Publications by authors named "Weir N"

Physical literacy (PL) is increasingly recognised as essential for fostering lifelong engagement in physical activity (PA), particularly when nurtured in early childhood. Yet there remains limited understanding of how stakeholders in early years (EY) education perceive, value, and implement a PL-informed approach. This study aims to explore knowledge and beliefs regarding PL and PA in relation to 3-5-year-olds, investigating key questions around perceived importance, current practices, and barriers to implementation.

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Hyperemia in response to neural activity is essential for brain health. A hyperemic response delivers O and nutrients, clears metabolic waste, and concomitantly exposes cerebrovascular endothelial cells to hemodynamic forces. While neurovascular research has primarily centered on the front end of hyperemia-neuronal activity-to-vascular response-the mechanical consequences of hyperemia have gone largely unexplored.

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Mutations in PSEN1 were first discovered as a cause of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 1995, yet the mechanism(s) by which the mutations cause disease still remains unknown. The generation of novel mouse models assessing the effects of different mutations could aid in this endeavor. Here we report on transgenic mouse lines made with the Δ440 PSEN1 mutation that causes AD with parkinsonism:- two expressing the un-tagged human protein and two expressing a HA-tagged version.

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Background: Telecare and telehealth are important care-at-home services used to support individuals to live more independently at home. Historically, these technologies have reactively responded to issues. However, there has been a recent drive to make better use of the data from these services to facilitate more proactive and predictive care.

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Article Synopsis
  • Studies indicate that high ankle sprains in NFL players usually come with additional injuries, challenging the idea that they can be assessed in isolation.
  • The research found that only 13% of these injuries were isolated syndesmosis injuries, often occurring along with other ligament damage or fractures.
  • Recovery times varied significantly based on injury severity, with fractures and complete tears leading to much longer recovery periods, highlighting the importance of considering associated injuries when evaluating return to participation.
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Unlabelled: Fundamental motor skills (FMS) are the cornerstone of a child's motor development, but concerns remain on the current level of FMS competencies, and intervention is required. This evaluation investigated if a targeted Early Years FMS intervention, delivered by a specialist physical education (PE) provider, improved the FMS of 4-5-year-old children across multiple sites.

Methods: The Early Years FMS intervention ran for 18 weeks, 1 h/week, using a standardised programme of activities to develop FMS competencies across 219 children from 15 schools in the Midlands, UK.

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Background: Chronic pain is a highly prevalent condition and one of the most common reasons why people seek health care. As a result, chronic pain has a significant personal and economic burden. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the situation for patients with chronic pain through increased risk factors (eg, anxiety or depression) as well as decreased access to health care.

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  • A study explored how polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in early pregnancy affect thyroid function, which is important for both maternal health and fetal brain development.
  • Researchers analyzed plasma samples from 214 pregnant women (107 with gestational diabetes and 107 without) to measure levels of various PUFAs and thyroid biomarkers at different stages of pregnancy.
  • The findings indicated that specific PUFAs, like EPA and DHA, are linked to improved thyroid hormone levels and lower risks of gestational hypothyroidism, suggesting that a PUFA-enriched diet may benefit maternal thyroid health during pregnancy.
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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) carries significant mortality and unpredictable progression, with limited therapeutic options. Designing trials with patient-meaningful endpoints, enhancing the reliability and interpretability of results, and streamlining the regulatory approval process are of critical importance to advancing clinical care in IPF. A landmark in-person symposium in June 2023 assembled 43 participants from the US and internationally, including patients with IPF, investigators, and regulatory representatives, to discuss the immediate future of IPF clinical trial endpoints.

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Introduction: Physical activity (PA), regardless of domain, is recommended for pregnant individuals in clinical guidelines, but limited evidence is available for work-related PA. This study aimed to examine the associations of occupational (OPA) and leisure-time PA (LTPA) with plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a risk marker for adverse pregnancy outcomes, among pregnant individuals.

Methods: This longitudinal study included 257 workers in the fetal growth cohort.

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Rationale: Serum amyloid A (SAA) is bound to high-density lipoproteins (HDL) in blood. Although SAA is increased in the blood of patients with asthma, it is not known whether this modifies asthma severity.

Objective: We sought to define the clinical characteristics of patients with asthma who have high SAA levels and assess whether HDL from SAA-high patients with asthma is proinflammatory.

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Background: Research suggests omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) exert favorable effects on several biological processes involved in the development and progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, studies examining the relationship between omega-3 PUFAs and peripheral artery disease (PAD) are scarce.

