Publications by authors named "Joe Lee"

is a Gram-positive bacterium causing listeriosis, a severe infection responsible for significant morbidity and mortality globally. Its persistence on food processing surfaces via biofilm formation presents a major challenge, as conventional sanitizers and antimicrobials exhibit limited efficacy against biofilm-embedded cells. This study investigates a novel approach combining an engineered polysaccharide-degrading enzyme (CAase) with a bacteriocin (thermophilin 110) produced by .

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  • Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a prevalent and complex issue with varied treatment options and no definitive guidelines, leading to differing management practices internationally.
  • A comprehensive survey with 336 responses from specialists in 49 countries explored current medical and surgical strategies for NOA, analyzing results against existing guidelines and offering expert recommendations.
  • Key findings included diverse approaches to hormonal therapy, significant variation in sperm retrieval success rates, and differing protocols around varicocele repair and follicle-stimulating hormone cutoff levels for sperm retrieval.
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  • * Conducted from July to September 2022, a questionnaire gathered responses from 367 doctors in 49 countries, focusing on how they diagnose NOA through methods like hormone tests and genetic analyses.
  • * The survey identified that while many practices align with guidelines, significant differences in approaches were found, underscoring the need for standardized, evidence-based international guidelines for NOA evaluation.
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Background: Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is a complex condition that is often difficult to treat and may sometimes require a multidisciplinary team. Among the wide array of treatment options is extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT). However, its role in CPPS remains controversial.

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This article presents a rapid yet robust protocol for isolating Campylobacter spp. from raw meats, specifically focusing on Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. The protocol builds upon established methods, ensuring compatibility with the prevailing techniques employed by regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.

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Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) techniques employing superparamagnetic particles can successfully isolate various components from mixtures. However, their utility can be limited for large-volume samples, viscous samples, or those containing a high density of particulate matter because of the need to generate high field gradients for particle recovery. Therefore, a new class of immunomagnetic particles was devised utilizing a single, macroscopic Pyrex spinbar conjugated with biorecognition elements to address these limitations.

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is a leading bacterial cause of gastrointestinal infections in humans and has imposed substantial medical and public health burdens worldwide. Among a total of 39 species in the genus, is the most important species responsible for approx. 90% of human illness.

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Male infertility (MI) and male sexual dysfunction (MSD) can often coexist together due to various interplay factors such as psychosexual, sociocultural and relationship dynamics. The presence of each form of MSD can adversely impact male reproduction and treatment strategies will need to be individualized based on patients' factors, local expertise, and geographical socioeconomic status. The Asia Pacific Society of Sexual Medicine (APSSM) and the Asian Society of Men's Health and Aging (ASMHA) aim to provide a consensus statement and practical set of clinical recommendations based on current evidence to guide clinicians in the management of MI and MSD within the Asia-Pacific (AP) region.

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  • The meta-analysis investigates the effects of varicocele repair on semen parameters in infertile males, combining data from diverse studies without language restrictions.
  • A total of 351 studies were analyzed, revealing significant improvements in several semen parameters post-repair, including semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, and morphology, while sperm vitality showed no improvement.
  • This research is the largest of its kind and highlights the benefits of varicocele repair for male infertility, contributing valuable insights for clinical practice.
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Successful detection of bacterial pathogens in food can be challenging due to the physical and compositional complexity of the matrix. Different mechanical/physical and chemical methods have been developed to separate microorganisms from food matrices to facilitate detection. The present study benchmarked a commercial tissue digestion system that applies both chemical and physical methods to separate microorganisms from tissues against stomaching, a standard process currently utilized by commercial and regulatory food safety laboratories.

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This Asia-Pacific (AP) AMS 800™ artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) consensus statement aims to provide a set of practical recommendations to assist surgeons with the AMS 800 device surgery. The AP consensus committee consisted of key opinion leaders with extensive experience with AMS 800 surgery across several AP countries. The panel reviewed and discussed relevant findings with emphasis on locoregional and specific clinical challenges relevant to the AP region.

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Earth observation data have revolutionized Earth science and significantly enhanced the ability to forecast weather, climate and natural hazards. The storage format of the majority of Earth observation data can be classified into swath, grid or point structures. Earth science studies frequently involve resampling between swath, grid and point data when combining measurements from multiple instruments, which can provide more insights into geophysical processes than using any single instrument alone.

