Symbiosis and horizontal gene transfer promote herbivory in the megadiverse leaf beetles.

Beetles that feed on the nutritionally depauperate and recalcitrant tissues provided by the leaves, stems, and roots of living plants comprise one-quarter of herbivorous insect species. Among the key adaptations for herbivory are plant cell wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) that break down the fastidious polymers in the cell wall and grant access to the nutritious cell content. While largely absent from the non-herbivorous ancestors of beetles, such PCWDEs were occasionally acquired via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or by the uptake of digestive symbionts.

Dynamic linkages and spillover effects of biodiversity risk in socially responsible investment and commodity markets.

This study employs a novel biodiversity risk measure, developed through textual analysis, to examine how biodiversity risk affects socially responsible investment (SRI) and commodity markets. Biodiversity-related financial risks, arising from ecosystem degradation, represent an emerging and underexplored dimension of market risk, particularly for investors seeking sustainability-aligned portfolios. Our analysis reveals that both SRI equity and commodity indices consistently exhibit negative time-varying correlations with biodiversity risk, with correlations as low as -0.

Adverse events during and after early mobilisation: A post hoc analysis of the TEAM trial.

Background: The Treatment of Mechanically Ventilated Adults with Early Activity and Mobilisation (TEAM) trial reported a higher occurrence of adverse events with greater mobilisation. However, their timing and nature remained unexplored. We conducted an in-depth exploration of such events.

Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales: An Increasing Threat to Australian Liver Transplant Recipients.

Introduction: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in liver transplant recipients (LTRs). There is a paucity of data regarding CPE colonization and infection in Australian LTRs.

Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study of CPE was performed in LTRs from 2015 to 2024.

Early developmental trajectories of the impaired hand in infants with unilateral cerebral palsy.

Aim: To identify developmental trajectories of impaired hand function in infants aged 3 to 15 months with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP).

Method: Sixty-three infants (37 male; median gestational age 37 weeks [interquartile range 30-39.1 weeks]) recruited as part of a randomized trial with a confirmed diagnosis of unilateral CP were included.

Associations between bone material strength index and FRAX scores.

Introduction: Impact microindentation (IMI) measures bone material strength index (BMSi) in vivo. However, its ability to predict fractures is still uncertain. This study aimed to determine the association between BMSi and 10 year fracture probability, as calculated by the FRAX algorithm.

An observational study of socioeconomic disparities in psychiatry consultation uptake in Australia, using routinely collected national data from 2015 to 2022.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased psychological distress and psychiatric service usage in Australia. Previous research into the first few months of the pandemic found severe inequality in telehealth psychiatry but no change in inequality for psychiatry service usage overall. However, it is unknown how inequality evolved over the remainder of the pandemic, as extended lockdowns continued in major Australian cities.

Online interest in ADHD predicts ADHD medication prescriptions in Australia from 2004 to 2023: A time-series analysis revealing COVID-19-related acceleration.

Objective: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication prescriptions in Australia have grown sharply in recent years. We examined the association between online interest in ADHD and prescriptions.

Methods: Monthly Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation PBS (RPBS) Item Reports of ADHD prescriptions and Australian ADHD-related Google Trends (GT) data (2004-2023) were sourced.

Impact of a multidisciplinary diabetes care programme on glycaemic and metabolic outcomes in regional and First Nations communities: a retrospective observational study.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) poses a significant public health challenge in Australia, particularly among underserved populations such as First Nations people and rural communities. In response, the Together Strong Connected Care (TSCC) programme was developed to address these disparities by offering a culturally appropriate, multidisciplinary approach to diabetes management in a regional hospital setting.

Aims: The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the TSCC programme on glycaemic and metabolic control in people living with diabetes.

Tumour DNA methylation markers associated with breast cancer survival: a replication study.

Background: Tumour DNA methylation has been investigated as a potential marker for breast cancer survival, but findings often lack replication across studies.

Methods: This study sought to replicate previously reported associations for individual CpG sites and multi-CpG signatures using an Australian sample of 425 women with breast cancer from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS). Candidate methylation sites (N = 22) and signatures (N = 3) potentially associated with breast cancer survival were identified from five prior studies that used The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) methylation dataset, which shares key characteristics with the MCCS: comparable sample size, tissue type (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded; FFPE), technology (Illumina HumanMethylation450 array), and participant characteristics (age, ancestry, and disease subtype and severity).

Hypoxia impairs decitabine-induced expression of HLA-DR in acute myeloid leukaemia cell lines.

Background: Hypomethylating agents (HMA), such as azacytidine (AZA) and decitabine (DAC), are epigenetic therapies used to treat some patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome. HMAs act in a replication-dependent manner to remove DNA methylation from the genome. However, AML cells targeted by HMA therapy are often quiescent within the bone marrow, where oxygen levels are low.

Approximate Hamiltonians from a Linear Vibronic Coupling Model for Solution-Phase Spin Dynamics.

The linear vibronic coupling (LVC) model is an approach for approximating how a molecular Hamiltonian changes in response to small changes in molecular geometry. The LVC framework thus has the ability to approximate molecular Hamiltonians at low computational expense but with quality approaching multiconfigurational calculations, when the change in geometry compared to the reference calculation used to parametrize it is small. Here, we show how the LVC approach can be used to project approximate spin Hamiltonians of a solvated lanthanide complex along a room-temperature molecular dynamics trajectory.

The Clinical Significance of PCI-Related Myocardial Infarction in Stable Ischaemic Heart Disease Patients in the Era of hs-Troponin.

