Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design to adapt an Illness Perception Questionnaire for African Americans with diabetes: the mixed data integration process.

Background: Although qualitative methods have been used to develop quantitative behavioral health measurements, studies rarely report on the exact development process of these questionnaires. In this methodological paper, we highlight the procedure of a mixed data integration process in using qualitative data to create quantitative questionnaire items.

Methods: We used an exploratory sequential mixed methods study design to culturally adapt the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) and address the sociocultural contexts of African Americans with type 2 diabetes.

Current Controversies in Neoadjuvant Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer.

Over the last two decades, there have been significant changes in the management of patients with localized pancreatic cancer. The rationale for an evolution toward a neoadjuvant approach and summary of relevant clinical trials is reviewed. Controversies in identifying optimal neoadjuvant therapeutic approaches are discussed.

Speech pathology service enhancement for people with head and neck cancer living in rural areas: Using a concept mapping approach to inform service change.

Background: Speech pathology (SP) services provide swallowing and communication intervention to people with head and neck cancer (HNC) across the continuum of care. However, difficulties exist with access and delivery of services in rural areas. The study aim was to identify actionable goals for SP change, utilizing a concept mapping approach.

How a sample of English stop smoking services and vape shops adapted during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods cross-sectional survey.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in England led to major changes in the delivery of support via stop smoking services (SSS) and to the widespread temporary closure of bricks and mortar e-cigarette retailers (vape shops herein). The impact of disruptions across the smoking cessation support landscape has not been fully documented. The purpose of this study was to capture how SSS and vape shops in England were affected and adapted their 'business as usual' during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Microwave-Assisted Defibrillation of Microalgae.

The first production of defibrillated celluloses from microalgal biomass using acid-free, TEMPO-free and bleach-free hydrothermal microwave processing is reported. Two routes were explored: i. direct microwave process of native microalgae ("standard"), and ii.

Establishing Clinical Swallowing Assessment Services via Telepractice: A Multisite Implementation Evaluation.

Purpose While research has confirmed the feasibility and validity of delivering clinical swallowing evaluations (CSEs) via telepractice, challenges exist for clinical implementation. Using an implementation framework, strategies that supported implementation of CSE services via telepractice within 18 regional/rural sites across five health services were examined. Method A coordinated implementation strategy involving remote training and support was provided to 18 sites across five health services (five hub and spoke services) that had identified a need to implement CSEs via telepractice.

Advances in the study of organelle interactions and their role in neurodegenerative diseases enabled by super-resolution microscopy.

From the first illustrations of neuronal morphology by Ramón y Cajal to the recent three-dimensional reconstruction of synaptic connections, the development of modern neuroscience has greatly benefited from breakthroughs in imaging technology. This also applies specifically to the study of neurodegenerative diseases. Much of the research into these diseases relies on the direct visualisation of intracellular structures and their dynamics in degenerating neural cells, which cannot be fully resolved by diffraction-limited microscopes.

Viruses and Type 1 Diabetes: From Enteroviruses to the Virome.

For over a century, viruses have left a long trail of evidence implicating them as frequent suspects in the development of type 1 diabetes. Through vigorous interrogation of viral infections in individuals with islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes using serological and molecular virus detection methods, as well as mechanistic studies of virus-infected human pancreatic β-cells, the prime suspects have been narrowed down to predominantly human enteroviruses. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of evidence supporting the hypothesised role of enteroviruses in the development of islet autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes.

Pseudoreplication in genomic-scale data sets.

In genomic-scale data sets, loci are closely packed within chromosomes and hence provide correlated information. Averaging across loci as if they were independent creates pseudoreplication, which reduces the effective degrees of freedom (df') compared to the nominal degrees of freedom, df. This issue has been known for some time, but consequences have not been systematically quantified across the entire genome.

Clinical Outcomes of Ablation Compared with Resection for Single Hepatocellular Carcinoma Lesions, as a Primary Treatment or Bridging to Liver Transplantation: A Retrospective Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND Ablative therapies (AT) are widely utilized as bridging treatment for liver transplantation (LT) candidates with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are on the transplant waiting list to minimize dropout rate. We aimed to investigate whether AT could be considered a primary treatment modality for LT candidates with single, small HCC lesions. MATERIAL AND METHODS We retrospectively investigated the outcomes of patients with AT for single HCC lesions as primary treatment or bridging to LT between 2010 and 2017, compared with surgical resection (SR) during the same time period as control.

Optimising existing speech-language therapy resources in an underserved community: A study of the Maldives.

Background: People living in Majority world countries face complex challenges regarding speech-language therapy services. As traditional individualised service delivery approaches may not suit the needs of the population, customised solutions are needed.

Aim: This study explored speech-language therapy and related resources available in the Maldives, a Majority world country, as seen by local government representatives and service providers.

Neutrophils in pregnancy: New insights into innate and adaptive immune regulation.

The immunology of pregnancy has been the focus of many studies to better understand how the mother is able to tolerate the presence of a semi-allogeneic fetus. Far from the initial view of pregnancy as a state of immunosuppression, successful fetal development from implantation to birth is now known to be under the control of an intricate balance of immune cells. The balance between pro-inflammatory functions used to promote embryo implantation and placental development and immunosuppressive activity to maintain maternal tolerance of the fetus is an immunological phenotype unique to pregnancy, which is dependent on the time of gestation.

