Female individuals who are post-menopausal present with higher incidence of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) than male counterparts; however, the mechanisms underlying this disparity are unknown. The most commonly used preclinical models lack human-relevant menopausal phenotypes, which may contribute to our incomplete understanding of sex-specific differences in KOA pathogenesis. Here we chemically induced menopause in middle-aged (14-16 months) C57/BL6N female mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJAC Antimicrob Resist
December 2024
Background: The impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on death at the patient level is challenging to estimate. We aimed to characterize AMR-attributable deaths in a large UK teaching hospital.
Methods: This retrospective study investigated all deceased patients in 2022.
Importance: Although the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) is an excellent tool for evaluating the functional performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), a limited number of studies have used the AMPS for decisions regarding the IADL of fitness to drive and community mobility.
Objective: To determine the specificity and sensitivity of the AMPS as a tool for determining a person's fitness to drive.
Design: Cross-sectional observational design.
Background: Head and neck cancers (HNC) are associated with high rates of anxiety. Anxiety has been linked to biological pathways implicated in cancer progression, though little is known about its effects on overall survival. We hypothesized that higher pretreatment anxiety levels in patients with HNC would predict poorer 2-year overall survival and expected this relationship to be mediated by both systemic inflammation and tumor response to treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with hematological malignancy are at high risk of invasive fungal infections (IFIs). Diagnosis is challenging, which can lead to overtreatment. Reducing exposure to inappropriate antifungal prescribing is likely to improve patient safety, but modifying prescribing behavior is difficult.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnowledge of the state of stress in subducting slabs is essential for understanding their mechanical behavior and the physical processes that generate earthquakes. Here, we develop a framework which uses a high-resolution focal mechanism catalog to determine the change in the position of the neutral plane before and after the M9 Tohoku-oki earthquake to determine that the deviatoric stress within the slab at intermediate depths must be very low (∼1 MPa). We show that by combining the static stress calculated from coseismic slip distributions with the stress orientations before and after the mainshock, we can determine the full deviatoric stress tensor within the subducting slab at intermediate depths.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess the performance of T2Candida for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis (IC) against gold standards of candidaemia or consensus IC definitions, and to evaluate the impact of T2Candida on antifungal drug prescribing.
Methods: A retrospective review was undertaken of all T2Candida (T2MR technology, T2 Biosystems) performed from October 2020 to February 2022. T2Candida performance was evaluated against confirmed candidaemia or against proven/probable IC within 48 hours of T2Candida, and its impact on antifungal drug prescriptions.
Background: Despite circumstantial evidence for aerosol and fomite spread of SARS-CoV-2, empirical data linking either pathway with transmission are scarce. Here we aimed to assess whether the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on frequently-touched surfaces and residents' hands was a predictor of SARS-CoV-2 household transmission.
Methods: In this longitudinal cohort study, during the pre-alpha (September to December, 2020) and alpha (B.
Curr Opin Pulm Med
May 2023
Purpose Of Review: The burden of invasive fungal infection is increasing worldwide, largely due to a growing population at-risk. Most serious human fungal pathogens enter the host via the respiratory tract. Early identification and treatment of invasive fungal respiratory infections (IFRIs) in the immunocompromised host saves lives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Knowledge of the window of SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness is crucial in developing policies to curb transmission. Mathematical modelling based on scarce empirical evidence and key assumptions has driven isolation and testing policy, but real-world data are needed. We aimed to characterise infectiousness across the full course of infection in a real-world community setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Decisions to isolate patients at risk of having coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the emergency department (ED) must be rapid and accurate to ensure prompt treatment and maintain patient flow whilst minimising nosocomial spread. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays are too slow to achieve this, and near-patient testing is being used increasingly to facilitate triage. The ID NOW severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) assay is an isothermal nucleic acid amplification near-patient test which targets the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To investigate the proportion of lateral flow tests (LFTs) that produce negative results in those with a high risk of infectiousness from SARS-CoV-2, to investigate the impact of the stage and severity of disease, and to compare predictions made by influential mathematical models with findings of empirical studies.
Design: Linked data analysis combining empirical evidence of the accuracy of the Innova LFT, the probability of positive viral culture or transmission to secondary cases, and the distribution of viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 in individuals in different settings.
Setting: Testing of individuals with symptoms attending NHS Test-and-Trace centres across the UK, residents without symptoms attending municipal mass testing centres in Liverpool, and students without symptoms screened at the University of Birmingham.
Results from sampling healthcare surfaces for pathogens are difficult to interpret without understanding the factors that influence pathogen detection. We investigated the recovery of four healthcare-associated pathogens from three common surface materials, and how a body fluid simulant (artificial test soil, ATS), deposition method, and contamination levels influence the percent of organisms recovered (%R). Known quantities of carbapenemase-producing KPC+ Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC), Acinetobacter baumannii, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis, and Clostridioides difficile spores (CD) were suspended in Butterfield's buffer or ATS, deposited on 323cm2 steel, plastic, and laminate surfaces, allowed to dry 1h, then sampled with a cellulose sponge wipe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSlow slip phenomena deep in subduction zones reveal cyclic processes downdip of locked megathrusts. Here we analyze seismicity within a subducting oceanic slab, spanning ~50 major deep slow slip with tremor episodes over 17 years. Changes in rate, b-values, and stress orientations of in-slab seismicity are temporally associated with the episodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The success of case isolation and contact tracing for the control of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission depends on the accuracy and speed of case identification. We assessed whether inclusion of additional symptoms alongside three canonical symptoms (CS), fever, cough and loss or change in smell or taste, could improve case definitions and accelerate case identification in SARS-CoV-2 contacts.
Methods: Two prospective longitudinal London (UK)-based cohorts of community SARS-CoV-2 contacts, recruited within 5 days of exposure, provided independent training and test datasets.
Importance: The number of clinics marketing stem cell products for joint diseases, chronic pain, and most recently, COVID-19, has increased despite warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration that stem cell products for these and other indications have not been proven safe or effective.
Objective: To examine bacterial infections in 20 patients who received umbilical cord blood-derived products marketed as stem cell treatment.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This case series is a national public health investigation including case-finding, medical record review and abstraction, and laboratory investigation, including sterility testing of products and whole-genome sequencing of patient and product isolates.
Objective: To evaluate a triage algorithm used to identify and isolate patients with suspected COVID-19 among medical patients needing admission to hospital using simple clinical criteria and the FebriDx assay.
Design: Retrospective observational cohort.
Setting: Large acute National Health Service hospital in London, UK.
Background: To estimate the infectious period of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in older adults with underlying conditions, we assessed duration of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positivity, and culture positivity among nursing home residents.
Methods: We enrolled residents within 15 days of their first positive SARS-CoV-2 test (diagnosis) at an Arkansas facility from July 7 to 15, 2020 and instead them for 42 days. Every 3 days for 21 days and then weekly, we assessed COVID-19 symptoms, collected specimens (oropharyngeal, anterior nares, and saliva), and reviewed medical charts.
Background: Obtaining postoperative laboratory studies after primary reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) is a common practice. However, justification of this practice remains unclear. This study assesses the utility of routine postoperative laboratory studies in RSA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Guided growth with temporary hemiepiphysiodesis has gained interest as a less invasive means for the treatment of coronal plane lower extremity deformities as well as leg length discrepancies. Its application to infantile Blount's disease has been less reported. The object of this study was to identify predictive factors of guided growth for treatment of infantile Blount's.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF