Publications by authors named "Sally Hodges"

: Many children and young people (CYP) presenting with mental health crises are admitted to hospital due to concerns around illness severity and risk. Whilst inpatient admissions have an important role for such children, there are a number of burdens associated with them, and safe avoidance of admissions is favourable. We systematically reviewed the literature for studies of interventions reported as alternatives to a hospital admission in CYP presenting with mental health crises, in any inpatient setting.

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Direct risk from infection from COVID-19 for children and young people (CYP) is low, but impact on services, education and mental health (so-called collateral damage) appears to have been more significant. In North Central London (NCL) during the first wave of the pandemic, in response to the needs and demands for adults with COVID-19, general paediatric wards in acute hospitals and some paediatric emergency departments were closed. Paediatric mental health services in NCL mental health services were reconfigured.

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The ampulla of Vater is a complex cellular environment from which adenocarcinomas arise to form a group of histopathologically heterogenous tumors. To evaluate the molecular features of these tumors, 98 ampullary adenocarcinomas were evaluated and compared to 44 distal bile duct and 18 duodenal adenocarcinomas. Genomic analyses revealed mutations in the WNT signaling pathway among half of the patients and in all three adenocarcinomas irrespective of their origin and histological morphology.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is difficult to detect early and is often resistant to standard chemotherapeutic options, contributing to extremely poor disease outcomes. Members of the nuclear receptor superfamily carry out essential biological functions such as hormone signaling and are successfully targeted in the treatment of endocrine-related malignancies. Liver X receptors (LXRs) are nuclear receptors that regulate cholesterol homeostasis, lipid metabolism, and inflammation, and LXR agonists have been developed to regulate LXR function in these processes.

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Objective: To test by randomized prospective multicenter trial the hypothesis that pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) without the use of intraperitoneal drainage does not increase the frequency or severity of complications.

Background: Some surgeons have abandoned the use of drains placed during pancreas resection.

Methods: We randomized 137 patients to PD with (n = 68, drain group) and without (n = 69, no-drain group) the use of intraperitoneal drainage and compared the safety of this approach and spectrum of complications between the 2 groups.

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Background: Although mortality following pancreaticoduodenectomy is decreasing, postoperative morbidity remains high. It was hypothesized that culture-directed treatment of bacteriobilia would decrease the incidence of infectious complications following pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Methods: In a retrospective study of 197 pancreaticoduodenectomy patients, those in the control group (n = 128, 2005-2009) were given perioperative prophylactic antibiotics, whereas those in the treatment group (n = 69, 2009-2011) were continued on antibiotics until intraoperative bile culture results became available.

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Purpose: The majority of pancreatic cancers overexpress mesothelin (MSLN), which contributes to enhanced proliferation, invasion, and migration. However, the MSLN regulatory network is still unclear. Here, we investigated the regulation of a panel of tumorigenic factors and explored the potential of MSLN-regulated miR-198 treatment in vivo.

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Introduction: Perioperative transfusion of packed red blood cells (PRBC) has been associated with negative side effects. We hypothesized that a majority of transfusions in our series of patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) were unnecessary. A retrospective analysis was performed to determine whether transfusions were indicated based on pre-determined criteria, and the impact of perioperative transfusions on postoperative outcomes was assessed.

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Changes in the intracellular levels of the essential micronutrient zinc have been implicated in multiple diseases including pancreatic cancer; however, the molecular mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we report a novel mechanism where increased zinc mediated by the zinc importer ZIP4 transcriptionally induces miR-373 in pancreatic cancer to promote tumour growth. Reporter, expression and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrate that ZIP4 activates the zinc-dependent transcription factor CREB and requires this transcription factor to increase miR-373 expression through the regulation of its promoter.

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Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy with few effective therapies. We performed exome sequencing and copy number analysis to define genomic aberrations in a prospectively accrued clinical cohort (n = 142) of early (stage I and II) sporadic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Detailed analysis of 99 informative tumours identified substantial heterogeneity with 2,016 non-silent mutations and 1,628 copy-number variations.

