Publications by authors named "Stephen M"

Purpose: Psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, is common among adults with CF, associating with poor quality of life, lung function, and healthcare utilization. This 3-year, multi-site, telehealth-delivered randomized trial sought to determine whether Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT with CF) is superior to supportive psychotherapy (SP), in improving psychological functioning for adults with CF.

Methods: One hundred twenty-four adults with CF and elevated anxiety and/or depressive symptoms were recruited coincident with the first COVID lockdown, from Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, University of Virginia, Augusta University, Duke University Medical Center, and social media.

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  • * It occurs after age 30, and diagnosis is made through various eye examinations, including fundus photography and optical coherence tomography.
  • * Treatment options include laser therapy and injections to prevent complications like retinal detachment, but outcomes can vary, emphasizing the need for early detection and intervention.
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National public health emergency operations centers (PHEOCs) serve as hubs for coordinating information and resources for effective emergency management. In the a simulation exercise is 1 of 4 components that can be used to test the functionality of a country's emergency response capabilities in a simulated situation. To test the functionality of PHEOCs in World Health Organization African Region member states, a regional functional exercise simulating an Ebola virus disease outbreak was conducted.

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  • Recombinant porcine factor VIII (rpFVIII) is used to treat bleeding in patients with acquired hemophilia A.
  • A significant challenge in its effectiveness is the presence of cross-reacting anti-human FVIII antibodies in patients.
  • In this study, 52% of patients with acquired hemophilia A had these antibodies, which resulted in lower FVIII activity levels after receiving rpFVIII.
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Job stress is a critical factor of concern in police work across the world. While frustrations, exhaustion and emotional burnout in work places, particularly as they relate to police job, have been academically emphasized in more advanced climes, they are marginally addressed in less developed societies like Nigeria. Thus, this paper examines the psychological and physical impacts of job stress, workload, and burnout among police officers in Nigeria.

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  • Niraparib has been recently funded in Canada for maintaining ovarian cancer treatment after chemotherapy, but its real-world safety remains unclear.
  • A cohort study was conducted involving 514 patients across four Canadian provinces, analyzing their characteristics and adverse events when using niraparib from June 2019 to December 2022.
  • Results showed that significant hematological issues like anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia affected 11-16% of patients, but these rates were relatively low, possibly due to careful prescribing and monitoring by healthcare providers.
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The International Health Regulations Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (IHRMEF) includes four components regularly conducted by States Parties to measure the current status of International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 core capacities and provide recommendations for strengthening these capacities. However, the four components are conducted independently of one another and have no systematic referral to each other before, during or after each process, despite being largely conducted by the same team, country and support organisations. This analysis sets out to identify ways in which IHRMEF components could work more synergistically to effectively measure the status of IHR core capacities, taking into account the country's priority risks.

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  • African giant pouched rats, trained by APOPO, effectively detected tuberculosis (TB) in patients, leading to significant findings about their detection capabilities compared to traditional methods.
  • In a study of 35,766 patients, rats identified 2,029 cases of TB that would have been missed, representing 52% of total TB diagnoses, especially excelling among patients with low bacillary loads and children.
  • The rats were found to be six times more effective than DOT facilities at detecting TB, particularly in children, and showed superior performance in identifying cases with low levels of the Mycobacterium bacilli.
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In 2002, heterozygous suppressor of fused variants (SUFU) in the germline were described to have a tumor suppressor role in the development of pediatric medulloblastoma (MB). Other neoplasms associated with pathologic germline SUFU variants have also been described among patients with basal cell nevus syndrome (BCNS; BCNS is also known as Gorlin syndrome, nevoid basal cell carcinoma [BCC] syndrome or Gorlin-Goltz syndrome; OMIM 109400), an autosomal-dominant cancer predisposition syndrome. The phenotype of patients with germline SUFU variants is very poorly characterized due to a paucity of large studies with long-term follow-up.

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Reproductive performance is a key determinant of cow longevity in a pasture-based, seasonal dairy system. Unfortunately, direct fertility phenotypes such as intercalving interval or pregnancy rate tend to have low heritabilities and occur relatively late in an animal's life. In contrast, age at puberty (AGEP) is a moderately heritable, early-in-life trait that may be estimated using an animal's age at first measured elevation in blood plasma progesterone (AGEP4) concentrations.

