Measurement of Serum Free Vitamin D Concentrations: Importance, Challenges, and the Emerging Role of Mass Spectrometry.

Background: Serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration is the most widely used clinical biomarker for vitamin D status. Under certain physiological and pathological conditions, however, total 25(OH)D may not always be the best index for vitamin D status. Instead, the nonprotein-bound (free) fraction of total 25(OH)D has been suggested as a more appropriate marker in certain clinical situations.

How Do We Get the Public Into Public Health Research? Learnings and Key Recommendations From Initiating a Community Involvement Project Scheme.

Introduction: There are many recognised benefits of public involvement, including more relevant research. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the existing health inequalities and disparities in access to care and treatment for under-served groups, necessitating meaningful and sustainable approaches to engaging them in health research. However, there is limited guidance to suggest what groundwork and processes are necessary for initiating such projects.

Point-of-care tests for urinary tract infections to reduce antimicrobial resistance: a systematic review and conceptual economic model.

Background: Urinary tract infections are diagnosed by general practitioners based on symptoms, dipstick tests in some and laboratory urine culture. Patients may be given inappropriate antibiotics. Point-of-care tests can diagnose urinary tract infection in near-patient settings quicker than standard culture.

Community Palliative Care: What are the Best Models?

Palliative care seeks to address the physical, psychosocial and spiritual concerns of patients with a life limiting illness and their caregivers. Early referral to palliative care improves symptoms and is the standard of care. This paper evaluates the evidence for different models of community palliative care and looks at the effects of homecare, hospice programs and residential aged care facility (RACF) interventions on symptom management, home death rate and acute health service utilization.

The Human Neural Cell Atlas of Zika Infection in developing human brain tissue: viral pathogenesis, innate immunity, and lineage reprogramming.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can lead to fetal brain infection and developmental anomalies collectively known as congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). To define the molecular features underlying CZS in a relevant human cell model, we evaluated ZIKV infection and neurodevelopment in primary fetal brain explants and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived mixed neural cultures at single cell resolution. We identified astrocytes as key innate immune sentinel cells detecting ZIKV and producing IFN-β.