Background: The vast majority of men with CF (mwCF) are infertile. Improvements in assisted reproductive technology (ART) have made it possible for these patients to become biological fathers.
Methods: Data were examined for all male CF patients attending a large adult CF center over a 23-year period.
We describe the phenotypic and genotypic spectrum of patients with vascular anomaly (VA) in a paediatric multi-disciplinary VA clinic. We measured the clinical utility of genotyping by comparing pre and posttest diagnosis and management. A 46-month retrospective analysis occurred for 250 patients offered genetic testing in the VA clinic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Overlapping genes are involved with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and DNA repair pathways. Therefore, we hypothesised that patients with a high polygenic risk score (PRS) for RA will have an increased risk of radiotherapy (RT) toxicity given the involvement of DNA repair.
Methods: Primary analysis was performed on 1494 prostate cancer, 483 lung cancer and 1820 breast cancer patients assessed for development of RT toxicity in the REQUITE study.
Collection of coral for histologic examination requires holding of samples in seawater for a time before they are fixed for histologic processing. This could adversely affect the interpretation of morphologic changes during histologic examinations. We evaluated the microscopic morphology of and held (0-120 minutes) in seawater prior to fixation in Z-Fix formulated with raw or artificial seawater.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To describe the timing and causes of post-neonatally acquired cerebral palsy (PNN-CP) and map the implementation of relevant preventive strategies against cause-specific temporal trends in prevalence.
Methods: Data for a 1975-2014 birth cohort of children with PNN-CP (brain injury between 28 days and 2 years of age) were drawn from the Victorian and Western Australian CP Registers. Descriptive statistics were used to report causal events and timing.
Background And Purpose: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) requires acute anticoagulation. Heparin is commonly used but specific recommendations on intensity and timing are lacking. We sought to characterize practice-pattern variation in the use of unfractionated heparin (UFH) for acute CVT treatment across multiple centers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: We investigate discrepancies in the assessment of treatment-related symptoms in lung cancer between healthcare professionals and patients, and factors contributing to these discrepancies.
Materials And Methods: Data from 515 participants in the REQUITE study were analysed. Five symptoms (cough, dyspnoea, bronchopulmonary haemorrhage, chest wall pain, dysphagia) were evaluated both before and after radiotherapy.
Face recognition from 2D images is influenced by various factors, including lighting conditions, viewing direction, rotation, and polarity inversion. It has been proposed that these techniques affect face recognition by distorting shape from shading. This study investigates the perception of 3D face shape in 2D images using a gauge figure task.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Cardiol Congenit Heart Dis
September 2024
Background: Exercise capacity is reduced in patients with a Fontan circulation compared to their healthy peers secondary to altered haemodynamics of the Fontan circulation. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is routinely used in Fontan patients to assess their cardiopulmonary response to exercise and help guide management decisions, however their results are routinely compared to normative data derived from healthy individuals.
Method: Using data available from the Pediatric Heart Network, we performed a retrospective study to derive Fontan-specific normative values in a subgroup of well-functioning adolescent patients.
Light/dark (LD) cycles are responsible for oscillations in gene expression, which modulate several aspects of plant physiology. Those oscillations can persist under constant conditions due to regulation by the circadian oscillator. The response of the transcriptome to light regimes is dynamic and allows plants to adapt rapidly to changing environmental conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Neurol Neurosurg
December 2024
Background: Hyponatremia is common following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and is associated with vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI). Risk factors for post-SAH hyponatremia are poorly defined; however, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are associated with hyponatremia in non-SAH populations. This study assessed whether pre-admission SSRIs/SNRIs were associated with hyponatremia after SAH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArtificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to standardize and automate important aspects of fertility treatment, improving clinical outcomes. One promising application of AI in the fertility clinic is the use of machine learning (ML) tools to assess embryos for transfer. The successful clinical implementation of these tools in ways that do not erode consumer trust requires an awareness of the ethical issues that these technologies raise, and the development of strategies to manage any ethical concerns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, we introduce a denoising method aimed at improving the contrast ratio in low-field MRI (LFMRI) using an advanced 3D deep convolutional residual network model. Our approach employs synthetic brain imaging datasets that closely mimic the contrast and noise characteristics of LFMRI scans, addressing the limitation of available in-vivo LFMRI datasets for training deep learning models. In the simulation data, the Relative Contrast Ratio (RCR) increased, and similar improvements were observed in the in-vivo data across different imaging conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF7 % of pregnant people use opioids. Opioid use during pregnancy can negatively impact maternal and offspring health. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), commonly buprenorphine, are the recommended treatment for opioid use disorder during pregnancy to prevent cycles of withdrawal and relapse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Off-label tenecteplase use for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has increased due to ease of administration and comparable efficacy and safety to alteplase.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate time to thrombolysis before and after transition from alteplase to tenecteplase for treatment of AIS at 2 institutions.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included adult patients receiving thrombolysis for AIS before and after transition from alteplase to tenecteplase at 2 academic medical centers from January 1, 2020 to January 31, 2024.
