Irish Universities
Not a member yet
78452 research outputs found
Sort by
Upadacitinib treatment improves symptoms of bowel urgency and abdominal pain, and correlates with quality of life improvements in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis
No full textBowel urgency and abdominal pain are impactful, yet underappreciated ulcerative colitis symptoms and not commonly assessed in clinical trials. We evaluated how these symptoms may improve with upadacitinib treatment and correlate with clinical and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes in the phase 2b U-ACHIEVE study.
Patients aged 18-75 years with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis were randomised to receive placebo or upadacitinib (7.5, 15, 30, or 45Â mg QD). Bowel urgency and abdominal pain were evaluated at baseline and Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8. Week 8 correlations were evaluated between bowel urgency/abdominal pain with clinical (Mayo subscores, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and faecal calprotectin measurements) and HRQOL outcomes (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey scores). A greater proportion of patients (N = 250) reported no bowel urgency and less abdominal pain with upadacitinib treatment compared to placebo, with improvements observed as early as 2 weeks. At Week 8, patients receiving the 45-mg QD dose had the greatest improvements versus placebo, with 46% reporting no bowel urgency (vs 9%; P =0.001) and 38% reporting no abdominal pain (vs 13%; P = 0.015). At Week 8, moderate correlations were found between bowel urgency or abdominal pain and most clinical and HRQOL outcomes. Induction treatment with upadacitinib demonstrated significant reductions in bowel urgency and abdominal pain compared to placebo. These symptoms also correlate to clinical and HRQOL outcomes, supporting their use to monitor disease severity and other treatment outcomes
An assessment of the production, reproduction, and functional traits of Holstein-Friesian, Jersey × Holstein-Friesian, and Norwegian Red × (Jersey × Holstein-Friesian) cows in pasture-based systems
No full textPasture-based production systems typically require
highly fertile, healthy, and robust genetics, with greater
emphasis on milk solids (MSo; kg of fat + protein) production
as opposed to milk yield. This study assessed
milk production, production efficiency, reproductive
performance, body weight (BW), body condition score,
and functional traits in 3 different dairy cow genotypes:
Holstein-Friesian (HF), Jersey × Holstein-Friesian
(JEX), and Norwegian Red × (Jersey × Holstein-
Friesian) (3-way). The 3 genotypes were rotationally
grazed on 4 different grazing treatments after calving
in spring and were stocked at a rate of 2.75 cows/ha.
Holstein-Friesian cows produced higher daily and total
milk yields compared with JEX and 3-way cows (5,718
vs. 5,476 and 5,365 kg/cow, respectively). However,
JEX and 3-way cows had higher milk fat and protein
contents (4.86 and 4.75%, respectively, for JEX and
3.87 and 3.88%, respectively, for 3-way) compared with
HF (4.52 and 3.72%), resulting in similar MSo yield
for JEX and HF (469 and 460 kg/cow) and slightly
lower MSo yield for 3-way (453 kg/cow) compared
with JEX. As parity increased, milk and MSo yield per
cow increased. Reproductive performance was not significantly
different between the 3 genotypes, which had
similar 24-d submission rates, 6-wk pregnancy rates,
and overall pregnancy rates over the 4-yr period. No
difference in calving difficulty, incidence of mastitis, or
incidence of lameness was observed among the 3 genotypes.
Body weight was significantly different among
all 3 genotypes, with HF being the heaviest followed by
3-way and JEX (530, 499, and 478 kg, respectively), and 3-way cows had a higher body condition score throughout
lactation compared with HF and JEX cows. The
differences in BW coupled with similar MSo production
resulted in JEX cows having the highest production
efficiency (4.58 kg of MSo/kg of metabolic BW), 3-way
cows being intermediate (4.30 kg of MSo/kg of metabolic
BW), and HF cows having the lowest (4.16 kg of
MSo/kg of metabolic BW). In conclusion, HF herds
with poor reproductive performance and low milk fat
and protein contents are likely to benefit considerably
from crossbreeding with Jersey, and all herds are likely
to benefit in terms of production efficiency. However,
where herd performance, particularly in relation to reproductive
performance, is comparable with HF in the
current study, crossbreeding with Jersey or Norwegian
Red is unlikely to lead to significant improvements in
overall herd performance
Editorial: progress in computer gaming and esports: neurocognitive and motor perspectives
No full textThis Research Topic covers the neurocognitive aspects of computer gaming and esports. Authors
representing a broad spectrum of psychology and neuroscience have contributed, introducing
empirical findings as well as conceptual and methodological innovations. In this Editorial we
provide a thematic overview of the exciting and diverse contents of this Research Topic.
