Publications by authors named "David Meredith"

Article Synopsis
  • Molecular features, particularly CDKN2A/B loss, impact survival outcomes in IDH1/2-mutant astrocytomas, with grade 2/3 tumors showing varied survival based on molecular characteristics.
  • In a study of 998 patients, those with intact CDKN2A/B and no focal amplifications had the longest survival, while variations in CDKN2A/B status correlated with poorer outcomes, particularly in grade 4 tumors.
  • The research highlights the potential for improved prognostic predictions in IDHmut-astrocytomas by integrating molecular data with histological grading, revealing distinct profiles linked to survival outcomes.
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Purpose: Radiation therapy may enhance anti-tumor immune responses by several mechanisms including induction of immunogenic cell death. We performed a phase 2 study of pembrolizumab with re-irradiation in patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

Methods: Sixty recurrent glioblastoma patients received pembrolizumab with re-irradiation alone (cohort A, bevacizumab-naïve; n=30) or with bevacizumab continuation (cohort B, n=30).

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  • The study explored the effect of perampanel, an AMPA receptor antagonist, on reducing hyperexcitability around gliomas, which could promote tumor growth.
  • An open-label trial compared perampanel with standard care in patients with high-grade glioma undergoing surgery, measuring outcomes like high-frequency oscillation rates and seizure occurrence.
  • Results showed no significant difference in hyperexcitability outcomes between perampanel and standard care, and early termination of the trial indicated similar seizure rates and overall survival for both treatments.
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Background: Tractors and quad bikes pose a significant risk of fatal injuries among farmers, particularly affecting older farmers. This study aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators to the adoption of machine related safety behaviors among older farmers in Irish farm settings.

Method: Four focus groups were conducted via Zoom in February 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to uncover genetic changes linked to prolactinomas, ultimately identifying a mutation (ESR1Y537S) in an aggressive case of this tumor type at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
  • A group of twenty patients was analyzed using advanced sequencing techniques, revealing the ESR1Y537S mutation in a post-menopausal woman, which is known to enhance estrogen receptor activity without needing a hormone trigger.
  • The discovery of this mutation allowed for targeted treatment with elacestrant, in combination with radiotherapy, effectively managing tumor growth and significantly lowering prolactin levels in the patient.
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  • - Histopathology image evaluation is crucial for cancer diagnosis, but traditional AI methods struggle with generalizing across different imaging protocols and sample populations due to their specialized nature.
  • - The Clinical Histopathology Imaging Evaluation Foundation (CHIEF) model is introduced as a general-purpose, weakly supervised machine learning framework designed to systematically evaluate cancer by extracting diverse imaging features through two complementary pretraining methods.
  • - CHIEF, trained on over 60,000 whole-slide images from various sites, demonstrated improved performance over existing deep learning approaches by up to 36.1%, showing its effectiveness in adapting to diverse samples and enhancing digital pathology evaluations for cancer patients.
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Rural communities have unique mental health needs and challenges which are often related to the uniqueness of the community itself. On a per-capita basis, the investment in rural mental health research is far less than that in urban communities. Added to this, rural communities are often at risk of researchers, based in large urban universities, visiting, conducting the research with minimal engagement with local stakeholders and limited understanding of the community's social-service-environmental context.

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  • A study examined how molecular features, clinical metrics, and treatment affect the overall survival of glioma patients amidst recent changes in classification and care standards.
  • The research involved analyzing 4,400 gliomas from various sources, finding that 27.2% had updated molecular classifications that differed from their initial diagnoses; survival rates varied significantly between different patient groups.
  • The study identified key prognostic factors for different glioma types and created survival prediction tools based on age, molecular features, and treatment, aiming to enhance understanding and research on gliomas.
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Background: Development of the cow-calf bond post-partum and passive immunity of calves from spring-calving beef × beef (B×B) and beef × dairy (B×D) cow genotypes was determined using primiparous and multiparous (Experiment 1), and primiparous and second-parity (Experiment 2) animals. In Experiment 1, calves either suckled colostrum naturally ('natural-suckling') (n = 126), or were fed colostrum, using an oesophageal-tube ('artificially-fed') (n = 26), from their dam within 1-h post-partum. In Experiment 2, all calves (n = 60) were artificially-fed colostrum from their dam.

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Objective: Measuring attitudes of farmers to safe farming practices using quantitative causal relationship approaches is central to improving understanding of (un)safe practices. This knowledge is important in the development of effective farm safety interventions. However, the accuracy of quantitative attitudinal studies in explaining farmers' decision-making faces a potential measurement challenge, i.

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Intrinsic, expansile pontine tumors typically occur in the pediatric population. These tumors characteristically present as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), which is now considered as diffuse midline glioma (DMG), H3K27-mutated of the pons. DIPG has limited treatment options and a poor prognosis, and the value of tissue diagnosis from an invasive biopsy remains controversial.

