Socioeconomic correlates of urban mobility trends in two Australian cities during transitional periods of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, both government-mandated lockdowns and discretionary changes in behaviour combined to produce dramatic and abrupt changes to human mobility patterns. To understand the socioeconomic determinants of intervention compliance and discretionary behavioural responses to epidemic threats, we investigate whether changes in human mobility showed a systematic variation by socioeconomic status during two distinct periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. We analyse mobility data from two major urban centres and compare the trends during mandated stay-at-home policies and after the full relaxation of nonpharmaceutical interventions, which coincided with a large surge of COVID-19 cases.

Cancer metastasis to the upper gastrointestinal tract-a case series.

Background: Metastasis of non-gastrointestinal (non-GI) cancers to the upper GI tract is a rare occurrence, with limited cases reported in the literature. Recognising this type of metastasis is crucial, as it presents unique diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. This case series adds to the literature by discussing seven rare cases of non-GI cancer metastasising to the upper GI tract, emphasising the complications and clinical manifestations.

Supporting healthy ageing for people with intellectual disabilities in group homes: Staff experiences.

Background: This study explores the perceptions of supported accommodation staff and their managers of the support needs of residents ageing with intellectual disabilities, and their experiences of adjusting services for this group in the context of individualised funding.

Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 staff working in Australian supported accommodation services.

Findings: Four themes emerged.

A comparative analysis of the prevalence and predictors of chronic pain in older adults with and without intellectual disability in Australia.

Background: There is little research comparatively assessing prevalence of pain between older people either with or without intellectual disability. This paper explores health and social factors associated with chronic pain in these two groups.

Method: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia.

An Australian online training and support program for caregivers of children and youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Families linking with families.

Background: Australia has limited supports to help families where Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) impacts children and young people. National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Australia (NOFASD), in conjunction with the University of Otago, New Zealand, piloted and established a 7-week online program to assist caregivers to develop strategies and supports to help their families live well in a disabling society.

Method: The online program, Families Linking with Families (FLWF), was delivered to 88 caregivers.

Young people with intellectual disability speak out about life after school: "I want to do more in life than just…be a disability person".

Background: The transition from school to adult life is challenging for young people with intellectual disability. The study aimed to explore how young people with intellectual disability themselves experience the transition from school to adult life.

Methods: A co-designed, qualitative study.

Helminth extracellular vesicles co-opt host monocytes to drive T cell anergy.

Parasitic helminths secrete extracellular vesicles (EVs) into their host tissues to modulate immune responses, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We demonstrate that Ascaris EVs are efficiently internalised by monocytes in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and increase the percentage of classical monocytes. Furthermore, EV treatment of monocytes induced a novel anti-inflammatory phenotype characterised by CD14, CD16, CC chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) cells.

Downscaling global reference points to assess the sustainability of local fisheries.

Multispecies coral reef fisheries are typically managed by local communities who often lack research and monitoring capacity, which prevents estimation of well-defined sustainable reference points to perform locally relevant fishery assessments. Recent research modeling coral reef fisheries globally has estimated multispecies sustainable reference points (i.e.

Importance of transgender nuances in research and advocacy: Reply to Morgenroth (2025) and Tate (2025).

In their responses to our paper 'Conceptualizing transgender experiences in psychology: Do we have a "true" gender?' (The British Journal of Psychology, 2024, 115, 723), Tate (2025) and Morgenroth (2025) provide reflections on the importance of nuance when researching gender and in transgender advocacy. In this reply, I note where this paper is situated in the literature and engage in a discussion of the role of definitions in transgender advocacy. Over-reliance on an individual's true gender when evaluating transgender people's legitimacy may exclude individuals whose gender is not understandable as 'true' to a cisgender majority.

Rational selection of TbpB variants yields a bivalent vaccine with broad coverage against Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an on-going public health problem due in part to the lack of success with efforts to develop an efficacious vaccine to prevent this sexually transmitted infection. The gonococcal transferrin binding protein B (TbpB) is an attractive candidate vaccine antigen. However, it exhibits high levels of antigenic variability, posing a significant obstacle in evoking a broadly protective immune response.

Alcohol consumption, drinking patterns and cause-specific mortality in an Australian cohort of 181,607 participants aged 45 years and over.

Objectives: Despite relatively high alcohol consumption in Australia, local evidence regarding drinking and cause-specific mortality is limited. We aimed to quantify the risk of alcohol-related causes of death and to calculate contemporary estimates of absolute risk and population attributable fractions for deaths caused by alcohol consumption in Australia.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Fitness for Purpose of Text-to-Image Generative Artificial Intelligence Image Creation in Medical Imaging.

The recent emergence of text-to-image generative artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion models such as DALL-E, Firefly, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney has been touted with popular hype about the transformative potential in health care. This hype-driven, rapid assimilation comes with few professional guidelines and without regulatory oversight. Despite documented limitations, text-to-image generative AI creations have permeated nuclear medicine and medical imaging.

The moderating effect of recent positive and negative life events on the impact of early life stress on mental wellbeing and distress.

Early life stress (ELS) significantly influences mental health in later stages of life. Yet it is unclear whether recent life events lessen or intensify the effects of ELS on present wellbeing and distress. We addressed this question in 1064 healthy community adults with a normative range of wellbeing and distress.

Tailoring Design of Microneedles for Drug Delivery and Biosensing.

Microneedles (MNs) are emerging as versatile tools for both therapeutic drug delivery and diagnostic monitoring. Unlike hypodermic needles, MNs achieve these applications with minimal or no pain and customizable designs, making them suitable for personalized medicine. Understanding the key design parameters and the challenges during contact with biofluids is crucial to optimizing their use across applications.

Design of an Ultrafast and Controlled Visible Light-Mediated Photoiniferter RAFT Polymerization for Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly (PISA).

In this contribution, we designed a new xanthate RAFT agent by introducing (5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2-naphthalenyl)oxy (TNO) as the Z group, namely 2-[(((5,6,7,8-Tetrahydro-2-naphthalenyl)oxycarbonothioyl)thio)ethyl propanoate] (TNXEP). Due to the presence of the TNO group, TNXEP enabled highly controlled and ultrafast photoiniferter RAFT polymerization under violet (λ=405 nm) and blue (λ=450 nm) light. This approach was effectively extended to aqueous media for polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA), facilitating the synthesis of polymeric nanoparticles.

An audit on the assessment and management of osteoporosis in a Parkinson's and related diseases clinic in Australia.

Background: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonian syndromes are at increased risk of falls and should be actively screened and treated for osteoporosis. In 2024, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) revised their practice guidelines for diagnosing and managing osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and men aged over 50 years.

Objective: We conducted the first Australian study to audit these guidelines in patients with PD and atypical parkinsonian syndromes.

Ablation of satellite cell-specific clock gene, Bmal1, alters force production, muscle damage, and repair following contractile-induced injury.

Following injury, skeletal muscle undergoes repair via satellite cell (SC)-mediated myogenic progression. In SCs, the circadian molecular clock gene, Bmal1, is necessary for appropriate myogenic progression and repair with evidence that muscle molecular clocks can also affect force production. Utilizing a mouse model allowing for inducible depletion of Bmal1 within SCs, we determined contractile function, SC myogenic progression and muscle damage and repair following eccentric contractile-induced injury.

Exploring SNP filtering strategies: the influence of strict vs soft core.

Phylogenetic analyses are crucial for understanding microbial evolution and infectious disease transmission. Bacterial phylogenies are often inferred from SNP alignments, with SNPs as the fundamental signal within these data. SNP alignments can be reduced to a 'strict core' by removing those sites that do not have data present in every sample.

The Development of a Reverberation Chamber for the Assessment of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Energy Absorption in Mice.

In this paper, we present the design, RF-EMF performance, and a comprehensive uncertainty analysis of the reverberation chamber (RC) exposure systems that have been developed for the use of researchers at the University of Wollongong Bioelectromagnetics Laboratory, Australia, for the purpose of investigating the biological effects of RF-EMF in rodents. Initial studies, at 1950 MHz, have focused on investigating thermophysiological effects of RF exposure, and replication studies related to RF-EMF exposure and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in mice predisposed to AD. The RC exposure system was chosen as it allows relatively unconstrained movement of animals during exposures which can have the beneficial effect of minimizing stress-related, non-RF-induced biological and behavioral changes in the animals.

Conceptualisation and Measurement of Resilience of Adults With Cancer: An Umbrella Review.

Aims: To (1) clarify the key components of resilience of adults with cancer; (2) summarise and analyse the resilience measures used in this population; and (3) discuss future evaluation directions.

Design: An umbrella review.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, Cochrane library and Epistemonikos were searched in December 2023.

Baseline Characteristics of Frailty and Disease Stage in Older People Living With CKD.

Introduction: The GOAL trial, a cluster randomized controlled trial, investigated the effect of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) on frail older people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This paper describes the following: (i) participant baseline characteristics, and (ii) their relationship with CKD stage and frailty severity.

Methods: Sixteen kidney outpatient clinics (clusters) were randomly allocated 1:1 to CGA or usual care.

Machine learning and multi-omics in precision medicine for ME/CFS.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex and multifaceted disorder that defies simplistic characterisation. Traditional approaches to diagnosing and treating ME/CFS have often fallen short due to the condition's heterogeneity and the lack of validated biomarkers. The growing field of precision medicine offers a promising approach which focuses on the genetic and molecular underpinnings of individual patients.

Cerebrospinal fluid dynamics and subarachnoid space occlusion following traumatic spinal cord injury in the pig: an investigation using magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) causes spinal cord swelling and occlusion of the subarachnoid space (SAS). SAS occlusion can change pulsatile cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics, which could have acute clinical management implications. This study aimed to characterise SAS occlusion and investigate CSF dynamics over 14 days post-SCI in the pig.

Multiplex genome editing eliminates lactate production without impacting growth rate in mammalian cells.

The Warburg effect, which describes the fermentation of glucose to lactate even in the presence of oxygen, is ubiquitous in proliferative mammalian cells, including cancer cells, but poses challenges for biopharmaceutical production as lactate accumulation inhibits cell growth and protein production. Previous efforts to eliminate lactate production in cells for bioprocessing have failed as lactate dehydrogenase is essential for cell growth. Here, we effectively eliminate lactate production in Chinese hamster ovary and in the human embryonic kidney cell line HEK293 by simultaneous knockout of lactate dehydrogenases and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinases, thereby removing a negative feedback loop that typically inhibits pyruvate conversion to acetyl-CoA.