Publications by authors named "McNeely M"

Hot water systems are the most frequent environment associated with the prevalence and growth of opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs). Previous studies identified water heaters as a source of waterborne diseases and concluded that design variables may contribute to their prevalence. A multifaceted approach was used to investigate the vertical stratification of the microbiome and selected OPPPs in an electric water heater tank connected to a home plumbing system simulator.

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Objectives: In chronic diseases, there have been issues with low levels of participant adherence and retention during well-supported lifestyle behaviour change interventional studies. Theoretically informed, the objective was to explore the types of challenges participants are experiencing to inform future designs.

Design: We conducted an exploratory descriptive study in an adult cirrhosis population after the first 4-6 weeks of a 12-week semi-supervised nutrition and exercise online program.

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Introduction: Home-based, virtually-supported care models may represent the most efficient and scalable approach to delivering prehabilitation services. However, virtual approaches to prehabilitation are understudied. This manuscript describes the protocol for an internal pilot randomised controlled trial of a virtually-delivered, multimodal prehabilitation intervention.

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  • Effective management of lymphedema related to cancer is crucial, with Complex Decongestive Therapy (CDT) being a main treatment approach; however, additional interventions like low-level laser therapy and compression systems show promise in enhancing outcomes and reducing costs.
  • A literature review from June 2018 to October 2023 identified 438 citations but only included 40 randomized controlled trials, mostly centered on breast cancer patients, revealing concerns about bias in most studies.
  • The findings suggest that compression garments, combined interventions with CDT, and nighttime compression can potentially benefit lymphedema treatment, highlighting the need for collaborative research for better trial quality and methodology.
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  • - Complex decongestive therapy is the primary non-surgical treatment for lymphedema, involving manual therapy, compression exercise, skincare, and education, divided into two phases: intensive volume reduction (Phase I) and a long-term maintenance phase (Phase II).
  • - The maintenance phase focuses on lifelong control of lymphedema through self-management strategies and ongoing therapies, with compression being the key element for effective self-care.
  • - Poor adherence to self-management can worsen lymphedema, highlighting the need for education and monitoring; the editorial outlines essential components for the maintenance phase, such as skin care, infection management, and regular check-ups.
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Exercise plays many important roles across the entire cancer continuum that have been described in previous frameworks. These frameworks, however, have generally provided a simplified description of the roles of exercise postdiagnosis. The modern cancer treatment landscape has become complex and often consists of multiple lines of multimodal treatments combined concurrently and/or sequentially and delivered over many months or years.

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Background: Symptoms of depression and anxiety are prevalent among adults with chronic health conditions, contributing to reduced quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. Mind-body wellness interventions (i.e.

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  • This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a cardiac rehabilitation (CR)-modeled intervention for breast cancer patients in reducing cardiotoxicity from chemotherapy.
  • Results showed no significant differences in heart function measures between the CR intervention group and usual care group after 52 weeks; both groups experienced some adverse cardiac changes over time.
  • However, the CR intervention did lead to significant reductions in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels, suggesting some benefits in cardiovascular risk management.
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Background: Established barriers to general exercise and physical activity among individuals with head and neck cancer include dry mouth, difficulty eating, weight loss, fear of injury, comorbidities, and treatment-related symptoms of pain and fatigue.

Methods/design: A 12-week pragmatic randomized controlled trial was conducted followed by an optional supported exercise transition phase. Eligible participants were individuals with head and neck cancers who had undergone surgery and/or radiation therapy to lymph node regions in the neck.

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ELISA assays are a potential tool to screen for dissolved or cell bound microcystins in drinking water treatment sludges. In order to evaluate this potential more thoroughly, experiments were performed in alum sludges to: (1) evaluate the impacts of sample storage times, temperatures, and sludge composition on spiked microcystin-LR recovery by ELISA; (2) examine the linearity of ELISA responses to spiked microcystin-LR as a function of sludge composition; and (3) examine the sensitivity ELISA and LC/MS/MS to five different concentrations of microcystin-producing cyanobacteria entrained in sludges of two different compositions. During storage experiments, microcystin recovery efficiencies ranged from 85% to 125% across the range of 12 storage time and temperature combinations with recovery efficiencies in 7 of the 12 combinations falling into the 90% to 110% range.

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Background: Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients experience symptoms that may affect their quality of life, treatment outcomes, and survival. Preventing and managing breast cancer-related symptoms soon after diagnosis is essential. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between health-related fitness (HRF) and patient-reported symptoms in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

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Background: Physical activity (PA) can improve the physical and psychosocial health of individuals with cancer, yet PA levels remain low. Technology may address PA maintenance barriers in oncology, though the intervention effectiveness to date remains mixed. Qualitative research can reveal the nuances of using technology-based PA maintenance tools.

