A low-cost, antimicrobial aloe-alginate hydrogel film containing Australian First Nations remedy 'lemon myrtle oil' () - Potential for incorporation into wound dressings.

Chronic wounds pose a global public health challenge, particularly in remote settings where access to specialised wound care and dressings can be limited and cost-prohibitive. First Nations communities in Australia are at a significantly higher risk for developing chronic wounds and this risk further increases for people living in remote regions. There is an urgent need to develop inexpensive but effective wound dressings to improve wound outcomes.

Perspectives on improving wound care for Aboriginal health workers in rural and remote communities in Queensland, Australia.

Background: The care of wounds is an ongoing issue for Indigenous people worldwide, yet culturally safe Indigenous wound care training programs for rural and remote Australian Aboriginal Health Workers are largely unavailable. The higher prevalence of chronic disease, lower socioeconomic status and poorer access to services experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders compared to non-Indigenous people, leads to a greater incidence of chronic wounds in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Identifying the barriers and enablers for delivering wound care will establish areas of need for facilitating the development of a specific wound care program for Aboriginal Health Workers and Aboriginal Health Practitioners.

Differences in total cognition and cerebrovascular function in female breast cancer survivors and cancer-free women.

Reduced cognition is often reported by breast cancer patients and survivors, but the mechanisms for this decline are yet to be determined. We compared the differences in cerebrovascular function and cognition in breast cancer survivors (n = 15) and cancer-free women (n = 15) matched by age and body mass index. Participants undertook anthropometric, mood, cardiovascular, exercise performance, strength, cerebrovascular, and cognitive measurements.

Biomarkers to measure respiratory muscle damage following inspiratory pressure threshold loading in healthy young men.

Elevated respiratory muscle work is encountered during strenuous exercise, acute and chronic respiratory disorders, and during inspiratory pressure threshold loading (ITL). ITL can induce respiratory muscle damage, evidenced by increases in fast and slow skeletal troponin-I (sTnI). However, other blood markers of muscle damage have not been measured.

Scoping review of molecular biomarkers associated with fatigue, stress, and depression in stroke survivors: A protocol.

The prevalence of stroke increases each year and while mortality from stroke has decreased, the prevalence of comorbidities such as anxiety, depression and fatigue affects as many as 75% of stroke survivors. The aetiology of post-stroke fatigue is not clear, although it has been shown to be interrelated with comorbidities such as stress and depression. Due to the interconnected nature of these comorbidities, it is important to improve the specificity of diagnosis and identify novel therapeutic targets to improve the quality of life for stroke survivors.

The long non-coding RNA GHSROS reprograms prostate cancer cell lines toward a more aggressive phenotype.

It is now appreciated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important players in orchestrating cancer progression. In this study we characterized , a human lncRNA gene on the opposite DNA strand (antisense) to the ghrelin receptor gene, in prostate cancer. The lncRNA was upregulated by prostate tumors from different clinical datasets.

The long non-coding RNA GHSROS facilitates breast cancer cell migration and orthotopic xenograft tumour growth.

Recent evidence suggests that numerous long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are dysregulated in cancer, and have critical roles in tumour development and progression. The present study investigated the ghrelin receptor antisense lncRNA growth hormone secretagogue receptor opposite strand (GHSROS) in breast cancer. Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that GHSROS expression was significantly upregulated in breast tumour tissues compared with normal breast tissue.

The Gut-Brain Axis, the Human Gut Microbiota and Their Integration in the Development of Obesity.

Obesity is a global epidemic, placing socioeconomic strain on public healthcare systems, especially within the so-called Western countries, such as Australia, United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. Obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, where energy intake exceeds expenditure. Current non-invasive treatments lack efficacy in combating obesity, suggesting that obesity is a multi-faceted and more complex disease than previously thought.

Stress, COMT Polymorphisms, and Depressive Symptoms in Older Australian Women: An Exploratory Study.

