Circular mRNA Vaccine against SARS-COV-2 Variants Enabled by Degradable Lipid Nanoparticles.

The emergence of mRNA vaccines offers great promise and a potent platform in combating various diseases, notably COVID-19. Nevertheless, challenges such as inherent instability and potential side effects of current delivery systems underscore the critical need for the advancement of stable, safe, and efficacious mRNA vaccines. In this study, a robust mRNA vaccine (cmRNA-1130) eliciting potent immune activation has been developed from a biodegradable lipid with eight ester bonds in the branched tail (AX4) and synthetic circular mRNA (cmRNA) encoding the trimeric Delta receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Two decades of advances in sequence-based prediction of MoRFs, disorder-to-order transitioning binding regions.

Introduction: Molecular recognition features (MoRFs) are regions in protein sequences that undergo induced folding upon binding partner molecules. MoRFs are common in nature and can be predicted from sequences based on their distinctive sequence signatures.

Areas Covered: We overview twenty years of progress in the sequence-based prediction of MoRFs which resulted in the development of 25 predictors of MoRFs that interact with proteins, peptides and lipids.

Blood Group B May Reduce Risk of Rebleeding in Patients With Upper Gastrointestinal Haemorrhage due to Peptic Ulcer Disease.

Risk stratification tools for the prediction of complications in patients with upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage are crucial for appropriate management. Blood group status has been associated with the risk of bleeding, thrombosis and risk of peptic ulcer disease (PUD). We assessed the influence of blood group status on rebleeding and other complications in 699 patients with PUD bleeding.

Digital Dentists: A Curriculum for the 21st Century.

Future health professionals, including dentists, must critically engage with digital health technologies to enhance patient care. While digital health is increasingly being integrated into the curricula of health professions, its interpretation varies widely depending on the discipline, health care setting, and local factors. This viewpoint proposes a structured set of domains to guide the designing of a digital health curriculum tailored to the unique needs of dentistry in Australia.

Debate: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions?

In this article, we evaluate the current state of universal school-based mental health prevention. We argue that the field is at another pivotal turning point, with many unanswered questions. As youth mental health issues rise in prominence and prevalence, schools increasingly adopt mental health and well-being programmes.

Improving Real-Time Feedback During Cochlear Implantation: The Auditory Nerve Neurophonic/Cochlear Microphonic Ratio.

Objectives: Real-time monitoring of cochlear function to predict the loss of residual hearing after cochlear implantation is now possible. Current approaches monitor the cochlear microphonic (CM) during implantation from the electrode at the tip of the implant. A drop in CM response of >30% is associated with poorer hearing outcomes.

'Truly, Madly, Deeply': Using Law to Compel Health and Lifestyle Influencers to Tell the Truth.

Influencers are content creators who post online about their lives and can amass a significant following. Influencers can be dangerous by negatively affecting their followers' body image and marketing products in a deceptive way. The limited academic writings which consider influencer regulation note an incongruency between influencer conduct and the corresponding regulatory system.

Cough Syncope and Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents: Two Australian Cases.

Cough syncope is an uncommon but well-recognised medical condition diagnosed primarily on the history provided by the sufferer. In situations where the sufferer is in control of a motor vehicle, syncope can lead to accidents involving death and injury. In the medico-legal setting, cough syncope can be a contested cause of such accidents.

Voluntary Assisted Dying and Conscientious Objection: An Analysis from Victoria, Australia.

This article analyses qualitative empirical research conducted by this author to gain a deeper understanding of the rationale behind conscientious objection (CO) to voluntary assisted dying (VAD) and its impact on the operation of VAD in Victoria, Australia. It begins by providing an overview of the Australian legal approach to CO in the context of VAD. It then discusses the spectrum of attitudes that exist towards VAD, illuminating some of the nuance and complexity of the individual and institutional approaches.

Termination Laws in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand - Do They Align with Midwives' Scope of Practice?

This article examines whether the current termination laws of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand align with the midwifery scope of practice. It begins with an introduction to termination of pregnancy from a health care perspective. An overview of previous and current legal frameworks in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand that impact upon the provision of termination of pregnancy health services is provided.

Predicting the Risk of Future Terrorism: Lessons for Mental Health Experts from the Benbrika Case.

Risk assessment is an important component of judicial decision-making in many areas of the law. In Australia, those convicted of terrorist offences may be the subject of continued detention in prison or extended supervision in the community if there is an "unacceptable risk" of them committing future terrorism offences. Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists may provide evidence of risk through identifying and measuring risk factors with the aid of tools that use scales based on statistical or actuarial risk prediction.

Decisions about Medical Treatment and Care, the Legality Assumptions and Sovereign Power - Empowering Patients Out of the State of Bare Life?

