New genomic resources inform transcriptomic responses to heavy metal toxins in the common Eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens.

Background: The common Eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens is native to North America and is the main commercially reared pollinator in the Americas. There has been extensive research on this species related to its social biology, applied pollination, and genetics. The genome of this species was previously sequenced using short-read technology, but recent technological advances provide an opportunity for substantial improvements.

: Optimising the delivery of sexual health services in Australia: a qualitative study.

Background: With a rise in sexually transmitted infections in Australia, it is important to evaluate and optimise current sexual health services to reduce barriers to access and increase testing. We aimed to describe the range of sexual health services in Australia, focusing on strategies to improve testing among priority populations, and any future strategies participants believed would improve service delivery.

Methods: We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with key informants working in Australian sexual health services from July to December 2020, and collected data on service characteristics and strategies to improve access.

Optimising the delivery of sexual health services in Australia: a qualitative study.

Background: With a rise in sexually transmitted infections in Australia, it is important to evaluate and optimise current sexual health services to reduce barriers to access and increase testing. We aimed to describe the range of sexual health services in Australia, focusing on strategies to improve testing among priority populations, and any future strategies participants believed would improve service delivery.

Methods: We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with key informants working in Australian sexual health services from July to December 2020, and collected data on service characteristics and strategies to improve access.

Improving Access to Sexual Health Services in General Practice Using a Hub-and-Spoke Model: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation.

Improving access to sexual health services is critical in light of rising sexually transmitted infections (STIs). We evaluated a hub-and-spoke model for improving access to sexual health services in three general practices in Victoria, Australia. The primary outcome was the impact on HIV and STI (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis) testing.

Changing from Clinician-Collected to Self-Collected Throat Swabs for Oropharyngeal Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Screening among Men Who Have Sex with Men.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led many clinics to move from clinician-collected to self-collected oropharyngeal swabs for the detection of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Before this change, however, self-collection was used primarily for genital and anorectal infections, with only limited studies on the performance of self-collection of oropharyngeal swabs for oropharyngeal STI detection. The Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) changed from clinician-collected to self-collected oropharyngeal swabs for oropharyngeal gonorrhea and chlamydia screening on 16 March 2020 in order to reduce health care worker risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are genital examinations necessary for STI screening for female sex workers? An audit of decriminalized and regulated sex workers in Melbourne, Australia.

Background: The Victorian legislation prohibits sex workers from working when they have visible anogenital herpes or warts. The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of asymptomatic female sex workers (FSW) diagnosed with anogenital herpes or warts by genital examination.

Methods: We analysed all computerised medical records of consultations with FSW at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) in 2018.

Why does allometry evolve so slowly?

Morphological allometry is striking due to its evolutionary conservatism, making it an example of a certain sort of evolutionary stasis. Organisms that vary in size, whether for developmental, environmental, or evolutionary reasons, adopt shapes that are predictable from that size alone. There are two major hypotheses to explain this.

Prevalence of genital and oropharyngeal chlamydia and gonorrhoea among female sex workers in Melbourne, Australia, 2015-2017: need for oropharyngeal testing.

Objective: The Victorian legislation requires sex workers to have quarterly screening for genital chlamydia and gonorrhoea, but screening for oropharyngeal infection is not mandatory in Victoria, Australia. In 2017, oropharyngeal screening for gonorrhoea and chlamydia was added as part of the routine quarterly screening for sex workers attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC). The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of oropharyngeal gonorrhoea and chlamydia among female sex workers (FSW).

Access to sexual health services after the rapid roll out of the launch of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV in Melbourne, Australia: a retrospective cross-sectional analysis.

Unlabelled: Background On 26 July 2016, Victoria began a large study of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, called PrEPX, that involved the creation of around 2600 appointments over 3 months across multiple sites in Melbourne, Australia. At this time, the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) appeared to have a larger demand on its services. The aim of the present study was to determine whether this apparent increase in demand was substantially different from other demand fluctuations.

Evaluation of the Implementation of a New Nurse-Led Express "Test-And-Go" Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Service for Men Who Have Sex With Men at a Sexual Health Center in Melbourne, Australia.

Background: In August 2015, a nurse-led express human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing service "Test-And-Go" (TAG) for asymptomatic men who have sex with men (MSM) was implemented in a large public sexual health center in Melbourne, Australia. We aimed to compare the clients' characteristics between the TAG and routine walk-in service among asymptomatic MSM.

Methods: This study was conducted at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Australia, between August 5, 2015, and June 1, 2016.

Sampling technique and detection rates of oropharyngeal and anorectal gonorrhoea using nucleic acid amplification tests in men who have sex with men.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the associations between clinicians' self-reported sampling technique and the detection rate of gonorrhoea at the oropharynx and anorectum using a highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

Methods: We analysed oropharyngeal and anorectal gonorrhoea swab results among men who have sex with men attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) between March 2015 and December 2016. Swabs were tested by NAAT using the Aptima Combo 2 transcription-mediated amplification assay due to its high sensitivity.

Changes in Gene Expression and Metabolism in the Testes of the Rat following Spinal Cord Injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in devastating changes to almost all aspects of a patient's life. In addition to a permanent loss of sensory and motor function, males also will frequently exhibit a profound loss of fertility through poorly understood mechanisms. We demonstrate that SCI causes measureable pathology in the testis both acutely (24 h) and chronically up to 1.

