Publications by authors named "Cummins E"

Antimicrobial resistance can arise in the natural environment via prolonged exposure to the effluent released by manufacturing facilities. In addition to antibiotics, pharmaceutical plants also produce non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals, both the active ingredients and other components of the formulations. The effect of these on the surrounding microbial communities is less clear.

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Background: Hybrid closed-loop systems are a new class of technology to manage type 1 diabetes mellitus. The system includes a combination of real-time continuous glucose monitoring from a continuous glucose monitoring device and a control algorithm to direct insulin delivery through an insulin pump. Evidence suggests that such technologies have the potential to improve the lives of people with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their families.

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  • The study focuses on involuntary civil commitment (ICC) for substance use disorders, specifically how outreach teams in Massachusetts perceive and promote ICC in their work following drug overdoses.
  • Data collected from surveys and interviews indicated that 36% of outreach programs focused on ICC at least half the time, influencing their treatment philosophies and collaborations.
  • Key themes from the interviews revealed mixed views on ICC, with some considering it essential for engagement in treatment, while others were skeptical about its effectiveness and worried about possible negative consequences.
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  • The systematic review investigates the issue of oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients who have undergone lung transplantation, identifying instrumental assessment methods to characterize this complication.
  • A thorough literature search found 883 studies, but only six met the criteria for inclusion, primarily focusing on retrospective data regarding swallowing difficulties post-transplant.
  • Key findings highlight inconsistencies in evaluating dysphagia severity across studies, particularly in the use of the Penetration-Aspiration Scale, with aspiration rates varying significantly among patients.
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  • - The study aimed to assess how junior residents (coachees) self-evaluate and how chief resident coaches apply effective coaching techniques in a surgical coaching program, with a structured curriculum involving goal setting, observation, and debriefing.
  • - Six chief residents coached 16 junior residents through 18 recorded debrief sessions averaging around 12.65 minutes, which included essential self-assessments and the use of effective coaching principles such as goal setting, collaborative analysis, constructive feedback, and action planning.
  • - Common themes from the debriefs involved both technical skills (like body positioning and instrument technique) and nontechnical skills (such as communication with attending surgeons), focusing on strategies for stress management and improving performance in the operating
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The emergence of human exposure (HE) to micro/nano-plastics (MN-P) via the food chain is a significant public health concern. This study aimed to evaluate HE from ingesting vegetables, fruits, and grains using linear regression models to analyse MN-P size-concentration relationships and bioaccumulation factors (BF). For Irish adults, the Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) of MN-Ps was calculated, considering potential internalisation in these foods, with a sensitivity analysis addressing variability and uncertainty.

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The presence of heavy metals and metalloids (metal(loid)s) in the food chain is a global problem, and thus, metal(loid)s are considered to be Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs). Arsenic (As), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and cadmium (Cd) are identified as prominent hazards related to human health risks throughout the food chain. This study aimed to carry out a source attribution for metal(loid)s in shallow topsoil of north-midlands, northwest, and border counties of the Republic of Ireland, followed by an assessment of the potential ecological and human health risks.

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Background: Older adults (aged ≥65 years) account for approximately 30% of inpatient procedures in the United States. After major surgery, they are at high risk of a slow return to their previous functional status, loss of independence, and complications like delirium. With the development and refinement of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols, older patients often return home much earlier than historically anticipated.

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Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi and identified as contaminants in animal feed. They have potentially harmful effects, including carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and repro-toxicity in animals and humans. As a result of climate change, there is the potential for a change in the prevalence and concentration of mycotoxins in animal feed components.

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Background: Post-overdose outreach programs engage overdose survivors and their families soon after an overdose event. Staff implementing these programs are routinely exposed to others' trauma, which makes them vulnerable to secondary traumatic stress (STS) and compassion fatigue. The purpose of this study was to explore experiences of STS and associated upstream and downstream risk and protective factors among program staff.

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Hypercapnia occurs when the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CO) in the blood exceeds 45 mmHg. Hypercapnia is associated with several lung pathologies and is transcriptionally linked to suppression of immune and inflammatory signalling through poorly understood mechanisms. Here we propose Orphan Nuclear Receptor Family 4A (NR4A) family members NR4A2 and NR4A3 as potential transcriptional regulators of the cellular response to hypercapnia in monocytes.

