Publications by authors named "McFarlane S"

This study reports on the development and testing of a comprehensive diabetes telemonitoring program tailored to meet the needs of underserved Hispanic/Latino patients with diabetes. Individuals participating in the culturally tailored program had significantly better 6-month outcomes than those receiving comprehensive outpatient management for A1C, blood pressure, and diabetes self-efficacy, with no differences between groups in quality of life, medication adherence, emotional functioning, patient activation, or unscheduled physician visits. These findings suggest that culturally congruent diabetes telemonitoring may be effective for this underserved population.

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Circadian regulation of skin pigmentation is essential for thermoregulation, ultraviolet (UV) protection, and synchronization of skin cell renewal. This regulation involves both cell-autonomous photic responses and non-cell-autonomous hormonal control, particularly through melatonin produced in a light-sensitive manner. Photosensitive opsins, cryptochromes, and melatonin regulate circadian rhythms in skin pigment cells.

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This paper delineates the development of the Caribbean Research for Action Agenda which aims to empower Caribbean Small Island Developing States to reduce their vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change on health. The Caribbean Research for Action Agenda emerged from collaboration between nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and multilateral agencies that organized a conference on climate change and health in the Caribbean. This Agenda was formulated by prioritizing research areas, synthesizing evidence from conference presentations and scientific literature, and holding consultations with stakeholders and experts.

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Stroke mimics and chameleons remain a major challenge to the clinician and clinical investigator. Misdiagnosis of stroke can result in significant harm to our patients, as well as unnecessary financial costs to the health care systems internationally. The approach to stroke mimics and chameleons has evolved over time with the development of clinical scales and technology.

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Evolutionary adaptation occurs when individuals vary in access to fitness-relevant resources and these differences in 'material wealth' are heritable. It is typically assumed that the inheritance of material wealth reflects heritable variation in the phenotypic abilities needed to acquire material wealth. We scrutinise this assumption by investigating additional mechanisms underlying the inheritance of material wealth in collared flycatchers.

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Introduction: Studies have suggested that dietary intake may influence the incidence and progression of open-angle glaucoma. However, dietary modification is not usually included in the clinical management of glaucoma. The aim of this scoping review was therefore to map the evidence and determine the nature and extent of research done on "diet and glaucoma" and identify any gaps in this area of scholarship.

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Species-specific sexual traits facilitate species-assortative mating by reducing mating across species and reducing hybrid sexual attractiveness. For learned sexual traits, such as song in oscine birds, species distinctiveness can be eroded when species co-occur. Transcriptional regulatory divergence in brain regions involved in sensory learning are hypothesized to maintain species distinctiveness, but relatively few studies have compared gene expression in relevant brain regions between closely related species.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), caused by HTLV-1, leads to chronic spinal cord inflammation primarily affecting lower limbs, but serious complications can arise in rare cases.
  • A 73-year-old female with TSP presented with severe health issues, including acute respiratory failure, after suffering from sepsis due to recurrent urinary tract infections.
  • The case highlights the need for more research on respiratory management in TSP patients, as complications like poor secretion clearance can significantly impact their health outcomes.
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Both acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are life-threatening medical emergencies with overlapping symptoms and laboratory findings. Differentiating these two emergencies and initiating proper treatment are of paramount importance for good outcomes. In this report, we present the case of a 60-year-old male with a history of seizure disorder and hyperlipidemia, who presented to the emergency department (ED) after a syncopal episode preceded by three days of brief episodes of chest pain.

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Endocarditis is a serious diagnostic entity that carries a high rate of morbidity and mortality, with complications including heart failure, septic embolization, brain abscesses, and stroke. Blood culture-negative endocarditis (BCNE) represents a particularly challenging clinical scenario where the causative organism is undetectable, either due to being difficult to culture or due to the empiric administration of antimicrobial agents. This entity generally results in delayed diagnosis and treatment of endocarditis, with a potential increase in the rate of complications.

