Publications by authors named "Parkinson B"

Introduction: Translating evidence-based practices into real-world healthcare settings is challenging, particularly in the rapidly evolving field of genomics. A pragmatic two-arm cluster-randomized clinical trial (Hide and Seek Project - HaSP) tested two implementation approaches for improving hereditary cancer referral practices with one key distinction: implementation strategies that were designed 1) explicitly using psychological theory, or 2) using healthcare professional intuition. This mixed-methods process evaluation aimed to provide insights into how and why change occurred by examining contextual determinants, identifying mechanisms of action, and exploring the role of theory.

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  • Breast cancer poses a heightened risk of contralateral breast cancer (CBC) for BRCA1/2 variant carriers, and this study reviews strategies to mitigate that risk.
  • A systematic review including 23,840 participants from 26 studies found that secondary interventions reduced CBC incidence by 38% and improved overall survival (OS) by 45%.
  • Results indicated that treatment effectiveness varies by BRCA type and menopausal status, highlighting the importance of personalized approaches in managing risk and treatment plans.
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Functionalizing graphene with exact pore size, specific functional groups, and precision doping poses many significant challenges. Current methods lack precision and produce random pore sizes, sites of attachment, and amounts of dopant, leading to compromised structural integrity and affecting graphene's applications. In this work, we report a strategy for the synthesis of functionalized graphitic materials with modifiable nanometer-sized pores via a Pictet-Spengler polymerization reaction.

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Objective: Health technology assessment is used extensively by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) to inform medicine funding recommendations in Australia. The PBAC often does not recommend medicines due to uncertainties in economic modelling that result in delaying access to medicines for patients. The systematic identification of which uncertainties can be reduced with alternative evidence or the collection of additional data can help inform recommendations.

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Brain imaging MRI comprises a significant proportion of MRI scans, but the requirement for including the shoulders in the magnet bore means there is not a significant size reduction in the magnet compared to whole-body magnets. Here we present a new design approach for brain imaging MRI magnets targeting ±20 kHz variation over the imaging volume rather than the more usual ±200 Hz making use of novel high-bandwidth MRI pulse sequences and distortion correction. Using this design approach, we designed and manufactured a 1.

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Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a prevalent genetic disorder with global implications for severe cardiovascular diseases. Motivated by the growing recognition of the need for early diagnosis and treatment of FH to mitigate its severe consequences, alongside the gaps in understanding the economic implications and equity impacts of FH screening, this study aims to synthesize the economic evidence on the cost-effectiveness of FH screening and to analyze the impact of FH screening on health inequality.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review on the economic evaluations of FH screening and extracted information from the included studies using a pre-determined form for evidence synthesis.

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We report the application of a Pictet-Spengler reaction to the synthesis of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) using functionalized terephthalaldehydes. The COFs produced show an increased propensity to generate screw dislocations and produce multilayered flakes when compared with other 2D-COFs. Using HRTEM, definitive evidence for screw dislocations was obtained and is presented.

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  • Carers of children with disabilities often face worse job outcomes compared to those with typically developing children, prompting this study on the impact of interventions on carer employment.
  • Using data from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment study, the research focused on Australian DHH children and analyzed employment outcomes for their primary carers.
  • Results showed that primary carers of DHH children with cochlear implants were more likely to be employed, especially among those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, suggesting that improved support for these children could alleviate stress and increase carers' work opportunities.
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  • After a stroke, many people feel depressed or anxious, and this can make recovery harder.
  • A new program called HEADS: UP was created to help stroke survivors manage their feelings and improve their mental health.
  • Two studies tested this program, one in-person and one online, to see if it was easy to use and helpful for the participants.
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We collected data from two sources - social media and online questionnaires - to investigate the emotional consequences of social sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 1 tracked and analysed sentiment of tweets posted over the course of a month in the crisis period and found that users who tweeted more frequently about COVID-19 expressed decreasing negative sentiment and increasing positive sentiment over time. Granger causality tests confirmed that this association was better interpreted in the forward direction (sharing levels predicting sentiment) than in the reverse direction (sentiment predicting sharing levels).

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Aim: The primary objective of this study is to determine the impact of a standardised feeding protocol for infants with gastroschisis on early enteral feeds, suck feeds, management of gastric residuals and breastfeeding at discharge. Secondary objectives were evaluation of growth, length of stay in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the duration of total parental nutrition (TPN), blood-culture confirmed sepsis and serum bilirubin level (SBR).

