Publications by authors named "Crystal Li"

Chronic neuropathic pain is a debilitating condition that results from damage to the nervous system. Current treatments are largely ineffective, with limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms hindering development of effective treatments. Preclinical models of neuropathic pain have revealed that non-neural changes are important for the development of neuropathic pain, although these data are derived almost exclusively from post-mortem histological analyses.

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The perinatal period encompasses a critical window for neurodevelopment that renders the brain highly responsive to experience. Trauma, such as intimate partner violence (IPV) and early life stress/neglect, during this period negatively affects physical and mental health outcomes, including increasing ones risk for chronic pain. Although epigenetic programming likely contributes, the mechanisms that drive the relationship between perinatal trauma and adverse health outcomes, are not fully understood.

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Background: Interpersonal stress has been consistently linked with poorer adjustment, and healthy sleep may play a promotive or protective role in this relation. However, little is known regarding such associations among children. The current study examined longitudinal associations between daily interpersonal stress, sleep, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms during middle childhood.

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  • Cannabis use among adolescents and young adults is likely linked to negative academic outcomes, including lower grades and reduced likelihood of graduating high school and attending university.
  • A systematic review of 63 studies involving over 438,000 participants found moderate evidence supporting this relationship, highlighting significant risks such as increased dropout rates and absenteeism.
  • Overall, the findings indicate that cannabis use can adversely impact various academic achievements, with estimates showing an increased risk of school-related issues as well as potential contributions to unemployment.
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Background: Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare has become an issue worldwide, with increasing prevalence after the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, WPV in any setting has individual and systemic repercussions. However, despite extensive literature reporting the prevalence of WPV in healthcare worldwide, effective, standardized prevention policies have not been established.

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  • The study investigates how the sleep-wake cycle affects repeat mild traumatic brain injury (RmTBI) progression and explores the impact of the wake-promoting drug modafinil post-RmTBI.
  • Surprisingly, modafinil treatment improved behavioral and biological deficits in RmTBI-injured rats, contrary to the researchers' expectations.
  • In contrast, administering orexin-A, another wake-promoting compound, worsened anxiety and motor issues, indicating modafinil's benefits may not be linked to its wakefulness effects, thus revealing the intricate role of the sleep-wake cycle in brain injury recovery.
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Introduction: This study examined the prevalence and correlates of probable mental health disorders, including psychological distress, somatization, depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety (PHO), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and insomnia among Chinese primary health care (PHC) physicians and nurses amid the post-pandemic period in 2022.

Method: Region-stratified sampling was conducted to recruit a national sample of 4,246 respondents from 31 July 2022 to 12 August 2022. A total of 692 primary healthcare institutions were identified in 30 provincial-level administrative regions of China.

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Objective: We evaluated huperzine A treatment in the Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rat from Strasbourg (GAERS) model of genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) with absence seizures.

Methods: Adult male GAERS (N = 15) were implanted with EEG recording electrodes 10 days before receiving study drug. Each animal received the following six treatments as a single, intraperitoneal dose, 7 days apart (in random order): huperzine A (0.

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To describe the successful treatment of atypical occipital neuralgia (ON) using a unilateral dual-lead occipital nerve stimulator. Outpatient clinic/operating room. A 53-year-old male with atypical ON.

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Pain is considered a multidimensional experience that embodies not merely sensation, but also emotion and perception. As is appropriate for this complexity, pain is represented and processed by an extensive matrix of cortical and subcortical structures. Of these structures, the cerebellum is gaining increasing attention.

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  • - NUT carcinoma (NC) is a rare and aggressive cancer associated with a specific gene fusion resulting from a chromosomal translocation (t(15:19)), primarily found in the upper part of the body but also emerging in other areas.
  • - Diagnosing NC is difficult based on appearance alone, but can be effectively done using specialized tests like immunohistochemistry for the NUT protein or by detecting the BRD4::NUTM1 fusion gene.
  • - A recent case involved a 39-year-old man previously diagnosed with sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma, whose condition was reclassified to NC after further examination and testing, demonstrating the importance of accurate diagnosis for effective targeted treatment options currently in development.
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Background: Approximately a quarter of the global population is physically inactive, increasing the prevalence of chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Clearly, a population shift is needed to increase physical activity participation. Given almost half of American and Australian households have at least one dog, dog walking has the potential to increase physical activity.

