Utilising an Allied Health Practitioner Capability Audit and Confidence Survey to Identify Implications for Telehealth Safety and Risk-A Chronicle of a Health Service Improvement Activity.

Whilst the benefits of telehealth were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic, we noted barriers to its use at a vital time. Through a health service improvement approach, we sought to increase allied health professional capability in telehealth, but we also sought to understand if there were risks associated with its use. We designed and implemented tools to evaluate allied health professional competence and confidence in using telehealth with private and public patients in a metropolitan teaching hospital setting.

Tiger beetles produce anti-bat ultrasound and are probable Batesian moth mimics.

Echolocating bats and their eared insect prey are in an acoustic evolutionary war. Moths produce anti-bat sounds that startle bat predators, signal noxiousness, mimic unpalatable models and jam bat sonar. Tiger beetles (Cicindelidae) also purportedly produce ultrasound in response to bat attacks.

Roadside vegetated filter strips to simultaneously lower stormwater pollution loadings and improve economics of biorefinery feedstocks.

Roadside vegetated filters strips (VFSs) reduce roadway runoff pollution by intercepting stormwater and reducing pollutant loads. VFS maintenance and operating costs can be reduced by designing the VFSs to serve as sites for production of marketable biomass. This biomass can provide feedstock for the emerging bioeconomy producing renewable fuels and biobased chemicals and products.

A new genus of tiger beetle (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) from the Nearctic and Neotropical realms.

The taxonomically problematic tiger beetle species, Cylindera lemniscata (LeConte, 1854), has been difficult to place within the Nearctic fauna because of its peculiar morphological characteristics which were noted in its description, and by subsequent workers. Molecular phylogenetic studies of the late 1990s and early 2000s were similarly unable to reach a consensus about its systematic placement. More recently, a densely sampled mtDNA genealogy recovered Cy.

Skin Biopsy in Pediatric Oncology/Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Patients.

The aim of this study was to review the dermatopathological findings in skin biopsy specimens from pediatric oncology and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients over a 20-year period. Three hundred fifty-two skin biopsies from 240 patients were reviewed, and the findings were grouped into 6 categories: index neoplasms, nonindex neoplasms, infections, graft-versus-host disease, other treatment complications, and others. Among the index neoplasms identified on skin biopsy, the most common conditions were Langerhans cell histiocytosis (14 patients) and melanoma (7 patients), with other hematological malignancies and an array of soft-tissue tumors accounting for the bulk of the remainder.

Pollutant dispersion by tall buildings: laboratory experiments and Large-Eddy Simulation.

Abstract: Pollutant dispersion by a tall-building cluster within a low-rise neighbourhood of Beijing is investigated using both full-scale Large-Eddy Simulation and water flume experiments at 1:2400 model-to-full scale with Particle Image Velocimetry and Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence. The Large-Eddy Simulation and flume results of this realistic test case agree remarkably well despite differences in the inflow conditions and scale. Tall buildings have strong influence on the local flow and the development of the rooftop shear layer which dominates vertical momentum and scalar fluxes.

Nutritional intakes of highly trained adolescent swimmers before, during, and after a national lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Strict lockdown measures were introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused mass disruption to adolescent swimmers' daily routines. To measure how lockdown impacted nutritional practices in this cohort, three-day photograph food diaries were analysed at three time points: before (January), during (April), and after (September) the first UK lockdown. Thirteen swimmers (aged 15 ± 1 years) from a high-performance swimming club submitted satisfactory food diaries at all time points.

HyRAD-X Exome Capture Museomics Unravels Giant Ground Beetle Evolution.

Advances in phylogenomics contribute toward resolving long-standing evolutionary questions. Notwithstanding, genetic diversity contained within more than a billion biological specimens deposited in natural history museums remains recalcitrant to analysis owing to challenges posed by its intrinsically degraded nature. Yet that tantalizing resource could be critical in overcoming taxon sampling constraints hindering our ability to address major evolutionary questions.

Identifying ranges of combined lime and heat treatments to achieve biosolids stabilization fecal coliform targets.

To ensure safe reuse, biosolids are stabilized to reduce pathogens, odor, and volatile solids. Stabilization by lime addition have high material costs, high transportation costs, and loss of ammonia. Decreasing required lime additions would improve the sustainability of biosolids reuse.

Novel ethanol production using biomass preprocessing to increase ethanol yield and reduce overall costs.

Background: Ethanol biorefineries need to lower their overall production costs to become economically feasible. Two strategies to achieve this are to reduce costs using cheaper feedstocks or to increase the ethanol production yield. Low-cost feedstocks usually have high non-structural components (NSC) content; therefore, a new process is necessary to accommodate these feedstocks and overcome the negative effects of NSC.

Variability of physical meteorology in urban areas at different scales: implications for air quality.

Air quality in cities is influenced not only by emissions and chemical transformations but also by the physical state of the atmosphere which varies both temporally and spatially. Increasingly, tall buildings (TB) are common features of the urban landscape, yet their impact on urban air flow and dispersion is not well understood, and their effects are not appropriately captured in parameterisation schemes. Here, hardware models of areas within two global mega-cities (London and Beijing) are used to analyse the impact of TB on flow and transport in isolated and cluster settings.

Geographic Life History Differences Predict Genomic Divergence Better than Mitochondrial Barcodes or Phenotype.

Species diversity can be inferred using multiple data types, however, results based on genetic data can be at odds with patterns of phenotypic variation. Tiger beetles of the (LeConte, 1875) species complex have been taxonomically problematic due to extreme phenotypic variation within and between populations. To better understand the biology and taxonomy of this group, we used mtDNA genealogies and multilocus nuclear analyses of 34,921 SNPs to elucidate its evolutionary history and evaluate the validity of phenotypically circumscribed species and subspecies.

Integration of wastewater treatment into process design of lignocellulosic biorefineries for improved economic viability.

Background: Production and use of bio-based products offer advantages over conventional petrochemicals, yet the relatively high cost of production has restricted their mainstream adoption. Optimization of wastewater treatment processes could reduce capital expenditures, lowering the barrier to market entry for lignocellulosic biorefineries. This paper characterizes wastewater associated with lignocellulosic ethanol production and evaluates potential wastewater treatment operations.

Optimized peripheral blood progenitor cell mobilization for autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation in children with high-risk and refractory malignancies.

Background: Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) using hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) has become an important therapeutic modality for patients with high-risk malignancies. Current literature on standardized method for HPC apheresis in children is sparse and failure rate reported as high as 30%.

Patients/methods: A retrospective study of 125 pediatric patients with high-risk malignancies undergoing aHSCT in Western Australia between 1997 and 2016 was conducted.

A Comparative Study on Rapid Wastewater Treatment Response to Refugee Crises.

Large-scale population displacement can overwhelm wastewater treatment facilities and increase environmental pollution in the host communities. Academic research has discussed features that improve wastewater treatment systems' resiliency toward other types of disasters and rapidly changing operation conditions. Concepts that contribute to successful startup, refurbishment, and operation of biological treatment systems during refugee responses are yet to be identified.

Assessment of Overheating Risk in Gynaecology Scanning Rooms during Near-Heatwave Conditions: A Case Study of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in the UK.

Hospital buildings in the UK are at particular risk to rising summer temperatures associated with climate change. Balancing the thermal needs of patients, staff, and visitors is a challenging, complex endeavour. A case study of the ultrasound area of the Royal Berkshire Hospital's Maternity and Gynaecology building is presented, where temperatures were measured for 35 days in waiting areas, staff offices, and ultrasound scanning rooms, aiming to assess the overheating risk posed to occupants.

Vaccine-preventable disease following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplant in Western Australia.

Aim: Infection is an important and frequent cause of mortality and morbidity following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). This study was conducted to determine the epidemiology and clinical phenotype of vaccine-preventable disease in children who have undergone HSCT following the implementation of a standard revaccination programme.

Methods: Children receiving first allogeneic HSCT in Western Australia between January 2005 and December 2014 were eligible for recruitment.

A simplified silver phosphate extraction method for oxygen isotope analysis of bioapatite.

Rationale: Although phosphatic materials are chemically complex and are prone to exchange oxygen isotopes with their environments, the phosphate (PO ) component of these materials is robust and retains its original oxygen isotopic composition. As a result, there are currently several methods for the isolation of phosphate oxygen through the precipitation of silver phosphate (Ag PO ). However, some of these techniques produce Ag PO of questionable purity, while nearly all are lengthy and/or require relatively large sample sizes.

Earthworms (Eisenia fetida) demonstrate potential for use in soil bioremediation by increasing the degradation rates of heavy crude oil hydrocarbons.

Crude oil contamination widely impacts soil as a result of release during oil and gas exploration and production activities. The success of bioremediation methods to meet remediation goals often depends on the composition of the crude oil, the soil, and microbial community. Earthworms may enhance bioremediation by mixing and aerating the soil, and exposing soil microorganisms to conditions in the earthworm gut that lead to increased activity.

Comparison of Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube with Culture on RGM Selective Agar for Detection of Mycobacteria in Sputum Samples from Patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are an important cause of pulmonary disease in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). A new culture medium (RGM medium) for the isolation of rapidly growing mycobacteria from the sputum of cystic fibrosis patients has recently been reported. The aim of this study was to compare culture of sputum samples on RGM medium with culture using a standard automated liquid culture method.

Increased Body Mass Index during Therapy for Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Significant and Underestimated Complication.

Objective & Design. We undertook a retrospective review of children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and treated with modern COG protocols (n = 80) to determine longitudinal changes in body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of obesity compared with a healthy reference population. Results.

Allergic multimorbidity of asthma, rhinitis and eczema over 20 years in the German birth cohort MAS.

Background: The occurrence of allergic multimorbidity (coexistence of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema) has not been evaluated longitudinally from early childhood up to adulthood in a population-based study sample. We aimed to determine the prevalence of allergic multimorbidity up to age 20 stratified by parental allergies and sex/gender using extensive prospective follow-up data from two decades of a birth cohort study.

Methods: In 1990, we recruited 1314 healthy newborns from 6 maternity wards across Germany for the population-based MAS birth cohort study.