The examination of hospice settings from the position of space and place is an emerging area of academic interest. Engaging with this perspective, this paper explores how topophilia and topophobia of the physical hospice setting coincides with and informs a broader love and fear of hospice care and UK hospice organisations. We report the findings of a qualitative study of 53 participants in the catchment population of a hospice in England.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArgininosuccinate lyase (ASL) is integral to the urea cycle detoxifying neurotoxic ammonia and the nitric oxide (NO) biosynthesis cycle. Inherited ASL deficiency causes argininosuccinic aciduria (ASA), a rare disease with hyperammonemia and NO deficiency. Patients present with developmental delay, epilepsy and movement disorder, associated with NO-mediated downregulation of central catecholamine biosynthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Short-acting β-agonist (SABA) overuse adversely impacts asthma-related outcomes and the environment. The SABA rEductioN Through ImplemeNting Hull asthma guidELines (SENTINEL) programme aims to reduce SABA overuse through supported implementation of an adult asthma guideline, which advocates for a SABA-free maintenance and reliever therapy (MART)-preferred treatment where appropriate, across six primary care networks (PCNs) in the UK. We present findings on patient/disease characteristics, asthma prescribing patterns and exacerbation rates from the pilot PCN.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLack of access to therapeutic opioids continuing causes global health inequalities. Access to morphine for symptom control is regulated under the terms of the Single Convention on Narcotics, countries must submit annual morphine requirement estimates and report consumption to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). INCB indicates access to morphine is increasing, however, estimated needs are unreported so changing proportions of needs feasibly met by requirements and consumption are unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc (Bayl Univ Med Cent)
October 2022
Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is an immune-mediated polyneuropathy, most often occurring within weeks of an infection. Cases of COVID-19-related GBS have been reported, and the typical presentation is a progressive ascending paralysis. We describe a case of a 40-year-old with recent symptomatic COVID-19 who presented with atypical GBS findings, hand weakness that progressed to tetraplegia within 24 hours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeficiency of antiquitin (α-aminoadipic semialdehyde dehydrogenase), an enzyme involved in lysine degradation and encoded by ALDH7A1, is the major cause of vitamin B -dependent epilepsy (PDE-ALDH7A1). Despite seizure control with high dose pyridoxine (PN), developmental delay still occurs in approximately 70% of patients. We aimed to investigate metabolic perturbations due to possible previously unidentified roles of antiquitin, which may contribute to developmental delay, as well as metabolic effects of high dose pyridoxine supplementation reflecting the high doses used for seizure control in patients with PDE-ALDH7A1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Medical educators are expected to produce educational scholarship, which can lead to career advancement and promotion. Institutions have developed author development programs, which vary in duration, instructional approach, and effectiveness. However, no summation of the evidence exists for academic medicine leaders to use as guidance for building similar programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic variants are associated with childhood neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease; however, the molecular function of ceroid lipofuscinosis neuronal protein 5 (Cln5) is unknown. We solved the Cln5 crystal structure and identified a region homologous to the catalytic domain of members of the N1pC/P60 superfamily of papain-like enzymes. However, we observed no protease activity for Cln5; and instead, we discovered that Cln5 and structurally related PPPDE1 and PPPDE2 have efficient cysteine palmitoyl thioesterase (-depalmitoylation) activity using fluorescent substrates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShort-acting beta agonist (SABA) overuse (≥3 canisters annually) is associated with worse asthma outcomes and accounts for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions from asthma inhalers in England. Reducing SABA overuse aligns with the National Health Service long-term plan to optimise asthma treatment while minimising environmental impact, but adoption of local asthma guidelines for a SABA-free maintenance and reliever therapy strategy for step 3 asthma patients is limited. In this we describe patient and staff involvement in a codesign process adapted from experience-based codesign (EBCD) principles to develop an implementation-ready intervention within a practice-relevant timescale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic bottlenecks can limit the success of populations colonizing new ranges. However, successful colonizations can occur despite bottlenecks, a phenomenon known as the genetic paradox of invasion. Eusocial Hymenoptera such as bumblebees ( spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile it is well-established that distal hypoxia response elements (HREs) regulate hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) target genes such as erythropoietin (Epo), an interplay between multiple distal and proximal (promoter) HREs has not been described so far. Hepatic Epo expression is regulated by a HRE located downstream of the EPO gene, but this 3' HRE is dispensable for renal EPO gene expression. We previously identified a 5' HRE and could show that both HREs direct exogenous reporter gene expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: With many health and social care schools offering mindfulness training (MT) there is a need for deeper understanding about pedagogical issues. Despite encouraging findings showing relationships between MT and student stress reduction, there is little qualitative synthesis of the literature about best principles for teaching and learning.