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Although aging, repeat mild traumatic brain injury (RmTBI), and microbiome modifications independently change social behavior, there has been no investigation into their cumulative effects on social behavior and neuroplasticity within the prefrontal cortex. Therefore, we examined how microbiome depletion prior to RmTBI affected social behavior and neuroplasticity in adolescent and adult rats. Play, temperament analysis, elevated plus maze, and the hot/cold plate assessed socio-emotional function.

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Chronic pain develops following injury in approximately 20% of adolescents, at twice the rate in females than males. Adverse childhood experiences also increase the risk for poor health outcomes, such as chronic pain. Emerging literature suggests the cerebellum to be involved in pain processing, however detailed explorations into how the cerebellum contributes to pain are lacking.

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  • - The study examines a surgeon's nine-year experience in implementing laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD), highlighting that its complexity has hindered widespread use despite potential benefits.
  • - Initially, patients underwent a hybrid approach (laparoscopic resection with open reconstruction), which transitioned to a total laparoscopic procedure, with data on patient outcomes carefully tracked.
  • - Results showed no 90-day mortality, but three cases of postoperative pancreatic fistula occurred in the hybrid group, while the total laparoscopic group had none, suggesting that a careful approach is crucial for safe implementation of LPD.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has had important implications for college students' socioemotional and academic well-being. Sleep problems were common during this time, which may have further impacted well-being. Five hundred and fifty-two college students ( = 19.

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Repeat mild traumatic brain injuries (RmTBI) result in substantial burden to the public health system given their association with chronic post-injury pathologies, such as chronic pain and post-traumatic headache. Although this may relate to dysfunctional descending pain modulation (DPM), it is uncertain what mechanisms drive changes within this pathway. One possibility is altered orexinergic system functioning, as orexin is a potent anti-nociceptive neuromodulator.

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Castleman disease (CD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder that can be life threatening if left unmanaged in severe cases of inflammatory response. CD should be excluded by thorough workup in cases of lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly of unknown cause. Excisional biopsy of lymph nodes may be required to make a definitive diagnosis.

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors often experience debilitating consequences. Due to the high impact nature of TBI, patients often experience concomitant peripheral injuries (ie, polytrauma). A common, yet often overlooked, comorbidity of TBI is chronic pain.

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  • - Sodium selenate (SS) enhances the activity of protein phosphatase 2 (PP2A) and decreases levels of phosphorylated tau (pTAU), which is linked to post-traumatic seizures following a specific brain injury model (lateral fluid percussion injury or LFPI).
  • - Experiments conducted at two international sites involved monitoring motor functions and assessing brain tissue changes in rats after LFPI, with one group receiving SS treatment and another serving as a control; results showed alterations in pTAU levels and PP2A activity over various time points.
  • - While SS successfully reduced certain pTAU forms and increased PP2A activity at lower doses, it did not significantly affect motor performance or other cellular markers in the
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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion is a common injury worldwide leading to substantial medical costs and a high burden on society. In adolescents, falls and sports related trauma are often the causes of mTBI. Importantly, critical brain growth and development occurs during this sensitive period making the prospect of a brain injury a worrying phenomenon.

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  • * Rats received sodium selenate, levetiracetam, or a vehicle for four weeks, and their seizure activity, cognitive function, and sensorimotor skills were monitored through video-EEG and behavioral tests post-treatment.
  • * Results indicated that sodium selenate significantly reduced seizure frequency, cognitive dysfunction, and sensorimotor deficits, while also improving specific biological markers, suggesting it offers a lasting benefit for managing TLE.
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Background: Skin abscesses are a common emergency presentation often requiring incision and drainage; however, issues with theatre access lead to delays in management and high costs. The long-term impact in a tertiary centre of a standardised day-only protocol is unknown. The aim was to evaluate the impact of day-only skin abscess protocol (DOSAP) for emergency surgery of skin abscesses in a tertiary institution in Australia and to provide a blueprint for other institutions.

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Objectives: To describe the methodology and key findings of British Columbia's (BC) COVID-19 SPEAK surveys, developed to understand the experiences, knowledge, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on British Columbians.

Methods: Two province-wide, cross-sectional, web-based population health surveys were conducted one year apart (May 2020 and April/May 2021). Questions were drawn from validated sources grounded within the social determinants of health to assess COVID-19 testing and prevention; mental and physical health; risk and protective factors; and healthcare, social, and economic impacts during the pandemic.

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