Publications by authors named "Weir A"

The Dromedary camel has a remarkable history amongst cultures across Asia and northern Africa, serving multiple purposes ranging from providing milk, textiles, racing, and acting as pack animals. Recent genetic studies have revealed that many dromedaries are genetically homogenous, indicating that they do not represent different breeds, advocating for camel 'type' over camel 'breed'. In this study, we leveraged whole genome sequencing (WGS) to sequence 15 Jordanian Alia camels for the first time, alongside 9 Jordanian mixed camels from diverse locations within the country.

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Specialized or secondary metabolites are small molecules of biological origin, often showing potent biological activities with applications in agriculture, engineering and medicine. Usually, the biosynthesis of these natural products is governed by sets of co-regulated and physically clustered genes known as biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). To share information about BGCs in a standardized and machine-readable way, the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG) data standard and repository was initiated in 2015.

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Background: This study aimed to investigate the injury incidence rate among calisthenics athletes and explore the factors associated with injuries, including demographic and athlete characteristics, as well as injury patterns and skill levels.

Methods: We collected data from Dutch calisthenics athletes using an electronic questionnaire administered between February and March 2020. The inclusion criteria required participants to be calisthenics athletes willing to take part and aged over 18 years.

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The environment plays an important role in modulating susceptibility and severity of respiratory tract infections. Influenza is a significant zoonotic disease globally. Hydrogen sulfide (HS), a respiratory tract irritant and toxic gas, is ubiquitous in the environment.

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Multi-modal image analysis using deep learning (DL) lays the foundation for neoadjuvant treatment (NAT) response monitoring. However, existing methods prioritize extracting multi-modal features to enhance predictive performance, with limited consideration on real-world clinical applicability, particularly in longitudinal NAT scenarios with multi-modal data. Here, we propose the Multi-modal Response Prediction (MRP) system, designed to mimic real-world physician assessments of NAT responses in breast cancer.

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Objectives: The reasons for and incidence of delay in screening colonoscopies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are of major public health interest. The risks and reasons for delay likely vary between public and private institutions. This research sought to analyze data regarding the completion of screening colonoscopies after a positive fecal immunochemical test (FIT) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and the reasons for a delay in obtaining these results at the Lt.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cannabis use is rising among people for both recreational and medical reasons, but there isn't much research on its effects in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).
  • A study involved 983 newly diagnosed EoE patients, with 80 reporting cannabis use, mainly through inhalation and daily consumption.
  • Findings indicated that cannabis users had milder initial symptoms but showed worse inflammatory responses after treatment compared to non-users, suggesting that cannabis may negatively affect EoE management.
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To develop a core outcome set for Achilles tendinopathy (COS-AT) for use in clinical trials we performed a five-step process including (1) a systematic review of available outcome measurement instruments, (2) an online survey on truth and feasibility of the available measurement instruments, (3) an assessment of the methodological quality of the selected outcome measurement instruments, (4) an online survey on the outcome measurement instruments as COS and (5) a consensus in-person meeting. Both surveys were completed by healthcare professionals and patients. The Outcome Measures in Rheumatology guidelines with a 70% threshold for consensus were followed.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how cam morphology, which develops during skeletal growth, affects the cartilage and labrum of high-impact male athletes years later, specifically in those who played professional soccer during adolescence.
  • A cohort of 89 healthy male soccer players was monitored over time, with assessments taken at various follow-up points to determine the prevalence of cam morphology and its association with cartilage loss and labral damage.
  • Findings revealed that 80% of hips showed cam morphology at follow-up, with a significantly higher prevalence of cartilage loss in hips with cam morphology (52%) compared to those without (21%), indicating a potential long-term impact of cam morphology.
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Objectives: To determine normal hip adduction- and abduction strength and range of motion (ROM) values for youth and adult female national team football players, and evaluate if increasing age, playing position and leg dominance were associated with these strength and ROM values.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: National football center.