Methods: We report on a qualitative scoping review using the stages of Arksey and O'Malley's framework.
Molecular methods have greatly increased our understanding of the previously cryptic spatial ecology of bumble bees ( spp.), with knowledge of the spatial ecology of these bees being central to conserving their essential pollination services. the Tree Bumble Bee, is unusual in that it has recently rapidly expanded its range, having colonized much of the UK mainland since 2001.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeficiency of antiquitin (ATQ), an enzyme involved in lysine degradation, is the major cause of vitamin B -dependent epilepsy. Accumulation of the potentially neurotoxic α-aminoadipic semialdehyde (AASA) may contribute to frequently associated developmental delay. AASA is formed by α-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase (AASS) via the saccharopine pathway of lysine degradation, or, as has been postulated, by the pipecolic acid (PA) pathway, and then converted to α-aminoadipic acid by ATQ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResource inheritance is a major source of conflict in animal societies. However, the assumptions and predictions of models of conflict over resource inheritance have not been systematically tested within a single system. We developed an inclusive fitness model for annual eusocial Hymenoptera that predicts a zone of conflict in which future reproductive workers are selected to enforce nest inheritance before the queen is selected to cede the nest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly-onset epileptic encephalopathy (EE) and combined developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) are clinically and genetically heterogeneous severely devastating conditions. Recent studies emphasized de novo variants as major underlying cause suggesting a generally low-recurrence risk. In order to better understand the full genetic landscape of EE and DEE, we performed high-resolution chromosomal microarray analysis in combination with whole-exome sequencing in 63 deeply phenotyped independent patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFErythropoietin (Epo) is essential for erythropoiesis and is mainly produced by the fetal liver and the adult kidney following hypoxic stimulation. Epo regulation is commonly studied in hepatoma cell lines, but differences in Epo regulation between kidney and liver limit the understanding of Epo dysregulation in polycythaemia and anaemia. To overcome this limitation, we have generated a novel transgenic mouse model expressing Cre recombinase specifically in the active fraction of renal Epo-producing (REP) cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Electrical stimulation of the cortex using subdurally implanted electrodes can causally reveal structural connectivity by eliciting cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs). While many studies have demonstrated the potential value of CCEPs, the methods to evaluate them were often relatively subjective, did not consider potential artifacts, and did not lend themselves to systematic scientific investigations.
New Method: We developed an automated and quantitative method called SIGNI (Stimulation-Induced Gamma-based Network Identification) to evaluate cortical population-level responses to electrical stimulation that minimizes the impact of electrical artifacts.
More than 35 years after the Binet classification, there is still a need for simple prognostic markers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Here, we studied the treatment-free survival (TFS) impact of normal serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) at diagnosis. One hundred twelve patients with CLL were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Inherit Metab Dis
May 2018
Conventional workup of rare neurological disease is frequently hampered by diagnostic delay or lack of diagnosis. While biomarkers have been established for many neurometabolic disorders, improved methods are required for diagnosis of previously unidentified or underreported causes of rare neurological disease. This would result in a higher diagnostic yield and increased patient numbers required for interventional studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitochondrial respiratory chain dysfunction has been identified in a number of neurodegenerative disorders. Infantile cerebellar-retinal degeneration associated with mutations in the mitochondrial aconitase 2 gene (ACO2) has been recently described as a neurodegenerative disease of autosomal recessive inheritance. To date there is no biomarker for ACO2 deficiency and diagnosis relies on genetic analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitamin-B-dependent epilepsies are a heterogenous group of treatable disorders due to mutations in several genes ( or ). In neonatal seizures, defects in explain a major fraction of cases. Very recently biallelic mutations in were shown to be a novel cause in five families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess the potential effects of casein phosphopeptides (CPPs) on orthodontically induced iatrogenic root resorption (OIIRR) and orthodontic teeth movement.
Materials And Methods: Forty Wistar rats (aged 11 weeks) were randomly divided into experimental group (EG; n = 20) that received a diet supplemented with CPP and control group (CG; n = 20) devoid of diet supplement. A 150 g force was applied using nickel titanium (NiTi) coil that was bonded on maxillary incisors and extended unilaterally to a maxillary first molar.