The new normal for food insecurity? A repeated cross-sectional survey over 1 year during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Background: Food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic has been impacted by necessary public health restrictions. Tasmania, an island state south of the Australian mainland, recorded no community transmission of COVID-19 between May 2020 to November 2021 due to strong border restrictions. This study aimed to determine the changes in prevalence and sociodemographic predictors of food insecurity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Tasmania, Australia.

Consumer-driven strategies towards a resilient and sustainable food system following the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health restrictions temporarily disrupted food supply chains around the world and changed the way people shopped for food, highlighting issues with food systems resilience and sustainability. The aim of this study was to explore consumer-driven strategies towards a more resilient and sustainable food system in Australia, learning from experiences during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: During May-June 2020, a cross-sectional, online survey was conducted in Tasmania, Australia in a non-random sample of adults aged 18 years and over.

Food insecure households faced greater challenges putting healthy food on the table during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the Australian food supply. However, it has remained unclear how food access, food availability and consumption were impacted, especially for households experiencing food insecurity. This study aimed to determine the association between food security and cooking and eating habits, food access and availability, self-sufficiency and perceptions of the food supply at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tasmania, Australia.

Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Food Insecurity in Australia during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic vulnerabilities and disrupted the Australian food supply, with potential implications for food insecurity. This study aims to describe the prevalence and socio-demographic associations of food insecurity in Tasmania, Australia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey (deployed late May to early June 2020) incorporated the U.

Quantitative and Fast Sterility Assurance Testing of Surfaces by Enumeration of Germinable Endospores.

A fast Endospore Germinability Assay (EGA) was validated with traditional plate counts to enumerate single endospore germination events for monitoring surface sterilization. The assay is based on a time-gated luminescence microscopy technique enabling visualization and enumeration of individual germinating endospores. Germinating endospores release calcium dipicolinate to form highly luminescent terbium dipicolinate complexes surrounding each germinating endospore.

Superficial morphea: case report, look-alikes, pathogenesis, and treatment.

Superficial morphea, a rare variant of morphea, is characterized by hypopigmented to hyperpigmented skin lesions located predominantly in a symmetric fashion at intertriginous sites. These patches and plaques typically lack the significant induration, contractures, and atrophy seen in other subtypes of morphea. Histologic examination is key for accurate diagnosis considering the number of similar conditions which may clinically mimic superficial morphea.

Eosinophils in biopsy specimens of lichen sclerosus: a not uncommon finding.

Background: Evolving lesions of lichen sclerosus (LS) pose a diagnostic challenge owing to an absence of classic findings of epidermal atrophy, dermal sclerosis, a band-like lymphocytic infiltrate and the presence of eosinophils.

Methods: Retrospective specimens of LS were reviewed. Demographic information, biopsy vs.

Barriers to the early cochlear implantation of deaf children.

Objective: Identify social and health care system factors that prevent congenitally deaf children from receiving cochlear implants (CIs) in a timely fashion.

Study Design: Retrospective chart review and parental interviews.

Setting: University medical center hospital in a state with mandatory newborn hearing screening (NBHS).

An automated front-end monitor for anthrax surveillance systems based on the rapid detection of airborne endospores.

A fully automated anthrax smoke detector (ASD) has been developed and tested. The ASD is intended to serve as a cost effective front-end monitor for anthrax surveillance systems. The principle of operation is based on measuring airborne endospore concentrations, where a sharp concentration increase signals an anthrax attack.

Proinflammatory phenotype of endothelial cells after coculture with biomaterial-treated blood cells.

An understanding of the endothelial cell/blood/biomaterial interactions is central to advancing the success of cardiovascular devices that continue to fail because of the lack of nonthrombogenic biomaterials. A simplified endothelial cell/blood cell/biomaterial static model was used to assess these interactions. Human whole blood or isolated blood cells (mononuclear cells, neutrophils, platelets) were pretreated with biomaterial beads with different surface chemistries: polystyrene (PS), PS beads grafted with 3-kDa polyethylene glycol (PEG) with either hydroxyl (PS-PEG-OH) or amine (PS-PEG-NH2) terminal groups at bead concentrations of 5.