Publications by authors named "Peter Ward"

Background: Manual screening of a Kato-Katz (KK) thick stool smear remains the current standard to monitor the impact of large-scale deworming programs against soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). To improve this diagnostic standard, we recently designed an artificial intelligence based digital pathology system (AI-DP) for digital image capture and analysis of KK thick smears. Preliminary results of its diagnostic performance are encouraging, and a comprehensive evaluation of this technology as a cost-efficient end-to-end diagnostic to inform STH control programs against the target product profiles (TPP) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is the next step for validation.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study in Ucayali, Peru examined two methods for detecting soil-transmitted helminth infections in children: the old method called Kato-Katz (KK1.0) and a new method using artificial intelligence called KK2.0.
  • The researchers analyzed stool samples from 510 kids aged 5-14 and found that KK2.0 could detect more cases of Ascaris lumbricoides compared to KK1.0, especially at the 30-minute mark.
  • The results showed that while both methods had similar detection rates for other types of infections, KK2.0 was better at finding low levels of A. lumbricoides infection in the kids.
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In polymicrobial sepsis, the extracellular histones, mainly released from activated neutrophils, significantly contribute to cardiac dysfunction (septic cardiomyopathy), as demonstrated in our previous studies using Echo-Doppler measurements. This study aims to elucidate the roles of extracellular histones and their interactions with Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in cardiac dysfunction. Through ex vivo assessments of ECG, left ventricle (LV) function parameters, and in vivo Echo-Doppler studies in mice perfused with extracellular histones, we aim to provide comprehensive insights into the mechanisms underlying sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction.

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  • In 2009, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation established Home Base, a nonprofit focused on providing free mental health care for veterans, service members, and their families suffering from the invisible wounds of war.
  • The program includes innovative features like a Veteran Outreach Team, dedicated family services, and an intensive outpatient substance use treatment program, reaching over 4,000 patients, including more than 3,000 veterans.
  • Satisfaction surveys revealed that over 92% of participants were pleased with their care, and data indicated significant improvements in issues like alcohol use and mental health symptoms, highlighting the program's effectiveness and the potential benefits of adding new components to traditional treatment models.
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Purpose Of Review: This opinion piece aims to explore the transformative potential of integrating artificial intelligence with digital microscopy to enhance diagnostics for soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and schistosomiasis (SCH), two pervasive neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). By aligning innovative artificial intelligence-driven solutions with WHO's strategic objectives and calls for better, more accessible, and more integrated diagnostics, we highlight the latest advancements that may support improved health outcomes in affected communities.

Recent Findings: The review covers recent advancements in artificial intelligence-based diagnostic technologies, emphasizing automated egg detection and quantification.

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Adherence is vital for medicine to have an effect, yet adherence is considered to be low, with approximately half of the patients not fully adherent. However, research into adherence tends to focus on quantitative analysis of performance, which fails to perceive how people are adherent in their many different environments. As a contribution to gaining a deeper understanding, interviews were held with thirty individuals in the UK, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and six countries in sub-Saharan Africa to understand their perceptions on adherence to a range of drugs, and these were compared with an existing well-regarded list.

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The reorientation of Earth through rotation of its solid shell relative to its spin axis is known as True polar wander (TPW). It is well-documented at present, but the occurrence of TPW in the geologic past remains controversial. This is especially so for Late Jurassic TPW, where the veracity and dynamics of a particularly large shift remain debated.

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Cephalopods are among many marine animals that through some combination of habit and/or habitat have proven difficult to study, especially understanding their trophic positions in marine communities. Stable isotope analyses have provided powerful tools for discovering quantitative aspects about the ecology and food sources of many cephalopod species. Here, we present new gut content and isotopic data (carbon and nitrogen isotopes) from phragmocone-bearing cephalopods (both ectocochleates, as well as those with internal, hard part buoyancy maintenance apparatuses).