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Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) IIIA is an important receptor for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and is involved in immune defense mechanisms as well as tissue destruction in some autoimmune diseases including immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). FcγRIIIA on macrophages can trigger phagocytosis of IgG-sensitized platelets, and prior pilot studies observed blockade of FcγRIIIA increased platelet counts in patients with ITP. Unfortunately, although blockade of FcγRIIIA in patients with ITP increased platelet counts, its engagement by the blocking antibody drove serious adverse inflammatory reactions.

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Background: Public health-public safety partnerships for post-overdose outreach have emerged in many communities to prevent future overdose events. These efforts often identify overdose survivors through emergency call data and seek to link them with relevant services. The aim of this study was to describe how post-overdose outreach programs in Massachusetts manage the confidentiality of identifiable information and privacy of survivors.

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Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites that may occur in crops. Mycotoxins may carry-over into bovine milk if bovines ingest mycotoxin-contaminated feed. Due to climate change, there may be a potential increase in the prevalence and concentration of mycotoxins in crops.

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The motivation to reproduce is a potent natural drive, and the social behaviors that induce it can severely impact animal health and lifespan. Indeed, in males, accelerated aging associated with reproduction arises not from the physical act of courtship or copulation but instead from the motivational drive to court and mate. To better understand the mechanisms underlying social effects on aging, we studied male choosiness for mates.

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The repeated emergence of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) clones is a threat to public health globally. In recent work, drug-resistant were shown to be capable of displacing commensal in the human gut. Given the rapid colonization observed in travel studies, it is possible that the presence of a type VI secretion system (T6SS) may be responsible for the rapid competitive advantage of drug-resistant clones.

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This study presents a data-driven approach for classifying food safety alerts related to chemical and microbial contaminants in dairy products using the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) food contaminants databases. This research aimed to prioritise microbial and chemical hazards based on their presence and severity through exploratory data analysis and to classify the severity of chemical hazards using machine learning (ML) approaches. It identified Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas spp.

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Background: Morbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs) are quality improvement mechanisms during which adverse events are reviewed, often by physicians within a single discipline. There is a growing desire to include nonphysicians and physicians from other disciplines in team-based morbidity and mortality conferences (TBMMs). This mixed methods study investigates perioperative perspectives on MMCs generally and TBMMs specifically.

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Evidence suggests that oral exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may result in adverse metabolic and neurobehavioral effects. The aim of the present meta-analysis is to examine this association based on systematically selected laboratory rodent studies published from 2012 to 2021 and sourced from Scopus, Web of Science, EmBase, and PubMed. Articles satisfying eligibility and inclusion criteria were included for the calculation of the summary standardised mean difference (SMD).

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The urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) has recently attracted a lot of attention attributing to its efficiency in reducing ammonia loss from urea fertiliser applied to temperate grassland soils. Ammonia gas lost to the environment causes soil acidification, eutrophication and contributes to global warming through increased greenhouse gas emissions and ozone layer depletion. The active chemical NBPT blocks the soil microbial enzyme (urease) and reduces ammonia emission.

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Background: Post-overdose outreach has emerged in the United States as an increasingly common response to non-fatal overdose. This qualitative study investigates the implementation of such programs through public health-public safety partnerships in Massachusetts.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with post-overdose outreach team members, overdose survivors, and family members who received outreach.

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Grass uptake and phytoaccumulation factors of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) and dicyandiamide (DCD) were quantified. Following the application of urea fertilizer treated with the inhibitors in Irish grassland, grass samples were collected at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 day time intervals following five application cycles. Uptake of NBPT by grass was below the limit of quantitation of the analytical method (0.

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Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical with large-scale applications in the manufacturing of industrial products. Concerns have been raised regarding human exposure to BPA and dietary consumption is the main route of exposure. BPA is recognised as an endocrine disruptor with multiple adverse effects on the reproductive, immune, and nervous systems.

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  • CO is produced during aerobic respiration and can accumulate in the blood during lung diseases like COPD, leading to a condition known as hypercapnia, which may have both risks and potential benefits.
  • Research using RNA-sequencing showed that hypercapnia affects the expression of hundreds of genes in immune cells (monocytes and macrophages), especially those related to fatty acid metabolism, suggesting significant metabolic changes.
  • Understanding how CO influences gene expression in hypercapnia could provide valuable insights for treating patients suffering from this condition by targeting immune cell function and metabolism.
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The species contains a diverse set of sequence types and there remain important questions regarding differences in genetic content within this population that need to be addressed. Pangenomes are useful vehicles for studying gene content within sequence types. Here, we analyse 21 sequence type pangenomes using comparative pangenomics to identify variance in both pangenome structure and content.

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