Publications by authors named "Matthew T Johnson"

Studies have suggested that universal basic income (UBI) has the capacity to have substantial health benefits across the population at national level. Multiple impact pathways have recently been theorized and there are calls for trials to explore these pathways empirically. However, very limited research has taken place at local levels to explore potential context-specific effects, or how these effects could play out in economic, social, and behavioral changes.

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Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been proposed as a means of addressing a range of issues relating to welfare systems, including by removing disincentives to economic, social and physical activity. However, UK disability organisations and figures have expressed concerns about whether UBI could lead to unintended consequences for people who currently receive support conditional on needs, means and/or behaviour. In this article, we outline prominent positions regarding disabled people in the literature on UBI and welfare reforms.

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Introduction: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, upstream interventions that tackle social determinants of health inequalities have never been more important. Evaluations of upstream cash transfer trials have failed to capture comprehensively the impacts that such systems might have on population health through inadequate design of the interventions themselves and failure to implement consistent, thorough research measures that can be used in microsimulations to model long-term impact. In this article, we describe the process of developing a generic, adaptive protocol resource to address this issue and the challenges involved in that process.

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Opposition to Universal Basic Income (UBI) is encapsulated by Martinelli's claim that 'an affordable basic income would be inadequate, and an adequate basic income would be unaffordable'. In this article, we present a model of health impact that transforms that assumption. We argue that UBI can affect higher level social determinants of health down to individual determinants of health and on to improvements in public health that lead to a number of economic returns on investment.

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At a time of COVID-19 pandemic, universal basic income (UBI) has been presented as a potential public health 'upstream intervention'. Research indicates a possible impact on health by reducing poverty, fostering health-promoting behaviour and ameliorating biopsychosocial pathways to health. This novel case for UBI as a public health measure is starting to receive attention from a range of political positions and organisations.

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Background: A large body of evidence indicates the importance of upstream determinants to health. Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been suggested as an upstream intervention capable of promoting health by affecting material, biopsychosocial and behavioural determinants. Calls are emerging across the political spectrum to introduce an emergency UBI to address socioeconomic insecurity.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is projected to cause an economic shock larger than the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 and a recession as great as anything seen since the Great Depression in 1930s. The social and economic consequences of lockdowns and social distancing measures, such as unemployment, broken relationships and homelessness, create potential for intergenerational trauma extending decades into the future. In this article, we argue that, in the absence of a vaccine, governments need to introduce universal basic income as a means of mitigating this trauma.

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Progress has been made in applying genetic information to disease management in the postgenomic era, and precision medicine is emerging in prostate cancer management. The prostate health index, the 4-kallikrein (4K) score, and the PCA3, TMPRSS2- ERG, and Prostarix tests have potential for refining prostate cancer screening in conjunction with traditional prostate-specific antigen testing. The Confirm MDx and PCA3 tests have shown promise in identifying men who need be rebiopsied after a primary negative biopsy.

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Purpose: Positive surgical margins (PSMs) may reflect incomplete surgical resection, while extraprostatic extension (EPE) could suggest that complete tumor resection is more difficult. This study evaluated cases with both EPE and PSMs in robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) specimens to determine the respective locations of each.

Methods: A single institutional retrospective review of RARP performed between 2007 and 2009 was conducted to identify cases with both EPE and PSM.

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The decision of the German regional court in Cologne on 26 June 2012 to prohibit the circumcision of minors is important insofar as it recognises the qualitative similarities between the practice and other prohibited invasive rites, such as female genital cutting. However, recognition of similarity poses serious questions with regard to liberal public policy, specifically with regard to the exceptionalist treatment demanded by certain circumcising groups. In this paper, I seek to advance egalitarian means of dealing with invasive rites which take seriously cultural diversity, minimise harm and place responsibility for the burdens and consequences of beliefs upon those who promote practices.

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Objective: The PolyScope(®) (Lumenis, Santa Clara, CA) is a disposable flexible ureteroscope composed of a single-use flexible catheter and a reusable fiber optic bundle. We tested the resilience of the optical properties of the reusable optical fiber after repeat sterilization.

Methods: Optical properties evaluated were resolution, distortion, and light transmission.

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Aims: High expression of carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is reported for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), with a paucity of data for non-renal genitourinary or adrenal tumours. This study investigated the immunohistochemical expression of CAIX throughout the genitourinary tract and adrenal gland.

Methods And Results: High expression in the renal cortex was restricted to clear cell, papillary and clear cell papillary RCC and carcinoid.

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High immunohistochemical expression of carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is found in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), but no studies have assessed CAIX in metastatic ccRCC (mccRCC) of the lung. As 75% of patients with mccRCC show lung involvement, characterization of protein expression in these lesions is warranted. This investigation analyzed CAIX immunohistochemical expression in pulmonary/pleural tumors including mccRCC (n = 22), mesothelioma (n = 19), squamous cell carcinoma (n = 27), small cell carcinoma (n = 9), and adenocarcinoma (n = 49), as well as other mesothelial lesions (n = 4).

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Purpose: Recently groups reached differing conclusions when examining the prognostic significance of renal cell carcinoma perinephric and sinus fat invasion. We evaluated the impact of these pathological features on renal cell carcinoma survival and recurrence.

Materials And Methods: We identified the pathological and clinical records of 110 patients treated surgically for renal cell carcinoma with extrarenal extension at our institution between 1997 and 2007.

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Background: This study was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of touch preparation (touch prep) in the evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs).

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 402 breast cancer patients who underwent SLN biopsy.

Results: A SLN was identified in 381 patients.

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Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has become the standard of care in axillary staging of clinically node-negative breast cancer patients. We hypothesized that certain clinical parameters are associated with failure to identify a SLN.

Methods: We performed an institutional review board-approved, retrospective analysis of 402 consecutive breast cancer patients who underwent SLNB from 2000 to 2007.

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