Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s.

Observations of planet Earth from space are a critical resource for science and society. Satellite measurements represent very large investments and United States (US) agencies organize their effort to maximize the return on that investment. The US National Research Council conducts a survey of Earth science and applications to prioritize observations for the coming decade.

A pilot study of the use of artificial intelligence with high-fidelity simulations in assessing endovascular procedural competence independent of a human examiner.

Background: With increased need for vascular surgery trainees to gain endovascular surgery proficiency, current models of case-numbers and subjective visual assessment are inadequate in capturing the skills required in endovascular surgery. We explored the use of high-fidelity simulators in (1) assessing endovascular surgical competence; (2) clinical decision making; and (3) the reliability of an artificial intelligence (AI) assessor.

Methods: Registrars, fellows and consultants from vascular surgery, interventional radiology and general surgery performed identical procedures on a high-fidelity simulator.

Editor's Choice - Comparison of Outcomes for Major Contemporary Endograft Devices Used for Endovascular Repair of Intact Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms.

Objective: To compare rates of mortality, rupture, and secondary intervention following endovascular repair (EVAR) of intact abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) using contemporary endograft devices from three major manufacturers.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using linked clinical registry (Australasian Vascular Audit) and all payer administrative data. Patients undergoing EVAR for intact AAA between 2010 and 2019 in New South Wales, Australia were identified.

Long-Term Outcomes Following Elective Repair of Intact Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: A Comparison Between Open Surgical and Endovascular Repair Using Linked Administrative and Clinical Registry Data.

Objective: Compare long-term mortality, secondary intervention and secondary rupture following elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) and open surgical repair (OSR).

Background: EVAR has surpassed OSR as the most common procedure used to repair abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), but evidence regarding long-term outcomes is inconclusive.

Methods: We included patients in linked clinical registry and administrative data undergoing EVAR or OSR for intact AAA between January 2010 and June 2019.

Evaluation of tools to assess operative competence in endovascular procedures: a systematic review.

Background: With an increase in the use of endovascular interventions as an alternative to open surgery and the unique technical skills required, current methods for assessing the competence of vascular surgery trainees may not be optimal, suggesting a need for a shift in assessment modalities. We conducted this systematic review to explore current assessment methods used in vascular surgery training to assess competence specific to endovascular procedures.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed with a structured search strategy using terms focusing on endovascular procedures and assessment.

Multicentre Covariate Adjustment Analysis of Short-Term and 5-Year Outcomes after Endovascular Repair according to Sex.

Background: Several studies have reported worse outcomes in women compared to men after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). This study aimed to evaluate sex-specific short-term and 5-year outcomes after EVAR.

Methods: A total of 409 consecutive patients underwent elective EVAR from 2004 to 2017 at two tertiary hospitals in Western Australia.

A Binational Need Assessment to Define the Level of Endovascular Expertise Required by Vascular Surgical Trainees.

Background: There has been a shift toward competency-based surgical education programs to improve trainee performance and achieve better patient outcomes. Endovascular procedures comprise a significant volume of vascular surgery, but the current methods for assessing the endovascular competence of vascular trainees in Australia and New Zealand are suboptimal. The objective of this study was to perform a need assessment to define the scope of endovascular expertise required by vascular surgical trainees to later aid in the development of novel surgical training assessment tools.

Satellite sensor requirements for monitoring essential biodiversity variables of coastal ecosystems.

The biodiversity and high productivity of coastal terrestrial and aquatic habitats are the foundation for important benefits to human societies around the world. These globally distributed habitats need frequent and broad systematic assessments, but field surveys only cover a small fraction of these areas. Satellite-based sensors can repeatedly record the visible and near-infrared reflectance spectra that contain the absorption, scattering, and fluorescence signatures of functional phytoplankton groups, colored dissolved matter, and particulate matter near the surface ocean, and of biologically structured habitats (floating and emergent vegetation, benthic habitats like coral, seagrass, and algae).

Refractory Arterial Insufficiency Associated with Janus Kinase 2 Positive Essential Thrombocythaemia.

Essential thrombocythaemia (ET) is one of the severe rare clonal haematologic stem cell disorders that encompass myeloproliferative neoplasms. ET has a well-described association with peripheral arterial thrombosis, which presents a challenging clinical presentation. Further understanding into the underlying pathophysiology of thrombosis in ET has been made following the identification of the Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2) mutation, which is thought to confer a prothrombotic phenotype.

Integrating intervention for substance use disorder in a healthcare setting: practice and outcomes in New York City STD clinics.

Objective: This article reports the integration and outcomes of implementing intervention services for substance use disorder (SUD) in three New York City public sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics.

Methods: The screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) service model was implemented in the STD clinics in 2008. A relational database was developed, which included screening results, service dispositions, face-to-face interviews with 6-month follow-ups, and treatment information.

Enhancing crystalline properties of a cardiovascular active pharmaceutical ingredient using a process analytical technology based crystallization feedback control strategy.

Pharmaceutical regulatory bodies require minimal presence of solvent in an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) after crystallization. From a processing point of view bigger crystals with minimal agglomeration and uniform size distribution are preferred to avoid solvent inclusion and for improved downstream processing. The current work addresses these issues encountered during the production of the potential anti-arrhythmic cardiovascular drug, AZD7009.

Marked reduction of effective radiation dose in patients undergoing CT coronary angiography using prospective ECG gating.

Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) is a rapidly evolving technology which can characterise and image sub clinical atherosclerotic plaque and visualise anatomy and quantitate stenosis. Concern about radiation exposure has limited the uptake of this technology. The aim of this study was to review the radiation dose data in 2298 consecutive patients referred to a single centre in an Australian outpatient setting over 27 months using all available radiation dose reduction strategies.

A secure semi-field system for the study of Aedes aegypti.

Background: New contained semi-field cages are being developed and used to test novel vector control strategies of dengue and malaria vectors. We herein describe a new Quarantine Insectary Level-2 (QIC-2) laboratory and field cages (James Cook University Mosquito Research Facility Semi-Field System; MRF SFS) that are being used to measure the impact of the endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis on populations of Aedes aegypti in Cairns Australia.

Methodology/principal Findings: The MRF consists of a single QIC-2 laboratory/insectary that connects through a central corridor to two identical QIC-2 semi-field cages.

Surgical practice to reduce dialysis access insufficiency.

Background: Patients who are dependant on a percutaneous central venous catheter for dialysis have an excess morbidity and mortality compared with patients with an autologous arteriovenous fistula.

Methods: In an effort to improve outcomes related to episodes of permanent access insufficiency, defined as a patient requiring a venous catheter for haemodialysis, a 12-month prospective audit of surgery carried out to establish and maintain dialysis access was carried out at our institution.

Results: Effective measures that reduced the period of time that patients required a venous catheter for dialysis included regular communication between dialysis staff, the surgical service and patients attending for treatment in the dialysis unit, liberal use of duplex ultrasound imaging, pursuing autologous access in the majority of patients, early intervention to correct failing vascular access before conduit thrombosis, using both traditional open surgical and endovascular solutions in establishing and maintaining vascular access, using peritoneal dialysis as a long-term or temporary alternative to haemodialysis and, in cases of arteriovenous polytetrafluoroethylene graft occlusion, early thrombectomy and mandatory revision to provide a conduit immediately available for effective dialysis.

An investigation of religiosity and the Gastaut-Geschwind syndrome in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

We examined the religious experiences of 28 patients with epilepsy and religiosity, 22 patients with epilepsy and no expressed interest in religion, and 30 volunteer regular churchgoers. We profiled the experiences of the first group, revealing more of their phenomenology, but also their bipolarity, and demonstrated that members of the religious group were significantly more likely to have had past episodes of postictal psychosis, and to have bilateral cerebral dysfunction. We added further data to support the validity of the Bear-Fedio Inventory, and noted that although the experiences of patients with epilepsy are different in content and intensity from the experiences of regular churchgoers, the patients with epilepsy and religiosity conform to those who William James referred to as having, with respect to religion, "an acute fever.

Damage control surgery and angiography in cases of acute mesenteric ischaemia.

Background: Acute mesenteric arterial occlusion typically presents late and has an estimated mortality of 60-80%. This report examines the evolution of a novel management approach to this difficult surgical problem at a teaching hospital in rural Australia.

Methods: A retrospective review of 20 consecutive cases that presented to Lismore Base Hospital, Lismore, New South Wales, between 1995 and 2003 was performed.

Prevalence of production of virus-specific interferon-gamma among seronegative hepatitis C-resistant subjects reporting injection drug use.

This report describes subjects who were highly likely to have been repeatedly exposed to hepatitis C virus (HCV) through injection drug use and who remained negative for anti-HCV antibody. Production of virus-specific interferon- gamma by peripheral blood mononuclear cells was seen in the majority of subjects (72%) and was associated with higher-risk behavior. For 92% of the subjects, results of recombinant immunoblot assays demonstrated faint bands against nonstructural proteins.

Clearance of hepatitis C viremia associated with cellular immunity in the absence of seroconversion in the hepatitis C incidence and transmission in prisons study cohort.

Understanding the earliest virological and immunological events in acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may provide insight into the determinants of protective immunity. Four cases of HCV viremia with subsequent viral clearance, but without biochemical hepatitis or anti-HCV seroconversion, are reported from a prospective cohort study of prison inmates. Two of the subjects who developed sustained viremia were assessed for production of interferon (IFN)- gamma, by use of the enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) method and by assessment of HCV cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity, CD4 lymphocyte proliferative responses, HCV load, and genotype.

Natural history models for hepatitis C-related liver disease: different disease progression parameters for different settings.

An understanding of the natural history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has improved in recent years. Estimates of liver disease progression among people with chronic hepatitis C have been developed from various study populations, including liver clinics, post-transfusion hepatitis C cohorts and community-based cohorts. These estimates can be used in hepatitis C natural history models; however, they need to be matched to differing requirements.

Expression of the chemokine IP-10 (CXCL10) by hepatocytes in chronic hepatitis C virus infection correlates with histological severity and lobular inflammation.

The factors influencing lymphocyte trafficking to the liver lobule during chronic hepaititis C virus (HCV) infection are currently not well defined. Interferon-gamma-inducible protein 10 (IP-10), a chemokine that recruits activated T lymphocytes, has recently been shown by in situ hybridization to be expressed in the liver during chronic HCV infection. This study sought to define the cellular source of IP-10 in the liver by immunohistochemistry, to examine the expression of its receptor, CXCR3, on T lymphocytes isolated from blood and liver tissue, and to correlate IP-10 expression with the histological markers of inflammation and fibrosis.