Publications by authors named "Pollock E"

Background: The Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) was established to monitor antimicrobial resistance (AR) in N. gonorrhoeae in the United States. Isolates collected in GISP undergo antimicrobial susceptibility testing allowing for estimates of resistance, based on exceeding minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), to be calculated.

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  • * Researchers investigated the effects of the PDE-5a inhibitor sildenafil and found that it enhances the benefits of exercise by improving microcirculation and exercise capacity in diet-induced obese mice, but not in sedentary mice.
  • * In lean mice with reduced endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), exercise training still improved endurance, indicating that while eNOS function is important, training alone can lead to significant benefits in microcirculation and exercise performance.
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Background: Dads and Daughters Exercising and Empowered (DADEE) is a program targeting fathers/father-figures to improve their daughters' physical activity and well-being. Previous randomised controlled efficacy and effectiveness trials of DADEE demonstrated meaningful improvements in a range of holistic outcomes for both fathers and daughters in the short-term. This study aims to assess the long-term impact (12-months) of the program when delivered in the community by trained facilitators.

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This study evaluates the use of poly(vinyl alcohol), collagen, and chitosan blends for developing a microneedle patch for the delivery of meloxicam (MEL). Results confirm successful MEL encapsulation, structural integrity, and chemical stability even after ethylene oxide sterilization. Mechanical testing indicates the patch has the required properties for effective skin penetration and drug delivery, as demonstrated by load-displacement curves showing successful penetration of pig ear surfaces at 3N of normal load.

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'Healthy Youngsters, Healthy Dads' (HYHD) targets fathers to improve the health of their preschool-aged children. In a previous randomized trial, fathers and children experienced meaningful improvements in physical activity and eating behaviours. The next phase is to test the replicability and adaptability of HYHD when delivered in the community by trained facilitators.

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Immunotherapy targeting the autoimmune process in type 1 diabetes (T1D) can delay the loss of β-cells but needs to have minimal adverse effects to be an adjunct to insulin in the management of T1D. Ustekinumab binds to the shared p40 subunit of interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23, targeting development of T helper 1 cells and T helper 17 cells (T1 and T17 cells) implicated in the pathogenesis of T1D. We conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of ustekinumab in 72 adolescents aged 12-18 years with recent-onset T1D.

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Context: Population health rankings can be a catalyst for the improvement of health by drawing attention to areas in need of relative improvement and summarizing complex information in a manner understood by almost everyone. However, ranks also have unintended consequences, such as being interpreted as "hard truths," where variations may not be significant. There is a need to improve communication about uncertainty in ranks, with accurate interpretation.

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Background: The primary purpose of this review is to synthesise the effect of strategies aiming to sustain the implementation of evidenced-based interventions (EBIs) targeting key health behaviours associated with chronic disease (i.e. physical inactivity, poor diet, harmful alcohol use, and tobacco smoking) in clinical and community settings.

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Freshwater benthic algae form complex mat matrices that can confer ecosystem benefits but also produce harmful cyanotoxins and nuisance taste-and-odor (T&O) compounds. Despite intensive study of the response of pelagic systems to anthropogenic change, the environmental factors controlling toxin presence in benthic mats remain uncertain. Here, we present a unique dataset from a rapidly urbanizing community (Kansas City, USA) that spans environmental, toxicological, taxonomic, and genomic indicators to identify the prevalence of three cyanotoxins (microcystin, anatoxin-a, and saxitoxin) and two T&O compounds (geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol).

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Background: The 2022 mpox outbreak has infected over 30 000 people in the USA, with cases declining since mid-August. Infections were commonly associated with sexual contact between men. Interventions to mitigate the outbreak included vaccination and a reduction in sexual partnerships.

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Background: Governments internationally have invested hugely in the implementation and scale-up of school-based physical activity interventions, but have little evidence of how to best sustain these interventions once active implementation support ceases. This study will assess the effectiveness of a multi-strategy sustainability intervention on classroom teachers' sustainment of energisers (short 3-5 min physical activity breaks during class-time) scheduled across the school day from baseline to 12 and 24-month follow-up.

Methods: A cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted in 50 primary schools within the Hunter New England, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Murrumbidgee and Northern New South Wales (NSW) Local Health Districts of NSW Australia.

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This study evaluated the effect of the Dads And Daughters Exercising and Empowered (DADEE) program on daughters' social-emotional well-being when delivered by trained facilitators. Fathers (n = 158; Mage = 41.95 ± 5.

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Objectives: To measure the effectiveness of chlamydia control strategies, we must estimate infection incidence over time. Available data, including survey-based infection prevalence and case reports, have limitations as proxies for infection incidence. We therefore developed a novel method for estimating chlamydial incidence.

