Pharmacological and ethical comparisons of lung cancer medicine accessibility in Australia and New Zealand.

Gaps in funded cancer medicines between New Zealand and Australia can have significant implications for patients and their families. Pharmac, the New Zealand pharmaceutical funding agency, has been criticised for not funding enough cancer medicines, and a 2022 review identified ethical concerns about its utilitarian focus on efficiency. However, as the costs of new cancer medicines rise along with public and political pressure to fund them, questions about value for money remain critical for health systems worldwide.

Outcomes of parenteral nutrition in patients with advanced cancer and malignant bowel obstruction.

Background: Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) affects 3% to 15% of all cancer patients. In patients with advanced cancer and inoperable MBO, the average survival varies between four to nine weeks. Parenteral nutrition (PN) may improve survival in specific patient populations with malignant bowel obstruction.

How Do Past Immunization Strategies Compare With the COVID-19 Immunization Rollout: A New Zealand Analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare past New Zealand immunization strategies with the New Zealand coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) immunization roll-out.

Methods: Using the READ document analysis method, 2 New Zealand immunization strategies (for influenza and measles) were analyzed for how the disease, context, vaccine supply and demand, ethical principles (equity, individual autonomy, and maximizing benefits), and the Treaty of Waitangi impacted the immunization programs. The findings were compared with the ongoing COVID-19 mass immunization program in New Zealand, as of October 15, 2021.

Exploring the Effects of Offline Paradigms and Feature Extraction Techniques on Performance of Motor Imagery Brain-Computer Interface: Longitudinal Pilot Study.

Motor Imagery (MI) Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a popular way of allowing disabled and healthy individuals to use brain signals to communicate with their environment, despite the technical and human factor challenges that affect MI BCI classification performance. This study explored the influence of paradigm choice and phase synchronization-based features on classification performance by comparing primary datasets to older supplemental datasets. Area Under the Curve (AUC) Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve was the metric for classification performance.

Outcomes of parenteral nutrition in patients with advanced cancer and malignant bowel obstruction.

Background: Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) affects 3-15% of all cancer patients. In patients with advanced cancer and inoperable MBO, the average survival varies between four to nine weeks. Parenteral nutrition (PN) may improve survival in specific patient populations with malignant bowel obstruction.

The precautionary principle in public health emergency regime: Ethical and legal examinations of Vietnamese and global response to COVID-19.

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely criticized for being too delayed and indecisive. As a result, the precautionary principle has been endorsed, applauded, and proposed to guide future responses to global public health emergencies. Drawing from controversial issues in response to COVID-19, especially in Vietnam, this paper critically discusses some key ethical and legal issues of employing the precautionary principle in public health emergencies.

New Zealand community pharmacists' perspectives on supplying smoked tobacco as an endgame initiative: a qualitative analysis.

Introduction: Tobacco endgame strategies often include measures to reduce tobacco availability by decreasing retailer numbers. Recently, some US pharmacies have delisted tobacco, though overall retailer numbers have not reduced markedly. Paradoxically, others have suggested limiting tobacco sales to pharmacies, to reduce supply and support cessation.

The need to nurture Aotearoa New Zealand's healthcare workforce.

This commentary examines the ethical significance of recently published research demonstrating the extent to which healthcare workers experienced stress and increased challenges in the workplace due to inadequate access to personal protective equipment (PPE) during the first COVID-19 surge in Aotearoa New Zealand. The inadequate state of New Zealand's PPE stockpile and distribution system at the beginning of the pandemic was a critical signal, a "canary in the coalmine", of broader challenges facing the New Zealand healthcare system, particularly for healthcare worker safety and wellbeing. As New Zealand reforms its health system with the aim of improving access to and equity of care, an opportunity exists to apply critical lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic about the need to prioritise the wellbeing of the healthcare workers we are dependent upon to deliver that care.

How do New Zealand youth perceive the smoke-free generation policy? A qualitative analysis.

Introduction: Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) plans to introduce a smoke-free generation (SFG) policy, alongside denicotinisation and reducing the availability of tobacco products. The SFG has a clear rationale, yet we know little about how young people, those the policy targets, perceive it. To inform policy design, communication and implementation, we explored how NZ youth perceived the SFG.

An Analysis of Arguments Advanced via Twitter in an Advocacy Campaign to Promote Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems.

Introduction: Advocates of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) increasingly use Twitter to promote liberal ENDS policies. "World Vape Day" (WVD) is an annual campaign organized by pro-ENDS advocacy groups, some of which have links to the nicotine industry (eg, via funding from the "Foundation for a Smoke-Free World"). In 2020, the campaign used dedicated social media accounts to disseminate WVD-branded images and campaign messages.

We want to help: ethical challenges of medical migration and brain waste during a pandemic.

Health worker shortages in many countries are reaching crisis levels, exacerbated by factors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In New Zealand, the medical specialists union has called for a health workforce emergency to be declared, yet at the same time, many foreign-trained healthcare workers are unable to stay in the country or unable to work. While their health systems differ, countries such as New Zealand, the USA and the UK at least partially rely on international medical graduates (IMGs) to ensure access to health services, particularly in underserved communities.

Ethics and ENDS.

