Publications by authors named "Sarah Donnelly"

The microbiota is integral to human health and has been mostly characterized through various ex vivo 'omic'-based approaches. To better understand the real-time function and impact of the microbiota, in vivo molecular imaging is required. With technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT), insight into microbiological processes may be coupled to in vivo information.

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The implementation of home-care robots is sometimes unsuccessful. This study aimed to explore factors explaining people's willingness to use home-care robots, particularly among care recipients and caregivers. Surveys were conducted in Japan, Ireland, and Finland.

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To detect cellular activities deep within the body using magnetic resonance platforms, magnetosomes are the ideal model of genetically-encoded nanoparticles. These membrane-bound iron biominerals produced by magnetotactic bacteria are highly regulated by approximately 30 genes; however, the number of magnetosome genes that are essential and/or constitute the root structure upon which biominerals form is largely undefined. To examine the possibility that key magnetosome genes may interact in a foreign environment, we expressed mamI and mamL as fluorescent fusion proteins in mammalian cells.

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  • Healthy ageing is important for older people and can be helped by how society supports them, but this support can sometimes be lacking.
  • The TILDA project studies how to promote healthy ageing and finds out what older people and their support groups think about its efforts.
  • Interviews with 15 organizations showed some limitations of TILDA, like not being inclusive enough, but also highlighted its benefits, like providing useful information to help plan for the needs of older people in the future.
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  • Bacteria are a major component of the human microbiota, and their interactions are complex, making it hard to study them outside the body.
  • Researchers used MRI to analyze specific bacterial strains and found significant variations in how they relax in magnetic fields, with lactobacilli exhibiting notably high relaxation rates partly due to higher manganese levels.
  • The study highlighted Lactobacillus crispatus, which had exceptionally high MRI signals, suggesting that different bacterial strains can be tracked in the body over time, potentially improving molecular imaging techniques.
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  • Annually, around 480 individuals in Ireland receive a diagnosis of a primary brain tumour, which can negatively impact neurological and cognitive functions, highlighting a significant need for effective rehabilitation.* -
  • This study aims to assess the rehabilitation needs of brain tumour patients using a mixed methods approach, including quantitative assessments and qualitative interviews with patients and carers.* -
  • By understanding these needs, the research seeks to inform healthcare professionals and policymakers on how to better allocate resources and improve support services for those affected by brain tumours.*
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  • * A study analyzed data from nearly 18,000 CICU admissions across 34 hospitals to assess the use of CCRx and its association with in-hospital survival, finding disparities in patient acuity and therapy utilization among hospitals.
  • * The findings revealed that patients in hospitals with higher CCRx usage tended to have more severe conditions and higher comorbidity rates; however, adjusted mortality rates did not significantly differ based on CCRx levels, implying patient factors primarily influence therapy variations.
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Established in 2006, the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) investigates the health, economic and social circumstances of a nationally-representative sample of people aged fifty years and older in a series of biennial data collection waves. Irish newspapers have been reporting the results of TILDA for over a decade and a half, and their texts represent reports of scientific research distilled through the pen of journalists. In their totality, their texts constitute a public discourse on ageing and health.

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  • A dementia research prioritisation exercise was conducted in Ireland due to insufficient information on key research areas, involving an online survey of professionals and workshops with individuals living with dementia and their family caregivers.
  • The survey gathered feedback from 108 professionals, revealing that most priorities centered around enhancing the delivery and quality of care, alongside improving diagnosis and treatment methods for dementia.
  • The results aim to guide policymakers and researchers in directing limited resources towards impactful dementia research that meets the needs of those affected by the condition.
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  • International policy emphasizes interdisciplinary teamwork as essential for integrating health and social care for older individuals, moving care from hospitals to community settings.
  • The National Clinical Programme for Older People in Ireland is crucial in designing the National Older Person's Service Model, which includes specialized Community Specialist Teams (CST-OPs) focused on this new care delivery approach.
  • A realist evaluation will assess and enhance interprofessional collaboration competencies in CST-OPs, informing curriculum development and providing insights for healthcare leaders on necessary resources for effective care integration.
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Background: Fatigue and burnout are prevalent among resident physicians across Canada. Shifts exceeding 24 hours are commonly purported as detrimental to resident health and performance. Residency training programs have employed strategies towards understanding and intervening upon the complex issue of resident fatigue, where alternative resident scheduling models have been an area of active investigation.

