3,036 results match your criteria: "Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics[Affiliation]"

Dietary folate intake has been identified as a potentially modifiable factor of gastric cancer (GC) risk, although the evidence is still inconsistent. We evaluate the association between dietary folate intake and the risk of GC as well as the potential modification effect of alcohol consumption. We pooled data for 2829 histologically confirmed GC cases and 8141 controls from 11 case-control studies from the international Stomach Cancer Pooling Consortium.

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Background: Achieving virtual elimination of HIV transmission in Australia requires a combination of high treatment rates and high testing coverage among individuals at risk of acquiring HIV. HIV self-testing (HIVST) is an additional testing approach for key populations.

Objective: We aimed to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of HIVST among Asian-born gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM).

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Article Synopsis
  • Breast cancer (BC) is rare in women aged ≤40 years with BRCA1/2 variants, but it often presents aggressive features; recent studies show HER2-low expression as a potential treatment target in this subset.
  • A study analyzed data from 3,547 young women with newly diagnosed HER2-negative BC, finding that 32.3% exhibited HER2-low status, which was more common in hormone receptor-positive and BRCA2 variant cases.
  • Results indicated that HER2-low BC had better disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) compared to HER2-0, particularly in triple-negative tumors, with lower grades and more favorable outcomes linked to BRCA2 variants.
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Genome-wide interaction study of dietary intake of fibre, fruits, and vegetables with risk of colorectal cancer.

EBioMedicine

June 2024

Division of Biostatistics, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Consumption of fiber, fruits, and vegetables may lower the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but genetic factors might influence this connection.
  • A large study involving nearly 70,000 participants identified two significant genetic variants linked to dietary intake and CRC risk using advanced statistical methods.
  • The findings suggest specific genetic loci (SLC26A3 and NEGR1) may affect how fiber and fruit consumption interacts with CRC risk, highlighting the need for more research on the underlying mechanisms.
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Application of the Estimand Framework to Anesthesia Trials.

Anesthesiology

July 2024

Department of Paediatrics, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • Events like rescue medication use, treatment discontinuation, or death can affect the outcomes in randomized trials but are often not well-handled.
  • The ICH E9(R1) addendum has introduced the estimand framework to better align trial goals with their design and analysis.
  • This article explains using the estimand framework in anesthesia trials to clarify treatment effects, address common intercurrent events, and ensure results are relevant to clinical questions.
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Background: A review of the literature on iron treatments for iron-deficient anaemia in pregnancy indicated duplication of baseline and outcome tables in two separate randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that share only a single author.

Aim: To assess the integrity of randomised clinical trials from Dr A.M.

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Impact of Triple Therapy vs Dual Bronchodilator Therapy on Mortality Rates in COPD.

Chest

May 2024

Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.

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Integrative multi-omics analyses to identify the genetic and functional mechanisms underlying ovarian cancer risk regions.

Am J Hum Genet

June 2024

Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics and the Cedars Sinai Genomics Core, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address:

To identify credible causal risk variants (CCVs) associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we performed genome-wide association analysis for 470,825 genotyped and 10,163,797 imputed SNPs in 25,981 EOC cases and 105,724 controls of European origin. We identified five histotype-specific EOC risk regions (p value <5 × 10) and confirmed previously reported associations for 27 risk regions. Conditional analyses identified an additional 11 signals independent of the primary signal at six risk regions (p value <10).

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Concerns about data integrity across 263 papers by one author.

J Gynecol Obstet Hum Reprod

May 2024

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Monash University, Clayton, Australia. Electronic address:

Objective: Comprehensive investigation of published work by authors suspected of academic misconduct can reveal further concerns. We aimed to test for data integrity concerns in papers published by an author with eight retracted articles.

Study Design: We investigated the integrity of all papers reporting on prospective clinical studies by this author.

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Article Synopsis
  • A deep learning algorithm called QuantCRC analyzes tumor morphologic features in stage III colon cancer to improve patient risk assessment based on DNA mismatch repair (MMR) status.
  • The study found significant differences in tumor features between deficient (d-MMR) and proficient (p-MMR) tumors, impacting prognosis and recurrence rates.
  • Results suggest that QuantCRC can effectively identify prognostic markers in routine tumor sections, potentially advancing understanding of cancer pathology and patient outcomes.
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How to Prevent Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema) in 2024: Theory and Evidence.

J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract

July 2024

Centre for Food Allergy Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by dry, itchy, and inflamed skin. We review emerging concepts and clinical evidence addressing the pathogenesis and prevention of AD. We examine several interventions ranging from skin barrier enhancement strategies to probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics; and conversely, from antimicrobial exposure to vitamin D and omega fatty acid supplementation; breastfeeding and hydrolyzed formula; and house dust mite avoidance and immunotherapy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) is a new method for measuring clinical trial results that assesses both efficacy and safety using an ordinal scale.
  • A study applied the DOOR endpoint to participants from the CAMERA2 trial, comparing standard therapy to an added antistaphylococcal β-lactam treatment for methicillin-resistant bacteremia.
  • Results showed that those receiving combination therapy had a probability of worse outcomes compared to standard therapy, suggesting that the risks of combination treatment may outweigh its benefits, although a slight advantage cannot be ruled out.
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Prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of secondary infections among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 conditions in Victoria, 2020-2023.

Int J Infect Dis

August 2024

Department of Infectious Diseases, Barwon Health, Geelong, Australia; Barwon Southwest Public Health Unit, Barwon Health, Geelong, Australia; Centre for Innovation in Infectious Disease and Immunology Research, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia; School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.

