Publications by authors named "Smyth A"

Reminiscence is a meaningful activity for people with dementia, but research implementing digital reminiscence tools into environments with older people is not well developed. This project sought to understand the effectiveness of a digital reminiscence tool in aiding person-centred dementia care with people attending a day respite centre and a group residential home, in metropolitan eastern Australia. This study used semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations using a qualitative reflexive thematic analysis with seventeen participants including people with dementia ( = 8), their loved ones ( = 5) and staff = 4) Themes identified were: 1.

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Purpose: To identify arthroscopic rotator cuff repair study groups and evaluate if study design or other study characteristics correlate with a repeat ipsilateral shoulder surgery.

Methods: A systematic search of the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases was conducted on March 20, 2021, and April 2, 2021. The following search terms were used by 2 different researchers: ((Rotator cuff repair[Title/Abstract]) AND (Revision[Title/Abstract]) NOT (Systematic Review[Title/Abstract]) NOT (arthroplasty[Title/Abstract]).

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Introduction: Medicaid coverage is associated with longer appointment wait times, decreased access to care, and poorer health outcomes compared with private insurance across medical subspecialties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate new patient appointment wait times for subspecialty Orthopaedic care based on insurance type and to identify factors influencing these wait times.

Methods: Orthopaedic physicians were identified using the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons patient-facing database in the fields of Adult Reconstruction, Foot and Ankle, Hand, Sports Medicine, Spine, Pediatric, and General Orthopaedic surgery.

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Microplastics are both pervasive in the marine environment and highly detrimental to it. In this study, we investigate the abundance, distribution, and characteristics of microplastics in surface waters on a transect spanning 6 major ocean current regions in the Atlantic Ocean from Scheveningen (the Netherlands) to Montevideo (Uruguay). 50 surface trawls were completed with a manta net (mesh 500 μm, cod 333 μm) and particles were analyzed in the laboratory including polymer type identification with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.

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  • Object detection is essential for applications like traffic management and autonomous vehicles, but detecting small objects from high-altitude images remains difficult due to size and environmental factors.
  • The proposed model, small object detection YOLOv8 (SOD-YOLOv8), improves detection by enhancing feature integration and adding a new detection layer for better accuracy in identifying small objects.
  • SOD-YOLOv8 outperforms existing models by improving recall, precision, and mean average precision (mAP) significantly, showcasing its effectiveness in real-world traffic scenarios without increasing computational costs.
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  • In July 2017, a black flying fox was found with neurological issues, leading to the discovery of a new hantavirus called Robina virus (ROBV) in its brain.
  • Research indicated that ROBV is closely related to Quezon virus, which was found in a different type of bat in the Philippines.
  • From March 2018 to October 2023, 495 bats were tested for ROBV, revealing a 4.2% prevalence, with increased detections in 2019-2020 suggesting a possible epidemic and demonstrating seasonal effects on virus spread.
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Background And Purpose: Cold beverage intake (carbonated drinks, fruit juice/drinks, and water) may be important population-level exposures relevant to stroke risk and prevention. We sought to explore the association between intake of these beverages and stroke.

Methods: INTERSTROKE is an international matched case-control study of first stroke.

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Background: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in cystic fibrosis (CF) are common and disruptive. The effect of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators on the GI tract is not fully understood. The aim was to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine if elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI) changed GI function and transit.

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  • * It analyzed over 1000 participants from ages 14 to 23 to determine if issues with sustained attention predict future substance use rather than being just a side effect.
  • * The results showed that strong brain connections related to sustained attention at age 14 can predict an increase in cannabis and cigarette use later, highlighting sustained attention as a key indicator of vulnerability to substance use.
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Aims/hypothesis: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse perinatal outcomes because of suboptimal glucose management and glucose control and excessive weight gain. Metformin can offset these factors but is associated with small for gestational age (SGA) infants. We sought to identify risk factors for SGA infants, including the effect of metformin exposure on SGA status.

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Preventing transmissible infection is a priority in cystic fibrosis (CF) care. This is an update of a systematic review of the evidence for infection prevention and control interventions in CF. Our full protocol can be found on PROSPERO (CRD42018109999).

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Purpose Of Review: Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder experienced by older adults. There is a wide range of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options in existing literature. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize randomized controlled trials of insomnia treatment modalities for adults aged 55 and older over the last 5 years.

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Background: People with cystic fibrosis (CF) can experience recurrent chest infections, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and gastrointestinal symptoms. New cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator drugs improve lung function but gastrointestinal effects are unclear. We aimed to see if a CFTR modulator (tezacaftor-ivacaftor,TEZ/IVA) improves gastrointestinal outcomes in CF.

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Aim: Women with GDM display adverse lifetime cardio-metabolic health. We examined whether early metformin in GDM could impact cardio-metabolic risk factors postpartum.

Research Design & Methods: EMERGE, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomized pregnancies 1:1 to placebo or metformin at GDM diagnosis and followed participants from randomization until 12±4 weeks postpartum.

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Female hypogonadism (FH) is a relatively common endocrine disorder in women of premenopausal age, but there are significant uncertainties and wide variation in its management. Most current guidelines are monospecialty and only address premature ovarian insufficiency (POI); some allude to management in very brief and general terms, and most rely upon the extrapolation of evidence from the studies relating to physiological estrogen deficiency in postmenopausal women. The Society for Endocrinology commissioned new guidance to provide all care providers with a multidisciplinary perspective on managing patients with all forms of FH.

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Purpose Of Review: This review aims to elucidate the etiologies of brain abscesses in the tropics. Despite the similarities in causes of brain abscesses across global regions, tropical settings manifest distinguishing characteristics, prominently observed on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.

Recent Findings: In tropical climates, the leading conditions predisposing individuals to brain abscesses are polymicrobial bacterial infections originating from paranasal sinuses, dental sources, and otitis media.

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  • A comprehensive review of treatment research for ADHD in children and adolescents over the past 50 years analyzed 126 studies involving 10,604 participants in the U.S. !*
  • Reporting on participant demographics revealed that most studies focused on White, non-Hispanic boys, with significant underrepresentation of girls, racial minorities, and Hispanic/Latine youth. !*
  • The analysis also highlights an increase over time in the representation of girls and minorities in ADHD research, while suggesting the need for better demographic reporting and addressing research gaps.!*
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Background: Stroke is a leading global cause of death and disability. Daily tea/coffee intake is consumed by > 50% of populations and may represent an important population-level exposure. Therefore, it is first essential that we better understand the associations between the tea/coffee intake and stroke.

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Objective: The burden of tuberculosis (TB) in migrant children and young people (CYP) is commonly overlooked, despite the increasing incidence of TB in migrant populations in the European region. This study aimed to examine the distribution and disease characteristics of TB among migrant and native-born CYP through analysis of data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) surveillance system (TESSy).

Study Design: Retrospective database analysis.

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This is the final of four papers updating standards for the care of people with CF. That this paper "Planning a longer life" was considered necessary, highlights how much CF care has progressed over the past decade. Several factors underpin this progress, notably increased numbers of people with CF with access to CFTR modulator therapy.

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  • A pilot study explored the effects of Elexacaftor/Tezacaftor/Ivacaftor (ETI) therapy on gut microbiota, metabolomic functioning, and clinical outcomes in people with cystic fibrosis (CF), using faecal samples collected from 20 participants at multiple time points.
  • The results showed that while ETI therapy increased diversity and moved the gut microbiota composition closer to that of healthy controls, significant differences remained, particularly influenced by concurrent antibiotic treatments for lung infections.
  • The study concludes that further research is needed to better understand how CFTR modulator therapies and antibiotics affect the gut microbiome in CF patients, suggesting the use of integrated omics approaches for future investigations.*
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  • The study examines the link between blood pressure variability during the initial stages of acute stroke and patients' functional outcomes after one month, aiming to identify factors that could modify this variability.
  • Data from 13,206 participants revealed that higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure variability is significantly associated with poorer functional outcomes, particularly when measured by standard deviation (SD).
  • Factors such as age, female sex, high body mass index, and certain lifestyle habits contribute to increased blood pressure variability, indicating that managing these factors could improve outcomes for stroke patients.
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Introduction: Natural oestrogen administration as oral or transdermal 17β-estradiol is recommended for pubertal induction in girls with hypogonadism. However, suitable low-dose formulations are not consistently available globally. This questionnaire study aimed to identify the current availability of oestrogen and progesterone preparations worldwide.

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The major cause of mortality in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) is progressive lung disease characterised by acute and chronic infections, the accumulation of mucus, airway inflammation, structural damage and pulmonary exacerbations. The prevalence of rises rapidly in the teenage years, and this organism is the most common cause of chronic lung infection in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). It is associated with an accelerated decline in lung function and premature death.

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