Publications by authors named "Mercier E"

The SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL) family is involved in multiple cellular processes via a wide range of mechanisms to maintain genome stability. One of the evolutionarily conserved functions of STUbL is to promote changes in the nuclear positioning of DNA lesions, targeting them to the nuclear periphery. In Schizossacharomyces pombe, the STUbL Slx8 is a regulator of SUMOylated proteins and promotes replication stress tolerance by counteracting the toxicity of SUMO conjugates.

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Background: Multifaceted interventions that address barriers and facilitators have been shown to be most effective for increasing the adoption of high-value care, but there is a knowledge gap on this type of intervention for the de-implementation of low-value care. Trauma is a high-risk setting for low-value care, such as unnecessary diagnostic imaging and the use of specialized resources. The aim of our study was to develop and assess the usability of a multifaceted intervention to reduce low-value injury care.

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Background: This study aims to evaluate the impact of Quebec's first hospital-at-home-inspired mobile Seniors' Clinic, the "Clinique des Ainés (CDA)", on frail older adults' returns to the Emergency Department (ED), mortality, and hospital Length Of Stay (LOS) and rehospitalizations.

Methods: Design: Quasi-experimental pre-post implementation cohort study.

Population: Patients aged ≥ 75 years admitted to the short-term geriatric unit after an ED consultation (control) or included by the CDA (intervention).

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Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) is increasingly used for monitoring disease targets in wastewaters around the world. This study, performed in Ottawa, Canada, identifies a decrease in SARS-CoV-2 wastewater measurements during snowmelt-induced sewer flushing events. Observations first revealed a correlation between suppressed viral measurements and periods of increased sewage flowrates, air temperatures above 0 °C during winter months, and solids mass flux increases.

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  • Head injuries are the most common trauma cases in Emergency Departments, prompting a study in France to analyze the demographics and severity of these cases among adults visiting EDs.
  • The study, involving 1,070 patients over three days, found that ground-level falls were the most frequent cause of head injuries, and most patients had either simple head trauma or mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).
  • Results indicated that the median age of patients was 68.5 years, with a significant portion arriving at the ED within 2 hours of injury; however, the use of anticoagulants did not increase the risk of traumatic intracranial hemorrhage.
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  • The study investigates the experiences of ICU healthcare professionals regarding controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD), amid ethical concerns between end-of-life care and organ donation.
  • Conducted in 32 ICUs in France, the study surveyed 206 physicians and nurses after the deaths of patients considered potential cDCD donors, measuring their anxiety levels and feelings of tension related to the donation process.
  • Results show that cDCD does not significantly increase anxiety for healthcare professionals compared to regular end-of-life situations, with a general positive perception of cDCD among them, suggesting a need for better support in balancing life support decisions and organ donation.
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  • The study investigates the decay patterns of SARS-CoV-2 and Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) in wastewater contaminated with stool samples from COVID-19 patients, aiming to reflect real-world conditions better than traditional laboratory methods.
  • It examines how these viruses decay under two specific sewer transport conditions—dynamic suspended transport and bed/near-bed transport—across varying temperatures (4°C, 12°C, and 20°C).
  • Results show no significant decay of SARS-CoV-2 or PMMoV in dynamic suspended transport over 35 hours, while significant decay occurs in bed/near-bed conditions, especially for PMMoV, which shows higher decay rates at elevated temperatures.
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Wastewater-based surveillance of human disease offers timely insights to public health, helping to mitigate infectious disease outbreaks and decrease downstream morbidity and mortality. These systems rely on nucleic acid amplification tests for monitoring disease trends, while antibody-based seroprevalence surveys gauge community immunity. However, serological surveys are resource-intensive and subject to potentially long lead times and sampling bias.

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  • Symptoms of Post-COVID-19 Condition are often vague, making it hard to identify them compared to other medical issues.
  • In the study, over one-third of emergency department patients with confirmed COVID-19 infections showed symptoms fitting the World Health Organization's criteria for Post-COVID-19 Condition three months later.
  • Notably, one in five patients who tested negative reported similar symptoms, indicating the current clinical criteria's lack of specificity and the need for continued testing during acute infections.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was used to track the evolution and emergence of variant lineages and gauge infection levels in the community, informing appropriate public health responses without relying solely on clinical testing. As more sublineages were discovered, it increased the difficulty in identifying distinct variants in a mixed population sample, particularly those without a known lineage. Here, we compare the sequencing technology from Illumina and from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, in order to determine their efficacy at detecting variants of differing abundance, using 248 wastewater samples from various Quebec and Ontario cities.

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Introduction: Despite the recognized importance of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in trauma care, healthcare professionals often work in silos. Interprofessional (IP) interventions are crucial for optimizing IPC and delivering high-quality care across clinical contexts, yet their effectiveness throughout the inpatient trauma care continuum is not well understood. Thus, this review aimed to examine the literature on the effectiveness of IP interventions on collaboration processes and related outcomes in inpatient trauma care.

