Publications by authors named "Robert J Williams"

Background: Current methods to determine exposure to malaria-infected mosquitoes via entomologic investigations are technically challenging and can be inaccurate in low transmission settings. Antibody responses to mosquito salivary antigens (MSA) like gSG6-P1 have been used as biomarkers of exposure to mosquito bites.

Methods: This study investigates two novel gambiae antigens, AgSAP and SAMSP1, as potential biomarkers of vector exposure.

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Only a minority of individuals with problem gambling (PG) seek specialized treatment, often doing so only after experiencing significant problems for many years. To better understand the trigger points and pathways that lead individuals to treatment, this mixed-methods study recruited 65 Canadian adults currently receiving treatment for PG. Using a Timeline Follow-Back methodology, participants recalled key trigger points that led them to recognize their gambling problems and ultimately seek professional treatment.

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Spotted fever group rickettsioses (SFGR) pose a global threat as emerging zoonotic infectious diseases; however, timely and cost-effective diagnostic tools are currently limited. We used data from 449 patients presenting to 2 hospitals in northern Tanzania between 2007 and 2008, of which 71 (15.8%) met criteria for acute SFGR based on ≥4-fold rise in antibody titers between acute and convalescent serum samples.

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Objective: In October 2018, the Government of Canada legalized cannabis for recreational use nationwide. The effects of legalization on cannabis use have been primarily assessed through cross-sectional surveys.

Method: In the present study, a two-wave longitudinal design was used to explore potential demographic, substance use and behavioral addiction, and mental health predictors of change in cannabis use status following legalization.

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Urbanization of estuaries drastically changed existing shorelines and bathymetric contours, in turn modifying habitat for marine foundational species that host critical biodiversity. And yet we lack approaches to characterize a significant fraction of the biota that inhabit these ecosystems on time scales that align with rates of urbanization. Environmental DNA (or eDNA) metabarcoding that combines multiple assays targeting a broad range of taxonomic groups can provide a solution, but we need to determine whether the biological communities it detects ally with different habitats in these changing aquatic environments.

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Tauopathies are characterised by the pathological accumulation of misfolded tau. The emerging view is that toxic tau species drive synaptic dysfunction and potentially tau propagation before measurable neurodegeneration is evident, but the underlying molecular events are not well defined. Human non-mutated 0N4R tau (tau) and P301L mutant 0N4R tau (tau) were expressed in mouse primary cortical neurons using adeno-associated viruses to monitor early molecular changes and synaptic function before the onset of neuronal loss.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study focuses on improving the differentiation of dengue virus (DENV) infections from other causes of fever, which is crucial for reducing unnecessary antibiotic use and optimizing laboratory testing in tropical areas.
  • - Researchers propose a new clinical prediction model that incorporates not only individual patient data but also broader population-level and environmental factors, such as climate data and epidemiological metrics, to better identify DENV in febrile patients.
  • - Results show that this enhanced model, which combines clinical information with external data, outperforms traditional models that only use clinical predictors, leading to more accurate predictions in a Thai hospital setting.
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Objective: Sports betting accounts for the greatest proportion of online gambling behavior globally and has been linked to various harms. Few studies have examined the average sports bettor profile using stratified samples of adults who gamble regularly. The present study builds upon existing research on the demographic variables of sports bettors and provides an in-depth examination of the clinical and gambling-related factors associated with sports betting.

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Microglia are crucial players in the pathogenesis of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), with evidence for both deleterious and beneficial effects. Identifying interventions to modulate microglial responsiveness, promote amyloid β (Aβ) clearance, disrupt plaque formation, or dampen excessive inflammation has therapeutic potential. Bioavailable flavonoids, such as the flavan 3-ols, are of interest due to their antioxidant, metal chelating, signalling, and anti-inflammatory potential.

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Objective: Remission from problem gambling (PG) continues to be a priority of clinicians and researchers. Data from cross-sectional studies indicate that some correlates are more predictive of PG, and existing longitudinal studies have exclusively examined risk factors that predict emergence of PG. This study's objective is to fill in the remaining pieces of the puzzle by identifying factors that might facilitate remission from PG.

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Gambling-related harm is a public health issue requiring market regulation and efforts aimed at prevention and treatment. An important consideration for the regulation of gambling is whether certain types of gambling are intrinsically more harmful than others. The present study was a comprehensive investigation of this issue in a nationwide sample of 10,199 Canadian adult gamblers that included 1346 individuals with problem gambling.

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Gambling fallacies are a collection of error-stricken beliefs about gambling and how gambling works. Gambling fallacies, while common in the general public, appear to increase as a function of gambling severity. This being the case, many interventions have focused on reducing gambling fallacies as a means of treating problem-gambling.

