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.

Acidic pH can attenuate immune killing through inactivation of perforin.

Cytotoxic lymphocytes are crucial to our immune system, primarily eliminating virus-infected or cancerous cells via perforin/granzyme killing. Perforin forms transmembrane pores in the plasma membrane, allowing granzymes to enter the target cell cytosol and trigger apoptosis. The prowess of cytotoxic lymphocytes to efficiently eradicate target cells has been widely harnessed in immunotherapies against haematological cancers.

IRE1α-XBP1 safeguards hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells by restricting pro-leukemogenic gene programs.

Hematopoietic stem cells must mitigate myriad stressors throughout their lifetime to ensure normal blood cell generation. Here, we uncover unfolded protein response stress sensor inositol-requiring enzyme-1α (IRE1α) signaling in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) as a safeguard against myeloid leukemogenesis. Activated in part by an NADPH oxidase-2 mechanism, IRE1α-induced X-box binding protein-1 (XBP1) mediated repression of pro-leukemogenic programs exemplified by the Wnt-β-catenin pathway.

Antimicrobial activity of imipenem/relebactam and comparator agents against Gram-negative isolates collected from pediatric patients: SMART 2018-2022 Global Surveillance.

Objectives: To evaluate the in vitro susceptibility of recent Gram-negative pathogens collected from pediatric patients to imipenem/relebactam (IMI/REL) and comparator agents.

Methods: From 2018 to 2022, 254 hospitals in 62 countries collected Enterobacterales or P. aeruginosa isolates from patients <18 years old as part of the SMART global surveillance program.

Assessing the preservation potential of successive hurricane overwash deposits in Florida, USA mangroves.

Geologic records of tropical cyclones (TCs) in low-energy, back-barrier environments are established by identifying marine sediments via their allochthonous biogeochemical signal. These records have the potential to reconstruct TC intensity and frequency through time. However, modern analog studies are needed to understand which biogeochemical indicators of overwash sediments are best preserved and how post-depositional changes may affect their preservation.