Lessons learned from conducting a serological survey for Japanese encephalitis after detecting the first cases in New South Wales, Australia, 2022.

Problem: The first known locally acquired cases of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were identified in March 2022. NSW Health (the state entity for health care in NSW), with its partner agencies, conducted a serological survey to identify the prevalence of JEV antibody responses in high-risk communities in NSW.

Context: JEV infection is rare in Australia; therefore, vaccination is not recommended for the majority of Australians.

The seroprevalence of antibodies to Japanese encephalitis virus in five New South Wales towns at high risk of infection, 2022: a cross-sectional serosurvey.

Objectives: To determine the proportion of people in New South Wales towns at high risk of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infections during the 2022 outbreak; to identify risk factors for JEV infection.

Study Design: Cross-sectional serosurvey study of the seroprevalence of JEV-specific antibodies in NSW.

Setting, Participants: Convenience sample of people (all ages) from five regional NSW towns deemed to be at high risk of JEV infections after first outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in southeastern Australia in early 2022 (Balranald, Corowa, Dubbo, Griffith, Temora), 21 June - 22 July 2022.

FluTracking: Weekly online community-based surveillance of influenza-like illness in Australia, 2019 Annual Report.

FluTracking provided evidence for an early, long, but moderate influenza season in the Australian community compared to prior years. Influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in 2019 peaked earlier (week ending 16 June) than any season on record in FluTracking data. ILI attack rates were above average early in the 2019 season (peak of 2.

Provision and delivery of survivorship care for adult patients with haematological malignancies: A scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Haematological malignancies are a heterogenous group of blood and lymphatic cancers. Survivorship care is a similarly diverse term concerning patients' health and wellbeing from diagnosis to end of life. Survivorship care for patients with haematological malignancies has traditionally been consultant-led and secondary care-based, although shifts away from this model have been occurring, largely via nurse-led clinics and interventions with some remote monitoring.

Medical and Non-medical Costs of Sickle Cell Disease and Treatments from a US Perspective: A Systematic Review and Landscape Analysis.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a complex genetic disorder that manifests in infancy and progresses throughout life in the form of acute and chronic complications. As the upfront costs of potentially curative, genetic therapies will likely be high, an assessment and comprehensive characterization of the medical and non-medical cost burden will inform future decision making.

Objective: We sought to systematically summarize the existing literature surrounding SCD medical and non-medical costs.

Impact of funding on influenza vaccine uptake in Australian children.

Unlabelled: Objectives and importance of study: Young children are at higher risk for serious influenza outcomes but, historically, Australian children aged less than 5 years have had low seasonal influenza vaccine uptake. In 2018, most Australian jurisdictions implemented funded influenza vaccine programs targeted at improving vaccine uptake in this age group. Our aim was to determine how successful these programs were at improving self-reported seasonal influenza vaccine uptake at the community level by comparing vaccination rates in each Australian jurisdiction before and after the introduction of funded vaccines for children aged 6 months to less than 5 years, as well as other age groups.

ACPSEM ROSG TBE working group recommendations for quality assurance in total body electron irradiation.

The Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) Radiation Oncology Specialty Group (ROSG) formed a series of working groups in 2011 to develop recommendations for guidance of radiation oncology medical physics practice within the Australasian setting. These recommendations are intended to provide guidance for safe work practices and a suitable level of quality control without detailed work instructions. It is the responsibility of the medical physicist to ensure that locally available equipment and procedures are sufficiently sensitive to establish compliance to these recommendations.

The influence of focal spot size, shape, emission profile and position on field coverage in a Gulmay D3300 Kilovoltage X-ray therapy unit.

An important characteristic of kilovoltage therapy is the narrow penumbra obtainable with a well designed collimator system. A graphical illustration of applicator geometry is used to show that undesirable penumbral broadening and consequent reduction of field coverage could result if the upper aperture in an applicator is smaller than a critical size or if the applicator is not sufficiently well aligned with the focal spot. This concept is applied in an investigation of the formation of penumbra in the Gulmay D3300, in which the influence of the focal spot size, shape and emission profile, obtained from an image of the focal spot produced using a pin-hole in a sheet of lead, is elucidated.

Emergency procedures on the descending thoracic aorta in the endovascular era.

Background: Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR), initially developed for the treatment of degenerative aneurysms of the descending thoracic aorta, has been applied to the entire spectrum of descending thoracic aortic pathology in both the elective and emergent settings. This single center study evaluates the effectiveness of TEVAR for the treatment of acute surgical emergencies involving the descending thoracic aorta, including traumatic aortic disruption (TAD), ruptured descending thoracic aneurysm (RDTA), and acute complicated Type B dissection (cTBD).

Methods: A retrospective review of the medical records of all patients undergoing emergent TEVAR at the University of Mississippi Medical Center between August 2007 and November 2010 was undertaken.

