Sensor-Based Gait and Balance Assessment in Healthy Adults: Analysis of Short-Term Training and Sensor Placement Effects.

While the analysis of gait and balance can be an important indicator of age- or disease-related changes, it remains unclear if repeated performance of gait and balance tests in healthy adults leads to habituation effects, if short-term gait and balance training can improve gait and balance performance, and whether the placement of wearable sensors influences the measurement accuracy. Healthy adults were assessed before and after performing weekly gait and balance tests over three weeks by using a force plate, motion capturing system and smartphone. The intervention group (n = 25) additionally received a home-based gait and balance training plan.

Improving the Efficiency of Geographic Target Regions for Healthcare Interventions.

Appropriate prioritisation of geographic target regions (TRs) for healthcare interventions is critical to ensure the efficient distribution of finite healthcare resources. In delineating TRs, both 'targeting efficiency', i.e.

The evolving disparities in location and socioeconomics of an ageing Australian society.

Objectives: It is well known that there are associations between overall health, age, socioeconomic status and rural residency. The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of Australia's aged population by socioeconomic status, as well as remoteness.

Methods: The study employed the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (Statistical Area Level 1 and Remoteness Areas).

Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Bacterial Profile Modulate Infant Body Composition during Exclusive Breastfeeding.

Human milk is a complex and variable ecosystem fundamental to the development of newborns. This study aimed to investigate relationships between human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) and human milk bacterial profiles and infant body composition. Human milk samples ( = 60) were collected at two months postpartum.

Exclusively Breastfed Infant Microbiota Develops over Time and Is Associated with Human Milk Oligosaccharide Intakes.

Temporal development of maternal and infant microbiomes during early life impacts short- and long-term infant health. This study aimed to characterize bacterial dynamics within maternal faecal, human milk (HM), infant oral, and infant faecal samples during the exclusive breastfeeding period and to document associations between human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) intakes and infant oral and faecal bacterial profiles. Maternal and infant samples (n = 10) were collected at 2−5, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days postpartum and the full-length 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was sequenced.

Hospitalization for Oral Health-Related Conditions of the Australian Ageing Population: Two Decades of Analysis.

The burden of oral health care increases among older people, with a profound challenge in utilising dental services in primary dental care settings. This study aimed to analyse two decades of nationwide hospital separation patterns due to oral health-related conditions among older people. Ageing population data were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, including people aged 65 years and older.

Breast Milk Production in Women Who Use Nipple Shields for Persistent Nipple Pain.

Objective: To examine relationships between nipple pain scores and 24-hour milk production volumes, breastfeeding and pumping frequencies, and breastfeeding duration in women using nipple shields for persistent nipple pain.

Design: Secondary outcome analysis of a prospective cohort study.

Setting: Research laboratory and participants' homes.

Predicting Future Geographic Hotspots of Potentially Preventable Hospitalisations Using All Subset Model Selection and Repeated K-Fold Cross-Validation.

Long-term future prediction of geographic areas with high rates of potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPHs) among residents, or "hotspots", is critical to ensure the effective location of place-based health service interventions. This is because such interventions are typically expensive and take time to develop, implement, and take effect, and hotspots often regress to the mean. Using spatially aggregated, longitudinal administrative health data, we introduce a method to make such predictions.

Reversal of residual neuromuscular block with neostigmine or sugammadex and postoperative pulmonary complications: a prospective, randomised, double-blind trial in high-risk older patients.

Background: Residual neuromuscular block is associated with an increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications in retrospective studies. The aim of our study was to investigate prospectively the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications after reversal with either sugammadex (SUG) or neostigmine (NEO) in high-risk older patients.

Methods: We randomly allocated 180 older patients with significant morbidity (ASA physical status 3) ≥75 yr old to reversal of rocuronium with either SUG or NEO.

Trends in orthodontic management strategies for patients with congenitally missing lateral incisors and premolars.

Objectives: To identify changes in orthodontic management strategies in patients with hypodontia seen in 2000, 2010, and 2017/2018 (during a 1-year period).

Materials And Methods: An assessment of the panoramic radiographs of 3701 patients from a Western Australian private practice identified 276 individuals demonstrating hypodontia. The location of missing teeth, age, sex, type of malocclusion, and the management strategies (space closure or opening) for each patient were noted.

Modelling the Relationship between Rainfall and Mental Health Using Different Spatial and Temporal Units.

Drought is thought to impact upon the mental health of agricultural communities, but studies of this relationship have reported inconsistent results. A source of inconsistency could be the aggregation of data by a single spatiotemporal unit of analysis, which induces the modifiable areal and temporal unit problems. To investigate this, mental health-related emergency department (MHED) presentations among residents of the Wheat Belt region of Western Australia, between 2002 and 2017, were examined.

Impact of the modifiable areal unit problem in assessing determinants of emergency department demand.

Objective: To examine the impact of the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) in an investigation of factors associated with ED demand in Perth, Western Australia, in 2016. Furthermore, to advocate a means of avoiding this impact.

