Jade An Byrne

Background In contemporary transcatheter aortic valve implantation registries, a transfemoral approach for valve delivery is not possible in 5–10% of patients. Transcaval TAVI has emerged as an alternative access site in a subset of these patients but is technically challenging and requires a unique set of interventional skills. Studies to date of...

BACKGROUND: The CovidSurg-Cancer Consortium aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 in surgical patients and services for solid cancers at the start of the pandemic. The CovidSurg-Gynecologic Oncology Cancer subgroup was particularly concerned about the magnitude of adverse outcomes caused by the disrupted surgical gynecologic cancer care during th...

Preprints occupied the spotlight early in the pandemic, as scientists, the media and the public sought information on the evolving pandemic. While some in the scientific community embraced this shift, others were concerned about the quality of these papers, which had not yet undergone peer review. Furthermore, the flood of COVID-19 preprints quickl...

Background This study aimed to determine the impact of pulmonary complications on death after surgery both before and during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Methods This was a patient-level, comparative analysis of two, international prospective cohort studies: one before the pandemic (January–October 201...

There is little evidence around the potentially protective role of previous Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on postoperative mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Prior BCG vaccination did not protect SARS-CoV-2 infected patients against postoperative pulmonary complications and 30-day mortality.

Background: Surgery is the main modality of cure for solid cancers and was prioritised to continue during COVID-19 outbreaks. This study aimed to identify immediate areas for system strengthening by comparing the delivery of elective cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic in periods of lockdown versus light restriction. Methods: This internati...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on healthcare delivery. Here we describe the effect of repurposing of a research Computed Tomography scanner on clinical care of cardiology patients in an urban academic medical centre which did not have routine access to CCTA prior t...

To support the global restart of elective surgery, data from an international prospective cohort study of 8492 patients (69 countries) was analysed using artificial intelligence (machine learning techniques) to develop a predictive score for mortality in surgical patients with SARS-CoV-2. We found that patient rather than operation factors were the...

In children with cancer, the heterogeneity in ototoxicity occurrence after similar treatment suggests a role for genetic susceptibility. Using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach, we identified a genetic variant in TCERG1L (rs893507) to be associated with hearing loss in 390 non-cranial irradiated, cisplatin-treated children with cancer...

STUDY QUESTION Which chemotherapeutic agents and body site-specific radiation fields are dose-dependently associated with an increased risk of fertility impairment in long-term female childhood, adolescent and young adulthood (CAYA) cancer survivors? SUMMARY ANSWER Busulfan, lower abdominal radiotherapy (RT) and total body irradiation (TBI) seem t...

Background Surgical services are preparing to scale up in areas affected by COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the association between preoperative SARS-CoV-2 testing and postoperative pulmonary complications in patients undergoing elective cancer surgery. Methods This international cohort study included adult patients undergoing elective surge...

Background/Introduction TAILOR-PCI is the largest cardiovascular genotype-based randomized trial (NCT#01742117) investigating whether genotype-guided selection of oral P2Y12 inhibitor therapy improves ischemic outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The TAILOR-PCI Digital Sub-Study tests the feasibility of extending original follow...

Background Prior studies of infective endocarditis (IE) post-transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) have reported an incidence of 1–2%, a median time from TAVI to presentation with IE of ~1 year, and 1-year mortality rates of 40–50%. In addition, a higher rate of enterococci as the culprit microorganism compared to staphylococci and strepto...

A global heat flux model based on a fractional derivative of plasma pressure is proposed for the heat transport in fusion plasmas. The degree of the fractional derivative of the heat flux, α, is defined through the power balance analysis of the steady state. The model was used to obtain the experimental values of α for a large database of the Joint...

Results from two different sets of JET experiments are presented. In experiments in which toroidicity-induced Alfven eigenmodes (TAEs) localized at different radial locations had the same frequencies and toroidal mode numbers, the occurrence of enhanced losses after the excitation of TAEs in the core of the plasma was observed. On the contrary, enh...

Smart metering and data analytics enable the implementation of a range of onsite infrastructures for energy, water and waste management to demonstrate the interconnected infrastructure of future smart cities. A smart city funded project in Western Australia is integrating smart metering technology, household participation and data analytics. Better...

