Improving Deformable Image Registration Accuracy through a Hybrid Similarity Metric and CycleGAN Based Auto-Segmentation.

Purpose: Deformable image registration (DIR) plays a critical role in adaptive radiation therapy (ART) to accommodate anatomical changes. However, conventional intensity-based DIR methods face challenges when registering images with unequal image intensities. In these cases, DIR accuracy can be improved using a hybrid image similarity metric which matches both image intensities and the location of known structures.

Discussing Weight with Patients in Primary Care in Australia: A Mixed Methods Experimental Study.

Background: Weight bias is characterised by negative attitudes towards people with a higher weight and is widespread in healthcare. Primary care professionals sometimes avoid discussing weight with patients due to concerns about upsetting them, insufficient training, resources, or referral pathways. There is, however, a responsibility for primary care professionals to address the health needs of patients, which may require discussing weight.

Developing an educational resource for people experiencing eating disorders during the menopause transition: A qualitative co-design study.

Background: The pronounced changes in reproductive hormones, such as oestradiol and progesterone, that occur during the menopause transition can contribute to increased risk of eating disorder onset or exacerbate a pre-existing eating disorder. Despite this heightened risk, there is a lack of available education and support that takes into consideration the unique challenges of experiencing an eating disorder during the menopause transition. This research aimed to qualitatively explore the perspectives of people with a lived experience of an eating disorder during the menopause transition, and to co-design a support option that addressed their unmet needs.

Challenges in using data on fathers/partners to study prenatal exposures and offspring health.

Paternal exposures (and other non-maternal factors) around pregnancy could have important effects on offspring health. One challenge is that data on partners are usually from a subgroup of mothers with data, potentially introducing selection bias, limiting generalisability of findings. We aimed to investigate the potential for selection bias in studies using partner data.

Perceived clinician stigma and its impact on eating disorder treatment experiences: a systematic review of the lived experience literature.

Objective: This systematic review examines the literature regarding perceived clinician stigma and treatment experiences of adult patients with eating disorders, emphasising lived experience perspectives.

Method: A systematic search was conducted across MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [CENTRAL] to identify studies published from 1 January 2000 until 24 March 2024 that explored patient experiences of clinician attitudes and behaviours in eating disorder treatment. Eligible studies included those reporting on perceived clinician stigma and impacts on treatment outcomes.

A Preliminary Qualitative Analysis of women's Experiences With Vaginal Fractional CO Laser Treatments.

Background: Menopause involves a range of bodily changes, with impacts on physical and psychological well-being. Around half of the postmenopausal women experience genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). Fractional CO laser treatment can promote tissue regeneration in the vaginal wall to potentially assist with managing GSM.

Social media delivered mental health campaigns and public service announcements: A systematic literature review of public engagement and help-seeking behaviours.

Social media (SM) is increasingly utilised to disseminate mental health (MH) public service announcements (PSAs) and campaigns, connecting the public with support or resources. However, the effectiveness of MH campaigns/PSAs is often overlooked, and actions following exposure are rarely measured. We aimed to i) systematically review research on MH campaigns/PSAs disseminated via SM to determine their efficacy in eliciting engagement, help-seeking/behavioural change and ii) identify components that may facilitate engagement, help-seeking/behavioural change.

An operator-independent quality assurance system for automatically generated structure sets.

. This study describes geometry-based and intensity-based tools for quality assurance (QA) of automatically generated structures for online adaptive radiotherapy, and designs an operator-independent traffic light system that identifies erroneous structure sets.A cohort of eight head and neck (HN) patients with daily CBCTs was selected for test development.

Diffusion tensor transformation for personalizing target volumes in radiation therapy.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is used in tumor growth models to provide information on the infiltration pathways of tumor cells into the surrounding brain tissue. When a patient-specific DTI is not available, a template image such as a DTI atlas can be transformed to the patient anatomy using image registration. This study investigates a model, the invariance under coordinate transform (ICT), that transforms diffusion tensors from a template image to the patient image, based on the principle that the tumor growth process can be mapped, at any point in time, between the images using the same transformation function that we use to map the anatomy.

Symptoms of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder 6 weeks and 6 months after ICU: Six out of 10 survivors affected.

Background: Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are being increasingly recognised as common adverse outcomes for critical illness survivors. These conditions can have lasting consequences on their wellbeing, ability to return to their pre-illness level of functioning and health-related quality of life. There is a paucity of South African data in terms of the psychological aspects of the post-intensive care unit (ICU) syndrome.

