Publications by authors named "O'Dowd G"

Thermal annealing is the most common postdeposition technique used to crystallize antimony selenide (SbSe) thin films. However, due to slow processing speeds and a high energy cost, it is incompatible with the upscaling and commercialization of SbSe for future photovoltaics. Herein, for the first time, a fast-annealing technique that uses millisecond light pulses to deliver energy to the sample is adapted to cure thermally evaporated SbSe films.

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Mammary fibromatosis is a rare neoplastic proliferation of fibroblastic cells. Usually seen in abdominal and extra-abdominal sites, it is rarely seen in the breast. Patients with mammary fibromatosis usually present with a firm palpable mass with or without dimpling and skin retraction-often mimicking breast carcinoma.

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Background: Physical activity (PA) is recommended in the management of patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) to improve health outcomes. Dance is one such form of PA which is meaningful, valuable, enjoyable and has demonstrated positive physical and mental health effects.

Methods: With pre-post design, 16 patients, members of the Irish Lung Fibrosis Association, were enrolled in this study.

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Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders produce gastrointestinal dysfunction as eosinophils accumulate throughout gastrointestinal tissues. The majority of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders are a diagnosis of exclusion, and a magnitude of differentials must be considered. A history of anaphylaxis raises the suspicion that systemic mastocytosis (SM) is the foremost differential to be considered.

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Objectives: The importance of palliative care in those with advanced fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (F-ILD) is recognised, but the palliative care requirements of patients and caregivers affected by F-ILD regardless of disease course are not established. We set out to explore this and identify optimal solutions in meeting the needs of a F-ILD population in Ireland.

Methods: Implementing a World-Café qualitative research approach, we captured insights evolving, iteratively in interactive small group discussions in response to six predefined topics on palliative care and planning for the future.

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Aim To gain an understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the daily life, healthcare needs, mental wellbeing and outlook of patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) and their caregivers. Methods ILD patients and caregivers were invited to participate in a quantitative survey. Respondents could self-select to then participate in in-depth structured telephone interviews.

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Aims: To quantify the impact of COVID-19 on small biopsy procedures and cancer resection surgeries in the North-West of Ireland.

Methods: Data was obtained from the Histopathology Departments of University Hospital Galway (UHG) and Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) Laboratory Information Systems to establish the impact of COVID-19 on both the small biopsy (coded P01) and cancer resection (coded P03) caseloads reported from January to June 2020, with comparison made to January to June 2019.

Results: From January to June 2020 compared with January to June 2019, UHG had an overall decrease of 714 P01 cases (21.

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Background: Neoadjuvant therapy is increasingly the standard of care in the management of locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus and junction (AEG). In randomised controlled trials (RCTs), the MAGIC regimen of pre- and postoperative chemotherapy, and the CROSS regimen of preoperative chemotherapy combined with radiation, were superior to surgery only in RCTs that included AEG but were not powered on this cohort. No completed RCT has directly compared neoadjuvant or perioperative chemotherapy and neoadjuvant chemoradiation.

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We report that the internal quantum efficiency for hydrogen generation in spherical, Pt-decorated CdS nanocrystals can be tuned by quantum confinement, resulting in higher efficiencies for smaller than for larger nanocrystals (17.3% for 2.8 nm and 11.

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Rationale: Behavioural antidepressant-like effects of ketamine have been reported in the forced swimming test (FST). The mechanisms mediating such effects are unknown.

Objectives: As serotonin (5-HT) is an important transmitter mediating antidepressant responsiveness in the FST, the influence of 5-HT depletion on the antidepressant-like effect of ketamine was assessed.

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A patient with sepsis and jaundice was admitted for diagnosis and treatment. Associated biochemical changes included increased C-reactive protein, conjugated bilirubin and gamma-glutamyltransferase, the duration of which was protracted. High urine coproporphyrin isomer-1 and immunostaining of liver tissue suggested Dubin-Johnson syndrome.

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Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is an uncommon, locally aggressive cutaneous tumour of intermediate grade malignancy. A number of reports have linked local trauma of varying aetiology with the later development of DFSP. In addition, a variety of skin disorders and, in rare cases, cutaneous tumours, have been described in association with decorative tattoos.

