Publications by authors named "McKay M"

Background: The practice choices of family medicine residents and early career family physicians shape access to primary care. A growing proportion of family physicians are women.

Aim: This study examined how gender operates in shaping family physician practice choices and subsequent practice patterns.

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Introduction: Musculoskeletal pain is the second leading cause of disease burden in Australia, and there is a need to investigate new models of care to cope with the increasing demand for health services. This paper describes the protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating whether a physiotherapist-led triage and treatment service is non-inferior for improving function at 6 months and superior for reducing treatment waiting times, compared with usual care for patients with musculoskeletal pain referred to public hospital outpatient physiotherapy clinics.

Methods And Analysis: A total of 368 participants (184 per arm) will be recruited from six public hospitals located in metropolitan Sydney, Australia.

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New and more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2 have arisen multiple times over the course of the pandemic. Rapidly identifying mutations that affect transmission could improve our understanding of viral biology and highlight new variants that warrant further study. Here we develop a generic, analytical epidemiological model to infer the transmission effects of mutations from genomic surveillance data.

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Breast cancer is the one of the most common cancers and causes a significant disease burden. Currently, postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) is indicated for breast cancer patients with higher risk of recurrence, such as those with positive surgical margins or high-risk breast cancer (T3 with positive lymph nodes, ≥4 positive lymph nodes or T4 disease). Whether PMRT should be used in intermediate-risk breast cancer (T3 with no positive lymph nodes or T1-2 with 1-3 positive lymph nodes) is contentious.

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Adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) are often deficient in knowledge about HIV/AIDS. This pilot study evaluated the impact and acceptability of an HIV education intervention for adolescents with mild-to-moderate ID delivered in a peri-urban setting in Uganda. This quasi-experimental study involved 60 adolescents with mild to moderate ID evenly split between the intervention and control groups.

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Background And Aims: Within many alcohol prevention interventions, changes in alcohol-related attitudes (ARA) are often proposed as precursors to changes in drinking behaviour. This study aimed to measure the longitudinal relationship between ARA and behaviour during the implementation of a large-scale prevention trial.

Design And Setting: This study was a two-arm school-based clustered randomized controlled trial.

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Disorders affecting the neurological and musculoskeletal systems represent international health priorities. A significant impediment to progress in trials of new therapies is the absence of responsive, objective, and valid outcome measures sensitive to early disease changes. A key finding in individuals with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disorders is the compositional changes to muscles, evinced by the expression of fatty infiltrates.

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Background: As the focus of classification shifts towards an evidence-based approach, it is crucial to establish a robust system that relies on valid and reliable measures of impairment to ensure legitimate and competitive opportunities for all Para athletes. However, the lack of methods that possess the necessary measurement properties for assessing impairments in Para sporting populations presents significant challenges to developing an evidence-based classification system.

Objective: This review aimed to identify and evaluate measures of impairment and activity limitation measures that have been used to assess eligible impairments in Para sport athletes for potential use in evidence-based classification.

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Disorders affecting the neurological and musculoskeletal systems represent international health burdens. A significant impediment to progress with interventional trials is the absence of responsive, objective, and valid outcome measures sensitive to early disease or disorder change. A key finding in individuals with spinal disorders is compositional changes to the paraspinal muscle and soft tissue (e.

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Article Synopsis
  • Polypharmacy, defined as the use of five or more medications, is common in older adults and can lead to serious health issues like cognitive decline, falls, and higher mortality rates.
  • A study was conducted on male mice to analyze the effects of both polypharmacy and the strategy of deprescribing (gradually reducing medications) to see how it impacts liver function and related proteins.
  • The results showed that polypharmacy caused significant changes in liver protein expression related to immunity and metabolism, while deprescribing had both reversing effects and introduced new changes that could impact geriatric health outcomes.
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  • The study investigates the link between RNA alternative splicing abnormalities and physical function in children with congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM), a severe form of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).
  • Researchers analyzed data from 82 participants, including adults with DM1 and children with CDM, assessing muscle biopsies, motor function, strength, and myotonia.
  • Results showed a significant correlation between myotonia and RNA mis-splicing in all DM1 individuals, while motor performance and strength were associated with splicing dysregulation, aiding future clinical trial designs for DM1 and CDM.
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Background: Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) is femoral head slippage off the femoral neck through the physis occurring in children aged 8-16 years. Surgical intervention is required in all paediatric cases and there is no universal agreement on choice of surgical procedure.

Research Question: What are the two-year 3D gait outcomes in children with SCFE who have undergone in-situ pinning (PIN) or modified Dunn procedure (MDP) compared with normative reference values?

Methods: 17 children with SCFE who had undergone PIN (n=7, slip severity mild to moderate) or MDP (n=10, slip severity moderate to severe) surgical procedures prospectively underwent a 3D gait analysis post-surgery (2∙0 ± 0∙5 years).

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Background: Regular exercise can reduce incidence and progression of breast cancer, but the mechanisms for such effects are not fully understood.

