Publications by authors named "Wills A"

Background: Language impairment is common in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and is often overlooked due to the severity of the motor symptoms. We investigated whether language can be used to predict PSP prognosis.

Methods: One hundred-forty-six patients with a diagnosis of possible or probable PSP from the Tilavonemab (ABBV-8E12) clinical trial were evaluated at baseline and week 32 using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), the PSP rating scale (PSPRS) and the Schwab and England Activities of Daily Living Scale (SEADL).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Veterinary physiotherapy and hydrotherapy are popular modalities in the UK, yet little is known about the confidence of therapists responsible for performing these treatments. A lack of confidence may have a detrimental impact on patients; therefore, this study investigated the effect of age, species specialisation, educational level, occupation, qualifications, experience and years practising on animal therapists' confidence in executing professional skills.

Methods: An online survey was conducted to collect quantitative data regarding UK-based therapists' confidence in the completion of entrustable professional activities (EPAs).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Wildfires in forests are becoming more frequent and intense worldwide due to climate change and human management practices.
  • * Indigenous populations in southeastern Australia historically used fire, which helped reduce shrub cover by 50% during the Holocene era.
  • * Since British colonization, shrub cover has increased to its highest level ever recorded, raising the risk of intense wildfires.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tissue development and regeneration rely on the deployment of embryonic signals to drive progenitor activity and thus generate complex cell diversity and organization. One such signal is Sonic Hedgehog (Shh), which establishes the dorsal-ventral (D/V) axis of the spinal cord during embryogenesis. However, the existence of this D/V axis and its dependence on Shh signaling during regeneration varies by species.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Genetic testing for Parkinson's disease (PD) is infrequently performed due to perceptions of low utility. We investigated the personal utility in PD GENEration and how results lead to enrollment in additional research studies. Participants (n = 972) underwent genetic testing, results disclosure, genetic counseling, and completed a survey examining the perceived personal utility of their results and interest in participating in additional studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose Of Review: The most common four neurodegenerative atypical parkinsonian disorders (APDs) are progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), corticobasal syndrome (CBS), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Their formal diagnostic criteria often require subspecialty experience to implement as designed and all require excluding competing diagnoses without clearly specifying how to do that. Validated diagnostic criteria are not available at all for many of the other common APDs, including normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), vascular parkinsonism (VP), or drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Regeneration of lost tissue requires biosynthesis of metabolites needed for cell proliferation and growth. Among these are the critical purine nucleotides ATP and GTP. The abundance and balance of these purines is regulated by inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (IMPDH2), which catalyzes the committing step of GTP synthesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Variants in seven genes (LRRK2, GBA1, PRKN, SNCA, PINK1, PARK7 and VPS35) have been formally adjudicated as causal contributors to Parkinson's disease; however, individuals with Parkinson's disease are often unaware of their genetic status since clinical testing is infrequently offered. As a result, genetic information is not incorporated into clinical care, and variant-targeted precision medicine trials struggle to enrol people with Parkinson's disease. Understanding the yield of genetic testing using an established gene panel in a large, geographically diverse North American population would help patients, clinicians, clinical researchers, laboratories and insurers better understand the importance of genetics in approaching Parkinson's disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Due to the rise of the nurse practitioner (NP) role in long-term care settings, it is important to understand the underlying structures and processes that influence NP and physician care models. This scoping review aims to answer the question, "What are the structures, processes, and outcomes of care models involving NPs and physicians in long-term care (LTC) homes?" A secondary aim was to describe the structural enablers and barriers across care models.

