Publications by authors named "Flood D"

Oxygen (O)-controlled cell culture has been pivotal in studying mammalian mechanisms of O sensing, regulation, and utilization. We posit, however, that O-controlled cell culture is paradoxically not controlling O. There is overwhelming evidence that the pericellular O is lower than the surrounding gas phase due to cellular O consumption.

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Objective: Type II diabetes is a recognized risk factor of declining cognitive function in high-income countries. However, there is limited research on this association across low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to examine and compare the relationship between type II diabetes and cognition amongst adults aged 60 years and older for two of the largest LMICs: India and China.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Currently, there are no selective inhibitors for EphA4, but researchers have identified peptide antagonists that block ephrin ligand binding to EphA4, notably the cyclic APY-d3 peptide.
  • * Two modified versions of APY-d3, lipidated APY-d3-laur8 and PEGylated APY-d3-PEG4, show increased stability in circulation and effectively inhibit EphA4 activation, positioning them as valuable tools for studying and testing EphA4 inhibition in disease models.
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The gene signatures of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) brains reflect an output of a complex interplay of genetic, epigenetic, epi-transcriptomic, and post-transcriptional regulations. To identify the most significant factor that shapes the AD brain signature, we developed a machine learning model (DEcode-tree) to integrate cellular and molecular factors explaining differential gene expression in AD. Our model indicates that YTHDF proteins, the canonical readers of N6-methyladenosine RNA modification (m6A), are the most influential predictors of the AD brain signature.

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Introduction: To enhance support for individuals at end of life to die at home, a new community-driven home-based hospice program was developed-Home Hospice. This wholistic hospice care program, co-designed by hospice care staff, community end-of-life care providers, researchers, and health systems decision-makers, will provide around the clock care to clients and their families.

Methods And Analysis: This mixed methods study, guided by a process evaluation framework, will use secondary client and caregiver data collected as part of regular Home Hospice program processes, as well as primary interview data collected from caregivers at least three months post-death of the client and from hospice staff and volunteers involved in the Home Hospice program.

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The World Health Organization Global Hearts initiative (HEARTS) and technical package aim to improve the primary health care management of hypertension and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease at the population level. This study describes the first HEARTS implementation pilot project in Guatemala's Ministry of Health (MOH) primary health care system. This pilot began in April 2022 in six primary health care facilities in three rural indigenous municipalities.

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Background: The World Health Organization HEARTS Technical Package is a widely implemented global initiative to improve the primary care management of cardiovascular disease risk factors. The study's objective is to report outcomes from a pilot implementation trial of integrated hypertension and diabetes management based on the HEARTS model in Guatemala.

Methods: We conducted a single-arm pilot implementation trial over 6 months from October 2023 to May 2024 in 11 Guatemalan Ministry of Health primary care facilities in two districts.

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Objective: There is a need for comparable worldwide data on the impact of diabetes on mortality. This study assessed diabetes and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults in five countries.

Research Design And Methods: We analyzed adults aged 51 years or older followed between 2010 and 2020 from population-based cohorts in China, England, Mexico, rural South Africa, and the United States.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study examined the interaction between amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and glial cells in Alzheimer's Disease using spatial transcriptomics and immunohistochemistry on postmortem brain samples.
  • Findings revealed that low Aβ areas show higher neuronal loss, while high-glia areas indicate increased inflammation and neurodegeneration, with various glial states surrounding plaques.
  • The results suggest that the microglial response to Aβ may trigger glial activation, paving the way for future research into the complex pathology of neurodegenerative diseases.
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In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), sociodemographic context, socioeconomic disparities and the high level of urbanization provide a unique entry point to reflect on the burden of cardiometabolic disease in the region. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in LAC, precipitated by population growth and ageing together with a rapid increase in the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors, predominantly obesity and diabetes mellitus, over the past four decades. Strategies to address this growing cardiometabolic burden include both population-wide and individual-based initiatives tailored to the specific challenges faced by different LAC countries, which are heterogeneous.

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Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of diabetes in a clinical population of primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala.

Results: In a retrospective chart review of a clinical program serving 13,643 primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala, crude diabetes prevalence was 8.3% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 7.