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Casino employees regularly interact with problem and at-risk gamblers and thus have considerable potential to both prevent and reduce gambling-related harm. While harm minimization (HM) and responsible gambling (RG) are routinely espoused by the casino industry, the actual level of employee HM/RG training, knowledge, and behaviour is unknown. The present study investigated this issue in the Canadian context by examining employee surveys collected by the RG Check accreditation program (8,262 surveys from 78 Canadian casinos/racinos collected between 2011 and 2020).

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Article Synopsis
  • Fishes in Sydney Harbour are an important natural resource, yet their diversity and role in this human-impacted estuary have not been well documented until now.
  • A recent study found that the number of fish species in Sydney Harbour increased from 586 in 2013 to 675, largely due to citizen science contributions and the presence of more tropical species thriving in warmer waters.
  • The study highlights the need for ongoing collaboration between citizen science initiatives and natural history collections to monitor and assess the environmental impacts on fish populations.
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Introduction: Cannabis use frequently co-occurs with gambling, and evidence indicates that both acute and chronic cannabis use may influence gambling behavior. The primary aim of the present study was to further contribute to the literature on this relationship by examining data collected from a Canadian national study of gambling.

Methods: Respondents consisted of 10,054 Canadian gamblers recruited from Leger Opinion's (LEO) online panel.

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Article Synopsis
  • α-synuclein (αS) is central to synucleinopathies like Parkinson’s disease, with specific mutations in the SNCA gene leading to early onset and aggressive forms of PD.
  • Mutations closely related to the preNAC region of αS are linked to its harmful effects, highlighting their significance in the disease process.
  • This study reveals unique differences in aggregation behavior and structure between normal αS and various mutant forms when interacting with certain lipid vesicles, which could impact our understanding of the relationship between lipids and αS mutations in disease progression.
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In Canada, up to 3% of individuals have or are at risk of gambling disorder. Among these individuals, a lack of awareness of their problem gambling is a common barrier to treatment and negatively affects treatment adherence. A secondary analysis was conducted on data from 1346 individuals (mean age = 43.

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Objective: This study examined past year attempts to reduce or quit gambling among people who gamble generally and those with gambling problems specifically.

Methods: Regular gamblers recruited from an online panel ( = 10,054) completed a survey of gambling, mental health and substance use comorbidity and attempts to reduce or quit gambling. The sample was weighted to match the gambling and demographic profile for the same subsample (i.

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Objective: To conduct a large-scale national cohort study to identify the current etiological risk factors for problem gambling in Canada.

Method: A cohort of 10,119 Canadian gamblers completed a comprehensive self-administered online questionnaire in 2018 and were reassessed in 2019. At baseline, the sample contained 1,388 at-risk gamblers, 1,346 problem gamblers, and 2,710 with a major DSM-5 mental health disorder.

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Central nervous system-expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are often located in the genome close to protein coding genes involved in transcriptional control. Such lncRNA-protein coding gene pairs are frequently temporally and spatially co-expressed in the nervous system and are predicted to act together to regulate neuronal development and function. Although some of these lncRNAs also bind and modulate the activity of the encoded transcription factors, the regulatory mechanisms controlling co-expression of neighbouring lncRNA-protein coding genes remain unclear.

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Parkinson's Disease (PD) is characterized by the accumulation of Lewy bodies in dopaminergic neurons. The main protein component of Lewy bodies, α-synuclein (αS), is also firmly linked to PD through the identification of a number of single point mutations that are autosomal dominant for early-onset disease. Consequently, the misfolding and subsequent aggregation of αS is thought to be a key stage in the development and progression of PD.

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A more comprehensive understanding of how cells respond to drug intervention, the likely immediate signalling responses and how resistance may develop within different microenvironments will help inform treatment regimes. The nonreceptor tyrosine kinase SRC regulates many cellular signalling processes, and pharmacological inhibition has long been a target of cancer drug discovery projects. Here, we describe the in vitro and in vivo characterisation of the small-molecule SRC inhibitor AZD0424.

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Misfolding and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (αS) within dopaminergic neurons is a key factor in the development and progression of a group of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, termed synucleinopathies, that include Parkinson's disease (PD). We previously derived a peptide inhibitor from a 209,952-member intracellular library screen by employing the preNAC region (45-54) as a design template. At least six single-point mutations firmly linked to early-onset Parkinson's disease (E46K, H50Q, G51D, A53T/E/V) are located within this region, strongly implicating a pathogenic role within αS that leads to increased cytotoxicity.

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The current study investigated the impact of the COVID pandemic lockdown on gambling and problem gambling in Canada. The AGRI National Project's online panel participants (N = 3449) provided baseline gambling data 6 months prior to the pandemic. Re-surveying this sample during the lockdown provided an opportunity to make quantitative comparisons of the changes.

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