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  • Research on ethical issues related to care robots for older adults and caregivers is lagging, prompting this study to create a model connecting care robot use and ethical awareness, focusing on personal information and privacy.
  • The study analyzed survey data from Japan, Ireland, and Finland, using confirmatory factor analysis to identify key factors affecting ethical considerations, resulting in a final model with ten items.
  • The model identified four main factors influencing ethical awareness: acquiring personal information, using it for care, secondary usage, and involvement in research, demonstrating a generally good fit in Finland and a poor fit in Ireland despite the countries' cultural and demographic differences.
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  • - Supported decision-making (ADM) focuses on helping people with disabilities, especially older individuals with cognitive impairments, make health and social care choices equitably, challenging existing power dynamics in healthcare settings.
  • - The study uses a critical hermeneutic approach, gathering qualitative insights from health and social care professionals, older patients, and family carers to understand their experiences with ADM.
  • - Results highlight three themes: the concentration of power within medical teams, biases towards those with cognitive competence, and the struggle to balance patient autonomy with a risk-averse care culture in acute settings, indicating the need for cultural changes in decision-making practices.
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  • The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network developed the Asthma Follow up Integrated Care Initiative in 2016 to reduce pediatric asthma-related emergency department visits and hospital admissions by 50% through coordinated care.
  • The initiative involved a two-phase implementation where care coordinators worked with families to ensure better asthma management, including follow-up GP visits and educational resources.
  • Results showed a significant reduction in emergency department visits (43% in Phase I, 41% in Phase II) and hospital admissions (not fully detailed) within 6 and 12 months after enrollment in the program.
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Meaningful and inclusive involvement of all people affected by research in the design, management and dissemination of that research requires skills, time, flexibility and resources. There continue to be research practices that create implicit and explicit exclusion of some members of the public who may be 'seldom heard' or 'frequently ignored'. Our focus is particularly on the involvement of people living with cognitive impairment, including people with one of the many forms of dementia and people with learning disabilities.

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Current evidence offers little guidance as to how interprofessional collaboration can be fostered within the context of integrated care and older people. This research describes the co-design of core competencies for interprofessional collaboration within integrated care teams for older people and the development of practical guidance to support teams in building proficiency. Using a co-design approach, we conducted three studies (co-design workshops, qualitative interviews, and an online validation forum), the combined output of which is a Core Competency Framework, that includes three domains describing six competencies for proficiency in interprofessional collaboration within integrated care of older people.

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Many countries face major challenges to ensure that their health and social care systems are ready for the growing numbers of older people (OP). As a way of realising ageing in place, assistive technologies such as home-care robots are expected to play a greater role in the future. In Asia and Europe, robots are gradually being adopted as a public policy solution to the workforce shortage.

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In this study, we aimed to identify acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) metabolic fingerprints in selected patient cohorts and compare the metabolic profiles of direct versus indirect ARDS and hypoinflammatory versus hyperinflammatory ARDS. We hypothesized that the biological and inflammatory processes in ARDS would manifest as unique metabolomic fingerprints that set ARDS apart from other intensive care unit (ICU) conditions and could help examine ARDS subphenotypes and clinical subgroups. Patients with ARDS ( = 108) and ICU ventilated controls ( = 27) were included.

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Four manufacturing impurities of D&C Red No. 33 isolated by counter-current chromatography were analyzed by NMR and ESI mass spectrometry. Three of these impurities were reported previously with minimal details of structural determination.

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  • There is a growing emphasis on a human rights-based approach to assisted decision-making (ADM) for older people in Ireland, supported by legislative changes that empower their participation in care planning.
  • The study explored the experiences of Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCPs) regarding ADM in acute hospitals, identifying key barriers and enablers through 26 interviews.
  • Findings revealed a gap between policy and practice in ADM, highlighting the need for better education and training for HSCPs to effectively implement ADM principles.
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Objective: The immediate signals that couple exercise to metabolic adaptations are incompletely understood. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase 4 (Nox4) produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) and plays a significant role in metabolic and vascular adaptation during stress conditions. Our objective was to determine the role of Nox4 in exercise-induced skeletal muscle metabolism.

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The Coronavirus pandemic and associated measures for the protection of the public have impacted differently on different parts of the population and across different nations. In many areas, COVID-19 has also either exacerbated already existing or created new inequalities in relation to specific parts of the population. Older individuals are one group in society that has been widely impacted, while social isolation/shielding measures have placed them in higher risk of loneliness, isolation, financial deprivation and mental health challenges, to name a few.

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  • - The National Integrated Care Programme for Older People (NICPOP) aims to help older adults live independently by improving healthcare services tailored to their complex needs through integrated care between hospital and community settings.
  • - The ECLECTIC project, in partnership with NICPOP, will create a framework to support interprofessional collaboration among healthcare teams that serve older people, focusing on necessary skills and teamwork across care settings.
  • - The project's three phases involve defining collaboration competencies, implementing a leadership intervention for multidisciplinary teams, and analyzing data to refine the framework for future collaboration in elderly care.
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  • The UCD PPI Ignite program aims to integrate public and patient involvement in health-related research and education, focusing on challenges faced during the early stages of research projects.
  • A full-day workshop was held with diverse participants to establish a values-based approach for PPI projects, leading to the agreement on a set of core values.
  • Four key values were identified—respect, openness, reciprocity, and flexibility—highlighting the importance of authentic partnership and transparency, especially regarding funding uncertainties.
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  • The study aimed to understand how older adults, caregivers, and health professionals in Japan, Ireland, and Finland perceive home-care robots, focusing on their social implementation.
  • In Japan, there's a strong acceptance of robots, with a significant emphasis on safety and family involvement in decision-making, while Ireland showed interest in contributing to the development of these technologies.
  • Finland had a more cautious view on robots, valuing human care and privacy, highlighting the need for tailored strategies that consider each country's unique cultural and historical contexts.
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