Publications by authors named "VAUGHAN D"

Trochopus martydeveneyi n. sp., a large, elegant species is described from the dorsal surface of the pectoral fins of captive Cape gurnard, Chelidonichthys capensis (Cuvier), at Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town, originally collected from Table Bay, South Africa in 2007.

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Research Question: Could a predictive model, using data from all US fertility clinics reporting to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, estimate the likelihood of patients using their stored oocytes?

Design: Multiple learner algorithms, including penalized regressions, random forests, gradient boosting machine, linear discriminant analysis and bootstrap aggregating decision trees were used. Data were split into training and test datasets. Patient demographics, medical and fertility diagnoses, partner information and geographic locations were analysed.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze cognitive and psychological issues in patients at a First Seizure Clinic, hypothesizing that those with epilepsy would show more impairments.
  • 201 patients underwent cognitive and psychological screening before their diagnostic assessment, and the results were compared to 35 matched controls.
  • Individuals diagnosed with epilepsy experienced the most significant cognitive impairments, especially in learning and memory, while mood issues like depressive symptoms were common across all patient groups, highlighting the importance of early detection.
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  • After a first seizure, anti-seizure medications (ASMs) can influence the likelihood of additional seizures, leading to a study that analyzes brain network changes using fMRI data from 28 participants before and during ASM therapy.
  • The research found that ASM treatment increased the clustering coefficient and decreased network path length, indicating more efficient brain connections, with the greatest changes observed in specific brain regions linked to seizure activity.
  • The findings suggest that individuals with recurrent seizures exhibit more significant network changes after ASM treatment, highlighting the need for larger studies to better understand the relationship between ASM effects and long-term seizure outcomes.
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  • Vascular epiphytes in tropical montane cloud forests are at risk due to climate change, as rising cloud bases limit moisture and atmospheric inputs, particularly for those growing on isolated pasture trees.
  • Researchers studied the water relations of these epiphytes in Monteverde, Costa Rica, measuring sap velocity and microclimate variables across different seasons and sites.
  • Results showed that drought conditions increased the turgor loss point of the epiphytes, with significant correlations between microclimate and sap velocity in the wet season, highlighting potential vulnerabilities in pasture trees compared to those in the forest.
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  • - The study aimed to evaluate the use of a seizure recurrence prediction tool in a First Seizure Clinic by analyzing the accuracy of initial diagnoses and the effectiveness of computational models in predicting seizures after a first unprovoked seizure (FUS).
  • - Among the 487 patients in the accuracy cohort, 69% maintained their initial diagnosis over 6 months, but misdiagnosis occurred in 5%, with 17% progressing to epilepsy; in the prediction cohort of 181 patients, the 12-month seizure recurrence rate was found to be 41%.
  • - While the initial diagnosis showed high accuracy, the current prediction models' performance was modest, suggesting that additional data beyond just clinical factors is necessary to enhance the ability to
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Study Question: What is the impact of male age- and sperm-related factors on embryonic aneuploidy?

Summary Answer: Using a 3-fold analysis framework encompassing patient-level, embryo-level, and matching analysis, we found no clinically significant interactions between male age and sperm quality with embryo ploidy.

What Is Known Already: While the effect of maternal age on embryo chromosomal aneuploidy is well-established, the impact of male age and sperm quality on ploidy is less well-defined.

Study Design, Size, Duration: This retrospective cohort study analyzed autologous preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) and frozen embryo transfer cycles from December 2014 to June 2021.

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Background: Seed amplification assay (SAA) testing has been developed as a biomarker for the diagnosis of α-synuclein-related neurodegenerative disorders.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the rate of α-synuclein SAA positivity in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS) and to analyze clinical and pathological features of SAA-positive and -negative cases.

Methods: A total of 96 cerebrospinal fluid samples from clinically diagnosed PSP (n = 59) and CBS (n = 37) cases were analyzed using α-synuclein SAA.

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Research Question: How do perinatal outcomes differ between programmed and modified natural frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles?

Design: A retrospective cohort study of 839 patients was undertaken at a university-affiliated fertility practice undergoing single blastocyst FET cycles between 2014 and 2020. The primary outcome measures were the incidence of ischaemic placental disease, small for gestational age (SGA), intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), preterm delivery, birth weight, and mode of delivery.

Results: When comparing programmed FET cycles with modified natural FET cycles, there was no increased risk of ischaemic placental disease [adjusted risk ratio (aRR) 0.