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Objective: Generation of reliable data underpins the effectiveness of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) surveillance systems. Despite the importance of understanding OHS data systems, there are few papers that provide overviews of their structure and/or content. This paper introduces a basic framework for assessing OHS data systems that will be of use to researchers internationally.

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The dual (bidirectional) nature of social media suggests that fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) leads to greater social media use (SMU). In turn, higher levels of SMU lead to heightened FOMO. Ironically, individuals use social media to assuage their FOMO but end up with higher levels of FOMO after being exposed to a wide variety of social opportunities, where they may not have been included.

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Objective: The classification of brain tumors is a rapidly evolving field that requires extensive integration of molecular diagnostic findings from an expanding set of platforms and assays. This article summarizes the schema presented in the 5th edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of central nervous system (CNS) tumors while highlighting diagnostic molecular findings and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of commonly available testing modalities.

Latest Developments: Several major changes in practice were introduced with the 5th edition of the CNS WHO classification, including molecular grading of adult diffuse gliomas, the introduction of many new entities within the spectrum of pediatric gliomas and glioneuronal tumors, and the widespread adoption of methylation classes as useful or even necessary diagnostic criteria.

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Large-scale sequencing led to the identification of driver molecular alterations such as FGFR1 and BRAF in occasional diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) H3K27-mutant but their significance has not been completely explored. We evaluated these associations in our institutional cohorts. We searched our archives for H3K2M7-mutant gliomas and analyzed the co-occurring genetic alterations.

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Article Synopsis
  • The INSIGhT trial is a phase II study focused on evaluating new treatments for glioblastoma using adaptive randomization and genomic profiling to quickly identify promising therapies for further testing.
  • Patients with a specific type of glioblastoma were randomly assigned to receive either standard treatment or one of three experimental drugs: abemaciclib, neratinib, or CC-115, with data guiding ongoing treatment allocation based on effectiveness.
  • Results showed that abemaciclib and neratinib were generally well tolerated and led to a longer progression-free survival compared to standard treatment, while CC-115 had a high rate of severe toxicity and did not improve progression-free survival.
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Gliomas harboring oncogenic ROS1 alterations are uncommon and primarily described in infants. Our goal was to characterize the clinicopathological features and molecular signatures of the full spectrum of ROS1 fusion-positive gliomas across all age groups. Through a retrospective multi-institutional collaboration, we report a collection of unpublished ROS1 fusion gliomas along with the characterization and meta-analysis of new and published cases.

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Background: Timely and accurate intraoperative cryosection evaluations remain the gold standard for guiding surgical treatments for gliomas. However, the tissue-freezing process often generates artifacts that make histologic interpretation difficult. In addition, the 2021 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System incorporates molecular profiles in the diagnostic categories, so standard visual evaluation of cryosections alone cannot completely inform diagnoses based on the new classification system.

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Background: In Ireland, the agriculture sector reports the highest number of fatalities even though farmers constitute only 6% of the working population. Tractor-related behaviours are implicated in 55% of all vehicle work-related fatalities and 25% of reported injuries, and many of these occur in farmyards. There is limited research on the feasibility and acceptability of behaviour change interventions to improve tractor safety.

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Geniculate ganglion hemangioma (GGH) is rarely presented in the neurosurgical literature. It extends extradurally on the middle fossa floor and displaces the intratemporal part of the facial nerve. Surgical treatment is advisable at early symptoms.

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Farming is essential work, but it suffers from very high injury and fatality rates. Machinery, including tractors, are a leading cause of serious injuries and fatalities to farmers and farm workers in many countries. Herein, we document the systematic development of an evidence-based, theory-informed behaviour change intervention to increase machine-related safety on farms.

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Introduction: Formal farm safety education/training should be tailored, in terms of the approach, content and delivery, to students undertaking agriculture education and training to enhance Farm-related Injury Risk Perception (FIRP). To this end, this paper assesses factor(s) explaining or predicting levels of FIRP amongst students studying for a degree in agriculture science.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of Bachelor of Agriculture Science (BAgrSc) students ( = 417) (aged 18-20) in Ireland.

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Introduction: This study addresses two main questions: 'How does having the experience of farming influence college students' intrinsic motivations towards farm health and safety (FHS)?' and 'Are there any differences between the motivations reported by students with and without having such experience?'. This study seeks to investigate the role of farming experience in students' cognitive factors and intentions to evaluate whether sharing experiences and stories positively shape students' cognitive factors to perform FHS behaviours.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey using a semi-structured questionnaire was assigned to a nationally representative sample of agricultural science students in Ireland (n= 430).

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Introduction: Farmers in Ireland experience poor health outcomes and are considered 'hard to reach'. Agricultural advisors ('advisors') are uniquely positioned to support and signpost farmers on health issues. This paper explores the acceptability and terms of reference of a potential health role for advisors, and offers key recommendations for developing a bespoke farmers' health training programme.

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