A novel hypothesis-generating approach for detecting phenotypic associations using epigenetic data.

Hypotheses about what phenotypes to include in causal analyses, that in turn can have clinical and policy implications, can be guided by hypothesis-free approaches leveraging the epigenome, for example. Minimally adjusted epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) using ALSPAC data were performed for example conditions, dysmenorrhea and heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). Differentially methylated CpGs were searched in the EWAS Catalog and associated traits identified.

Integrating muscle fiber orientation from visible human data into radiotherapy target volumes.

A major challenge in treatment of tumors near skeletal muscle is defining the target volume for suspected tumor invasion into the muscle. This study develops a framework that generates radiation target volumes with muscle fiber orientation directly integrated into their definition. The framework is applied to nineteen sacral tumor patients with suspected infiltration into surrounding muscles.

The co-design and acceptability of a genital body image educational video for people with a penis.

Within body image research, genital body image has not received significant attention. This project aimed to explore how positive genital body image could be fostered among people with a penis by co-designing and developing an educational resource. Participants were 22 people in Australia who identified as having a penis and were involved in three phases of co-design focus groups.

Did She or Didn't She? Perceptions of Operative Status of Female Genitalia.

Background: Although extensive research has explored why women undergo labiaplasty, little attention has been paid to societal and professional abilities to distinguish between altered and unaltered labia, impacting both patient concerns and broader societal perceptions.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the general public and healthcare professionals in identifying labiaplasty and to pinpoint the misconceptions driving their perceptions. The goal was to inform more effective patient counseling strategies and challenge existing stigmas around cosmetic genital surgery.

Maternal age is related to offspring DNA methylation: A meta-analysis of results from the PACE consortium.

Worldwide trends to delay childbearing have increased parental ages at birth. Older parental age may harm offspring health, but mechanisms remain unclear. Alterations in offspring DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns could play a role as aging has been associated with methylation changes in gametes of older individuals.

Exploration of parental consent for adolescent involvement in genital body image education research.

Genital body image is a highly understudied concept but is important for sexual health and broader body image satisfaction. Effective genital body image interventions for adolescents have been developed, however, parental consent can be a barrier to adolescent participation. The aim of this study was to conduct a novel exploration of parental consent for genital body image education research and factors related to this consent.

Attrition in Conversational Agent-Delivered Mental Health Interventions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Conversational agents (CAs) or chatbots are computer programs that mimic human conversation. They have the potential to improve access to mental health interventions through automated, scalable, and personalized delivery of psychotherapeutic content. However, digital health interventions, including those delivered by CAs, often have high attrition rates.

COVID-19 and abnormal uterine bleeding: potential associations and mechanisms.

The impact of COVID-19 on menstruation has received a high level of public and media interest. Despite this, uncertainty exists about the advice that women and people who menstruate should receive in relation to the expected impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection, long COVID or COVID-19 vaccination on menstruation. Furthermore, the mechanisms leading to these reported menstrual changes are poorly understood.

Preliminary identification of clinical cut-off of the vegetarian vegan eating disorder screener (V-EDS) in a community and self-reported clinical sample of vegetarians and vegans.

Background: The vegetarian vegan eating disorder screener (V-EDS) is an 18-item self-report screening tool designed to assess the unique elements of eating disorder symptomology in vegetarians and vegans. Previous results have suggested strong initial psychometric properties in non-clinical community samples of vegetarians and vegans. The present study sought to identify a preliminary threshold cut-off score to discriminate eating disorder pathology in a self-reported clinical and community sample.

Identifying overcontrol and undercontrol personality types among young people using the five factor model, and the relationship with disordered eating behaviour, anxiety and depression.

Background: Overcontrol and undercontrol personality types have been associated with an increase in eating pathology, depression and anxiety. The aim of the research was to explore whether latent overcontrol and undercontrol personality types could be identified using cluster analysis of the facets of the five factor model (FFM). We further aimed to understand how these personality types were associated with eating pathology, depressed mood and anxiety.

A Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics Consortium (PACE) meta-analysis highlights potential relationships between birth order and neonatal blood DNA methylation.

Higher birth order is associated with altered risk of many disease states. Changes in placentation and exposures to in utero growth factors with successive pregnancies may impact later life disease risk via persistent DNA methylation alterations. We investigated birth order with Illumina DNA methylation array data in each of 16 birth cohorts (8164 newborns) with European, African, and Latino ancestries from the Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics Consortium.