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  • A study finds that aging affects the ability to respond to sugars in fruit flies, but not to certain fatty acids, indicating a selective impairment in chemosensory processing in older flies.
  • The expression of the human amyloid beta peptide mimics age-related taste deficits, highlighting its role in neurodegenerative processes like Alzheimer's disease.
  • Analysis of gene expression in sugar-sensing neurons shows age-related changes in 66 genes, suggesting distinct biological mechanisms contribute to taste deficits in aging compared to Alzheimer's models.
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Introduction: Developmental processes continue in organisms in which sensory systems have reached functional maturity, however, little research has focused on the influence of sensory input on cell and tissue development. Here, we explored the influence of visual system activity on the development of skin melanophores in .

Methods: Melanophore number was measured in X.

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Granulomatous lobular mastitis (GLM) is a rare, benign inflammatory disease of the breast that shares some physical diagnostic features with breast cancer. GLM has been rarely reported to be associated with prolactinoma. In this report, we present a case of undiagnosed prolactinoma in a 37-year-old woman with its initial presentation as GLM.

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  • * The study employs high-resolution imaging to reveal that the presence and positioning of histones at individual HSV-1 genomes show significant variability, impacting transcription regulation during the early stages of infection.
  • * The host protein Daxx, along with PML factors, plays a crucial role in modifying histones to control viral genome decompaction, which is manipulated by the virus’s own proteins, highlighting a complex interplay between viral strategies and host responses during infection.
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Genome-wide technologies open up new possibilities to clarify questions on genetic structure and phylogeographic history of taxa previously studied with microsatellite loci and mitochondrial sequences. Here, we used 736 individual red deer (Cervus elaphus) samples genotyped at 35,701 single nucleotide polymorphism loci (SNPs) to assess the population structure of the species throughout Europe. The results identified 28 populations, with higher degrees of genetic distinction in peripheral compared to mainland populations.

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Recent studies have suggested that high levels of social support can encourage better health behaviours and result in improved cardiovascular health. In this study we evaluated the association between social support and ideal cardiovascular health among urban Jamaicans. We conducted a cross-sectional study among urban residents in Jamaica's south-east health region.

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Objective Accumulating evidence indicates a relationship between diabetes and cancer risk, with obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia being implicated as the major underlying pathogenetic mechanisms of increased cancer risk among people with diabetes. We aim to assess the differential effect of dysglycemia (prediabetes and diabetes) on the strength of association (odds) of cancer amongst the adult US diabetic population.  Material and methods We analyzed data from the 1997-2013 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) dataset, which applies a multistage area probability sampling design.

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Wastewater surveillance is an effective way to track the prevalence of infectious agents within a community and, potentially, the spread of pathogens between jurisdictions. We conducted a retrospective wastewater surveillance study of the 2022-23 influenza season in 2 communities, Detroit, Michigan, USA, and Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada, that form North America's largest cross-border conurbation. We observed a positive relationship between influenza-related hospitalizations and the influenza A virus (IAV) wastewater signal in Windsor-Essex (ρ = 0.

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Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with lower antiretroviral (ART) drug exposure among persons with HIV (PWH) compared to PWH without DM. The association between DM and virologic control in PWH, however, remains unknown.

Methods: We included participants in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study/Women's Interagency HIV Study Combined Cohort Study (MWCCS) who had initiated ART between 1999 and 2020 and had a suppressed HIV viral load (≤200 copies/ml) within 1 year of ART initiation.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hydroxychloroquine is commonly used to treat systemic lupus erythematosus, helping to reduce damage, prevent flare-ups, and increase survival rates.
  • The drug works by disrupting lysosomal degradation in cells, but can lead to side effects like retinopathy, requiring regular eye exams, and occasionally heart issues.
  • A case study highlights a 23-year-old woman with lupus on hydroxychloroquine who experienced a stroke, likely linked to endocarditis, and was diagnosed with severe hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
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The management of acute chest syndrome (ACS) in sickle cell disease occurring concurrently with pulmonary embolism resulting from tricuspid valve endocarditis poses an atypical challenge. We present a case in which this complex interaction occurs and the prompt interventions that were utilized to give the best possible outcome.

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Coronary artery anomalies present unique interventional challenges, particularly when associated with significant coronary artery disease. This case report contributes to the limited literature on congenital coronary artery anomalies, emphasizing the need for tailored approaches to optimize patient care. We present a case of a 70-year-old male with refractory angina and a rare congenital coronary anomaly characterized by the absence of the right coronary artery ostium, necessitating reliance on the left coronary system for myocardial perfusion.

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