Precision medicine in Australia: indigenous health professionals are needed to improve equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Precision medicine, also known as "personalised medicine", seeks to identify strategies in the prevention and treatment of disease informed by a patient's genomic information. This allows a targeted approach to disease identification with the intention of reducing the burden of illness. Currently, both the emerging field of precision medicine and the established field of clinical genetics are highly reliant on genomic databases which are fraught with inbuilt biases, particularly from sample populations.

More than dirt: Sedimentary ancient DNA and Indigenous Australia.

The rise of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) studies has opened new possibilities for studying past environments. This groundbreaking area of genomics uses sediments to identify organisms, even in cases where macroscopic remains no longer exist. Managing this substrate in Indigenous Australian contexts, however, requires special considerations.

Reducing risks for infant mortality in the Midlands, UK: a qualitative study identifying areas for improvement in the delivery of key public health messages in the perinatal period.

Background: The Midlands has amongst the highest rates of neonatal and infant mortality in the UK. A public health parent education and empowerment programme, aimed at reducing key risks associated with this mortality was established and evaluated in the region. This was undertaken in an attempt to identify areas for optimal delivery of the public health messages around reducing risks for neonatal and infant mortality.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Seropositivity among Healthcare Personnel in Hospitals and Nursing Homes, Rhode Island, USA, July-August 2020.

Healthcare personnel are recognized to be at higher risk for infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. We conducted a serologic survey in 15 hospitals and 56 nursing homes across Rhode Island, USA, during July 17-August 28, 2020. Overall seropositivity among 9,863 healthcare personnel was 4.

Predictors of Heart Failure Readmission in a High-Risk Primarily Hispanic Population in a Rural Setting.

Background: High risk for readmission in patients with heart failure (HF) is associated with Hispanic ethnicity, multimorbidity, smaller hospitals, and hospitals serving low-socioeconomic or heavily Hispanic regions and those with limited cardiac services. Information for hospitals caring primarily for such high-risk patients is lacking.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with 30-day HF readmission after HF hospitalization in a rural, primarily Hispanic, low-socioeconomic, and underserved region.

Metagenomic assessment of the eastern oyster-associated microbiota.

Bacteria associated with the Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) native to Apalachicola Bay, FL, were investigated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon metagenomic sequencing which revealed that the oyster microbiome was predominated by Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria. We also found that the oyster tissues were predominated by the pathogenic and symbiotic Photobacterium spp. (formerly known as Vibrio damselae).

Microbial and geochemical assessment of bauxitic un-mined and post-mined chronosequence soils from Mocho Mountains, Jamaica.

Microorganisms are very sensitive to environmental change and can be used to gauge anthropogenic impacts and even predict restoration success of degraded environments. Here, we report assessment of bauxite mining activities on soil biogeochemistry and microbial community structure using un-mined and three post-mined sites in Jamaica. The post-mined soils represent a chronosequence, undergoing restoration since 1987, 1997, and 2007.

Discrimination of bacteria from Jamaican bauxite soils using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Soil bacteria are sensitive to ecological change and can be assessed to gauge anthropogenic influences and ecosystem health. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the focus on new technologies that can be applied to the evaluation of soil quality. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a promising technique that has been used for the investigation and characterization of explosives, solids, liquids, gases, biological and environmental samples.

Soil functional diversity analysis of a bauxite-mined restoration chronosequence.

Soil microorganisms are sensitive to environmental perturbations such that changes in microbial community structure and function can provide early signs of anthropogenic disturbances and even predict restoration success. We evaluated the bacterial functional diversity of un-mined and three chronosequence sites at various stages of rehabilitation (0, 10, and 20 years old) located in the Mocho Mountains of Jamaica. Samples were collected during the dry and wet seasons and analyzed for metal concentrations, microbial biomass carbon, bacterial numbers, and functional responses of soil microbiota using community-level physiological profile (CLPP) assays.

Increased diversity of predacious Bdellovibrio-like organisms (blos) as a function of eutrophication in Kumaon Lakes of India.

Predation by Bdellovibrio-like organisms (BLOs) results in bacterial community succession in aquatic ecosystems. The effects of nutrient loading on the distribution and phylogeny of BLOs remain largely unknown. To this end, we present our findings on BLO diversity from four north-Indian lakes that are variable in their trophic status; Nainital is eutrophic, both, Bhimtal and Naukuchiatal are mesotrophic and Sattal remains oligotrophic, respectively.

The steroids/sports supplements connection: pragmatism and sensation-seeking in the attitudes and behavior of JHS and HS students on Long Island.

In this article we examine the importance of sensation seeking and pragmatism in the steroids and sports supplements behavior and attitudes of high school and junior high school students on Long Island, New York. Steroid use is much less acceptable than sports supplement use, although the reasons for use are similar. Respondents use supplements more than steroids, have a greater variety of attitudes toward their use, and have a high acceptance of their "energy" potential.

Taste comparison of corticosteroid suspensions.

Objective: Although numerous taste studies have compared the palatability of antibiotic suspensions, few have compared the palatability of corticosteroid suspensions. Therefore, we compared the taste of 8 commonly prescribed liquid corticosteroid suspensions with the intent to help guide prescribing practices and improve patient compliance.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind study using 31 adult volunteers ages 24 to 57.