An outbreak of enterovirus 71 in metropolitan Sydney: enhanced surveillance and lessons learnt.

Objective: To report the findings of the enhanced surveillance set up in New South Wales in response to the recent outbreak of human enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection.

Design And Setting: A two-armed enhanced public health surveillance system including statewide emergency department surveillance and clinical surveillance at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network.

Participants: Children aged less than 10 years with suspected or confirmed enterovirus infection.

Methylation-capture and Next-Generation Sequencing of free circulating DNA from human plasma.

Background: Free circulating DNA (fcDNA) has many potential clinical applications, due to the non-invasive way in which it is collected. However, because of the low concentration of fcDNA in blood, genome-wide analysis carries many technical challenges that must be overcome before fcDNA studies can reach their full potential. There are currently no definitive standards for fcDNA collection, processing and whole-genome sequencing.

Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) utilisation by rural clinicians in acute ischaemic stroke: an audit of current practice and clinical outcomes.

Objective: This audit of activity reports on current rates of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) use within specialised stroke care units in rural New South Wales (NSW). It measures stroke onset-to-treatment time and morbidity outcomes for patients treated with rt-PA and aims to establish the safety and effectiveness of rt-PA use in rural NSW.

Design, Setting And Participants: Medical records reviews of patients admitted with acute ischaemic stroke at two rural NSW hospitals between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2010.

Smooth muscle cells in human atherosclerosis: proteomic profiling reveals differences in expression of Annexin A1 and mitochondrial proteins in carotid disease.

Smooth muscle cells (SMC) contribute to the development and stability of atherosclerotic lesions. The molecular mechanisms that mediate their properties are incompletely defined. We employed proteomics and in vitro functional assays to identify the unique characteristics of intimal SMC isolated from human carotid endarterectomy specimens and medial SMC from thoracic aortas and carotids.

Unexpected protective role for Toll-like receptor 3 in the arterial wall.

The critical role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in mammalian host defense has been extensively explored in recent years. The capacity of about 10 TLRs to recognize conserved patterns on many bacterial and viral pathogens is remarkable. With so few receptors, cross-reactivity with self-tissue components often occurs.

Toll-like receptor-2 mediates inflammation and matrix degradation in human atherosclerosis.

Background: Inflammation and matrix degradation are the hallmarks of high-risk atherosclerosis that leads to myocardial infarction and stroke. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), key players in innate immunity, are upregulated in atherosclerotic lesions, but their functional role in human atherosclerosis is unknown. We explored the effects of blocking TLR-2, TLR-4, and myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88), a signaling adaptor shared by most TLRs and interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R), in an in vitro model of human atherosclerosis.