Implicit learning in 3-year-olds with high and low likelihood of autism shows no evidence of precision weighting differences.

Predictive Processing accounts of autism claim that autistic individuals assign higher precision to their prediction errors than non-autistic individuals, that is, autistic individuals update their predictions more readily when faced with unexpected sensory input. Since setting the level of precision is a fundamental part of perception and learning, we propose that such differences should be detectable in various domains at a very early age, before clinical symptoms have fully emerged. We therefore tested 3-year-old younger siblings of autistic children, with a high likelihood of later receiving an autism diagnosis themselves, and low-likelihood children with an older sibling without autism.

Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, Part 1: National Cancer Statistics.

Background: The American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries collaborate to provide annual updates on cancer incidence and mortality and trends by cancer type, sex, age group, and racial/ethnic group in the United States. In this report, we also examine trends in stage-specific survival for melanoma of the skin (melanoma).

Methods: Incidence data for all cancers from 2001 through 2017 and survival data for melanoma cases diagnosed during 2001-2014 and followed-up through 2016 were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- and National Cancer Institute-funded population-based cancer registry programs compiled by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

Two-year-olds at elevated risk for ASD can learn novel words from their parents.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have smaller vocabularies in infancy compared to typically-developing children. To understand whether their smaller vocabularies stem from problems in learning, our study compared a prospective risk sample of 18 elevated risk and 11 lower risk 24-month-olds on current vocabulary size and word learning ability using a paradigm in which parents teach their child words. Results revealed that both groups learned novel words, even though parents indicated that infants at elevated risk of ASD knew fewer words.

CT-determined sarcopenia as a predictor of post-operative outcomes in patients undergoing an emergency laparotomy.

Purpose: Emergency laparotomy has a high reported thirty-day mortality, ranging from 11 to 15%. Current peri-operative risk assessment tools may poorly estimate the risk of perioperative mortality. We sought to determine if CT-determined sarcopenia may be a useful predictor of post-operative outcomes in patients undergoing an emergency laparotomy.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admission screening and assessment of infectiousness at an academic medical center in Iowa, 2020.

Objective: Patients admitted to the hospital may unknowingly carry severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and hospitals have implemented SARS-CoV-2 admission screening. However, because SARS-CoV-2 reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays may remain positive for months after infection, positive results may represent active or past infection. We determined the prevalence and infectiousness of patients who were admitted for reasons unrelated to COVID-19 but tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on admission screening.

Muskrats as a bellwether of a drying delta.

Wetlands worldwide are under threat from anthropogenic impacts. In large protected North American areas such as Yellowstone and Wood Buffalo National Parks, aquatic habitats are disappearing and wetland-dependent fauna are in decline. Here we investigate population dynamics of an indicator species in Canada's Peace-Athabasca Delta ("the delta"), a World Heritage Site.

Rethinking the Meaning of "Wellness" for a Person with Cancer: A Qualitative Study to Explore What Elements Constitute "Wellness".

Objective: This study explored what people with cancer and their family members define as wellness, and what they perceive to be the needs to support wellness during the cancer experience.

Methods: This study utilized qualitative focus groups underpinned by an interpretative descriptive design. Participants included people with a cancer diagnosis having completed/currently undergoing cancer treatment, and/or family/friends.

ML-SIM: universal reconstruction of structured illumination microscopy images using transfer learning.

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) has become an important technique for optical super-resolution imaging because it allows a doubling of image resolution at speeds compatible with live-cell imaging. However, the reconstruction of SIM images is often slow, prone to artefacts, and requires multiple parameter adjustments to reflect different hardware or experimental conditions. Here, we introduce a versatile reconstruction method, ML-SIM, which makes use of transfer learning to obtain a parameter-free model that generalises beyond the task of reconstructing data recorded by a specific imaging system for a specific sample type.

Estimating the stock size of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) in the inland waters of Washington State using line-transect methods.

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) in the inland waters of Washington were reduced by predator control programs in the twentieth century, but stocks have rebounded since being protected in the 1970s. Three management stocks are recognized, but there is little information on their current abundance. We conducted 38,431 km of aerial line-transect surveys throughout the range of these stocks in 2013-2016, sighting a total of 4,678 groups of harbor seals.

Apple consumption reduces markers of postprandial inflammation following a high fat meal in overweight and obese adults: A randomized, crossover trial.

High fat meal-induced postprandial inflammation is exacerbated in overweight and obesity and may contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. This study aimed to determine the effects of apples, rich in anti-inflammatory polyphenols, on biomarkers of postprandial inflammation in individuals with overweight and obesity. A randomized, crossover trial was conducted with n = 26 participants (17 female/9 male; mean age 45.

Outcomes from an extended scope of practice speech-language pathology service for low risk ENT outpatients: A 5-year service review.

: Early evidence supports the safety and efficiency of extended scope speech-language pathology (SLP) clinics designed to manage low risk ear nose and throat (ENT) outpatient referrals, however long-term data is lacking. The aim of this study was to complete a 5-year audit of clinical outcomes, including rates of re-referral, for a SLP Allied Health Practitioner (SLP AHP) led dysphagia and dysphonia service within an Integrated Specialist ENT Service.: A retrospective audit was undertaken of all patients referred with non-urgent dysphonia and/or dysphagia symptoms over a 5-year period since establishment of the SLP AHP service.