Video games have become a cultural phenomenon over the past 50 years and are now one of
the most prominently chosen past times (Wagner, 2006; Hamari and Sjöblom, 2017; Lokhman
et al., 2018). The use of dynamic visual displays, the demand on flexible attention allocation
and the requirement for precise time-constrained bimanual motor control, make video games a
unique medium for studying both cognition and motor control Bera et al. Over the past 20 years,
neurocognitive research has demonstrated that habitual competitive video game players appear to
display some superior cognitive attributes when compared to their non-video gaming counterparts
(Colzato et al., 2013; Bediou et al., 2018; Kowal et al., 2018). Along with the increased recognition
of esports as a sporting activity alongside traditional athletic sports, the unique cognitive skillset
possessed by elite gamers has earned them the moniker of “cognitive athletes” (Campbell et al.,
2018). This notion has led to an increased appetite toward understanding the cognitive benefits
conferred from, and demanded by, video game
Electrochemical biosensor for the detection of a sequence of the TP53 gene using a methylene blue labelled DNA probe#
No full textThe development of an electrochemical biosensor utilising a hairpin DNA probe labelled with methylene blue for the detection of the TP53 gene is described. Structural rearrangement of the hairpin probe into a linear double DNA strand induced different rates of electron transfer that enabled an increase in current upon hybridization. The increase in current observed upon hybridization was studied at different surface probe densities, hybridization times, concentration and length of target DNA sequences. The biosensor selectively detected a single nucleotide polymorphism in the TP53 gene affecting residue 175 of the p53 protein, with the response more pronounced at shorter hybridization times. Detection of target DNA sequences at nanomolar concentrations was achieved and the sensor possessed good operational and storage stabilit
“It\u27s like a kick in the teeth”: The emergence of novel predictors of burnout in frontline workers during Covid-19
No full textThe context of Covid-19 has offered an unusual cultural landscape for examining how
workers view their own position relative to others, and how individuals respond to
prolonged exposure to workplace stress across different sectors and cultures. Through
our recent work tracking the well-being of frontline workers in the UK and Ireland (the
CV19 Heroes project), we have uncovered additional psychological factors that have
not been accounted for in previous models of occupational stress or burnout. In recent
months, frontline workers have worked to protect the community from the threat of
SARS-CoV-2 and, simultaneously, have evaluated their perceptions of collective efforts
of others as either congruent or incongruent with collective goals (e.g., lowered mortality
and morbidity): we call this novel aspect solidarity appraisal. These frontline workers
have been hailed as heroes, which we argue has led to the creation of an implicit
psychological contract (the hero contract) between frontline workers and the public.
Here, the heroes are willing to “go above and beyond” for the greater good, with the
expectation that we (the public) do our part by adhering to public health guidelines.
Where frontline workers perceive incongruence between the words and actions of others
in working toward collective goals this drives negative affect and subsequent burnout.
