Can flash glucose monitoring improve glucose management for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with type 2 diabetes? A protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are disproportionately impacted by type 2 diabetes. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology (such as Abbott Freestyle Libre 2, previously referred to as Flash Glucose Monitoring) offers real-time glucose monitoring that is convenient and easy to use compared to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). However, this technology's use is neither widespread nor subsidised for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with type 2 diabetes.

A Randomized Trial of Nafamostat for Covid-19.

BACKGROUND: Nafamostat mesylate is a potent in vitro antiviral agent that inhibits the host transmembrane protease serine 2 enzyme used by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 for cell entry. METHODS: This open-label, pragmatic, randomized clinical trial in Australia, New Zealand, and Nepal included noncritically ill hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Participants were randomly assigned to usual care or usual care plus nafamostat.

Anticoagulation Strategies in Non-Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19.

BACKGROUND: Optimal thromboprophylaxis for hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is uncertain. METHODS: In an open-label, adaptive platform trial, we randomly assigned hospitalized adults with Covid-19 to low-dose low-molecular-weight heparin thromboprophylaxis or intermediate-dose or low-dose plus aspirin. In response to external evidence, the aspirin intervention was discontinued and a therapeutic-dose arm added.

The e-scooter pandemic at a UK Major Trauma Centre: A cost-based cohort analysis of injury presentation and treatment.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to describe injuries related to electric scooter at a Major-Trauma-Centre in the UK, We reviewed data from January 2020-December 2020.

Methods: All patient-records mentioning electric-scooter at a major-MTC. Records were reviewed, and data were stratified according to two groups: electric scooter riders and other road users.

Cystic Artery Pseudoaneurysm: Current Review of Aetiology, Presentation, and Management.

Background: Cystic artery pseudoaneurysms are rare. Most commonly, they occur secondary to acute cholecystitis or after a cholecystectomy. Complications include haemobilia, biliary obstruction, and haemorrhage.

Neurocysticercosis in Northern Peru: Qualitative Insights from men and women about living with seizures.

Background: Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a helminthic disease of the central nervous system, and it is one of the leading causes of seizures and symptomatic epilepsy in countries with tropical regions like Peru. Studies of people with epilepsy in Peru's northern coast have consistently found that between 30% and 50% of epilepsy cases is associated with NCC. There are few studies that report on the differences in incidence and prevalence of NCC by sex, and to our knowledge, none that consider the gendered dimensions of having epilepsy.

World association for the advancement of veterinary parasitology (WAAVP) guideline for testing the efficacy of ectoparasiticides for fish.

This guideline is intended to assist in the planning and execution of studies designed to assess the efficacy of ectoparasiticides for fish. It is the first ectoparasite-specific guideline to deal with studies set in the aquatic environment and therefore provides details for the maintenance of environmental standards for finfish. Information is included on a range of pre-clinical study designs as well as clinical studies in commercial/production sites, set within a regulatory framework.

Extracellular volume fraction is more closely associated with altered regional left ventricular velocities than left ventricular ejection fraction in nonischemic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Nonischemic cardiomyopathy is a common cause of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis. The purpose of this study was to noninvasively evaluate changes in segmental LV extracellular volume (ECV) fraction, LV velocities, myocardial scar, and wall motion in nonischemic cardiomyopathy patients.

Methods And Results: Cardiac MRI including pre- and postcontrast myocardial T1 mapping and velocity quantification (tissue phase mapping) of the LV (basal, midventricular, and apical short axis) was applied in 31 patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy (50±18 years).

Biochemical and immunological characterization of Toxoplasma gondii macrophage migration inhibitory factor.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory molecule in mammals that, unusually for a cytokine, exhibits tautomerase and oxidoreductase enzymatic activities. Homologues of this well conserved protein are found within diverse phyla including a number of parasitic organisms. Herein, we produced recombinant histidine-tagged Toxoplasma gondii MIF (TgMIF), a 12-kDa protein that lacks oxidoreductase activity but exhibits tautomerase activity with a specific activity of 19.

Salicylanilide inhibitors of Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an apicomplexan parasite that can cause eye disease, brain disease, and death, especially in congenitally infected and immune-compromised people. Novel medicines effective against both active and latent forms of the parasite are greatly needed.

Novel N-benzoyl-2-hydroxybenzamide disrupts unique parasite secretory pathway.

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that can damage the human brain and eyes. There are no curative medicines. Herein, we describe our discovery of N-benzoyl-2-hydroxybenzamides as a class of compounds effective in the low nanomolar range against T.

Original observations of Desmozoon lepeophtherii, a microsporidian hyperparasite infecting the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis, and its subsequent detection by other researchers.

A microsporidian hyperparasite, Desmozoon lepeophtherii, of the parasitic copepod Lepeophtheirus salmonis (salmon louse), infecting farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), was first discovered in the west of Scotland in 2000. Heavily infected salmon lice are easily recognised as they have large opaque inclusions distributed throughout the body. The prevalence of salmon lice with visible signs of microsporidiosis can be up to 10% of the population from certain farm sites.

Toxoplasma gondii HLA-B*0702-restricted GRA7(20-28) peptide with adjuvants and a universal helper T cell epitope elicits CD8(+) T cells producing interferon-γ and reduces parasite burden in HLA-B*0702 mice.

The ability of CD8(+) T cells to act as cytolytic effectors and produce interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was demonstrated to mediate resistance to Toxoplasma gondii in murine models because of the recognition of peptides restricted by murine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. However, no T gondii-specific HLA-B07-restricted peptides were proven protective against T gondii. Recently, 2 T gondii-specific HLA-B*0702-restricted T cell epitopes, GRA7(20-28) (LPQFATAAT) and GRA3(27-35) (VPFVVFLVA), displayed high-affinity binding to HLA-B*0702 and elicited IFN-γ from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of seropositive HLA-B*07 persons.

