Publications by authors named "Steel J"

Purpose: Management of discourse is acknowledged as a critical component of speech-language pathology practice with cognitive communication after traumatic brain injury (TBI). This scoping review aimed to collate the visual materials that are being used in empirical research for spoken narrative elicitation post-TBI, in both assessment and treatment contexts. We aimed to examine the format, structure, and sources for visuals used.

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Importance: Chronic pain is common among individuals with dialysis-dependent kidney failure.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of pain coping skills training (PCST), a cognitive behavioral intervention, on pain interference.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This multicenter randomized clinical trial of PCST vs usual care was conducted across 16 academic centers and 103 outpatient dialysis facilities in the US.

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The global spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus poses a serious pandemic threat, necessitating the swift development of effective vaccines. The success of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology in the COVID-19 pandemic, marked by its rapid development and scalability, demonstrates its potential for addressing other infectious threats, such as HPAI A(H5N1). We therefore evaluated mRNA vaccine candidates targeting panzootic influenza A(H5) clade 2.

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Pain Coping Skills Training (PCST) is a first-line cognitive-behavioral, non-pharmacological treatment for chronic pain and comorbid symptoms. PCST has been shown to be effective in racially and ethnically diverse cohorts across several chronic medical conditions. However, PCST has not been evaluated in those with end stage kidney disease (ESKD) receiving in-center maintenance hemodialysis.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Therapeutic DNA cancer vaccines stimulate immune responses but often fall short in effectiveness; researchers found that manganese-doped silica nanoparticles (MSNA) can enhance these vaccines' performance.
  • - When combined with plasmid DNA encoding cancer antigens like α-fetoprotein, MSNA significantly increased specific immune responses in animal models, leading to better cancer immunity.
  • - The study showed that MSNA not only improved T cell responses against cancer but also successfully prevented tumor growth in models for both liver and HPV-related cancers.
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Objective: To examine the rates as well as the interdependence of depressive symptoms and sleep problems in patients with cancer and their intimate partner family caregivers.

Method: Patients diagnosed with cancer (69.3 years old, 56.

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Introduction: Wastewater surveillance is an important technique to monitor public health and is being studied extensively for pandemic prevention, force health protection and readiness, and as a potential early warning system for chem-bio defense. Wastewater surveillance has traditionally relied on techniques such as quantitative PCR or targeted sequencing, both of which are microbe- or disease-specific tools. Newer pan-viral metagenomics strategies may provide higher specificity for pathogens of interest, resulting in a lower false negative rate and reduced sequencing of undesired background nucleic acids.

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Curricular guidelines promote standardized approaches to coverage of essential knowledge and skills in undergraduate education. The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Microbiology were developed in 2012. Continuous, rapid growth of knowledge in science and a dynamic, changing world necessitate updates to these guidelines.

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  • Radiotherapy processes are prone to errors involving staff and equipment, but Cone-beam CT (CBCT) allows for final checks and corrections before treatment.
  • Statistical Process Control (SPC) techniques, commonly used in various industries, were applied to CBCT results in a study of Head and Neck patient treatments over 12 years, demonstrating sensitivity to changes.
  • The study found a reduction in random patient setup errors, but systematic errors remained stable, while an increase in errors correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and challenges in using SPC for retrospective data analysis were discussed.
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Purpose: Communication can be chronically impacted by severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet there is a critical lack of research investigating communication recovery beyond 12 months postinjury with discourse measures. This longitudinal study aimed to investigate quantitative and qualitative changes in recounts produced by a group of people with severe TBI up to 2 years postinjury.

Method: A prospective observational design with an inception cohort was adopted.

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Key Points: Patients treated with maintenance hemodialysis report a higher symptom burden on the days they receive hemodialysis treatment, compared with non-hemodialysis days. The severity of physical, cognitive, and mood symptoms can vary diurnally, and the pattern of this variation may differ between hemodialysis and non-hemodialysis days. Ecological momentary assessment can provide insights into the complex, dynamic symptom experiences of patients on hemodialysis.

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  • The study looked at patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and found no links between inflammation markers and their feelings of pain, tiredness, or sadness at the start.
  • A special treatment called Technology-Assisted stepped Collaborative Care (TĀCcare) helped reduce inflammation for some patients over a short time.
  • Both the treatment and regular groups saw changes in certain inflammation markers, but only the treatment group showed improvements in specific markers like TNF- and IL-2 at 3 months.
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Organofluorine compounds have been widely used as pharmaceuticals, agricultural pesticides, and water-resistant coatings for decades; however, these compounds are recognized as environmental pollutants. The capability of microorganisms and enzymes to defluorinate organofluorine compounds is both rare and highly desirable to facilitate environmental remediation efforts. Recently, a strain of (D4B) was identified with potential biodegradation activity toward perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other organofluorine compounds.

