Introduction: Epilepsy is one of the most common serious brain disorders, characterised by seizures that severely affect a person's quality of life and, frequently, their cognitive and mental health. Although most existing work has examined chronic epilepsy, newly diagnosed patients present a unique opportunity to understand the underlying biology of epilepsy and predict effective treatment pathways. The objective of this prospective cohort study is to examine whether cognitive dysfunction is associated with measurable brain architectural and connectivity impairments at diagnosis and whether the outcome of antiepileptic drug treatment can be predicted using these measures.
Methods And Analysis: 107 patients with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy from two National Health Service Trusts and 48 healthy controls (aged 16-65 years) will be recruited over a period of 30 months. Baseline assessments will include neuropsychological evaluation, structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Electroencephalography (EEG), and a blood and saliva sample. Patients will be followed up every 6 months for a 24-month period to assess treatment outcomes. Connectivity- and network-based analyses of EEG and MRI data will be carried out and examined in relation to neuropsychological evaluation and patient treatment outcomes. Patient outcomes will also be investigated with respect to analysis of molecular isoforms of high mobility group box-1 from blood and saliva samples.
Ethics And Dissemination: This study was approved by the North West, Liverpool East Research Ethics Committee (19/NW/0384) through the Integrated Research Application System (Project ID 260623). Health Research Authority (HRA) approval was provided on 22 August 2019. The project is sponsored by the UoL (UoL001449) and funded by a UK Medical Research Council (MRC) research grant (MR/S00355X/1). Findings will be presented at national and international meetings and conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.
Trial Registration Number: IRAS Project ID 260623.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034347 | DOI Listing |
Cancer Med
January 2025
The Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between body composition, overall survival, odds of receiving treatment, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in individuals living with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (mNSCLC).
Methods: This retrospective analysis was conducted in newly diagnosed patients with mNSCLC who had computed-tomography (CT) scans and completed PRO questionnaires close to metastatic diagnosis date. Cox proportional hazard models and logistic regression evaluated overall survival and odds of receiving treatment, respectively.
Front Genet
December 2024
Department of Pediatrics, West China Second University Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Background: Autosomal recessive cutis laxa type 1B (ARCL1B) is an extremely rare disease characterized by severe systemic connective tissue abnormalities, including cutis laxa, aneurysm and fragility of blood vessels, birth fractures and emphysema. The severity of this disease ranges from perinatal death to manifestations compatible with survival. To date, no cases have been reported in the Chinese population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlobally, drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is responsible for 13% of mortality attributable to antimicrobial resistance. In Ethiopia, extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is a significant public health challenge, and drug resistance (DR) in EPTB is often overlooked. In a cross-sectional study conducted between August 2022 and October 2023, we aimed to explore the magnitude of phenotypic drug resistance and identify genetic mutations linked to resistance using 189 Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates cultured from extrapulmonary clinical specimens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women with significant global disparities in disease burden. In lower-resource settings, where routine screening is uncommon, delays in diagnosis and treatment contribute to morbidity and mortality. Understanding care delays may inform strategies to decrease time to treatment, improving patient outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Advancements in sequencing technologies have significantly improved clinical genetic testing, yet the diagnostic yield remains around 30-40%. Emerging sequencing technologies are now being deployed in the clinical setting to address the remaining diagnostic gap.
Methods: We tested whether short-read genome sequencing could increase diagnostic yield in individuals enrolled into the UCI-GREGoR research study, who had suspected Mendelian conditions and prior inconclusive clinical genetic testing.
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