Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Nitrite Detection.

Nitrite is an important chemical intermediate in the nitrogen cycle and is ubiquitously present in environmental and biological systems as a metabolite or additive in the agricultural and food industries. However, nitrite can also be toxic in excessive concentrations. As such, the development of quick, sensitive, and portable assays for its measurement is desirable.

Syphilis Point of Care Rapid Test and Immediate Treatment Evaluation (SPRITE) study: a mixed-methods implementation science research protocol of eight public health units in Ontario, Canada.

Introduction: Urgent, tailored and equitable action is needed to address the alarming rise in syphilis rates in Canada. In the last decade, the rates of infectious syphilis have increased by 345% in Ontario, Canada. Underserved populations-people who use drugs, un(der)housed individuals and those living in rural and remote areas-face unique social and healthcare challenges that increase their vulnerability to syphilis infections and hinder their access to timely diagnosis and treatment.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary care for hypertension in the UK: a population-based cohort study.

Objectives: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hypertension diagnosis and management in UK primary care.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Setting: Over 2000 general practices across the UK contributing to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

Relationship between pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder and healthcare utilisation in British Columbia, Canada: a retrospective population-based cohort.

Objectives: To describe the population that meets the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) in British Columbia (BC), compare patterns of healthcare utilisation between those with MDD who are and are not prescribed pharmacotherapy, and assess these relationships in models that control for potential confounding variables.

Design: We used a population cross-sectional study design among a cohort of individuals living with MDD and examined the relationship between pharmacotherapy and healthcare utilisation between 2019 and 2020 using linked billing and administrative data.

Setting: This study identified individuals with MDD using a validated case definition of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes in BC, Canada.

Economic burden of acute kidney injury in children and adults: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in hospitalised adults and children and is associated with significantly increased mortality and worse short-term and long-term outcomes. This systematic review and meta-analysis will evaluate the cost associated with AKI.

Methods And Analysis: This health economic analysis will be performed using systematic search of databases, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus and Cochrane Library from 2009 to the present (search completed on 27 May 2024).

VRx@Home protocol: A virtual reality at-home intervention for persons living with dementia and their care partners.

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) technology is increasingly used by researchers and healthcare professionals as a therapeutic intervention to improve the quality of life of persons living with dementia (PLwD). However, most VR interventions to date have mainly been explored in long-term or community care settings, with fewer being explored at home. Setting is important, given that the majority of PLwD live at home and are cared for by their family care partners.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Perturbs the Brain-Wide Excitation-Inhibition Balance: Associations with Microcircuit Organization, Clinical Parameters, and Cognitive Dysfunction.

Excitation-inhibition (E/I) imbalance is theorized as a key mechanism in the pathophysiology of epilepsy, with ample research focusing on elucidating its cellular manifestations. However, few studies investigate E/I imbalance at the macroscale, whole-brain level, and its microcircuit-level mechanisms and clinical significance remain incompletely understood. Here, the Hurst exponent, an index of the E/I ratio, is computed from resting-state fMRI time series, and microcircuit parameters are simulated using biophysical models.

Long-term blood glucose control via glucose-activated transcriptional regulation of insulin analogue in type 1 diabetes mice.

Aim: To achieve glucose-activated transcriptional regulation of insulin analogue in skeletal muscle of T1D mice, thereby controlling blood glucose levels and preventing or mitigating diabetes-related complications.

Materials And Methods: We developed the GANIT (Glucose-Activated NFAT-regulated INSA-F Transcription) system, an innovative platform building upon the previously established intramuscular plasmid DNA (pDNA) delivery and expression system. In the GANIT system, skeletal muscle cells are genetically engineered to endogenously produce the insulin analogue INSA-F (Insulin Aspart with Furin cleavage sites).

Epidemiology of Post-craniotomy Hypertension and Its Association With Adverse Outcome(s): A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

After intracranial surgery, sympathetic overdrive and increased blood catecholamine levels can contribute to postoperative hypertension, a significant clinical problem. The objective of this review was to summarize, quantify, and assess the epidemiological perspective of post-craniotomy hypertension and its association with adverse outcomes. This PROSPERO-registered systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines.

Radiation tolerance and biodegradation performance of a marine bacterium Acinetobacter sp. Y9 in radioactive composite oil-contaminated wastewater.

The tolerance and degradation characteristics of a marine oil-degrading strain Acinetobacter sp. Y9 were investigated in the presence of diesel oil and simulated radioactive nuclides (Mn, Co, Ni, Sr, Cs) at varying concentrations, as well as exposure to γ-ray radiation (Co-60). The maximum tolerable concentrations for Coand Ni were found to be 5 mg/l and 25 mg/l, respectively, while the tolerable concentrations for Mn, Sr, and Cs exceeded 400 mg/l, 1000 mg/l, and 1000 mg/l, respectively.

North American avian species that migrate in flocks show greater long-term non-breeding range shift rates.

Background: Many species are exhibiting range shifts associated with anthropogenic change. For migratory species, colonisation of new areas can require novel migratory programmes that facilitate navigation between independently-shifting seasonal ranges. Therefore, in some cases range-shifts may be limited by the capacity for novel migratory programmes to be transferred between generations, which can be genetically and socially mediated.

Rapid implementation of open-access pandemic education for global frontline healthcare workers.

