Publications by authors named "Edgar A"

Background: Clinical reasoning is a professional capability required for clinical practice. In preclinical training, clinical reasoning is often taught implicitly, and feedback is focused on discrete outcomes of decision-making. This makes it challenging to provide meaningful feedback on the often-hidden metacognitive process of reasoning to address specific clinical reasoning difficulties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Systemic sclerosis is a chronic and rare connective tissue disease with multiorgan effects, including interstitial lung disease (ILD). Navigating systemic sclerosis-interstitial lung disease presents a challenge for patients due to the gaps in patient education, which can impact patient health and quality of life. This study utilized the nominal group technique to identify priority knowledge gaps among patients with systemic sclerosis-interstitial lung disease and inform future educational interventions and research.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the current practices and attitudes of interstitial lung disease (ILD) clinicians towards improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for patients with Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis (HP).
  • Nearly all respondents (100%) believe that interventions to enhance HRQOL are essential, but only 5% currently use validated HRQOL assessment tools.
  • Most clinicians reported limited knowledge of behavioral interventions, such as peer coaching and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), yet a significant majority expressed a desire to educate patients about these methods and reinforce them post-treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to address the impact of knowledge gaps on patients' quality of life regarding hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) by identifying what information they feel is most lacking.
  • It involved 21 English-speaking patients with HP participating in virtual group sessions to prioritize their information needs.
  • The main knowledge gaps identified were about the disease's natural history, treatment options, epidemiology, coping strategies, symptom management, exposure mitigation, and educational methods for spreading awareness about HP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The evolution of digitally based pedagogies, such as extended reality (XR) - a group of simulated learning environments that include virtual simulation, virtual reality, and augmented reality - has prompted optometry educators to seek evidence to guide the implementation of these teaching and learning activities within their curricula. Looking more broadly across the medical and allied health fields, there is a wealth of evidence to guide the incorporation of XR, as it is increasingly being integrated into the curricula of other select health professions disciplines. Educators from these disciplines continue to explore and embed XR in practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As the sister group to all other animals, ctenophores (comb jellies) are important for understanding the emergence and diversification of numerous animal traits. Efforts to explore the evolutionary processes that promoted diversification within Ctenophora are hindered by undersampling genomic diversity within this clade. To address this gap, we present the sequence, assembly and initial annotation of the genome of .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Disparities in accessing quality healthcare persist among diverse populations. Health professional education should therefore promote more diversity in the health workforce, by fostering attitudes of inclusion. This paper outlines the potential of virtual simulation (VS), as one method in a system of health professional education, to promote inclusion and diversity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) preserves donor organs and permits real-time assessment of allograft health, but the most effective indicators of graft viability are uncertain. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), released consequent to traumatic cell injury and death, including the ischemia-reperfusion injury inherent in transplantation, may meet the need for a biomarker in this context. We describe a real time PCR-based approach to assess cell-free mtDNA during NMP as a universal biomarker of allograft quality.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Regenerative potential is widespread but unevenly distributed across animals. However, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying regenerative processes is limited to a handful of model organisms, restricting robust comparative analyses. Here, we conduct a time course of RNA-seq during whole body regeneration in Mnemiopsis leidyi (Ctenophora) to uncover gene expression changes that correspond with key events during the regenerative timeline of this species.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A mixed-methods study explored sleep challenges in children aged 2-4 years, comparing perceptions between lower-income (avg. $30,000) and higher-income (avg. $142,400) families.
  • Parents reported similar bedtime routines and nighttime struggles, but differences emerged in how each income group perceived and managed these challenges.
  • The findings highlight the need for tailored sleep interventions for families, acknowledging both common barriers and specific income-related differences in sleep dynamics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Black women with COPD are at elevated risk of CVD-related mortality compared with White women. CVD risk factors are undertreated in Black men and women.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of using readily accessible technology, anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT), to detect and grade meibomian gland dropout and examine its interchangeability with the Oculus Keratograph 5M (K5M).