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Background: The primary purpose of this review is to synthesise the effect of strategies aiming to sustain the implementation of evidenced based interventions (EBIs) targeting key health behaviours associated with chronic disease (i.e., physical inactivity, poor diet, harmful alcohol use and tobacco smoking) in clinical and community settings.

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The number of immunotherapeutic clinical trials in type 1 diabetes currently being conducted is expanding, and thus there is a need for robust immune-monitoring assays which are capable of detecting and characterizing islet specific immune responses in peripheral blood. Islet- specific T cells can serve as biomarkers and as such can guide drug selection, dosing regimens and immunological efficacy. Furthermore, these biomarkers can be utilized in patient stratification which can then benchmark suitability for participation in future clinical trials.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The CDC conducted simulations to determine how the levels of immunity among MSM (from vaccination or past infections) can influence the risk and potential size of future mpox outbreaks.
  • * Jurisdictions with higher immunity (50%-100%) face minimal risk of recurrence, while those with lower immunity (below 25%) are more likely to experience larger outbreaks, highlighting the importance of ongoing access to mpox vaccinations.
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This study offers longitudinal insight into the impact of three SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations on humoral and cellular immunity in patients with solid cancers, patients with hematologic malignancies, and persons without cancer. For all cohorts, virus-neutralizing immunity was significantly depleted over a period of up to 9 months following the second vaccine dose, the one striking exception being IL2 production by SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specific T cells. Immunity was restored by the third vaccine dose, except in a substantial number of patients with hematologic malignancy, for whom both cancer type and treatment schedule were associated with nonresponse.

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Background: We extend recent work estimating incidence and prevalence of gonococcal infections among men and women aged 15 to 39 years in the United States in 2018 by applying the same modeling framework to estimate gonococcal incidence and prevalence during 2006 to 2019.

Methods: The model is informed by cases from the Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System, data from the National Survey of Family Growth, and data on other factors known to impact gonococcal incidence and prevalence. We use Monte Carlo simulation to account for uncertainty in input parameters.

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Wildlife traffickers often claim that confiscated animals were captive-bred rather than wild-caught to launder wild animals and escape prosecution. We used stable isotopes (C and N) derived from the claw tips of wild wood turtles from Maine and captive wood turtles throughout the eastern U.S.

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  • Set-point viral load (SPVL) is found to correlate with the age of HIV acquisition, suggesting that older individuals may face a selection for more virulent strains due to decreasing risks of infection as they age.
  • The study utilized a model (EvoNetHIV) tailored for men who have sex with men (MSM) to simulate how various behavioral and clinical factors influence the relationship between age and SPVL.
  • Results indicated that while SPVL increases with age when not accounting for source partner SPVL, this effect diminishes significantly when it is included, highlighting behavioral factors like relationship duration and coital frequency as important influencers on SPVL outcomes.
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This study assessed T-cell responses in individuals with and without a positive antibody response to SARS-CoV-2, in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were drawn from the TwinsUK cohort, grouped by (a) presence or absence of COVID-associated symptoms (S+, S-), logged prospectively through the COVID Symptom Study app, and (b) anti-IgG Spike and anti-IgG Nucleocapsid antibodies measured by ELISA (Ab+, Ab-), during the first wave of the UK pandemic. T-cell helper and regulatory responses after stimulation with SARS-CoV-2 peptides were assessed.

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Study Objectives: Adolescent pregnancies and births in the United States have undergone dramatic declines in recent decades. We aimed to estimate the contribution of changes in 3 proximal behaviors to these declines among 14- to 18-year-olds for 2007-2017: 1) delays in age at first sexual intercourse, 2) declines in number of sexual partners, and 3) changes in contraceptive use, particularly uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).

Design: We adapted an existing iterative dynamic population model and parameterized it using 6 waves of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

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Exercise under hypoxia and the physiological impact compared to normoxia or hypoxia has gained attention in the last decades. However, methodological quality assessment of articles in this area is lacking in the literature. Therefore, this article aimed to evaluate the methodologic quality of trials studying exercise under hypoxia.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to evaluate a lifestyle program that targets fathers in order to increase physical activity in their preschool-aged children, addressing a gap in existing research.
  • - A total of 125 father-child pairs participated, with some receiving the Healthy Youngsters, Healthy Dads (HYHD) program while others were in a control group; assessments were conducted at baseline, 10 weeks, and 9 months post-intervention.
  • - Results showed that children in the intervention group significantly increased their daily steps compared to the control group at both the 10-week and 9-month marks, along with improvements in fathers' physical activity levels and children's physical skills.
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