Clinician perspectives on voluntary assisted dying and willingness to be involved: a multisite, cross-sectional survey during implementation in New South Wales, Australia.

Background: In the context of nationwide law reform, New South Wales (NSW) became the last state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying (VAD) - commencing 28 November 2023. Clinicians have divergent views regarding VAD, with varying levels of understanding, support, and willingness to be involved, and these may have a significant impact on the successful implementation.

Aims: To understand levels of support, understanding and willingness to be involved in VAD among clinical staff across NSW during implementation of VAD.

A retrospective review of immunology patients with primary and/or secondary immunodeficiency, demonstrating the benefits of the rapid transitioning from intravenous immunoglobulin to subcutaneous immunoglobulin at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forty-four of 50 immunology patients with primary or secondary immunodeficiency receiving intravenous immunoglobulin at a hospital in New South Wales, Australia, were rapidly enrolled in the subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIg) programme at the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Health and economic outcomes demonstrated that SCIg provides clinical efficacy as evidenced by the number of infections and maintenance of IgG levels, and also facilitates cost reduction in immunoglobulin maintenance programmes.

Azithromycin as an adjunct to subgingival professional mechanical plaque removal in the treatment of grade C periodontitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate clinical and microbiological outcomes with the use of azithromycin as an adjunct to non-surgical subgingival professional mechanical plaque removal (PMPR) in the treatment of grade C periodontitis. Online database searches using high-level MeSH terms in a PICO structure were conducted along with hand-searching of relevant periodontal journals. Titles and abstracts of identified studies were independently reviewed by both authors and the full texts of studies meeting the inclusion criteria were independently reviewed.

Does replacement of missing dental units with resin-retained bridges improve oral health-related quality of life?: A systematic review.

Objectives: To assess the current literature in regard to two research questions: METHODS: Systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement (PRISMA) statement.

Data/sources: MEDLINE via Ovid, Scopus, PsycINFO via Ovid, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and clinicaltrials.gov were searched (Jan 1980 to Nov 2018) using high-level MeSH terms for studies published in English, investigating OHRQoL, using valid indices.

A new clinical complexity model for the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups.

Background: The Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (AR-DRG) underwent a major review in 2014 with changes implemented in Version 8.0 of the classification. The core to the changes was the development of a new methodology to estimate the Diagnosis Complexity Level (DCL) and to aggregate the complexity level of individual diagnoses to the complexity of an entire episode, resulting in an Episode Clinical Complexity Score (ECCS).

Safety of direct drug provocation testing in adults with penicillin allergy and association with health and economic benefits.

Background: Nonprescription of penicillin-containing antibiotics in patients diagnosed with penicillin allergy is associated with morbidity and mortality. Adverse reactions to penicillins comprise type A and B reactions.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of penicillin allergy evaluation without penicillin skin testing (PST) for adult patients with type B reactions and the health and economic benefits of this process.

Attitudes of health professionals to using routinely collected clinical data for performance feedback and personalised professional development.

Objectives: To learn the attitudes of health professionals, health informaticians and information communication technology professionals to using data in electronic health records (eHRs) for performance feedback and professional development.

Design: Qualitative research in a co-design framework. Health professionals' perceptions of the accessibility of data in eHRs, and barriers to and enablers of using these data in performance feedback and professional development were explored in co-design workshops.

Health information is central to changes in healthcare: A clinician's view.

Changes in healthcare, such as integrated care, the use of big data, electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine, decision support systems and consumer empowerment, are impacting on the management of health information. Integrated care requires linked data; activity-based funding requires valid coding; EHRs require standards for documentation, retrieval and analysis; and decision support systems require standardised nomenclatures. The ethical oversight of how health-related information is used, as opposed to governance of its content, storage and communication, remains ill-defined.

Mechanical Complications Associated with Angled Screw Channel Restorations.

The aim of this study was to identify mechanical complications associated with Nobel Biocare's angled screw channel (ASC) restorations following provision of the definitive crown. All ASC restorations provided between 1 January 2014 and 19 January 2016 were identified. Patients' clinical records were reviewed for demographic details, implant characteristics, occlusal considerations, and complications.

Relationship between intragastric acid control and healing status in the treatment of moderate to severe erosive oesophagitis.

Aim: To assess the relationship between the percentage of time intragastric pH >4.0 and healing of erosive oesophagitis.

Methods: In this proof-of-concept study, adults with endoscopically verified Los Angeles grade C or grade D erosive oesophagitis were randomly assigned to oral esomeprazole 10 or 40 mg once daily for 4 weeks.

Transforming growth factor-beta(1) modifies fibroblast growth factor-2 production in type II cells.

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta(1) is an inflammatory cytokine that plays multiple roles in pulmonary fibrosis. In vascular epithelium, it has been shown to regulate production and activity of fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2, a potent type II cell mitogen in the lung. Such a relationship could have important consequences in prefibrotic change in the lung alveolus, where reepithelialization of alveolar surfaces is crucial.

TGF-beta1 and fibroblast growth factor-1 modify fibroblast growth factor-2 production in type II cells.

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2, which stimulates DNA synthesis by type II cells in the lung, has been shown to be regulated by transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1, an important inflammatory cytokine, in vascular epithelium. The goal of this study was to determine if FGF-2 production by alveolar type II cells is modulated by TGF-beta1 or FGF-1, which also stimulates DNA synthesis by type II cells. Isolated rat type II cells were exposed to 0-40 ng/ml of TGF-beta1 or 0-500 ng/ml of FGF-1 in serum-free medium for 1-5 days.

