Publications by authors named "Pitt T"

Background: More than 80% of the Canadian population lives in urban settings. Urban areas usually bring exposure to poorer air quality, less access to green spaces, and higher building density. These environmental factors may endanger child development.

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Covalent organic frameworks linked by carbon-carbon double bonds (C=C COFs) are an emerging class of crystalline, porous, and conjugated polymeric materials with potential applications in organic electronics, photocatalysis, and energy storage. Despite the rapidly growing interest in sp carbon-conjugated COFs, only a small number of closely related condensation reactions have been successfully employed for their synthesis to date. Herein, we report the first example of a C=C COF, CORN-COF-1 (CORN=Cornell University), prepared by N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) dimerization.

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Objective: Knowing the prevalence of mental health difficulties in young children is critical for early identification and intervention. In the current study, we examine the agreement among three different data sources estimating the prevalence of diagnoses for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and emotional disorders (i.e.

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Hydrogen sulfide (HS) is an endogenously produced gasotransmitter involved in many physiological processes that are integral to proper cellular functioning. Due to its profound anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, HS plays important roles in preventing inflammatory skin disorders and improving wound healing. Transdermal HS delivery is a therapeutically viable option for the management of such disorders.

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Social determinants of health (SDHs) have a substantial impact on patient care and outcomes globally, both in low- to middle-income countries and in high-income countries. In the clinic, lack of availability of diagnostic tools, inequities in access to care, and challenges obtaining and adhering to prescribed treatment plans may further compound these issues. This article addresses a case of rhinitis in the context of SDHs and inequities in care that may affect various communities and populations around the world.

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Purpose Of Review: Healthcare disparities impact prevalence, diagnosis, and management of allergic disease. The purpose of this review is to highlight the most recent evidence of healthcare disparities in allergic conditions to provide healthcare providers with better understanding of the factors contributing to disparities and to provide potential management approaches to address them. This review comes at a time in medicine where it is well documented that disparities exist, but we seek to answer the Why , How and What to do next?

Recent Findings: The literature highlights the socioeconomic factors at play including race/ ethnicity, neighborhood, insurance status and income.

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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous, crystalline materials constructed from organic linkers and inorganic nodes that have attracted widespread interest due to their permanent porosity and highly modular structures. However, the large volumes of organic solvents and additives, long reaction times, and specialized equipment typically required to synthesize MOFs hinder their widespread adoption in both academia and industry. Recently, our lab has developed several user-friendly methods for the gram-scale (1-100 g) preparation of MOFs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are versatile materials made of organic and inorganic components, useful for applications like gas separation and catalysis.
  • By increasing the reaction concentration during the synthesis of certain MOFs, researchers discovered a new framework called CORN-MOF-1, which has unique properties due to its structural variations.
  • Detailed studies indicate that CORN-MOF-1 exhibits strong photoluminescence and can be transformed into other known MOFs, demonstrating the potential of high-concentration synthesis for exploring new materials with distinct characteristics.
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  • This study investigates how to reduce bias caused by participant drop-out in longitudinal pregnancy research using inverse probability weights.
  • Two variable selection methods were employed: an a priori knowledge-based approach and LASSO, which showed varying levels of prediction accuracy in terms of study participation.
  • The results indicated that both methods improved the representation of demographics in the sample, with LASSO performing slightly better in balancing the characteristics between those who remained in the study and those who dropped out.
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  • Growing awareness of climate change and air pollution's health effects is increasing, but practical solutions for individuals and communities to combat these issues are often unclear.
  • Simple strategies are needed to help reduce chronic exposures that raise health risks for children while minimizing public inconvenience.
  • The article shares actionable tips for healthcare providers, parents, and communities to promote reduced vehicle idling in school zones to enhance air quality.
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Background: Injuries resulting from collisions between a bicyclist and driver are preventable and have high economic, personal and societal costs. Studying the language choices used by police officers to describe factors responsible for child bicyclist-motor vehicle collisions may help shift prevention efforts away from vulnerable road users to motorists and the environment. The overall aim was to investigate how police officers attribute blame in child (≤18 years) bicycle-motor vehicle collision scenarios.

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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline, porous solids constructed from organic linkers and inorganic nodes that are promising for applications in chemical separations, gas storage, and catalysis, among many others. However, a major roadblock to the widespread implementation of MOFs, including highly tunable and hydrolytically stable Zr- and Hf-based frameworks, is their benchtop-scalable synthesis, as MOFs are typically prepared under highly dilute (≤0.01 M) solvothermal conditions.

