Publications by authors named "E J Currie"

Purpose: Modeling passively collected smartphone sensor data (called digital phenotyping) has the potential to detect distress among family caregivers and patients with advanced cancer and could lead to novel clinical models of cancer care. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of collecting passive smartphone data from family caregivers and their care recipients with advanced cancer over 24 weeks.

Methods: This was an observational feasibility study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis are closely related bacteria that cause gonorrhea and bacterial meningitis, respectively, and both affect different areas of the human body.
  • Although effective vaccines exist for meningococcal disease, increasing antibiotic resistance highlights the urgent need for a vaccine against gonorrhea.
  • This study explores the effectiveness of vaccines using TbpB combined with different adjuvants in mouse models, finding that certain adjuvants enhance protection against N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis, suggesting a potential for a single vaccine to protect against both pathogens.
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is the causative agent of gonorrhea, an on-going public health problem due in part to the lack of success with efforts to develop an efficacious vaccine to prevent this sexually transmitted infection. An attractive candidate vaccine antigen because of its essential function and surface exposure, the gonococcal transferrin binding protein B (TbpB) exhibits high levels of antigenic variability which poses a significant obstacle in evoking a broadly protective vaccine composition. Here, we utilize phylogenetic information to rationally select TbpB variants for inclusion into a potential gonococcal vaccine and identify two TbpB variants that when formulated together elicit a highly cross-reactive antibody response in both rabbits and mice against a diverse panel of TbpB variants and clinically relevant gonococcal strains.

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is a human-restricted bacteria that is a normal nasopharyngeal resident, yet it can also disseminate, causing invasive meningococcal disease. Meningococci are highly adapted to life in humans, with human-specific virulence factors contributing to bacterial adhesion, nutrient acquisition and immune evasion. While these factors have been explored in isolation, their relative contribution during infection has not been considered due to their absence in small animal models and their expression by different human cell types not readily combined in either or systems.

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Purpose: The authors sought to understand bereaved family preferences for end-of-life (EOL) care, particularly among Black families and those in the South.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children who died of cancer ≥6 months before at Children's of Alabama. Themes were identified via content analysis.

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