The framing of patients making decisions about their medical treatment and care as traditional legal decisions, thresholds and formalities is a means to avoid legal liabilities through a rationalisation of decision-making, autonomy and choice. A credible account for the actual place of patients posits the sovereign power (founded in the works of Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben) of the health care professional deciding the state of exception - a discrete legal space where the authority of health care professionals is both lawful and beyond the law. This reveals that dealing with broadly conceived consent issues with more law, more process and procedure but without addressing the inherent legality assumptions that empower health care professionals will always be flawed.

Injecting Tighter Regulation: Implications of the TGA's Clampdown on Cosmetic Injectables Advertising.

Recently, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) updated its guidance on cosmetic injectables advertising. The updates confirm that all direct or indirect advertising of cosmetic injectable products, including botulinum toxins or dermal fillers, is prohibited in Australia. While some commentators have lamented these updates, they present no changes to the law.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy: Law and Controversies in the United States and Australia.

This editorial reviews the changes over two decades in the United States and Australia in relation to the law governing access to drugs enabling medical termination of pregnancy. It also scrutinises three contentious decisions by the United States Supreme Court between 2022 and 2024 in relation to abortion. It argues that the receptive environment in the United States Supreme Court, as it is currently constituted, to challenges to the lawfulness of terminations of pregnancy and abortion medications is likely to inspire comparable challenges as part of the "Abortion Wars" in other countries, including Australia.

Country economic status is strongly associated with burn survival - validation of the (modified) ABSI.

Background: Predicting burn-related mortality is vital for family counseling, triage, and resource allocation. Several of the burn-specific mortality prediction scores have been developed, including the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index (ABSI) in 1982. However, these scores are not tested for accuracy to support contemporary estimates of the global burden of burn injury.

A phase Ia study of a novel anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugate GQ1001 in patients with previously treated HER2 positive advanced solid tumors.

Background: A novel anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) GQ1001 was assessed in patients with previously treated HER2 positive advanced solid tumors in a global multi-center phase Ia dose escalation trial.

Methods: In this phase Ia trial, a modified 3 + 3 study design was adopted during dose escalation phase. Eligible patients were enrolled, and GQ1001 monotherapy was administered intravenously every 3 weeks.

Determinants of healthcare utilization under the Indonesian national health insurance system - a cross-sectional study.

Background: Indonesia has implemented a series of healthcare reforms including its national health insurance scheme (Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, JKN) to achieve universal health coverage. However, there is evidence of inequitable healthcare utilization in Indonesia, raising concerns that the poor might not be benefiting fully from government subsidies. This study aims to identify factors affecting healthcare utilization in Indonesia.

The collective experience of moral distress: a qualitative analysis of perspectives of frontline health workers during COVID-19.

Background: Moral distress is reported to be a critical force contributing to intensifying rates of anxiety, depression and burnout experienced by healthcare workers. In this paper, we examine the moral dilemmas and ensuing distress personally and collectively experienced by healthcare workers while caring for patients during the pandemic.

Methods: Data are drawn from free-text responses from a cross-sectional national online survey of Australian healthcare workers about the patient care challenges they faced.

Applying principles of adult learning to rural health electives in a medical school curriculum.

The health disparities between rural and urban populations in Australia, driven by socioeconomic, environmental, and healthcare access factors, highlight the urgent need for rural-focused medical education. The Melbourne Medical School's Rural Health Discovery program addresses this need by integrating adult learning principles within a redesigned curriculum that includes the Rural Health Foundations and Integrating Rural Health topics. These Discovery topics engage medical students from diverse backgrounds through a blend of self-directed learning, problem-solving, and immersive clinical placements in rural settings.

Personal and behavioural factors that influence physical activity in women living with metastatic breast cancer: a qualitative interview study.

Background: Women living with metastatic breast cancer can benefit from physical activity. Presently, there is an absence of research outside of quantitative investigations on the benefits of structured programs. To enable effective physical activity advice and services, it is important to understand factors that may facilitate or prevent engagement.

Failure to repair damaged NAD(P)H blocks de novo serine synthesis in human cells.

Background: Metabolism is error prone. For instance, the reduced forms of the central metabolic cofactors nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), can be converted into redox-inactive products, NADHX and NADPHX, through enzymatically catalyzed or spontaneous hydration. The metabolite repair enzymes NAXD and NAXE convert these damaged compounds back to the functional NAD(P)H cofactors.

Socioeconomic status moderates the effect of physical education on overweight and obesity in children: a quasi-experimental trial.

Unlabelled: This study aimed to estimate the effects of an intensive school-based physical education intervention on the risk of developing overweight or obesity in primary school students when accounting for the moderating role of socioeconomic status. This quasi-experimental trial included data from primary school students participating in an intensive physical education program comprising 4.5 h of weekly physical activity compared to 1.