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Since May 2023, a novel combination of neuraminidase mutations, I223V + S247N, has been detected in influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses collected in countries spanning 5 continents, mostly in Europe (67/101). The viruses belong to 2 phylogenetically distinct groups and display ≈13-fold reduced inhibition by oseltamivir while retaining normal susceptibility to other antiviral drugs.

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The ability of bacteria to sense and respond to mechanical forces has important implications for pathogens during infection, as they experience wide fluid shear fluctuations in the host. However, little is known about how mechanical forces encountered in the infected host drive microbial pathogenesis. Herein, we combined mathematical modeling with hydrodynamic bacterial culture to profile transcriptomic and pathogenesis-related phenotypes of multidrug resistant .

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Key Points: Mean baseline levels of perceived social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support) were comparable with other chronically ill populations. Higher Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scores were correlated with lower levels of fatigue, pain, depressive symptoms, anxiety, better sleep quality, and health-related quality of life (Short Form-12 Mental Component Score). Moderation analyses revealed male sex and non-Hispanic ethnicity resulted in stronger positive associations of perceived social support with Short Form-12 Mental Component Score.

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There are places on earth that are considered to possess extreme physico-chemical characteristics as they relate to life. Surprisingly, there are microbes that have adapted various strategies that enable them to form robust communities in these environments. The microbes that live in these environments, called extremophiles, are described as being thermophilic, psychrophilic, halophilic, acidophilic, alkaliphilic, barophilic, and so on.

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Glaucoma and uveitis are non-vascular ocular diseases which are among the leading causes of blindness and visual loss. These conditions have distinct characteristics and mechanisms but share a multifactorial and complex nature, making their management challenging and burdensome for patients and clinicians. Furthermore, the lack of symptoms in the early stages of glaucoma and the diverse aetiology of uveitis hinder timely and accurate diagnoses, which are a cause of poor visual outcomes under both conditions.

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The complex self-assembled network of neurons and synapses that comprises the biological brain enables natural information processing with remarkable efficiency. Percolating networks of nanoparticles (PNNs) are complex self-assembled nanoscale systems that have been shown to possess many promising brain-like attributes and which are therefore appealing systems for neuromorphic computation. Here experiments are performed that show that PNNs can be utilized as physical reservoirs within a nanoelectronic reservoir computing framework and demonstrate successful computation for several benchmark tasks (chaotic time series prediction, nonlinear transformation, and memory capacity).

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Background: The current standard of care of screening and referring patients for treatment for symptoms, such as depression, pain, and fatigue, is not effective. This trial aimed to test the efficacy of an integrated screening and novel stepped collaborative care intervention versus standard of care for patients with cancer and at least one of the following symptoms: depression, pain, or fatigue.

Methods: This randomised, parallel, phase 3 trial was conducted in 29 oncology outpatient clinics associated with the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in the USA.

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A FHIR based platform for case-based instruction of health professions students has been developed and field tested. The system provides a non-technical case authoring tool; supports individual and team learning using digital virtual patients; and allows integration of SMART Apps into cases via its simulated EMR. Successful trials at the University of Queensland have led to adoption at the University of Melbourne.

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Article Synopsis
  • The HOPE Trial is a multicenter randomized trial aimed at reducing chronic pain and opioid use in patients on maintenance hemodialysis for end-stage kidney disease.
  • Phase 1 involves randomly assigning participants to either Pain Coping Skills Training (PCST) or Usual Care, while Phase 2 offers buprenorphine to those on high doses of opioid medications.
  • The trial tracks outcomes like pain interference, hospitalizations, and mortality over 36 weeks, ultimately seeking to improve management strategies for chronic pain in this patient population.
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Background And Objectives: There is limited research on management of metastatic anal canal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) to the liver. This study aimed to describe outcomes for patients undergoing liver resection of anal SCC metastases.

Methods: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted by three tertiary-referral centers.

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The biological brain is a highly efficient computational system in which information processing is performed via electrical spikes. Neuromorphic computing systems that work on similar principles could support the development of the next generation of artificial intelligence and, in particular, enable low-power edge computing. Percolating networks of nanoparticles (PNNs) have previously been shown to exhibit critical spiking behavior, with promise for highly efficient natural computation.

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Objectives: The aims of the study were to (1) describe types of pain in cancer patients, (2) examine the predictors and consequences of pain, (3) investigate the association between type of pain and survival, and (4) examine potential biological mediators of pain and survival.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of baseline data from patients diagnosed with cancer. Patients answered questionnaires that assessed sociodemographic characteristics, pain, depression, sleep, and fatigue.

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