Publications by authors named "MA Smith"

Population-level estimates in timeframes for reaching cervical cancer (CC) elimination (ie, <4 cases per 100,000 women) in the United States may mask potential disparities in achieving elimination among sub-populations. We used three independent Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) models to estimate differences in the time to CC elimination across seven strata of correlated screening and human papillomavirus vaccination uptake, based on national survey data. Compared to the average population, elimination was achieved ≥22 years earlier for the high-uptake strata and ≥27 years later for the most extreme low-uptake strata.

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Background: West Nile virus (WNV), although underdiagnosed, is the most common mosquito-borne disease and the second most common cause of viral encephalitis in the United States. Fewer than 1% of those infected develop neuroinvasive disease.

Methods: We present a cluster of 3 cases of neuroinvasive WNV that occurred between August and September 2023 and a review of the literature for neurologic involvement with this virus.

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Aim: This study aimed to explore healthcare experiences of rural-living patients both with (attached) and without (unattached) a local primary care provider.

Background: Primary care providers serve a gatekeeping role in the Canadian healthcare system as the first contact for receiving many health services. With the shortage of primary care providers, especially in rural areas, there is a need to explore attached and unattached patient experiences when accessing healthcare.

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Objective: In 2017, Australian's National Cervical Screening Program changed from 2-yearly cytology to 5-yearly primary human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. The Stakeholder Opinions of Renewal Implementation and Experiences Study (STORIES) aimed to capture stakeholder perspectives during implementation of the renewed National Cervical Screening Program.

Materials And Methods: Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with key National Cervical Screening Program stakeholders 11-20 months following the change, either face-to-face, online, or via phone.

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Article Synopsis
  • Over two decades, initiatives have aimed to enhance STEM undergraduate outcomes, with the inclusive Research Education Community (iREC) emerging as a scalable reform model that supports STEM faculty in implementing course-based research to improve student learning.
  • This study utilized pathway modeling to describe the HHMI Science Education Alliance (SEA) iREC, identifying how faculty engagement leads to sustainable adoption and improvement of new teaching strategies through feedback from over 100 participating faculty members.
  • The findings indicate that iREC fosters a collaborative environment where STEM faculty can share expertise and data, thereby enhancing their teaching practices and contributing to the overall evolution of undergraduate science education.
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Recently the field of cavity magnonics, a field focused on controlling the interaction between magnons and photons confined within microwave resonators, has drawn significant attention as it offers a platform for enabling advancements in quantum- and spin-based technologies. Here, we introduce excitation vector fields, whose polarisation and profile can be easily tuned in a two-port cavity setup, thus acting as an effective experimental dial to explore the coupled dynamics of cavity magnon-polaritons. Moreover, we develop theoretical models that accurately predict and reproduce the experimental results for any polarisation state and field profile within the cavity resonator.

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Background: Lung transplantation has become more common in patients aged 65 years and older. We aimed to examine outcomes across age groups and identify risk factors for decreased survival.

Methods: United Network for Organ Sharing data for all primary lung transplants from 1/1/2006 to 3/8/2023 was retrospectively reviewed.

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As a consequence of COI barcoding hundreds of reared specimens of what appeared to be Leurus caeruliventris, a parasitoid of leaf-rolling Crambidae (Lepidoptera) from the Area de Conservación Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica, and matching them with their host caterpillars and morphological traits, we describe ten new sympatric species and redescribe L. caeruliventris. The new species, authored by Zuñiga & Valerio, are: Leurus billeberhardi, L.

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Next-generation T-cell-directed vaccines for COVID-19 focus on establishing lasting T-cell immunity against current and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Precise identification of conserved T-cell epitopes is critical for designing effective vaccines. Here we introduce a comprehensive computational framework incorporating a machine learning algorithm-MHCvalidator-to enhance mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics sensitivity.

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Background/objectives: Despite strong evidence that breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care, and sucrose reduce pain in newborns during minor painful procedures, these interventions remain underutilized in practice. To address this knowledge-to-practice gap, we produced a five-minute parent-targeted video demonstrating the analgesic effects of these strategies and examined whether the use of newborn pain treatment increased in maternal-newborn care settings following the introduction of the video by nurses.

Methods: The design was a pre-post outcome evaluation.

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Pediatric pulmonary hypertension is a heterogeneous disease associated with significant morbidity and mortality. MicroRNAs have been implicated as both pathologic drivers of disease and potential therapeutic targets in pediatric pulmonary hypertension. We sought to characterize the circulating microRNA profiles of a diverse array of pediatric patients with pulmonary hypertension using high-throughput sequencing technology.