Background & Aim: The definition and clinical relevance of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)-related myocardial infarction (MI) has been a topic of significant debate and controversy. It has particularly garnered widespread attention recently due to a contemporary trend of including it as a component of primary end points in major trials. The study aimed to assess the clinical relevance of PCI-related MI (PMI) according to the Fourth Universal Definition of MI using a high-sensitivity troponin (hs-Tn) assay in a real-world setting.

Twenty-first century alienation and health: a research agenda.

Alienation has been used as a crucial concept to describe the negative psychosocial impacts that stem from the ways production and consumption are organised in Marxist and non-Marxist traditions. The psychosocial impacts it generates are mediated through stress pathways to increase non-communicable physical and mental illnesses. There has been little empirical research on the impact of alienation on health and ways in which the impact might be reduced.

Skeletal and Adipose Manifestations of Stress in a Contemporary Pediatric Sample.

Introduction: Adverse experiences leading to physiological disruptions (stress) in early life produce cascade effects on various biological systems, including the endocrine and metabolic systems, which, in turn, shape the developing skeletal system. To evaluate the effects of stress on adipose and skeletal tissues, we examine the relationship between skeletal indicators of stress (porotic hyperostosis [PH] and cribra orbitalia [CO]), bone mineral density (BMD), vertebral neural canal (VNC) diameters, and adipose tissue distribution in a contemporary pediatric autopsy sample.

Methods: Data is from 702 (409 males, 293 females) individuals from a pediatric (0.

Developing, implementing, and evaluating the first national Memory and Cognition Clinic Guidelines in Australia.

Introduction: A lack of national consensus on the roles and responsibilities of Australian memory and cognition clinics contributes to the large variability seen across services. The introduction of guidelines and a quality assessment framework could facilitate greater harmonization and quality improvements.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi process to develop the guidelines.

Halophyte-based crop managements induce biochemical, metabolomic and proteomic changes in tomato plants under saline conditions.

Halophytes display distinctive physiological mechanisms that enable their survival and growth under extreme saline conditions. This makes them potential candidates for their use in saline agriculture. In this research, tomato (Solanum lycopersium Mill.

Large-scale and long-term wildlife research and monitoring using camera traps: a continental synthesis.

Camera traps are widely used in wildlife research and monitoring, so it is imperative to understand their strengths, limitations, and potential for increasing impact. We investigated a decade of use of wildlife cameras (2012-2022) with a case study on Australian terrestrial vertebrates using a multifaceted approach. We (i) synthesised information from a literature review; (ii) conducted an online questionnaire of 132 professionals; (iii) hosted an in-person workshop of 28 leading experts representing academia, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and government; and (iv) mapped camera trap usage based on all sources.

Differential recruitment drives pathogen-mediated competition between species in an amphibian chytridiomycosis system.

Pathogens that infect multiple host species have an increased capacity to cause extinctions through parasite-mediated apparent competition. Given unprecedented and continuing losses of biodiversity due to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the causative fungus of the amphibian skin disease chytridiomycosis, a robust understanding of the mechanisms driving cross-species infection dynamics is essential. Here, we used stage-structured, susceptible-infected compartmental models to explore drivers of Bd-mediated apparent competition between two sympatric amphibians, the critically endangered Litoria spenceri and the non-threatened Litoria lesueurii.

Speech, Language and Non-verbal Communication in CLN2 and CLN3 Batten Disease.

CLN2 and CLN3 diseases, the most common types of Batten disease (also known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis), are childhood dementias associated with progressive loss of speech, language and feeding skills. Here we delineate speech, language, non-verbal communication and feeding phenotypes in 33 individuals (19 females) with a median age of 9.5 years (range 3-28 years); 16 had CLN2 and 17 CLN3 disease; 8/15 (53%) participants with CLN2 and 8/17 (47%) participants with CLN3 disease had speech and language impairments prior to genetic diagnosis.

Factors Associated with the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Rural Northern Victoria, Australia.

About one-third of Australians use the services of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); but debate about the role of CAM in public healthcare is vociferous. Despite this, the mechanisms driving CAM healthcare choices are not well understood, especially in rural Australia. From 2016 to 2018, 2,679 persons from the Goulburn Valley, northern Victoria, were surveyed, 28% (755) of whom reporting visiting CAM practitioners.

Outcomes after cystectomy in Australian rural and metropolitan hospitals by intensive care admissions.

Objectives: To examine demographics and in-hospital outcomes for patients admitted to Australian intensive care units (ICUs) following cystectomy of the urinary bladder. Additionally, to compare outcomes between metropolitan and rural hospitals.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was undertaken of all adult patients admitted to participating Australian ICUs (Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database) following cystectomy/cystoprostatectomy between January 2011 and December 2021.

Is germline genome-editing person-affecting or identity-affecting, and does it matter?

Writers have debated whether germline genome-editing is person-affecting or identity-affecting. The difference is thought to be ethically relevant to whether we should choose genome-editing or choose preimplantation genetic diagnosis and embryo selection, when seeking to prevent or produce bad conditions (e.g.

Ancient reticulation, incomplete lineage sorting and the evolution of the pyrenoid at the dawn of hornwort diversification.

Background And Aims: Resolving the phylogeny of hornworts is critical in understanding the evolution of key morphological characters that are unique to the group, including the pyrenoid. Extensive phylogenomic analyses have revealed unexpected complexities in the placement of Leiosporoceros, the previously identified sister taxon to other hornworts. We explore the role of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and ancient reticulation in resolving interrelationships and comprehending the diversification and evolutionary processes within hornworts.