Publications by authors named "Wickham A"

Introduction: Bladder and bowel dysfunction (BBD) is a commonly experienced disorder that can cause adverse physical and psychological impacts on a child and their family.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the yield of clinically significant sensitive genitourinary (GU) examination findings and whether findings influence BBD management.

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational research design was used to study the relationship between GU examination findings and management of pediatric BBD.

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Background: Reproductive health conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and uterine fibroids pose a significant burden to people who menstruate, health care systems, and economies. Despite clinical guidelines for each condition, prolonged delays in diagnosis are commonplace, resulting in an increase to health care costs and risk of health complications. Symptom checker apps have the potential to significantly reduce time to diagnosis by providing users with health information and tools to better understand their symptoms.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) is essential for managing urinary issues in children with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) due to conditions like spinal dysraphism and spinal cord injury, but adherence to this treatment is often low (18%-66%), leading to serious complications like UTIs and renal insufficiency.
  • - This proposed study will investigate caregiver adherence to CIC protocols and the factors affecting it, using a mixed methods approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data from 60 adult caregivers of children diagnosed with spinal dysraphism or spinal cord injury.
  • - The analysis will include assessing adherence rates through established questionnaires and conducting thematic analysis on interviews to better understand caregiver experiences, with efforts made to ethically disseminate the findings
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Clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) nonadherence may lead to renal compromise, incontinence, and frequent urinary tract infections in patients with spinal cord injury and spinal dysraphism. Adherence to CIC lacks definition in the nursing literature despite implications for research and clinical practice, including patient education. The aim of this concept analysis was to analyze how CIC adherence is conceptualized and synthesize a definition for nursing.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates hormonal and physiological changes in the menstrual cycle by looking at diverse data from users of a period-tracking app, focusing on how these changes vary with age and contribute to understanding female health throughout different life stages.
  • - Data from over 19 million global app users aged 18-55 reveals that older age is associated with shorter, more variable menstrual cycles, especially as users approach menopause in their early 40s, where patterns begin to shift again.
  • - The research also highlights age-related differences in menstrual cycle symptoms; older users report fewer cramps and acne but more headaches, backaches, stress, and insomnia.
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Background: Reproductive health literacy and menstrual health awareness play a crucial role in ensuring the health and well-being of women and people who menstruate. Further, awareness of one's own menstrual cycle patterns and associated symptoms can help individuals identify and manage conditions of the menstrual cycle such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Digital health products, and specifically menstrual health apps, have the potential to effect positive change due to their scalability and ease of access.

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The chronic and acute effects of stress can have divergent effects on health; long-term effects are associated with detrimental physical and mental health sequelae, while acute effects may be advantageous in the short-term. Stress-induced analgesia, the attenuation of pain perception due to stress, is a well-known phenomenon that has yet to be systematically investigated under ecological conditions. Using Flo, a women's health and wellbeing app and menstrual cycle tracker, with a world-wide monthly active usership of more than 57 million, women in Ukraine were monitored for their reporting of stress, pain and affective symptoms before, and immediately after, the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

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This article describes the rationale, aims, and methodology of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Schizophrenia (AMP® SCZ). This is the largest international collaboration to date that will develop algorithms to predict trajectories and outcomes of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis and to advance the development and use of novel pharmacological interventions for CHR individuals. We present a description of the participating research networks and the data processing analysis and coordination center, their processes for data harmonization across 43 sites from 13 participating countries (recruitment across North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, and South America), data flow and quality assessment processes, data analyses, and the transfer of data to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive (NDA) for use by the research community.

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Background: Reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affect a large proportion of women and people who menstruate worldwide. Prevalence estimates for these conditions range from 5% to 40% of women of reproductive age. Long diagnostic delays, up to 12 years, are common and contribute to health complications and increased health care costs.

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Background: Research shows that poor knowledge and awareness of menstrual and pregnancy health among women are associated with adverse reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes. Menstrual cycle- and pregnancy-tracking mobile apps are promising tools for improving women's awareness of and attitudes toward their reproductive health; however, there is little information about subscribers' perceptions of app functionality and its impact on their knowledge and health.

