Unlike most herbivores, sauropod dinosaurs evolved simple teeth that were replaced rapidly. Sauropod craniodental morphology is conserved relative to that of many archosaur clades, but tooth breadth and replacement rate vary substantially. Two neosauropod clades, Titanosauria and Diplodocoidea, independently evolved both narrow-crowned teeth and high tooth replacement rates among a suite of other convergent features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure to certain drugs can trigger new-onset psoriasis or flaring of existing psoriatic disease. The clinical presentation of drug-induced psoriasis can vary, and although there are features suggestive of drug-induced psoriasis, there are currently no standardized criteria to differentiate it from conventional psoriasis. Patients may present with localized psoriasiform plaques, or variants such as palmoplantar, nail disease, or widespread erythroderma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCombined education and counselling can contribute to person-centred care for tuberculosis (TB), improving uptake, adherence, and outcomes of treatment for TB disease and TB infection. Though strongly recommended by the World Health Organization for all people diagnosed with TB, education and counselling is not widely implemented in TB programs around the world. In 2016, a pilot TB education and counselling program, delivered by trained professionals and peers, was initiated to support people on TB treatment in the South Fly District of Papua New Guinea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDementia is a burgeoning global problem. Novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) metrics beyond volumetry may bring new insight and aid clinical trial evaluation of interventions early in the Alzheimer's disease course to complement existing imaging and clinical metrics. To determine whether: (i) normalized regional sodium-MRI values (Na-SI) are better predictors of neurocognitive status than volumetry (ii) cerebral amyloid PET status improves modelling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fertiliser applications are well-established tools in pasture-based agricultural landscapes. This study focuses on the impact of phosphorus (P) fertiliser on grass grub (Costelytra giveni), a major pasture pest. This research investigates the interplay between P, plant growth, and grass grub fitness in Epichloë endophyte-infected perennial ryegrass (Epichloë sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: The inflammasome is a key regulatory complex of the inflammatory response leading to interleukin-1β (IL-1β) release and activation. IL-1β amplifies inflammatory responses and induces mucus secretion and hyperconcentration in other diseases. The role of IL-1β in bronchiectasis has not been investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Targeted α-particle therapy agents have shown promising responses in patients who have developed resistance to β-particle emitting radionuclides, albeit off-target toxicity remains a concern. Astatine-211 emits only one α-particle per decay and may alleviate the toxicity from α-emitting daughter radionuclides. Previously, we developed the low-molecular-weight PSMA-targeted agent [At]L3-Lu that showed suitable therapeutic efficacy and was well tolerated in mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyclic imines are a class of lipophilic shellfish toxins comprising gymnodimines, spirolides, pinnatoxins, portimines, pteriatoxins, prorocentrolides, spiro-prorocentrimine, symbiomines and kabirimine. They are structurally diverse, but all share an imine moiety as part of a bicyclic ring system. These compounds are produced by marine microalgal species and are characterized by the rapid death that they induce when injected into mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGovernment subsidised funding arrangements serve as an essential medium for families to access private speech-language pathology (SLP) services in Australia. This study aimed to investigate whether, from a provider perspective, contemporary public funding models (PFMs) align with best-available scientific evidence for management of children and young persons with swallowing and communication disorders within Australian private-practice settings. This exploratory study was distributed to paediatric speech-language pathologists throughout Australia via an online survey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(Project LINK) was a service-learning cultural competence training programme completed by undergraduate dietetic students enrolled in the University of Saskatchewan's (USASK) nutrition and dietetic programme.This paper evaluates the impact of participation in the programme on students' cultural competence. We conducted a cross-sectional survey and qualitative analysis of reflective essays of 107 participants of Project LINK from 2011 to 2014.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is a clinical need for treatments that can slow or prevent the growth of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, not only to reduce the need for surgery, but to provide a means to treat those who cannot undergo surgery.
Methods: Analysis of the UK Aneurysm Growth Study (UKAGS) prospective cohort was conducted to test for an association between cardiometabolic medications and the growth of an abdominal aortic aneurysm above 30 mm in diameter, using linear mixed-effect models.
Results: A total of 3670 male participants with data available on abdominal aortic aneurysm growth, smoking status, co-morbidities, and medication history were included.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med
December 2023
Although inflammation and infection are key disease drivers in bronchiectasis, few studies have integrated host inflammatory and microbiome data to guide precision medicine. To identify clusters among patients with bronchiectasis on the basis of inflammatory markers and to assess the association between inflammatory endotypes, microbiome characteristics, and exacerbation risk. Patients with stable bronchiectasis were enrolled at three European centers, and cluster analysis was used to stratify the patients according to the levels of 33 sputum and serum inflammatory markers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pre-transfusion testing (PTT) encompasses a set of mandatory laboratory tests performed before red blood cell transfusion. The antibody screen, one component of PTT, commonly includes a 10-20 min incubation. The primary aim of this study was to determine if this period can be reduced when using current immunohematology methodologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: The impact of atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation on mental health outcomes is not well understood.
Objective: To determine whether AF catheter ablation is associated with greater improvements in markers of psychological distress compared with medical therapy alone.
Design, Setting, And Participants: The Randomized Evaluation of the Impact of Catheter Ablation on Psychological Distress in Atrial Fibrillation (REMEDIAL) study was a randomized trial of symptomatic participants conducted in 2 AF centers in Australia between June 2018 and March 2021.
Objective: To determine prognostic relevance of various patient factors and intraoperative variables associated with surgical management of small intestinal obstruction in pet rabbits.
Animals: 114 pet rabbits with 141 presentations of small intestinal obstruction treated surgically between June 2011 and December 2021.
Methods: In a retrospective observational study design, medical records were reviewed for rabbits with small intestinal obstruction that had undergone surgical intervention.
We report on new measurements establishing the existence of low-lying isomeric states in ^{136}Cs using γ rays produced in ^{136}Xe(p,n)^{136}Cs reactions. Two states with O(100) ns lifetimes are placed in the decay sequence of the ^{136}Cs levels that are populated in charged-current interactions of solar neutrinos and fermionic dark matter with ^{136}Xe. Xenon-based experiments can therefore exploit a delayed-coincidence tag of these interactions, greatly suppressing backgrounds to enable spectroscopic studies of solar neutrinos and dark matter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParalytic shellfish poisoning is a worldwide problem induced by shellfish contaminated with paralytic shellfish toxins. To protect human health, a regulatory limit for these toxins in shellfish flesh has been adopted by many countries. In a recent study, mice were dosed with saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin mixtures daily for 28 days showing toxicity at low concentrations, which appeared to be at odds with other work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Body weight and composition may change over the natural menopause transition. Whether surgical menopause has similar effects, and the impact of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), are unknown. Understanding the metabolic effects of surgical menopause will inform clinical care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Early postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) has been reported following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. However, whether POCD is persistent long-term is unknown.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if AF catheter ablation is associated with persistent cognitive dysfunction at 12-month follow-up.
Regulatory limits for toxins in shellfish are required to ensure the health of consumers. However, these limits also impact the profitability of shellfish industries making it critical that they are fit for purpose. Since human toxicity data is rarely available, the setting of regulatory limits is dependent on animal data which can then be extrapolated for use in the assessment of human risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) frequently develop atrial fibrillation (AF). There are no randomized trials examining the effects of AF ablation on HFpEF outcomes.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to compare the effects of AF ablation vs usual medical therapy on markers of HFpEF severity, including exercise hemodynamics, natriuretic peptide levels, and patient symptoms.