Therapeutic plasma exchange in paediatric nephrology in Ireland.

Background: Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is utilised in the management of a limited number of paediatric renal conditions. Despite its widespread acceptance and advancements in the practice of apheresis, there remains a paucity of data pertaining to paediatrics. We present a large retrospective review of our cohort of paediatric patients undergoing TPE for renal indications, outlining their outcomes and complications.

Paediatric hospital admissions for psychiatric and psychosocial reasons during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Increases in youth psychiatric presentations to out-patient and emergency department settings during COVID-19 have been reported. This study, using data from five hospitals in Ireland, examines changes in the number and type of paediatric admissions during COVID-19 (March 2020 - February 2021) compared to the previous two years. ICD-10 classification was used to establish admissions with mental, behavioural, neuro-developmental disorders and psychosocial reasons (MBN-PS).

Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy: how young is too young?

Objective: To report the use, and assess the efficacy and outcomes of outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) in neonates (≤28 days of age), compared with older infants (1-12 months of age).

Design: A prospective 8-year observational study from September 2012 to September 2020.

Setting: The Hospital-in-the-Home (HITH) programme of the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne.

Policy of free GP care for children under 6 years: The impact on emergency department attendance.

Universal health coverage (UHC) aims to improve child health. Ireland, the only country in the European Union without universal access to primary care, introduced general practitioner (GP) care at no charge for children aged under six in 2015. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of this policy on attendance at the emergency department (ED).

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child health and the provision of Care in Paediatric Emergency Departments: a qualitative study of frontline emergency care staff.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent public health guidance to reduce the spread of the disease have wide-reaching implications for children's health and wellbeing. Furthermore, paediatric emergency departments (EDs) have rapidly adapted provision of care in response to the pandemic. This qualitative study utilized insight from multidisciplinary frontline staff to understand 1) the changes in paediatric emergency healthcare utilization during COVID-19 2) the experiences of working within the restructured health system.

Parental Hesitancy and Concerns around Accessing Paediatric Unscheduled Healthcare during COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

A decrease in attendance at emergency departments among paediatric populations has been reported during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The present study sought to understand parents' hesitancy and concerns around accessing healthcare during the pandemic using a cross-sectional survey of parents of children under the age of 16 ( = 1044) in Ireland. Multinomial and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the factors that influenced avoidance and hesitancy.

Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Stages on Paediatric Emergency Attendance.

This study outlines the impact of COVID-19 on paediatric emergency department (ED) utilisation and assesses the extent of healthcare avoidance during each stage of the public health response strategy. Records from five EDs and one urgent care centre in Ireland, representing approximately 48% of national annual public paediatric ED attendances, are analysed to determine changes in characteristics of attendance during the three month period following the first reported COVID-19 case in Ireland, with reference to specific national public health stages. ED attendance reduced by 27-62% across all categories of diagnosis in the Delay phase and remained significantly below prior year levels as the country began Phase One of Reopening, with an incident rate ratio (IRR) of 0.

CUPID COVID-19: emergency department attendance by paediatric patients during COVID-19 - project protocol.

Measures introduced to delay the spread of COVID-19 may result in avoidance of emergency departments (EDs) for non-COVID related illness. Clinicians and medical representative bodies such as the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) have expressed concern that some patients may not seek timely urgent medical intervention. Evidence from previous epidemics found that hospital avoidance during outbreaks of MERS and SARS was common.

Children's unscheduled primary and emergency care in Ireland: a multimethod approach to understanding decision making, trends, outcomes and parental perspectives (CUPID): project protocol.

Introduction: The aim of this project is to determine the patterns, decision-making processes and parental preferences associated with unscheduled paediatric healthcare utilisation in Ireland. Unscheduled paediatric healthcare is outpatient care provided within primary care settings by general practitioners (GPs), emergency departments (EDs) located in paediatric and general hospitals, and out-of-hours services provided by cooperatives of GPs operating on a regional basis. This project will take a multimethod approach to analysing the utilisation of unscheduled paediatric healthcare nationally within the context of a significant change to the provision of healthcare for young children in Ireland-the introduction of free at the point of delivery GP care for all children aged under 6.

Factors that influence family and parental preferences and decision making for unscheduled paediatric healthcare - systematic review.

Introduction: Health systems offer access to unscheduled care through numerous routes; however, it is typically provided by general practitioners (GPs), by emergency medicine doctors in in emergency departments (EDs) and by GPs in out-of-hours GP services such as practitioner cooperatives. Unscheduled healthcare constitutes a substantial portion of healthcare delivery. A systematic review was conducted to establish the factors that influence parents' decision making when seeking unscheduled healthcare for their children.