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Article Synopsis
  • People with advanced cancer have special needs that aren't always met, so more research is needed to help them.
  • A team working on this topic, including people who have experienced it themselves, talked to others and looked at different ways to involve patients in research.
  • They created a new plan to make sure these patients can partner with researchers, which can help improve rehabilitation strategies for people with advanced cancer.
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Purpose: Pelvic health issues after treatment for gynecological cancer are common. Due to challenges in accessing physiotherapy services, exploring virtual pelvic healthcare is essential. This study aims to understand needs, preferences, barriers, and facilitators for a virtual pelvic healthcare program for gynecological cancer survivors.

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Background: Nutrition and exercise are the mainstay of therapy for the prevention and treatment of frailty in cirrhosis. This pilot study assessed feasibility of the online delivery of an app-based semi-supervised nutrition and exercise intervention in this population.

Methods: The 11-week pilot recruited adults with cirrhosis who owned internet-connected devices.

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Background: Urinary incontinence (UI), erectile dysfunction and cardiometabolic conditions are common after prostatectomy for prostate cancer (PCa). Although physical activity could improve overall survival and quality of survivorship, fear of UI can restrict participation in exercise. Individuals with PCa could benefit from therapeutic exercise programming to support continence recovery and cardiometabolic health.

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Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of different types of acupuncture in reducing pain, improving maximum mouth opening and jaw functions in adults with orofacial pain.

Methods: Six databases were searched until 15 June 2023. The Cochrane risk of bias tool and GRADE were employed to evaluate bias and overall evidence certainty.

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Opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs) have been detected in buildings' plumbing systems causing waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States. In this study, we monitored the occurrence of OPPPs along with free-living amoeba (FLA) and investigated the effects of residential activities in a simulated home plumbing system (HPS). Water samples were collected from various locations in the HPS and analyzed for three major OPPPs: , nontuberculous mycobacterial species (e.

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Despite the evidence that exercise is effective at mitigating common side effects in adults with cancer, it is rarely part of usual cancer care. One reason for this is the lack of economic evidence supporting the benefit of exercise. Economic evaluations often rely on the use of generic utility measures to assess cost effectiveness.

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Lymphedema and specifically cancer-related lymphedema is not the main focus for both patients and physicians dealing with cancer. Its etiology is an unfortunate complication of cancer treatment. Although lymphedema treatments have gained an appreciable consensus, many practitioners have developed and prefer their own specific protocols and this is especially true for conventional (manual) versus surgical treatments.

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Purpose: We aimed to examine potential associations between post-surgical upper limb morbidity and demographic, medical, surgical, and health-related fitness variables in newly diagnosed individuals with breast cancer.

Methods: Participants were recruited between 2012 and 2019. Objective measures of health-related fitness, body composition, shoulder range of motion, axillary web syndrome, and lymphedema were performed within 3 months of breast cancer surgery, and prior to or at the start of adjuvant cancer treatment.

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Background: Despite the benefits of physical activity (PA) for individuals with cancer, most remain insufficiently active. Exercise oncology interventions can improve PA levels. Individuals struggle to maintain PA levels after interventions because of persistent psychological and environmental PA barriers.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to identify factors that influence physical activity and sedentary behavior in individuals recently diagnosed with breast cancer, focusing on social, demographic, clinical, and health-related aspects.
  • Data was collected from 1,381 participants using activity monitoring devices and self-reported questionnaires within 90 days post-diagnosis, revealing significant associations between physical activity levels and attributes like body fat percentage, marital status, and ethnicity.
  • The findings suggest that targeted interventions to promote physical activity could enhance long-term health outcomes for these patients, particularly by addressing barriers related to their demographic and clinical profiles.
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Alberta Cancer Exercise (ACE) is an exercise oncology programme that transitioned from in-person to online delivery during COVID-19. The purpose of this work was to understand participants' experiences in both delivery modes. Specifically, survivors' exercise facilitators and barriers, delivery mode preference, and experience with programme elements targeting behaviour change were gathered.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study highlights that exercise can significantly enhance the health of individuals with breast cancer, but many are not active enough to reap these benefits.
  • - A 12-week individualized exercise program was implemented, where participants worked out under the supervision of a Clinical Exercise Physiologist, leading to improved fitness and overall well-being for those who completed it.
  • - Positive changes were observed in aerobic fitness, body measurements, endurance, and quality of life, supporting the idea that exercise should be part of standard care for breast cancer patients.
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