Publications by authors named "Michael OʼBrien"

Partial-thickness rotator cuff tears (PTRCTs) are a common source of shoulder pathology, both in the aging population and in younger overhead athletes. Advanced imaging modalities used currently have led to increases in recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of these tears. The anatomy, five-layer histology, and relationship to the Ellman classification of PTRCTs have been well studied, with recent interest in radiographic predictors, such as the critical shoulder angle and acromial index.

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Background: Legal performance enhancing substance (PES) use is increasing in young athletes and may lead to banned PES use. This study examines legal PES use and consideration of banned PES use in young athletes with a season-ending injury (SEI) compared to young athletes with non-SEI/no previous injury.

Hypothesis: Young athletes sustaining SEI or concussions have increased odds of reporting legal PES use and consideration of banned PES use compared with non-SEI or no injury.

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Article Synopsis
  • Research indicates a higher prevalence of upper lumbar spondylolysis in young athletes than previously thought, highlighting a lack of sport-specific studies on this condition.
  • The study aimed to identify risk factors associated with upper lumbar stress injuries in pediatric and adolescent athletes by reviewing medical records from two academic centers.
  • Results showed that the majority of diagnosed athletes had lower level injuries, while a smaller percentage experienced upper level injuries, which were linked to being older at diagnosis and shorter durations of low back pain.
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Thiamine is an essential vitamin that plays a crucial role in many biochemical processes in the body. Anorexia nervosa (AN) is one potential cause of a state of deficiency which can result in grave medical sequelae. There is limited available evidence of the prevalence of thiamine deficiency in patients who suffer from AN.

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Rotator cuff tears are common in middle-aged and elderly patients. Despite advances in the surgical repair of rotator cuff tears, the rates of recurrent tear remain high. This may be due to the complexity of the tendons of the rotator cuff, which contributes to an inherently hostile healing environment.

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Apart from its well-established role in the initiation of transcription, the general transcription factor TFIIB has been implicated in the termination step as well. The ubiquity of TFIIB involvement in termination as well as mechanistic details of its termination function, however, remain largely unexplored. Using GRO-seq analyses, we compared the terminator readthrough phenotype in the mutant (TFIIB) and the isogenic wild type (TFIIB) strains.

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» Partial-thickness rotator cuff tears (PTRCTs) are a common pathology with a likely high asymptomatic incidence rate, particularly in the overhead athlete.» The anatomy, 5-layer histology, and relationship to Ellman's classification of PTRCTs have been well studied, with recent interest in radiographic predictors such as the critical shoulder angle and acromial index.» Depending on the definition of tear progression, rates of PTRCT progression range from 4% to 44% and appear related to symptomatology and work/activity level.

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This study provides evidence that the role of TFIIB extends beyond initiation to include the termination step of transcription. Using GRO-seq analyses, we compared terminator readthrough phenotype in mutant (TFIIB ) and the isogenic wild type (TFIIB ) strains. Approximately 74% of genes analyzed exhibited a 2-3-fold increase in readthrough of the poly(A)-termination signal in the TFIIB mutant compared to TFIIB cells.

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Introduction: Guidelines have been proposed for post-operative rehabilitation following periacetabular osteotomy (PAO). However, the perspectives of individuals undergoing PAO have not been considered.

Aim: The present study aimed to explore the perceived challenges of everyday life and hopes for and expectations of post-PAO rehabilitation from the perspective of individuals with acetabular dysplasia living in Denmark and Australia.

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Apart from its well-established role in initiation of transcription, the general transcription factor TFIIB has been implicated in the termination step as well. The ubiquity of TFIIB involvement in termination as well as mechanistic details of its termination function, however, remains largely unexplored. To determine the prevalence of TFIIB's role in termination, we performed GRO-seq analyses in mutant (TFIIB ) and the isogenic wild type (TFIIB ) strains of yeast.

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Introduction: Visual function deficits have been reported in adolescents following concussion. We compared vergence and accommodation deficits in paediatric and adolescent patients at a tertiary medical centre in the sub-acute (15 days to 12 weeks) and chronic (12 weeks to 1 year) phases of concussion recovery.

Methods: The study included patients aged 7 to <18 years seen between 2014 and 2021, who had a binocular vision (BV) examination conducted within 15 days and 1 year of their concussion injury.