Objectives: Estimates of secondary infections are variedly reported, with few studies done in Australia. We investigated the occurrence and impact of secondary infections complicating COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 admissions in Victoria, Australia, 2020-2023.

Methods: We used linked population-wide data sets and specific International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision codes to identify and estimate the occurrence of secondary infections.

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Unravelling the health and economic burden of interstitial lung diseases in adults in Australia.

Aust J Gen Pract

May 2024

BMedSci, MBBS, Founding Chair, Health Economics Research Group; Leader, Public Health, Primary Health Care and Health Services Research Theme, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas; Chief@Investigator, Centre of Research Excellence for@Pulmonary Fibrosis, Sydney, NSW.

Background: Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are a heterogenous group of over 200 disorders affecting the pulmonary interstitium. Although there have been advances in knowledge on ILDs in Australia, the characterisation of the health and economic burden of disease remained largely undetermined until recently.

Objective: The main objective of this review is to provide a synopsis of health and economic burden of ILDs in Australia, based on recently completed research.

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Purpose: Gastric cancer (GC) is among the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between dietary fiber intake and GC.

Methods: We pooled data from 11 population or hospital-based case-control studies included in the Stomach Cancer Pooling (StoP) Project, for a total of 4865 histologically confirmed cases and 10,626 controls.

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Background: Asian-born MSM are a priority population as Australia aims to end HIV transmission, but they reported additional barriers to access PrEP and other HIV prevention methods. This study investigates factors associated with PrEP use among Asian MSM in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, to inform strategies to improve PrEP uptake in this population.

Methods: This was a sub-analysis of a community-based cross-sectional survey conducted from March to June 2021.

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Chronic Bronchitis in Children and Adults: Definitions, Pathophysiology, Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Consequences.

J Clin Med

April 2024

Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3053, Australia.

The complex nature of chronic bronchitis (CB) and changing definitions have contributed to challenges in understanding its aetiology and burden. In children, CB is characterised by persistent airway inflammation often linked to bacterial infections and is therefore termed "protracted bacterial bronchitis" (PBB). Longitudinal studies suggest that CB in childhood persists into adulthood in a subgroup.

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Fine-mapping analysis including over 254,000 East Asian and European descendants identifies 136 putative colorectal cancer susceptibility genes.

Nat Commun

April 2024

Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 200 common genetic variants independently associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known CRC risk loci using GWAS data from 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of East Asian and European ancestry. Our stepwise conditional analyses revealed 238 independent association signals of CRC risk, each with a set of credible causal variants (CCVs), of which 28 signals had a single CCV.

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Background: Evidence on the potential association between dietary copper intake and gastric cancer (GC) is lacking. Thus, we aimed to evaluate this association within the Stomach cancer Pooling (StoP) Project-an international consortium of epidemiological studies on GC.

Methods: Data from five case-control studies within the StoP Project were included (2448 cases, 4350 controls).

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Purpose: Cancer caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities have reported significant unmet emotional support needs. This study aimed explore the role of social support to manage emotional wellbeing among cancer caregivers from Arabic and Chinese communities in Australia.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese (n = 12) and Arabic (n = 12) speaking cancer caregivers.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the genomic relationship between Streptococcus dysgalactiae subspecies equisimilis (SDSE) and Streptococcus pyogenes, focusing on how they share ecosystems and possibly diseases due to genetic similarities and horizontal gene transfer (HGT).
  • An analysis of genomes from 294 SDSE and 315 S. pyogenes samples collected in remote Australian First Nations communities reveals a significant overlap in transmission among households, suggesting independent transmission patterns without competition between the two species.
  • The research identifies mobile genetic elements linked to antimicrobial resistance and virulence in both pathogens, emphasizing the ongoing co-circulation of SDSE and S. pyogenes in these communities and highlighting the need
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Article Synopsis
  • Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) and dysmenorrhea (DM) significantly affect young women's quality of life, with high prevalence rates and a range of physical and psychological symptoms impacting their daily activities and academic performance.
  • A systematic review analyzed 55 studies focusing on the self-management strategies and needs of young women (ages 12-25) dealing with these conditions, highlighting that many relied on their mothers and friends for information.
  • The findings indicate that those with DM generally have poorer quality of life compared to those without, with pain management being a primary concern, as over 70% utilized medication for relief.
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The workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing of early- and mid-career health academics: a cross-sectional analysis.

BMC Public Health

April 2024

Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia.

There are reports of poor working conditions for early and mid-career academics (EMCAs) in universities, however, empirical data using validated tools are scarce. We conducted an online, cross-sectional survey using validated tools to assess workplace satisfaction, exposure to workplace abuse, and mental health. Participants included employees of medical and health faculties of two of the largest Australian universities, surveyed between October 2020 and January 2021.

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Purpose: Mammographic density phenotypes, adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI), are strong predictors of breast cancer risk. BMI is associated with mammographic density measures, but the role of circulating sex hormone concentrations is less clear. We investigated the relationship between BMI, circulating sex hormone concentrations, and mammographic density phenotypes using Mendelian randomization (MR).

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers analyzed data from 24,405 patients and found that the prevalence of lifetime depression varied significantly, being 45.7% in those with widespread pain and 30.2% in those with regional pain.
  • Two clinical prediction models were developed to estimate the likelihood of depression based on factors like age, gender, BMI, and smoking status, which clinicians can easily gather during routine checkups to better tailor treatment.
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