EJNMMI Radiopharm Chem
January 2025
Background: Beyond the use of conventional short-lived PET radionuclides, there is a growing interest in tracking larger biomolecules and exploring radiotheranostic applications. One promising option for imaging medium-sized molecules and peptides is ⁵⁵Co (T₁/₂ = 17.5 h, β⁺ = 76%), which enables imaging of new and already established tracers with blood circulation of several hours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Advance care planning (ACP) supports communication and medical decision-making and is best conceptualized as part of the care planning continuum. Black older adults have lower ACP engagement and poorer quality of care in serious illness. Surrogates are essential to effective ACP but are rarely integrated in care planning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Sleep disruptions are associated with cognitive aging in older adults. However, it is unclear whether longitudinal changes in 24-hour multidimensional sleep-wake activity are linked to cognitive impairment in the oldest old.
Methods: We studied 733 cognitively unimpaired women (mean age=82.
Sociol Health Illn
January 2025
There are persistent and profound racialised inequalities in maternal and reproductive health in the UK. Yet in multiple settings, these disparities have been blamed on class or ethnicity, individuals and communities rather than the structures within which they live. In this study, we draw on narratives told within a 'slow-stitch' craft workshop, organised in southern England for racialised women with reproductive trauma, to show how processes of racialisation and racism shape experiences of maternal and reproductive healthcare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a unique visceral fat reservoir that shares an immune microenvironment without a distinct boundary with myocardium. Increasingly, visceral fat has been studied as a secondary immune organ, and EAT is no exception in this regard. Cellular subsets of EAT are associated with disease development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiet is the primary exposure pathway for phthalates, but relative contributions of other exposure sources are not well characterized. This study quantifies the relative contribution of indoor residential dust phthalate and phthalate alternative concentrations to total internal dose estimated from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) urinary metabolite concentrations. Specifically, median phthalate and phthalate alternative concentrations measured in residential dust were determined by updating a pre-existing systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2015 and the attributable internal dose was estimated using intake and reverse dosimetry models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In vivo monitoring of cell biodistribution using positron emission tomography (PET) provides a quantitative non-invasive method to further optimize cell therapies and related new developments in the field. Our group has earlier optimized and evaluated the in vitro properties of two radiotracers,[Zr]Zr-(oxinate) and [Zr]Zr-DFO-NCS, for the radiolabelling of different cell types. Here, we performed a microPET study to assess the in vivo biodistribution of cells in rats using these two radiotracers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome (OMAS) is characterised by the combination of opsoclonus and arrhythmic action myoclonus with axial ataxia and dysarthria. In adults, a majority are paraneoplastic secondary to solid organ tumours and could harbour antibodies against intracellular epitopes; however, certain proportions have detectable antibodies to various neuronal cell surface antigens. Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDAR) antibodies and ovarian teratomas have been implicated in OMAS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The evidence for the clinical utility of pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing is growing, and guidelines exist for the use of PGx testing to inform prescribing of 13 antidepressants. Although previous randomised controlled trials of PGx testing for antidepressant prescribing have shown an association with remission of depression in clinical psychiatric settings, few trials have focused on the primary care setting, where most antidepressant prescribing occurs.
Methods: The PRESIDE Trial is a stratified double-blinded randomised controlled superiority trial that aims to evaluate the impact of a PGx-informed antidepressant prescribing report (compared with standard prescribing using the Australian Therapeutic Guidelines) on depressive symptoms after 12 weeks, when delivered in primary care.
Objectives: Australian guidelines recommend people aged 50-70 years old consider taking low-dose aspirin to reduce their risk of colorectal cancer. The aim was to design sex-specific decision aids (DAs) with clinician and consumer input, including expected frequency trees (EFTs) to communicate the risks and benefits of taking aspirin.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinicians.
Background: A risk-stratified approach to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening could result in a more acceptable balance of benefits and harms, and be more cost-effective.
Aim: To determine the effect of a consultation in general practice using a computerised risk assessment and decision support tool (Colorectal cancer RISk Prediction, CRISP) on risk-appropriate CRC screening.
Design And Setting: Randomised controlled trial in 10 general practices in Melbourne, Australia, from May 2017 to May 2018.
