Fas gene dosage tunes the extent of lymphoproliferation and T cell differentiation in lupus.

Sle1 and Fas are two lupus susceptibility loci that lead to manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus. To evaluate the dosage effects of Fas in determining cellular and serological phenotypes associated with lupus, we developed a new C57BL/6 (B6) congenic lupus strain, B6.Sle1/Sle1.

Patterns of contraceptive use through later reproductive years: A cohort study of Australian women with chronic disease.

Background: Pregnancies among women with chronic disease are associated with poor maternal and fetal outcomes. There is a need to understand how women use or don't use contraception across their reproductive years to better inform the development of preconception care strategies to reduce high risk unintended pregnancies, including among women of older reproductive age. However, there is a lack of high-quality longitudinal evidence to inform such strategies.

Impact of medication reviews on potentially inappropriate medications and associated costs among older women in aged care.

Background: The Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) service is a large investment by the Australian government and involves considerable time commitment.

Objectives: This study determined the impact of RMMRs on the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), benzodiazepines and antidepressants, described patterns of PIM use, and examined costs.

Methods: The study included 5576 participants from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health from 2005 to 2017.

Patterns of contraceptive use among young Australian women with chronic disease: findings from a prospective cohort study.

Background: Given chronic disease is increasing among young women and unintended pregnancies among these women are associated with poor maternal and fetal outcomes, these women would benefit from effective preconception care. However, there is a lack of understanding of how these women use or don't use contraception to inform such interventions. This study examined patterns of contraceptive use among an Australian cohort of young women and investigated the influence of chronic disease on contraceptive use over time.

Increases in use of Medicare Benefits Schedule mental health items among women who gave birth in New South Wales, 2009-2015.

Objective: To report rates of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) mental health item use among a sample of women who gave birth in NSW (2009-2015) and examine if the SAFE START policy increased use of these items among perinatal women.

Methods: Data was drawn from women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health 1973-1978 cohort, linked to data from the NSW Perinatal Data Collection and MBS.

Results: Use of Medicare-subsidised mental health items increased 2.

The association between birth weight and proxy-reported health-related quality of life among children aged 5 - 10 years old: A linked data analysis.

Background: Birth weight has a substantial effect on children's cognitive development, physical capability, and emotional development, which in turn impact on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Generally, evidence indicates that children born with low birth weight tend to have poorer proxy-reported HRQoL, particularly at school age. However, there is limited evidence on whether variation in HRQoL exists across the entire range of possible birth weights.

Decreased in-hospital mortality rate following implementation of a comprehensive electronic medical record system.

Aim: To evaluate changes in in-hospital mortality rate following implementation of a comprehensive electronic medical record (EMR) system.

Methods: Before and after study of 355,709 hospital discharges, over an 8-year period, at a paediatric teaching hospital. The major outcome measures were crude number of in-hospital deaths, deaths per 1000 discharges, and standardised mortality ratio.

Home Medicines Review and frailty among community-dwelling older women.

Objectives: Home Medicines Reviews (HMRs) can optimize medications for frail older adults. This study aimed to determine the use of HMRs according to frailty status and the association between frailty and use of HMRs.

Methods: The study included 9139 female participants enrolled in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health from 2003 (aged 77-82 years) to 2017 (aged 91-96 years).

Increased chronic disease prevalence among the younger generation: Findings from a population-based data linkage study to inform chronic disease ascertainment among reproductive-aged Australian women.

Background: Chronic disease represents an ongoing public health challenge in Australia with women disproportionately affected and at younger ages compared to men. Accurate prevalence and ascertainment of chronic disease among women of reproductive age at the population level is essential for meeting the family planning and reproductive health challenges that chronic diseases pose. This study estimated the prevalence of chronic disease among younger Australian women of reproductive age, in order to ascertain key conditions that would benefit from targeted family planning support strategies.

Contraceptive use among women through their later reproductive years: Findings from an Australian prospective cohort study.

Objective: Examine patterns of contraceptive use and contraceptive transitions over time among an Australian cohort of women through their later reproductive years.

Study Design: Latent Transition Analysis was performed using data on 8,197 women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health's 1973-78 cohort to identify distinct patterns of contraceptive use across 2006, 2012 and 2018. Women were excluded from the analysis at time points where they were not at risk of an unintended pregnancy.

The Association between the Five-Minute Apgar Score and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes among Children Aged 8-66 Months in Australia.

This study aimed to evaluate the association of the five-minute Apgar score and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children by taking the entire range of Apgar scores into account. Data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (ALSWH) and Mothers and their Children's Health (MatCH) study were linked with Australian state-based Perinatal Data Collections (PDCs) for 809 children aged 8-66 months old. Generalized estimating equations were used to model the association between the five-minute Apgar scores and neurodevelopmental outcomes, using STATA software V.

Residential Medication Management Reviews and continuous polypharmacy among older Australian women.

