Publications by authors named "M E K Sellars"

Background: Minimally invasive molecular profiling using cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is increasingly important to the management of cancer patients; however, low sensitivity remains a major limitation, particularly for brain tumor patients. Transiently attenuating cfDNA clearance from the body-thereby, allowing more cfDNA to be sampled-has been proposed to improve the performance of liquid biopsy diagnostics. However, there is a paucity of clinical data on the effect of higher cfDNA recovery.

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The innovative techniques in ultrasound have added a new dimension to investigating superficially located areas such as the contents of the scrotal sac. High frequency transducers, improved technology with the addition of elastography, contrast enhanced ultrasound and microvascular imaging has resulted in a further improvement in diagnostic capabilities. The ability to clearly demonstrate the presence or absence of vascularity within the area under investigation adds an additional dimension to operator confidence in establishing the presence of infarction, global or segmental, or the walls and cavity of an abscess in the testis or epididymis.

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Conventional ultrasonography (US), including greyscale imaging and colour Doppler US (CDUS), is pivotal for diagnosing scrotal pathologies, but it has limited specificity. Historically, solid focal testicular abnormalities often led to radical orchidectomy. This retrospective study evaluated the utilisation of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and strain elastography (SE) in investigating intratesticular focal abnormalities.

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Despite the prevalence of co-infections and the association of over 50 viral and 46 bacterial pathogens with pig diseases, little is known about their simultaneous occurrence, particularly in commercial pig farming environments where health programs are in place. To address this knowledge gap, this study aimed to evaluate the pathogen threshold of respiratory and enteric pathogens in pig herds using the Pork MultiPath™ (PMP1 and PMP2, respiratory and enteric respectively) technology, which detects multiple pathogens simultaneously in a single reaction with high sensitivity and specificity. In this study the most prevalent respiratory pathogens, Mycoplasma hyrohinis, Pasteurella multocida, and Haemophilus parasuis detected by PMP1 were effectively controlled during the nursery stage through strategic treatment with tiamulin.

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Efficient detection of single optical centres in solids is essential for quantum information processing, sensing and single-photon generation applications. In this work, we use radio-frequency (RF) reflectometry to electrically detect the photoionisation induced by a single Er ion in Si. The high bandwidth and sensitivity of the RF reflectometry provide sub-100-ns time resolution for the photoionisation detection.

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