Impact of the XVII Pacific Games on the National Referral Hospital Emergency Department, Solomon Islands.

Background: The XVII Pacific Games was held in Honiara, Solomon Islands in 2023 and was attended by competitors from 24 Pacific nations. The National Referral Hospital (NRH) is the sole tertiary hospital and largest emergency department (ED) in the Solomon Islands, located in the capital city, Honiara, and was the designated referral hospital for the Pacific Games.

Objective: This report documents the lessons learnt from supporting a large international sporting event within a resource-limited health setting, and may help other EDs prepare for similar planned mass gatherings.

Respiratory plasticity induced by chronic hyperoxia in juvenile and adult rats.

Chronic hyperoxia during early postnatal development depresses breathing when neonatal rats are returned to room air and causes long-lasting attenuation of the hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR). In contrast, little is known about the control of breathing of juvenile or adult mammals after chronic exposure to moderate hyperoxia later in life. Therefore, Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 60 % O for 7 days (juveniles) or for 4 and 14 days (adults) and ventilation was measured by whole-body plethysmography immediately after the exposure or following a longer period of recovery in room air.

Novel environmental variables help explain winter weather effects on activity and habitat selection of greater sage-grouse along the border of Colorado and Wyoming, USA.

For non-hibernating species within temperate climates, survival during severe winter weather often depends on individuals' behavioral response and available refugia. Identifying refugia habitat that sustains populations during adverse winter conditions can be difficult and complex. This study provides an example of how modeled, biologically relevant snow and weather information can help identify important relationships between habitat selection and dynamic winter landscapes using greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter "sage-grouse") as a model species.

Endogenous retroelement activation is implicated in IFN-α production and anti-CCP autoantibody generation in early Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objectives: Endogenous retroelements (EREs) stimulate type 1 interferon (IFN-I) production but have not been explored as potential interferonogenic triggers in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). We investigated ERE expression in early RA (eRA), a period where IFN-I is increased.

Methods: ERE expression (LTR5, LINE1, SINE) in disease modifying treatment naïve eRA whole blood and bulk synovial tissue was examined by RT-PCR and Nanostring alongside IFN-α activity.

Deep phenotyping of T regulatory cells in psoriatic arthritis highlights targetable mechanisms of disease.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are immune regulatory T cells that are vital for controlling inflammation. The role of Tregs in inflammatory diseases namely psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is still poorly understood. The underlying reason being a lack of robust unbiased analysis to test the immune regulatory phenotype of human Tregs.