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  • Endotracheal intubation (ETI) is crucial for critically ill patients
  • , but it has risks like hypoxemia; preoxygenation is used to enhance safety but can have unreliable monitoring through standard pulse oximeters (SpO2).
  • The Oxygen Reserve Index (ORI)
  • is proposed as a more reliable continuous measure during preoxygenation, targeting an ORI value of at least 0.6 over one minute instead of the standard SpO2 100% goal to improve outcomes.
  • A trial with 950 critically ill adults
  • will compare ORI monitoring against standard SpO2 monitoring during ETI; outcomes include the lowest SpO2 during intubation and cognitive
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  • First branchial cleft anomalies are rare issues in the head and neck area that some kids are born with, and there's not much info on how to classify or treat them properly.
  • * Expert doctors worked together to come up with better ways to identify and manage these anomalies using a method called the Delphi method.
  • * They created a new classification system and treatment guidelines to help doctors give better care to kids with these conditions.
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Objectives: The population is aging and falls are a common reason for emergency department visits. Appropriate imaging in this population is important. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of cervical spine injury and identify factors associated with cervical spine injuries in adults ≥ 65 years after low-level falls.

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  • - Albinism is caused by a variety of genes (21 identified), with most cases following an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern, though one form is X-linked; about 70% of cases can be diagnosed through genetic analysis.
  • - Of the undiagnosed cases, roughly 15% carry one pathogenic variant but may have undiscovered variants in non-coding regions; this research involved sequencing a group of 122 heterozygous patients.
  • - From the study, 12 patients received additional diagnoses based on non-coding variants that affected RNA splicing, highlighting the need to investigate non-coding regions to improve diagnostic rates for genetic diseases like albinism.
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Background: Data on the predictors of nonmedical problems (NMP) in older adults attending the emergency department (ED) for low acuity conditions is lacking and could help rapid identification of patients with NMP and integration of these needs into care planning.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and predictors of NMP among older adults attending EDs for low acuity conditions.

Methods: Prospective cohort study in eight EDs (May-August 2021).

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Introduction: The efficacy of continuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion (CSAI) for motor complications of Parkinson's disease (PD) is established. However, its effect on cognition and behavior remains controversial. The main objective of this systematic review was to describe the existing literature on the effects of CSAI on cognition and behavior and to determine the quality for each study.

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Background: For emergency department (ED) patients with syncope, cardiac troponin can identify acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and prognosticate for 30-day serious adverse events. However, it is unclear if serial testing improves diagnostic yield and prognostication.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from two prospective studies conducted to develop the Canadian Syncope Risk Score.

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Background: Day-to-day variation in the measurement of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater can challenge public health interpretation. We assessed a Bayesian smoothing and forecasting method previously used for surveillance and short-term projection of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Methods: SARS-CoV-2 viral measurement from the sewershed in Ottawa, Canada, sampled at the municipal wastewater treatment plant from July 1, 2020, to February 15, 2022, was used to assess and internally validate measurement averaging and prediction.

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Background: Critical-illness survivors may experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and quality-of-life impairments. Resilience may protect against psychological trauma but has not been adequately studied after critical illness. We assessed resilience and its associations with PTSD and quality of life, and also identified factors associated with greater resilience.

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Objective: Approximately 10% of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) present with intracranial bleeding, and only 3.5% eventually require neurosurgical intervention, which often necessitates interhospital transfer. Better guidelines and recommendations are needed to manage complicated mild TBI in the emergency department (ED).

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Introduction: This study aims to describe the characteristics of patients with a pelvic fracture treated at a level 1 trauma center, the proportion of prehospital undertriage and the use of pelvic circumferential compression device (PCCD).

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. Prehospital and inhospital medical records of adults (≥16 y old) with a pelvic fracture who were treated at Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus-CHU de Québec (Quebec City, Canada), a university-affiliated level 1 trauma center, between September 01, 2017 and September 01, 2021 were reviewed.

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Background: Approximately two-thirds of patients transported to emergency departments (ED) for a fall are discharged from the ED without urgent treatment. This pilot study tests the feasibility of implementing a pre-hospital falls-assessment protocol performed by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to determine whether a patient who fell needs an ED assessment or could be referred safely to a community resource.

Methods: The protocol was administered by trained EMTs to adults aged ≥ 65 after a fall between October 2019 and March 2020 in Sherbrooke (QC).

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After the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), surgery is proposed in the case of knee instability or for athletes who want to return to a pivotal and/or contact sport. The current trend is to extend physiotherapy sessions until a patient's return to sport. We aimed to assess the interest in prolonging the physiotherapy sessions up to 4 postoperative months to restore muscle knee strength and function.

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