Facilitating Institutional Oversight and Program Improvement Through Educational Competency Committees.

Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires programs to engage annually in program evaluation and improvement.

Objective: We assessed the value of creating educational competency committees (ECCs) that use successful elements of 2 established processes-institutional special reviews and institutional oversight of annual program evaluations.

Methods: The ECCs used a template to review programs' annual program evaluations.

School-based health center-based treatment for obese adolescents: feasibility and body mass index effects.

Background: School-based health centers (SBHCs) may be an ideal setting to address obesity in adolescents because they provide increased access to a traditionally difficult-to-reach population. The study evaluated the feasibility of adding a health educator (HE) to SBHC teams to provide support and increase the delivery of preventive services for overweight or obese adolescents.

Methods: Adolescents with BMI ≥85% recruited from two SBHCs were randomized to a control group (CG) or an intervention group (IG).

The neuronal transition probability (NTP) model for the dynamic progression of non-REM sleep EEG: the role of the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

Little attention has gone into linking to its neuronal substrates the dynamic structure of non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep, defined as the pattern of time-course power in all frequency bands across an entire episode. Using the spectral power time-courses in the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), we showed in the typical first episode, several moves towards-and-away from deep sleep, each having an identical pattern linking the major frequency bands beta, sigma and delta. The neuronal transition probability model (NTP)--in fitting the data well--successfully explained the pattern as resulting from stochastic transitions of the firing-rates of the thalamically-projecting brainstem-activating neurons, alternating between two steady dynamic-states (towards-and-away from deep sleep) each initiated by a so-far unidentified flip-flop.

Formulation of ascorbic acid microemulsions with alkyl polyglycosides.

Ascorbic acid microemulsions for topical application were developed. In this study, microemulsions were prepared using HLD (hydrophilic lipophilic deviation) concept to optimise the formulation. From this optimal formulation, the realisation of dilution ternary diagrams leads to obtain microemulsion zones.

State transitions between wake and sleep, and within the ultradian cycle, with focus on the link to neuronal activity.

The structure of sleep across the night as expressed by the hypnogram, is characterised by repeated transitions between the different states of vigilance: wake, light and deep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This review is concerned with current knowledge on these state transitions, focusing primarily on those findings that allow the integration of data at cellular level with spectral time-course data at the encephalographic (EEG) level. At the cellular level it has been proposed that, under the influence of circadian and homeostatic factors, transitions between wake and sleep may be determined by mutually inhibitory interaction between sleep-active neurons in the hypothalamic preoptic area and wake-active neurons in multiple arousal centres.

Spectral power time-courses of human sleep EEG reveal a striking discontinuity at approximately 18 Hz marking the division between NREM-specific and wake/REM-specific fast frequency activity.

Spectral power time-courses over the ultradian cycle of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) provide a useful window for exploring the temporal correlation between cortical EEG and sub-cortical neuronal activities. Precision in the measurement of these time-courses is thus important, but it is hampered by lacunae in the definition of the frequency band limits that are in the main based on wake EEG conventions. A frequently seen discordance between the shape of the beta power time-course across the ultradian cycle and that reported for the sequential mean firing rate of brainstem-thalamic activating neurons invites a closer examination of these band limits, especially since the sleep EEG literature indicates in several studies an intriguing non-uniformity of time-course comportment across the traditional beta band frequencies.

A unique pattern of sleep structure is found to be identical at all cortical sites: a neurobiological interpretation.

There is substantial evidence both at the cellular and at the electroencephalogram (EEG) level to support the view that the brainstem activating systems control the sleep-state (stage) progression over time that constitutes the overall sleep structure as seen at the EEG. We argue here that the brainstem therefore modulates the time-courses of spectral power in the different EEG frequency bands. These show during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep a very particular interrelationship the origin of which has received little attention and for which the neuronal transition probability model for sleep structure has proposed a physiological explanation.

Benzophenone-3: rapid prediction and evaluation using non-invasive methods of in vivo human penetration.

The study described in this paper constitutes a practical assay system to evaluate in vivo drug penetration using two complementary non-invasive methods. An electrical capacitance test was first applied to the skin on the forearm to evaluate the hydration of the skin, and check the integrity of the stratum corneum. In the first step, the percentage absorption was measured using an occlusive and difference method; following benzophenone-3 application any residual formulation was washed off and the amount removed analyzed.

Brainstem origin for a new very slow (1mHz) oscillation in the human non-REM sleep episode.

The time-courses of power in the different frequency bands (1-40 Hz) within the non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) episode of the human sleep electroencephalogram have provided for many years a fascinating window into the sleep process. Here our analysis of the slow-wave band (1-4 Hz) reveals a hitherto unrecognized very slow oscillation of power with mean period ~15 minutes, an instability that appears to be an integral characteristic of the early NREM episode. The neuronal transition probability (NTP) model has already given a mechanism explaining how power in the spindle band peaks consistently before that of slow wave activity.

Effect of the addition of oxybenzone or octyl-methoxycinnamate on particle size of submicron emulsions.

The formulation of sunscreen products requires understanding of the solubilization of these products in different vehicles to obtain aesthetic preparations and to evaluate long-term stability. For this study, two different ultraviolet (UV) filters were selected: oxybenzone (powder) and octyl-methoxycinnamate (liquid). First, the solubility of these UV filters was tested using a three-component simplex-centroid design strategy.