Objectives: We evaluated the associations between omega-3 PUFAs and incident PAD in a meta-analysis of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study cohorts.

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Background: The presence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with an over 2-fold increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality. Long chain n-6 PUFAs have been suggested to have a variety of beneficial biologic effects that may reduce AF development; however, prior studies evaluating this relationship are limited.

Objectives: We prospectively evaluated the association between circulating levels of linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA) with incident AF.

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Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) during pregnancy are associated with disrupted metabolic programming among offspring at birth and later growth. We examined plasma phospholipid SFAs in early pregnancy and fetal growth throughout pregnancy. We enrolled 321 pregnant women from the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort at gestational weeks 8-13.

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Article Synopsis
  • In the SCOT-HEART trial, a strategy using coronary CT angiography (CTA) resulted in better health outcomes for individuals with stable chest pain.
  • A secondary analysis examined the cumulative radiation doses over 5 years for both the CTA group and standard-care group, involving nearly 3,000 participants.
  • The findings revealed that those in the CT group had significantly higher median radiation exposure (8.1 mSv) compared to the standard-care group which had minimal exposure (0 mSv).
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Background: Antidepressants are the primary treatment for depression, and social support from social media may offer another support route. Whilst Twitter has become an interactive platform for healthcare providers and their patients, previous studies found low engagement of healthcare providers when discussing antidepressants on Twitter. This study aims to analyse the Twitter posts of healthcare providers related to antidepressants and to explore the healthcare providers' engagement and their areas of interest.

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Cases of thromboses at unusual sites with thrombocytopenia have been reported following vaccination against Sars-CoV-2. This new syndrome, christened vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), mainly results in venous thromboses. We report the case of a young woman with a right middle cerebral artery stroke following vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.

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Purpose: Inflammation is associated with diabetic retinopathy development and progression, and previous studies have demonstrated that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine if omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are associated with decreased risk and severity of retinopathy in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: In a combined population of 1,356 individuals with type 2 diabetes from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Genetics of Latino Diabetic Retinopathy cohorts, odds ratios using logistic regression were determined to assess the association between polyunsaturated fatty acids and retinopathy.

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Objective: We prospectively evaluated plasma amino acids (AAs) in early pregnancy and midpregnancy and their interplay with phospholipid fatty acids (FAs) in association with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk.

Research Design And Methods: From a longitudinal pregnancy cohort of 2,802 individuals, concentrations of 24 plasma AAs at 10-14 and 15-26 gestational weeks (GW) were assessed among 107 GDM case subjects and 214 non-GDM control subjects. We estimated adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI for the associations of plasma AAs and the joint associations of plasma AAs and phospholipid FAs with GDM risk, adjusting for risk factors including age, prepregnancy BMI, and family history of diabetes.

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Background: The introduction of clinical pharmacy services is part of a multi-disciplinary approach to reduce pressure on primary care. Ascertaining the impact of clinical pharmacists in general practice is vital to ensure intended benefits are achieved. However, this is complicated by poor quality evidence, multiple interventions, and a lack of agreement regarding outcome measures.

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Background: Circulating individual SFAs in pregnant females are critical for maternal and fetal health. However, research on identifying their modifiable factors is limited.

Objectives: We aimed to examine the associations of total physical activity (PA) and types of PA with circulating individual SFAs during pregnancy in a multiracial/multiethnic cohort of pregnant females in the United States.

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Background: Physical activity (PA) during pregnancy influences women and offspring's health fatty acids metabolism. However, studies on associations of PA with plasma monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) across pregnancy are sparse. Thus, our study aimed to examine associations of PA with individual plasma phospholipid MUFAs throughout pregnancy in a prospective and longitudinal study in the United States (US).

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Background: Despite the availability of extensive literature on the effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs)/angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) on COVID-19 outcomes, the evidence is still controversial. We aimed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the effect of ACEIs/ARBs on COVID-19-related outcomes by summarising the currently available evidence.

Methods: An umbrella review was conducted using Medline (OVID), Embase, Scopus, Cochrane library and medRxiv from inception to 1 February 2021.

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Fatty acids (FAs) have been implicated in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), but the role of monounsaturated FAs (MUFAs) remains understudied. We investigated the associations of plasma phospholipid MUFAs in early to mid-pregnancy with cardiometabolic biomarkers and GDM risk. From the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons cohort (2009-2013), we identified 107 women with GDM according to Carpenter and Coustan criteria and 214 control participants without GDM matched (2:1) on age, race/ethnicity, and gestational week (GW) of blood collection.

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