Phenotyping people with a history of injecting drug use within electronic medical records using an interactive machine learning approach.

People with a history of injecting drug use are a priority for eliminating blood-borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections. Identifying them for disease surveillance in electronic medical records (EMRs) is challenged by sparsity of predictors. This study introduced a novel approach to phenotype people who have injected drugs using structured EMR data and interactive human-in-the-loop methods.

An evaluation of existing text de-identification tools for use with patient progress notes from Australian general practice.

Introduction: Digitized patient progress notes from general practice represent a significant resource for clinical and public health research but cannot feasibly and ethically be used for these purposes without automated de-identification. Internationally, several open-source natural language processing tools have been developed, however, given wide variations in clinical documentation practices, these cannot be utilized without appropriate review. We evaluated the performance of four de-identification tools and assessed their suitability for customization to Australian general practice progress notes.

Undetected serovars: leptospirosis cases in the Cairns region during the 2021 wet season.

Background: Leptospirosis infection can lead to serious renal and cardiopulmonary complications and can be fatal. Following heavy rainfall and localised flooding in early 2021, Tropical Public Health Services in Cairns were alerted to an increase in leptospirosis cases in the region, with notifications almost three times higher than usual by mid-February. An epidemiological investigation was undertaken.

The Incidence of Hepatitis C Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men in Australia, 2009-2019.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been reported among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) globally including GBM with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HIV-negative GBM, particularly those using HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). In Australia, HCV direct-acting antiviral treatment (DAA) was government-funded from 2016. Large implementation studies of PrEP also began in 2016.

The place of 5-aminolaevulinic acid-photodynamic therapy in the treatment landscape of urethral warts: A systematic review.

Background: Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease worldwide and the main cause of genital warts. Clear recommendations for the management of urethral warts, which are often hard to detect and difficult to treat, are still lacking.

Objective: To summarize all available data describing treatment modalities of urethral warts, compare their efficacy and side effects, and provide physicians a treatment strategy outline.

Factors associated with overweight and obesity in Lebanese male patients with schizophrenia.

Purpose: To assess the influence of lifestyle factors, antipsychotic medications, and psychosis symptoms on obesity in a group of male patients with schizophrenia in Lebanon.

Design/methods: A cross-sectional study conducted between May and July 2018 enrolling 149 male patients with chronic schizophrenia.

Results: We found that 59.

Microelimination of Hepatitis C Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Coinfection: Declining Incidence and Prevalence Accompanying a Multicenter Treatment Scale-up Trial.

Background: Gay and bisexual men (GBM) are a key population affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection. We aimed to measure HCV treatment effectiveness and to determine the population impact of treatment scale-up on HCV prevalence and incidence longitudinally among GBM.

Methods: The co-EC Study (Enhancing Care and Treatment Among HCV/HIV Coinfected Individuals to Eliminate Hepatitis C Transmission) was an implementation trial providing HCV direct-acting antiviral treatment in Melbourne, Australia, during 2016-2018.

Phylogenetic clustering networks among heterosexual migrants with new HIV diagnoses post-migration in Australia.

Background: It is estimated that approximately half of new HIV diagnoses among heterosexual migrants in Victoria, Australia, were acquired post-migration. We investigated the characteristics of phylogenetic clusters in notified cases of HIV among heterosexual migrants.

Methods: Partial HIV pol sequences obtained from routine clinical genotype tests were linked to Victorian HIV notifications with the following exposures listed on the notification form: heterosexual sexual contact, injecting drug use, bisexual sexual contact, male-to male sexual contact or heterosexual sexual contact in combination with injecting drug use, unknown exposure.

The impact of universal access to direct-acting antiviral therapy on the hepatitis C cascade of care among individuals attending primary and community health services.

Background: Hepatitis C elimination will require widespread access to treatment and responses at the health-service level to increase testing among populations at risk. We explored changes in hepatitis C testing and the cascade of care before and after the introduction of direct-acting antiviral treatments in Victoria, Australia.

Methods: De-identified clinical data were retrospectively extracted from eighteen primary care clinics providing services targeted towards people who inject drugs.

Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage of Deidentified Records Within a Public Health Surveillance System: Evaluation Study.

Background: The Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance (ACCESS) was established to monitor national testing and test outcomes for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) and sexually transmissible infections (STIs) in key populations. ACCESS extracts deidentified data from sentinel health services that include general practice, sexual health, and infectious disease clinics, as well as public and private laboratories that conduct a large volume of BBV/STI testing. An important attribute of ACCESS is the ability to accurately link individual-level records within and between the participating sites, as this enables the system to produce reliable epidemiological measures.

Ventricular and total brain volumes in infants with congenital heart disease: a longitudinal study.

Background: Quantitative MRI techniques help recognize delayed brain development in fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD). Ventriculomegaly became an early marker of brain dysmaturity.

Objective: Evaluate longitudinally the cerebral ventricular and total brain volumes (TBV) in infants with CHD compared to normal neonates: testing the fetal brain dysmaturity and following its progression post operatively.

Comparing sexual behaviours and knowledge between domestic students and Chinese international students in Australia: findings from two cross-sectional studies.

Few studies investigate sexual health among Chinese international students in Australia. We recruited domestic (n = 623) and Chinese international (n = 500) students for separate online surveys on sexual behaviours and knowledge. Samples were compared using Chi square, Fisher's exact and equality of medians tests.

Gaps in the HIV diagnosis and care cascade for migrants in Australia, 2013-2017: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Globally, few studies compare progress toward the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Fast-Track targets among migrant populations. Fast-Track targets are aligned to the HIV diagnosis and care cascade and entail achieving 90-90-90 (90% of people living with HIV [PLHIV] diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed on treatment, and 90% of those on treatment with viral suppression [VS]) by 2020 and 95-95-95 by 2030. We compared cascades between migrant and nonmigrant populations in Australia.

Risk of Subsequent HIV Infection Following Sexually Transmissible Infections Among Men Who Have Sex With Men.

Background: HIV and bacterial sexually transmissible infection (STI) notifications among men who have sex with men (MSM) have increased in Australia and many other countries. The relationship between HIV infection and other STIs has been demonstrated previously. However, the relationship between the cumulative history of STIs and subsequent HIV infection remains largely unexplored and limits our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the elevated HIV risk.

Systemic to Pulmonary Collaterals in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants: Incidence, Clinical Significance, and Hemodynamic Features.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the incidence of systemic to pulmonary collaterals (SPCs) in extremely low birth weight infants and to assess its clinical and hemodynamic significance beyond the neonatal period.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study was conducted on 61 infants with echocardiogram performed at the time of discharge to determine the presence of SPC and to measure the right and left ventricular outputs and left atrium to aortic ratio. We compared two groups: small or no SPC (Group 1) to moderate or large SPC (Group 2) on demographics, clinical outcomes, and echocardiographic parameters.

Pathology Laboratory Surveillance in the Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Blood-Borne Viruses: Protocol for a Cohort Study.

Background: Passive surveillance is the principal method of sexually transmitted infection (STI) and blood-borne virus (BBV) surveillance in Australia whereby positive cases of select STIs and BBVs are notified to the state and territory health departments. A major limitation of passive surveillance is that it only collects information on positive cases and notifications are heavily dependent on testing patterns. Denominator testing data are important in the interpretation of notifications.

Two decades of surveillance data show late presentation among a diverse group of women diagnosed with HIV in Victoria, Australia.

Objective: To develop an HIV response suited to women and to inform appropriate services, we describe the characteristics of women diagnosed and living with HIV using 22 years of high-quality surveillance data.

Methods: Data on women newly diagnosed with HIV between 1994 and 2016 and women living with diagnosed HIV in Victoria at 31 December 2016 were extracted from the Victorian Public Health Surveillance System. Descriptive analysis by place of birth was performed and Poisson regression used to assess trends over time.

Estimating the syphilis epidemic among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Australia following changes in HIV care and prevention.

Unlabelled: Background Syphilis control remains a challenge in many high-income countries, including Australia, where diagnoses are concentrated among gay, bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (GBM). The aim of this study is to project the syphilis epidemic among GBM under a range of scenarios.

Methods: A dynamic coinfection model of HIV and syphilis transmission among GBM in Victoria, Australia, was parametrised to test data from clinics in Melbourne and syphilis case notifications in Victoria.