Methods: We used a variety of rodent and human experimental model systems to determine whether exercise training can reduce tumor burden in breast cancer and to identify mechanism associated with any exercise training effects on tumor burden.

Results: We show that voluntary wheel running slows tumor development in the mammary specific polyomavirus middle T antigen overexpression (MMTV-PyMT) mouse model of breast cancer but only when mice are not housed alone.

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Article Synopsis
  • ALK-positive lung cancers exhibit molecular diversity and pose challenges due to treatment resistance, prompting the need for innovative strategies using ctDNA monitoring.
  • The ALKTERNATE pilot study analyzed alternating treatments of lorlatinib and crizotinib in patients resistant to previous ALK inhibitors, focusing on outcomes like treatment failure time, safety, and patient experiences.
  • Results showed that the alternating therapy was safe and effective for most participants, with an average treatment failure time of 10 months and overall survival of 23 months, indicating the importance of genetic factors in treatment response.
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Clinical and pathological factors are insufficient to accurately identify patients at risk of early recurrence after curative-intent treatment of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). This study aimed to identify candidate prognostic proteogenomic biomarkers for early intrahepatic recurrence after curative-intent resection of CRLM. Patients diagnosed with intrahepatic recurrence within 6 months of liver resection were categorized as the "early recurrence" group, while those who achieved a recurrence-free status for 10 years were designated as "durable remission".

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The aim of this longitudinal case series was to describe long-term functional outcome in a group of individuals with riboflavin transporter deficiency (RTD) treated with high-dose oral riboflavin. Data were collected between 2012 to 2022. Eleven individuals with RTD were assessed at 12-month intervals for monitoring of disease progression.

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Background: Improving the quality of breastfeeding counselling delivered by primary care providers can improve breastfeeding outcomes and ultimately reduce mortality and morbidity of children and mothers. Accurate data on coverage and quality of primary care breastfeeding counselling is essential for monitoring progress; however, global and national indicators are limited. To help address this gap, this study validated indicators of receipt and quality of breastfeeding counselling during routine consultations for infant care at seven primary health facilities across Kosovo.

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Background: Adults with physical or intellectual disability are less active than those without disability.

Objective: To review literature regarding sport participation in adults with physical or intellectual disability. Specifically, to examine characteristics of available studies including participants, interventions, outcomes, and impact.

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  • The study investigates age-related changes in thigh muscle composition, focusing on the loss of muscle mass and increase in intramuscular fat in adults aged 45-84 using data from the UK Biobank with over 50,000 participants.
  • Findings show a consistent decline in fat-free muscle volume and a rise in intramuscular fat across different age groups, with specific metrics provided for both men and women.
  • Results are significant for establishing normative values that can inform health and lifestyle recommendations related to physical activity and conditions like leg pain and bone density.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the link between RNA alternative splicing dysregulation, a key feature of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), and physical function in children with congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM), a severe form of the disease.
  • - Researchers combined data from 82 participants (42 adults with DM1 and 40 children with CDM) to analyze muscle biopsies and assess their myotonia, motor function, and strength, finding significant correlations between muscle performance and alternative splicing measures.
  • - The results indicate strong associations between RNA mis-splicing, muscle strength, and motor performance across all DM1 subjects, helping to develop predictive models that could guide future clinical trials for treating DM
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Background: Medical professionals experienced high rates of burnout and moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Canada, burnout has been linked to a growing number of family physicians (FPs) leaving the workforce, increasing the number of patients without access to a regular doctor. This study explores the different factors that impacted FPs' experience with burnout and moral distress during the pandemic, with the goal of identifying system-based interventions aimed at supporting FP well-being and improving retention.

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The M2 proteins of influenza A and B viruses form acid-activated proton channels that are essential for the virus lifecycle. Proton selectivity is achieved by a transmembrane (TM) histidine whereas gating is achieved by a tryptophan residue. Although this functional apparatus is conserved between AM2 and BM2 channels, AM2 conducts protons exclusively inward whereas BM2 conducts protons in either direction depending on the pH gradient.

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Mitochondria play a central role in cellular energy metabolism, and their dysfunction is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in the pathogenesis of diabetes-related cardiac pathophysiology, including vulnerability to ischemic events that culminate in myocardial infarction on the one hand and ventricular arrhythmias on the other. In diabetes, hyperglycemia and altered metabolic substrates lead to excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by mitochondria, initiating a cascade of oxidative stress that damages mitochondrial DNA, proteins, and lipids. This mitochondrial injury compromises the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation, leading to impaired ATP production.

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Objectives: To estimate the long term cost savings, return on investment, and gain in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) that could be achieved by a national anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention program for amateur football (soccer) players in Australia.

Study Design: Markov model decision analysis.

Setting, Participants: Two hypothetical scenarios including all amateur football players in Australia (340 253 players): no intervention, and a national ACL injury prevention program.

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Aim: Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is a neurosurgical intervention used to reduce spasticity in children with cerebral palsy (CP). There is minimal relevant, evidence-based information available for Australian families and clinicians. This study aims to investigate the knowledge of people with lived experience and clinicians regarding SDR, including how they currently access information and what information they seek.

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