Effects of deregulated Raf activation on integrin, cytokine-receptor expression and the induction of apoptosis in hematopoietic cells.

The effects of deregulated Raf activation on the growth and differentiation of hematopoietic cells were investigated. The cytokine-dependent murine myeloid FDC-P1 and human erythroleukemic TF-1 cell lines were transformed to grow in response to deregulated Raf expression in the absence of exogenous cytokines. The conditionally active Raf proteins were regulated by beta-estradiol as cDNAs containing the Raf catalytic, but lacking negative-regulatory domains, were ligated to the hormone binding domain of the estrogen receptor (deltaRaf:ER).

Synergy between Raf and BCL2 in abrogating the cytokine dependency of hematopoietic cells.

The Raf oncoprotein plays critical roles in the transmission of mitogenic signals from cytokine receptors to the nucleus. There are three Raf family members: A-Raf, B-Raf and Raf-1. Conditionally active forms of the Raf proteins were created by ligating N-terminal truncated activated forms to the estrogen-receptor (ER) hormone-binding domain resulting in beta-estradiol-inducible constructs.

Differential abilities of the Raf family of protein kinases to abrogate cytokine dependency and prevent apoptosis in murine hematopoietic cells by a MEK1-dependent mechanism.

In this study, the abilities of constitutive and conditional forms of the three Raf kinases to abrogate the cytokine dependency of FDC-P1 cells were examined. The constitutively active forms (delta) of all three Raf kinases were fused to the hormone-binding domain of the estrogen receptor (ER), rendering their activities conditionally dependent upon exogenous beta-estradiol. The vast majority of deltaRaf:ER-infected FDC-P1 cells remained cytokine-dependent; however, cells were obtained at low frequency in which expression of deltaRaf:ER abrogated cytokine dependency.

Signal transduction, cell cycle regulatory, and anti-apoptotic pathways regulated by IL-3 in hematopoietic cells: possible sites for intervention with anti-neoplastic drugs.

Over the past decade, there has been an exponential increase in our knowledge of how cytokines regulate signal transduction, cell cycle progression, differentiation and apoptosis. Research has focused on different biochemical and genetic aspects of these processes. Initially, cytokines were identified by clonogenic assays and purified by biochemical techniques.

Differential abilities of activated Raf oncoproteins to abrogate cytokine dependency, prevent apoptosis and induce autocrine growth factor synthesis in human hematopoietic cells.

Raf is a key serine-threonine protein kinase which participates in the transmission of growth, anti-apoptotic and differentiation messages. These signals can be initiated after receptor ligation and are transmitted to members of the MAP kinase cascade that subsequently activate transcription factors controlling gene expression. Raf is a member of a multigene family which includes: Raf-1, A-Raf and B-Raf.

Characterization of proteins binding the 3' regulatory region of the IL-3 gene in IL-3-dependent and autocrine-transformed hematopoietic cells.

Previously we documented the prolongation of the IL-3 mRNA half-life in an autocrine-transformed cell line. This cell line has an intracisternal type A particle transposition in the IL-3 mRNA 3' untranslated region which displaced four out of six AUUUA motifs involved in IL-3 mRNA destabilization. In this study, the proteins binding to the IL-3 mRNA AU-rich elements (ARE) were examined.

Autocrine transformation of human hematopoietic cells after transfection with an activated granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor gene.

The effects of constitutive cytokine gene expression on the growth-factor-dependence of the human erythroleukemic TF-1 cell line have been determined. TF-1 cells normally require the presence of exogenous cytokines to proliferate in vitro. TF-1 cells were transfected with constructs containing either the germline granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene or the GM-CSF gene linked to the Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV) long terminal repeat.

Oncogenic effects of overexpression of the interleukin-3 receptor on hematopoietic cells.

To elucidate the relationship between malignant transformation and cytokine receptor expression, the interleukin-3 receptor (IL-3R) complex was examined in an IL-3-dependent parental line and cells transformed by cytokines and oncogenes. In IL-3-dependent cells grown in medium containing optimum amounts of IL-3, the IL-3R complex was detected at low levels indicating that the receptor was down-regulated in response to IL-3. However, upon depletion of IL-3, IL-3R levels increased documenting that its expression correlated inversely with the concentration of IL-3 provided.

Synergy between AUUUA motif disruption and enhancer insertion results in autocrine transformation of interleukin-3-dependent hematopoietic cells.

Previously, we characterized the transposition of an intracisternal type A particle (IAP) to the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the interleukin-3 (IL-3) gene, which displaced two of the six AUUUA motifs associated with mRNA stability in an IL-3-secreting clone. To determine whether this rearrangement was involved in the autocrine transformation of the parental IL-3-dependent FL5.12 cell line, the germline (gIL-3) and rearranged IL-3 (rIL-3) genes were isolated and subcloned into a gene transfer vector.

Autocrine growth-factor secretion after transformation of human cytokine-dependent cells by viral and cellular oncogenes.

The effects of viral and cellular oncogenes on a human erythroleukemic cell line (TF-1) were investigated. The TF-1 cell line required granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for growth but this factor-dependency was abrogated by the constitutive expression of either viral (v-fms, v-Ha-ras and v-src) or cellular oncogenes (BCR-ABL and Delta N-raf). Furthermore the overexpression of the human insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) receptor could substitute the dependency on GM-CSF with a requirement for either IGF-1 or insulin as a proliferative signal.