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Objective: The relationship between depression, diabetes, and access to diabetes care is established in high-income countries (HICs) but not in middle-income countries (MICs), where contexts and health systems differ and may impact this relationship. In this study, we investigate access to diabetes care for individuals with and without depressive symptoms in MICs.

Research Design And Methods: We analyzed pooled data from nationally representative household surveys across Brazil, Chile, China, Indonesia, and Mexico.

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Orthodontic treatment (OT) has become a means of improving psychosocial well-being secondarily to enhanced occlusal function and can help patients obtain normal oral physiologic function, coordinated facial profiles, and healthy dentomaxillofacial development. With more adult patients undergoing OT, the need for interdisciplinary treatment and collaboration is vital to ensure periodontal health. This article highlights the importance of combined efforts between periodontics and orthodontics in adult patients with a history of periodontitis who are interested in OT.

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Background: Safety event reporting and review is well established within US hospitals, but systems to ensure implementation of changes to improve patient safety are less developed.

Methods: Contributing factors and corrective actions for events brought to a tertiary care academic medical center's multidisciplinary hospital-level safety event review meeting were prospectively collected from 2020 to 2021. Corrective actions were tracked to completion through 2023.

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Article Synopsis
  • The American Heart Association created guidelines for tracking cardiovascular health (CVH) to shift focus from managing risk factors to preventing cardiovascular disease, but knowledge about CVH differences between high- and low-income countries remains scarce.
  • A study analyzed survey data from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Brazil, England, and the US to score CVH using specific health metrics, revealing that higher-income countries had lower high CVH scores, particularly as age increased.
  • The research concluded that while CVH declines with age is a global issue, tailored interventions are necessary to maintain health across different populations, especially in high-CVH countries aiming to combat risk-factor increases.
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  • - Individuals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have a high prevalence of multiple cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, particularly hypertension and diabetes, which were examined using data from 55 population-based surveys from 2009-2019.
  • - The study included nearly 119,000 non-pregnant adults aged 40-69, revealing that those with both hypertension and diabetes had higher awareness of their diagnosis (64.1%) compared to those with just one condition (47.4% for hypertension and 46.7% for diabetes).
  • - Despite higher awareness and treatment for those with concurrent conditions, only 7% of individuals effectively managed both hypertension and diabetes simultaneously, highlighting significant gaps
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The EphA4 receptor tyrosine kinase plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases, inhibition of nerve regeneration, cancer progression and other diseases. Therefore, EphA4 inhibition has potential therapeutic value. Selective EphA4 kinase inhibitors are not available, but we identified peptide antagonists that inhibit ephrin ligand binding to EphA4 with high specificity.

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Evidence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor prevalence among adults living below the World Bank's international line for extreme poverty (those with income <$1.90 per day) globally is sparse. Here we pooled individual-level data from 105 nationally representative household surveys across 78 countries, representing 85% of people living in extreme poverty globally, and sorted individuals by country-specific measures of household income or wealth to identify those in extreme poverty.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how improving hypertension care in low- and middle-income countries might affect different socioeconomic groups, particularly focusing on wealth quintiles.
  • Researchers simulated better diagnosis and treatment levels for hypertension and assessed the resulting changes in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk across various wealth groups.
  • Results indicated that lower-income groups, especially in lower-middle-income countries, would experience the greatest health benefits, emphasizing that targeted improvements in hypertension management could help reduce health inequities.
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There are limited data on diabetes among Indigenous populations in Guatemala. In a retrospective chart review of a clinical program serving more than 13 000 primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala, age-adjusted diabetes prevalence was 7.9% (95% CI: 7.

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Incidence of road traffic collisions (RTCs), types of users involved, and healthcare requirement afterwards are essential information for efficient policy making. We analysed individual-level data from nationally representative surveys conducted in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) between 2008-2019. We describe the weighted incidence of non-fatal RTC in the past 12 months, type of road user involved, and incidence of traffic injuries requiring medical attention.

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Background: The HEARTS technical package was developed by the World Health Organization to address the implementation gap in cardiovascular disease prevention in low- and middle-income countries. Guatemala is a middle-income country that is currently implementing HEARTS. National authorities in Guatemala are interested in exploring how hypertension and diabetes management can be integrated in HEARTS implementation.

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