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Introduction: Decisions to admit patients to intensive care units are often complex, and assessing patients is essential but difficult. In recent years, the Clinical Frailty Scale has been highlighted as a potential assessment tool for triaging patients for admission to the intensive care unit. This study aimed to investigate the clinical differences and Clinical Frailty Scale scores between patients who are refused and those who are admitted to the intensive care unit.

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Importance: Health datasets from clinical sources do not reflect the breadth and diversity of disease, impacting research, medical education, and artificial intelligence tool development. Assessments of novel crowdsourcing methods to create health datasets are needed.

Objective: To evaluate if web search advertisements (ads) are effective at creating a diverse and representative dermatology image dataset.

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Low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) has emerged as a powerful neuromodulation tool characterized by its deep penetration and precise spatial targeting to influence neural activity. Our study directed low-intensity tFUS stimulation onto a region of prefrontal cortex (the frontal eye field, or FEF) of a rhesus macaque to examine its impact on a remote site, the extrastriate visual cortex (area V4) through this top-down modulatory circuit that has been studied extensively with electrical microstimulation.To measure the impact of tFUS stimulation, we recorded local field potentials and multi-unit spiking activities from a multi-electrode array implanted in the visual cortex.

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Objectives: The objective of this study was to quantify trends (2008-2019) in stroke outcomes by race-ethnicity.

Methods: Patients with ischemic stroke from a population-based study were interviewed at 90 days to assess outcomes. Linear regression with multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting was used to model trends.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to identify differences in serum protein levels between adult and juvenile dermatomyositis (DM and JDM) patients compared to healthy controls to find potential biomarkers for disease activity.
  • A multiplex immunoassay was used to analyze serum protein expression from 17 active DM and JDM patients, revealing 78 out of 172 proteins were differentially expressed, with specific proteins highlighted for each patient group.
  • The analysis showed activated signaling pathways in both DM and JDM, with several proteins correlating with disease activity, suggesting potential candidates for monitoring the condition's severity.
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Programs for preclinical testing of targeted cancer agents in murine models of childhood cancers have been supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since 2004. These programs were established to work collaboratively with industry partners to address the paucity of targeted agents for pediatric cancers compared with the large number of agents developed and approved for malignancies primarily affecting adults. The distinctive biology of pediatric cancers and the relatively small numbers of pediatric cancer patients are major challenges for pediatric oncology drug development.

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Background: The Leishmania genome harbors formerly active short interspersed degenerated retroposons (SIDERs) representing the largest family of repetitive elements among trypanosomatids. Their substantial expansion in Leishmania is a strong predictor of important biological functions. In this study, we combined multilevel bioinformatic predictions with high-throughput genomic and transcriptomic analyses to gain novel insights into the diversified roles retroposons of the SIDER2 subfamily play in Leishmania genome evolution and expression.

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Cancer immunotherapies produce remarkable results in B cell malignancies; however, optimal cell surface targets for many solid cancers remain elusive. Here, we present an integrative proteomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic analysis of tumor and normal tissues to identify biologically relevant cell surface immunotherapeutic targets for neuroblastoma, an often-fatal childhood cancer. Proteogenomic analyses reveal sixty high-confidence candidate immunotherapeutic targets, and we prioritize delta-like canonical notch ligand 1 (DLK1) for further study.

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Cardiac fluid dynamics fundamentally involves interactions between complex blood flows and the structural deformations of the muscular heart walls and the thin valve leaflets. There has been longstanding scientific, engineering, and medical interest in creating mathematical models of the heart that capture, explain, and predict these fluid-structure interactions (FSIs). However, existing computational models that account for interactions among the blood, the actively contracting myocardium, and the valves are limited in their abilities to predict valve performance, capture fine-scale flow features, or use realistic descriptions of tissue biomechanics.

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The menstrual cycle (MC) serves as a vital indicator of overall health and metabolic function, regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary axis and involving a complex interplay of hormones. Understanding these hormonal dynamics is crucial for deciphering an individual's physiological status and performance potential, particularly in athletes. Studies regarding the MC's impact on athletic performance and training often lack inclusivity, standardized methodologies, and inconsistent biological definitions, hindering comprehensive conclusions.

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Background: It is unclear whether chronically training close to volitional failure influences motor unit recruitment strategies during fatigue.

Purpose: We compared resistance training to near volitional failure . non-failure on individual motor unit action potential amplitude (MUAP) and surface electromyographic excitation (sEMG) during fatiguing contractions.

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The cerebellum is critical for sensorimotor learning. The specific contribution that it makes, however, remains unclear. Inspired by the classic finding that for declarative memories, medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures provide a gateway to the formation of long-term memory but are not required for short-term memory, we hypothesized that for sensorimotor memories, the cerebellum may play an analogous role.

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