A Randomised, Placebo-controlled Trial of the Effects of Preoperative Pregabalin on Pain Intensity and Opioid Consumption following Lumbar Discectomy

Hegarty, Dominic A.,Shorten, George D. The Korean Pain Society 2011 The Korean Journal of Pain Vol.24 No.1

Background: Pregabalin has been shown to have analgesic effect in acute pain models. The primary objective was to examine the efficacy a single dose of pregabalin, would have on morphine consumption following lumbar discectomy. Methods: With ethical approval a randomized, placebo-controlled prospective trial was undertaken in 32 patients (ASA I-II, 18-65 years) with radicular low back pain for > 3 months undergoing elective lumbar discectomy. Patients received either oral pregabalin 300 mg (PG Group) or placebo (C Group) one hour before surgery. Pain intensity, the accumulative morphine consumption and adverse effects were recorded for 24 hours following surgery. Functional, psychological and quantitative sensory testing were also assessed. Results: Fourteen patients out of the 32 recruited were randomized to receive pregabalin. Morphine consumption was reduced (absolute difference of 42.3%) between groups with medium effect size. (Mann-Whitney; U =52.5, z-score= 2.84, P = 0.004, r = 0.14). This was not associated with a significant difference in the incidence of adverse effects between the two groups. The median pain intensity (VAS) on movement was not significantly different between groups. Conclusions: A single pre-operative dose of pregabalin (300 mg) did not result in a reduction in pain intensity compared to placebo in this patient cohort but the significant reduction in morphine consumption suggests that a fixed peri-operative dosing regime warrants investigation.

A Literary Voice from the Asian Diaspora : Madagascar's Charlotte-Arriosa Rafenomanjato

George Hegarty Research Institute of Asian Women Sookmyung Women' 2004 Asian Women Vol.18 No.-

Creative Leisure and Self-Expression

C. Boyd Hegarty,Jonathan A. Plucker 대한사고개발학회 2012 The International Journal of Creativity & Problem Vol.22 No.2

This article describes a phenomenological study of creative leisure for adults and the relevance of self-expression to this experience. We further a definition for the new construct of creative leisure. The intent of the research was to capture the essence, or meaning, of the lived experience of creative leisure for individual adults. Interviews were completed with 16 participants. The theme of self-expression emerged early and more often than any other theme in the study. The sub-theme of self-expression to the self also emerged for some participants, describing that self-expression does not have to be targeted to or dependent upon an audience.

A Randomised, Placebo-controlled Trial of the Effects of Preoperative Pregabalin on Pain Intensity and Opioid Consumption following Lumbar Discectomy

( Dominic A. Hegarty ),( George D. Shorten ) 대한통증학회 2011 The Korean Journal of Pain Vol.24 No.1

Background: Pregabalin has been shown to have analgesic effect in acute pain models. The primary objective was to examine the efficacy a single dose of pregabalin, would have on morphine consumption following lumbar discectomy. Methods: With ethical approval a randomized, placebo-controlled prospective trial was undertaken in 32 patients (ASA I-II, 18-65 years) with radicular low back pain for >3 months undergoing elective lumbar discectomy. Patients received either oral pregabalin 300 mg (PG Group) or placebo (C Group) one hour before surgery. Pain intensity, the accumulative morphine consumption and adverse effects were recorded for 24 hours following surgery. Functional, psychological and quantitative sensory testing were also assessed. Results: Fourteen patients out of the 32 recruited were randomized to receive pregabalin. Morphine consumption was reduced (absolute difference of 42.3%) between groups with medium effect size. (Mann-Whitney; U=52.5, z-score=2.84, P=0.004, r=0.14). This was not associated with a significant difference in the incidence of adverse effects between the two groups. The median pain intensity (VAS) on movement was not significantly different between groups. Conclusions: A single pre-operative dose of pregabalin (300 mg) did not result in a reduction in pain intensity compared to placebo in this patient cohort but the significant reduction in morphine consumption suggests that a fixed peri-operative dosing regime warrants investigation. (Korean J Pain 2011; 24: 22-30)