Methods: This single-centre retrospective quality improvement project included infants admitted to a quaternary care NICU for management of gastroschisis from 2010 to 2021.

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Objectives: Published literature has levied criticism against the cost-minimisation analysis (CMA) approach to economic evaluation over the past two decades, with multiple papers declaring its 'death'. However, since introducing the requirements for economic evaluations as part of health technology (HTA) decision-making in 1992, the cost-minimisation analysis (CMA) approach has been widely used to inform recommendations about the public subsidy of medicines in Australia. This research aimed to highlight the breadth of use of CMA in Australia and assess the influence of preconditions for the approach on subsidy recommendations METHODS: Relevant information was extracted from Public Summary Documents of Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) meetings in Australia considering submissions for the subsidy of medicines that included a CMA and were assessed between July 2005 and December 2022.

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Introduction: The prevention of unintended pregnancy is a public health issue affecting women worldwide. In Australia, women are required to get a prescription to obtain the oral contraceptive pill (OCP), which may limit access and be a barrier to its initiation and continuing use. Changing the availability of the OCP from prescription-only to over-the-counter (OTC) is one solution, however, to ensure success policymakers need to understand women's preferences.

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This paper proposes a method for increasing the impact of academic research by providing materials for public use, thus engaging the maker community, and by collaborating with internet content creators to extend the reach. We propose a framework for engagement and report a multi-year study that evaluates short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes, with a second effort to demonstrate repeatability of the short-term outcomes. In the first study, we posted forty-one 3D printable compliant mechanisms on public repositories and collaborated with physicist and content creator Derek Muller (Veritasium YouTube channel).

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Background: Tourniquets are common adjuncts in the operating theatre but can be associated with post-operative pain. This study was designed to compare what effect pre-tourniquet Esmarch bandage exsanguination has on pain, compared to pre-tourniquet exsanguination by elevation alone.

Methods: 52 volunteers (104 lower limbs) were included in this study with each volunteer acting as their own matched control.

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Background: We evaluated the dose-response relationship between the level of attendance at the English National Health Service Diabetes Prevention Programme (DPP) and risk of progression to type 2 diabetes amongst individuals participating in the programme.

Methods: We linked data on DPP attendance for 51,803 individuals that were referred to the programme between 1st June 2016 and 31st March 2018 and attended at least one programme session, with primary care records of type 2 diabetes diagnoses from the National Diabetes Audit up to 31st March 2020. Weibull survival regressions were used to estimate the association between the number of programme sessions attended and risk of progression to type 2 diabetes.

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Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D-COFs) exhibit characteristics ideal for membrane applications, such as high stability, tunability and porosity along with well-ordered nanopores. However, one of the many challenges with fabricating these materials into membranes is that membrane wetting can result in layer swelling. This allows molecules that would be excluded based on pore size to flow around the layers of the COF, resulting in reduced separation.

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With advancements in the field of digital pathology, there has been a growing need to compare the diagnostic abilities of pathologists using digitized whole slide images against those when using traditional hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained glass slides for primary diagnosis. One of the most common specimens received in pathology practices is an endoscopic gastric biopsy with a request to rule out Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection.

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Background: Prevention programmes typically incur short-term costs and uncertain long-term benefits. We use the National Health Service (NHS) England Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS-DPP) to investigate whether behaviour change programmes may be cost-effective even within the short-term participation period.

Methods: We analysed 384,611 referrals between June 2016 and March 2019.

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Unlabelled: This study investigated interpersonal effects of regulating naturalistic facial signals on cooperation during an iterative Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) game. Fifty pairs of participants played ten IPD rounds across a video link then reported on their own and their partner's expressed emotion and facial regulation in a video-cued recall (VCR) procedure. iMotions software allowed us to auto-code actors' and partners' facial activity following the outcome of each round.

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Social media users tend to produce content that contains more positive than negative emotional language. However, negative emotional language is more likely to be shared. To understand why, research has thus far focused on psychological processes associated with tweets' content.

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Introduction: Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) on kidney biopsy shows a variable combination of features: arterial mucoid intimal thickening, acellular closure of glomerular capillary loops, fragmented red blood cells, fibrin thrombi, and arterial fibrinoid necrosis. However, some early post-transplant kidney biopsies show only arterial mucoid intimal thickening. We aimed to elucidate the importance of this finding.

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