Atrial fibrillation versus. atrial myopathy in thrombogenesis: Two sides of the same coin?

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial myopathy are recognized contributors to cardiovascular morbidity, particularly ischemic stroke. AF poses an elevated risk of thrombogenesis due to irregular heart rhythm leading to blood stasis and clot formation. Atrial myopathy, marked by structural and functional alterations in the atria, is emerging as a crucial factor influencing thromboembolic events, independently of AF.

Challenges and compromises: Predicting unbound antibody structures with deep learning.

Therapeutic antibodies are manufactured, stored and administered in the free state; this makes understanding the unbound form key to designing and improving development pipelines. Prediction of unbound antibodies is challenging, specifically modelling of the CDRH3 loop, where inaccuracies are potentially worse due to a bias in structural data towards antibody-antigen complexes. This class imbalance provides a challenge for deep learning models trained on this data, potentially limiting generalisation to unbound forms.

Flies as carriers of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria in Nigerian hospitals: A workflow for surveillance of AMR bacteria carried by arthropod pests in hospital settings.

The dissemination of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria by flies in hospitals is concerning as nosocomial AMR infections pose a significant threat to public health. This threat is compounded in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by several factors, including limited resources for sufficient infection prevention and control (IPC) practices and high numbers of flies in tropical climates. In this pilot study, 1,396 flies were collected between August and September 2022 from eight tertiary care hospitals in six cities (Abuja, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos and Sokoto) in Nigeria.

Therapeutic strategies for fungating and ulcerating breast cancers: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Background: To identify optimal therapeutic strategies for managing fungating, large or ulcerating breast tumors and highlight existing gaps in the literature.

Methods: We conducted a systematic search of Medline, Embase, APA, PsycInfo, CAB abstracts, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to June 30, 2024, including studies on patients with fungating, large, or ulcerating breast cancers.

Results: The search identified 7917 studies, with 79 meeting the inclusion criteria: 62 case reports, 7 case series, and 10 cohort studies.

Inequality in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of COVID vaccine acceptance and uptake in 13 countries.

Background COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was a key barrier to ending the pandemic via mass immunisation. Objectives Assess magnitudes and differences in socioeconomic inequality in stated COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (hesitancy) and uptake. Methods Online surveys were conducted in 13 countries, collecting data from 15,337 and 18,189 respondents respectively.

Revisiting the electrophysiological correlates of valence and expectancy in reward processing - A multi-lab replication.

Two event-related brain potential (ERP) components, the frontocentral feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the posterior P300, are key in feedback processing. The FRN typically exhibits greater amplitude in response to negative and unexpected outcomes, whereas the P300 is generally more pronounced for positive outcomes. In an influential ERP study, Hajcak et al.

Simulation of the performance of pillar array columns using the pore-throat ratio as efficiency descriptor.

Traditional packed beds in chromatography suffer from increased band broadening due to the random nature of packing, leading non-ideal fluid flow and channeling. To address these challenges, pillar array columns have been developed, offering improved performance over random packing thanks to their homogenous fluid profiles. The study aims to i) evaluate fluid dynamics and chromatographic performance across different PAC morphologies, ii) establish the influence of column morphology on performance, and iii) assess the correlation between chromatographic performance and hydrodynamic parameters.

Reducing bias in source-free unsupervised domain adaptation for regression.

Due to data privacy and storage concerns, Source-Free Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (SFUDA) focuses on improving an unlabelled target domain by leveraging a pre-trained source model without access to source data. While existing studies attempt to train target models by mitigating biases induced by noisy pseudo labels, they often lack theoretical guarantees for fully reducing biases and have predominantly addressed classification tasks rather than regression ones. To address these gaps, our analysis delves into the generalisation error bound of the target model, aiming to understand the intrinsic limitations of pseudo-label-based SFUDA methods.

How do neuromuscular characteristics of the peroneal muscles differ in adults with and without chronic ankle instability? A systematic review with meta-analysis.

Background: Chronic ankle instability (CAI) has been associated with neuromuscular control dysfunction, particularly of the peroneal musculature.

Research Question: How do neuromuscular characteristics of the peroneal muscles, including corticospinal excitability, strength, proprioception (force sense) and electromyographic measures differ in individuals with CAI compared to healthy control counterparts aged 18-45?

Methods: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted by retrieving relevant articles from electronic databases including EBSCOhost (CINAHL Complete, AMED, SPORTDiscus), Ovid (MEDLINE, Embase), Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane Library as well as Grey literature sources. The eligibility and methodological quality of the included case-control and cross-sectional studies were assessed by two reviewers.

Evaluation of Patients' Satisfaction with Healthcare Services Provided at the National Health Insurance Authority Clinic of a Tertiary Hospital in South-West, Nigeria.

Background: Patient satisfaction is an essential indicator used for measuring the quality of health care delivered to a patient and contributes to strategies for the improvement of healthcare delivery. This study assessed patients' satisfaction with the quality of care at the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) clinic in a tertiary health facility.

Methods: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional design with 320 respondents who completed a semi-structured questionnaire.

Trabecular bone deficits predominate in the appendicular skeleton of midlife women living with HIV: findings from a cross-sectional study in Zimbabwe.

HIV-related mortality has fallen due to scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART), so more women living with HIV (WLH) now live to reach menopause. Menopausal estrogen loss causes bone loss, as do HIV and certain ART regimens. However, quantitative bone data from WLH are few in Africa.

Respect the hidden heroes.

In our continuing series on the experiences of a nursing student, discusses the importance of acknowledging the work of everyone who helps keep a hospital running.

Data trends and duty of candour: patient safety challenges in 2025.

, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, discusses some recently published reports considering the national patient safety picture and issues around the duty of candour.

Identifying and managing fatigue in nurses completing on-call work.

Specialist nurses working in Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) at NHS Blood and Transplant participate in an on-call rota. This means working above and beyond their rostered hours and can lead to them working 24 hours in one period. There is a noted risk of fatigue for people who work more than 13 hours in one stretch, and therefore it is important to understand how to recognise and manage the signs of fatigue.

Verbal assessment to confirm nursing associates' occupational readiness.

The aim of nursing programmes is to produce employees who are occupationally ready. One method to assess occupational readiness is a verbal examination of subject area knowledge and understanding. This assessment type is used at a higher education institution in the north of England deemed outstanding by Ofsted.

A multimodal approach to reduce the incidence of peripheral venous cannula bacteraemias and improve patient safety.

Background: Incidence of peripheral venous cannula (PVC) bacteraemia have been rising in a trust in the south-west of England, with a 267% increase noted over the 2022/23 financial year compared with the previous year.

Aim: To use a multimodal approach to reduce the incidence of PVC bacteraemia and improve patient safety.

Methods: The initiative consisted of an educational poster highlighting the severity of infection associated with PVCs alongside key prevention messages rooted in Trust policy.

A randomized control trial to compare Quiet Eye training efficacy to traditional technical training with undergraduate student nurses' peripheral intravenous cannulation performance: a protocol.

Introduction: Peripheral intravenous cannulation (PIVC) is a common and complex procedure with low first-attempt success rates, causing patient suffering and increased healthcare costs. Quiet Eye (QE) training, a gaze-focused approach, has shown promise in improving procedural PIVC skills. We will examine the effectiveness of traditional technical training (TT) and QE training (QET) on student nurse PIVC performance.

Pro-cumulin addition in a biphasic in vitro oocyte maturation system modulates human oocyte and cumulus cell transcriptomes.

Biphasic in vitro oocyte maturation (IVM) can be offered as a patient-friendly alternative to conventional ovarian stimulation in in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients predicted to be hyper-responsive to ovarian stimulation. However, cumulative live birth rates after IVM per cycle are lower than after conventional ovarian stimulation for IVF. In different animal species, supplementation of IVM media with oocyte-secreted factors (OSFs) improves oocyte developmental competence through the expression of pro-ovulatory genes in cumulus cells.

MetAssimulo 2.0: a web app for simulating realistic 1D & 2D Metabolomic 1H NMR spectra.

Unlabelled: Metabolomics extensively utilizes Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy due to its excellent reproducibility and high throughput. Both one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) NMR spectra provide crucial information for metabolite annotation and quantification, yet present complex overlapping patterns which may require sophisticated machine learning algorithms to decipher. Unfortunately, the limited availability of labeled spectra can hamper application of machine learning, especially deep learning algorithms which require large amounts of labelled data.

Spectrum of Manifest Strabismus in A Tertiary Eye Care Hospital in Calabar, Nigeria: Demographics, Types and Co-morbidities.

Background: Strabismus is a potential cause of ocular morbidity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the frequency, types of manifest strabismus and co-morbidities among patients attending a referral paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus clinic in Calabar, Nigeria.

Methods: A retrospective review of case-notes of patients attending the paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus clinic from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019 was done.

Distribution of informal caregiving for older adults living with or at risk of cognitive decline within and beyond family in rural South Africa.

Objectives: Aging populations will increasingly need care, much of this provided informally particularly in rural areas and in low and middle-income countries. In rural South Africa, formal support is severely limited, and adult children are frequently unavailable due to morbidity, early mortality, employment and migration. We describe how care is shared within and between households.

Validation of the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-25 (SNOT-25) measure for patients with nasal septal perforation.

Nasal septal perforations (NSPs) are a common referral to specialist rhinology practice. A wide range of management options have been described but to be able to offer the most effective treatment modalities to our patients we must be able to capture quantitative data on patient symptom burden accurately and robustly.

The Impact of Modifiable Risk Factors on the Endothelial Cell Methylome and Cardiovascular Disease Development.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most prevalent cause of mortality and morbidity in the Western world. A common underlying hallmark of CVD is the plaque-associated arterial thickening, termed atherosclerosis. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying the aetiology of atherosclerosis remain unknown, it is clear that both its development and progression are associated with significant changes in the pattern of DNA methylation within the vascular cell wall.

Should All Doctors Undergo Mandatory Life Support Training?

Advanced life support certification has traditionally been the gold standard of resuscitation training for doctors and has been shown to improve outcomes from cardiac arrest. In 2021, Health Education England removed named courses from mandatory Foundational Programme competencies, which has resulted in capping of reimbursement and reduced access to courses. This represents a drop in educational standards which is particularly concerning when the medical school curriculum has been shown to deliver inconsistent, poor-quality resuscitation training.

Socio-economic inequalities in second primary cancer incidence: A competing risks analysis of women with breast cancer in England between 2000 and 2018.

We aimed to investigate socio-economic inequalities in second primary cancer (SPC) incidence among breast cancer survivors. Using Data from cancer registries in England, we included all women diagnosed with a first primary breast cancer (PBC) between 2000 and 2018 and aged between 18 and 99 years and followed them up from 6 months after the PBC diagnosis until a SPC event, death, or right censoring, whichever came first. We used flexible parametric survival models adjusting for age and year of PBC diagnosis, ethnicity, PBC tumour stage, comorbidity, and PBC treatments to model the cause-specific hazards of SPC incidence and death according to income deprivation, and then estimated standardised cumulative incidences of SPC by deprivation, taking death as the competing event.