Using Artificial Intelligence as a Melanoma Screening Tool in Self-Referred Patients.

Introduction: Early detection of melanoma requires timely access to medical care. In this study, we examined the feasibility of using artificial intelligence (AI) to flag possible melanomas in self-referred patients concerned that a skin lesion might be cancerous.

Methods: Patients were recruited for the study through advertisements in 2 hospitals in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Qualitative interview study exploring the perspectives of pregnant women on participating in controlled human infection research in the UK.

Introduction: Pregnant women have been historically excluded from interventional research. While recent efforts have been made to improve their involvement, there remains a disparity in the evidence base for treatments available to pregnant women compared with the non-pregnant population. A significant barrier to the enrolment of pregnant women within research is risk perception and a poor understanding of decision-making in this population.

Surfactant-Dependent Bulk Scale Mechanochemical Synthesis of CsPbBr Nanocrystals for Plastic Scintillator-Based X-ray Imaging.

We report a facile, solvent-free surfactant-dependent mechanochemical synthesis of highly luminescent CsPbBr nanocrystals (NCs) and study their scintillation properties. A small amount of surfactant oleylamine (OAM) plays an important role in the two-step ball milling method to control the size and emission properties of the NCs. The solid-state synthesized perovskite NCs exhibit a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of up to 88% with excellent stability.

A Questionnaire-based Study Exploring Participant Perspectives in a Perinatal Human Challenge Trial.

Background: Pregnant women have historically been excluded from most medical research, including human challenge studies. The proof-of-concept Lactamica 9 human challenge study investigated whether nasal inoculation of pregnant women with commensal bacteria leads to horizontal transmission to the neonate. Given the unique practical and ethical considerations of both human challenge studies and interventional research involving pregnant women and their newborns, we sought to investigate the motivations, concerns and experiences of these volunteers.

High Power Factor Nb-Doped TiO Thermoelectric Thick Films: Toward Atomic Scale Defect Engineering of Crystallographic Shear Structures.

Donor-doped TiO-based materials are promising thermoelectrics (TEs) due to their low cost and high stability at elevated temperatures. Herein, high-performance Nb-doped TiO thick films are fabricated by facile and scalable screen-printing techniques. Enhanced TE performance has been achieved by forming high-density crystallographic shear (CS) structures.

Managing challenges in congenital CMV: current thinking.

Congenital human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common congenital infection, affecting around 1 in 200 infants in high-income settings. It can have life-long consequences for up to one in four children, including sensorineural hearing loss and neurodisability. Despite the frequency of congenital CMV and the severity for some children, it is a little-known condition by pregnant women, families and healthcare providers.

Timing of maternal mortality and severe morbidity during the postpartum period: a systematic review.

Objective: The objective of this review was to determine the timing of overall and cause-specific maternal mortality and severe morbidity during the postpartum period.

Introduction: Many women continue to die or experience adverse health outcomes in the postpartum period; however, limited work has explored the timing of when women die or present complications during this period globally.

Inclusion Criteria: This review considered studies that reported on women after birth up to 6 weeks postpartum and included data on mortality and/or morbidity on the first day, days 2-7, and days 8-42.

Silver-doped phosphate coacervates to inhibit pathogenic bacteria associated with wound infections: an in vitro study.

There is a great demand from patients requiring skin repair, as a result of poorly healed acute wounds or chronic wounds. These patients are at high risk of constant inflammation that often leads to life-threatening infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new materials that could rapidly stimulate the healing process and simultaneously prevent infections.

Strategies to Limit Cognitive Impairments under Sleep Restriction: Relationship to Stress Biomarkers.

Adding relaxation techniques during nap or auditory stimulation of EEG slow oscillation (SO) during nighttime sleep may limit cognitive impairments in sleep-deprived subjects, potentially through alleviating stress-releasing effects. We compared daytime sleepiness, cognitive performances, and salivary stress biomarker responses in 11 volunteers (aged 18-36) who underwent 5 days of sleep restriction (SR, 3 h per night, with 30 min of daily nap) under three successive conditions: control (SR-CT), relaxation techniques added to daily nap (SR-RT), and auditory stimulation of sleep slow oscillations (SO) during nighttime sleep (SR-NS). Test evaluation was performed at baseline (BASE), the fifth day of chronic SR (SR5), and the third and fifth days after sleep recovery (REC3, REC5, respectively).

Ion-driven nanograin formation in early-stage degradation of tri-cation perovskite films.

The operational stability of organic-inorganic halide perovskite based solar cells is a challenge for widespread commercial adoption. The mobility of ionic species is a key contributor to perovskite instability since ion migration can lead to unfavourable changes in the crystal lattice and ultimately destabilisation of the perovskite phase. Here we study the nanoscale early-stage degradation of mixed-halide mixed-cation perovskite films under operation-like conditions using electrical scanning probe microscopy to investigate the formation of surface nanograin defects.

Improving uptake of vaccines in pregnancy: A service evaluation of an antenatal vaccination clinic at a tertiary hospital in the UK.

Background: Vaccination against pertussis and seasonal influenza is recommended for all pregnant women in the UK. More recently COVID-19 vaccination has also been offered to women in pregnancy.

