Publications by authors named "C M Higgs"

Malaria remains a serious global health challenge, yet treatment and control programs are threatened by drug resistance. Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) was clinically validated as a target for treatment and prevention of malaria through human studies with DSM265, but currently no drugs against this target are in clinical use. We used structure-based computational tools including free energy perturbation (FEP+) to discover highly ligand efficient, potent, and selective pyrazole-based DHODH inhibitors through a scaffold hop from a pyrrole-based series.

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Background: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) are an emerging public health concern globally as they are resistant to a broad spectrum of antibiotics. Colonisation with CPE typically requires patients to be managed under 'contact precautions', which creates additional physical bed demands in healthcare facilities.

Methods: This study examined the potential impact of revised isolation guidelines introduced in late 2023 in Victoria, Australia, that relaxed the requirement for indefinite isolation of CPE-colonised patients in contact precautions, based on admission of CPE-diagnosed cases prior to the guideline change.

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N. gonorrhoeae, which causes the sexually transmissible infection gonorrhoea, remains a significant public health threat globally, with challenges posed by increasing transmission and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The COVID-19 pandemic introduced exceptional circumstances into communicable disease control, impacting the transmission of gonorrhoea and other infectious diseases.

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Background: People with dysfunctional breathing (DB) experience symptoms such as air hunger and breathing pattern irregularities. The condition is often comorbid with other respiratory conditions, as well as anxiety and depression. Illness perceptions, the beliefs an individual has of an illness may explain health and wellbeing outcomes.

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Sustainable manufacturing that prioritizes energy efficiency, minimal water use, scalability and the ability to generate diverse materials is essential to advance inorganic materials production while maintaining environmental consciousness. However, current manufacturing practices are not yet equipped to fully meet these requirements. Here we describe a flash-within-flash Joule heating (FWF) technique-a non-equilibrium, ultrafast heat conduction method-to prepare ten transition metal dichalcogenides, three group XIV dichalcogenides and nine non-transition metal dichalcogenide materials, each in under 5 s while in ambient conditions.

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