global food demands while mitigating the impacts of climate change. Fungal pathogens represent a significant threat to crop productivity in CEA, where the controlled conditions can inadvertently foster their growth. Historically, the detection of pathogens has largely relied on the manual observation of signs and symptoms of disease in the crops.

HIV, the gut microbiome and clinical outcomes, a systematic review.

Background: Effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) has improved the life expectancy of people with HIV (PWH). However, this population is now experiencing accelerated age-related comorbidities, contributed to by chronic immune activation and inflammation, with dysbiosis of the gut microbiome also implicated.

Method: We conducted a systematic literature search of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane reviews and international conference abstracts for articles that examined for the following non-communicable diseases (NCDs); cardiovascular disease, cancer, frailty, metabolic, bone, renal and neurocognitive disease, in PWH aged >18 years.

The impact of the current medico-legal and regulatory culture in Ireland on the decision of graduate entry medical school students to pursue a career in obstetrics and gynecology.

Objectives: Medico-legal and regulatory culture has a significant impact on medical practitioners, including the decision of graduates to enter high-risk specialties. This study explores the impact of the current medico-legal and regulatory culture in Ireland on the decision of graduate entry medical students to enter one high risk specialty, obstetrics and gynecology.

Study Design: We conducted a survey of 146 final-year, graduate-entry medical students pre- and post- a 6-week rotation in obstetrics and gynecology in Ireland.

Robust and persistent B-cell responses following SARS-CoV-2 vaccine determine protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Introduction: A clear immune correlate of protection from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has not been defined. We explored antibody, B-cell, and T-cell responses to the third-dose vaccine and relationship to incident SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: Adults in a prospective cohort provided blood samples at day 0, day 14, and 10 months after the third-dose SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Early inflammatory profiles predict maximal disease severity in COVID-19: An unsupervised cluster analysis.

Background: The inflammatory changes that underlie the heterogeneous presentations of COVID-19 remain incompletely understood. In this study we aimed to identify inflammatory profiles that precede the development of severe COVID-19, that could serve as targets for optimised delivery of immunomodulatory therapies and provide insights for the development of new therapies.

Methods: We included individuals sampled <10 days from COVID-19 symptom onset, recruited from both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Exercise and endometriosis-is there a promising future? A narrative review.

Background: Endometriosis is the leading cause of chronic pelvic pain in women of reproductive age with debilitating effects on quality of life, yet no cure exists. Exercise yields the potential in providing women with a non-invasive, non-pharmacological method of symptom control.

Aim(s): Present up-to-date knowledge regarding how exercise may contribute to the management of endometriosis-related symptoms.

Sigmoid carcinoma contained within a scrotal hernia in an octogenarian: case report.

Scrotal hernias are common in the general population. Patients often present acutely reporting pain or sometimes with more severe symptoms if the hernia is strangulated or incarcerated. An 81-year-old man presented with left-sided iliac fossa pain with no other associated symptoms.

Distinct Inflammatory Phenotypes Are Associated With Subclinical and Clinical Cardiovascular Disease in People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Despite inflammation being implicated in cardiovascular disease (CVD) in people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH), considerable heterogeneity within populations of PWH exists. Stratifying CVD risk based on inflammatory phenotype could play an important role. Using principal component analyses and unsupervised hierarchical clustering, we examined 38 biomarkers to identify inflammatory phenotypes in 2 independent cohorts of PWH.

HIV and fracture: Risk, assessment and intervention.

Objectives: With management of comorbidity in people living with HIV (PLWH) a key component of clinical care, early loss of bone integrity and clinical fracture are recognized as important issues. This review aims to describe the epidemiology of fracture in PLWH, as well as summarizing the relative balance of factors that contribute to fracture. We also aim to describe fracture risk assessment and interventional strategies to modify the risk of fracture in this population.

Development of a novel medium throughput flow-cytometry based micro-neutralisation test for SARS-CoV-2 with applications in clinical vaccine trials and antibody screening.

Quantifying neutralising capacity of circulating SARS-COV-2 antibodies is critical in evaluating protective humoral immune responses generated post-infection/post-vaccination. Here we describe a novel medium-throughput flow cytometry-based micro-neutralisation test to evaluate Neutralising Antibody (NAb) responses against live SARS-CoV-2 Wild Type and Variants of Concern (VOC) in convalescent/vaccinated populations. Flow Cytometry-Based Micro-Neutralisation Test (Micro-NT) was performed in 96-well plates using clinical isolates WT-B, WT-B.

Associations between host microbiome and inflammation suggest role for host microbiome in driving COVID-19 disease severity.

Systemic inflammation and innate immune activation are associated with COVID-19 disease severity. Knowledge gaps remain in the relationships between microbiome, inflammation and COVID-19 disease severity. To better characterise these associations, we performed 16SrDNA analysis of stool samples in COVID-19 subjects to explore diversity and taxanomic composition.

A comparison of transient elastography with acoustic radiation force impulse elastography for the assessment of liver health in patients with chronic hepatitis C: Baseline results from the TRACER study.

