A review of international clinical guidelines that inform the use of assistive technology to support adults living with progressive or complex conditions.

Methods: A published review protocol guided searches of four electronic databases and 11 CPG portals. CPGs published between January 2012 and September 2023 in English for adults with progressive or complex conditions were included. Recommendations were catalogued according to: author, year and country of publication; grading of recommendations made; number of recommendations made overall and number pertaining to AT; target condition and/or population; age group/s recommendations related to (if specified); type of AT (categorised into "cognition", "communication", "vision", "hearing", "self-care", "mobility", "combination" or "other"); target professions to apply recommendations; evidence grading; and reference to supporting evidence.

Vaccinating Adolescents With Intellectual and Developmental Disability at School: An Opportunity to Promote Supported Decision Making.

Internationally, vaccination rates among adolescents with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) are lower than those of the general population. Little research has addressed this issue. This study investigates the experiences of vaccinating adolescents with IDD in special education settings in Australia, with a focus on student engagement.

Overweight yet Undernourished: A Common Juxtaposition in the Specialist Diabetes Foot Service.

Aims: To describe the nutritional status of people with diabetes-related foot complications and explore the association between nutrition and ulceration healing.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included attendees of a diabetes foot service who completed a dietary questionnaire. Diet was compared to guideline recommendations and biochemical measures were recorded.

TP53 Mutations in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms: Context-Dependent Evaluation of Prognostic Relevance.

The clinical relevance of TP53 mutations (TP53) in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and their prognostic interaction with MPN subtype designation has not been systematically studied. In the current study, 114 patients with MPN harboring TP53 (VAF ≥ 2%) were evaluated for overall survival (OS), calculated from the time of TP53 detection: chronic phase myelofibrosis (MF-CP; N = 61); blast-phase (MPN-BP; N = 31) or accelerated-phase (MPN-AP; N = 16) MPN, and polycythemia vera/essential thrombocythemia (PV/ET; N = 6). Sixty-five (57%) patients harbored International Consensus Classification (ICC)-defined multihit TP53 and 56 (49%) monosomal/complex karyotype (MK/CK).

Subventricular Accumulation of Cu in the Aging Mouse Brain Does Not Associate with Anticipated Increases in Markers of Oxidative Stress.

Natural aging is associated with mild memory loss and cognitive decline, and age is the greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. There is substantial evidence that oxidative stress is a major contributor to both natural aging and neurodegenerative disease, and coincidently, levels of redox active metals such as Fe and Cu are known to be elevated later in life. Recently, a pronounced age-related increase in Cu content has been reported to occur in mice and rats around a vital regulatory brain region, the subventricular zone of lateral ventricles.

Generalized Stomatal Optimization of Evolutionary Fitness Proxies for Predicting Plant Gas Exchange Under Drought, Heatwaves, and Elevated CO.

Stomata control plant water loss and photosynthetic carbon gain. Developing more generalized and accurate stomatal models is essential for earth system models and predicting responses under novel environmental conditions associated with global change. Plant optimality theories offer one promising approach, but most such theories assume that stomatal conductance maximizes photosynthetic net carbon assimilation subject to some cost or constraint of water.

Nanostructure engineering for ferroelectric photovoltaics.

Ferroelectric photovoltaics have attracted increasing attention since their discovery in the 1970s, due to their above-bandgap photovoltage and polarized-light-dependent photocurrent. However, their practical applications have been limited by their weak visible light absorption and low photoconductivity. Intrinsic modification of the material, such as bandgap tuning through chemical doping, has proven effective, but usually leads to the degradation of ferroelectricity.

Genetic Evidence of Killer Whale Predation on White Sharks in Australia.

Killer whales () have been documented to prey on white sharks (), in some cases causing localised shark displacement and triggering ecological cascades. Notably, a series of such predation events have been reported from South Africa over the last decade, with killer whales specifically targeting sharks' liver. However, observations of these interactions are rare, and knowledge of their frequency across the world's oceans remains limited.

Nebulized aminoglycosides for ventilator-associated pneumonia: Methodological considerations and lessons from experimental studies.

Aminoglycosides are concentration-dependent antibiotics exerting a bactericidal effect when concentrations at the site of infection are equal to or greater than 5 times the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC). When administered intravenously, they exhibit poor lung penetration and high systemic renal and ototoxicity, imposing to restrict their administration to 5 days. Experimental studies conducted in anesthetized and mechanically ventilated sheep and pigs provide evidence that high doses of nebulized aminoglycosides induce a rapid and potent bacterial killing in the infected lung parenchyma.

The complexities of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor therapeutic drug monitoring in a person with cystic fibrosis and pulmonary disease.

