Publications by authors named "Maia Patrick Smith"

Article Synopsis
  • Gender bias in healthcare impacts pain assessment and management, shaping patient outcomes and trust in clinicians; medical school presents a chance to address this bias in future doctors.
  • A systematic review analyzed nine studies on medical student perceptions regarding patients' gender and pain, revealing that many believed women's pain is often underestimated during evaluations.
  • The review highlights a lack of high-quality research and calls for further exploration of medical students' attitudes toward gender and pain in real-life situations to enhance medical education.
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Background: The media have played an important part in presenting arguments for and against vaccination. The potential for the media to influence public attitudes to vaccines is becoming increasingly crucial to address.

Methods: To understand the differing roles and responsibilities in the communication of vaccine trials we draw insight from a retrospective study of 349 survey responses and 102 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2020 with participants in the United Kingdom's first-in-human clinical trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

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Preclinical (animal) testing and human testing of drugs and vaccines are rarely considered by social scientists side by side. Where this is done, it is typically for theoretically exploring the ethics of the two situations to compare relative treatment. In contrast, we empirically explore how human clinical trial participants understand the role of animal test subjects in vaccine development.

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In early 2020, adult volunteers were invited to participate in a first-in-human trial of the COVID-19 vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, in the United Kingdom (UK) at the height of the global pandemic when there was uncertainty regarding vaccine efficacy and side-effects. We conducted a retrospective survey of these uniquely situated individuals to gain insight into their views about the risks, motivations, and expectations of the trial and potential vaccine deployment. Our data from 349 respondents show that these volunteers were educated to a high-level with a clear understanding of the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an appreciation of the role of science and research in developing a vaccine to address this global problem.

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Objective: To establish consensus definitions for necrotising otitis externa (NOE) to facilitate the diagnosis and exclusion of NOE in clinical practice and expedite future high-quality study of this neglected condition.

Design: The work comprised of a systematic review of the literature, five iterative rounds of consultation via a Delphi process and open discussion within the collaborative. An expert panel analysed the results to produce the final outputs which were shared with and endorsed by national specialty bodies.

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Article Synopsis
  • Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are common, especially in women, and current tests to diagnose them aren't always very accurate.
  • Researchers looked at new biomarkers in urine that might help doctors tell if someone has a UTI or just harmless bacteria.
  • They found some promising biomarkers like IL-6 and IL-8, but more studies are needed to see if they really work for diagnosing UTIs before they can be used in hospitals.
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Background: Vaccine nationalism has become a key topic of discussion during the development, testing, and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Media attention has highlighted the ways that global, coordinated access to vaccines has been limited during the pandemic. It has also exposed how some countries have secured vaccine supply, through bilateral purchase agreements and the way pharmaceutical companies have priced, negotiated, and delivered these supplies.

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