Publications by authors named "Davies H"

Camera traps are widely used in wildlife research and monitoring, so it is imperative to understand their strengths, limitations, and potential for increasing impact. We investigated a decade of use of wildlife cameras (2012-2022) with a case study on Australian terrestrial vertebrates using a multifaceted approach. We (i) synthesised information from a literature review; (ii) conducted an online questionnaire of 132 professionals; (iii) hosted an in-person workshop of 28 leading experts representing academia, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and government; and (iv) mapped camera trap usage based on all sources.

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Background: Widespread digital transformation necessitates developing digital competencies for public health practice. Given work in 2024 to update Canada's public health core competencies, there are opportunities to consider digital competencies. In our previous research, we identified digital competency and training recommendations within the literature.

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Background: Impaired oxidation of branched chain amino acids may give rise to volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We hypothesized that VOCs will be present in exhaled breath of participants with propionic acidemia (PA), and their relative abundance would correlate with clinical and biochemical characteristics of the disease.

Methods: We enrolled 5 affected participants from a natural history study of PA (ClinicalTrials.

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Emission rates for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been quantified from frying, spice and herb cooking, and cooking a chicken curry, using real-time selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) for controlled, laboratory-based experiments in a semi-realistic kitchen. Emissions from 7 different cooking oils were investigated during the frying of wheat flatbread (puri). These emissions were dominated by ethanol, octane, nonane and a variety of aldehydes, including acetaldehyde, heptenal and hexanal, and the average concentration of acetaldehyde (0.

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Microbiology reference laboratories perform a crucial role within public health systems. This role was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this Viewpoint, we emphasise the importance of microbiology reference laboratories and highlight the types of digital data and expertise they provide, which benefit national and international public health.

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Dispersal is a fundamental ecological process that influences population dynamics and genetic diversity and is therefore an important component of the models used to simulate population responses to environmental change. We considered informed dispersal in relation to settlement location, where individuals could optimise selection of settlement location with regard to per capita resource availability and investigated the importance of this type of informed dispersal for simulated demography and genetic diversity under different biological and environmental scenarios. We used an individual-based simulation model scaled with reference to the ecology of small mammals in fire prone savanna ecosystems.

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  • The study focuses on identifying genetic mutations in malaria parasites that confer drug resistance, essential for improving surveillance and target discovery in malaria treatment.
  • Researchers analyzed the genomes of 724 clones resistant to 118 different antimalarial compounds, uncovering 1,448 variants in 128 frequently mutated genes related to multidrug resistance.
  • The findings suggest that in vitro selected mutations are more diverse and significant than naturally occurring ones, providing insights into how these mutations can inform predictions of drug resistance in similar pathogens.
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  • Underwater ecosystems are increasingly affected by anthropogenic noise, which leads to significant uncertainty about its impact on aquatic communities.
  • A meta-analysis of 835 data points from 46 studies revealed that anthropogenic and synthetic sounds negatively impact aquatic invertebrates' behavior and physiology, while environmental sounds have a slightly positive effect.
  • The research highlights the need to include aquatic invertebrates in studies on noise pollution and its effects, as their sensitivity to sound changes can have significant repercussions for individual species and aquatic ecosystems.
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A catalyst-in-bag system facilitates the recovery and recycling of chiral dirhodium carboxylate catalysts used for enantioselective, intermolecular cyclopropanation. The catalyst-in-bag system incorporates a soluble enantioselective dirhodium complex catalyst within a reusable, commercial dialysis membrane. Dirhodium catalysts of different sizes are examined, and two catalysts with molecular weights above 2400 Da are well-retained by the membrane.

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Introduction: A literature review provides a synthesis on a selection of papers about a specific topic. This is used by health practitioners in critical care as in other specialities when making clinical practice decisions. The task of knowledge transfer through the review process of scientific papers involves a variety of methodologies with differing expectations on the quality and rigour that is applied.

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The mechanism of the dirhodium-catalyzed combined C-H functionalization/Cope rearrangement (CH/Cope) reaction discovered by the Davies group has been investigated with density functional theory (DFT) calculations and quasi-classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Computations from the Davies group previously showed that there is a post-transition state bifurcation leading to a direct CH reaction and also to the CH/Cope product. While this work was in preparation, the Tantillo group and the Ess group independently reported quantum mechanical and molecular dynamics studies on the dirhodium-tetracarboxylate-catalyzed diazoester CH/Cope and CH insertion reactions with 1,3-cyclohexadiene and 1,4-cyclohexadiene, respectively.