Objectives: To evaluate the uptake of vaccines in pregnant women within a midwife-led immunisation clinic and to assess factors influencing pregnant women's decisions about accepting vaccination.

Trainee-led research using an integrated knowledge translation or other research partnership approaches: a scoping reviews.

Background: There are increasing expectations for researchers and knowledge users in the health system to use a research partnership approach, such as integrated knowledge translation, to increase the relevance and use of research findings in health practice, programmes and policies. However, little is known about how health research trainees engage in research partnership approaches such as IKT. In response, the purpose of this scoping review was to map and characterize the evidence related to using an IKT or other research partnership approach from the perspective of health research trainees in thesis and/or postdoctoral work.

Genetics and Cognitive Vulnerability to Sleep Deprivation in Healthy Subjects: Interaction of ADORA2A, TNF-α and COMT Polymorphisms.

Several genetic polymorphisms differentiate between healthy individuals who are more cognitively vulnerable or resistant during total sleep deprivation (TSD). Common metrics of cognitive functioning for classifying vulnerable and resilient individuals include the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), Go/noGo executive inhibition task, and subjective daytime sleepiness. We evaluated the influence of 14 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on cognitive responses during total sleep deprivation (continuous wakefulness for 38 h) in 47 healthy subjects (age 37.

Ecological drivers of eggshell wettability in birds.

Complex and at times extreme environments have pushed many bird species to develop unique eggshell surface properties to protect the embryo from external threats. Because microbes are usually transmitted into eggs by moisture, some species have evolved hydrophobic shell surfaces that resist water absorption, while also regulating heat loss and the exchange of gases. Here, we investigate the relationship between the wettability of eggshells from 441 bird species and their life-history traits.

V-related extracellular potentials observed in red blood cells.

Even in nonexcitable cells, the membrane potential V is fundamental to cell function, with roles from ion channel regulation, development, to cancer metastasis. V arises from transmembrane ion concentration gradients; standard models assume homogeneous extracellular and intracellular ion concentrations, and that V only exists across the cell membrane and has no significance beyond it. Using red blood cells, we show that this is incorrect, or at least incomplete; V is detectable beyond the cell surface, and modulating V produces quantifiable and consistent changes in extracellular potential.

Manipulating the infant respiratory microbiomes to improve clinical outcomes: A review of the literature.

Background: The association between infant respiratory microbiota and disease (including respiratory tract infections and asthma) is increasingly recognised, although the mechanism remains unclear. Respiratory infections and asthma account for a large proportion of infant morbidity and mortality, so the possibility of preventing disease or modifying clinical outcomes by manipulating microbiome development warrants investigation.

Objectives And Methods: We identified studies that investigated the efficacy of live bacteria (probiotics or human challenge) or their substrates to modify respiratory colonisation or clinical outcomes in infants.

Influenza vaccination: protecting the most vulnerable.

Influenza virus infection causes seasonal epidemics and occasional pandemics, leading to huge morbidity and mortality worldwide. Vaccination against influenza is needed annually as protection from constantly mutating strains is required. Groups at high risk of poor outcomes include the elderly, the very young, pregnant women and those with chronic health conditions.

Educators' strategies for engaging diverse students in undergraduate nursing education programs: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to identify and chart teaching strategies that educators use in classroom settings to engage diverse students in undergraduate nursing education programs.

Introduction: Student engagement is critical to facilitating academic success and significant learning experiences for undergraduate nursing students. However, students from diverse backgrounds face challenges in undergraduate nursing programs, and these challenges impact their academic engagement and sense of belonging and inclusion.

Motorcycling performance and sleepiness during an extended ride on a dynamic simulator: relationship with stress biomarkers.

Objective: Powered two-wheelers (PTW) make up a large proportion of fatal accidents. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of time-of-day and total sleep deprivation (SD) on simulated motorcycling performance during extended riding sessions (60 min), while evaluating stress mechanisms.

Approach: A total of 16 healthy males participated in four simulated motorcycling sessions at 07:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 19:00, including city (8 min), country (2 min) and highway pathways (40 min), after a normal night of sleep and after total SD (30 h), in a randomized counterbalanced order.

The infant pharyngeal microbiomes: origin, impact and manipulation.

Purpose Of Review: There has been an exponential increase in research into infant microbiome evolution, and it appears that pharyngeal microbiota are associated with clinical phenotypes (e.g. infection and asthma).

Neuroinflammation in dementia with Lewy bodies: a human post-mortem study.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common neurodegenerative cause of dementia, behind Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is now established that cerebral inflammation has a key role in the aetiology and progression of AD, but this has yet to be confirmed in DLB. We aimed to determine the neuroinflammatory profile in the cerebral cortex of a large cohort of DLB cases.

High frequency of paediatric facial nerve palsy due to Lyme disease in a geographically endemic region.

Introduction: Idiopathic facial nerve palsy (FNP) is an uncommon but important presentation in children, with Lyme disease known to be a common cause. The UK county of Hampshire is a high incidence area of Lyme disease. We conducted a retrospective review of the investigation and management of paediatric FNP at a large University hospital, including serologic testing and treatment of Lyme disease.