BACKGROUND: This multicentre cohort study sought to define a robust pathological indicator of clinically meaningful response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in oesophageal adenocarcinoma. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to 11 UK upper gastrointestinal cancer centres to determine the use of assessment of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Re...

The 2014–2016 JET results are reviewed in the light of their significance for optimising the ITER research plan for the active and non-active operation. More than 60 h of plasma operation with ITER first wall materials successfully took place since its installation in 2011. New multi-machine scaling of the type I-ELM divertor energy flux density to...

This book underscores the complexity of the equity markets, the challenges they face, and the fact that they are still a work in process. Three interacting forces drive market change: competition, technology change, and regulatory change. The markets have one major objective in particular to achieve: the delivery of accurate price discovery for bot...

These guidelines, informed by the best available evidence and consensus expert opinion, provide a framework to guide the timely initiation of chemotherapy for treating cancer. They sit at the intersection of patient experience, state-of-the-art disease management and rational efficient service provision for these patients at a system level. Interna...

Introduction Hypophosphatemic rickets is a rare genetic condition presenting with symptoms of rickets also characterised by its resistance to vitamin D and ultraviolet treatment. Its genotype involves a mutation in the PHEX gene which leads to down-regulation of FGF-23 which in turn leads to phosphate losses due to decreased tubular re-absorption i...

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized world, has a very low survival rate and high incidence of unfavorable neurological outcome among survivors, which have remained stable over the last three decades. The most recent clinical studies have proposed the usefulness of therapeutic h...

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a comparatively less invasive technique than open repair (OR). Debate remains with regard to the benefit of EVAR for patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA). We sought to evaluate and report outcomes of EVAR for RAAA in an Irish tertiary vascular referral centre. Patients undergoing emergency s...

Introduction There is a paucity of data available to assess the occupational health and safety risk associated with exposure to monoclonal antibodies. Industry standards and published guidelines are conflicting or outdated. Guidelines offer contrary recommendations based on an array of methodological approaches. This survey aimed to describe curren...

These consensus guidelines provide recommendations for the safe handling of monoclonal antibodies. Definitive recommendations are given for the minimum safe handling requirements to protect healthcare personnel. The seven recommendations cover: (i) appropriate determinants for evaluating occupational exposure risk; (ii) occupational risk level comp...

This review is concerned with a detailed analysis of some of the technical problems which arise in the application of the Penning trap method to the experimental study of neutron $\beta $ -decay,a technique which was first successfully tested on the low-flux swimming-pool reactor LIDO (capture flux =3$\cdot 10^6$cm$^(-2)$s$^(-1)$) at AERE Harwell i...

The worldwide demand for ECMO support has grown. Its provision remains limited due to several factors (high cost, complicated technology, lack of expertise) that increase healthcare cost. Our goal was to assess if an intensive care unit (ICU)-run ECMO model without continuous bedside perfusionists would decrease costs while maintaining patient safe...

Large for gestational age infants are at increased risk of childhood obesity and maternal nutrition impacts birthweight. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a maternal low glycaemic index (GI) diet on neonatal anthropometry. The ROLO (Randomised Control Trial of Low Glycaemic Index Diet in Pregnancy) study was a randomized controlled...

Introduction: The possibility of prolonged circulatory assistance on the waiting list for heart transplantation has associated complications. Different from the conventional access, antegrade balloon pump implantation through the subclavian artery could avoid or, at least, limit the adverse effects of assistance.

Introduction: In the setting of acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), prone positioning has shown survival and outcome benefits. Our aim is to demonstrate the technical feasibility and benefit of this therapy in a patient with a total artificial heart (TAH). Case Report: A 29-year-old man was admitted to hospital with sym...

Unfractionated heparin has largely been replaced by low molecular weight heparin in the treatment and prevention of thrombosis and recurrent miscarriage in pregnancy. There is little information, however, about the efficacy and safety of tinzaparin, which has the advantage of being administered as a single daily dose. To evaluate the safety and eff...

Background: Tumor protein D52 (TPD52) is amplified and or overexpressed in many cancer types. TPD52-amplified cancer cell lines may therefore be sensitive to reduced TPD52 expression and dependent on TPD52 for cell survival. Previously, TPD52 expression has been associated with ERBB2, suggesting these oncogenes may be co-operating in cancer pathoge...

This was a prospective study of women attending a combined haematology/obstetric antenatal clinic in the National Maternity Hospital (2002-2008). Obstetric outcome in mothers treated with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) was compared to the general obstetric population of 2006. There were 133 pregnancies in 105 women. 85 (63.9%) received prophyl...

There are a variety of vascular pathologies that affect the brain and intracranial tissues and cause hemorrhagic stroke. The term includes all types of spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage, such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, which may or may not cause a focal neurological deficit.

At no point in the life cycle is nutrition more important than before and during pregnancy. Diet is a major environmental factor influencing the development of the embryo and fetus, while maintaining maternal health. Impaired development in utero may “programme” the fetus for developing metabolic diseases in adulthood. The aim of the present study...

Vitamin D has an important role in pregnancy in promoting fetal skeletal health. Maternal dietary intake is a key factor influencing both maternal and fetal status. There are limited data available on food groups contributing to vitamin D intake in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine dietary intakes of vitamin D throughout pregnancy i...

Following recent proposals for the experimental determination of the electron g-factor anomaly, a study has been made of the properties required of a perturbing electromagnetic field for the production of particular transitions between the states of an electron moving in a constant homogeneous magnetic field. The matrix elements have been calculate...

Pregnancy is the most important stage of a women's life cycle where nutrition is essential for an optimum pregnancy outcome (1). Dietary pattern analysis is becoming a popular method of determining habitual dietary patterns during pregnancy. Cluster analysis is one technique that can be used to identify clusters or groups of subjects with similar d...

The ability to prevent PTB is still lacking, but our opportunities to improve outcomes with interventions such as ANS are clear.

Miscarriages occur to excess in sibships with neural tube defects (NTDs) and among maternal versus paternal relatives in NTD families. Folic acid prevents most NTDs. Its potential to prevent miscarriages has been controversial. We evaluated the relationship of maternal line and periconceptional folic acid with miscarriage. First cousins in Irish fa...

Neural tube defects (NTDs) and birth defects overall are more likely to occur among maternal compared to paternal relatives in two generations (uncles/aunts and first cousins) of Irish families where an individual has been born with an NTD. The aim of this study was to determine if the matrilineal excess persisted into the third generation. First c...

Nutrient intakes during early pregnancy of women living in Ireland - Volume 69 Issue OCE5 - C. McGowan, J. Walsh, J. Byrne, M. Foley, R. Mahony, F. McAuliffe

Matching assessment strategies to learning outcomes in radiation therapy education is of the utmost importance. Assessing clinical competence requires that ‘competence’ be clearly defined prior to the start of any clinical programme. In this article, we report on our experience in using clinical oral examinations in assessing competence in second y...

An elevated level of factor VIII is a recognised risk factor for thromboembolism. This case report describes a patient with elevated factor VIII levels secondary to hyperthyroidism. She presented with a triad of clinical hyperthyroidism, pulmonary emboli and cerebral venous thrombosis. This case highlights the importance of considering thromboproph...

There is wide acknowledgement that apathy is an important behavioural syndrome in Alzheimer’s disease and in various neuropsychiatric disorders. In light of recent research and the renewed interest in the correlates and impacts of apathy, and in its treatments, it is important to develop criteria for apathy that will be widely accepted, have clear...

Dietary intervention is effective in reducing the glycaemic index of maternal diets during pregnancy - Volume 68 Issue OCE3 - C. McGowan, S. Levis, S. Curran, C. Toher, J. Byrne, M. Foley, R. Mahony, F. McAuliffe

Many industries are using skids, modules and prefabrications to enhance construction productivity, reduce schedules and thus reduce costs. The leaders in this regard are offshore oil and gas, chemical and refinery, ship building, etc. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL® ) has had considerable success at the Qinshan Nuclear Power project in China wi...

Derivation of embryonic stem (ES) cells genetically identical to a patient by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) holds the potential to cure or alleviate the symptoms of many degenerative diseases while circumventing concerns regarding rejection by the host immune system. However, the concept has only been achieved in the mouse, whereas inefficie...

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) requires cytoplast-mediated reprogramming of the donor nucleus. Cytoplast factors such as maturation promoting factor are implicated based on their involvement in nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD) and premature chromosome condensation (PCC). Given prior difficulties in SCNT in primates using conventional protoco...