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  • - This study is the first large-scale examination of rare copy number variants (CNVs) in anorexia nervosa (AN), involving data from 7,414 AN cases and 5,044 controls to explore their potential genetic links to the disorder.
  • - The researchers investigated both well-known syndromic CNVs and those associated with other diseases but found no significant links between these variants and AN; however, they identified 21 potential CNV regions that may play a role in AN risk, particularly in areas related to metabolic and neurodevelopmental factors.
  • - Ultimately, the findings suggest that rare CNVs have a limited impact on the development of AN, aligning it with other psychiatric disorders like bipolar disorder, and indicate that
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  • The study compares the effectiveness of continuous wound infusion (CWI) of local anesthetic with thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) for postoperative pain management after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).
  • Results showed that while TEA provided better pain relief at rest and while coughing on the second postoperative day, CWI was equally effective for overall pain management across the first five days post-surgery.
  • CWI allowed for quicker recovery milestones, such as faster bowel movements and diet initiation, along with lower rates of analgesic failure and nausea/vomiting compared to TEA.
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(-)-Cylindrocyclophane A is a 22-membered C-symmetric [7.7]paracyclophane that bears bis-resorcinol functionality and six stereocenters. We report a synthetic strategy for (-)-cylindrocyclophane A that uses 10 C-H functionalization reactions, resulting in a streamlined route with high enantioselectivity and efficiency (17 steps).

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Article Synopsis
  • - Women's mental health issues, especially related to mood disturbances and eating disorders, are particularly prevalent during major hormonal changes throughout their reproductive years, particularly around perimenopause.
  • - There is a noticeable rise in eating disorder cases among midlife women, linked to hormonal fluctuations experienced during perimenopause, suggesting that the prevalence of these disorders is shifting to this demographic.
  • - Effective recognition and treatment of eating disorders in middle-aged women is essential, as these conditions are serious and can lead to increased health risks in older age.
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Background: Pedal medial arterial calcification (pMAC) is a potential predictor of major adverse limb events (MALEs) among patients with critical limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). This study aims to validate the prognostic value of the pMAC score in predicting major lower-limb amputation (MLLA) and need for redo revascularisation.

Methods: A single-center study involving 196 patients diagnosed with CLTI, reviewed between 2012 and 2022.

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  • Study focused on how long COVID symptoms fluctuate in response to various activities, measuring severity, timing, and recovery through Ecological Momentary Assessments.
  • 376 participants recorded data on 8 core symptoms and results showed increased symptom severity shortly after physical, social, and cognitive exertions, with notable rises in fatigue levels.
  • Findings suggest clear patterns of symptom variations can aid in self-management and highlight potential therapeutic targets for treatment.
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Cereblon (CRBN) has been successfully co-opted to affect the targeted degradation of "undruggable" proteins with immunomodulatory imide drugs (IMiDs). IMiDs act as molecule glues that facilitate ternary complex formation between CRBN and a target protein, leading to ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Subtle structural modifications often cause profound and sometimes unpredictable changes in the degradation selectivity.

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Cooking and cleaning are common sources of indoor air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The chemical fate of VOCs indoors is determined by both gas-phase and multi-phase chemistry, and can result in the formation of potentially hazardous secondary pollutants. Chemical interactions at the gas-surface boundary play an important role in indoor environments due to the characteristically high surface area to volume ratios (SAVs).

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in the public health workforce's capacity to deploy digital technologies while upholding ethical, social justice, and health equity principles. Existing public health competency frameworks have not been updated to reflect the prominent role digital technologies play in contemporary public health, and public health training institutions are seeking to integrate digital technologies in their curricula.

Objective: As a first step in a multiphase study exploring recommendations for updates to public health competency frameworks within the Canadian public health context, we conducted a rapid review of literature aiming to identify recommendations for digital competencies, training approaches, and inter- or transdisciplinary partnerships that can enhance public health practitioners' capacity to support the digital transformation of public health.

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In part two of this mini-series, we evaluate the range of machine-learning tools now available for application to veterinary clinical text-mining. These tools will be vital to automate extraction of information from large datasets of veterinary clinical narratives curated by projects such as the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) and VetCompass, where volumes of millions of records preclude reading records and the complexities of clinical notes limit usefulness of more "traditional" text-mining approaches. We discuss the application of various machine learning techniques ranging from simple models for identifying words and phrases with similar meanings to expand lexicons for keyword searching, to the use of more complex language models.

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Whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides comprehensive, individualised cancer genomic information. However, routine tumour biopsies are formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE), damaging DNA, historically limiting their use in WGS. Here we analyse FFPE cancer WGS datasets from England's 100,000 Genomes Project, comparing 578 FFPE samples with 11,014 fresh frozen (FF) samples across multiple tumour types.

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The protracted form of COVID-19 known as 'long covid' was first described in 2020. Its symptoms, course and prognosis vary widely; some patients have a multi-system, disabling and prolonged illness. In 2021, ring-fenced funding was provided to establish 90 long covid clinics in England; some clinics were also established in Scotland and Wales.

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