Patient and public involvement can produce high-quality, relevant research that better addresses the needs of patients and their families. This systematic review investigated the nature and impact of patient and public involvement in cancer prevention, screening and early detection research. Two patient representatives were involved as members of the review team.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe management of uncertainty in clinical practice has been an enduring topic of sociological scholarship. However, little of this addresses how uncertainty and non-knowledge are attributed to the self and other actors. We take the example of checking for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), part of infant screening in UK primary care, to examine the 'double contingency' of attributions of uncertainty and ignorance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrowing teratoma syndrome (GTS) is a rare entity seen following chemotherapy for metastatic nonseminomatous germ cell tumors, characterized by increase in size of the metastatic deposits, with normal serum tumor markers. In this article, we aim to describe the various clinicoradiological presentations of GTS treated at our center. All patients who satisfied the GTS criteria from 2001 to 2019 were included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) can predict the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and target screening more precisely than current guidelines using age and family history alone. Primary care, as a far-reaching point of healthcare and routine provider of cancer screening and risk information, may be an ideal location for their widespread implementation.
Methods: This trial aims to determine whether the SCRIPT intervention results in more risk-appropriate CRC screening after 12 months in individuals attending general practice, compared with standard cancer risk reduction information.
Background: The diagnosis of osteosarcoma (OSA) depends on clinicopathological and radiological correlation. A biopsy is considered the gold standard for OSA diagnosis. However, since OSA is a great histological mimicker, diagnostic challenges exist.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We developed a colorectal cancer risk prediction tool ('CRISP') to provide individualised risk-based advice for colorectal cancer screening. Using known environmental, behavioural, and familial risk factors, CRISP was designed to facilitate tailored screening advice to patients aged 50 to 74 years in general practice. In parallel to a randomised controlled trial of the CRISP tool, we developed and evaluated an evidence-based implementation strategy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: There is limited evidence on the development of pancreatic and oesophagogastric cancer, how patients decide to seek help and the factors impacting help-seeking. Our study, the first in Australia, aimed to explore symptom appraisal and diagnostic pathways in these patients. A secondary aim was to examine the potential to recruit cancer patients through a cancer quality registry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Some infants aspirate thin liquids and must be fed thickened liquids in order to protect the lungs. However, thickeners have not been fully studied for safety. Xanthan-based thickeners have been implicated in the development of necrotizing enterocolitis and rice cereal-based thickeners have been associated with constipation and excessive weight gain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF2'--(-(Aminoethyl)carbamoyl)methyl (2'--AECM)-modified oligonucleotides (ONs) and their mixmers with 2'--methyl oligonucleotides (2'-OMe ONs) with phosphodiester linkers as well as with partial and full phosphorothioate (PS) inclusion were synthesized and functionally evaluated as splice-switching oligonucleotides in several different reporter cell lines originating from different tissues. This was enabled by first preparing the AECM-modified A, C, G and U, which required a different strategy for each building block. The AECM modification has previously been shown to provide high resistance to enzymatic degradation, even without PS linkages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGreen sea turtles () are an endangered species, which as juveniles are prone to the debilitating disease green turtle fibropapillomatosis (FP). Previous work has shown an association between reduced immune function and FP. As vitamin D has been linked to immune function in numerous animals, the aim of this study was to compare vitamin D levels in green sea turtles with and without evident FP and determine if exposure to sunlight would influence vitamin D levels and other health parameters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe southwest coast of Florida experiences annual red tides, a type of harmful algal bloom that results from high concentrations of Karenia brevis. These dinoflagellates release lipophilic neurotoxins, known as brevetoxins, that bind to sodium channels and inhibit their inactivation, resulting in a variety of symptoms that can lead to mass sea turtle strandings. Traditional therapies for brevetoxicosis include standard and supportive care (SSC) and/or dehydration therapy; however, these treatments are slow-acting and often ineffective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Many non-COVID-19 trials were disrupted in 2020 and either struggled to recruit participants or stopped recruiting altogether. In December 2019, just before the pandemic, we were awarded a grant to conduct a randomised controlled trial, the Should I Take Aspirin? (SITA) trial, in Victoria, the Australian state most heavily affected by COVID-19 during 2020.
Main Body: We originally modelled the SITA trial recruitment method on previous trials where participants were approached and recruited in general practice waiting rooms.