Publications by authors named "Dowson A"

Article Synopsis
  • The space environment can make it hard for skin to heal properly, which can lead to infections.
  • Scientists did experiments to see how skin cells called fibroblasts react to different levels of gravity, including very low and very high gravity.
  • They found that a stress hormone, cortisol, affected how these cells work and heal, especially when changing between these gravity levels, which is important for finding ways to help skin heal in space.
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Accumulating evidence suggests that peptidoglycan, consistent with a bacterial cell wall, is synthesized around the chloroplasts of many photosynthetic eukaryotes, from glaucophyte algae to early-diverging land plants including pteridophyte ferns, but the biosynthetic pathway has not been demonstrated. Here, we employed mass spectrometry and enzymology in a two-fold approach to characterize the synthesis of peptidoglycan in chloroplasts of the moss Physcomitrium (Physcomitrella) patens. To drive the accumulation of peptidoglycan pathway intermediates, P.

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Pharmaceuticals carried into space are subjected to different gravitational conditions. Hypergravity is encountered in the first stage, during spacecraft launching. The stability of medicines represents a critical element of space missions, especially long-duration ones.

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Background: Migraine is common and ranked as the first cause of disability in people under fifty. Despite significant advances in its pharmacological treatment, it often remains intractable. Neuromodulation is one option considered in the management of those patients.

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Bacteria exhibit a myriad of different morphologies, through the synthesis and modification of their essential peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall. Our discovery of a luorescent -mino cid (FDAA)-based PG labeling approach provided a powerful method for observing how these morphological changes occur. Given that PG is unique to bacterial cells and a common target for antibiotics, understanding the precise mechanism(s) for incorporation of (F)DAA-based probes is a crucial determinant in understanding the role of PG synthesis in bacterial cell biology and could provide a valuable tool in the development of new antimicrobials to treat drug-resistant antibacterial infections.

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Headache is a universal symptom. However, despite its prevalence and implications for daily living, headache epidemiology and its public health impact have only been partially documented. Most research has focused on migraine, with data on tension-type headache (TTH) being relatively sparse, especially for countries outside Western Europe and North America.

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Meningococcal disease is a leading cause of death in children and young people. Part 1 of this two-part series discussed its epidemiology, pathophysiology, signs and symptoms (Dowson, 2014). Part 2 reviews the diagnosis, management and prevention of this disease.

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Meningococcal disease is a leading cause of death in children and young people. It causes two major disease processes, meningococcal septicaemia and meningococcal meningitis, and often results in long-term health complications. It remains a difficult disease to recognise and treat.

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Considering the emphasis on safety in health care, new methods for training qualified nurses are being considered. The use of simulation technologies to provide regular and repeated training for qualified nurses in the management of paediatric emergencies has yet to be investigated. This paper presents the results of a study designed to determine if and how a period of regular simulation training in the management of paediatric emergencies improves qualified nurses' clinical confidence.

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Peripheral nerve stimulation of the occipital nerve has a favourable efficacy to safety profile for chronic migraine, which is notoriously difficult to treat. This article covers the rationale, surgical procedure and clinical data for this treatment option.

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Aim: To develop and test the feasibility, reliability, and validity of a practical toolkit for the assessment and feedback of skills required to manage paediatric emergencies in critical care settings.

Methods: The Imperial Paediatric Emergency Training Toolkit (IPETT) was developed based on current evidence-base and expert input. IPETT assesses both technical and non-technical skills.

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Headache is frequently reported as one of the neurological manifestations of essential thrombocythaemia (ET) and other myeloproliferative neoplasms. It is associated with considerable morbidity; yet, it is a frequently under-recognised symptom. In patients with ET, headaches may be attributable to the disease, to the prescribed ET treatment, or unrelated to ET.

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This paper aims to estimate the service and social costs of headache presenting in primary care and to identify predictors of headache costs. Patients were recruited from GP practices in England and service use and lost employment recorded. Predictors of cost were identified using regression models.

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Headache is the most common neurological symptom presenting to general practitioners (GPs). Identifying factors predicting outcome in patients consulting their GPs for headache may help GPs with prognosis and choose management strategies which would improve patient care. We followed up a cohort of patients receiving standard medical care, recruited from 18 general practices in the South Thames region of England, approximately 9 months after their initial participation in the study.

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The number of referrals by primary care practitioners to secondary care neurology services, particularly for headache, may be difficult to justify. Access to imaging by primary care practitioners could avoid referral without compromising patient outcomes, but the decision to refer is based on a number of complex factors. Due to the paucity of rigorous evidence in this area, available data are combined with expert opinion to offer support for GPs.

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A questionnaire (Migraine Questionnaire; MQ) was developed to help pharmacists identify consumers with migraine suitable for non-prescription treatment with a triptan. Adults, who knew or thought that they had migraine, participated in three, sequential, community-based studies to validate the MQ. Overall, 1,353 subjects completed independent assessments with a pharmacist and a clinician (reference standard).

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Background And Objectives: Some evidence for the efficacy of botulinum toxin A as a preventive treatment for chronic primary headaches has been reported in randomized, controlled clinical studies. This study investigated the clinical profile of botulinum toxin A in a naturalistic clinical practice setting in a population of patients with cervical dystonia associated with chronic headache and a history of migraine.

Methods: This was a prospective, open-label, longitudinal study.

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Background: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is prevalent in patients with migraine with aura. Observational studies show that PFO closure resulted in migraine cessation or improvement in approximately 80% of such patients. We investigated the effects of PFO closure for migraine in a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial.

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Objectives: To investigate patterns of patient preference for 3 formulations of zolmitriptan, in a primary care study utilizing a naturalistic longitudinal design.

Background: Although differences in efficacy between individual triptans tend to be small, migraine patients show clear preferences for individual triptans and formulations. The groups of patients suitable for the different triptan formulations, and the reasons underlying individual preferences, are not clearly understood.

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The aim of this study was to assess the effects of cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) on indices of muscle damage following a bout of prolonged intermittent exercise. Twenty males (mean age 22.3 years, s = 3.

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Aims And Objectives: The aim of this paper is to outline the classifications of migraine and chronic daily headaches (i.e. headaches occurring at more than 15 days per month) and briefly describe their epidemiology and management.

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Background: Headache is the neurological symptom most frequently presented to GPs and referred to neurologists, but little is known about how referred patients differ from patients managed by GPs.

Aim: To describe and compare headache patients managed in primary care with those referred to neurologists.

Design Of Study: Prospective study.

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Headache is a health problem with considerable impact at personal, social, and financial levels in terms of distress, disability, and cost. In the past, many studies have investigated the use of various behavioural treatment modalities for headache. Literature reviews consistently support the effectiveness of behavioural therapeutic approaches for the treatment of the most common primary headaches, namely migraine and tension-type headache.

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