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A case of plasma cell myeloma involving the middle phalanx of the ring finger is reported. This was a case of a non-secretory myeloma; however, monoclonal immunoglobulins were demonstrated by immunohistochemical studies. Plasma cell myeloma with phalangeal involvement is extremely rare: our literature search disclosed only two well-documented cases.

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Objectives: To determine whether DD23 increases the sensitivity of urinary-based detection of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) recurrence. The murine monoclonal antibody DD23 recognizes a 185-kDa tumor-associated antigen that is expressed in human bladder cancer cells in vitro and in vivo but is not detected in normal urothelium.

Methods: Using alcohol-fixed urinary cytology, matched voided urine and bladder wash specimens were evaluated for the contribution of DD23 antigen expression in the detection of recurrent TCC.

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Background: Quantitative biopsy pathology with prostate specific antigen significantly improves the prediction of pathologic stage in patients with clinically localized prostate carcinoma (PCa). The authors recently reported a computational model for predicting patient specific likelihood of organ confinement of PCa using biopsy pathology and clinical data. The current study validates the initial models and presents an new, improved tool for clinical decision making.

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Purpose: We assessed the impact of age and prostate specific antigen (PSA) on extended systematic biopsy schemes for detecting prostate carcinoma and better characterized these tumors as a function of patient age and PSA.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 2,299 consecutive patients who underwent initial systematic biopsy performed by 167 community based urologists. A total of 12 systematic biopsies of the peripheral zone were obtained in all patients.

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Age-specific prostate-specific antigen (PSA) cutoffs were previously suggested and were found to miss significant cancers in older men. We assessed the influence of an age-adjusted PSA cutoff to optimize the diagnostic performance (sensitivity and specificity) of complexed PSA (cPSA) and total PSA (tPSA) in the differentiation of benign disease from prostate cancer using a contemporary referral patient cohort. The cPSA and tPSA values were determined using the Bayer Immuno 1 system.

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Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) pathologic staging remains a challenge for the physician using individual pretreatment variables. We have previously reported that UroScore, a logistic regression (LR)-derived algorithm, can correctly predict organ-confined (OC) disease state with >90% accuracy. This study compares statistical and neural network (NN) approaches to predict PCa stage.

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Purpose: We developed an algorithm for predicting the likelihood of organ confined disease in patients with clinical stage T1c prostate cancer using biopsy pathology, computer assisted image analysis and serum prostate specific antigen (PSA).

Materials And Methods: Of the 557 consecutive men enrolled in this study between October 1998 and January 2000 scheduled for radical prostatectomy at a single institution 386 (69%) presented with clinical stage T1c disease. Study exclusion criteria included neoadjuvant hormonal treatment with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, antiandrogen or 5alpha-reductase inhibitors.

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Radial arteries, used in revascularisation surgery, are prone to spasm. We have examined the ability of nitrovasodilators, calcium channel blockers, and K(ATP) channel openers to cause vasodilation, and to attenuate contractions due to depolarisation and receptor activation in radial and mammary arteries used in coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Two to three millimetre rings of artery obtained from patients at surgery were studied in organ baths in vitro.

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Background: Considerable evidence has shown that the use of computational algorithms to combine pretreatment clinical and pathology results can enhance predictions of patient outcome. The aim of this study was to prove that the application of such methods to predict patient-specific likelihoods of organ-confined (OC) prostate carcinoma (PCA) may be helpful to patients and physicians when they are choosing an optimal treatment for carcinoma of the prostate.

Methods: The authors used clinical and quantitative pathology results from the biopsy specimens of 817 PCA patients who had been evaluated at a large national pathology reference laboratory.

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Objectives: To assess the diagnostic performance of complexed prostate-specific antigen (cPSA), total PSA (tPSA), and calculated free/total PSA (f/t PSA) ratios in the differentiation of benign disease from prostate cancer (CaP) using a contemporary patient cohort.

Methods: The cPSA, tPSA, and calculated fPSA values were determined using the Bayer Immuno-1 system. To validate our calculated f/t PSA ratio, we also retrospectively measured fPSA using the Abbott AxSYM immunoassay system in archival pretreatment sera obtained between 1990 and 1997 from 362 men with clinically and biopsy-confirmed benign prostatic hyperplasia (n = 179) or CaP (n = 183).

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