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  • Biological age is a better indicator of health than chronological age and can be estimated using blood-based biomarkers; this study focuses on improving this estimation with machine learning.
  • Using data from over 306,000 participants, researchers developed an Elastic-Net Cox model that predicts mortality risk, achieving a higher predictive accuracy than a popular existing model (PhenoAge).
  • The study concludes that a practical method for estimating biological age, which can vary significantly from chronological age, is feasible and can be made accessible to the general public through common clinical assays.
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Externalized histones erupt from the nucleus as extracellular traps, are associated with several acute and chronic lung disorders, but their implications in the molecular pathogenesis of interstitial lung disease are incompletely defined. To investigate the role and molecular mechanisms of externalized histones within the immunologic networks of pulmonary fibrosis, we studied externalized histones in human and animal bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples of lung fibrosis. Neutralizing anti-histone antibodies were administered in bleomycin-induced fibrosis of C57BL/6 J mice, and subsequent studies used conditional/constitutive knockout mouse strains for TGFβ and IL-27 signaling along with isolated platelets and cultured macrophages.

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Nautiloids are a charismatic group of marine molluscs best known for their rich fossil record, but today they are restricted to a handful of species in the family Nautilidae from around the Coral Triangle. Recent genetic work has shown a disconnect between traditional species, originally defined on shell characters, but now with new findings from genetic structure of various populations. Here, three new species of from the Coral Sea and South Pacific region are formally named using observations of shell and soft anatomical data augmented by genetic information: (from American Samoa), (from Fiji), and (from Vanuatu).

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Objectives: To assess the appropriate preanalytical process for storage of plasma for renin concentration analysis. This study was initiated due to the wide variation in preanalytical handling of samples observed within our network, particularly with respect to freezing for longer term storage.

Methods: Pooled plasma from patient samples was analysed immediately post separation for renin concentration (n=30, concentration 4.

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Objective: Older people experience high rates of adverse outcomes following emergency department (ED) presentation. There is growing evidence to support alternative care pathways for certain types of emergency medical services (EMS) calls. Pathfinder is one such service and targets patients aged 65 years and over, whose presenting issues can be safely managed at home by immediate paramedic, occupational therapy, and/or physiotherapy interventions.

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The latest Permian mass extinction (LPME) was triggered by magmatism of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province (STLIP), which left an extensive record of sedimentary Hg anomalies at Northern Hemisphere and tropical sites. Here, we present Hg records from terrestrial sites in southern Pangea, nearly antipodal to contemporaneous STLIP activity, providing insights into the global distribution of volcanogenic Hg during this event and its environmental processing. These profiles (two from Karoo Basin, South Africa; two from Sydney Basin, Australia) exhibit significant Hg enrichments within the uppermost Permian extinction interval as well as positive ΔHg excursions (to ~0.

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This report deals with the advances made in the areas of complement and its role in sepsis, both in mice and in humans. The study relates to work over the past 25 years (late 1990s to October 2022). During this period, there has been very rapid progress in understanding the activation pathways of complement and the activation products of complement, especially the anaphylatoxin C5a and its receptors, C5aR1 and C5aR2.

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Global access to accurate biodiversity data is a prerequisite to our progress in understanding biodiversity dynamics in ecosystems and any changes that are occurring. Despite recent major advancements in sharing data on the world's species, one of the remaining challenges relates to the mechanics of guiding data systematically from its provenance to end users. It can take considerable effort to orchestrate a successful sampling campaign, manage samples obtained in often extreme, remote conditions and to secure preservation of, and access to, the acquired data.

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Scientific sampling of zooplankton in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean has been undertaken since the 1920s, but few analyzed datasets are available to the research community. We provide a database of standardized data derived from samples collected by Bongo nets in this sector between 1996 and 2013, amounting to almost 94,000 individual records. The study region contains some of the highest levels of pelagic biomass in the Southern Ocean and is also undergoing rapid ocean warming and changing seasonality in sea-ice distribution.

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To improve birth outcomes, all pregnant women without known diabetes are recommended for an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to screen for hyperglycaemia in pregnancy (diabetes in pregnancy or gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)). This narrative review presents contemporary approaches to minimise preanalytical glycolysis in OGTT samples with a focus on GDM diagnosis using criteria derived from the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes (HAPO) study. The challenges of implementing each approach across a diverse Australian healthcare setting were explored.

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