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Background: Schools in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are expected to protect and promote pupil mental health. However, many school staff members do not feel confident in identifying and responding to pupil mental health difficulties and report wanting additional training in this area.

Objective: We aimed to explore the feasibility of Kognito's At-Risk for Elementary School Educators, a brief, interactive web-based training program that uses a simulation-based approach to improve school staff's knowledge and skills in supporting pupil mental health.

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Opioid-free anaesthesia.

Br J Hosp Med (Lond)

January 2024

Adverse effects of perioperative opioids have led to the pursuit of 'opioid-free anaesthesia'. While early studies have shown that effective analgesia can be achieved without using opioids, with some reduction in unwanted effects, further research is needed to elucidate which patients may benefit most and how.

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Objectives: Evaluate the inter-examiner reliability of pain provocation tests for hip adductors (palpation, stretch and resistance) and for pubic symphysis (palpation) in athletes with longstanding groin pain, and to determine the prevalence of positive tests.

Design: Inter-examiner reliability.

Setting: Orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital.

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Programmed cell death pathways play an important role in innate immune responses to infection. Activation of intrinsic apoptosis promotes infected cell clearance; however, comparatively little is known about how this mode of cell death is regulated during infections and whether it can induce inflammation. Here, we identify that the pro-survival BCL-2 family member, A1, controls activation of the essential intrinsic apoptotic effectors BAX/BAK in macrophages and monocytes following bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) sensing.

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Pathological brain lesions exhibit diverse appearance in brain images, in terms of intensity, texture, shape, size, and location. Comprehensive sets of data and annotations are difficult to acquire. Therefore, unsupervised anomaly detection approaches have been proposed using only normal data for training, with the aim of detecting outlier anomalous voxels at test time.

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Introduction: The pubic symphysis is susceptible to growth related injuries long after the adolescent growth spurt. Our study describes the radiographic maturation of the pubic symphysis on pelvic radiographs in adolescent football players and introduces the Maturing Adolescent Pubic Symphysis classification (MAPS classification).

Methods: Anteroposterior pelvic radiographs of 105 healthy adolescent male football players between 12 and 24 years old were used to develop the classification system.

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: Two recent randomized-controlled trials showed promising results of local corticosteroid injections combined with exercise therapy for Achilles tendinopathy and plantar fasciopathy. Should clinicians go back to using corticosteroid injections to treat tendinopathy? Are corticosteroids back ()? In this viewpoint we critically appraise the new evidence and humbly share our clinical reasoning when advising athletes about corticosteroid injections in practice. Our goal is to help clinicians decide what to do and what to recommend to patients.

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Objectives: To determine whether baseline physical tests have a prognostic value on patient-reported outcomes in Achilles tendinopathy.

Design: Prospective cohort study, secondary analysis of data from a randomized trial.

Methods: Patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy performed a progressive calf muscle exercise program.

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Background: Ankle osteoarthritis is debilitating and usually affects relatively young people, often as a result of previous ankle traumas, frequently occurring in sports. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections for ankle osteoarthritis have shown no evidence of benefit over the course of 26 weeks. Previous studies on PRP for knee osteoarthritis showed that clinically significant improvements with PRP occurred between 6 to 12 months in the absence of initial benefit.

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Introduction: Thrombolysis treatment for acute ischaemic stroke can lead to better outcomes if administered early enough. However, contraindications exist which put the patient at greater risk of a bleed (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bacterial trans-acyltransferase polyketide synthases (trans-AT PKSs) are large enzymes that create various bioactive compounds, including anticancer agents like oximidine.
  • Researchers identified the gene cluster for oximidine in the bacterium Pseudomonas baetica and discovered four new variants, highlighting a simpler intermediate with strong anticancer properties.
  • The study also detailed the oximidine biosynthesis process, revealing a unique mechanism for forming O-methyloxime involving a specific monooxygenase and methyltransferase, expanding knowledge on trans-AT PKSs and their potential for creating new drug variants.
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