Western University

Pre-Diagnostic Plasma Endogenous Steroids and the Risk of Exfoliation Glaucoma

Purpose: Exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) is the most common secondary glaucoma. Prior studies suggest a higher incidence in women and links to reproductive history, implying estrogen-related pathways. Metabolomic data also indicated inverse associations with steroid-related plasma met...

Emotion Regulation in Response to Stress in the Daily Lives of Women With and Without Eating Disorders: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

ABSTRACT Objective Emotion regulation difficulties are known risk/maintenance factors for eating disorders (EDs). Few studies have investigated use of adaptive/maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in people with EDs, especially using ecologically valid data. This study: (1)...

Presence of asymptomatic lesions in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: a retrospective study

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) can present with asymptomatic lesions in the absence of corresponding clinical symptoms. These lesions may represent inter-attack subclinical disease activit...

A scoping review protocol on digital health equity among immigrant populations: Planning and managing effective digital health services

Equity is central to the effective planning and management of digital health services, particularly as technology adoption rises across Canada and the United States. Immigrant populations, despite representing a significant portion of the population and being considered an unders...

Investigating the role of the hippocampus in the implicit and explicit expression of statistical learning in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

Statistical learning (SL) has been proposed to depend on the hippocampus, but traditional neuropsychological theories of long-term memory posit that the hippocampus is only necessary for explicit memory processes, not implicit memory processes. To reconcile these two accounts, we...

Sungouiella purgamenti sp. nov., a yeast isolated from hospital wastewater in Brazil: a taxogenomic analysis

Yeasts recovered from wastewater of a public hospital in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, included a single isolate representing a putative novel species. Sequence analysis of the ITS-5.8S region and the D1/D2 domains of the LSU rRNA gene placed this yeast within the genus Sungouiella...

Effectiveness of Selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors for Postoperative Pain Management Using Multidimensional Pain Assessment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Although selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX‑2) inhibitors are commonly used in perioperative pain management, it is uncertain whether these anti-inflammatory agents meaningfully improve postoperative recovery, including the impact of pain on daily functioning. METHODS: T...

Tree-based structural equation model for assessing measurement invariance in patient-reported outcome measures

Evidence of measurement invariance (MI) is essential to ensure that scores based on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are comparable across groups or over time. Conventional methods for evaluating MI in PROMs are mostly group-based methods that require that relevant diffe...

Visual Analytics in Pharmacovigilance: A Scoping Review

Visual analytics combines computational analysis with interactive visual representations and may strengthen pharmacovigilance, but its use in drug safety research has not been systematically characterized. This scoping review mapped the extent, characteristics, and applications o...

AI-driven IMU-based monitoring system for detecting dry powder inhaler misuse

Inhaler misuse has been a persistent challenge for achieving effective pulmonary drug delivery with dry powder inhalers. Among the various misuse patterns, improper device maneuvering, especially incorrect device orientation, is one frequently overlooked yet clinically relevant m...

Lessons From the Communication Bridge Trials: Advancing Meaningful Dyadic Interventions Toward Implementation

Purpose: This review describes the historical motivations, development, and evolution of the Communication Bridge (CB) research program, which is designed to maximize quality of life and minimize burden for individuals living with dementia and their communication partners. The CB...

Spatially guided translation from histology images to transcriptomic profiles using foundation model-driven contrastive learning

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) enhances single-cell RNA sequencing by revealing transcript distribution, offering critical insights into heterogeneous diseases such as breast cancer. However, the high cost and lengthy processes of generating high-quality ST data limit clinical appl...

Neuroligin 3 highlights the sexually dimorphic neural substrates of Drosophila social spacing

Abstract In Drosophila melanogaster, Neuroligin 3 (Nlg3) is a postsynaptic membrane protein important for synapse development and social spacing behaviour, and its human orthologs are associated with autism. We localized Nlg3 to three brain structures: the mushroom bodies (MB) ca...

DISE and Rhinomanometry Correlates of Response to Head‐of‐Bed Elevation in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

OBJECTIVES: To identify endoscopic and rhinomanometric correlation of response to 30° head-of-bed elevation (HOBE) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and to explore whether upper airway (UA) collapse patterns and nasal resistance are associated with positional improv...

Ethical and Methodological Features of Cluster Randomized Trials in Critical Care Settings: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVES: Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) are useful for evaluating system-level interventions in critical care but raise complex ethical and methodological issues that are amplified in this setting. We aimed to describe ethical and methodological features of CRTs in critical...

A Conservative Restorative Protocol for Symptomatic Irreversible Pulpitis: Clinical Success and Rapid Pain Relief in a 27-Case Series with 36-Month Follow-Up

Background/Objectives: Symptomatic irreversible pulpitis (SIP) is conventionally treated with pulp tissue removal via root canal treatment, pulpectomy, or pulpotomy. This case series introduces the Pulpitis Restorative Protocol (PRP), a novel method used to treat SIP without pulp...

Closing the Justice Gap: Why sexual assault complainants require trauma-informed independent legal representation in criminal trials

The disconnect between sexual assault victims’ needs and criminal justice system logic is well known. Rape myths and deeply held stereotypes about how ‘ideal victims’ are expected to respond still shape and influence criminal justice system processes and legal decision-making, in...

Diabetes self management beyond medication through community based supports in London Ontario Canada

Abstract Background and objective Diabetes mellitus is a growing public health concern requiring self-management strategies that extend beyond pharmacological treatment. Food insecurity, limited access to culturally appropriate health services, and broader social determinants of...

Simultaneous bilateral medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy with early weight bearing results in low adverse event rates, satisfactory early recovery and high return to work rate

Abstract Background Bilateral medial compartment knee osteoarthritis with varus alignment may be treated with staged or simultaneous medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy (MOWHTO). Simultaneous bilateral MOWHTO may reduce the overall rehabilitation burden, but concerns remai...

The Evolution of Image Segmentation from Classical Techniques to Deep Learning: A Survey

Image segmentation is a fundamental step in computer vision and a cornerstone of robotic perception, serving as the foundation for interpreting data acquired from vision sensors, enabling robots to analyze complex visual environments, identify and localize objects, and support in...