Publications by authors named "Thomas Harris"

Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage continues to cause a significant burden of morbidity and mortality despite advances in care. Trials investigating local administration of thrombolytics have reported promising results.

Objectives: - To assess the effect of thrombolysis on improving functional outcome and case fatality following aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage - To determine the effect of thrombolysis on the risk of cerebral artery vasospasm, delayed cerebral ischaemia, and hydrocephalus following subarachnoid haemorrhage - To determine the risk of complications of local thrombolysis in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (last searched 9 March 2023), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 9 March 2023), and Embase Ovid (1974 to 9 March 2023).

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Objective: The dinoflagellate Alexandrium monilatum forms blooms during summer in tributaries of the lower Chesapeake Bay. Questions persist about the potential for A. monilatum to negatively affect aquatic organisms.

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The algal macrolide goniodomin A (GDA) undergoes ring-cleavage under unusually mild, alkaline conditions to form mixtures of stereoisomers of seco acids GDA-sa and iso-GDA-sa. In the primary fragmentation pathway, opening of the macrolide ring occurs by displacement of the carboxyl group by a base-catalyzed attack of the C32 hemiketal hydroxy group on C31, yielding an oxirane-carboxylic acid, named goniodomic acid. The oxirane ring is unstable, undergoing solvolytic opening to form mainly GDA-sa.

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We report the development of an azanide (NH) surrogate which enables the facile conversion of electron-deficient (hetero)aryl halides into primary N-aryl amines under transition-metal-free conditions. The designed amidine reagent is easy to prepare, bench stable, and undergoes facile N-arylation under basic conditions at 40 °C. Intermediate N-aryl amidines are readily cleaved to form N-aryl amines in situ through hydrolysis or base-promoted elimination.

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Species of the dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium can release bioactive extracellular compounds with allelopathic effects (e.g., immobilization, inhibition of growth, photosynthesis or lysis) towards other phytoplanktonic organisms.

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The dinoflagellate Alexandrium pseudogonyaulax, a harmful algal bloom species, is currently appearing in increasing frequency and abundance across Northern European waters, displacing other Alexandrium species. This mixotrophic alga produces goniodomins (GDs) and bioactive extracellular substances (BECs) that may pose a threat to coastal ecosystems and other marine resources. This study demonstrated the adverse effects of A.

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Objective: To identify risk factors for stenosis and compare management strategies for stenosis etiology and to examine the efficacy of each approach. Patients with classic bladder exstrophy (CBE), a rare genitourinary malformation, may require construction of a continent urinary stoma (CUS) if incontinence persists. Stomal stenosis is a challenging complication as it is common, progressive, and recurrent.

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Nerve scarring after traumatic or iatrogenic exposure can lead to impaired function and pain. Nerve-adjacent biomaterials promoting a regenerative tissue response may help reduce perineural fibrosis. Our prior work suggests that testosterone may promote fibrotic skin scarring, but it is unknown how testosterone alters nerve fibrosis or shifts the response to biomaterials.

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Purpose: Best practices for high-dose-rate surface applicator brachytherapy treatment (SABT) have long relied on computed tomography (CT)-based imaging to visualize diseased sites for treatment planning. Compared with magnetic resonance (MR)-based imaging, CT provides insufficient soft tissue contrast. This work described the feasibility of clinical implementation of MR-based imaging in SABT planning to provide individualized treatment optimization.

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Introduction: Classic bladder exstrophy (CBE) is a malformation of the genitourinary system that occurs due to failure of abdominal wall closure. Unlike other malformations of similar incidence, prenatal diagnosis of CBE relies on suggested, rather than formal, diagnostic criteria.

Objective: This report describes prenatal diagnosis of CBE in the largest single-institutional cohort to date and delineates key sonographic findings and protocols for specialist referral.

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Background: The exstrophy-epispadias complex is a spectrum of ventral wall malformations including classic bladder exstrophy and cloacal exstrophy (CE). Patients undergo multiple soft-tissue procedures to achieve urinary continence. If unsuccessful bladder neck closure (BNC) is performed, muscle flaps may be used to reinforce BNC or afterward for fistula reconstruction.

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Although ammonium is the preferred nitrogen source for microbes and plants, in animal cells it is a toxic product of nitrogen metabolism that needs to be excreted. Thus, ammonium movement across biological membranes, whether for uptake or excretion, is a fundamental and ubiquitous biological process catalysed by the superfamily of the Amt/Mep/Rh transporters. A remarkable feature of the Amt/Mep/Rh family is that they are ubiquitous and, despite sharing low amino acid sequence identity, are highly structurally conserved.

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Purpose: Appropriate perioperative management is crucial in patients undergoing classic bladder exstrophy closure (CBE). Therefore, the authors sought to review their intra and postoperative management of patients with CBE undergoing primary closure and examine the impact of this pathway on patient outcomes.