Methods: A total of 30 participants (30 eyes) with a median age of 21 (range = 19-28 years) were recruited. Meibography was performed using two commercially available imaging devices to look at the structure of the meibomian glands and grade them subjectively in real time, and image analysis was used to quantify meibomian gland loss objectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Differential regulation of gene expression has produced the astonishing diversity of life on Earth. Understanding the origin and evolution of mechanistic innovations for control of gene expression is therefore integral to evolutionary and developmental biology. Cytoplasmic polyadenylation is the biochemical extension of polyadenosine at the 3'-end of cytoplasmic mRNAs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chemical solution deposition (CSD) methods involving the thermal decomposition of 5.0 M Er(NO)·5HO and Y(NO)·6HO precursor solutions were employed to fabricate protective erbia and yttria coatings onto stainless steel (SS304/SS316) coupons. The two techniques tested were dip and spray coating, which were then compared to a commercial yttria spray (ZYP Coatings).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the thermal aging of nitroplasticizer (NP), the produced nitrous acid (HONO) can decompose into reactive nitro-oxide species and nitric acid (HNO). These volatile species are prone to cause cascaded deterioration of NP and give rise to various acidic constituents. To gain insight on the early stage of NP degradation, an adequate method for measuring changes in the concentrations of HONO, HNO, and related acidic species is imperative.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Inherent features in virtual simulation could be utilised to deliver collaborative global education that is inclusive, accessible, and valued by students and facilitators. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the International Eyecare Community (IEC) platform's virtual simulated international placements (VSIP) in optometric education.

Methods: An international, multi-center, cross-sectional mixed methods study with Deakin University, Australia, and the Elite School of Optometry, India, was used to evaluate the impact of VSIP in the IEC using pre-existing deidentified data collected from teaching and learning activities within the optometry course curriculum.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Smart rings provide unique opportunities for continuous physiological measurement. They are easy to wear, provide little burden in comparison to other smart wearables, are suitable for nocturnal settings, and can be sized to provide ideal contact between the sensors and the skin at all times. Continuous measuring of blood pressure (BP) provides essential diagnostic and prognostic value for cardiovascular health management.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Innexins facilitate cell-cell communication by forming gap junctions or nonjunctional hemichannels, which play important roles in metabolic, chemical, ionic, and electrical coupling. The lack of knowledge regarding the evolution and role of these channels in ctenophores (comb jellies), the likely sister group to the rest of animals, represents a substantial gap in our understanding of the evolution of intercellular communication in animals. Here, we identify and phylogenetically characterize the complete set of innexins of four ctenophores: Mnemiopsis leidyi, Hormiphora californensis, Pleurobrachia bachei, and Beroe ovata.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study gathered formative data on barriers to optimal child sleep to inform the development of a sleep intervention for parents of preschool-aged children in low-income households. Parents ( = 15, age: 34 ± 8 years, household income: $30,000 ± 17,845/year) reporting difficulties with their child's sleep participated in this study. Mixed methods included an online survey and semi-structured phone interview.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Virtual simulations are used throughout healthcare training programs to enable development of clinical skills, however the potential for virtual simulation to enhance cognitive and affective skills is less well understood. This study explored pre-clinical optometry students' perceptions of the impact of virtual simulation on the development of core competency skills including patient-centred care, communication, scientific literacy, and evidence-based practice.

Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted using pre-existing anonymized data from an electronic survey distributed to pre-clinical optometry students enrolled in the double degree Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Optometry at Deakin University, Australia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Changes in developmental gene regulatory networks (dGRNs) underlie much of the diversity of life, but the evolutionary mechanisms that operate on regulatory interactions remain poorly understood. Closely related species with extreme phenotypic divergence provide a valuable window into the genetic and molecular basis for changes in dGRNs and their relationship to adaptive changes in organismal traits. Here we analyse genomes, epigenomes and transcriptomes during early development in two Heliocidaris sea urchin species that exhibit highly divergent life histories and in an outgroup species.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the eutectic mixture of bis(2,2-dinitropropyl) acetal (BDNPA) and bis(2,2-dinitropropyl) formal (BDNPF), also known as nitroplasticizer (NP), -phenyl-β-naphthylamine (PBNA), an antioxidant, is used to improve the long-term storage of NP. PBNA scavenges nitrogen oxides (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As an antioxidant, -phenyl-β-naphthylamine (PBNA) inhibits the activity of oxidants, such as NO , to prevent the degradation of energetic materials. In the presence of NO , nitrated products can be generated in the process potentially. To characterize nitrated PBNA in a nontargeted analysis of complex samples as such, liquid chromatography tandem quadrupole time-of-flight (LC-QTOF), as an excellent analytic technique, is used due to its high resolution and sensitivity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe the first occurrence of diamond-facies ultrahigh pressure metamorphism along the Gondwana-Pacific margin of the Terra Australis Orogen. Metamorphic garnet grains from Ordovician metasediments along the Clarke River Fault in northeastern Queensland contain inclusions of diamond and quartz after coesite, as well as exsolution lamellae of rutile, apatite, amphibole, and silica. These features constrain minimum pressure-temperature conditions to >3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF