Cirrhosis in primary practice: many patients remain potentially undiagnosed and are not receiving liver cancer surveillance.

Background And Aim: Most patients with cirrhosis have compensated disease and are cared for in primary care; however, the exact epidemiology within Australia remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to assess cirrhosis care in an Australian primary care setting by evaluating rates of cirrhosis diagnosis, appropriate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance and specialist communication.

Methods: Electronic medical records in consenting general practices were reviewed using the "Liver Toolkit" to identify patients with an existing cirrhosis diagnosis.

A quality improvement project to increase treatment rates of osteoporosis in general practice.

ObjectiveThis study tests a model to improve the management of patients with an osteoporotic fracture.MethodsPatients with fractures potentially due to osteoporosis were identified from imaging reports using computerised near natural language processing. A coordinator notified the referring GP about the finding and provided follow-up to remind GPs of the need for management.

A qualitative study of the general practice experience of diagnosing and managing long COVID: Challenges and practical recommendations.

Background And Objectives: Patients with prolonged symptoms following COVID-19 infection(s) will increasingly present to general practice. Our research objective was to understand the general practice experience of diagnosing and managing long COVID and to explore recommendations for contributing to the safety and quality of the long COVID response.

Method: A two-hour qualitative session involving 11 project stakeholders was held in March 2023.

Screening patients in general practice for advanced chronic liver disease using an innovative IT solution: The Liver Toolkit.

Background: Identifying patients with undiagnosed advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD) is a public health challenge. Patients with advanced fibrosis or compensated cirrhosis have much better outcomes than those with decompensated disease and may be eligible for interventions to prevent disease progression.

Methods: A cloud-based software solution ("the Liver Toolkit") was developed to access primary care practice software to identify patients at risk of ACLD.

Critical Success Factors for Intersectoral Collaboration: Homelessness and COVID-19 - Case Studies and Learnings from an Australian City.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionally impacted people experiencing homelessness, including people sleeping rough, people in temporary accommodation and those living in boarding houses. This paper reports on intersectoral responses across six health and social care agencies in Inner Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Prior to the pandemic the six agencies had established an , in recognition of the need for intersectoral collaboration to address the complex health needs of people experiencing homelessness.

Diverse and vulnerable: experiences of private allied health practices managing through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Implications for the financial viability of Australian primary care.

Background The majority of allied health services are delivered by small, private practices in the primary care setting with limited government funding. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns these practices were subject to the same health orders as any other private business with only 'essential services' permitted to remain open. Research aim We set out to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated public health measures, on the financial viability of private allied health practices.

Determinants of well-being and their interconnections in Australian general practitioners: a qualitative study.

Objectives: The well-being of doctors is recognised as a major priority in healthcare, yet there is little research on how general practitioners (GPs) keep well. We aimed to address this gap by applying a positive psychology lens, and exploring what determines GPs' well-being, as opposed to burnout and mental ill health, in Australia.

Design: Semi-structured qualitative interviews.

An evaluation of a pilot capacity building initiative for smoking cessation in social and community services: the Smoking Care project.

Introduction And Aims: New strategies are required to reach subpopulations with high smoking rates. This study reports on an evaluation of the Smoking Care intervention-a 2-year organisational capacity building strategy--for social and community service organisations (SCSOs) to provide smoking care to clients.

Design And Methods: The Smoking Care intervention consisted of: awareness raising seminars (half-day); smoking cessation training (1 day) and; nicotine replacement therapy grants (3 months).

The strategic development of the NSW Health Plan for Prevention of Falls and Harm from Falls Among Older People: 2011-2015; translating research into policy and practice.

With our rapidly ageing population there is an urgent imperative to minimise the rate of falls and associated injuries. A key challenge to public health is to better conceptualise and contextualise falls prevention evidence for more effective policy making and practice. This paper describes how NSW Health adopted the Nutbeam and Bauman Stages of Research and Evaluation Model in the strategic development of the NSW Health Plan for Prevention of Falls and Harm from Falls Among Older People: 2011-2015.

Randomised controlled trial of health assessments for older Australian veterans and war widows.

Objective: To assess the effect of home-based health assessments for older Australians on health-related quality of life, hospital and nursing home admissions, and death.

Design: Randomised controlled trial of the effect of health assessments over 3 years.

Participants And Setting: 1569 community-living veterans and war widows receiving full benefits from the Department of Veterans' Affairs and aged 70 years or over were randomly selected in 1997 from 10 regions of New South Wales and Queensland and randomly allocated to receive either usual care (n = 627) or health assessments (n = 942).

The quality and isolation of habitat patches both determine where butterflies persist in fragmented landscapes.

Habitat quality and metapopulation effects are the main hypotheses that currently explain the disproportionate decline of insects in cultivated Holarctic landscapes. The former assumes a degradation in habitat quality for insects within surviving ecosystems, the latter that too few, small or isolated islands of ecosystem remain in landscapes for populations to persist. These hypotheses are often treated as alternatives, and this can lead to serious conflict in the interpretations of conservationists.

Assessment of a short scale to measure social support among older people.

Background: Social support strongly influences health, but research has been limited by the paucity of brief, inexpensive, psychometrically sound scales suitable for use with older people.

Method: The validity and reliability of the 11-item Duke Social Support Index (DSSI) were tested among a random sample of 565 community dwelling people aged 70 years and over.

Results: A response rate of 76% was obtained.

A study of autoantibodies to phosphatidyl-serine in Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina infections in cattle.

Sera from cattle infected with Babesia bovis were found to contain antibodies to phosphatidyl-serine (PS), a negatively charged phospholipid normally found on the internal membrane of erythrocytes. In contrast, no autoantibodies were detected following Babesia bigemina infection indicating that the autoimmunity is not genus specific. During infection with Babesia bovis, PS translocates to the external membrane and it is suggested that this may result in PS behaving as an autoantigen owing to a transitional change.

Isolation, initial characterization and serological studies of glycolipid antigens from Babesia bovis-infected erythrocytes.

Serological analysis of Babesia bovis-derived glycolipids by ELISA and the indirect fluorescent antibody technique demonstrated the existence of their antigenic and immunogenic activities not only in B. bovis but also in B. bigemina infections.

Cloning and characterisation of cDNA clones encoding two Babesia bovis proteins with homologous amino- and carboxy-terminal domains.

A dextran sulphate protein (DSP) fraction derived from Babesia bovis has previously been shown to induce a protective immune response in cattle. A B. bovis cDNA library was screened with both the complete anti-DSP serum and a subfraction of the anti-DSP serum affinity purified on a native B.

The development of a recombinant Babesia vaccine.

Crude extracts of Babesia bovis parasites were shown to induce levels of protection in susceptible cattle equivalent to that resulting from natural infection. The crude material was systematically fractionated and tested in numerous sequential vaccination/challenge experiments in adult cattle. Antigens in protective fractions were then purified by affinity chromatography with monoclonal antibodies.

Vaccination of cattle with dextran sulphate-binding Babesia bigemina antigens.

Dextran sulphate-bound Babesia bigemina antigens were used in a preliminary vaccination study and were shown to elicit a protective immune response in cattle. A dextran sulphate-binding fraction of B. bigemina was further subfractionated on a Phenyl Sepharose column to give two fractions--one that strongly bound to the column (bound fraction) and one that did not (unbound fraction).

Serological and immunological studies with a hexane extract of Babesia bovis-infected erythrocytes.

Antigenic and immunogenic activities of a hexane extract from Babesia bovis-infected erythrocytes were investigated. Positive ELISA and IFAT reactions were obtained with bovine antisera to B. bovis and B.

Babesia bovis: analysis of and preliminary vaccination studies with a defined infected erythrocyte membrane binding antigen.

Murine monoclonal antibodies (MAB) were produced against the 'beta' fraction of Babesia bovis. A MAB, W11C5, selected on the criterion of its staining of erythrocytes infected with B. bovis, was purified.

Babesia bovis: dextran sulphate as an adjuvant for and precipitant of protective immunogens.

Dextran sulphate, a chemical with some specificity for lipoproteins, was used to precipitate a fraction from a soluble extract of Babesia bovis-infected erythrocytes. The precipitate, in combination with dextran sulphate as an adjuvant, was used to vaccinate naive calves. The vaccinates and a group of control calves were challenged with virulent homologous B.

Babesia bovis host cell recognition proteins.

Babesia bovis enters host erythrocytes by invagination but nothing is known of the proteins involved. By means of metabolic labelling, differential centrifugation in oil and salt elution, a number of babesial proteins have been shown to bind to bovine erythrocytes. Strong binding is evidenced only by a 38/19 kDa pair.

An ELISA for the diagnosis of Babesia ovis infection utilizing a synthetic, Babesia bovis-derived antigen.

The development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of Babesia ovis antibodies is described. In an initial study, a crude Babesia bovis antigen and a synthetic B. bovis-derived antigen (designated 11C5) were used to screen 46 B.

Babesia bovis: immunity induced by vaccination with a lipid enriched fraction.

A chloroform extract from Babesia bovis-infected erythrocytes was used to vaccinate a group of five naive cattle. Following vaccination, the vaccinates, along with a group of control cattle, were challenged with a virulent heterologous strain of B. bovis.

Babesia bovis--effects of phospholipid translocation and adenosine tri-phosphate consumption.

The adenosine tri-phosphate concentration of Babesia bovis-infected erythrocytes was significantly (P less than 0.001) less than that of pre-infection erythrocytes. In addition, phosphatidyl serine was detected on the plasmatic surface of the infected erythrocyte.