Is sexual selection driving diversification of the bioluminescent ponyfishes (Teleostei: Leiognathidae)?

Sexual selection may facilitate genetic isolation among populations and result in increased rates of diversification. As a mechanism driving diversification, sexual selection has been invoked and upheld in numerous empirical studies across disparate taxa, including birds, plants and spiders. In this study, we investigate the potential impact of sexual selection on the tempo and mode of ponyfish evolution.

Double-barrel technique for preservation of aortic arch branches during thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) may involve either planned or inadvertent coverage of aortic branch vessels when stent grafts are implanted into the aortic arch. Vital branch vessels may be preserved by surgical debranching techniques or by placement of additional stents to maintain vessel patency. We report our experience with a double-barrel stent technique used to maintain aortic arch branch vessel patency during TEVAR.

Endovascular stent graft repair of a thoracic aortic gunshot injury.

Endovascular treatment approaches offer minimally invasive alternative strategies for the management of vascular injuries. While endovascular stent graft repair of blunt injury to the thoracic aorta is well described, there are few reports of its application for treatment of penetrating injuries of the thoracic aorta. We report the successful treatment of a through-and-through gunshot injury of the thoracic aorta and review how this technology may be applied for the treatment of penetrating thoracic aortic injury.

Double-barrel technique for endovascular exclusion of an aortic arch aneurysm without sternotomy.

Purpose: To report the use of commercially available stents and a stent-graft in coaxial orientation to extend the proximal limits of endografting within the aortic arch.

Case Report: A 70-year-old man was found to have an asymptomatic 7-cm saccular aortic arch aneurysm, extending distally from the origin of the left carotid artery and involving the left subclavian artery; there was only 11 mm between the innominate artery orifice and the aneurysm. The patient was deemed to be high risk for open surgical repair due to a history of 2 prior sternotomies and the requirement for hypothermic circulatory arrest.

Contemporary standards for the diagnosis and treatment of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).

Background: Heparin binding to platelet factor 4 (PF4) generates a new antigenic epitope. In an unpredictable fashion, as many as approximately 17% of patients treated with unfractionated heparin (UFH) and approximately 8% treated with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) subsequently develop the anti-heparin-PF4 antibodies that mediate heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (HIT). Very few of those patients with circulating anti-heparin-PF4 antibodies, however, progress to develop clinical HIT (referred to previously as Type II HIT).

Slower onset of low shear stress leads to less neointimal thickening in experimental vein grafts.

Vein grafts respond to low flow and shear stress (tau(w)) by generating thicker walls and smaller lumens through the processes of neointimal hyperplasia and remodeling. Clinically, however, vein grafts with obviously low tau(w), such as those distal to high-grade proximal obstructions, are not infrequently found to be widely patent and pliable. One possible explanation for this phenomenon may be that vein grafts remodel more favorably in response to changes in shear that occur gradually over time compared to abruptly.

Endovascular solutions to complications of open aortic repair.

Open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) or occlusive disease can be complicated by pseudoaneurysm formation and aneurysmal dilatation of native vessels. Reports of reoperation for these new lesions have a mortality rate of 5-17% electively, and 24-88% if ruptured. These complications are commonly several years after initial repair, and progression of other comorbidities can further complicate a repeat exploration.

Ureteroarterial fistula with ruptured anastomotic pseudoaneurysm: successful management with vascular exclusion, extra-anatomic bypass and nephrectomy--a case report.

Ureteroarterial fistula is a rare but life-threatening condition most often arising as a consequence of combined vascular and urologic pathology. Only about 70 cases are reported in the English literature. Principles of repair include complete vascular isolation, extra-anatomic bypass, and urinary stream diversion away from major vascular conduits.

Gene therapy for the extension of vein graft patency: a review.

The mainstay of treatment for long-segment small-vessel chronic occlusive disease not amenable to endovascular intervention remains surgical bypass grafting using autologous vein. The procedure is largely successful and the immediate operative results almost always favorable. However, the lifespan of a given vein graft is highly variable, and less than 50% will remain primarily patent after 5 years.

Modulation of vascular remodeling induced by a brief intraluminal exposure to the recombinant R7020 strain of Herpes simplex-1.

Objective: Vascular remodeling in response to injury or low shear stress (or both) is characterized by neointimal hyperplasia and luminal contraction. When profound, the response leads to restenosis after percutaneous endovascular intervention as well as to de novo stenosis in vein grafts. It has recently been reported that exposure of vein patches to neurovirulence-attenuated Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) decreases neointimal hyperplasia and increases luminal area.

Limb salvage after infrainguinal bypass graft failure.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the outcome of patients in whom an infrainguinal bypass graft failed.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients undergoing infrainguinal bypass grafting in a single institution over 8 years.

Results: Six hundred thirty-one infrainguinal bypass grafts were placed in 578 limbs in 503 patients during the study period.