Remodeling of Metastatic Vasculature Reduces Lung Colonization and Sensitizes Overt Metastases to Immunotherapy.

Due to limited current therapies, metastases are the primary cause of mortality in cancer patients. Here, we employ a fusion compound of the cytokine LIGHT and a vascular targeting peptide (LIGHT-VTP) that homes to angiogenic blood vessels in primary tumors. We show in primary mouse lung cancer that normalization of tumor vasculature by LIGHT-VTP prevents cancer cell intravasation.

Face to face, person to person: Skills and attributes deployed by rural mental health clinicians when engaging with consumers.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the skills and attributes deployed by rural mental health clinicians when engaging with consumers in the community mental health context.

Design: Reflecting the exploratory nature of this research, a semi-structured focus group was conducted.

Setting: One community mental health service in regional South Australia (catchment area = approximately 60 000 people).

Engaging consumers in the Australian emergency mental health context: a qualitative perspective from clinicians working in the community.

Successfully engaging with consumers is seen as an essential component of mental healthcare, yet doing so can be challenging and little is understood about the unique engagement skills and attributes employed by mental health clinicians working in the emergency community context. Consequently, this qualitative study explored the engagement experiences of clinicians to identify the attributes used when engaging with consumers in this unique setting. We conducted two semi-structured focus groups in July and August 2011 with 16 clinicians employed at one metropolitan mental health organisation in South Australia.

The utility of seroepidemiology for tracking trends in pertussis infection.

Comparing pertussis epidemiology over time and between countries is confounded by differences in diagnostic and notification practices. Standardized serological methods applied to population-based samples enhance comparability. Population prevalence of different levels of pertussis toxin IgG (PT IgG) antibody, measured by standardized methods, were compared by age group and region of Australia between 1997/1998 and 2002.

Population seroprevalence of human papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16, and 18 in men, women, and children in Australia.

Background: Representative population-based data on human papillomavirus (HPV) epidemiology are important for public health decision making but are difficult to obtain. Seroepidemiology is a valuable tool, although the relationship between HPV infection and seropositivity is incomplete.

Methods: We obtained a large representative sample using residual diagnostic test serum samples obtained from individuals aged 0-69 years (1247 samples from male patients and 1523 samples from female patients) in Australia.