Effects of Rumen Protozoa of Brahman Heifers and Nitrate on Fermentation and In vitro Methane Production

Nguyen, S.H.,Li, L.,Hegarty, R.S. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2016 Animal Bioscience Vol.29 No.6

Two experiments were conducted assessing the effects of presence or absence of rumen protozoa and dietary nitrate addition on rumen fermentation characteristics and in vitro methane production in Brahman heifers. The first experiment assessed changes in rumen fermentation pattern and in vitro methane production post-refaunation and the second experiment investigated whether addition of nitrate to the incubation would give rise to methane mitigation additional to that contributed by defaunation. Ten Brahman heifers were progressively adapted to a diet containing 4.5% coconut oil distillate for 18 d and then all heifers were defaunated using sodium 1-(2-sulfonatooxyethoxy) dodecane (Empicol). After 15 d, the heifers were given a second dose of Empicol. Fifteen days after the second dosing, all heifers were allocated to defaunated or refaunated groups by stratified randomisation, and the experiment commenced (d 0). On d 0, an oral dose of rumen fluid collected from unrelated faunated cattle was used to inoculate 5 heifers and form a refaunated group so that the effects of re-establishment of protozoa on fermentation characteristics could be investigated. Samples of rumen fluid collected from each animal using oesophageal intubation before feeding on d 0, 7, 14, and 21 were incubated for in vitro methane production. On d 35, 2% nitrate (as $NaNO_3$) was included in in vitro incubations to test for additivity of nitrate and absence of protozoa effects on fermentation and methane production. It was concluded that increasing protozoal numbers were associated with increased methane production in refaunated heifers 7, 14, and 21 d after refaunation. Methane production rate was significantly higher from refaunated heifers than from defaunated heifers 35 d after refaunation. Concentration and proportions of major volatile fatty acids, however, were not affected by protozoal treatments. There is scope for further reducing methane output through combining defaunation and dietary nitrate as the addition of nitrate in the defaunated heifers resulted in 86% reduction in methane production in vitro.

Advances in Signal Processing for GNSSs [From the Guest Editors]

Closas, Pau,Luise, Marco,Avila-Rodriguez, Jose-Angel,Hegarty, Christopher,Lee, Jiyun IEEE 2017 IEEE signal processing magazine Vol.34 No.5

<P>Examines global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The papers in this special issue address the design of special GNSS signals, a topic of particular interest in the past and still of great relevance today. It continues with the discussion of effective techniques for receiver performance enhancement and finishes with the analysis of some vulnerabilities. GNSS technology today is ubiquitous in many transversal infrastructures and has become the backbone of all applications where precise position, navigation, and timing (PNT) of user equipment is required. Moreover, GNSS is the pervasive PNT technology in outdoor environments, where its performance, coverage, and reliability exceeds that of other technical solutions.</P>

Environmental Microbiology and Engineering : Identification of Novel Phytase Genes from an Agricultural Soil-Derived Metagenome

( Hao Tan ),( Marlies J Mooij ),( Matthieu Barret ),( Pardraig M Hegarty ),( Catriona Harrington ),( Alan D W Dobson ),( Fergal O Gara ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2014 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.24 No.1

Environmental microorganisms are emerging as an important source of new enzymes for wide-scale industrial application. In this study, novel phytase genes were identified from a soil microbial community. For this, a function-based screening approach was utilized for the identification of phytase activity in a metagenomic library derived from an agricultural soil. Two novel phytases were identified. Interestingly, one of these phytases is an unusual histidine acid phosphatase family phytase, as the conserved motif of the active site of PhyX possesses an additional amino acid residue. The second phytase belongs to a new type, which is encoded by multiple open reading frames (ORFs) and is different to all phytases known to date, which are encoded by a single ORF.