Publications by authors named "Fowler H"

Objective: To evaluate the uterine microbiome among women with endometrial polyps and submucosal fibroids and to compare results between endometrial sampling techniques.

Design: Patients with polyps or fibroids were prospectively recruited prior to hysteroscopy, while patients undergoing retrieval for planned oocyte cryopreservation were recruited prospectively as controls. Three specimen types obtained for each patient were the distal 5 mm of an embryo catheter passed to the uterine fundus (C), endometrial tissue from an endometrial biopsy (T), and formalin fixed paraffin embedded endometrial tissue from the same endometrial biopsy (FFPE).

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In cells, proteins rapidly self-assemble into sophisticated nanomachines. Bioinspired self-assembly approaches, such as DNA origami, have been used to achieve complex three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures and devices. However, current synthetic systems are limited by low yields in hierarchical assembly and challenges in rapid and efficient reconfiguration between diverse structures.

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  • Scientists have created a new way to find severe hailstorms in Europe using a special climate model that looks back over the last 20 years.
  • Most severe hailstorms happen in southern Europe, especially around Northern Italy, mainly from May to August and during the afternoon to evening.
  • Their model's results match well with what has been observed in the past, helping us understand how severe hail might change in the future.
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Following the COVID-19 pandemic, National Health Service trusts nationwide are faced with a significant backlog of patients to clear, furthering the strain on the National Health Service. In an era where sustainability and efficient management of National Health Services is of paramount importance, the introduction of a Golden Theatre Initiative could alleviate day-to-day pressures and assist in the smooth running of a modern-day theatre department. Preoperative burdens on patients can be both physical and psychological, resulting in fears and anxiety surrounding the unknown.

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Background: Little is known about weight stigma in sexual minority women, and even less is known about weight stigma in those who have attained substantial weight loss and maintenance.

Purpose: This study examined weight stigma experiences and internalization in sexual minority women from the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) who had lost ≥30 pounds and maintained this weight loss for ≥1 year, and compared weight stigma levels between sexual minority women versus heterosexual women in the NWCR.

Methods: NWCR participants completed an electronic survey.

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Purpose: Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer often require neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy to downstage the disease, but the response is variable with no predictive biomarkers. We have previously revealed through proteomic profiling that myoferlin is associated with response to radiation therapy. The aims of this study were to further validate this finding and explore the potential for myoferlin to act as a prognostic and/or therapeutic target.

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Background: During radiographic assessment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), upright images frequently capture the hip. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of radiographic hip dysplasia on postero-anterior (PA) scoliosis radiographs, as defined as a lateral center edge angle (LCEA) ≤25 degrees.

Methods: All patients with upright PA scoliosis radiographs over a one-year study period at a single tertiary academic medical center (2020 to 2021) were included in the study.

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Laser Sintering (LS) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) exploiting laser processing of polymeric particles to produce 3D objects. Because of its ease of processability and thermo-physical properties, polyamide-12 (PA-12) represents ~95% of the polymeric materials used in LS. This constrains the functionality of the items produced, including limited available colours.

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Background: Multiple factors contribute to symptom generation and treatment response in proton-pump inhibitor non-responders (PPI-NRs). We aimed to test whether PPI-NRs with normal acid exposure have a higher degree of esophageal hypersensitivity and hypervigilance and can be identified using functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) topography at the time of endoscopy.

Methods: Data from PPI-NRs whom underwent endoscopy, FLIP and wireless 96-h pH-metry were retrospectively analyzed.

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Introduction: Neoadjuvant radiotherapy is successfully used in rectal cancer to improve overall survival. However, treatment response is both unpredictable and variable. There is strong evidence to show that the phenomenon of tumour hypoxia is associated with radioresistance, however the mechanism(s) behind this are poorly understood.

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Precipitation indices based on daily gauge observations are well established, openly available and widely used to detect and understand climate change. However, in many areas of climate science and risk management, it has become increasingly important to understand precipitation characteristics, variability and extremes at shorter (sub-daily) durations. Yet, no unified dataset of sub-daily indices has previously been available, due in large part to the lesser availability of suitable observations.

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This chapter introduces how to run molecular dynamics simulations for DNA origami using the oxDNA coarse-grained model.

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Background: The objective of this non-interventional, observational prospective cohort study (CONNECT-IBD) was to assess the use of CT-P13 (Inflectra®) in the treatment of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in the context of treatment with reference infliximab (IFX; Remicade®).

Methods: Patients (recruited April 2015 to October 2018) at 150 sites across 13 European countries were followed for up to 2 years. Primary outcomes were safety, population characteristics, and drug utilization patterns.