Method: A prospectively maintained institutional approved exstrophy-epispadias complex database was reviewed for patients with CBE who had undergone primary closure between 2016 and 2022 and whose closure was performed within one year of age.

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The exchange of ammonium across cellular membranes is a fundamental process in all domains of life and is facilitated by the ubiquitous Amt/Mep/Rh transporter superfamily. Remarkably, despite a high structural conservation in all domains of life, these proteins have gained various biological functions during evolution. It is tempting to hypothesise that the physiological functions gained by these proteins may be explained at least in part by differences in the energetics of their translocation mechanisms.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on the mental health of athletes. How this has affected quality of life (QoL), specifically in the college population, is poorly defined.

Hypothesis: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental and physical QoL will have decreased in collegiate athletes as compared with before the pandemic.

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Purpose: Staged pelvic osteotomy has been shown in the past to be an effective tool in the closure of the extreme pubic diastasis of cloacal exstrophy. The authors sought to compare orthopedic complications between non-staged pelvic osteotomies and staged pelvic osteotomies in cloacal exstrophy.

Methods: A prospectively maintained exstrophy-epispadias complex database of 1510 patients was reviewed for cloacal exstrophy bladder closure events performed with osteotomy at the authors' institution.

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Background: The incorporation of multi-energy capabilities into radiotherapy flat-panel detectors offers advantages including enhanced soft tissue visualization by reduction of signal from overlapping anatomy such as bone in 2D image projections; creation of virtual monoenergetic images for 3D contrast enhancement, metal artefact reduction and direct acquisition of relative electron density. A novel dual-layer on-board imager offering dual energy processing capabilities is being designed. As opposed to other dual-energy implementation techniques which require separate acquisition with two different x-ray spectra, the dual-layer detector design enables simultaneous acquisition of high and low energy images with a single exposure.

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Background: For trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS)-based high dose rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy, prostate contouring can be challenging due to artifacts from implanted needles, bleeding, and calcifications.

Purpose: To evaluate the geometric accuracy and observer preference of an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for generating prostate contours on TRUS images with implanted needles.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 150 patients, who underwent HDR brachytherapy.

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Background: Huntingtin (htt) protein is an essential regulator of nervous system function through its various neuroprotective and pro-survival functions, and loss of wild-type htt function is implicated in the etiology of Huntington's disease. While its pathological role is typically understood as a toxic gain-of-function, some neuronal phenotypes also result from htt loss. Therefore, it is important to understand possible roles for htt in other physiological circumstances.

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This study describes two novel species of marine dinophytes in the genus Alexandrium. Morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses support the placement of the new taxa, herein designated as Alexandrium limii sp. nov.

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Background: Poor outcomes in functional recovery after upper extremity transplantation are largely attributable to denervation-induced muscle atrophy that occurs during the prolonged period of nerve regeneration. Growth hormone (GH) has well-established trophic effects on neurons, myocytes, and Schwann cells, and represents a promising therapeutic approach to address this challenge. This study sought to confirm the positive effects of GH treatment on nerve regeneration and functional recovery and to evaluate the effects of GH treatment on the immune response in the setting of vascularized composite allotransplantation.

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Bruch's membrane resides in the subretinal tissue and regulates the flow of nutrients and waste between the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) and vascular layers of the eye. With age, Bruch's membrane becomes thicker, stiffer, and less permeable, which impedes its function as a boundary layer in the subretina. These changes contribute to pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

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The exchange of ammonium across cellular membranes is a fundamental process in all domains of life. In plants, bacteria and fungi, ammonium represents a vital source of nitrogen, which is scavenged from the external environment. In contrast, in animal cells ammonium is a cytotoxic metabolic waste product and must be excreted to prevent cell death.

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We present a spectrally selective, passively cooled mid-wave infrared bolometric absorber engineered to spatially and spectrally decouple infrared absorption and thermal emission. The structure leverages an antenna-coupled metal-insulator-metal resonance for mid-wave infrared normal incidence photon absorption and a long-wave infrared optical phonon absorption feature, aligned closer to peak room temperature thermal emission. The phonon-mediated resonant absorption enables a strong long-wave infrared thermal emission feature limited to grazing angles, leaving the mid-wave infrared absorption feature undisturbed.

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Background: Cloacal exstrophy (CE) is rare and challenging to reconstruct. In the majority of CE patients voided continence cannot be achieved and so patients often undergo bladder neck closure (BNC). Prior mucosal violations (MVs), a surgical event when the bladder mucosa was opened or closed, significantly predicted failed BNC in classic bladder exstrophy with an increased likelihood of failure after 3 or more MVs.

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