Publications by authors named "N Lowri Thomas"

Background: Current tools to assess caregiver burden in individuals caring for people living with dementia commonly involve the use of questionnaires administered at infrequent intervals. Caregiver burden can vary significantly between individuals and at different time points throughout the progression of the disease. There has been research investigating the determinants of caregiver burden, but less is known about what represents a clinically-meaningful amount of intra-individual change in caregiver burden.

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Type II CRISPR endonucleases are widely used programmable genome editing tools. Recently, CRISPR-Cas systems with highly compact nucleases have been discovered, including Cas9d (a type II-D nuclease). Here, we report the cryo-EM structures of a Cas9d nuclease (747 amino acids in length) in multiple functional states, revealing a stepwise process of DNA targeting involving a conformational switch in a REC2 domain insertion.

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Clozapine is a highly effective antipsychotic used for treating treatment-refractory psychotic and mood disorders. However, clozapine also has a serious risk of side effects leading to mortality, particularly its potentiated risk of leading to pneumonia. This review aims to overview the demographic and health-related risk factors leading to pneumonia to better inform risk assessment for clozapine users and to summarise current theories on the mechanisms for clozapine-associated pneumonia.

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Aims: To assess outcomes of oral anti-hyperglycaemic therapies in people with diabetes secondary to a pancreatic condition (type 3c), where specific treatment guidance is limited.

Materials And Methods: Using hospital-linked UK primary care records (Clinical Practice Research Datalink; 2004-2020), we identified 7084 people with a pancreatic condition (acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer and haemochromatosis) preceding diabetes diagnosis (type 3c cohort), initiating oral glucose-lowering therapy (metformin, sulphonylureas, SGLT2-inhibitors, DPP4-inhibitors or thiazolidinediones), and without concurrent insulin treatment. We stratified by pancreatic exocrine insufficiency [PEI] (nā€‰=ā€‰5917 without PEI, 1167 with PEI) and matched to 97ā€‰227 type 2 diabetes (T2D) controls.

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Medical contraindications and complications pose challenges for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Most published reports are scattered across various physiological systems and individual disease conditions. This review aimed to evaluate the literature on physiological and medical complexities during ECT and discuss risk mitigation strategies in a comprehensive review.

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