Publications by authors named "McGregor F"

Article Synopsis
  • The study explores how patient and public involvement (PPI) can be improved in mesothelioma research, a rare cancer linked to asbestos with a generally poor prognosis.
  • An online survey of researchers indicated that while many see PPI as beneficial for funding and relevance, challenges include low participation rates and difficulties related to the disease's severity and recruitment timelines.
  • Interviews with patients highlighted motivations for involvement like altruism and a desire for hope, while also revealing a lack of initial understanding of PPI and barriers stemming from high symptom burdens.
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AbstractUnifying models have shown that the amount of space used by animals (e.g., activity space, home range) scales allometrically with body mass for terrestrial taxa; however, such relationships are far less clear for marine species.

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Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species.

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The aim of this study is to investigate the background and discharge outcomes of the forensic patient population rehabilitated through a low secure forensic psychiatric rehabilitation inpatient unit. Currently within Australia and internationally there is a scarcity of research completed within this setting. A quantitative methodology was selected coupled with descriptive statistics to investigate a total of 23 patients and analyse their demographics, historical information, length of stay and post-discharge outcomes including readmission and breach of forensic orders.

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The sexual health needs of young people experiencing homelessness in the UK have not been researched adequately. This study aimed to examine knowledge and attitudes around sexual health and contraceptive use amongst this vulnerable group to develop suitable models of care in the community. A qualitative ethnographic case-study following Burawoy's extended case method was used.

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Background: Menstrual hygiene management is a global public health issue that requires local and individualized support to reduce activity limitations and enable safe, independent task performance for people with impaired body functions.

Aim: How do women with blindness or low vision self-manage their menstrual hygiene to promote independence, and what do they recommend occupational therapists incorporate in education for young women when working in this field?

Methods: Phenomenological design revealing lived experience expertise. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six women who are blind or have low vision aged 16-70 in Australia.

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Persistent anterior uveitis causing cystoid macular oedema may necessitate either intraocular or systemic immunosuppression. This case report highlights how a newly licenced treatment, fluocinolone acetonide (Iluvien, Alimera Sciences Ltd., England, UK) achieves quiescence in refractory and steroid-dependent disease and in the presence of an acute relapse.

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The known distribution of manta rays in Australian waters is patchy, with records primarily centred around tourism hotspots. We collated 11,614 records of Mobula alfredi from photo-ID databases (n = 10,715), aerial surveys (n = 378) and online reports (n = 521). The study confirms an uninterrupted coastal distribution from north of 26°S and 31°S on the west and east coasts, respectively.

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Increasing vessel traffic in the marine environment due to commercial and recreational activities has amplified the number of conflicts with marine animals. However, there are limited multi-year observations of the healing rate of marine animals following vessel strike. Here we document the healing rate of a reef manta ray Mobula alfredi, following lacerations caused by a propeller along the pectoral fin.

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Aims: To evaluate retinal vasculature changes in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and whether the functional visual loss correlates with parameters obtained using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Materials And Methods: OCT and OCTA images were collected from 116 POAG eyes and 40 normal eyes in a prospective, cross-sectional observational study. Glaucomatous eyes were further divided into three groups according to a Glaucoma Staging System.

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Background: Combined oral contraception (COC, 'the pill') remains the most prescribed method of contraception in the UK. Although a variety of regimens for taking monophasic COC are held to be clinically safe, women are not routinely counselled about these choices and there is a lack of evidence on how to provide this information to women.

Aim: To assess the usefulness and feasibility of including tailored use of monophasic COC within routine COC counselling in a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service using a structured format.

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Sexual health nurses working with teenagers from the black and minority ethnic community reflect on fieldwork undertaken for a Mary Seacole leadership award aimed at reducing inequalities.

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The small GTPase Rab25 has been functionally linked to tumour progression and aggressiveness in ovarian cancer and promotes invasion in three-dimensional environments. This type of migration has been shown to require the expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α). In this report we demonstrate that Rab25 regulates HIF-1α protein expression in an oxygen independent manner in a panel of cancer cell lines.

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Background: Ovarian cancer is the most fatal of gynaecological malignancies, usually detected at a late stage with intraperitoneal dissemination. Appropriate preclinical models are needed that recapitulate both the histopathological and molecular features of human ovarian cancer for drug-efficacy analysis.

Methods: Longitudinal studies comparing cisplatin performance either alone or in a novel cisplatin-based delivery-system, cucurbit[7]uril-encapsulated cisplatin (cisplatin@CB[7]) were performed on subcutaneous (s.

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Article Synopsis
  • Congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN) syndrome is characterized by pigmented nevi and serious neurological issues, often linked to a mutation in the NRAS gene.
  • There is a correlation between Wnt signaling and NRAS activation in the development of CMN, with some evidence indicating a genetic predisposition for the condition.
  • A study using a mouse model showed that treatment with a MEK inhibitor after birth significantly reduced CMN syndrome symptoms, suggesting a potential therapeutic approach for affected individuals.
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Purpose: Much health-related information is available on the internet but its quality is known to be variable. This research aimed to analyse the ophthalmic content of social media platforms which has yet to be formally assessed.

Methods: Five online social media platforms were selected, the International Glaucoma Association (IGA) forum, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Patient Opinion.

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The trefoil factor family (TFF) peptides are important in gastro-intestinal mucosal protection and repair. Their mechanism of action remains unclear and receptors are sought. We aimed to identify and characterise proteins binding to TFF2.

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The database on particle number emission factors has been very limited to date despite the increasing interest in the effects of human exposure to particles in the submicrometer range. There are also major questions on the comparability of emission factors derived through dynamometer versus on-road studies. Thus, the aims of this study were (1) to quantify vehicle number emission factors in the submicrometer (and also supermicrometer) range for stop-start and free-flowing traffic at about 100 km h(-1) driving conditions through extensive road measurements and (2) to compare the emission factors from the road measurements with those obtained previously from dynamometer studies conducted in Brisbane.

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Purpose: To investigate the effect of cueing on communicative responses of children with multiple disabilities in an educational setting. It was hypothesized that differences would exist in teacher interactional styles and the use of orienting cues would increase the communicative responses of the participants.

Method: A naturalistic observation research method was employed in order to examine the interaction of three student-teacher dyads in three special schools.

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Through previous large-scale gene expression profiling we identified a transcript that was abundant in normal stomach and down-regulated in gastric cancer. Genes expressed at similar levels included gastrin, MUC5 and pS2, which are important in gastric function. We aimed to characterise this candidate, gastrokine 1 (GKN1), at mRNA, DNA, protein and tissue levels.

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Our previous work showed that acquisition of immortality at the dysplasia stage of oral cancer progression was consistently associated with four changes: loss of retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-beta and p16INK4A expression, p53 mutations and activation of telomerase. One atypical dysplasia (D17) that underwent delayed senescence after an extended lifespan showed loss of RAR-beta and p16INK4A/p14ARF expression, but retained functional wild-type p53 and telomerase was not activated. We now demonstrate that retroviral delivery of hTERT results in telomere lengthening and immortalization of D17 without loss of functional wild-type p53 activity.

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