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Background: Experience with the Whipple procedure has been associated with improved outcomes, but the learning curve for this complex procedure is not well defined.

Methods: Outcomes with 162 consecutive Whipple procedures during the 1st 11.5 years of practice was documented in a prospective database.

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Background: Most surgeons routinely place a nasogastric tube at the time of a pancreatic resection. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the outcome when a pancreatic resection is performed without routine post-operative nasogastric suction.

Methods: One hundred consecutive patients underwent a pancreatic resection (64 a pancreaticoduodenectomy, 98% pylorus sparing and 36 a distal pancreatectomy).

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Objective: Conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy produce marginal survival benefits in pancreatic cancer, underscoring the need for novel therapies. The aim of this study is to develop an adoptive T cell transfer approach to target tumours expressing prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), a tumour-associated antigen that is frequently expressed by pancreatic cancer cells.

Methods: Expression of PSCA on cell lines and primary tumour samples was confirmed by immunohistochemistry.

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Background: Most surgeons routinely place intraperitoneal drains at the time of pancreatic resection but this practice has recently been challenged.

Objective: Evaluate the outcome when pancreatic resection is performed without operatively placed intraperitoneal drains.

Methods: In all, 226 consecutive patients underwent pancreatic resection.

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Background: Recent evidence suggests that the quantity of intra-abdominal fat may be a more important predictor of postoperative complications than body mass index (BMI). We hypothesized that increased intra-abdominal fat would be associated with longer operations, increased blood loss, more complications, and prolonged length of stay after pancreatic resection.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study.

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Background: Post-operative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is a common and potentially devastating complication of pancreas resection. Management of this complication is important to the pancreas surgeon.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether drain data accurately predicts clinically significant POPF.

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Background: Body mass index (BMI) has proven unreliable in predicting survival following pancreaticoduodenectomy for cancer. While measures of intra-abdominal fat correlate with medical and postoperative complications of obesity, the impact of intra-abdominal fat on pancreatic cancer survival is uncertain. We hypothesized that the quantity of intra-abdominal fat would predict survival following resection of pancreatic cancer.

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Background: RECQL is a DNA helicase involved in DNA mismatch repair. The RECQL polymorphism, 3' untranslated region (UTR) A159C, was previously associated with overall survival of patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation. In the present study, we examined RECQL for somatic mutations and other polymorphisms and compared these findings with the outcome in patients who received adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemoradiation.

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With recent advances in DNA sequencing technology, medicine is entering an era in which a personalized genomic approach to diagnosis and treatment of disease is feasible. However, discovering the role of altered DNA sequences in various disease states will be a challenging task. The genomic approach offers great promise for diseases, such as pancreatic cancer, in which the effect of current diagnostic and treatment modalities is disappointing.

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Background: Cystic lesions of the pancreas are being identified more frequently. Deciding which asymptomatic lesions can be safely followed with serial imaging and which require resection due to malignant potential is an increasingly common question. Current clinical practice is to rely on characteristics of the lesions on CT scan, and additional information from endoscopic ultrasound with fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) and cyst fluid analysis or endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERCP) to assess malignant potential.

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Background: Accurate preoperative staging is essential in pancreatic cancer to select the 15% of patients who can benefit from surgery and avoid surgery in the 85% with advanced disease. With improvements in computed tomography (CT) scanning, the value of routine laparoscopy for preoperative staging of pancreatic cancer has been questioned because it changes the preoperative plan in less than 20% of unselected cases.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our experience with preoperative staging in 88 consecutive patients with pancreatic cancer.

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Background: Despite numerous modifications of surgical technique, pancreatic fistula remains a serious problem and occurs in about 10% of patients following pancreas resection. BioGlue is a new sealant that creates a flexible mechanical seal within minutes independent of the body's clotting mechanism.

Hypothesis: Application of BioGlue sealant will reduce the incidence of pancreatic fistula following pancreas resection.

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