Publications by authors named "Krusche A"

Background: Many cancer survivors following primary treatment have prolonged poor quality of life.

Aim: To determine the effectiveness of a bespoke digital intervention to support cancer survivors.

Design And Setting: This was a pragmatic parallel open randomised trial in UK general practices (ISRCTN:96374224).

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  • A study was conducted to assess a comprehensive behavior change intervention aimed at reducing unnecessary antibiotic use in hospitals by encouraging prescribers to make appropriate decisions during clinical reviews.
  • The research utilized a randomized controlled trial across multiple hospitals in the UK, tracking outcomes such as antibiotic dosage and patient mortality within 30 days post-admission through electronic health records and audits.
  • The effectiveness of the intervention was analyzed using time series methods and random-effects meta-analysis, with the study now completed and registered for validation.
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The COVID-19 outbreak meant that using public transport was potentially unsafe for risk of catching and transmitting the virus. UK anxiety is high with lockdowns preventing a normal way of life for over a year. A lack of ability to travel freely causes numerous declines in quality of life including social isolation and poor physical and mental health.

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  • The expansion of hydropower in tropical areas, particularly through run-of-the-river (ROR) dams like the Belo Monte dam, is thought to have lower environmental impacts due to smaller reservoirs.
  • Post-damming greenhouse gas emissions in the Belo Monte region are significantly higher (up to three times more) than emissions before the dam was built, with emissions ranging from 15 to 55 kg COeq MWh.
  • Even with the advantages of reduced flooded areas and a focus on power density, the total greenhouse gas emissions from ROR plants in the Amazon are substantial, suggesting that expanding hydropower in this region should be reconsidered regardless of reservoir size.
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Background: Increasing physical activity, improving diet, and performing brain training exercises are associated with reduced cognitive decline in older adults.

Objective: In this paper, we describe a feasibility trial of the Active Brains intervention, a web-based digital intervention developed to support older adults to make these 3 healthy behavior changes associated with improved cognitive health. The Active Brains trial is a randomized feasibility trial that will test how accessible, acceptable, and feasible the Active Brains intervention is and the effectiveness of the study procedures that we intend to use in the larger, main trial.

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The delay from onset of the first symptoms to a definite ALS diagnosis depends also on the elusiveness of the initial clinical manifestations. The lack of disease-specific biomarkers to detect early pathology when ALS is supposed complicates the situation. This latency reduces the therapeutic time frame, in which neuron-rescuing strategies exert their greatest chance to work.

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This paper illustrates a rigorous approach to developing digital interventions using an evidence-, theory- and person-based approach. Intervention planning included a rapid scoping review that identified cancer survivors' needs, including barriers and facilitators to intervention success. Review evidence ( = 49 papers) informed the intervention's Guiding Principles, theory-based behavioural analysis and logic model.

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Background: Hospital antimicrobial stewardship strategies, such as 'Start Smart, Then Focus' in the UK, balance the need for prompt, effective antibiotic treatment with the need to limit antibiotic overuse using 'review and revise'. However, only a minority of review decisions are to stop antibiotics. Research suggests that this is due to both behavioural and organizational factors.

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Background: Mindfulness courses are being offered to numerous groups and while a large body of research has investigated links between dispositional mindfulness and mood, few studies have reported this relationship during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate this relationship in pregnant women to offer insight into whether an intervention which may plausibly increase dispositional mindfulness would be beneficial for this population.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to explore potential relationships between measures of mindfulness and general and pregnancy-specific mood.

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Background: To ensure patients continue to get early access to antibiotics at admission, while also safely reducing antibiotic use in hospitals, one needs to target the continued need for antibiotics as more diagnostic information becomes available. UK Department of Health guidance promotes an initiative called 'Start Smart then Focus': early effective antibiotics followed by active 'review and revision' 24-72 h later. However in 2017, < 10% of antibiotic prescriptions were discontinued at review, despite studies suggesting that 20-30% of prescriptions could be stopped safely.

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Introduction: Low quality of life is common in cancer survivors. Increasing physical activity, improving diet, supporting psychological well-being and weight loss can improve quality of life in several cancers and may limit relapse. The aim of the randomised controlled trial outlined in this protocol is to examine whether a digital intervention (Renewed), with or without human support, can improve quality of life in cancer survivors.

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Objective: Prenatal depression, stress and anxiety are significant predictors of postnatal depression and also have a direct negative impact on the family. Helpful psychological interventions during pregnancy are scarce and expensive, and usually only available for a small percentage of those suffering or deemed to be at risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of an online mindfulness course for expectant mothers.