Objectives: This exploratory study examined the association between exposure to stressful life events, polymorphisms (rs165774 and rs4680) in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, and risk of depression in women.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional design gathered information from 150 Australia women, aged 60-70 years, on sociodemographics, stressful life events, and depressive symptoms. Participants also provided buccal cell swabs for genetic analysis.

Multi-species sequence comparison reveals conservation of ghrelin gene-derived splice variants encoding a truncated ghrelin peptide.

The peptide hormone ghrelin is a potent orexigen produced predominantly in the stomach. It has a number of other biological actions, including roles in appetite stimulation, energy balance, the stimulation of growth hormone release and the regulation of cell proliferation. Recently, several ghrelin gene splice variants have been described.

Stress, lifestyle, and quality of life in midlife and older Australian women: results from the Stress and the Health of Women Study.

Background: Chronic psychological stress may pose a serious threat to health, although the mechanisms are not fully understood. This study examines the impact of stress on modifiable lifestyle factors, depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and chronic illness in older Australian women.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from a random sample of 181 older adults aged 60 to 70 years from rural and urban areas of South-East Queensland, Australia.

A longitudinal study of the impact of chronic psychological stress on health-related quality of life and clinical biomarkers: protocol for the Australian Healthy Aging of Women Study.

Background: Despite advancements in our understanding of the importance of stress reduction in achieving good health, we still only have limited insight into the impact of stress on cellular function. Recent studies have suggested that exposure to prolonged psychological stress may alter an individual's physiological responses, and contribute to morbidity and mortality. This paper presents an overview of the study protocol we are using to examine the impact of life stressors on lifestyle factors, health-related quality of life and novel and established biomarkers of stress in midlife and older Australian women.

Ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT) is expressed in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines and expression is differentially regulated in vitro by ghrelin.

Background: Ghrelin is a 28 amino acid peptide hormone that is expressed in the stomach and a range of peripheral tissues, where it frequently acts as an autocrine/paracrine growth factor. Ghrelin is modified by a unique acylation required for it to activate its cognate receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), which mediates many of the actions of ghrelin. Recently, the enzyme responsible for adding the fatty acid residue (octanoyl/acyl group) to the third amino acid of ghrelin, GOAT (ghrelin O-acyltransferase), was identified.

Identification of a long non-coding RNA gene, growth hormone secretagogue receptor opposite strand, which stimulates cell migration in non-small cell lung cancer cell lines.

The molecular mechanisms involved in non‑small cell lung cancer tumourigenesis are largely unknown; however, recent studies have suggested that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are likely to play a role. In this study, we used public databases to identify an mRNA-like, candidate long non-coding RNA, GHSROS (GHSR opposite strand), transcribed from the antisense strand of the ghrelin receptor gene, growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). Quantitative real-time RT-PCR revealed higher expression of GHSROS in lung cancer tissue compared to adjacent, non-tumour lung tissue.

Cloning of a novel insulin-regulated ghrelin transcript in prostate cancer.

Ghrelin is a multifunctional hormone, with roles in stimulating appetite and regulating energy balance, insulin secretion and glucose homoeostasis. The ghrelin gene locus (GHRL) is highly complex and gives rise to a range of novel transcripts derived from alternative first exons and internally spliced exons. The wild-type transcript encodes a 117 amino acid preprohormone that is processed to yield the 28 amino acid peptide ghrelin.

Ghrelin and cancer.

Ghrelin is a peptide hormone that was originally isolated from the stomach as the endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). Ghrelin has many functions, including the regulation of appetite and gut motility, growth hormone release from the anterior pituitary and roles in the cardiovascular and immune systems. Ghrelin and its receptor are expressed in a number of cancers and cancer cell lines and may play a role in processes associated with cancer progression, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell invasion and migration.

Elevated concentration of TNF-alpha induces trophoblast differentiation in mouse blastocyst outgrowths.

Elevated expression of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. This study has examined the expression of TNF-alpha and its receptors (TNF-Rs) by mouse blastocysts and blastocyst outgrowths from day 4 to 9.5 of pregnancy and investigated the effects of elevated TNF-alpha on the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophoblast cells of blastocyst outgrowths.