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Introduction: During emergencies, breastfeeding protects infants by providing essential nutrients, food security, comfort, and protection and is a priority lifesaving intervention. On February 24, 2022, the war in Ukraine escalated, creating a humanitarian catastrophe. The war has resulted in death, injuries, and mass internal displacement of over 5 million people.

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For five decades, paleontologists, paleobiologists, and ecologists have investigated patterns of punctuated equilibria in biology. Here, we step outside those fields and summarize recent advances in the theory of and evidence for punctuated equilibria, gathered from contemporary observations in geology, molecular biology, genetics, anthropology, and sociotechnology. Taken in the aggregate, these observations lead to a more general theory that we refer to as punctuated evolution.

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Introduction: Patients exhibiting signs of hyperactive delirium with severe agitation (HDSA) may require sedating medications for stabilization and safe transport to the hospital. Determining the patient's weight and calculating the correct weight-based dose may be challenging in an emergency. A fixed dose ketamine protocol is an alternative to the traditional weight-based administration, which may also reduce dosing errors.

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Purpose: To perform a systematic review evaluating clinical outcomes in patients undergoing medial ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (MUCLR) with soft-tissue allograft.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The primary outcomes evaluated were patient-reported outcome scores, return to play (RTP) rates, incidence of postoperative complications, and rates of graft rupture or mechanical failure.

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Background: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction has been the standard surgical intervention for elite male athletes with UCL insufficiency. Recently, UCL repair and augmentation with an internal brace has been increasingly performed.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical and functional outcomes as well as return-to-sport rate after UCL repair in female athletes.

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Context: Metabolic surgery remains the most effective and durable treatment for severe obesity and related metabolic diseases.

Objective: We examined cardiometabolic improvements after metabolic surgery and associated presurgery demographic and clinical factors in a large multiracial cohort.

Methods: Included were 7804 patients (20-79 years) undergoing first-time metabolic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 1999 to 2022.

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Active restoration through silvicultural treatments (enrichment planting, cutting climbers and liberation thinning) is considered an important intervention in logged forests. However, its ability to enhance regeneration is key for long-term recovery of logged forests, which remains poorly understood, particularly for the production and survival of seedlings in subsequent generations. To understand the long-term impacts of logging and restoration we tracked the diversity, survival and traits of seedlings that germinated immediately after a mast fruiting in North Borneo in unlogged and logged forests 30-35 years after logging.

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Objective: Approximately five years ago, the Royal College emergency medicine programs in Canada implemented a competency-based paradigm and introduced the use of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for assessment of units of professional activity to assess trainees. Many competency-based medical education (CBME) based curricula, involve assessing for entrustment through observations of EPAs. While EPAs are frequently assessed in clinical settings, simulation is also used.

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Introduction: Modeling supporting recommendations for colonoscopy and stool-based colorectal cancer (CRC) screening tests assumes 100% sequential participant adherence. The impact of observed adherence on the long-term effectiveness of screening is unknown. We evaluated the effectiveness of a program of screening colonoscopy every 10 years vs annual high-sensitivity guaiac-based fecal occult blood testing (HSgFOBT) using observed sequential adherence data.

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Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) are building blocks for biomass and fuel metabolic processes. However, it remains unclear how tropical forests mobilize, export, and transport NSCs to cope with extreme droughts. We combined drought manipulation and ecosystem 13CO2 pulse-labeling in an enclosed rainforest at Biosphere 2, assessed changes in NSCs, and traced newly assimilated carbohydrates in plant species with diverse hydraulic traits and canopy positions.

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Mycorrhizae, a form of plant-fungal symbioses, mediate vegetation impacts on ecosystem functioning. Climatic effects on decomposition and soil quality are suggested to drive mycorrhizal distributions, with arbuscular mycorrhizal plants prevailing in low-latitude/high-soil-quality areas and ectomycorrhizal (EcM) plants in high-latitude/low-soil-quality areas. However, these generalizations, based on coarse-resolution data, obscure finer-scale variations and result in high uncertainties in the predicted distributions of mycorrhizal types and their drivers.

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Involvement in extracurricular groups is associated with positive outcomes for youth. Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) are school-based clubs that may provide benefits to sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth and their allies, yet little is known about what factors predict member retention. The current study explores individual- and group-level predictors of youth's sustained or discontinued membership in GSAs during a school year.

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