Publications by authors named "William Smith"

Article Synopsis
  • Global rainfall patterns are shifting, becoming less frequent but more intense, influencing vegetation growth regardless of total annual rainfall.
  • Using satellite data and field observations, researchers found that daily rainfall variability significantly impacts photosynthesis and growth across 42% of vegetated land surfaces.
  • The changing frequency and intensity of wet days could have major effects on global vegetation and may impact the carbon cycle and food security.
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Midomafetamine (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA]) is under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration review for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in adults.

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Lands devoted to military use are globally important for the production of ecosystem services and for the conservation of biodiversity. The United States has one of the largest military land estates in the world, and most of these areas occur in water-limited landscapes. Despite many of these areas receiving intense or sustained disturbance from military training activities, the structure and function of ecosystems contained within their boundaries continue to provide critical benefits to people across spatial scales.

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Characterization of PLGA polymers used in FDA-approved drug products is critical for quality control and qualitative/quantitative (Q1/Q2) evaluation of potential generic formulations. Various techniques have been developed and used to characterize the molecular properties of PLGA polymers, such as molecular weight, molecular composition, and molecular structure. Commonly used techniques include gel permeation chromatography (GPC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), semisolvent methods, and GPC-based intrinsic viscosity measurement.

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Objectives: Pain management in the potentially austere search and rescue (SAR) and emergency medical services (EMS) environments can be challenging. Intravenous (IV) and intramuscular (IM) routes of administration may be less practical. This study assesses the efficacy and safety of the sublingual sufentanil tablet (SST) in prehospital settings and hypothesizes that its use will reduce pain while maintaining a reasonable safety profile.

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Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers have been extensively used in controlled drug delivery systems due to its good biocompatibility and tunable applicability based on simple variations in vinyl acetate (VA) content. We investigated impacts of polymer properties and extrusion process parameters of EVA on permeability of etonogestrel in EVA films. Among all factors studied, the VA content was the most dominant factor that controls drug permeability by affecting crystallinity of EVA.

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Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a significant disease burden in adults with chronic comorbidities. Rates of severe RSV disease and death are as high, or higher in younger adults with risk factors than in healthy older adults in whom RSV vaccination is recommended. We conducted an immunobridging study using the Ad26/protein RSV preF vaccine, which previously demonstrated efficacy in adults aged ≥65 years to support extrapolation of efficacy demonstrated in an older population to younger adult populations at high risk of severe RSV disease.

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Article Synopsis
  • - This study aimed to create a convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect and classify fractures, focusing on specific characteristics like greater tuberosity displacement and neck-shaft angle, using plain X-rays.
  • - The CNN was trained with over 1,700 X-rays from Australia and validated with data from the Netherlands, comparing results with CT scans evaluated by experts.
  • - The CNN demonstrated a high detection accuracy of 94% for fractures, but less effectiveness in identifying specific fracture characteristics, particularly showing lower performance for greater tuberosity displacement and neck-shaft angles.
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Quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) is a well-documented phenomenon in the C-H bond activation mechanism and is commonly identified by large KIE values. Herein we present surprising findings in the kinetic study of hydrogen tunneling in the Co mediated decomposition of acetic acid and its perdeuterated isotopologue, conducted with the energy resolved single photon initiated dissociative rearrangement reaction (SPIDRR) technique. Following laser activation, the reaction proceeds along parallel product channels Co(CHO) + CO and Co(CHO) + HO.

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In the semi-arid grasslands of the southwest United States, annual precipitation is divided between warm-season (July-September) convective precipitation and cool-season (December-March) frontal storms. While evidence suggests shifts in precipitation seasonal distribution, there is a poor understanding of the ecosystem carbon flux responses to cool-season precipitation and the potential legacy effects on subsequent warm-season carbon fluxes. Results from a two-year experiment with three cool-season precipitation treatments (dry, received 5th percentile cool-season total precipitation; normal, 50th; wet, 95th) and constant warm-season precipitation illustrate the direct and legacy effects on carbon fluxes, but in opposing ways.

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Background: This study explored whether opinions about the government's role in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic vary based on demographic characteristics and racial beliefs. We hypothesized that opinions about the United States (U.S.

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Background: Anaphylaxis in response to edible mushrooms is uncommon, and sensitization may be independent of occupational exposure. Globally, is one the most cultivated mushroom species, comprising the button, portobello, and Swiss brown varietals.

Objective: Our aim was to describe a case of anaphylaxis in an older nonatopic patient following ingestion of and undertake a review of the literature.

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Objective: To assess the influence of geographies and race on the survival outcomes in patients diagnosed with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) across three continents.

