Publications by authors named "Meers J"

Menstruating individuals experience an increased risk for sleep and affective disorders, attributed in part to monthly oscillations in sex hormones. Emotional functioning and sleep continuity worsens during the perimenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle. This study examined the interactive effects of sleep, menstrual phase, and emotion in healthy women.

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Herpesviruses have been detected in bat species from several countries, with a limited number of studies examining herpesviruses in Pteropus spp. (flying foxes) and no investigation of herpesviruses in Australian flying foxes. We examined the presence and prevalence of herpesviruses in the four mainland Australian flying fox species.

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Cleft palate syndrome, first observed in the spectacled flying fox population in 1998, has produced sporadic neonatal mortality events over the past two decades, with an estimated incidence of up to 1/1000 births per year. This study presents a rudimentary characterisation of the syndrome, presenting gross pathology of syndromic signs upon visual inspection, a histological examination of palate malformations, and syndrome incidence data representing the past two decades. The syndrome presents with a range of signs, primarily congenital palate malformations ranging from a pinhole cleft to a complete hard and soft palate deficit, resulting in the death or abandonment of neonates shortly after birth.

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Koala populations show marked differences in inbreeding levels and in the presence or absence of the endogenous Koala retrovirus (KoRV). These genetic differences among populations may lead to severe disease impacts threatening koala population viability. In addition, the recent colonization of the koala genome by KoRV provides a unique opportunity to study the process of retroviral adaptation to vertebrate genomes and the impact this has on speciation, genome structure, and function.

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This article substantially extends the existing constitutional and legal critiques of the use of soft law public health guidance in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon the findings of a national survey undertaken during the first wave of the pandemic in June 2020, it shows how the perceived legal status of lockdown rules made a significant difference as to whether the UK public complied with them and that this effect is a product of the legitimacy that law itself enjoys within UK society. Based on this analysis, it argues that the problems with the Government's approach to guidance, that have been subjected to criticism in constitutional and legal terms, may also be open to critique on the basis that they risk undermining the public's loyalty to the law itself.

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Koala retrovirus (KoRV) is unique amongst endogenous (inherited) retroviruses in that its incorporation to the host genome is still active, providing an opportunity to study what drives this fundamental process in vertebrate genome evolution. Animals in the southern part of the natural range of koalas were previously thought to be either virus-free or to have only exogenous variants of KoRV with low rates of KoRV-induced disease. In contrast, animals in the northern part of their range universally have both endogenous and exogenous KoRV with very high rates of KoRV-induced disease such as lymphoma.

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Purpose Of Review: This article will provide a brief review of most recent findings of sleep, insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome during pregnancy.

Recent Findings: Recent meta-analyses have found that 38.2% of pregnant women experience insomnia, 15% experience obstructive sleep apnea, and 20% experience restless leg syndrome.

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Whether subclinical shedding of canine parvovirus (CPV) by cats might contribute to the epidemiology of canine CPV infections, particularly in facilities housing both cats and dogs, requires clarification. Conflicting results are reported to date. Using conventional PCR (cPCR) to amplify the VP2 gene, shedding of the CPV variants (CPV-2a, 2b, 2c) by healthy cats in multi-cat environments was reportedly common in Europe but rare in Australia.

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Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus is endemic in Indonesia and Vietnam, where "moving" duck production is commonly practiced. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with transporters of "moving" duck flocks in Indonesia ( = 55) and Vietnam ( = 43). The main purpose of transportation was to transport duck flocks between rice paddies used for scavenging.

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Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), an important pig viral pathogen, can cause porcine circovirus-associated disease (PCVAD), resulting in economic losses associated with decreased growth and mortalities. The diagnosis of PCVAD is complex requiring clinical, pathological and virological approaches. This study assessed PCV2 infection using histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) on tissue samples and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on serum samples from 47 grower-finisher pigs allocated in three clinical groups in the Philippines.

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Insomnia is a clinical disorder characterized as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early. To meet diagnostic criteria for an insomnia disorder, these difficulties must be present for a minimum of 3 months and cause significant daytime impairment. Insomnia is common in women transitioning through menopause and frequently continues in the years after menopause.

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Fellowship training in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology (ACTA) is a one-year postgraduate experience with formal accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. ACTA is a competitive and evolving subspeciality. With expanding knowledge, clinical roles and technical skills required of the modern cardiothoracic anesthesiologists, the optimal structure and duration of the fellowship training are worth considering.

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Objective: Pleurisy in pigs has economic impacts in the production stage and at slaughter. This study sought to establish if some micro-organisms can be found in high numbers in lungs with pleurisy by assessing batches of pigs at an abattoir in Queensland Australia.

Design: Samples of lung (including trachea/bronchus and lymph nodes) from a maximum of 5 pleurisy affected pigs were collected from 46 batches of pigs representing 46 Queensland farms.

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We describe an elderly male patient with two MitraClip devices, one fixed and the other detached, in whom live/real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (3DTEE) provided incremental value and additional information compared to two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (2DTEE). 3DTEE offered the ability to comprehensively assess the mitral valve (MV) utilizing full volume and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) modes. 3DTEE proved useful in assessing the position of the properly attached and the partially detached MitraClip, including assessment of orifice size and degree of mitral regurgitation (MR).

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A patient with heart failure due to nonischemic cardiomyopathy presented as a transfer to our institution following peripheral (femoral) venoarterial (VA) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) placement. With peripheral VA ECMO cannulation, the patient continued to have unstable ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Echocardiography demonstrated left ventricular (LV) dilation and severe mitral regurgitation (MR) with clinical and chest X-ray evidence of pulmonary edema.

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Glaesserella parasuis consists of 15 serovars with some of them highly virulent and some of them avirulent. As killed vaccines do not provide crossprotection across serovars, serotyping is of importance. Serotyping, previously done by gel diffusion, is now done by multiplex PCR followed by electrophoresis.

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Respiratory disease is one of the major causes of losses to the pig industry worldwide. The pig subsector is the largest component of the livestock sector in the Philippines. Using lung scoring, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of thoracic lesions in slaughter-age pigs in two provinces in the Philippines (Batangas and Albay) and define classes for respiratory health of pigs characterised by different patterns of thoracic lesions.

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Background And Objectives: E-cigarette use is associated with concurrent use of combustible cigarettes among adults and may increase the risk of future combustible cigarette use in adolescents and young adults. Detrimental effects of combustible cigarette use on sleep health are well documented, but little is known about the additive effects of concurrent e-cigarette use. The current study examined the main and interactive effects of daily nicotine product frequency on various components of sleep health.

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Study Objectives: To evaluate the association of preoperative sleep pattern with posthysterectomy pain perception and satisfaction with surgery.

Methods: This pilot study included women undergoing minimally invasive hysterectomy for benign conditions. Sleep quality, insomnia severity, and insomnia risk were assessed pre- and postoperatively via standard questionnaires.

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