Publications by authors named "S. Bermingham"

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  • Interest in how plant-based diets affect the gut microbiome is increasing, but there's limited research on how different diet patterns (omnivore, vegetarian, vegan) impact microbiome profiles across various populations.
  • A study involving over 21,000 individuals found that gut microbiome profiles can effectively differentiate between these diet patterns, with a mean accuracy of 85%.
  • Key findings show that omnivore microbiomes are heavily influenced by red meat consumption, which is linked to negative health markers, while vegan microbiomes are associated with healthier outcomes and overlap with specific food and soil microbes.
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  • Under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), parents of children with disabilities can choose to self-manage their funding, offering flexibility but also creating significant administrative challenges.
  • This study explores the experiences of 16 parents who self-manage their children's NDIS funding, uncovering themes of empowerment, the challenges of time and responsibility, and the benefits of professional and community support.
  • Despite the overwhelming nature of self-management, parents expressed that it provides vital control and choice, ultimately enhancing their ability to support their children effectively.
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Although diet is a substantial determinant of the human gut microbiome, the interplay between specific foods and microbial community structure remains poorly understood. Coffee is a habitually consumed beverage with established metabolic and health benefits. We previously found that coffee is, among >150 items, the food showing the highest correlation with microbiome components.

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Located in Brisbane's Northshore riverfront precinct, just meters from the iconic Brisbane River, is the new Vaxxas Biomedical Facility. Dr Imogen Bermingham is a Principal Scientist in the Formulation and Analytical Team at Vaxxas, an Australian biotech company focused on developing a needle-free vaccination technology. Here, we discuss her work at Vaxxas, highlighting the opportunities for translational research within the growing biotech industry landscape in Queensland, Australia.

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Background: Vitamin A is essential for physiological processes like vision and immunity. Vitamin A's effect on gut microbiome composition, which affects absorption and metabolism of other vitamins, is still unknown. Here we examined the relationship between gut metagenome composition and six vitamin A-related metabolites (two retinoid: -retinol, 4 oxoretinoic acid (oxoRA) and four carotenoid metabolites, including beta-cryptoxanthin and three carotene diols).

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Diet impacts human health, influencing body adiposity and the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases. The gut microbiome is a key player in the diet-health axis, but while its bacterial fraction is widely studied, the role of micro-eukaryotes, including Blastocystis, is underexplored. We performed a global-scale analysis on 56,989 metagenomes and showed that human Blastocystis exhibits distinct prevalence patterns linked to geography, lifestyle, and dietary habits.

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A modified development protocol and concomitant characterisation of a first generation biosensor for the detection of brain extracellular d-serine is reported. Functional parameters important for neurochemical monitoring, including sensor sensitivity, O interference, selectivity, shelf-life and biocompatibility were examined. Construction and development involved the enzyme d-amino acid oxidase (DAAO), utilising a dip-coating immobilisation method employing a new extended drying approach.

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  • Large variability exists in how people respond to foods, prompting a study comparing a personalized dietary program (PDP) to standard dietary advice on health outcomes.
  • The PDP tailored food choices based on individual health data, while the control group received general dietary guidelines.
  • Results showed the PDP led to significant reductions in triglycerides and improvements in various secondary health markers, with no serious adverse events reported, suggesting personalized diets may benefit cardiometabolic health.
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The interplay between diet and fecal microbiota composition is garnering increased interest across various host species, including domestic dogs. While the influence of dietary macronutrients and their associated microbial communities have been extensively reviewed, these reviews are descriptive and do not account for differences in microbial community analysis, nor do they standardize macronutrient content across studies. To address this, a meta-analysis was performed to assess the impact of dietary crude protein ("protein") and dietary crude fat ("fat") on the fecal microbiota composition in healthy dogs.

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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality and disability globally. We examined healthcare service utilization and costs attributable to CVD in Ireland in the period before the introduction of a major healthcare reform in 2016.

Methods: Secondary analysis of data from 8113 participants of the first wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

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Medications play an essential role in the management of patients who have experienced a stroke. Despite the recognised importance and widespread availability of secondary prevention guidelines, Irish research has shown a continuous failure to meet secondary prevention targets upon discharge. While complex interventions involving healthcare professionals (HCPs) such as Speech and Language Therapists (SLT), Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Pharmacists have been effective in combatting medication non-adherence, community multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are not as well defined as in the acute setting, leading to wide variation in patient care.

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Background: Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) provide high-frequency information regarding daily glucose variation and are recognised as effective for improving glycaemic control in individuals living with diabetes. Despite increased use in individuals with non-diabetic blood glucose concentrations (euglycemia), their utility as a health tool in this population remains unclear.

Objectives: To characterise variation in time in range (TIR) and glycaemic variability in large populations without diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance; describe associations between CGM-derived glycaemic metrics and metabolic and cardiometabolic health traits; identify key diet and lifestyle factors associated with TIR and glycaemic variability.