Methods: ED presentations were classified as: urgent medical, non-urgent medical, urgent trauma or non-urgent trauma.

Overcoming inefficiencies arising due to the impact of the modifiable areal unit problem on single-aggregation disease maps.

Background: In disease mapping, fine-resolution spatial health data are routinely aggregated for various reasons, for example to protect privacy. Usually, such aggregation occurs only once, resulting in 'single-aggregation disease maps' whose representation of the underlying data depends on the chosen set of aggregation units. This dependence is described by the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP).

Impact of APOE-ε4 carriage on the onset and rates of neocortical Aβ-amyloid deposition.

Neocortical Aβ-amyloid deposition, one of the hallmark pathologic features of Alzheimer's disease (AD), begins decades prior to the presence of clinical symptoms. As clinical trials move to secondary and even primary prevention, understanding the rates of neocortical Aβ-amyloid deposition and the age at which Aβ-amyloid deposition becomes abnormal is crucial for optimizing the timing of these trials. As APOE-ε4 carriage is thought to modulate the age of clinical onset, it is also important to understand the impact of APOE-ε4 carriage on the age at which the neocortical Aβ-amyloid deposition becomes abnormal.

Reducing Bruzzi's Formula to Remove Instability in the Estimation of Population Attributable Fraction for Health Outcomes.

The aim of this study was to reconcile 3 approaches to calculating population attributable fractions and attributable burden percentage: the approach of Bruzzi et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 1985;122(5):904-914.

Longitudinal Measurement of Pleural Fluid Biochemistry and Cytokines in Malignant Pleural Effusions.

Background: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is common. Existing literature on pleural fluid compositions is restricted to cross-sectional sampling with little information on longitudinal changes of fluid biochemistry and cytokines with disease progression. Indwelling pleural catheters provide the unique opportunity for repeated sampling and longitudinal evaluation of MPE, which may provide insight into tumor pathobiology.

The ecological fallacy of the role of age in chronic disease and hospital demand.

Objective: To examine the relationship between age and all-cause hospital utilization in the years preceding and following a diagnosis in hospital of heart failure, type 2 diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Research Design: A cohort study of all patients in Western Australia who have had a principal diagnosis of heart failure, type 2 diabetes, or COPD, upon admission to hospital. All-cause hospital utilization 6 years preceding and 4 years following cardinal events, that is, a disease-specific diagnosis upon hospital admission, where such an event has not occurred in the previous 2 years, are examined in specific age groups.

The ratchet effect: dramatic and sustained changes in health care utilization following admission to hospital with chronic disease.

Objective: To describe the previously unexamined association between admissions to hospital with chronic disease and changes in all-cause health service utilization over time.

Research Design: A cohort study examining the population of Western Australia with hospitalizations for chronic disease from 2002 to 2010. A "rolling" clearance period is used to define "cardinal events," that is, a disease-specific diagnosis upon hospital admission, where such an event has not occurred in the previous 2 years.

A comparison of Demirjian's four dental development methods for forensic age estimation in South Australian sub-adults.

The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of Demirjian's four dental development methods for forensic age assessment in a South Australian population. The sample comprised orthopantomograms (OPGs) of 408 sub-adult individuals (211 male; 197 female) with an age range of 4.9-14.

Rapid antigen detection tests for malaria diagnosis in severely ill Papua New Guinean children: a comparative study using Bayesian latent class models.

Background: Although rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have practical advantages over light microscopy (LM) and good sensitivity in severe falciparum malaria in Africa, their utility where severe non-falciparum malaria occurs is unknown. LM, RDTs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods have limitations, and thus conventional comparative malaria diagnostic studies employ imperfect gold standards. We assessed whether, using Bayesian latent class models (LCMs) which do not require a reference method, RDTs could safely direct initial anti-infective therapy in severe ill children from an area of hyperendemic transmission of both Plasmodium falciparum and P.

To evaluate the utility of smaller sample sizes when assessing dental maturity curves for forensic age estimation.

Dental maturation and chronological age estimation were determined from 144 healthy Western Australian individuals aged 3.6-14.5 years.

A comparison of Demirjian's four dental development methods for forensic age assessment.

The aim of this study was to determine the comparative accuracy of Demirjian's four dental development methods for forensic age estimation in the Western Australian population. A sample comprising 143 individuals aged 4.6 to 14.

Toward the discrimination of early melanoma from common and dysplastic nevus using fiber optic diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.

We describe a study of the discrimination of early melanoma from common and dysplastic nevus using fiber optic diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Diffuse reflectance spectra in the wavelength range 550 to 1000 nm are obtained using 400-microm core multimode fibers arranged in a six-illumination-around-one-collection geometry with a single fiber-fiber spacing of 470 microm. Spectra are collected at specific locations on 120 pigmented lesions selected by clinicians as possible melanoma, including 64 histopathologically diagnosed as melanoma.