Divers treated in Townsville, Australia: worse symptoms lead to poorer outcomes.

Introduction: Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) is considered definitive treatment for decompression illness. Delay to HBOT may be due to dive site remoteness and limited facility availability. Review of cases may help identify factors contributing to clinical outcomes.

Home drinking practices among middle-class adults in midlife during the COVID-19 pandemic: Material ubiquity, automatic routines and embodied states.

Introduction: Harmful drinking is increasing among mid-life adults. Using social practice theory, this research investigated the knowledge, actions, materials, places and temporalities that comprise home drinking practices among middle-class adults (40-65 years) in Aotearoa New Zealand during 2021-2022 and post the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Methods: Nine friendship groups (N = 45; 26 females, 19 males from various life stages and ethnicities) discussed their drinking practices.

Accessing needle exchange services in disasters for remote areas of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Background: Needle Exchange Programme (NEP) mobile outreach services in Aotearoa New Zealand distribute injecting equipment to people who inject drugs (PWID) living in remote regions. In disasters, continued access to such services is imperative for the health and wellbeing of PWID. Disasters can compound existing inequities, particularly in regions characterised by poor or limited infrastructure, smaller populations, and challenging socioeconomic conditions.

A Kaupapa Māori conceptualization and efforts to address the needs of the growing precariat in Aotearoa New Zealand: A situated focus on Māori.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, the precariat is populated by at least one in six New Zealanders, with Māori (Indigenous peoples) being over-represented within this emerging social class. For Māori, this socio-economic positioning reflects a colonial legacy spanning 150 years of economic and cultural subjugation, and intergenerational experiences of material, cultural and psychological insecurities. Relating our Kaupapa Māori approach (Māori cultural values and principles underlining research initiatives) to the precariat, this article also draws insights from existing scholarship on social class in psychology and Assemblage Theory in the social sciences to extend present conceptualizations of the Māori precariat.

Relational ethics meets principled practice in community research engagements to understand and address homelessness.

Growing homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand stems primarily from rising inequalities and poverty. Drawing from scholarship on relational ethics, principled practice and Māori cultural concepts, this paper offers our reflections on nearly two decades of collective work to document and address homelessness. Central to the approach outlined are enduring community partnerships, the cultivation of reciprocal relations, and time spent with homeless people and those trying to work with them.

Comparison of tissue oxygenation achieved breathing oxygen using different delivery devices and flow rates.

Introduction: Divers with suspected decompression illness require high concentration oxygen (O₂). There are many different O₂ delivery devices, with few data comparing their performance. This study evaluated O₂ delivery, using tissue O₂ partial pressure (PO₂), in healthy divers breathing O₂ via three different delivery devices.

Invasive non-native species likely to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula region.

The Antarctic is considered to be a pristine environment relative to other regions of the Earth, but it is increasingly vulnerable to invasions by marine, freshwater and terrestrial non-native species. The Antarctic Peninsula region (APR), which encompasses the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands, is by far the most invaded part of the Antarctica continent. The risk of introduction of invasive non-native species to the APR is likely to increase with predicted increases in the intensity, diversity and distribution of human activities.

Health emergency management in Aotearoa New Zealand: Making sense of professional development.

Objective: To explore how health emergency management (HEM) personnel make sense of professional development, such as education and training, in their everyday roles and responsibilities within an increasingly complex emergency management and disaster field.

Design: This in-depth qualitative study comprised of semistructured interviews with 10 Aotearoa New Zealand HEM personnel from a range of healthcare professions, including emergency managers, nurses, clinical support, and paramedics. The thematic, data-driven approach was exploratory.

Vibration and bubbles: a systematic review of the effects of helicopter retrieval on injured divers.

Introduction: Vibration from a helicopter during aeromedical retrieval of divers may increase venous gas emboli (VGE) production, evolution or distribution, potentially worsening the patient's condition.

Aim: To review the literature surrounding the helicopter transport of injured divers and establish if vibration contributes to increased VGE.

Method: A systematic literature search of key databases was conducted to identify articles investigating vibration and bubbles during helicopter retrieval of divers.

Comparison of tissue oxygenation achieved breathing oxygen from a demand valve with four different mask configurations.

Introduction: High concentration normobaric oxygen (O₂) is a priority in treating divers with suspected decompression illness. The effect of different O₂ mask configurations on tissue oxygenation when breathing with a demand valve was evaluated.

Methods: Sixteen divers had tissue oxygen partial pressure (PtcO₂) measured at six limb sites.

Transcutaneous oximetry: variability in normal values for the upper and lower limb.

Introduction: Published normal transcutaneous oxygen partial pressures (PO) for the chest and lower limb have defined tissue hypoxia as a value of < 40 mmHg (< 30 mmHg in some patients, < 50 mmHg in others).

Aim: To determine 'normal' PO for the upper and lower limb in healthy, non-smoking adults using the Radiometer® TCM400 with tc Sensor E5250.