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Background: The number and complexity of patients being admitted to hospitals is rising and some patients may not receive a full clinical pharmacy review or be reviewed as regularly as needed during their inpatient stay. This is a risk factor for medication errors. Clinical prioritisation identifies patients who are high-risk and most in need of a pharmacist review, targeting finite pharmacy resources to patients who will benefit the most.

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  • Snacking is a significant part of daily energy consumption and influences diet quality, but its impact on cardiometabolic health is not well understood.
  • A study with 1002 participants assessed various health markers and snacking habits, finding that while most participants snacked frequently, neither the amount nor the frequency of snacking correlated with cardiometabolic risks.
  • However, lower snack quality was linked to unfavorable blood markers and increased hunger, highlighting the importance of snack quality over quantity and the potential effects of late-night snacking.
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Purpose: In this study, we explore the relationship between social jetlag (SJL), a parameter of circadian misalignment, and gut microbial composition, diet and cardiometabolic health in the ZOE PREDICT 1 cohort (NCT03479866).

Methods: We assessed demographic, diet, cardiometabolic, stool metagenomics and postprandial metabolic measures (n = 1002). We used self-reported habitual sleep (n = 934) to calculate SJL (difference in mid-sleep time point of ≥ 1.

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Introduction: The heterogeneity of the immunocompromised population means some individuals may exhibit variable, weak or reduced vaccine-induced immune responses, leaving them poorly protected from COVID-19 disease despite receiving multiple SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. There is conflicting data on the immunogenicity elicited by multiple vaccinations in immunocompromised groups. The aim of this study was to measure both humoral and cellular vaccine-induced immunity in several immunocompromised cohorts and to compare them to immunocompetent controls.

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Background: Postprandial metabolomic profiles and their inter-individual variability are not well characterised. Here, we describe postprandial metabolite changes, their correlations with fasting values and their inter- and intra-individual variability, following a standardised meal in the ZOE PREDICT 1 cohort.

Methods: In the ZOE PREDICT 1 study ( = 1002 (NCT03479866)), 250 metabolites, mainly lipids, were measured by a Nightingale NMR panel in fasting and postprandial (4 and 6 h after a 3.

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Several studies have reported associations between COVID-19 vaccination and risk of cardiac diseases, especially in young people; the impact on mortality, however, remains unclear. We use national, linked electronic health data in England to assess the impact of COVID-19 vaccination and positive SARS-CoV-2 tests on the risk of cardiac and all-cause mortality in young people (12 to 29 years) using a self-controlled case series design. Here, we show there is no significant increase in cardiac or all-cause mortality in the 12 weeks following COVID-19 vaccination compared to more than 12 weeks after any dose.

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The global polio eradication campaign has had remarkable success in reducing wild-type poliovirus infection, largely built upon the live attenuated Sabin oral poliovirus vaccine. Whilst rare, vaccine poliovirus strains may cause infection and subsequently revert to a neurovirulent type, termed vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV). Persistent, vaccine derived infection may occur in an immunocompromised host (iVDPV), where it is a recognised complication following receipt of the Sabin vaccine.

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As a representative of the biodegradable iron (Fe)-manganese (Mn) alloys, Fe35Mn has been investigated as a promising biodegradable metal biomaterial for orthopedic applications. However, its slow degradation rate, though better than pure Fe, and poor bioactivity are concerns that retard its clinical applications. Akermanite (CaMgSiO, Ake) is a silicate-based bioceramic, showing desirable degradability and bioactivity for bone repair.

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Cystic teratomas are a common ovarian neoplasm that are rarely found in other locations of the body, namely the sacrococcygeal region and anterior mediastinum. Localization to the urinary bladder is exceedingly rare, with only a few cases documented in the literature. Cystic teratomas are usually asymptomatic and found incidentally, but localization to the bladder can present as irritative lower urinary tract symptoms and/or mimic urinary tract calculi.

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Endurance training in fasted conditions (FAST) induces favorable skeletal muscle metabolic adaptations compared with carbohydrate feeding (CHO), manifesting in improved exercise performance over time. Sprint interval training (SIT) is a potent metabolic stimulus, however nutritional strategies to optimize adaptations to SIT are poorly characterized. Here we investigated the efficacy of FAST versus CHO SIT (4-6 × 30-s Wingate sprints interspersed with 4-min rest) on muscle metabolic, serum metabolome and exercise performance adaptations in a double-blind parallel group design in recreationally active males.

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Postprandial insulinaemia, triglyceridaemia and measures of inflammation are thought to be more closely associated with cardiovascular risk than fasting measures. Although hypertension is associated with altered fasting metabolism, it is unknown as to what extent postprandial lipaemic and inflammatory metabolic responses differ between hypertensive and normotensive individuals. Linear models adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), visceral fat mass (VFM) and multiple testing (false discovery rate), were used to investigate whether hypertensive cases and normotensive controls had different fasting and postprandial (in response to two standardised test meal challenges) lipaemic, glycaemic, insulinaemic, and inflammatory (glycoprotein acetylation (GlycA)) responses in 989 participants from the ZOE PREDICT-1 nutritional intervention study.

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