As debate persists over regulating electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), those favouring liberal ENDS policies have advanced rights-based arguments privileging harm reduction to people who smoke over harm prevention to children and never-smokers. Recent ethical arguments advocate regulating ENDS to prioritise their harm reduction potential for people who currently smoke over any future harm to young never-smokers. In this article, we critically assess these arguments, in particular, the assumption that ethical arguments for prioritising the interests of young people do not apply to ENDS.

Celecoxib and Myrtol: A Novel Therapy for Recurrent Appendiceal Mucinous Neoplasms With Extensive Peritoneal Dissemination.

Background: Unresectable appendiceal mucinous neoplasms (AMNs) with extensive peritoneal dissemination cause significant morbidity and have limited treatment options. We evaluated a novel combination of Celecoxib and Myrtol in treating such AMNs.

Methods: Patients with recurrent AMNs with extensive peritoneal disease treated with a daily regimen of 200 mg Celecoxib and 1200 mg Myrtol Standardized were included.

Guide to Enhanced Recovery for Cancer Patients Undergoing Surgery: ERAS for Patients Undergoing Cytoreductive Surgery with or Without HIPEC.

ERAS protocols may reduce length of stay and return to full functional recovery after cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC. Prehabilitation programs and post-operative goal directed pathways, along with other essential components of ERAS are discussed with supporting evidence.

Conditions of Global Health Crisis Decision-Making-An Ethical Analysis.

The circumstances of a public health emergency (PHE) shape reasoning and decision-making in ways that deviate from routine circumstances, where adherence to established values, principles, and methodologies is expected. Understanding what drives these deviations is critical to assessing their ethical consequences. In this paper we describe four conditions that influence decision-making during PHEs, in particular regarding the deployment and conduct of research on experimental or novel biomedical interventions.

Reduction of laser intensity noise over 1 MHz band for single atom trapping.

We reduce the intensity noise of laser light by using an electro-optic modulator and acousto-optic modulator in series. The electro-optic modulator reduces noise at high frequency (10 kHz to 1 MHz), while the acousto-optic modulator sets the average power of the light and reduces noise at low frequency (up to 10 kHz). The light is then used to trap single sodium atoms in an optical tweezer, where the lifetime of the atoms is limited by parametric heating due to laser noise at twice the trapping frequency.

Management of personal protective equipment in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic: report from the Auditor-General.

In June 2020 the Office of the Auditor-General released its report on the management of personal protective equipment (PPE) in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report raises three issues of ethical concern: inadequate stock, inequity and complacency. Acting on the report's recommendations is a critical step in strengthening New Zealand's preparedness for future public health crises.

Novel Application of Iterative Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Unresectable Peritoneal Metastases from High-Grade Appendiceal Ex-Goblet Adenocarcinoma.

Background: Peritoneal metastases (PMs) from appendiceal ex-goblet adenocarcinoma (AEGA) are associated with a poor prognosis. While cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been shown to prolong survival, the majority of patients are ineligible for complete cytoreduction. We describe a novel approach to the management of such patients with iterative HIPEC (IHIPEC).

Large-Scale Transgenic Resource Collections for Loss- and Gain-of-Function Studies.

The Transgenic RNAi Project (TRiP), a functional genomics platform at Harvard Medical School, was initiated in 2008 to generate and distribute a genome-scale collection of RNA interference (RNAi) fly stocks. To date, it has generated >15,000 RNAi fly stocks. As this covers most genes, we have largely transitioned to development of new resources based on CRISPR technology.

Effects of a natural polyphenol on nicotine-induced pancreatic cancer cell proliferation.

Introduction: Resveratrol (-3, 4', 5-trihydroxystilbene), a phytoalexin derived from the skin of grapes and other fruits, has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. Its anti-carcinogenic effects are closely associated with its antioxidant activity; thus, the use of resveratrol as a possible cancer chemo-preventive is considered to be an important area of investigation. In this study we have examined the inhibitory effects of resveratrol in nicotine induced proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells.

Equity and preventive regulations.

In 'Obesity, equity and choice' ( 2018;0:1-7. doi:10.1136/medethics-2018-104848), Timothy Wilkinson argues that preventive regulations to address obesity, such as taxes on sugary drinks, are at worst inequitable and at best fail to increase or improve equity.

Sport Preparticipation Screening for Asymptomatic Atlantoaxial Instability in Patients With Down Syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS) is a clinical syndrome comprising typical facial features and various physical and intellectual disabilities due to extra genetic material on chromosome 21, with one in every 1000 babies born in the United Kingdom affected. Patients with Down syndrome are at risk of atlantoaxial instability (AAI). Although AAI can occur in other conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, this position statement deals specifically with patients with DS and asymptomatic AAI.

Spin-optomechanical coupling between light and a nanofiber torsional mode.

Light that carries linear or angular momentum can interact with a mechanical object, giving rise to optomechanical effects. In particular, a photon can transfer its intrinsic angular momentum to an object when the object either absorbs the photon or changes the photon polarization, as in an action/reaction force pair. Here, we demonstrate resonant driving of torsional mechanical modes of a single-mode tapered optical nanofiber using spin angular momentum.