Hydroxyl (OH) is the atmosphere's main oxidant removing most pollutants including methane. Its short lifetime prevents large-scale direct observational quantification. Abundances inferred using anthropogenic trace gas measurements and models yield conflicting trend estimates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Global demand for care during the last year of life (end-of-life) is rising and with shortfalls in community healthcare services, paramedics are increasingly called on to deliver this. Despite this growing demand on the paramedic workforce, little large-scale or detailed empirical research has evaluated current practice and paramedic experiences of attending this patient group. Therefore, as part of a wider study evaluating paramedic delivery of end-of-life care, a large-scale survey in England describing paramedics' current practice and experiences providing end-of-life care was undertaken.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe profiled a large heterogenous cohort of matched diagnostic-relapse tumour tissue and paired plasma-derived cell free DNA (cfDNA) from patients with relapsed and progressive solid tumours of childhood. Tissue and cfDNA sequencing results were concordant, with a wider spectrum of mutant alleles and higher degree of intra-tumour heterogeneity captured by the latter, if sufficient circulating tumour-derived DNA (ctDNA) was present. Serial tumour sequencing identified putative drivers of relapse, with alterations in epigenetic drivers being a common feature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Robot-assisted (RA) technology is becoming more widely integrated and accepted in spine surgery. The authors sought to evaluate operative and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in RA versus fluoroscopy-assisted (FA) pedicle screw placement during minimally invasive surgery (MIS) transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF).
Methods: The authors retrospectively studied elective patients who underwent single- or multilevel MIS TLIF for degenerative indication using FA versus RA pedicle screw placement.
Background: Shortages of nurses are one of the biggest challenges healthcare systems face around the world. Given the wide range of contexts and individuals working in nursing, a 'one-size-fits-all' retention strategy is unlikely to be effective. Knowing what matters most to nurses at different career stages would help employers and policy-makers who want to enhance nurse retention to design tailored strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndependent identification of carbon emission peaks determined from fuel inventories is a challenging goal. Because of the complete depletion of radiocarbon (C) in fossil fuel sources, the measurement of atmospheric CO has proven to offer a means of achieving this goal. Here, we present a study identifying peak carbon emissions from two Chinese cities using urban tree-ring ΔC time series during 2000-2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Opin Pharmacol
October 2024
Chronic pain is a major burden and the complexities of chronic pain pathophysiology, including both peripheral and central sensitisation mechanisms, involves multiple cell types (neuronal, immune, neuroimmune, and vascular) which substantially complicates the development of new effective analgesic treatments. The epoxy fatty acids (EpFAs), including the epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), are derived from the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) via the cytochrome P450 enzymatic pathway and act to shut-down inflammatory signalling and provide analgesia. The EpFAs are rapidly metabolised by the enzyme soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) into their corresponding diol metabolites, which recent studies suggest are pro-inflammatory and pro-nociceptive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pericardial fluid (PF) contains cells, proteins, and inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and matrix metalloproteinases. To date, we lack an adequate understanding of the inflammatory response that acute injury elicits in the pericardial space.
Objective: To characterize the inflammatory profile in the pericardial space acutely after ischemia/reperfusion.
Here, we report on the one hundred and twenty-five bacterial strains made available by the National Collection of Type Cultures in 2022 alongside a commentary on the strains, their provenance and significance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFluorescent dyes are an indispensable part of the scientific enterprise. Xanthene-based fluorophores, like fluorescein and rhodamine, have been in continual use across numerous fields since their invention in the late 19 century. Modern methods to synthesize and expand the scope of xanthene dye chemistry have enabled new colors, enhanced stability, and improved brightness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe decision to place a tracheostomy in children is complex and involves factors beyond the medical procedure, including quality of life, values, and goals. Providers play an important role in counseling caregivers and guiding them through the decision-making process. There are no established guidelines for tracheostomy counseling, leading to variations in practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and functional status. However, few studies have evaluated chronic GVHD-related disability and specific activity limitations from a patient perspective. The objective of this analysis was to assess physical, cognitive, and work disability, and describe factors predictive of disability in patients with chronic GVHD in the potentially employable general workforce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gold rush at the end of the nineteenth century in south-eastern Australia resulted in the mobilization and re-deposition of vast quantities of tailings that modified the geomorphology of the associated river valleys. Previous studies of contamination risk in these systems have either been performed directly on mine wastes (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic pain is a major cause of disability and suffering in osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Endogenous specialised pro-resolving molecules (SPMs) curtail pro-inflammatory responses. One of the SPM intermediate oxylipins, 17-hydroxydocasahexaenoic acid (17-HDHA, a metabolite of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)), is significantly associated with OA pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Many health care systems have used digital technologies to support care delivery, a trend amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Digital first" may exacerbate health inequalities due to variations in eHealth literacy. The relationship between eHealth literacy and web-based urgent care service use is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Gaucher disease type 3 (GD3) is a genetic, progressive lysosomal storage disorder characterized by visceral manifestations and chronic neurologic symptoms (e.g., horizontal ophthalmoplegia/supranuclear gaze palsy, ataxia, dystonia).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine associations between serum oxylipins, which regulate tissue repair and pain signalling, and knee pain/radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) at baseline and knee pain at 3 year follow-up.
Method: Baseline, and 3 year follow-up, knee pain phenotypes were assessed from 154 participants in the Knee Pain in the Community (KPIC) cohort study. Serum and radiographic Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) and Nottingham line drawing atlas OA scores were collected at baseline.
Background: Despite an acute knee injury being a major risk factor for osteoarthritis, the factors that initiate and maintain this risk of longer-term knee symptoms are poorly understood. Bioactive lipids derived from omega-3 and -6 polyunsaturated fatty acids have key roles in the regulation of the inflammatory response and have been linked to joint damage and osteoarthritis pain in translational models.
Hypothesis: There would be associations between systemic levels of bioactive lipids and knee symptoms longitudinally after an acute knee injury and related knee surgery.
A two-year (March 2021 to February 2023) continuous atmospheric CO and a one-year regular atmospheric CO measurement records were measured at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains in Xi'an, China, aiming to study the temporal characteristics of atmospheric CO and the contributions from the sources of fossil fuel CO (CO) and biological CO (CO) fluxes. The two-year mean CO mole fraction was 442.2 ± 16.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Like many countries, England has a national shortage of registered nurses. Employers strive to retain existing staff, to ease supply pressures. Disproportionate numbers of nurses leave the National Health Services (NHS) both early in their careers, and later, as they near retirement age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease which is detrimental to cardiovascular health, often leading to secondary microvascular complications, with huge global health implications. Therapeutic interventions that can be applied to multiple vascular beds are urgently needed. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) are characterised by early microvascular permeability changes which, if left untreated, lead to visual impairment and renal failure, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper describes a cost-effective fracture simulation that aids in preclinical learning of fracture identification. This project establishes feasibility of inducing closed fractures in a donated cadaver. The study team made an identified Weber C ankle fracture in this donor, maintaining the soft tissue envelope surrounding the fracture, using minimal materials in a stepwise process that will be reproducible across educational programs regardless of access to highly specialized equipment.
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