Publications by authors named "Matthew Shepherd"

Article Synopsis
  • Stress-induced hyperglycaemia (SIH) occurs in non-diabetic patients during physiological stress and is linked to worse outcomes post-major trauma, but its prehospital predictive value for in-hospital mortality was studied.
  • A retrospective study analyzed non-diabetic adults with major trauma; findings showed that patients with prehospital SIH had significantly higher injury severity, more severe physiological impairments, and a much higher in-hospital mortality rate (42.7% vs. 9.9%).
  • The study concluded that prehospital SIH is a strong predictor of in-hospital mortality, suggesting the need for further research to integrate SIH into trauma care models.
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The ecological and evolutionary mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emergence within patients and how these vary across bacterial infections are poorly understood. Increasingly widespread use of pathogen genome sequencing in the clinic enables a deeper understanding of these processes. In this Review, we explore the clinical evidence to support four major mechanisms of within-patient AMR emergence in bacteria: spontaneous resistance mutations; in situ horizontal gene transfer of resistance genes; selection of pre-existing resistance; and immigration of resistant lineages.

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Does genetic background contribute to populations following the same or divergent adaptive trajectories? A recent study by Filipow et al. evolved multiple genetically distinct Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains to an artificial cystic fibrosis lung sputum media. The strains adapted at different rates but converged on similar phenotypes despite their initial diversity.

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The survival of a population during environmental shifts depends on whether the rate of phenotypic adaptation keeps up with the rate of changing conditions. A common way to achieve this is via change to gene regulatory network (GRN) connections-known as rewiring-that facilitate novel interactions and innovation of transcription factors. To understand the success of rapidly adapting organisms, we therefore need to determine the rules that create and constrain opportunities for GRN rewiring.

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Evolutionary innovation of transcription factors frequently drives phenotypic diversification and adaptation to environmental change. Transcription factors can gain or lose connections to target genes, resulting in novel regulatory responses and phenotypes. However the frequency of functional adaptation varies between different regulators, even when they are closely related.

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Objective: SPARX is an online cognitive behavioural therapy self-help intervention for adolescent depression provided in serious game format. Since 2014, it has been freely available in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) due to funding from the NZ government. In 2020/21, feedback from sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) was used to refine and update SPARX.

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Background: CPR-Induced Consciousness is an emerging phenomenon with a paucity of consensus guidelines from peak resuscitative bodies. Local prehospital services have had to implement their own CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines. This scoping review aims to identify prehospital CPR-Induced Consciousness guidelines and compare or contrast their management options.

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Purpose: Thermoplastic immobilizers are used routinely in radiation therapy to achieve positioning accuracy. These devices are variable in quality as they are dependent on the skill of the human fabricator. We examine the potential multi jet fusion (MJF) 3D printing for the production immobilizers with a focus on the surface dosimetry of several MJF-printed PA12-based material candidates.

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At the level of the gene, mutation is the raw material for natural selection. However, at the level of the gene regulatory network (GRN), variation is revealed to selection via promiscuous regulator activity ('crosstalk'), which creates opportunities for genetic innovation that can facilitate adaptation. Many genetic and environmental features can contribute to increasing potential for crosstalk by facilitating non-cognate interactions between regulatory elements.

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Background: Parenting programs are well established as an effective strategy for enhancing both parenting skills and the well-being of the child. However, recruitment for family programs in clinical and nonclinical settings remains low.

Objective: This study aims to describe the recruitment and retention methods used in a text messaging program (MyTeen) trial for parents of adolescents (10-15 years) and identify key lessons learned.

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Background: Adolescents often present at primary care clinics with nonspecific physical symptoms when, in fact, they have at least 1 mental health or risk behavior (psychosocial) issue with which they would like help but do not disclose to their care provider. Despite global recommendations, over 50% of youths are not screened for mental health and risk behavior issues in primary care.

Objective: This review aimed to examine the implementation, acceptability, feasibility, benefits, and barriers of e-screening tools for mental health and risk behaviors among youth in primary care settings.

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen capable of stably adapting to the antiseptic octenidine by an unknown mechanism. Here we characterise this adaptation, both in the laboratory and a simulated clinical setting, and identify a novel antiseptic resistance mechanism. In both settings, 2 to 4-fold increase in octenidine tolerance was associated with stable mutations and a specific 12 base pair deletion in a putative Tet-repressor family gene (smvR), associated with a constitutive increase in expression of the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) efflux pump SmvA.

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Objective: The pressure within an endotracheal tube cuff is of particular importance in helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) transport because the unpressurized cabin is subjected to decreases in atmospheric pressure. This can cause the cuff to overinflate and may be associated with clinical complications. We sought to evaluate endotracheal tube cuff pressure changes among intubated patients during HEMS transport.

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Objective: SPARX is a computerized cognitive behavioral therapy self-help program for adolescent depression that is freely available in New Zealand. At registration, users identify themselves as either male, female, intersex, or transgender. We aimed to describe the mental health of adolescent intersex users.

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Objective: SPARX is a form of computerized cognitive behavioural therapy in serious game format funded via the Ministry of Health to be freely available in New Zealand. At registration users identify themselves as male, female, transgender or intersex. We aimed to establish whether adolescent transgender users of SPARX, compared to adolescent male and female users, were more likely to have high mental health needs at baseline and were more likely to complete SPARX.

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Background: Youth offenders have high rates of unmet mental health needs, including elevated rates of subclinical or clinical depression. Computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) has been shown to be effective for depression, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is among the most effective psychological treatments for offence related behaviours. We planned to evaluate the impact of SPARX-R 1.

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mHealth interventions promise the economic delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to populations that struggle to access health services, such as adolescents and in New Zealand, Māori and Pasifika youth. Unfortunately engagement with digital therapies is poor; modularisation and gamification have potential to increase their appeal. Gamifying CBT involves selecting suitable interventions, adapting them to a digital format while applying gamification principles.

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The way in which computerized therapy is presented may be important for its uptake. We aimed to explore adolescents' views on the appeal of a tested computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) for depression (SPARX), and a revised version (SPARX-R). The versions were similar but while SPARX is presented explicitly as a treatment for depression, SPARX-R is presented as providing skills that could be useful for young people for when they were depressed, down, angry, or stressed.

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Background: Parents play an important role in the lives of adolescents, and supporting and addressing the needs of families continue to be the focus of many researchers and policy makers. Mobile health interventions have great potential for supporting parents at a population level because of their broad reach and convenience. However, limited evidence exists for such interventions for parents of adolescents.

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Importance: There is global pressure to respond to the burden posed by adolescent mental health problems. The National Mental Health Commission has made a call for investment in mobile health services directed at prevention and early intervention to relieve the demand on targeted mental health services that are costly to provide. Parents and primary caregivers play a significant role in the lives of adolescents and are important targets for such efforts.

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Background: In molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, theranostic agents that integrate radionuclide pairs are successfully being used for individualized care, which has led to rapidly growing interest in their continued development. These compounds, which are radiolabeled with one radionuclide for imaging and a chemically identical or similar radionuclide for therapy, may improve patient-specific treatment and outcomes by matching the properties of different radionuclides with a targeting vector for a particular tumor type. One proposed theranostic radionuclide is scandium-47 (Sc, T = 3.

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Background: New Zealand youth, especially those of Māori and Pacific descent, have high rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm, but have low rates of help-seeking from mental health professionals. Apps, computerized therapy, and other digital tools can be effective, highly scalable treatments for anxiety and depression. Co-design processes are often used to foster engagement with end users, but this does not always lead to high levels of engagement.

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