Factors that influence family and parental preferences and decision making for unscheduled paediatric healthcare: a systematic review protocol.

There is a plethora of factors that dictate where parents and families choose to seek unscheduled healthcare for their child; and the complexity of these decisions can present a challenge for policy makers and healthcare planners as these behaviours can have a significant impact on resources in the health system. The systematic review will seek to identify the factors that influence parents' and families' preferences and decision making when seeking unscheduled paediatric healthcare.  Five databases will be searched for published studies (CINAHL, PubMed, SCOPUS, PsycInfo, EconLit) and grey literature will also be searched.

A case report of multiple cerebral abscess formation complicating serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis meningitis.

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) presenting with meningitis causes significant mortality and morbidity. Suppurative complications of serogroup B meningococcal sepsis are rare and necessitate urgent multidisciplinary management to mitigate long-term morbidity or mortality.

Case Presentation: We present a rare case of invasive meningococcal disease in a 28-month old boy complicated by multiple abscess formation within a pre-existing antenatal left middle cerebral artery territory infarct.

Loss of the maintenance methyltransferase, xDnmt1, induces apoptosis in Xenopus embryos.

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X-linked α-thalassemia with mental retardation is downstream of protein kinase A in the meiotic cell cycle signaling cascade in Xenopus oocytes and is dynamically regulated in response to DNA damage†.

X-linked α-thalassemia with mental retardation (ATRX) is a chromatin remodeling protein that belongs to the SWItch/sucrose non-fermentable (SWI2/SNF2) family of helicase/ATPases. During meiosis, ATRX is necessary for heterochromatin formation and maintenance of chromosome stability in order to ensure proper assembly of the metaphase II spindle. Previously, we established ATRX as a novel progesterone regulated protein during bovine meiotic maturation, in addition to being dynamically regulated in response to DNA damage in oocytes.

A Comparison of Hospital Versus Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy at Home for Pyelonephritis and Meningitis.

Background: Despite the benefits of home treatment with outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT), children with pyelonephritis and meningitis are rarely included. We aimed to compare clinical characteristics and outcomes between hospital and home treatment for these conditions and to identify factors influencing home treatment.

Methods: Children admitted to the hospital with pyelonephritis or proven and presumed bacterial meningitis from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2013 were identified retrospectively.

ATRX is a novel progesterone-regulated protein and biomarker of low developmental potential in mammalian oocytes.

A multi-species meta-analysis of published transcriptomic data from models of oocyte competence identified the chromatin remodelling factor as a putative biomarker of oocyte competence. The objective of the current study was to test the hypothesis that ATRX protein expression by cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) reflects their intrinsic quality and developmental potential. In excess of 10,000 bovine COCs were utilised to test our hypothesis.

Aven is dynamically regulated during Xenopus oocyte maturation and is required for oocyte survival.

We have analyzed the expression and function of the cell death and cell cycle regulator Aven in Xenopus. Analysis of Xenopus Aven expression in oocytes and embryos revealed a band close to the predicted molecular weight of the protein (36 kDa) in addition to two bands of higher molecular weight (46 and 49 kDa), one of which was determined to be due to phosphorylation of the protein. The protein is primarily detected in the cytoplasm of oocytes and is tightly regulated during meiotic and mitotic cell cycles.

Progesterone regulation of AVEN protects bovine oocytes from apoptosis during meiotic maturation.

Inhibition of progesterone (P4) synthesis by cumulus cells during bovine in vitro oocyte maturation (IVM) causes a decrease in subsequent embryo development, indicating that P4 intracellular signaling within the cumulus oocyte complex (COC) is important for oocyte developmental competence. The aim of the present study was to further elucidate, on a protein level, the downstream signaling pathway involved in P4 regulation of oocyte developmental competence. COCs were subjected to IVM for 24 h in the presence or absence of trilostane, aglepristone, or promegestone (R5020).

Requirement for age-specific peak cortisol responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in children.

Objective: Based on adult data, a peak cortisol response ≥500 nmol/l to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia constitutes a normal. Age-specific reference ranges for basal morning cortisol have been developed for clinical use in the paediatric population. Such reference ranges are not clearly established for peak cortisol responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia despite limited data suggesting an effect of age on peak cortisol.

A randomised crossover study of low-flow air or oxygen via nasal cannulae to prevent desaturation in preterm infants.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of low-flow oxygen, low-flow air and sham treatment given via nasal cannulae in preventing desaturation (falls in oxygen saturation (SpO2)) in preterm infants.

Study Design: Infants born at <33 weeks gestation receiving gas at flow rates <1 l/min via nasal cannulae were eligible for inclusion. Enrolled infants received three treatments-0.