The purpose of the study was to develop new knowledge about the everyday realities when implementing periodised training programmes in professional soccer Academies. Specifically, this project enhances understanding in relation to 1) those stakeholders involved in periodised training programmes in professional soccer Academies, 2) factors that facilitate and constrain the design, implementation, and monitoring of periodised programmes, 3) the extent to which practitioners perceive that education programmes adequately prepared them for this aspect of their work. Academy managers, coaches and sport science support staff were approached to complete an online survey, with 30 individuals (33.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to produce an alcohol gel hand sanitizer containing green glycerol. Crude glycerol was purified using chemical and physical treatments. The sanitizer was prepared using 71.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: We assessed protection from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines and/or prior severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection against Omicron-associated severe outcomes during successive sublineage-predominant periods.
Methods: We used a test-negative design to estimate protection by vaccines and/or prior infection against hospitalization/death among community-dwelling, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-tested adults aged ≥50 years in Ontario, Canada, between 2 January 2022 and 30 June 2023. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the relative change in the odds of hospitalization/death with each vaccine dose (2-5) and/or prior PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (compared with unvaccinated, uninfected subjects) up to 15 months since the last vaccination or infection.
We estimated the effectiveness of booster doses of monovalent and bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron-associated severe outcomes among adults aged ≥50 years in Ontario, Canada. Monovalent and bivalent mRNA COVID-19 booster doses provided similar strong initial protection against severe outcomes. Uncertainty remains around waning of protection from these vaccines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: While many women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) improve during pregnancy and others worsen, there are no biomarkers to predict this improvement or worsening. In our unique RA pregnancy cohort that includes a pre-pregnancy baseline, we have examined pre-pregnancy gene co-expression networks to identify differences between women with RA who subsequently improve during pregnancy and those who worsen.
Methods: Blood samples were collected before pregnancy (T0) from 19 women with RA and 13 healthy women enrolled in our prospective pregnancy cohort.
Increasing mixed chimerism (reemerging recipient cells) after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (allo-HCT) can indicate relapse, the leading factor determining mortality in blood malignancies. Most clinical chimerism tests have limited sensitivity and are primarily designed to monitor engraftment. We developed a panel of quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays using TaqMan chemistry capable of quantifying chimerism in the order of 1 in a million.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe meat and meat product industry has evolved according to the needs of the market. Consumers are increasingly seeking quality in food. Thus, the concern regarding the excessive use of additives such as preservatives and antioxidants has driven research towards natural, healthy and safe substitutes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pregnancy is known to induce extensive biological changes in the healthy mother. Little is known, however, about what these changes are at the molecular level. We have examined systemic expression changes in protein-coding genes and long non-coding (lnc) RNAs during and after pregnancy, compared to before pregnancy, among healthy women with term pregnancies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Mitochondria are found in the extracellular space in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, whether mitochondria are a source of autoantigens in RA has not been carefully addressed. Thus, we undertook this study to investigate the presence and significance of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMAs) in patients with RA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProblem: Preeclampsia (PE) is associated with an increased risk of maternal cardiovascular disease (CVD), however, it is unclear whether this is due to shared underlying physiology or changes which occur during the disease process. Fetal microchimerism (FMc) within the maternal circulation can durably persist decades after pregnancy, is known to occur at greater frequency in PE, and can potentially affect local and systemic immune programming, thus changes in cellular FMc may provide a mechanism for long-term health outcomes associated with PE.
Method Of Study: We investigated whether PE is associated with alterations in FMc immune and stem cell populations.
J Assoc Med Microbiol Infect Dis Can
December 2021
Background: Influenza infection is a major cause of mortality in critical care units.
Methods: ata on critically ill adult patients with influenza infection from 2014 to 2019 were retrospectively collected, including mortality and critical care resource utilization. Independent predictors of mortality were identified using Cox regression.
Background: The role of remdesivir in the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 remains ill-defined. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis alongside the Canadian Treatments for COVID-19 (CATCO) open-label, randomized clinical trial evaluating remdesivir.
Methods: Patients with COVID-19 in Canadian hospitals from Aug.
Purpose: In an effort to control postoperative pain more effectively in spinal fusion patients, intraoperative intrathecal morphine (ITM) administration is gaining popularity and acceptance with clinicians. This study seeks to determine the impact of intraoperative intrathecal opioid (ITO) administration following lumbar fusion surgery on postoperative pain and length of hospitalization as primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes will investigate postoperative opioid intake and side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood Chem
January 2023
Apergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus niger are the principal fungi that attack table grapes, and they are responsible for producing and contaminating these fruits with ochratoxin A. Packaging containing essential oils from Ocimum gratissimum L. and Ocimum basilicum L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Design: Prospective, randomized, blinded clinical trial.
Objective: To examine clinical and radiological outcomes in patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgeries randomized to receive either polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) or structural bone allografts.
Summary Of Background Data: The biomechanical qualities as well as osteoconductive, osteogenic, and osteoinductive properties of various graft materials have been previously evaluated.
The purpose of the study was to (1) assess the training load experienced during pre-season and in-season meso-cycles within youth academy soccer players and (2) investigate the extent to which the intended periodized approach was implemented, considering those factors that affected its realization. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design comprising two phases was adopted. Phase 1 encompassed the quantitative analysis of training load data, using 10 Hz GPS, and consisted of 17 youth academy soccer players (age 17 ± 1 yrs; stature 179 ± 9 cm; body mass 72 ± 9 kg), from a professional English soccer academy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeterminants of the acquisition and maintenance of maternal microchimerism (MMc) during infancy and the impact of MMc on infant immune responses are unknown. We examined factors that influence MMc detection and level across infancy and the effect of MMc on T cell responses to bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination in a cohort of HIV-exposed, uninfected and HIV-unexposed infants in South Africa. MMc was measured in whole blood from 58 infants using a panel of quantitative PCR assays at day 1, and 7, 15, and 36 weeks of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: The burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in adults is of growing concern. This study was designed to quantify disease burden, treatment approaches, and outcomes associated with RSV infections in adult subpopulations, from prehospitalization to hospital discharge.
Methods: A retrospective chart analysis was conducted to collect patient-case data from hospitalized US adults (aged >18 years) with RSV infection during two RSV seasons.
Exposure to non-inherited maternal antigens (NIMA) during the fetal period induces lifelong split tolerance to grafts expressing these allo-antigens. In adult mice, the production of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from maternal microchimeric cells causes cross-decoration (XD) of offspring dendritic cells (DC) with NIMA and upregulation of PD-L1, contributing to NIMA tolerance. To see how this may apply to humans, we tested NIMA acquisition by fetal DCS in human cord blood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of Review: To review the clinico-epidemiological aspects of influenza in the context of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; the recent advances in point-of-care molecular diagnostics and co-detection of influenza and coronaviruses, and the development of new influenza therapeutics.
Recent Findings: Rates of influenza have declined globally since the 2020-2021 season; waning population immunity and uncertainty in vaccine strains could pose a risk in its significant resurgence, especially where pandemic public health interventions start being lifted. As symptoms are similar for influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, accurate, rapid diagnostics are needed to guide management.
Background: Neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) are considered the standard of care for hospitalised patients with influenza. We aimed to test whether combining the cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor baloxavir marboxil (hereafter baloxavir) with standard-of-care NAIs would result in improved clinical outcomes compared with NAI monotherapy in hospitalised patients with severe influenza.
Methods: We did a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled, superiority trial.