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI) remains challenging due to a lack of clarity around the parameters that govern ETI plasma concentrations, whilst the use of concomitant CYP3A inducers rifabutin and rifampicin is not recommended. We present the complexities of TDM for ETI performed in a person with cystic fibrosis and refractory pulmonary disease. Utilising National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited assays and target considerations published by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia, ETI plasma concentration variability was monitored over the course of an acute admission with added complexity from an antibiotic regimen including rifabutin, a moderate cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) inducer, and clofazimine, a mild CYP3A inhibitor.

Comparison of Effect Sevoflurane-Based Anesthesia and Propofol-Based Anesthesia on the Early Postoperative Renal Function of Living Kidney Transplant Donors: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: Living kidney transplantation is a common treatment for end-stage renal disease. The impact of anaesthetics on postoperative biomarkers of renal injury in living kidney transplant donors is not well understood.

Patients And Methods: 70 transplant donors who underwent kidney extraction were randomly assigned to following two groups: sevoflurane (S group) and propofol (P group).

Unified transmission electron microscopy with the glovebox integrated system for investigating air-sensitive two-dimensional quantum materials.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an indispensable tool for elucidating the intrinsic atomic structures of materials and provides deep insights into defect dynamics, phase transitions, and nanoscale structural details. While numerous intriguing physical properties have been revealed in recently discovered two-dimensional (2D) quantum materials, many exhibit significant sensitivity to water and oxygen under ambient conditions. This inherent instability complicates sample preparation for TEM analysis and hinders accurate property measurements.

Identifying silver ore sources for the earliest coins of Athens.

Unlabelled: This study addresses longstanding questions concerning the ore sources used in the first series of coins of ancient Athens known as the (c.540-c.500 BCE) by combining comprehensive numismatic data on 22 coins (16 new and 6 legacy analyses) with lead isotope and surface elemental measurements (MC-ICP-MS and XRF).

Effect of Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination on immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 vaccination.

Objectives: Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination has off-target effects on disease risk for unrelated infections and immune responses to vaccines. This study aimed to determine the immunomodulatory effects of BCG vaccination on immune responses to vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: Blood samples, from a subset of 275 SARS-CoV-2-naïve healthcare workers randomised to BCG vaccination (BCG group) or no BCG vaccination (Control group) in the BRACE trial, were collected before and 28 days after the primary course (two doses) of ChAdOx1-S (Oxford-AstraZeneca) or BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccination.

Epidemiology of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis: a descriptive study using a Japanese national administrative claims database.

https://bit.ly/3Z7uBkg.

Systemic corticosteroid dose-response effects in asthma: an observational cohort study.

https://bit.ly/3zzl2QN.

Chronobiology in breathlessness across 24 h in people with persistent breathlessness.

https://bit.ly/3WVbCrF.

An NGS approach for the identification of precise homoeologous recombination sites between A and C genomes in genus.

The introgression of heterologous genomes through interspecific hybridization offers a great opportunity to expand the gene pool of crops, thereby broadening the traits that can be targeted for improvement. The introgression of C genomic regions carrying desirable traits from (AACC) into the diploid (AA) via homoeologous recombination (HR) has been commonly used. However, the precise identification of HR sites remains a significant challenge, limiting the practical application of genome introgression via HR in breeding programs.

Pragmatic realism: towards a reconciliation of enactivism and realism.

This paper addresses some apparent philosophical tensions between realism and enactivism by means of Charles Peirce's pragmatism. Enactivism's Mind-Life Continuity thesis has been taken to commit it to some form of anti-realist 'world-construction' which has been considered controversial. Accordingly, a new realist enactivism is proposed by Zahidi ( (3), 461-475, 2014), drawing on Ian Hacking's 'entity realism', which places subjects in worlds comprised of the things that they can successfully manipulate.

Ultraviolet-C-based sanitization is a cost-effective option for hospitals to manage health care-associated infection risks from high touch mobile phones.

Mobile phones have become essential tools for health care workers around the world, but as high touch surfaces, they can harbor microorganisms that pose infection risks to patients and staff. As their use in hospitals increases, hospital managers must introduce measures to sanitize mobile phones and reduce risks of health care-associated infections. But such measures can involve substantial costs.

Ultrasound evaluation of peripheral intravenous catheter thrombus formation associated with intravenous flucloxacillin administration: A prospective observational pilot study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to sonographically evaluate whether intravenous (IV) flucloxacillin administration was associated with an increased risk of peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) thrombus formation.

Methods: This observational study included participants enrolled as a convenience sample from a larger prospective study of patients with cellulitis receiving IV antibiotics in the emergency department. Point-of-care ultrasound was used to evaluate the PIVCs for thrombus formation after insertion and at specified timepoints after IV administration of antibiotic or saline solution through to discharge.

Application of the 2023 World Heart Federation guidelines for the echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease.

Rheumatic heart disease remains prevalent in some regions of Australia and New Zealand. Echocardiography is the gold standard for detection and diagnosis using the 2023 World Heart Federation guidelines. The guidelines describe specific features of mitral and aortic valve morphology and define pathological regurgitation associated with RHD.