Navigating the employment terrain in the Irish radiography sector.

Background: In Ireland, radiographers typically work in the public or private sector. This study investigates the determinants influencing radiographers' employment choices between the public and private sectors, offering employers valuable insights into the key factors that shape these decisions.

Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed nationally via social media and email.

Repeat Expansion Discordance in 6 Multigenerational Kindreds.

Background And Objectives: A hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the noncoding region of the gene is the most common genetically identifiable cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia in populations of European ancestry. Pedigrees associated with this expansion exhibit phenotypic heterogeneity and incomplete disease penetrance, the basis of which is poorly understood. Relatives of those carrying the repeat expansion exhibit a characteristic cognitive endophenotype independent of carrier status.

Cognitive and neuropsychiatric endophenotypes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

First- and second-degree relatives of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis report higher rates of neuropsychiatric disorders, indicating that risk genes may be pleiotropic, causing multiple phenotypes within kindreds. Such phenotypes may constitute a disease endophenotype that associates with disease liability. We have directly investigated cognitive functioning and neuropsychiatric traits among relatives of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to identify potential endophenotypes of the disease.

Potential eligibility for Aducanumab therapy in an Irish specialist cognitive service-Utilising cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and appropriate use criteria.

Objectives: Aducanumab is a monoclonal antibody which has recently been licenced for use by the food and drug administration for treatment of patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) or mild AD dementia. Appropriate use criteria (AUC) for Aducanumab in clinical practice are available. We look to review patients in our specialist interdisciplinary cognitive service with positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for AD for their hypothetical eligibility for Aducanumab, or a similar anti-amyloid agent.

Brachiocephalic artery aneurysm plaque rupture, stroke & repair.

A 70 year old left-handed man presented to his general practitioner with abnormal left arm movements, left hemianopia and loss of balance. He was found to have an isolated brachiocephalic artery aneurysm, measuring 3.5 cm, with associated plaque rupture, contributing to recurrent episodes of transient ischemic attack.

Jaw Clonus: A Rhythmic Oscillatory Movement, but Not Tremor.

Background: Jaw clonus is rhythmic, oscillatory contraction of jaw muscles induced by stretch and is caused by lesions of the descending motor neurons in the corticopontine tracts.

Phenomenology Shown: We illustrate jaw clonus elicited with jaw activation and upon testing of the jaw jerk in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Educational Value: This video clearly demonstrates the uncommon sign of jaw clonus, a finding which needs to be distinguished from tremor and should direct the examiner to consider lesions of the corticopontine fibres, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Lifetime Risk and Heritability of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Importance: Heritability describes the proportion of variance in the risk of developing a condition that is explained by genetic factors. Although amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is known to have a complex genetic origin, disease heritability remains unclear.

Objectives: To determine the extent of ALS heritability and assess the association of sex with disease transmission.

Comparison of the clinical and genetic features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis across Cuban, Uruguayan and Irish clinic-based populations.

Objectives: This study compares the clinical characteristics of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) within three clinic-based populations from Cuba, Uruguay and Ireland and determines the impact of known ALS-associated genetic variants on phenotypic manifestations within the Cuban population.

Methods: Demographic and clinical information was collected on 115 Cuban, 220 Uruguayan and 1038 Irish patients with ALS attending national specialist clinics through 1996-2017. All Cuban patients and 676 Irish patients underwent next-generation DNA sequencing and were screened for the pathogenic repeat expansion.

Determining the incidence of familiality in ALS: A study of temporal trends in Ireland from 1994 to 2016.

Objective: To assess temporal trends in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS) incidence rates in an Irish population and to determine factors influencing FALS ascertainment.

Methods: Population-based data collected over 23 years, using the Irish amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) register and DNA biobank, were analyzed and age-standardized rates of FALS and associated familial neuropsychiatric endophenotypes were identified.

Results: Between 1994 and 2016, 269 patients with a family history of ALS from 197 unique families were included on the register.

The implications of regional and national demographic projections for future GMS costs in Ireland through to 2026.

Background: As the health services in Ireland have become more resource-constrained, pressure has increased to reduce public spending on community drug schemes such as General Medical Services (GMS) drug prescribing and to understand current and future trends in prescribing. The GMS scheme covers approximately 37% of the Irish population in 2011 and entitles them, inter alia, to free prescription drugs and appliances. This paper projects the effects of future changes in population, coverage, claims rates and average claims cost on GMS costs in Ireland.

Living with an unfixable heart: a qualitative study exploring the experience of living with advanced heart failure.

Background: Nurses working with patients with advanced heart failure need knowledge that will help us to help patients cope with their situations of chronic illness. However, our knowledge bank is deficient due to the scarcity of inquiry that takes the affected person's point of view as its central focus.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe patients' experiences of living with advanced heart failure.