Publications by authors named "J M E Pennings"

Background: Accurately determining the presence and severity of pediatric musculoskeletal infection (MSKI) is crucial for effective triage and treatment. Although the white blood-cell (WBC) count is often used as a marker for MSKI, we hypothesized that the use of the WBC count is limited by age-related variability in children. We proposed that the absolute neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which has less age-related variability, is a more reliable indicator for both diagnosing and assessing the severity of MSKI.

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Introduction: Lung cancer screening is underutilized, especially in rural areas where lung cancer mortality is high. Approximately 11.2% of the U.

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Article Synopsis
  • In human health risk assessment, genotoxicity hazards of chemicals typically start with a set of in vitro tests, but these tests don't capture all potential genotoxic endpoints, leading to sometimes contradictory results.
  • Mathematical modeling can improve the interpretation of these tests by accounting for each test's strengths and weaknesses, providing objective predictions with associated uncertainties.
  • A study found that combining a mammalian in vitro clastogenicity test and a gene mutation test offers strong evidence for genotoxic hazard assessment, but the bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) test alone can still provide useful evidence when no other data is available.
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The Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) framework is pivotal in toxicology, but the, terminology describing Key Event Relationships (KERs) varies within AOP guidelines.This study examined the usage of causal, observational and predictive terms in AOP, documentation and their adaptation in AOP development. A literature search and text, analysis of key AOP guidance documents revealed nuanced usage of these terms, with KERs often described as both causal and predictive.

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  • The study investigated how smoking affects recovery after elective cervical laminoplasty for degenerative cervical myelopathy.
  • Smokers showed worse neck and arm pain scores before the surgery, but there were no significant differences in postoperative outcomes compared to nonsmokers after 12 months.
  • Overall, smoking did not appear to significantly impact complications, readmissions, or patient satisfaction following the non-fusion surgical procedure.
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