Queen's University

Postoperative thyroglobulin antibodies in differentiated thyroid cancer: predictors and associations with persistent and recurrent disease

Anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) are present in up to 25% of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and interfere with thyroglobulin (Tg) measurement, a key biomarker used to monitor for persistent or recurrent disease (PRD). Despite its clinical significance, risk...

Melatonin Supplementation in the Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

ABSTRACT Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder of gut–brain interaction characterized by recurrent abdominal pain and altered bowel habits, with substantial effects on quality of life and healthcare utilization. Melatonin has been proposed as a potential...

Trained Immunity in Childhood Vaccination

Conventionally, vaccine design has focused on identifying antigens that induce durable T and B cell memory and provide long term protection against subsequent encounters with the same pathogen. Unconventionally, a growing number of epidemiological, preclinical, and clinical studi...

Behavioral, Psychological, and Metabolic Characteristics of Adults with Co-Occurring Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obesity: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and obesity are highly prevalent and often co-occur, yet it remains unclear how the presence of both conditions relates to biological, behavioral, and psychological outcomes compared with either condition alone. Understanding this su...

Rotting empires

Much has been written about the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence, especially the heavy tolls and costs of manufacturing, building, running, and maintaining the industry’s data infrastructure. Data centres are key to the artificial intelligence industry, as are the...

Optical coherence tomography imaging device comparison study in papilloedema secondary to idiopathic intracranial hypertension

Abstract Background Optic nerve imaging assessing papilloedema is an increasingly important clinical measure to guide treatment. The aim of this study was to understand the agreement between two commonly used OCT devices and whether pooling of papilloedema OCT imaging data could...

Eye Findings Following Congenital Cytomegalovirus Newborn Screening

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Consensus guidelines have recommended eye examinations for all newborns with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection; however, structured ophthalmic examinations are seldom reported. Existing literature suggests ocular pathology is uncommon in cCMV,...

Construction and characterisation of the DarkSide-20k veto silicon photo-multiplier tiles

Abstract Silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs) are state-of-the-art sensors capable of detecting a single photoelectron under cryogenic conditions, with potentially lower radioactivity than widely used photomultiplier tubes. The DarkSide-20k experiment, designed to perform direct dar...

Pregnancy after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: likelihood, risks, and management

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Advances in haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have improved long-term survival, making fertility and reproductive health increasingly important aspects of survivorship. This review summarizes current evidence regarding fertility after HSCT, fertil...

The petrochemical pivot: geostrategic globalization and the future of oil and gas

While demand for oil as an energy source is projected to decline, petrochemical demand is expected to grow significantly. Toward securing future profitability, oil and gas (O&G) firms are pivoting toward petrochemicals. We contend that this ‘petrochemical pivot’ demands an explic...

An integrated decision framework for optimizing poultry manure-to-energy systems within a circular bioeconomy under cold-climate conditions

Poultry manure represents an abundant biomass resource with significant potential for renewable energy production; however, identifying the optimal energy recovery pathway remains challenging because of variations in feedstock characteristics, conversion technologies, and climati...

Surrogate Markers of Cardiorespiratory Fitness for Performance and Health: A Narrative Review

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is both an indicator of athletic performance and disease and mortality risk. The gold standard for measuring CRF is a VO2peak test, which is inaccessible to the general population and non-elite athletes. Thus, there is a need to identify surrogate...

Redesigning 9-1-1 Paramedic Pathways: Evaluation of the IMPACC Model of Care

OBJECTIVES Paramedic services remain organized around rapid response, time-sensitive events, and hospital conveyance despite increasing 9-1-1 use for lower-acuity and undifferentiated presentations. There is a need to improve the alignment of paramedic services for patients seeki...

New informative molecular markers for Alternaria sections Infectoriae and Pseudoalternaria reveal the diversity of lineages infecting wheat and tomato

Fungi in Alternaria sections Infectoriae and Pseudoalternaria are commonly associated with commercially important crops, yet their biosystematics remains difficult to resolve because standard molecular markers often lack sufficient phylogenetic resolution. In this study, we used...

Lie groupoids determined by their orbit spaces

Given a Lie groupoid, we can form its orbit space, which carries a natural diffeology. More generally, we have a quotient functor from the Hilsum–Skandalis category of Lie groupoids to the category of diffeological spaces. We introduce the notion of a lift-complete Lie groupoid a...

Interventions to increase involvement of primary care clinicians in providing palliative care: A scoping review

Background: It is recognized that primary care clinicians have a critical role in ensuring access to palliative care in health systems. When primary palliative care has been examined at the system level, provision is highly variable, making the study of best practices challenging...

Taxation Made Easy: A Benefit–Cost Analysis of Prefilled Sales Tax Returns

Abstract Small- and medium-sized enterprises incur disproportionately high compliance costs under the traditional goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) reporting system. To reduce these costs, some EU and Latin American countries have successfully adopted prefille...

A qualitative study of motivations and barriers to formal healthcare utilisation among informal caregivers of older adults in Ghana

Informal caregivers of older adults in low- and middle-income countries, including Ghana, face health challenges and increased healthcare needs. They also report suboptimal healthcare use, which may undermine their health outcomes. Understanding the specific factors that motivate...

Evidence-Based Insights for the Development and Talent Promotion of Young Athletes in a National Sports Context

Abstract The development of young athletes continues to be a key concern for sports organizations, coaches and policy makers. In Sweden, the public debate on the balance between early talent promotion programs and more inclusive, long-term athlete development models has recently...

Pharmacological Management of Opioid Use Disorder: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis: Prise en charge pharmacologique du trouble de l'usage des opiacés : revue systématique et méta-analyse en réseau

Objective To assess the comparative benefits and harms of opioid substitution and antagonist therapies (OSATs) for opioid use disorder (OUD) using a network meta-analysis (NMA) of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Data Sources Medline, EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science,...