Publications by authors named "Richard Firth"

Following the report of a non-travel-associated cluster of monkeypox cases by the United Kingdom in May 2022, 41 countries across the WHO European Region have reported 21,098 cases and two deaths by 23 August 2022. Nowcasting suggests a plateauing in case notifications. Most cases (97%) are MSM, with atypical rash-illness presentation.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Most human monkeypox cases are found in Central and West Africa, where the virus is endemic, and an imported case was reported in the UK in May 2021 from Nigeria.
  • - The initial case led to secondary transmission within the family, impacting an adult and a toddler.
  • - COVID-19 control measures helped detect the case and minimize potential contacts, which aided in the public health response.
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Background: It is well known that both mefloquine and doxycycline are commonly associated with adverse effects when taken for malaria chemoprophylaxis. However, the relative impact of these on travelers' ability to work is not so well understood. The aim of this study was to identify which drug has a lesser impact on the ability to work as measured by self-reported severity of adverse effects via a questionnaire.

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Objective: Women with maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) are often first identified and diagnosed with diabetes during pregnancy. Genetics and hyperglycemia play an important role in determining fetal size in MODY pregnancies. The principal objective of the current study is to determine the outcomes and clinical management of hyperglycemia in pregnancies complicated by glucokinase gene (GCK) and hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-1α MODY mutations.

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Objective: To compare maternal and fetal leptin among women without diabetes, women with type 1 diabetes, and women with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: In a prospective study at the National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, 40 women with type 1 diabetes, 10 with type 2 diabetes, and 30 without diabetes were enrolled between July 2006 and July 2008. Maternal (36-week) and cord blood leptin was measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay.

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We determined whether transient tachypnoea of the newborn (TTN) is more common in macrosomic versus normal weight infants and in those delivered by caesarean section versus vaginally, in a retrospective cohort analysis of 212 type 1 diabetes pregnancies. Caesarean section and macrosomia were both associated with higher TTN rates.

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Younger maternal age at delivery has been linked to adverse reproductive outcomes. Pregnancy complicated by type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is also associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Optimising diabetic glycaemic control prior to pregnancy is known to reduce the rate of congenital abnormalities and improve pregnancy outcomes.

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Objective: Fetuses of diabetic pregnancy experience cardiomyopathy, the intracardiac cause of which is understood poorly. The aim of this study was to assess the interrelation between cardiac functional and structural changes in fetuses of mothers with pregestational diabetes mellitus.

Study Design: Twenty-six mothers with pregestational diabetes mellitus were recruited prospectively to have a fetal echocardiogram at 13, 20, and 36 weeks of gestation to assess cardiac function and structure.

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