Research Design And Methods: Seven databases were searched.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to identify fluid biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) to aid in developing new therapies, utilizing advanced proteomic analysis methods.
  • Researchers analyzed a total of 136 participants across various groups, comparing individuals with PSP (Richardson syndrome) against healthy controls, using sophisticated platforms to assess the presence of specific proteins (SOMAmers) in CSF.
  • Findings revealed that many SOMAmers were differentially expressed in PSP patients, indicating potential biomarkers, with three significant biological pathways linked to disease progression identified, including synaptic functions and cytokine interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe a patient who presented with rapidly progressive parkinsonism and encephalopathy and was diagnosed with seronegative autoimmune encephalitis (AE). Subacute parkinsonism as a manifestation of seronegative AE is uncommon with only a handful of similar cases published in literature. A 71-year-old man presented with severe flu like symptoms, rapidly progressive cognitive decline and was found to have parkinsonian features on examination.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Our aim was to estimate associations of adolescent dietary patterns and meal habits with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and preterm birth. We used data from a prospective cohort study (Norwegian Young-HUNT1) where dietary information was collected during adolescence and pregnancy outcomes were obtained through record linkage to the Norwegian national birth registry. The outcomes were HDP, hypertension, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, and preterm birth in the first pregnancy and in any pregnancy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mucormycosis is a frequently lethal fungal infection that most commonly affects patients with poorly controlled diabetes or other immunosuppressed states. We report the case of a suspected disseminated infection in a patient who was pursuing naturopathic treatment including mud baths for metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma. He was empirically treated with liposomal amphotericin B but opted to stop treatment following multiorgan failure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: High-quality implementation evaluations report on intervention fidelity and adaptations made, but a practical process for evaluating implementation strategies is needed. A retrospective method for evaluating implementation strategies is also required as prospective methods can be resource intensive. This study aimed to establish an implementation strategy postmortem method to identify the implementation strategies used, when, and their perceived importance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The strong geometric frustration of the kagome antiferromagnets (KAFMs) can destabilise conventional magnetic order and lead to exotic electronic states, such as the quantum spin-liquid state observed in someS=12KAFM materials. However, the ground state of = 1 KAFM systems are less well understood. Spin nematic phases and valence bond solid ground states have been predicted to form but a paucity of experimental realisations restricts understanding.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Functional studies in post-embryonic Xenopus tadpoles are challenging because embryonic perturbations often lead to developmental consequences, such as lethality. Here, we describe a high-throughput protocol for tail vein injection to introduce fluorescent tracers into tadpoles, which we have previously used to effectively inject morpholinos and molecular antagonists. We describe steps for safely positioning tadpoles onto agarose double-coated plates, draining media, injecting into the ventral tail vein, rehydrating plates, and sorting tadpoles by fluorescence with minimal injury for high-throughput experiments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension are common and largely uncontrolled in Malawi. In this low-resource setting, Community Health Workers (CHWs) can increase access to home-based blood pressure (BP) monitoring. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a CHW training focused on BP monitoring and referral criteria, as well as the accuracy of referral decision-making and documentation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Few effective health interventions transition from smaller efficacy or effectiveness studies to real-world implementation at scale, representing a gap between evidence and practice. Recognising this, we have developed - a tailored digital resource building on four efficacious dietary interventions, aiming to improve nutrition in the important first 1,000 days of life. targets and guides expectant parents and parents of 0-2 year olds, serves as a reliable source of evidence-based information for midwives and public health nurses at maternal and child healthcare (MCH) centres, and offers pedagogical tools for early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Across mammals, the epigenome is highly predictive of chronological age. These "epigenetic clocks," most of which have been built using DNA methylation (DNAm) profiles, have gained traction as biomarkers of aging and organismal health. While the ability of DNAm to predict chronological age has been repeatedly demonstrated, the ability of other epigenetic features to predict age remains unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to understand the complex features and comorbidities associated with Parkinson's disease by analyzing 933 patients and 291 controls, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach instead of isolated evaluations.
  • Significant associations were found between Parkinson’s disease and conditions like depression, anxiety, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome, with higher prevalence observed in patients compared to controls.
  • Environmental factors such as pesticide exposure and head trauma were linked to the disease, while a notable proportion of patients also reported using vitamin supplements like cholecalciferol and coenzyme Q10 more than the control group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Undifferentiated melanoma (UM) is defined by the loss of classic morphologic and immunohistochemical melanocytic markers. Reports in the literature are rare and show that UM usually occurs as a metastasis in the setting of a known primary cutaneous melanoma. The most common mutations in UM include those involving BRAF , NRAS , and KIT , which are almost invariably present in the parent melanoma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study sought to gain insight into the financial characteristics of outcomes-based agreements (OBAs) considered most suitable to Canadian public payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the rationale for their preferences.

Methods: A total of 17 public payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers participated in semistructured qualitative interviews, which assessed their knowledge of OBAs and their preferred financial characteristics.

Results: Payers identified 5 OBA financial models that they considered both acceptable and feasible, in no preferential order: (1) discontinuation of therapy, (2) rebates for nonresponders, (3) free trial period, (4) adjustable pricing, and (5) blended rebate.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Wearable sensors can differentiate Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) from Parkinson's Disease (PD) in laboratory settings but have not been tested in remote settings.

Objectives: To compare gait and balance in PSP and PD remotely using wearable-based assessments.

Methods: Participants with probable PSP or probable/clinically established PD with reliable caregivers, still able to ambulate 10 feet unassisted, were recruited, enrolled, and consented remotely and instructed by video conference to operate a study-specific tablet solution (BioDigit Home ™) and to wear three inertial sensors (LEGSys™, BioSensics LLC, Newton, MA USA) while performing the Timed Up and Go, 5 × sit-to-stand, and 2-min walk tests.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF