Publications by authors named "Farrell P"

Unlabelled: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) may represent a preclinical manifestation of objective cognitive impairment. This review consolidated existing findings to determine if dual-tasks objectively differentiate between individuals with SCD, motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CENTRAL, AgeLine, and CINAHL were systematically searched for dual-task studies examining older adults with SCD and analyzed using random-effects meta-analyses.

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Background: Hemodynamic instability related to renal replacement therapy (HIRRT) is a common complication affecting critically ill patients that require renal replacement therapy (RRT). There is currently no consensus regarding the definition of HIRRT in critically ill patients. In this context, the impacts of HIRRT on clinical outcomes such as mortality or renal recovery in critically ill patients are unclear.

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Background: Online food delivery (OFD) platforms offer easy access to an abundance of energy-dense and nutrient-poor takeaway foods and may exacerbate existing unhealthy food environments. Efforts to improve population diets include a range of policy recommendations focused on improving the healthiness of food environments; however, the way in which such policies may apply to OFD platforms is not clear. This paper aimed to synthesise the existing evidence to inform nutrition-related policies applicable to OFD platforms for population health and well-being.

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Background: Global food systems are essential to sustain life; however, unhealthy diets are the leading cause of poor health and death worldwide. Natural food environments are a critical source of healthful food such as fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat and aquatic foods, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and Indigenous food systems. Understanding and monitoring natural food environments is critical to protecting the supply of healthy food, and the land and water it comes from, for current and future generations.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Current health systems struggle with obesity prevention due to food system reforms often falling outside their jurisdiction, necessitating collaboration with various government sectors.
  • * The commentary emphasizes the potential of improved accountability mechanisms in addressing food systems' role in obesity, drawing on successful reforms from the Pacific Islands Region, and suggests ways to enhance cooperation for effective prevention.
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  • A study on infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) examined the impact of acid blocker therapy (ABT) on growth, gut microbiome (GM), and early lung disease, finding that over half of the participants used ABT by age 3.* -
  • Although ABT use was more prevalent among children with pancreatic insufficiency, it did not lead to significant growth improvements; instead, it was linked to lower GM diversity and more severe lung disease.* -
  • The research highlights the need for careful evaluation of ABT's risks and benefits, suggesting that current treatment guidelines for young children with CF require reevaluation.*
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  • Acute pancreatitis (AP) can lead to an increased risk of diabetes (DM) in young individuals, prompting a study to identify predictors of prediabetes (preDM) or DM after AP episodes.
  • A cohort of patients aged 21 and under was monitored for 3 and 12 months after an initial AP admission, assessing various clinical, laboratory, and imaging factors against the development of preDM/DM.
  • Key findings indicated that severe AP, higher levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP), along with certain imaging markers and patient age, were significant predictors for the onset of preDM/DM in this population.
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Objective: To evaluate outcomes of children from an observational cohort registry of index acute pancreatitis (AP) admissions managed with different types and rates of intravenous fluid therapy.

Study Design: Patients with index admission of AP between 2013 and 2023 were included. Those who received >1.

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Technological change has affected human health dating back to at least the Neolithic agricultural revolution. Growing evidence indicates widespread environmental pollution began with metallurgical practices and continues today. Environmental exposures to trace elements released from these practices have the potential to alter human body composition, such as bone mineral chemistry, especially for elements that are not homeostatically regulated.

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Background: The 2009 cystic fibrosis (CF) infant care guidelines recommend breastmilk as the initial feeding but do not address if/when it should be fortified or supplemented with formula to promote optimal growth and pulmonary health.

Methods: We conducted a prospective multi-center cohort study in breastfed and formula-fed infants that included 172 infants with CF who were born during 2012-17, enrolled after newborn screening at age 1.9 ± 1.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Out of 181 patients, most had mild AP, while a smaller percentage faced moderate or severe cases; results indicated stable BMI over 12 months, but significant deficiencies in Vitamin D, ferritin, and other nutrients were observed.
  • * Notably, 13% of patients developed pre-diabetes or diabetes after the episode, and 24% experienced low albumin levels shortly after, indicating potential concerns for long-term nutritional health in this population.
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Background & Aims: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for diabetes mellitus (DM). We aimed to study the association of pancreatitis genes with pancreatic endocrine insufficiency (pre-DM and DM) development post-AP in children.

Methods: This was an observational cohort study that enrolled subjects ≤21 years with their first episode of AP and followed them for 12 months for the development of pancreatic endocrine insufficiency.

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During the past quarter century, the diagnosis and treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) have been transformed by molecular sciences that initiated a new era with discovery of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. The knowledge gained from that breakthrough has had dramatic clinical impact. Although once a diagnostic dilemma with long delays, preventable deaths, and irreversible pathology, CF can now be routinely diagnosed shortly after birth through newborn screening programs.

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Healthcare systems around the world have set ambitious targets to design and deliver more environmentally sustainable healthcare. To achieve these targets, individuals, teams, organisations, and whole systems will have to change current attitudes, practices and processes. Change management theory advocates for early identification of the influencing forces to change, so that actions can be taken to overcome the barriers and strengthen the facilitators to increase the likelihood of success.

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Objective: It is unknown how well menu labelling schemes that enforce the display of kilojoule (kJ) labelling at point-of-sale have been implemented on online food delivery (OFD) services in Australia. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of kJ labelling on the online menus of large food outlets with more than twenty locations in the state or fifty locations nationally. A secondary aim was to evaluate the nutritional quality of menu items on OFD from mid-sized outlets that have fewer locations than what is specified in the current scheme.

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After three publications defining an updated guidance on the diagnostic criteria for people with cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-related disorders (pwCFTR-RDs), establishing its relationship to CFTR-dysfunction and describing the individual disorders, this fourth and last paper in the series addresses some critical challenges facing health care providers and pwCFTR-RD. Topics included are: 1) benefits and obstacles to collect data from pwCFTR-RD are discussed, together with the opportunity to integrate them into established CF-registries; 2) the potential of infants designated CRMS/CFSPID to develop a CFTR-RD and how to communicate this information; 3) a description of the challenges in genetic counseling, with particular regard to phenotypic variability, unknown long-term evolution, CFTR testing and pregnancy termination 4) a proposal for the assessment of potential barriers to the implementation and dissemination of the produced documents to health care professionals involved in the care of pwCFTR-RD and a process to monitor the implementation of the CFTR-RD recommendations; 5) clinical trials investigating the efficacy of CFTR modulators in CFTR-RD and how endpoints and outcomes might be adapted to the heterogeneity of these disorders.

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Vitamin D sufficiency has been difficult to achieve consistently in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), even with robust oral supplements. To assess vitamin D status and resistance to supplementation, we studied 80 adults using 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) determinations and whole genome sequencing to construct polygenic risk scores (PRS) that aggregate variants associated with vitamin D status. The results revealed that 30 % of patients were below the threshold of 30 ng/mL and thus should be regarded as insufficient despite normal vitamin E status, a reflection of adherence to fat soluble vitamin supplementation.

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Objectives: Data driven strategies for acute pancreatitis (AP) in pediatrics are limited; adult data suggests lactated ringers (LR) compared to normal saline (NS) resulted in favorable outcomes, but has not been studied in pediatrics. Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of LR during the first 48 h of an AP episode compared with NS.

Study Design: A multisite randomized controlled clinical trial, from 2015 to 2020 (Clinical Trials.

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Convenience is a major driver of food choice throughout the world, yet it is often inconsistently conceptualised, defined and measured. This limits the scope for food systems policy and interventions to leverage convenience to improve diet and nutrition outcomes. We conducted a systematic literature review to determine how convenience is both defined and measured in food environment and nutrition research.

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Autoimmune cross-reaction of specific antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been associated with development of multiple sclerosis (MS). In this issue of Cell, Vietzen et al. identify additional immunological regulatory mechanisms that protect against autoimmunity in healthy people but are reduced in MS cases.

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Deflation is an efficient numerical technique for identifying new branches of steady state solutions to nonlinear partial differential equations. Here, we demonstrate how to extend deflation to discover new periodic orbits in nonlinear dynamical lattices. We employ our extension to identify discrete breathers, which are generic exponentially localized, time-periodic solutions of such lattices.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cystic fibrosis (CF) is now commonly diagnosed through newborn screening (NBS), with methods in the USA evolving to reduce missed cases thanks to better understanding of CF genetics and improved lab techniques.
  • In New Jersey, where CF NBS was first implemented in 2001, researchers reviewed cases of false negative screenings to evaluate the respiratory health of these missed cases and the need for program improvements.
  • The study of five children with severe lung disease despite negative screens led to changes in the screening algorithm, including a lower immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) cutoff and a broader CFTR variant testing panel, with further improvements expected in the future.
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