In this perspective article, we evaluate the cultural context of the pandemic in the UK
and Ireland and suggest important socio-cultural factors that contribute to perceptions
of solidarity, and how this may relate to burnout and worker welfare during and beyond
the pandemic context
X-band quasi-elliptic non-reciprocal bandpass filters (NBPFs)
No full textThis article reports on the design and practical development of RF co-designed MMIC components that exhibit the function of a bandpass filter and an RF isolator. They are based on cascaded non-reciprocal frequency-selective stages (NFSs), one-pole/two-transmission zero (TZ) multi-resonant stages, and impedance inverters. The combination of these components results in a two-port network that exhibits a nonreciprocal quasi-elliptic bandpass filter (NBPF) response in the forward direction and full RF signal cancellation in the reverse one. The operating principles of the NBPF are presented through various circuit-based design examples of low- and high-order configurations. For proof-of-concept demonstration purposes, NBPF prototypes were designed on an MMIC GaAs process and were experimentally validated at X-band. They include a two-pole/two-TZ NBPF and a three-pole/four-TZ NBPF
Evolution in the understorey: The Sulawesi babbler Pellorneum celebense (Passeriformes: Pellorneidae) has diverged rapidly on land-bridge islands in the Wallacean biodiversity hotspot
No full textTropical islands hold great treasures of Earth\u27s biodiversity, but these fragile ecosystems may be lost before their diversity is fully catalogued or the evolutionary processes that birthed it are understood. We ran comparative analyses on the ND2 and ND3 mitochondrial genes of the Sulawesi babbler Pellorneum celebense, an understorey bird endemic to Sulawesi and its continental islands, along with its morphology and song. Genetic, acoustic, and morphological data agree on multiple isolated populations, likely representing independently evolving lineages. The Sulawesi babbler shows signs of rapid speciation, with populations diverging between Central and Southeast Sulawesi, and even on land-bridge islands which were connected within the last few tens of thousands of years. The genetic divergence between Sulawesi babbler populations in this time has been around 33% of their divergence from sister species which have been isolated from Sulawesi for millions of years. This is likely facilitated by the Sulawesi babbler\u27s understorey lifestyle, which inhibits gene flow and promotes speciation. Similar patterns of endemism are seen in Sulawesi\u27s mammals and amphibians. This work highlights the undocumented biodiversity of a threatened hotspot, wrought by complex processes of speciation which interact with ecology and geology. Subspecific taxonomy has at times been controversial, but we argue that discrete populations such as these play a key role in evolution. Lying as they do at the heart of the biodiversity hotspot of Wallacea, these islands can reveal much about the evolution of biodiversity at all of its levels, from the gene to the ecosystem
Cohort component population estimates for Ireland, 1911-1920: A new county-level dataset for use in historical demography
No full textThis is a dataset of vital statistics and cohort component population estimates at a spatially-disaggregated level for the island of Ireland for the period 1911-1920. The raw data were digitised by the authors using official UK government statistics. The population estimates were then derived by the cohort component method. These data provide novel intercensal population estimates at the county level that will be beneficial for researchers working in historical demography, as well as in economic and social history. The data provided can be readily reused and extended by other researchers to produce further series and indicators. An example application of the data in this manner can be seen in Colvin and McLaughlin (2021), which combines the population estimates discussed here with mortality statistics from the Spanish flu pandemic in order to demonstrate how demographic composition affects the interpretation of data on public health crises
Proteomic biomarkers of beef colour
No full textBackground
Implementation of proteomics over the last decade has been an important step toward a better understanding of the complex biological systems underlying the conversion of muscle to meat. These sophisticated analytical tools have helped to reveal the biochemical pathways involved in fresh meat colour and have identified key protein biomarkers.
Scope and approach
Until recently, there have been no detailed or critical studies on the role of protein biomarkers in determining meat colour. This review presents an integromics of recent muscle proteomic studies to investigate pathways and mechanisms of beef colour. A database was created from 13 independent proteomic-based studies including data on five muscles and a list of 79 proteins which were significantly correlated with colour traits. The database was subjected to a multistep analysis including Gene Ontology annotations, pathway analysis and literature mining. This report discusses the key protein biomarkers and the biological pathways associated with fresh beef colour. Biomarkers were prioritised by the frequency of identification and the need for future validation experiments is discussed.
Key findings and conclusions
This review identifies six pathways involved in beef colour including energy metabolism, heat shock and oxidative stress, myofibril structure, signalling, proteolysis and apoptosis. The data-mining of the list of the putative biomarkers showed that certain proteins, such as β-enolase (ENO3), Peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6), HSP27 (HSPB1), Phosphoglucomutase 1 (PGM1), Superoxide Dismutase [Cu-Zn] (SOD1) and μ-calpain (CAPN1) were consistently reported by multiple studies as being differentially expressed and having a significant role in beef colour. This integromics work proposes a list of 27 putative biomarkers of beef colour for validation using adapted high-throughput methods.FI