Objective: To investigate the association between plasma omega-3 levels and incident heart failure (HF) and to examine their relationship with total and cardiovascular (CV) mortality among patients with preexisting HF.
Patients And Methods: The UK Biobank is an ongoing prospective cohort study of individuals recruited in the United Kingdom between April 1, 2007, and December 31. 2010.
Background: Gay and bisexual men (GBM) remain overrepresented among syphilis diagnoses in Australia and globally. The extent to which changes in sexual networks associated with HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and treatment as prevention (TasP) may have influenced syphilis transmission among GBM at the population-level is poorly understood. We describe trends in syphilis testing and incidence among GBM in Australia over eleven years spanning widespread uptake of HIV PrEP and TasP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To estimate notification rates for infectious syphilis in women of reproductive age and congenital syphilis in Australia.
Study Design: Retrospective cohort study; analysis of national infectious syphilis and enhanced congenital syphilis surveillance data.
Setting, Participants: Women aged 15-44 years diagnosed with infectious syphilis, and babies with congenital syphilis, Australia, 2011-2021.
Recent studies have provided evidence for the effectiveness of using doxycycline (Doxy-PEP) to prevent bacterial sexually transmissible infections (STI), namely chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and syphilis, among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men who have experienced multiple STIs. However, there remain several unanswered questions around potential adverse outcomes from Doxy-PEP, including the possibility of inducing antimicrobial resistance in STIs and other organisms, and the possibility of disrupting the microbiome of people who choose to use Doxy-PEP. This interim position statement from the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine aims to outline the current evidence for Doxy-PEP, and to highlight potential adverse outcomes, to enable clinicians to conduct evidence-based conversations with patients in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand who intend to use Doxy-PEP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 'Australian Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Management Guidelines For Use In Primary Care' (www.sti.guidelines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Most human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconversions in people who have initiated preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) occur in the context of insufficient adherence. We describe participants who seroconverted after being dispensed PrEP in a large PrEP implementation study in Australia.
Methods: Expanded PrEP Implementation in Communities in New South Wales was an implementation study of daily oral PrEP in individuals aged ≥18 years at high risk for acquiring HIV.
Prospective memory (PM) involves remembering to carry out intended actions in the future (e.g., posting a letter on the way to school or passing on a message) and is important for children's independent functioning in daily life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe continuing emergence of antibacterial resistance reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics and drives an ongoing search for effective replacements. Screening compound libraries for antibacterial activity in standard growth media has been extensively explored and may be showing diminishing returns. Inhibition of bacterial targets that are selectively important under in vivo (infection) conditions and, therefore, would be missed by conventional in vitro screens might be an alternative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is effective in preventing HIV, but few long-term data are available on effectiveness and adherence in real-world settings. Here, we report trends in HIV incidence over 3 years in individuals at high risk who were prescribed PrEP in New South Wales (NSW), as well as adherence before the transition to subsidised PrEP.
Methods: Expanded PrEP Implementation in Communities-New South Wales (EPIC-NSW) was a pragmatic, prospective, single-arm, implementation study of daily, oral PrEP in 31 sites (sexual health clinics, general practices, and a hospital) in NSW, Australia.
Unlabelled: Background Surveillance data indicate that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are more likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to experience sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and teenage pregnancy. Despite increasing emphasis on the need for strengths-based approaches to Aboriginal sexual health, limited published data document how young Aboriginal people reduce sexual health risks encountered in their everyday lives.
Methods: In-depth interviews with 35 young Aboriginal women and men aged 16-21 years in two remote Australian settings were conducted; inductive thematic analysis examining sexual health risk reduction practices was also conducted.
Outreach services providing sexually transmissible infection (STI) testing on-site in brothels were introduced in 2012 by Pacific Clinic Newcastle, Australia. Asian female sex workers (FSW) were more likely than non-culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) FSW to access testing via outreach services than in clinics (OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Australian surveillance data document higher rates of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) among young Aboriginal people (15-29 years) in remote settings than non-Aboriginal young people. Epidemiological data indicate a substantial number of young Aboriginal people do not test for STIs. Rigorous qualitative research can enhance understanding of these findings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Psychol Behav Med
January 2020
to examine healthcare professionals' (HP) perceptions and experiences in relation to adherence to prophylactic treatment among young people living with haemophilia (YPH). All HPs in four haemophilia centres across England and Wales were invited to participate, and all HPs who agreed to take part ( = 6) were interviewed. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and then analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe popularization of biobanks provides an unprecedented amount of genetic and phenotypic information that can be used to research the relationship between genetics and human health. Despite the opportunities these datasets provide, they also pose many problems associated with computational time and costs, data size and transfer, and privacy and security. The publishing of summary statistics from these biobanks, and the use of them in a variety of downstream statistical analyses, alleviates many of these logistical problems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Remote Australian Aboriginal communities have among the highest diagnosed rates of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) in the world. We did a trial to assess whether continuous improvement strategies related to sexual health could reduce infection rates.
Methods: In this stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised trial (STIs in remote communities: improved and enhanced primary health care [STRIVE]), we recruited primary health-care centres serving Aboriginal communities in remote areas of Australia.
Rhizomes facilitate the wintering and vegetative propagation of many perennial grasses. (johnsongrass) is an aggressive perennial grass that relies on a robust rhizome system to persist through winters and reproduce asexually from its rootstock nodes. This study aimed to sequence and assemble expressed transcripts within the johnsongrass rhizome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To examine barriers and facilitators to sustaining a sexual health continuous quality improvement (CQI) programme in clinics serving remote Aboriginal communities in Australia.
Design: Qualitative study.
Setting: Primary health care services serving remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Introduction: Congenital syphilis (CS) remains a condition of serious clinical and public health importance, particularly in the Aboriginal populations of northern Australia, which have seen a recent resurgence in cases. In 2005, the Northern Territory (NT) Centre for Disease Control (CDC) published guidelines for management of infants at risk of CS. We audited the management and outcomes of infants at risk of CS who were born between 2005 and 2013 in the Darwin and Katherine regions of the NT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdequate adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is critical to prevent HIV infection, but accurately measuring adherence remains challenging. We compared two biological [blood drug concentrations in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)] and two self-reported measures (facilitated recall to clinicians and self-report in online surveys) and identified predictors of daily PrEP adherence among gay and bisexual men (GBM) in their first 12 months on PRELUDE, an open-label, single-arm PrEP demonstration project in New South Wales, Australia. 327 participants were enrolled; 263 GBM attended their 12-month follow-up visit (81% retention).
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