Background: The recent global pandemic posed extraordinary challenges for healthcare systems. Frontline healthcare workers required focused, immediate, practical, evidence-based instruction on optimal patient care modalities as knowledge evolved around disease management.

Objective: This course was designed to provide knowledge to protect healthcare workers; combat disease spread; and improve patient outcomes.

Preoperative risk assessment and optimization integrating surgical and anesthetic principles and practices: a national survey for internists.

Background: The integration of procedure-specific risks into preoperative patient assessment and optimization are crucial aspects of perioperative care. However, data on internists' knowledge of surgical and anesthetic principles and practices are limited. We thus sought to identify internists' knowledge gaps in terms of surgical- and anesthetic-specific risk factors and characteristics.

Finding the right dose: a scoping review examining facilitation as an implementation strategy for evidence-based stroke care.

Background: Despite evidence supporting interventions that improve outcomes for patients with stroke, their implementation remains suboptimal. Facilitation can support implementation of research into clinical practice by helping people develop the strategies to implement change. However, variability in the amount (dose) and type of facilitation activities/facilitator roles that make up the facilitation strategies (content), may affect the effectiveness of facilitation.

Echocardiographic phenotypes of diabetic myocardial disorder: evolution over 15 months follow-up in the ARISE-HF trial.

Background: Diabetic myocardial disorder (DbMD, evidenced by abnormal echocardiography or cardiac biomarkers) is a form of stage B heart failure (SBHF) at high risk for progression to overt HF. SBHF is defined by abnormal LV morphology and function and/or abnormal cardiac biomarker concentrations.

Objective: To compare the evolution of four DbMD groups based on biomarkers alone, systolic and diastolic dysfunction alone, or their combination.

Visible and invisible cultural patterns influencing women's use of maternal health services among Igala women in Nigeria: a focused ethnographic study.

Background: Explicit and implicit cultural patterns are critical cultural norms, beliefs, and practices that determine women's health-seeking behaviour. These cultural patterns could limit women's use of maternal health services, resulting in maternal health complications. The study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of explicit and implicit cultural patterns, their meanings and how they influence women's use of maternal health services among Igala women in Nigeria.

Aura phenomenon: a proposal for an etiology-based clinical classification.

Background: The term "aura" refers to a well-defined pattern of usually positive, progressive, and reversible neurological symptoms, with spreading depolarization as the underlying mechanism. While commonly associated with migraine, aura can also occur in other neurological disorders (i.e.

Poorer objective but not subjective driving performance in drivers vulnerable to sleep loss effects during extended wake.

Sleepiness-related errors are a leading cause of driving accidents, requiring drivers to effectively monitor sleepiness levels. However, there are inter-individual differences in driving performance after sleep loss, with some showing poor driving performance while others show minimal impairment. This research explored if there are differences in self-reported sleepiness and driving performance in healthy drivers who exhibited vulnerability or resistance to objective driving impairment following extended wakefulness.

Increased attention towards progress information near a goal state.

A growing body of evidence across psychology suggests that (cognitive) effort exertion increases in proximity to a goal state. For instance, previous work has shown that participants respond more quickly, but not less accurately, when they near a goal-as indicated by a filling progress bar. Yet it remains unclear when over the course of a cognitively demanding task do people monitor progress information: Do they continuously monitor their goal progress over the course of a task, or attend more frequently to it as they near their goal? To answer this question, we used eye-tracking to examine trial-by-trial changes in progress monitoring as participants completed blocks of an attentionally demanding oddball task.

Predictive equation derived from 6,497 doubly labelled water measurements enables the detection of erroneous self-reported energy intake.

Nutritional epidemiology aims to link dietary exposures to chronic disease, but the instruments for evaluating dietary intake are inaccurate. One way to identify unreliable data and the sources of errors is to compare estimated intakes with the total energy expenditure (TEE). In this study, we used the International Atomic Energy Agency Doubly Labeled Water Database to derive a predictive equation for TEE using 6,497 measures of TEE in individuals aged 4 to 96 years.

Comparison between ruptured anterior choroidal artery aneurysms and ruptured intracranial aneurysms in other locations in relation to aneurysm dimensions at rupture.

Purpose: It was noticed that anterior choroidal artery (AChoA) aneurysms appear to rupture at relatively smaller sizes compared with aneurysms in other intracranial locations, based on anecdotal clinical experience. We therefore aimed to compare ruptured AChoA aneurysms with other ruptured aneurysms in other intracranial locations, pertaining to aneurysm dimensions. This may help in finding out if the rupture risk stratification, based on the amalgamation of aneurysms of multiple locations in one group, precisely estimates aneurysm rupture risk.

Negative Staining Electron Microscopy of a Highly Flexible Sec1/Munc18 Protein Complex Stabilized by Glutaraldehyde Crosslinking.

Negative staining electron microscopy is one of the easiest ways to determine the shape and dimensions of multimeric protein complexes over 100 kDa molecular weight. This method requires small volumes (< 10 μL) of dilute protein (0.01-0.

Development and Implementation of a Structured and Innovative Faculty-Wide Mentorship Program for a Large Department of Psychiatry.

Objectives: Mentorship supports faculty to succeed in their careers with confidence, resilience, and satisfaction. To address inequities evident with an informal approach, a formal mentorship program was designed and implemented.

Methods: The Quality Implementation Framework (QIF) was applied.