The fate of Lernaeocera branchialis (L.) (Crustacea; Copepoda) in Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L.

Lernaeocera branchialis, a copepod crustacean parasite of gadoids, represents a potential threat to both wild and farmed cod, Gadus morhua. The pathological changes associated with the early stages of experimental infection have previously been reported in detail, and this article describes the lesions associated with later chronic stages of experimental infection. Chronic infection is characterised by extravascular granuloma formation and proliferation of fibrovascular tissue around intact and fragmented, degenerate parasites within both the gill arch and cardiac region.

Infection dynamics of two renal myxozoans in hatchery reared fry and juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L.

In order to study the infection dynamics of 2 renal myxozoans, Zschokkella hildae Auerbach, 1910 and Gadimyxa atlantica Køie, Karlsbakk and Nylund, 2007 in cultured Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L. aged 3-19 months, a specific single-round PCR assay and a double-label in situ hybridization protocol were developed. The results demonstrated that the 2 myxozoans show spatial separation of their development with regard to spore formation inside the renal tubules versus the collecting ducts and ureters, as well as temporal separation with Z.

Zschokkella hildae Auerbach, 1910: phylogenetic position, morphology, and location in cultured Atlantic cod.

The myxozoan Zschokkella hildae Auerbach, 1910, was detected with a prevalence of 100% in cultured Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua L. aged 1+ from a culture facility on the west coast of Scotland. Sporogonic stages of Z.

Reactions of 2-(pyrrol-1-yl)benzyl radicals and related species under flash vacuum pyrolysis conditions.

2-(Pyrrol-1-yl)phenoxyl, aminyl, thiophenoxyl and benzyl radicals 2a-2d, respectively, were generated in the gas-phase under flash vacuum pyrolysis conditions. In all cases except the phenoxyl, cyclisation took place providing acceptable synthetic routes to the fused heterocycles 11, 14 and 15, respectively. Only sigmatropic rearrangement products were isolated, in low yields, from the phenoxyl 2a.

Desmozoon lepeophtherii n. gen., n. sp., (Microsporidia: Enterocytozoonidae) infecting the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Copepoda: Caligidae).

Background: A microsporidian was previously reported to infect the crustacean parasite, Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer, 1837) (Copepoda, Caligidae), on farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in Scotland. The microsporidian was shown to be a novel species with a molecular phylogenetic relationship to Nucleospora (Enterocytozoonidae), but the original report did not assign it to a genus or species.

Survival analysis after pancreatic resection for ampullary and pancreatic head carcinoma: an analysis of clinicopathological factors.

Background And Objectives: Surgery remains the only curative option for the treatment of pancreatic and ampullary carcinomas. To examine the survival differences between ampullary and pancreatic head carcinomas after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Methods: A retrospective review of patients with ampullary or pancreatic head adenocarcinoma undergoing curative resection during a 6-year period prior to 2000.

Using length-frequency data to elucidate the population dynamics of Argulus foliaceus (Crustacea: Branchiura).

This study uses a novel method for discriminating cohorts and investigating the population dynamics of the parasitic crustacean, Argulus foliaceus. Analysis of parasite length-frequency data was carried out in order to elucidate the timings and drivers behind the parasite's life cycle. Up to 6 cohorts of the parasite emerge through the course of 1 year in still-water trout fisheries in England.

The influence of risk factors on the abundance, egg laying habits and impact of Argulus foliaceus in stillwater trout fisheries.

Fishery managers perceive the ectoparasitic crustacean, Argulus foliaceus to be a cause of significant economic loss through reduced fish capture rates. This study investigates the influence of previously identified risk factors on the abundance, egg laying habits and impact of this parasite through a longitudinal study of five trout fisheries of varying management intensity. Low water clarity, slow stock turnover and high temperatures showed a significant association with a high abundance of A.

Laparoscopic liver resection assisted by the laparoscopic Habib Sealer.

Background: Radiofrequency has been used as a tool for liver resection since 2002. A new laparoscopic device is reported in this article that assists liver resection laparoscopically.

Methods: From October 2006 to the present, patients suitable for liver resection were assessed carefully for laparoscopic resection with the laparoscopic Habib Sealer (LHS).

Laparoscopic Habib 4X: a bipolar radiofrequency device for bloodless laparoscopic liver resection.

Background: In recent years the progress of laparoscopic procedures and the development of new and dedicated technologies have made laparoscopic hepatic surgery feasible and safe. In spite of this laparoscopic liver resection remains a surgical procedure of great challenge because of the risk of massive bleeding during liver transection and the complicated biliary and vascular anatomy in the liver. A new laparoscopic device is reported here to assist liver resection laparoscopically.

The secondary structure of the unusually long 18S ribosomal RNA of the myxozoan Sphaerospora truttae and structural evolutionary trends in the Myxozoa.

The nearly complete 18S rRNA sequence of the myxozoan parasite Sphaerospora truttae shows an extraordinary length (2,552bp) in comparison with other myxozoans and with metazoans in general (average 1,800-1,900bp). The sequence shows nucleotide insertions in most variable regions of the 18S rRNA (V2, V4, V5 and V7), with especially large expansion segments in V4 and V7. In the myxozoans, nucleotide insertions and specific secondary structures in these regions of the gene were found to be strongly related to large scale phylogenetic clustering and thus with the invertebrate host type.