'Eating with Others': planning, developing and optimising a self-management intervention to promote social eating for patients living with and beyond head and neck cancer.

Introduction: After treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC), up to 90% of patients have difficulties eating and drinking. Despite the enormity of challenges explicitly relating to the social dimension of eating, there are limited extant interventions to specifically support social eating, nor any replicable for use in contemporary clinical practice. This study aims to plan, develop and optimise a self-management intervention to promote social eating for patients living with and beyond HNC.

Immune-stimulating antibody conjugates elicit robust myeloid activation and durable antitumor immunity.

Innate pattern recognition receptor agonists, including Toll-like receptors (TLRs), alter the tumor microenvironment and prime adaptive antitumor immunity. However, TLR agonists present toxicities associated with widespread immune activation after systemic administration. To design a TLR-based therapeutic suitable for systemic delivery and capable of safely eliciting tumor-targeted responses, we developed immune-stimulating antibody conjugates (ISACs) comprising a TLR7/8 dual agonist conjugated to tumor-targeting antibodies.

Profiling of PD-1 Blockade Using Organotypic Tumor Spheroids.

systems that incorporate features of the tumor microenvironment and model the dynamic response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) may facilitate efforts in precision immuno-oncology and the development of effective combination therapies. Here, we demonstrate the ability to interrogate response to ICB using murine- and patient-derived organotypic tumor spheroids (MDOTS/PDOTS). MDOTS/PDOTS isolated from mouse and human tumors retain autologous lymphoid and myeloid cell populations and respond to ICB in short-term three-dimensional microfluidic culture.

Social inclusion for children with hearing loss in listening and spoken Language early intervention: an exploratory study.

Background: Social inclusion is a common focus of listening and spoken language (LSL) early intervention for children with hearing loss. This exploratory study compared the social inclusion of young children with hearing loss educated using a listening and spoken language approach with population data.

Methods: A framework for understanding the scope of social inclusion is presented in the Background.

Newborn hearing screening in Queensland 2009-2011: Comparison of hearing screening and diagnostic audiological assessment between term and preterm infants.

Aim: This study compares rates and timing of newborn hearing screening outcomes, audiological assessment and hearing loss diagnosis between infants of different gestational age groups. Early identification and management of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), ideally by 3-6 months of age, facilitates speech and language optimisation. Literature stratifying hearing screening and diagnostic audiology assessment by gestational age groups is lacking.