Method: Thirty-two volunteers had transcutaneous oxygen measurements (TCOM) performed on the chest, upper and lower limbs breathing air, with leg then arm elevated and whilst breathing 100% oxygen.

Transcutaneous oximetry measurements of the leg: comparing different measuring equipment and establishing values in healthy young adults.

Introduction: Transcutaneous oximetry measurement (TCOM) is a non-invasive method of determining oxygen tension at the skin level using heated electrodes.

Aim: To compare TCOM values generated by different machines and to establish lower limb TCOM values in a cohort of healthy individuals younger than 40 years of age.

Method: Sixteen healthy, non-smoking volunteers aged 18 to 39 years were recruited.

An assessment of the performance of the Baxter elastomeric (LV10) Infusor™ pump under hyperbaric conditions.

Introduction: There are limited data on the use of elastomeric infusion pumps during hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

Aim: This study evaluated the flow rate of the Baxter elastomeric LV10 Infusor™ pump under normobaric (101.3 kPa) and three hyperbaric conditions of 203 kPa, 243 kPa and 284 kPa.

Opioid Substitution Treatment Planning in a Disaster Context: Perspectives from Emergency Management and Health Professionals in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) is a harm reduction strategy enabling opiate consumers to avoid withdrawal symptoms and maintain health and wellbeing. Some research shows that within a disaster context service disruptions and infrastructure damage affect OST services, including problems with accessibility, dosing, and scripts. Currently little is known about planning for OST in the reduction and response phases of a disaster.

Middle ear barotrauma in a tourist-oriented, condensed open-water diver certification course: incidence and effect of language of instruction.

Introduction: In Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Open Water Diver certification courses that cater to tourists, instruction is often condensed and potentially delivered in a language that is not the candidate's native language.

Objective: To assess the incidence of middle ear barotrauma (MEBt) in open-water diver candidates during a condensed four-day certification course, and to determine if language of instruction affects the incidence of MEBt in these divers.

Method: The ears of participating diving candidates were assessed prior to commencing any in-water compression.

A comparison of the tissue oxygenation achieved using different oxygen delivery devices and flow rates.

Introduction: High-concentration normobaric oxygen (O₂) administration is the first-aid priority in treating divers with suspected decompression illness. The best O₂ delivery device and flow rate are yet to be determined.

Aim: To determine whether administering O₂ with a non-rebreather mask (NRB) at a flow rate of 10 or 15 L·min ⁻¹ or with a demand valve with oronasal mask significantly affects the tissue partial pressure of O₂ (PtcO₂) in healthy volunteer scuba divers.

Association of microparticles and neutrophil activation with decompression sickness.

Decompression sickness (DCS) is a systemic disorder, assumed due to gas bubbles, but additional factors are likely to play a role. Circulating microparticles (MPs)--vesicular structures with diameters of 0.1-1.

Transcutaneous oximetry: normal values for the lower limb.

Introduction: Current guidelines for transcutaneous oximetry measurement (TCOM) for the lower limb define tissue hypoxia as a transcutaneous oxygen partial pressure < 40 mmHg. Values obtained with some newer machines and current research bring these reference values into question.

Aim: To determine 'normal' TCOM values for the lower limb in healthy, non-smoking adults using the TCM400 oximeter with tc Sensor E5250.

The efficacy of oxygen wafting using different delivery devices, flow rates and device positioning.

Background: Oxygen "wafting" provides a non-contact oxygen alternative for uncooperative paediatric patients in the emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to identify the combination of oxygen delivery device, flow rate and device positioning that delivers the highest concentration of wafted oxygen.

Methods: ED nursing staff were surveyed to determine current oxygen wafting practice.

'Did not waits': a regional Australian emergency department experience.

Objective: Describe the characteristics, reasons for leaving and outcomes of patients who did not wait (DNW) to be seen by a health practitioner in a regional Australian ED.

Methods: Prospective observational study of a convenience sample of ED DNW patients presenting to The Townsville Hospital between June 2011 and July 2012. Seven days from each month were selected, and DNW patients presenting on those days were enrolled.

A prospective analysis of independent patient risk factors for middle ear barotrauma in a multiplace hyperbaric chamber.

Introduction: Middle ear barotrauma (MEBT) is the most common complication of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). We wished to determine whether independent risk factors could predict which patients will require tympanostomy tubes in order to continue HBOT.

Methods: Data regarding demographics, medical history and physical examination were collected prospectively over one year.

A randomised phase III trial of the pharmacokinetic biomodulation of irinotecan using oral ciclosporin in advanced colorectal cancer: results of the Panitumumab, Irinotecan & Ciclosporin in COLOrectal cancer therapy trial (PICCOLO).

Background: The main toxicity of irinotecan in advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) is delayed diarrhoea. Intestinal SN-38, released by deconjugation of the parent glucuronide excreted into the bile or produced in situ by intestinal carboxylesterase, is toxic to the intestinal epithelium. The canalicular transport of irinotecan and SN-38G is mediated by ABCC2 (MRP2) and ABCB1 (MDR1) which are both inhibited by ciclosporin.