Objective: This study aimed to explore knowledge and health improvements related to menstrual cycle and pregnancy, as well as improvements in general health among Flo app users.

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Population growth and technological advancements are placing growing demand on mineral resources. New and innovative exploration technologies that improve detection of deeply buried mineralization and host rocks are required to meet these demands. Here we used diamondiferous kimberlite ore bodies as a test case and show that DNA amplicon sequencing of soil microbial communities resolves anomalies in microbial community composition and structure that reflect the surface expression of kimberlites buried under 10 s of meters of overburden.

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Objective: Mood and physical symptoms related to the menstrual cycle affect women's productivity at work, often leading to absenteeism. However, employer-led initiatives to tackle these issues are lacking. Digital health interventions focused on women's health (such as the Flo app) could help fill this gap.

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Purpose: Patients with neurogenic bladder (NB) often perform clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) and are predisposed to bladder colonization. Antibiotics are not routinely indicated in those with asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB). The original purpose of this study was to compare patients that received antibiotics for ASB and those that did not.

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Background: Aerosol personal protective equipment (PPE) is subjectively reported to negatively impact healthcare workers' performance and well-being, but this has not been assessed objectively.

Aims: This randomized controlled crossover study aimed to quantify the heat stress associated with aerosol PPE and to investigate its impact upon mood, cognitive and motor function, and task performance.

Methods: Sixteen healthy, young, lean participants (eight males) undertook an exercise protocol, which simulated the metabolic expenditure of hospital work: once wearing aerosol PPE (PPE visit) and once wearing standard surgical attire (control visit).

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Background: Pulmonary complications are the most common morbidity after oesophagectomy, contributing to mortality and prolonged postoperative recovery, and have a negative impact on health-related quality of life. A variety of single or bundled interventions in the perioperative setting have been developed to reduce the incidence of pulmonary complications. Significant variation in practice exists across the UK.

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We developed a teledermatology simulation to give medical and physician assistant students practice with live videoconferencing and store-and-forward workflows. The simulation included (1) pre-session reading; (2) a brief teledermatology didactic; (3) a simulated encounter with a standardized patient; and (4) faculty-led debriefs. The faculty observed students during the simulation and distributed a post-session learner satisfaction survey.

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Simulations offer a safe environment for health professional training and the opportunity to predictably and consistently introduce events or variables that may be rare or dangerous in a live setting. Exposing trainees to unanticipated events during simulations can improve their ability to adapt and improvise. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth worldwide and highlighted the need for better training in health professional schools.

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Objective: To report treatment patterns and survival outcomes of patients with relapsed and refractory metastatic germ cell tumours (GCTs) treated with high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous stem-cell transplantation in low-volume specialized centres within the widely dispersed populations of Australia and New Zealand between 1999 and 2019.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 111 patients across 13 institutions. Patients were identified from the Australasian Bone Marrow Transplant Recipient Registry.

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Key Points: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder of motor neurons, carrying a short survival. High-density motor unit recordings permit analysis of motor unit size (amplitude) and firing behaviour (afterhyperpolarization duration and muscle fibre conduction velocity). Serial recordings from biceps brachii indicated that motor units fired faster and with greater amplitude as disease progressed.

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Evaluate clinical outcome, recurrence, morbidity, and cost associated with laparoscopic surgical ligation versus percutaneous embolization of adolescent varicocele. We hypothesize that both approaches are similar in outcomes, complications, and cost. A retrospective review of 56 consecutive adolescent males, ≤18 years from 2006 to 2016 with clinical varicocele who underwent laparoscopic surgical ligation or percutaneous embolization.

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Intra-operative hypotension frequently complicates anaesthesia in older patients and is implicated in peri-operative organ hypoperfusion and injury. The prevalence and corresponding treatment thresholds of hypotension are incompletely described in the UK. This study aimed to identify prevalence of intra-operative hypotension and its treatment thresholds in UK practice.

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Alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a significant drug binding acute phase protein that is present in rats. AGP levels are known to increase during tissue injury, cancer and infection. Accordingly, when determining effective drug ranges and toxicity limits, consideration of drug binding to AGP is essential.

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