Methods: This multicontinental retrospective study was conducted in 8 hospitals across Asia, Europe, and North America (NA). Clinicopathologic data of 595 patients with presumed early stages of CSCC, treated surgically, with curative intent was collected.

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The connection between solution structure, particle forces, and emergent phenomena at solid-liquid interfaces remains ambiguous. In this case study on boehmite aggregation, we established a connection between interfacial solution structure, emerging hydration forces between two approaching particles, and the resulting structure and kinetics of particle aggregation. In contrast to expectations from continuum-based theories, we observed a nonmonotonic dependence of the aggregation rate on the concentration of sodium chloride, nitrate, or nitrite, decreasing by 15-fold in 4 molal compared to 1 molal solutions.

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The goal of connectomics is to reveal the links between neural circuits and behavior. Larvae of the primitive chordate are well-suited to make contributions in this area. In addition to having a described connectome, larvae have a range of readily quantified behaviors.

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In this work, etonogestrel implants were manufactured using coextrusion. The purpose of the study was to correlate changes in microstructure and transport properties that occurred in etonogestrel implants to drug release mechanisms. The implants consisted of an EVA 28 (28 % vinyl acetate) core containing dispersed and dissolved etonogestrel, and an EVA 15 (15 % vinyl acetate) skin.

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Article Synopsis
  • The use of whole blood for medical emergencies before patients reach the hospital is on the rise.
  • Existing methods for delivering blood, like intraosseous and peripheral venous catheters, can slow down the flow of these critical fluids during resuscitation.
  • Central venous catheters offer a more effective option in prehospital settings, allowing for faster and larger volumes of blood infusion that can save lives.
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Background: Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCAR) are a group of delayed presumed T-cell mediated hypersensitivities associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite their shared global healthcare burden and impact, the clinical phenotypes, genomic predisposition, drug causality, and treatment outcomes may vary. We describe the establishment and results from the first Australasian registry for SCAR (AUS-SCAR), that via a collaborative network advances strategies for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of SCAR.

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Background: Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15), a divergent member of the TGF-β superfamily, signals via the hindbrain glial-derived neurotrophic factor receptor alpha-like and rearranged during transfection receptor co-receptor (GFRAL-RET) complex. In nonclinical species, GDF15 is a potent anorexigen leading to substantial weight loss. MBL949 is a half-life extended recombinant human GDF15 dimer.

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The primary goal of medical care during the pre-antiretroviral therapy (ART) era was to keep persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) alive, whereas since the advent of ART, the treatment objective has shifted to decreasing viral loads and infectiousness while increasing CD4+ T-cell counts and longevity. The health crisis, however, is in preventing and managing multimorbidity (ie, type 2 diabetes), which develops at a more accelerated or accentuated pace among aging persons living with HIV. Relative to the general population and age-matched uninfected adults, it may be more difficult for aging HIV-positive persons who also suffer from multimorbidity to improve negative lifestyle factors to the extent that their behaviors could support the prevention and management of diseases.

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Background: Discharge from early psychosis intervention is a critical stage of treatment that may occur for a variety of reasons. This study characterizes reasons for discharge among participants in early psychosis intervention programs participating in the Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET) which comprises >100 programs in the United States organized under 8 academic hubs.

Study Design: We analyzed 1787 discharges, focusing on program completion, unilateral termination by the client/family, and lost contact with the client/family.

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Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, slow-growing, malignant tumor in the dermis and subcutaneous fat diagnosed by pathological and immunohistochemical examinations. This case report provides the dermatological findings of a 73-year-old woman with DFSP who presented to a primary care clinic with a longstanding nodular lesion on her left upper thigh. Dermatological examination showed a solitary, skin-colored violaceous/hyperpigmented nodule on the superior anteromedial portion of the left thigh.

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Background: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) due to deficiency of C1 Inhibitor (C1INH-HAE) is a rare, unpredictable and potentially fatal genetic disorder. There are relatively few systematic population prevalence studies, with reports from various countries of between 1 in 20,000 and 1 in 150,000. and no Australian data.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Tobacco use is linked to various cancers and causes about 25% of cancer-related deaths, primarily due to harmful substances in tobacco smoke, including tobacco-specific nitrosamines like NNN and NNK that create damaging DNA adducts.
  • - The study identified new mutational patterns induced by these DNA adducts, particularly in certain cancer cell lines and rat tumors, indicating specific mutations that occur in the DNA from exposure to these harmful compounds.
  • - Analyzing 2,780 cancer genomes revealed that these mutational patterns were present in around 180 tumors from types of cancer not typically associated with smoking, suggesting that the damage caused by the POB pathway could play a unique role in various cancers, including hematological
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