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Aesthetic surgery tourism is a flourishing trend, and challenges often arise when patients return home with post-operative complications, necessitating follow-up care. Between July 2021 and June 2023, we conducted a retrospective analysis of patients who presented with complications from aesthetic surgery tourism in two major teaching hospitals in Ireland. Thirty-three patients with a mean age of 41 years were identified. Procedures were predominantly performed in Turkey (67%), followed by Lithuania (24%). Complications included wound dehiscence (n = 22), infections (n = 9), seroma (n = 9), haematoma (n = 2) and skin necrosis (n = 1). A total of 27 operations were performed, with an average hospital stay of four days and a per-patient cost of €5 486. Complications from aesthetic surgery abroad not only have a psychological and financial impact on the individuals involved but also strain our public healthcare system. Therefore, it is important for us, as medical professionals to advocate for our patients in order for them to make informed and safe decisions before seeking healthcare abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a worldwide shortage of organs for transplantation. It has been shown that the attitude of healthcare professionals can improve the rates of organ donation, and that educational programs aimed at improving both attitudes and knowledge base of professionals can have positive outcomes. Although there has been research carried out on this topic, there has been none in Ireland. Anatomy dissection can be a stressor to medical students--we investigate the attitudes of Irish students to organ donation and how they change with exposure to anatomy dissection. A questionnaire was administered to first year students in the School of Medicine in University College Dublin, Ireland, three times over a nine-week period at the commencement of classes in an academic year. The attitudes of the students were positive throughout regarding organ donation by a stranger, a family member, or themselves. There was, however, a significant decrease in support for the donation of a family member's organs in a minority of students. Irish students' attitudes to postmortem organ donation are positive and are not changed by exposure to the dissecting room. There is support for the donation of organs, and willingness among students to donate their own organs and support donation by family members. (Contains 3 figures.)

Given the important role that anatomical dissection plays in the shaping of medical student attitudes to life and death, these attitudes have not been evaluated in the context of whole body donation for medical science. First year students of anatomy in an Irish university medical school were surveyed by questionnaire before and after the initial dissection and again after 9 weeks of anatomical dissection. Analysis of student responses to the idea of whole body donation by an unrelated stranger, a family member, or by the respondent showed that "a priori" attitudes to donation by a stranger did not change with exposure to dissection. However, student opposition to donation by a family member was evident immediately after the initial dissection and was sustained throughout the duration of this study. Support for the idea of donating their bodies to medical science decreased significantly among respondents after exposure to dissection (31.5% before dissection, 19.6% after dissecting for 9 weeks) but not to levels reported in the general population in other studies. This study demonstrates that where dissection forms a part of anatomy teaching, students expect to learn anatomy by dissecting donors whom they do not know. As a potential donor population, students are reluctant to become emotionally involved in the donation process and are unwilling to become donors themselves. (Contains 3 figures.)

Hypothalamic brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a key element in the regulation of energy balance. Here we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of BDNF by gene transfer in mouse models of obesity and diabetes. Gene transfer of BDNF led to marked weight loss and alleviation of obesity-associated insulin resistance. To facilitate clinical translation and ensure that BDNF protein expression was appropriately decreased as weight loss progressed, thus preventing cachexia, we developed a molecular autoregulatory system involving a single recombinant adeno-associated virus vector harboring two expression cassettes, one constitutively driving BDNF and the other driving a specific microRNA targeting BDNF. The microRNA element was controlled by a promoter (that controlling the Agrp gene encoding agouti-related peptide) responsive to BDNF-induced physiological changes. Hence, as body weight decreased and agouti-related protein is induced, microRNA expression was activated, inhibiting transgene expression. In contrast to the progressive weight loss associated with a nonregulated approach, this microRNA-approach led to a sustainable plateau of body weight after notable weight loss was achieved. This strategy mimics the body's endogenous physiological feedback mechanisms, thereby resetting the hypothalamic set point to reverse obesity and metabolic syndrome., Obesity confers considerable risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and some cancers (1,2). Obesity and the metabolic syndrome are increasing rapidly worldwide with substantial morbidity and mortality and socioeconomic burden [...]

An epidemiologic study was conducted to determine the effects of lung transplantation on the survival and quality of life in children aged less than 18, with cystic fibrosis. The insufficient data results suggest the need for further studies to determine the benefit of lung transplantation to improve survival and quality of life.

Cystic fibrosis patients who have low estimated five-year survival rates may benefit from a lung transplant, according to a study of 468 patients who received a lung transplant. Those with a better prognosis did not benefit and may even be harmed by a lung transplant., Context: Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are the second largest group of lung transplant recipients in the United States. The survival effect of transplantation on a general CF population has not previously been measured. Objective: To determine the impact of bilateral lung transplantation on survival in patients with CF. Design, Setting, and Patients: Retrospective observational cohort study of 11630 CF patients who did not undergo lung transplantation (controls) and 468 transplant recipients with CF from 115 CF centers in the United States, 1992-1998. Patients were stratified into 5 groups based on a 5-year survival prediction model (survival group 1: Main Outcome Measure: Five-year survival from date of transplantation in 19921997 in the transplant group and from January 1, 1993, in the control group. Results: Lung transplantation increased 5-year survival of CF patients in survival group 1. Survival group 2 had equivocal survival effects, and groups 3-5 had negative survival effects from transplantation. From 1994-1997, there was a mean annual prevalence of 238 patients in survival group 1 and mean annual incidence of 154 patients entering the group, approximately 1.5 times the number of lung transplantations performed each year in CF patients (mean, 104). Use of the criterion of forced expiratory volume in 1 second of less than 30% resulted in an equivocal survival benefit and identified 1458 potential candidates for transplantation in 1993. Conclusions: Cystic fibrosis patients in group 1 have improved 5-year survival after lung transplantation. The majority of patients with CF have equivocal or negative survival effects from the procedure. Selection of patients with CF for transplantation based on group 1 survival predictions maximizes survival benefits to individuals and may reduce the demand for scarce donor organs.

European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.; EFB) is a free-floating aquatic plant invasive in Canada, the United States and India. It is native to Europe and northern and western Asia and is believed to have first been introduced to North America in Ottawa, Ontario in 1932. It has since spread by way of the St. Lawrence River and connected waterways to southern Ontario and Quebec and parts of the northern United States. Invasive European frog-bit occurs in freshwater coastal wetlands and inland waters, where it can form dense mats that have the potential to limit recreational and commercial use of waterways, alter water chemistry and impact native species and ecosystems. Data on the past and present distribution of this invasive species provide geospatial information that can be used to infer the pattern of invasion and inform management and monitoring targeted at preventing secondary spread. Our EFB dataset contains 12,037 preserved specimen and observation-based occurrence records, including 9,994 presence records spanning two Canadian provinces and ten U.S. states and 2,043 absence records spanning five U.S. states. The aggregated EFB dataset provides a curated resource that has been used to guide a Michigan management strategy and provide information for ongoing efforts to develop invasion risk assessments, species distribution models and decision-support tools for conservation and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]