Background: Liver stiffness measurements can be used to assess liver fibrosis and can be acquired by transient elastography using FibroScan and with Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse imaging. The study aimed to establish liver stiffness measurement scores using FibroScan and Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse in a chronic hepatitis C cohort and to explore the correlation and agreement between the scores and the factors influencing agreement.

Methods: Patients had liver stiffness measurements acquired with FibroScan® (right lobe of liver) and Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (right and left lobe of liver).

Distinct receptor binding domain IgG thresholds predict protective host immunity across SARS-CoV-2 variants and time.

SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies provide protection against COVID-19. Evidence from early vaccine trials suggested binding antibody thresholds could serve as surrogate markers of neutralising capacity, but whether these thresholds predict sufficient neutralising capacity against variants of concern (VOCs), and whether this is impacted by vaccine or infection history remains unclear. Here we analyse individuals recovered from, vaccinated or with hybrid immunity against SARS-CoV-2.

Post-COVID care delivery: The experience from an Irish tertiary centre's post-COVID clinic.

Background: The long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and optimal follow-up approach are not well-recognised. Here we describe the implementation of a post-COVID clinic in an Irish tertiary centre after the first wave of the pandemic. This study describes the characteristics of our patient cohort and the operations and outcomes of the clinic, exploring some of the risk factors for developing post-COVID syndrome and the appropriateness of the triage system employed.

Factors impacting on the decision of graduate entry medical school students to pursue a career in obstetrics and gynecology in Ireland.

Background: Challenges in recruiting appropriately trained obstetricians and gynaecologists have been identified across the world. Given well documented staff shortages within obstetrics and gynaecology in Ireland, it is increasingly important to understand the factors which influence medical students to choose or reject a career in the speciality. The aim of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of final year graduate entry medical students of obstetrics and gynaecology, including the factors which may influence a student's decision to pursue in a career in the speciality.

Dysregulated early transcriptional signatures linked to mast cell and interferon responses are implicated in COVID-19 severity.

Background: Dysregulated immune responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are thought to underlie the progression of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to severe disease. We sought to determine whether early host immune-related gene expression could predict clinical progression to severe disease.

Methods: We analysed the expression of 579 immunological genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells taken early after symptom onset using the NanoString nCounter and compared SARS-CoV-2 negative controls with SARS-CoV-2 positive subjects with mild (SARS+ Mild) and Moderate/Severe disease to evaluate disease outcomes.

A new Coffee Brewing Control Chart relating sensory properties and consumer liking to brew strength, extraction yield, and brew ratio.

The classic Coffee Brewing Control Chart (BCC) was originally developed in the 1950s. It relates coffee quality to brew strength and extraction yield, and it is still widely used today by coffee industry professionals around the world to provide guidance on the brewing of coffee. Despite its popularity, recent experimental studies have revealed that sensory attributes and consumer preferences actually follow much more complicated trends than those indicated by the classic BCC.

The effect of post-brew holding time and carafe type on the sensory properties of drip brew coffee.

Background: Coffee quality is believed to degrade quickly after brewing, and retail establishments discard unsold brewed coffee after a specified holding time period, sometimes as short as 30 min. We used trained sensory panels to evaluate the flavor profiles of light, medium, and dark roast coffees held in three different carafe types (glass on hot plate, thermal jacket, and vacuum insulated) for times ranging from 15 min to 3 h. Furthermore, a panel of 93 coffee-industry professionals performed a blind evaluation of fresh (30 min) versus held (180 min) coffee for overall liking and attribute level adequacy.

Digital fetal scalp stimulation (dFSS) versus fetal blood sampling (FBS) to assess fetal wellbeing in labour-a multi-centre randomised controlled trial: Fetal Intrapartum Randomised Scalp Stimulation Trial (FIRSST NCT05306756).

Background: Cardiotocography (CTG) is a screening test used to detect fetal hypoxia in labour. It has a high false positive rate resulting in many potentially unnecessary caesarean sections. Fetal blood sampling (FBS) is a second-line test of the acid-base status of the fetus.

Performance and validation of an adaptable multiplex assay for detection of serologic response to SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination.

Measurement of quantitative antibody responses are increasingly important in evaluating the immune response to infection and vaccination. In this study we describe the validation of a quantitative, multiplex serologic assay utilising an electrochemiluminescence platform, which measures IgG against the receptor binding domain (RBD), spike S1 and S2 subunits and nucleocapsid antigens of SARS-CoV-2. The assay displayed a sensitivity ranging from 73 to 91% and specificity from 90 to 96% in detecting previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 depending on antigenic target and time since infection, and this assay highly correlated with commercially available assays.

Predictors and Outcomes for COVID-19 Re-Admissions in the Anticipate Cohort.

Aims To describe readmissions of hospitalised patients with COVID-19, define predictors of readmission and explore the long term outcomes using the SF-12 score compared to patients who were not readmitted and those not hospitalised. Methods A single centre retrospective in North Inner-City Dublin. Recruitment was done through a COVID follow up clinic.