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Epoetin has been used to treat patients with renal anemia since 1988. -Anti-erythropoietin antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) has been associated with epoetin usage, and a PRCA incidence of 4.5 per 10,000 patient-years was observed for epoetin-α (Eprex) in 2002.

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This research demonstrates how the use of high-resolution rain-gauge data for quality control (QC) significantly changes extreme rainfall estimates, with implications in scientific, meteorological and engineering applications. Current open QC algorithms only consider data at hourly or daily accumulations. Here we present the first open QC algorithm utilising sub-hourly rain-gauge data from official networks at a national, multi-decade scale.

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Presented in this work is the use of a molecular descriptor, termed the α parameter, to aid in the design of a series of novel, terpene-based, and sustainable polymers that were resistant to biofilm formation by the model bacterial pathogen . To achieve this, the potential of a range of recently reported, terpene-derived monomers to deliver biofilm resistance when polymerized was both predicted and ranked by the application of the α parameter to key features in their molecular structures. These monomers were derived from commercially available terpenes (, α-pinene, β-pinene, and carvone), and the prediction of the biofilm resistance properties of the resultant novel (meth)acrylate polymers was confirmed using a combination of high-throughput polymerization screening (in a microarray format) and testing.

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  • Hydroxyethyl acrylamide acted as a functional initiator for enzymatic ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and δ-valerolactone, showing no self-reaction under specific conditions, unlike similar compounds which caused unwanted reactions.
  • Despite not fully reacting during the polymerization, computational studies revealed that initiated polymer chains preferred binding to the enzyme, leading to faster polymer growth but incomplete consumption of the initiator.
  • The resulting amphiphilic copolymers formed nanoparticles with low cytotoxicity, and the synthesis utilized green solvents from renewable resources to enhance sustainability.
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Purpose: Prognostic models can help inform patients on the future course of their cancer and assist the decision making of clinicians and patients in respect to management and treatment of the cancer. In contrast to previous studies considering survival following treatment, this study aimed to develop a prognostic model to quantify breast cancer-specific survival at the time of diagnosis.

Methods: A large (n = 3323), population-based prospective cohort of women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in Queensland, Australia between 2010 and 2013, and followed up to December 2018.

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Short-duration precipitation extremes (PE) increase at a rate of around 7%/K explained by the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship. Previous studies show uncertainty in the extreme precipitation-temperature relationship (scaling) due to various thermodynamic/dynamic factors. Here, we show that uncertainty may arise from the choice of data and methods.

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Objective: To identify whether supportive care needs vary according to remoteness and area-level socio-economic status and to identify the combinations of socio-demographic, area-level and health factors that are associated with poorer quality of life, psychological distress and severity of unmet supportive care needs.

Methods: Cross sectional data was collected from women with a breast cancer diagnosis (n = 2635) in Queensland, Australia, through a telephone survey including socio-demographic, health, psychosocial and supportive care needs measures. Hierarchical regression and cluster analyses were applied to assess the predictors of unmet need and psychosocial outcomes and to identify socio-demographic and health status profiles of women, comparing their level of unmet needs and psychosocial outcomes.

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The 2021 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System includes several tumor types and subtypes for which the diagnosis is at least partially reliant on utilization of whole genome methylation profiling. The current approach to array DNA methylation profiling utilizes a reference library of tumor DNA methylation data, and a machine learning-based tumor classifier. This approach was pioneered and popularized by the German Cancer Research Network (DKFZ) and University Hospital Heidelberg.

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Two-dimensional (2D) DNA origami is widely used for applications ranging from excitonics to single-molecule biophysics. Conventional, single-layer 2D DNA origami exhibits flexibility and curvature in solution; however, that may limit its suitability as a 2D structural template. In contrast, 2D wireframe DNA origami rendered with six-helix bundle edges offers local control over duplex orientations with enhanced in-plane rigidity.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Tranexamic acid (TXA) is beneficial in reducing blood loss and the need for blood transfusions in patients undergoing elective abdominal and pelvic cancer surgeries.
  • - A systematic review of 12 studies showed that those receiving TXA had significantly lower blood loss and were less likely to require red blood cell transfusions compared to those who didn't receive TXA.
  • - The use of TXA did not increase the risk of venous thromboembolism, but more research is needed to understand its effectiveness across different types of cancer surgeries.
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The objective of this study was to explore perspectives and attitudes about euthanasia specific to the Brazilian dairy cattle industry. Twenty-five Brazilian citizens (13 veterinarians, 4 animal scientists, 3 professors, 3 researchers, 1 dairy owner, and 1 caretaker) participated in one of three focus groups conducted and recorded online (10, 8, and 7 participants per group). Questions regarding euthanasia were posed by a moderator, and the focus group discussions were then transcribed verbatim for analysis.

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