Publications by authors named "J Nicole Rafferty"

Background: Living with a diagnosis of dementia can involve managing certain behavioral and psychological symptoms. Alongside cognitive decline, this cohort expresses a suppression in melatonin production which can negatively influence their alignment of sleep or wake timings with the 24 hour day and night cycle. As a result, their circadian rhythms become disrupted.

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Background: Allocating healthcare resources to local areas in proportion to need is an important element of many universal health care systems, aiming to provide equal access for equal need. The UK National Health Service allocates resources to relatively large areas in proportion to need, using needs-weighted capitation formulae. However, within those planning areas, local providers and commissioners also require robust methods for allocating resources to neighbourhoods in proportion to need to ensure equitable access.

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All mRNA products are currently manufactured in in vitro transcription (IVT) reactions that utilize single-subunit RNA polymerase (RNAP) biocatalysts. Although it is known that discrete polymerases exhibit highly variable bioproduction phenotypes, including different relative processivity rates and impurity generation profiles, only a handful of enzymes are generally available for mRNA biosynthesis. This limited RNAP toolbox restricts strategies to design and troubleshoot new mRNA manufacturing processes, which is particularly undesirable given the continuing diversification of mRNA product lines toward larger and more complex molecules.

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Enterococci are robust Gram-positive bacteria that pose a significant threat in healthcare settings due to antibiotic resistance, with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) most prominent. To tackle this issue, bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) can be exploited as they specifically and efficiently target bacteria. Here, we successfully isolated and characterised a set of novel phages: SHEF10, SHEF11, SHEF13, SHEF14, and SHEF16 which target E.

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