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Background: There are limited practical advanced life support algorithms to aid teams in the management of cardiac arrest in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Methods: In our specialist tertiary referral centre we developed, by iteration, a novel resuscitation algorithm for ECMO emergencies which we validated through simulation and assessment of our multi-disciplinary team. A Mechanical Life Support course was established to provide theoretical and practical education combined with simulation to consolidate knowledge and confidence in algorithm use.

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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous, crystalline materials constructed from organic linkers and inorganic nodes with myriad potential applications in chemical separations, catalysis, and drug delivery. A major barrier to the application of MOFs is their poor scalability, as most frameworks are prepared under highly dilute solvothermal conditions using toxic organic solvents. Herein, we demonstrate that combining a range of linkers with low-melting metal halide (hydrate) salts leads directly to high-quality MOFs without added solvent.

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Fungal infections are common and frequently associated with clinical failure in patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Antifungal drugs have physicochemical characteristics associated with a higher likelihood of sequestration onto ECMO circuitry potentially leading to a subtherapeutic drug concentration. The percentage of sequestration of the antifungal drugs-caspofungin, posaconazole, and voriconazole-was determined using an ex vivo ECMO model.

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The crystal packing of organic chromophores has a profound impact on their photophysical properties. Molecular crystal engineering is generally incapable of producing precisely spaced arrays of molecules for use in photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes, and sensors. A promising alternative strategy is the incorporation of chromophores into crystalline metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), leading to matrix coordination-induced emission (MCIE) upon confinement.

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Acid modulation is among the most widely employed methods for preparing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are both stable and highly crystalline, yet there exist few guiding principles for selecting the optimal modulator for a given system. Using the Zr-based MOFs UiO-66 and UiO-68-Me (UiO = Universitetet i Oslo) as representative materials, here we present for the first time an in-depth structure-activity study of acid modulators and identify key principles of modulation for the synthesis of highly crystalline Zr-MOFs. By applying whole pattern fitting of powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns as a technique for evaluating modulator efficacy, complemented by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), H NMR, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), we demonstrate that the key to effective modulation is competition between the linker and modulator for coordination to the Zr secondary building units (SBUs).

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The present systematic review aimed to evaluate the associations between welding fumes exposure and changes in oxidative stress [superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA)] and DNA damage [8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and DNA-protein crosslink (DPC)] markers in professional welders (PROSPERO CRD42022298115). Six electronic bibliographic databases were searched from inception through September 2021 to identify observational epidemiological studies evaluating the association between welding fumes exposures and changes in oxidative stress and DNA damage in professional welders. Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias and certainty of the evidence.

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Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children. This study aimed to predict the prolonged length of stay in children admitted to hospital with RSV.

Methods: Children aged <2 years with RSV in the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) were included in the analyses.

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Background: Data on the diagnostic properties of direct oral challenges without the use of skin tests in children with suspected amoxicillin allergy are sparse.

Objective: Assess the use of direct oral challenges.

Methods: A cohort study was conducted between March 2013 and March 2020, in Montreal and Winnipeg.

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Background: Alberta remains the only province in Canada without booster seat legislation. To date, analyses of booster seat effectiveness compared with seatbelt only use have demonstrated mixed findings using observational data.

Methods: This study uses Alberta police collision report data for the years 2010-2016, inclusive.

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Objective: Novice adolescent drivers have a higher propensity to engage in risky driving and are at higher odds of being involved in collisions. Graduated driver licensing programs have been instituted to help novice drivers gain experience while avoiding higher risk driving circumstances. This study examines modifiable risk factors contributing to novice adolescent driver fault in collisions.

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Urban form can have an impact on health outcomes in children, and the synthesis of findings can identify gaps in the literature and regional reviews may help guide policymakers. This study aims to complete a scoping review of the research relating urban form to health outcomes in children and adolescents from urban Canadian settings. Thirteen online databases were searched to identify studies that had objective measures of urban form and health outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are being explored for their potential as sustainable catalysts in synthetic chemistry, but their stability against various chemical reagents is not fully understood.
  • A study systematically evaluates the stability of 17 different MOFs (including carboxylate, salicylate, and azolate types) under 30 varying chemical conditions commonly encountered in organic chemistry using various analytical techniques.
  • Results indicate that azolate MOFs, like Fe(bdp), show high stability in diverse environments, while carboxylate and salicylate MOFs exhibit complementary stabilities against different reagents, thus providing valuable insights for designing more robust MOFs for synthetic applications.
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Invited for this month's cover is the joint redox flow battery team from Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. The cover image shows the stylized components of a redox flow battery (RFB) in the foreground, with renewable sources of energy generation in the background. The Review itself is available at 10.

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