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Purpose: Varicocele is a common problem among infertile men. Varicocele repair (VR) is frequently performed to improve semen parameters and the chances of pregnancy. However, there is a lack of consensus about the diagnosis, indications for VR and its outcomes.

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Objectives: To compare and review the outcomes of transperineal (TP) prostate biopsies with transrectal (TR) biopsies performed under local anaesthesia (LA). A review of the relevant published literature is presented.

Patients And Methods: We prospectively analysed 212 consecutive patients who underwent TP prostate biopsy using the PrecisionPoint™ access system under LA, at our institution from October 2018 to March 2020.

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Mutations in cancer-associated genes drive tumour outgrowth, but our knowledge of the timing of driver mutations and subsequent clonal dynamics is limited. Here, using whole-genome sequencing of 1,013 clonal haematopoietic colonies from 12 patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, we identified 580,133 somatic mutations to reconstruct haematopoietic phylogenies and determine clonal histories. Driver mutations were estimated to occur early in life, including the in utero period.

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Purpose: COVID pandemic significantly affected the delivery and maintenance of healthcare system, resulting in greater utilization of digital health interventions.

Materials And Methods: This multi-national cross-sectional survey was administered to clinicians working in major Asia-Pacific cities during the mandatory social lockdown period in June 2020. Clinical demographics and professional data, delivery of Andrology-related healthcare services, and patient distress based on validated questionnaires such as Depression and Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and Decisional Engagement Scale (DES) were collected.

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Consumption of food contaminated by can result in Listeriosis, an illness with hospitalization rates of 94% and mortality rates up to 30%. As a result, U.S.

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The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented healthcare crisis with various governmental healthcare policies enforced to redirect medical prioritization and minimize the spread of COVID19 infection. Recognizing that the COVID-19 crisis will be protracted, it is important that clinicians and the healthcare industry continue to adapt existing resources and review contingency plan amidst this uncertain and difficult times. The Asia Pacific Society of Sexual Medicine supports ongoing precautionary healthcare measures implemented by various institutions and governmental policies to contain and eliminate COVID19 infection.

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Published literature shows low intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LIESWT) and low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) therapy to improve erectile function and penile hemodynamic by inducing neovascularisation and promoting tissue regeneration. Key opinion leaders across the Asia Pacific region attended the recent biennial meeting of the Asia Pacific Society for Sexual Medicine in Australia, and presented the current evidence on LIESWT and LIPUS for erectile dysfunction (ED). The clinical findings were internally discussed, and the quality of evidence was graded based on the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine recommendations.

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The myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) polycythaemia vera, essential thrombocythaemia and primary myelofibrosis are chronic myeloid disorders associated most often with mutations in JAK2, MPL and CALR, and in some patients with additional acquired genomic lesions. Whilst the molecular mechanisms downstream of these mutations are now clearer, it is apparent that clinical phenotype in MPN is a product of complex interactions, acting between individual mutations, between disease subclones, and between the tumour and background host factors. In this review we first discuss MPN phenotypic driver mutations and the factors that interact with them to influence phenotype.

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Objective: To identify possible radiographic predictors markers of dynamic instability including disc height (DH), disc degeneration, and spondylosis in the setting of degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS).

Methods: A retrospective review with prospectively collected data was performed on 125 patients with L4-5 DS who underwent decompression and fusion. Patients were divided into groups with dynamic instability and those without.

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Foodborne illness is a common yet preventable public health concern generating significant costs for the healthcare system, making systems to accurately detect this pathogen a topic of current research. Enzyme-based immunoassays are highly desirable because they offer shorter response times compared to traditional culture-based methods. Biosensors employing the electrochemical and optical detection of a substrate oxidized by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) have been used to successfully detect biomolecules; however, their inability to handle large sample volumes severely limits their application to food safety despite their accuracy and reliability.

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Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) hypersensitivity represents a clinical challenge in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients urgently requiring ASA for antiplatelet therapy. ASA desensitization has been reported with successful outcomes in cardiac patients. The aim of this review is to determine the safety and efficacy of ASA desensitization therapy in ACS patients.

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Background: Schizophrenia has been characterized as a neurodevelopmental disorder of brain disconnectivity. However, whether disrupted integrity of white matter tracts in schizophrenia can potentially serve as individual discriminative biomarkers remains unclear.

Methods: A random forest algorithm was applied to tractography-based diffusion properties obtained from a cohort of 65 patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and 60 healthy individuals to investigate the machine-learning discriminative power of white matter disconnectivity.

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