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Objective: Memory is one of the most sensitive markers of cognitive compromise in people with new-onset epilepsy. Nonetheless, around half of these cases score within the normal range on standard memory testing. Here we explore whether memory retention at a 1-week delay reveals otherwise undetected memory compromise in such individuals, and how it relates to subjective memory complaints and mood.

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Troglocephalinae n. subfam. is proposed for Spinuris Doran, 1953, Neoheterocotyle Hargis, 1955, Anoplocotyloides Young, 1967, Troglocephalus rhinobatidis Young, 1967 (previously incertae sedis), Nonacotyle pristis Ogawa, 1991, Mehracotyle insolita Neifar, Euzet & Ben Hassine, 2002, Scuticotyle cairae n.

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Understanding the motivations and decisions behind COVID-19 vaccine acceptance is crucial for designing targeted public health interventions to address vaccine hesitancy. We conducted a qualitative analysis to explore COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among diverse ethnic subgroups of Black Americans in the United States. This study investigates the 2021-2022 responses of 79 African American, Afro-Caribbean, and African respondents over the age of 18 in Washington State and Texas.

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Bacterial infection is a dynamic process resulting in a heterogenous population of infected and uninfected cells. These cells respond differently based on their bacterial load and duration of infection. In the case of infection of macrophages with Crohn's disease (CD) associated adherent-invasive (AIEC), understanding the drivers of pathogen success may allow targeting of cells where AIEC replicate to high levels.

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Dependence is a hallmark of alcohol use disorder characterized by excessive alcohol intake and withdrawal symptoms. The central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is a key brain structure underlying the synaptic and behavioral consequences of ethanol dependence. While accumulating evidence suggests that astrocytes regulate synaptic transmission and behavior, there is a limited understanding of the role astrocytes play in ethanol dependence.

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Background: Seed amplification assay (SAA) testing has become an important biomarker in the diagnosis of alpha-synuclein related neurodegenerative disorders.

Objectives: To assess the rate of alpha-synuclein SAA positivity in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS), and analyse the clinical and pathological features of SAA positive and negative cases.

Methods: 106 CSF samples from clinically diagnosed PSP (n=59), CBS (n=37) and indeterminate parkinsonism cases (n=10) were analysed using alpha-synuclein SAA.

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Objective: Epilepsy is a common and serious neurological disorder. This cross-sectional analysis addresses the burden of epilepsy at different stages of the disease.

Methods: This pilot study is embedded within the Australian Epilepsy Project (AEP), aiming to provide epilepsy support through a national network of dedicated sites.

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Objective: Neuropsychological comorbidities found in chronic epilepsy have also been reported earlier in the disease course. However, recurrent seizures, antiseizure medication (ASM), and adjustment to a chronic diagnosis remain potential confounds of this literature. It thus remains unclear whether these comorbidities are primary or secondary attributes of epilepsy.

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Diffusion MRI has provided insight into the widespread structural connectivity changes that characterize epilepsies. Although syndrome-specific white matter abnormalities have been demonstrated, studies to date have predominantly relied on statistical comparisons between patient and control groups. For diffusion MRI techniques to be of clinical value, they should be able to detect white matter microstructural changes in individual patients.

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Importance: Poor ovarian response (POR) to stimulation may impact patients' desire or need to utilize cryopreserved oocytes for family building in the future. These findings, captured by Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) national data, underscore the need for tailored counseling and further research into the decision-making processes influencing oocyte utilization.

Objective: To examine the association of ovarian response to stimulation and the number of vitrified oocytes with the likelihood and timing of patients returning for oocyte utilization following planned oocyte cryopreservation (OC).

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explored how significant weight changes affect in-vitro fertilization (IVF) performance, finding that weight loss did not have a significant impact on ovarian response or cycle outcomes, while some positive effects were noted with weight gain.
  • Previous research on the relationship between weight and fertility often focused on obesity, showing mixed results, and raised concerns about how accurately BMI assesses factors affecting fertility.
  • The study included 961 women from an academic fertility center and used advanced statistical methods to analyze data from patients who experienced weight changes within a year of their IVF cycles.
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Invasive bacterial disease is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In winter 2022, there was an apparent increased rate of invasive bacterial disease compared to preceding years. Cross-site retrospective analysis of the three Children's Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals looking at children admitted between 1st October 2022-31st December 2022 (Q4) with community-acquired invasive bacterial disease, defined as an abscess in a normally sterile site in the head, neck and chest or isolation or PCR detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A streptococcus) or Haemophilus influenzae from a normally sterile site.

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