Background Polypharmacy is an important consideration for the provision of Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMRs) among older women given their enhanced risk of medication-related problems and admission to residential aged care (RAC). Objectives To determine the prevalence of the use of RMMRs among older women in RAC, and the association between RMMRs and polypharmacy, medications, and costs. Setting Older Australian women aged 79-84 years in 2005 who had at least one Medicare Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme record, received a service in aged care, and consented to data linkage.

Prevalence and association of continuous polypharmacy and frailty among older women: A longitudinal analysis over 15 years.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of continuous polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy, determine medications that contribute to continuous polypharmacy, and examine the association between frailty and continuous polypharmacy.

Study Design: A prospective study using data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Women aged 77-82 years in 2003, and 91-96 years in 2017 were analysed, linking the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data to participants' survey data.

Determinants of neonatal near miss in Australia: A multilevel analysis.

Background: Neonatal Near Miss (NNM) is a situation where a newborn narrowly survived the neonatal period. It has been hypothesized that identifying factors that contribute to the occurrence of NNM and taking timely interventions could enhance the quality of newborn care. However, there is limited evidence in Australia.

Integrating genome-wide CRISPR immune screen with multi-omic clinical data reveals distinct classes of tumor intrinsic immune regulators.

Background: Despite approval of immunotherapy for a wide range of cancers, the majority of patients fail to respond to immunotherapy or relapse following initial response. These failures may be attributed to immunosuppressive mechanisms co-opted by tumor cells. However, it is challenging to use conventional methods to systematically evaluate the potential of tumor intrinsic factors to act as immune regulators in patients with cancer.

Frailty and potentially inappropriate medications using the 2019 Beers Criteria: findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH).

Background: Frailty is an essential consideration with potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), especially among older women.

Aims: This study determined the use of potentially inappropriate medications according to frailty status using the Beers Criteria 2019, identified medications that should be flagged as potentially inappropriate and harmful depending on individual health factors, and determined the association between frailty and PIMs, adjusted for characteristics associated with PIMs.

Methods: This prospective longitudinal study included 9355 participants aged 77-82 years at baseline (2003).

A comparison of exosome purification methods using serum of Marek's disease virus (MDV)-vaccinated and -tumor-bearing chickens.

Marek's disease (MD) is an alphaherpesvirus (Marek's disease virus, MDV)-induced pathology of chickens associated with paralysis, immunosuppression, neurological signs, and T-cell lymphomas. MD is controlled in poultry production via live attenuated vaccines. The purpose of the current study was to compare methods for precipitating exosomes from vaccinated and protected chicken sera (VEX) and tumor-bearing chicken sera (TEX) for biomarker analysis of vaccine-induced protection and MD lymphomas respectively.

Common combinations of medications used among oldest-old women: a population-based study over 15 years.

Background: Older people use many medications, but combinations of medications used among the oldest old (≥ 80 years) are not commonly reported.

Aims: This study aimed to determine common combinations of medications used among women aged 77-96 years and to describe characteristics associated with these combinations.

Methods: A cohort study of older women enroled in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health over a 15-year period was used to determine combinations of medications using latent class analysis.

Comparison of exosomes purified via ultracentrifugation (UC) and Total Exosome Isolation (TEI) reagent from the serum of Marek's disease virus (MDV)-vaccinated and tumor-bearing chickens.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) is a collective term used to refer microparticles, exosomes, and apoptotic bodies produced by a variety of cells and released into interstitial spaces and bodily fluids. Serum exosomes can serve as invaluable biomarkers, containing m/miRNAs, lipids, and proteins, indicative of various conditions. There are currently limited studies on the characterization and mutual consensus of biomarker profiles of serum exosomes purified by different methods.

Vaccine Effects on Heterogeneity in Susceptibility and Implications for Population Health Management.

Heterogeneity in host susceptibility is a key determinant of infectious disease dynamics but is rarely accounted for in assessment of disease control measures. Understanding how susceptibility is distributed in populations, and how control measures change this distribution, is integral to predicting the course of epidemics with and without interventions. Using multiple experimental and modeling approaches, we show that rainbow trout have relatively homogeneous susceptibility to infection with infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus and that vaccination increases heterogeneity in susceptibility in a nearly all-or-nothing fashion.

VirF-independent regulation of Shigella virB transcription is mediated by the small RNA RyhB.

Infection of the human host by Shigella species requires the coordinated production of specific Shigella virulence factors, a process mediated largely by the VirF/VirB regulatory cascade. VirF promotes the transcription of virB, a gene encoding the transcriptional activator of several virulence-associated genes. This study reveals that transcription of virB is also regulated by the small RNA RyhB, and importantly, that this regulation is not achieved indirectly via modulation of VirF activity.

The iron-responsive Fur/RyhB regulatory cascade modulates the Shigella outer membrane protease IcsP.

Actin-based motility is central to the pathogenicity of the intracellular bacterial pathogen Shigella. Two Shigella outer membrane proteins, IcsA and IcsP, are required for efficient actin-based motility in the host cell cytoplasm, and the genes encoding both proteins are carried on the large virulence plasmid. IcsA triggers actin polymerization on the surface of the bacterium, leading to the formation of an actin tail that allows both intra- and intercellular spread.