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Unlabelled: An evaluation of mindfulness-based childbirth and parenting courses for pregnant women and prospective fathers/partners within the UK NHS (MBCP-4-NHS).

Objective: To explore the usefulness within the National Health Service (NHS) of a brief (four week, ten hour) course based upon the Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) programme (Duncan and Bardacke, 2010) described here as MBCP-4-NHS.

Background: The National Maternity Review (2016) and report of The Independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS (2016a, 2016b) in England highlight the need for significant investment into perinatal mental health services, with the Government pledging funding to improve such services through a range of measures.

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Objective: Physical activity (PA) and a healthy diet can improve the well-being of cancer survivors. However, cancer survivors often do not engage in these behaviours. This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to engaging in these behaviours following cancer treatment.

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  • The study focuses on the diversity and structure of virus assemblages in the Amazon River-ocean continuum, highlighting their importance in global carbon and nutrient cycling.
  • Researchers collected viral DNA sequences from 12 locations along the river and plume, yielding 29,358 scaffolds and 15 new complete viral genomes, revealing distinct virome characteristics between the river and plume ecosystems.
  • Findings indicate that bacteriophages were widespread, while eukaryotic viruses were more prevalent in the river; the study emphasizes the influence of water physical and chemical parameters, especially salinity, on viral distribution and contributes to understanding the role of viruses in the organic matter cycle.
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  • The study examined microbial biodiversity patterns along a 675 km stretch of the Amazon river-ocean continuum, focusing on changes related to river discharge using advanced DNA sequencing methods.
  • River communities displayed significant differences among tributaries, yet the mainstem showed spatial consistency while adapting to seasonal river discharge variations.
  • In contrast to river communities, plume microbial communities had little seasonal variation and were more influenced by salinity, suggesting that factors like nutrients and phytoplankton composition play a key role in shaping these communities.
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Intensive cropland agriculture commonly increases streamwater solute concentrations and export from small watersheds. In recent decades, the lowland tropics have become the world's largest and most important region of cropland expansion. Although the effects of intensive cropland agriculture on streamwater chemistry and watershed export have been widely studied in temperate regions, their effects in tropical regions are poorly understood.

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The flux of methane (CH4 ) from inland waters to the atmosphere has a profound impact on global atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) levels, and yet, strikingly little is known about the dynamics controlling sources and sinks of CH4 in the aquatic setting. Here, we examine the cycling and flux of CH4 in six large rivers in the Amazon basin, including the Amazon River. Based on stable isotopic mass balances of CH4 , inputs and outputs to the water column were estimated.

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Immune surveillance of tumour cells is an important function of CD8 T lymphocytes, which has failed in cancer for reasons still unknown in many respect but mainly related to cellular processes in the tumour microenvironment. Applying imaging cycler microscopy to analyse the immune contexture in a human skin cancer we could identify and map 7,000 distinct cell surface-associated multi-protein assemblies. The resulting combinatorial geometry-based high-functional resolution led to discovery of a mechanism of T cell trapping in the epidermis, which involves SPIKE, a network of suprabasal keratinocyte projections piercing and interconnecting CD8 T cells.

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Background: The Amazon River runs nearly 6500 km across the South American continent before emptying into the western tropical North Atlantic Ocean. In terms of both volume and watershed area, it is the world's largest riverine system, affecting elemental cycling on a global scale.

Results: A quantitative inventory of genes and transcripts benchmarked with internal standards was obtained at five stations in the lower Amazon River during May 2011.

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Methane (CH4 ) fluxes from world rivers are still poorly constrained, with measurements restricted mainly to temperate climates. Additional river flux measurements, including spatio-temporal studies, are important to refine extrapolations. Here we assess the spatio-temporal variability of CH4 fluxes from the Amazon and its main tributaries, the Negro, Solimões, Madeira, Tapajós, Xingu, and Pará Rivers, based on direct measurements using floating chambers.

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A basic understanding of nutrition effects on the mechanisms involved in tree response to drought is essential under a future drier climate. A large-scale throughfall exclusion experiment was set up in Brazil to gain an insight into the effects of potassium (K) and sodium (Na) nutrition on tree structural and physiological adjustments to water deficit. Regardless of the water supply, K and Na supply greatly increased growth and leaf area index (LAI) of Eucalyptus grandis trees over the first 3 yr after planting.

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Background: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely accepted as being the most efficient way of investigating the efficacy of psychological therapies. However, researchers conducting RCTs commonly report difficulties in recruiting an adequate sample within planned timescales. In an effort to overcome recruitment difficulties, researchers often are forced to expand their recruitment criteria or extend the recruitment phase, thus increasing costs and delaying publication of results.

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