Publications by authors named "Kerri Gallagher"

Unlabelled: The emergency department (ED) is a care setting with a high risk for medical error. In collaboration with our nursing colleagues, we identified a new trigger, under-triage, and demonstrated how its implementation could detect and reduce medical errors in the ED.

Methods: We defined under-triage as patient visits with an Emergency Severity Index (ESI) score of 4 or 5 (ie, low acuity), and the patient was admitted to the hospital during the same visit.

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Background: B-cell depleting treatments are widely used to modify the course of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Despite recent successful Phase 3 trials of several novel NMOSD therapies, limited availability and high cost constrains their clinical use, and rituximab (RTX) remains a core treatment in many centres. Since 2013, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Neuroimmunology Clinic (NIC) has regularly measured class-switched memory B-cells (SMB-cells) in the peripheral blood of patients with NMOSD, who have been treated with RTX, in order to guide retreatment intervals.

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Single gene defects that impair lymphocyte cytotoxicity can predispose to severe viral infection that normally remains subclinical. The classic severe presentation is hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Here, we report the case of a neonate who presented with cytomegalovirus palatal ulceration and bocavirus pneumonitis secondary to impaired cytotoxicity caused by biallelic mutations in the UNC13D gene.

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Bi-allelic null mutations affecting , or result in defects of lymphocyte cytotoxic degranulation and commonly cause familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) in early life. Patients with partial loss of function are increasingly being diagnosed after presenting with alternative features of this disease, or with HLH later in life. Here, we studied two sisters with lymphocyte degranulation defects secondary to compound heterozygote missense variants in .

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As the food intake of free-ranging animals has proved to be difficult to measure by traditional means, the feasibility of using radioactive Na to measure food consumption in a small scincid lizard (Lampropholis guichenoti) was assessed. This technique has previously been used only for several species of mammal. A significant relationship between food intake and Na turnover was found in the laboratory, with Na turnover underestimating intake by 7.

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