Mid-life vascular risk factors predict late-life cerebrovascular diseases and poor global brain health. Although endothelial dysfunction is hypothesized to contribute to this process, evidence of impaired neurovascular function in early stages remains limited. In this cross-sectional study of 31,934 middle-aged individuals from UK Biobank without established cerebrovascular disease, the overall 10-year risk of cardiovascular events was associated with reduced neurovascular coupling (p < 2 × 10) during a visual task with functional MRI, including in participants with no clinically apparent brain injury on MRI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Health Syst Pharm
November 2024
Purpose: The goals of this paper are to (1) provide evidence and expert consensus to support a unified approach to estimating kidney filtration in adults with stable kidney function using race-free estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in place of Cockcroft-Gault estimated creatinine clearance (C-G eCrCL) for medical and medication-related decisions, and (2) demonstrate how adjusting eGFR results for an individual's body surface area (BSA) when it is higher or lower than 1.73 m2 will improve results for medication-related decisions.
Summary: C-G eCrCL is predominantly used by US pharmacists to determine eGFR for the purposes of medication-related decisions, even though more accurate eGFR equations exist.
Tissue-mimicking reference phantoms are indispensable for the development and optimization of magnetic resonance (MR) measurement sequences. Phantoms have greatest utility when they mimic the MR signals arising from tissue physiology; however, many of the properties underlying these signals, including tissue relaxation characteristics, can vary as a function of magnetic field strength. There has been renewed interest in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at field strengths less than 1 T, and phantoms developed for higher field strengths may not be physiologically relevant at these lower fields.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFracture-dislocations of the proximal humerus with brachial plexus injury are exceedingly rare, and although infrequently encountered, it is important to recognize this complication due to its potentially devastating impact. We present the case of a 75-year-old female who sustained the described injury following a fall onto their left arm, demonstrating combined sensory and motor deficits in the radial, median, and ulnar distribution of the left forearm and hand shortly afterward. Immediate management involved closed reduction under anesthesia, resulting in the improvement of neurological symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComparative genomic studies of social insects suggest that changes in gene regulation are associated with evolutionary transitions in social behavior, but the activity of predicted regulatory regions has not been tested empirically. We used self-transcribing active regulatory region sequencing, a high-throughput enhancer discovery tool, to identify and measure the activity of enhancers in the socially variable sweat bee, Lasioglossum albipes. We identified over 36,000 enhancers in the L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine recent changes in the birth prevalence of cerebral palsy in Australia; to examine the functional mobility of children with cerebral palsy by residential remoteness.
Study Design: Population-based register study; analysis of Australian Cerebral Palsy Register (ACPR) data.
Setting, Participants: Children with cerebral palsy born in Australia, 1995-2016, and included in the ACPR at the time of the most recent state/territory data provision (31 July 2022).
Objective: To investigate the trade-off between magnet bore diameter and the distance between the conductive Faraday shield and RF head coil for low-field point-of-care neuroimaging systems.
Methods: Electromagnetic simulations were performed for three different Faraday shield geometries and two commonly used RF coil designs (spiral and solenoid) to assess the effects of a close-fitting shield on the RF coil's transmit and receive efficiencies. Experimental measurements were performed to confirm the accuracy of the simulations.