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  • The Joint External Evaluation (JEE) is a WHO-recommended assessment tool for evaluating countries' capabilities under the International Health Regulations, implemented across all 47 African nations after the West Africa Ebola outbreak.
  • Tanzania was the first to conduct a JEE in February 2016, with a total of 360 experts from 88 organizations involved by April 2022.
  • Key challenges included a lack of understanding of the JEE process and limited resources, but lessons learned emphasized the importance of local leadership, stakeholder involvement, and the need for better financing and planning for future evaluations.
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Anaphylaxis, a type 1 hypersensitivity reaction, is a feared but uncommon complication of medications administered in the perioperative period. The incidence of perioperative hypersensitivity reactions has been reported to range from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 1,361. Anesthesiologists are well aware of common causes of hypersensitivity such as paralytics and antibiotics; however, less common triggers of anaphylaxis need to be considered as well.

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Background: Many phenotypes in animal breeding are derived from incomplete measures, especially if they are challenging or expensive to measure precisely. Examples include time-dependent traits such as reproductive status, or lifespan. Incomplete measures for these traits result in phenotypes that are subject to left-, interval- and right-censoring, where phenotypes are only known to fall below an upper bound, between a lower and upper bound, or above a lower bound respectively.

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Anogenital distance (AGD) is a moderately heritable trait that can be measured at a young age that may provide an opportunity to indirectly select for improved fertility in dairy cattle. In this study, we characterized AGD and its genetic and phenotypic relationships with a range of body stature and fertility traits. We measured AGD, shoulder height, body length, and body weight in a population of 5,010 Holstein-Friesian and Holstein-Friesian × Jersey crossbred heifers at approximately 11 mo of age (AGD1).

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Aims: To explore animal- and herd-level risk factors influencing age at puberty in predominantly Holstein-Friesian dairy heifers managed in seasonal, pasture-based systems.

Methods: Heifers born in spring 2018 (n = 5,010) from 54 commercial dairy herds in New Zealand were visited on three occasions when the mean heifer age, within herd, was 10 (visit 1; V1), 11 (V2) and 12 (V3) months old. Blood samples were collected on each visit and liveweight, stature and anogenital distance (AGD) were measured at V2.

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Cerebellar hypoplasia is a heterogeneous neurological condition in which the cerebellum is smaller than usual or not completely developed. The condition can have genetic origins, with Mendelian-effect mutations described in several mammalian species. Here, we describe a genetic investigation of cerebellar hypoplasia in White Swiss Shepherd dogs, where two affected puppies were identified from a litter with a recent common ancestor on both sides of their pedigree.

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The etiology for corneal clouding from the birth is varied and includes conditions such as sclerocornea, birth trauma, corneal ulcer, Peters anomaly, and rare causes like mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS). The lysosomal storage disorders are associated with a varied ocular manifestation including bilateral corneal clouding which is often mild and stippled except in few cases like Hunter syndrome where cornea is often clear. We report a case of MPS Type I S (MPS 1) with near-normal visual acuity and bilateral dense corneal clouding with sparing of central 3 mm of cornea.

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Graves' ophthalmopathy is the most common cause of both unilateral and bilateral proptoses in adults. Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) is a small round cell malignant lesion of neuroectodermal origin which very rarely affects the orbit. In this case report, we have discussed about a young woman with existing Graves' ophthalmopathy who presented with worsening proptosis; computed tomography imaging revealed an irregular mass lesion in the right orbit without bone erosion.

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Purpose: To assess the morphological changes in the anterior segment following laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) in primary angle-closure disease (PACD) using Sirius Scheimpflug-Placido disk corneal topographer.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study. A total of 52 eyes of 27 patients with PACD who underwent LPI were analyzed for iridocorneal angle (ICA), anterior chamber depth (ACD), anterior chamber volume (ACV), horizontal visible iris diameter (HVID), corneal volume (CV), central corneal thickness (CCT), and horizontal anterior chamber diameter (HACD) 1 week following LPI, using Sirius Scheimpflug-Placido disk corneal topographer.

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