Treatment with radioactive drugs (molecular radiotherapy, MRT) is an option for selected children with neuroblastoma and neuroendocrine cancers. As few hospitals are appropriately equipped and staffed to provide paediatric MRT, many families have to travel long distances from home for prolonged periods. To improve professional understanding of the challenges faced by children receiving these treatments and their parents, and to help them appreciate the difficulties faced by professionals in delivering complex treatments, a meeting bringing together parents, patients and professionals was held.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To examine the patient's perspective of the informed consent process, particularly with regards to reading the informed consent form, understanding and recall of the informed consent.
Methods: Between June and August 2022, 281 patients/proxies at King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia, were surveyed within 7 days before having a medical procedure.
Results: In all, 66.
Importance: Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration gave premarketing approval to an algorithm based on its purported ability to identify individuals at genetic risk for opioid use disorder (OUD). However, the clinical utility of the candidate genetic variants included in the algorithm has not been independently demonstrated.
Objective: To assess the utility of 15 genetic variants from an algorithm intended to predict OUD risk.
Introduction: The development and strengthening of midwifery education requires a focus on midwifery faculty as an important strategy to improve quality of care provision. Despite the need for high-quality midwifery educators in all-countries, preparation and development of faculty is challenging, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Aim: The aim was to explore the experiences of midwifery faculty in low- and middle-income countries in the Asia Pacific region regarding their pathway to being a faculty member, programs of development and/or factors that supported their transition to faculty.
Animal venoms, distinguished by their unique structural features and potent bioactivities, represent a vast and relatively untapped reservoir of therapeutic molecules. However, limitations associated with comprehensively constructing and expressing highly complex venom and venom-like molecule libraries have precluded their therapeutic evaluation via high throughput screening. Here, we developed an innovative computational approach to design a highly diverse library of animal venoms and "metavenoms".
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer, occurring frequently in children and young adults. Patients are treated with surgery and multi-agent chemotherapy, and despite the introduction of mifamurtide in 2011, there has been little improvement in survival for decades. 3-dimensional models offer the potential to understand the complexity of the osteosarcoma tumor microenvironment and aid in developing new treatment approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe profiled a large heterogenous cohort of matched diagnostic-relapse tumour tissue and paired plasma-derived cell free DNA (cfDNA) from patients with relapsed and progressive solid tumours of childhood. Tissue and cfDNA sequencing results were concordant, with a wider spectrum of mutant alleles and higher degree of intra-tumour heterogeneity captured by the latter, if sufficient circulating tumour-derived DNA (ctDNA) was present. Serial tumour sequencing identified putative drivers of relapse, with alterations in epigenetic drivers being a common feature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Non-enveloped viruses like poliovirus (PV) have evolved the capacity to spread by non-lytic mechanisms. For PV, this mechanism exploits the host secretory autophagy pathway. Virions are selectively incorporated into autophagosomes, double-membrane vesicles that travel to the plasma membrane, fuse, and release single-membrane vesicles containing virions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen maternal milk is unavailable, donor human milk (DHM) from human milk banks (HMBs) is the optimal alternative, as recommended by the World Health Organisation. The microbiota of DHM could contain opportunistic pathogens, which means rigorous microbiological screening for DHM, prior to pasteurisation, is recommended to safeguard recipients. Here, an analysis of 6863 DHM samples from 1419 donors at the Hearts Milk Bank between 2017 and 2023 showed approximately 70.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Thymic carcinoma is a rare and aggressive malignancy with few treatment options. Preclinical studies suggested that targeting the angiogenic pathway may be beneficial in this disease.
Methods: This randomized phase 2 trial enrolled patients with unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic thymic carcinoma.
Purpose Of The Article: Generative AI can potentially streamline the creation of practice exam questions. This study sought to evaluate medical students' confidence using generative AI for this purpose, and overall attitudes towards its use.
Materials And Methods: The study used a mixed-methods approach with a pre-post intervention design.
Introduction: In the United Kingdom there are 37 physician associate (PA) training programs with limited knowledge of the educators involved, their training, and specific needs.
Method: An online questionnaire was sent to PA educators in all UK training programs requesting information on academic title and responsibilities, clinical and nonclinical background, education and qualifications before becoming a PA educator, formal and informal training received in the role, and insights into career progression.
Discussion: The questionnaire highlighted 5 specific areas that should be specific recommendations for UK training programs to support PA educators, alongside existing guidance.
Background: Ganglioneuroblastoma intermixed (GNBi) and ganglioneuroma (GN) represent benign variants of peripheral neuroblastic tumours. While historically surgical resection was recommended, watchful active observation has become the accepted management for a subset of patients.
Objectives: To review clinical features, biology, natural history and management of a retrospective UK CCLG study cohort of GN and GNBi, and compare outcomes of patients treated with surgical resection or watchful active observation.
This paper reports on an acoustic emission (AE) sensor based on relaxor ferroelectric single crystal (RFSC) transduction. The sensor crystal is arranged into a Linear Array for Modal Decomposition and Analysis (LAMDA), with the sensor interrogated by a bespoke high-bandwidth instrument. The efficacy of RFSC LAMDA sensors is showcased through a series of comparative experiments, which include the simultaneous acquisition of pencil lead break (PLB) AEs in a 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFluid resuscitation choices in prehospital trauma care are limited, with most Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies only having access to crystalloids. Which solution to use, how much to administer, and judging the individual risks and benefits of giving or withholding fluids remains an area of uncertainty. To address the role of crystalloid fluids in prehospital trauma care, we reviewed the available relevant literature and developed recommendations to guide clinical care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies are one of the most important classes of biotherapeutic agents and undergo glycosylation at the conserved N297 site in the C2 domain, which is critical for IgG Fc effector functions and anti-inflammatory activity. Hence, technologies for producing authentically glycosylated IgGs are in high demand. While attempts to engineer for this purpose have been described, they have met limited success due in part to the lack of available oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) enzymes that can install linked glycans within the QYNST sequon of the IgG C2 domain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe oligomerization of protein macromolecules on cell membranes plays a fundamental role in regulating cellular function. From modulating signal transduction to directing immune response, membrane proteins (MPs) play a crucial role in biological processes and are often the target of many pharmaceutical drugs. Despite their biological relevance, the challenges in experimental determination have hampered the structural availability of membrane proteins and their complexes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPublic Health Pract (Oxf)
December 2024
Tackling health inequalities demands whole systems strategies with reach beyond the traditional sphere of influence of health care systems. Practitioners and researchers have long recognised that wider social determinants, where people are born, the communities they live in, their built environment, access to education and resources and, most significantly for this discussion, their relationship to the labour market, profoundly shape health experiences and expectations over the lifecourse. At macro-level, economic structures and systems play a fundamental role in the distribution of good health and incidence of inequalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFN-acetylcysteine (NAC) may serve as a novel pharmacotherapy for substance use and substance craving in individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), possibly through its potential to regulate glutamate. Though prior meta-analyses generally support NAC's efficacy in reducing symptoms of craving, individual trials have found mixed results. The aims of this updated meta-analysis were to (1) examine the efficacy of NAC in treating symptoms of craving in individuals with SUD and (2) explore subgroup differences, risk of bias and publication bias across trials.
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