ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1767-8438
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-08-2019
DOI: 10.1002/BJS.11297
Abstract: This study investigated the indications, procedures and outcomes for adrenal surgery from the UK Registry of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgery database from 2005 to 2017, and compared outcomes between benign and malignant disease. Data on adrenalectomies were extracted from a national surgeon-reported registry. Preoperative diagnosis, surgical technique, length of hospital stay, morbidity and in-hospital mortality were examined. Some 3994 adrenalectomies were registered among patients with a median age of 54 (i.q.r. 43–65) years (55·9 per cent female). Surgery was performed for benign disease in 81·5 per cent. Tumour size was significantly greater in malignant disease: 60 (i.q.r. 34–100) versus 40 (24–55) mm (P & 0·001). A minimally invasive approach was employed in 90·2 per cent of operations for benign disease and 48·2 per cent for cancer (P & 0·001). The conversion rate was 3·5-fold higher in malignant disease (17·3 versus 4·7 per cent P & 0·001). The length of hospital stay was 3 (i.q.r. 2–5) days for benign disease and 5 (3–8) days for malignant disease (P & 0·050). In multivariable analysis, risk factors for morbidity were malignant disease (odds ratio (OR) 1·69, 1·22 to 2·36 P = 0·002), tumour size larger than 60 mm (OR 1·43, 1·04 to 1·98 P = 0·028) and conversion to open surgery (OR 3·48, 2·16 to 5·61 P & 0·001). The in-hospital mortality rate was below 0·5 per cent overall, but significantly higher in the setting of malignant disease (1·2 versus 0·2 per cent P & 0·001). Malignant disease (OR 4·88, 1·17 to 20·34 P = 0·029) and tumour size (OR 7·47, 1·52 to 39·61 P = 0·014) were independently associated with mortality in multivariable analysis. Adrenalectomy is a safe procedure but the higher incidence of open surgery for malignant disease appears to influence postoperative outcomes.
Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Date: 31-12-2018
DOI: 10.2174/1874285801812010397
Abstract: Antibiotics are progressively failing in the fight against infections due to S. aureus because the bacterium has an outstanding ability to acquire multi-antibiotic resistance and become resistant to most antibiotics. Multi-drug resistant S. aureus poses a major threat to the foundation upon which standard antibacterial chemotherapy stands, hence the need to consider non-antibiotic solutions to manage invasive bacterial infections. This study investigated the inhibitory activities of three dosage strengths of artemether-lumefantrine tablets against Staphylococcus aureus subsp . aureus (ATCC ® 6538™) and determined the minimum concentrations of the tablets that are able to completely inhibit growth of the bacterium in vitro . The agar dilution and broth macrodilution techniques were used to determine the susceptibility of the Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus (ATCC ® 6538™) strain to artemether-lumefantrine 20/120mg, 40/240mg and 80/480mg tablets. The most active inhibitor was artemether-lumefantrine 80/480mg tablet with a minimum inhibitory concentration value of 2.5mg/mL while artemether-lumefantrine 20/120mg and 40/240mg tablets exhibited moderate but equal activities against the test strain. The study has revealed that artemether-lumefantrine, an antimalarial drug, also has anti-staphylococcal properties and inhibits S. aureus in vitro . This study presents the first report on the in vitro activity of artemether-lumefantrine tablet against S. aureus and suggests the need to consider it as an alternative in the treatment of staphylococcus infections.
Publisher: Academic Journals
Date: 31-01-2014
DOI: 10.5897/JMA2013.0280
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPROT.2012.06.031
Abstract: Secreted proteins encoded by mutated genes (mutant proteins) are a particularly rich source of biomarkers being not only components of the cancer secretome but also actually implicated in tumorigenesis. One of the challenges of proteomics-driven biomarker discovery research is that the bulk of secreted mutant proteins cannot be identified directly and quantified by mass spectrometry due to the lack of mutated peptide information in extant proteomics databases. Here we identify, using an integrated genomics and proteomics strategy (referred to iMASp - identification of Mutated And Secreted proteins), 112 putative mutated tryptic peptides (corresponding to 57 proteins) in the collective secretomes derived from a panel of 18 human colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines. Central to this iMASp was the creation of Human Protein Mutant Database (HPMD), against which experimentally-derived secretome peptide spectra were searched. Eight of the identified mutated tryptic peptides were confirmed by RT-PCR and cDNA sequencing of RNA extracted from those CRC cells from which the mutation was identified by mass spectrometry. The iMASp technology promises to improve the link between proteomics and genomic mutation data thereby providing an effective tool for targeting tryptic peptides with mutated amino acids as potential cancer biomarker candidates. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Integrated omics.
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 14-07-2019
DOI: 10.1155/2019/7062016
Abstract: Infants and children under five years generally have high susceptibility to pathogenic and opportunistic infections due to immaturity and inexperience of their immune responses. The lives of these young children are threatened when they consume pharmaceutical preparations of poor microbiological quality. Considering the widespread use of artemether-lumefantrine dry powder and paracetamol syrup among the general population in Ghana, there is a need to investigate the microbiological quality and safety of these paediatric pharmaceutical preparations. The study investigated the microbiological quality of 180 s les comprising 90 artemether-lumefantrine dry powders and 90 paracetamol syrups. The s les were tested for presence of specified indicator pathogens, Total Aerobic Microbial Count (TAMC), and Total Yeasts and Moulds Count (TYMC) using compendial procedures. Results from the study indicated that 16 (17.78%) of the paracetamol syrup s les showed bioburden levels above United States Pharmacopeia (USP) maximum acceptable limit, but none of the artemether-lumefantrine dry powder s les recorded microbial load above the limit of USP. Four s les of paracetamol syrup and 4 s les of artemether-lumefantrine dry powder showed presence of P . aeruginosa , whereas 5 s les of paracetamol syrup were found to be contaminated with Salmonella spp. Overall, 4.44% of the artemether-lumefantrine dry powders and 25.56% of the paracetamol syrups were found to be noncompliant with USP specifications for nonsterile pharmaceutical preparations for oral use. This study has revealed the existence of substandard paediatric pharmaceutical products in the Ghanaian market, hence the need for regulatory bodies to intensify monitoring and postmarketing surveillance programmes to help get rid of these products from the market.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2017
DOI: 10.1111/AJT.14223
Abstract: Prophylactic ureteric stenting in renal transplantation reduces major urological complications however, morbidity is related to the indwelling duration of a stent. We aimed to determine the optimal duration for stents in this clinical setting. Patients (aged 2-75 years) from six UK hospitals who were undergoing renal transplantation were recruited and randomly assigned to either early stent removal at 5 days (without cystoscopy) or late removal at 6 weeks after transplantation (with cystoscopy). The primary outcome was a composite of stent-related complications defined as pain, visible hematuria, migration, fragmentation, and urinary tract infections (UTIs) within 3 mo of transplantation. Between May 2010 and Nov 2013, we randomly assigned 227 participants, with 205 included in the final analysis of the primary outcome. Stent-related complications were significantly higher in the late versus early stent removal groups (36 of 126 [28.6%] vs. 6 of 79 [7.6%] p < 0.001). The majority of stent complications consisted of UTIs, with an incidence of 31 of 126 (24.6%) in the late group compared with 6 of 79 (7.6%) in the early group (p = 0.004). We found early stent removal on day 5 significantly reduced stent-related complications and improved quality of life in the first 3 mo after transplantation (ISRCTN09184595).
Publisher: African Journals Online (AJOL)
Date: 09-2011
Start Date: 2020
End Date: 2023
Funder: University of South Australia
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