Trends in Exposure to Respirable Dust and Respirable Crystalline Silica Among Lithium Mine Workers in Western Australia.

Background: Exposure to respirable dust (RES) and respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is common in mining operations and is associated with health effects such as pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, silicosis, lung cancer, and renal disease.

Methods: This study used industry occupational exposure data for respirable dust from two surface lithium mines in Western Australia for the period between 2017 and 2023. A total of 1122 samples were collected in workgroups across four departments - administration and support, mining, crushing and processing, and maintenance.

Use of privacy-preserving record linkage to examine the dispensing of pharmaceutical benefits scheme medicines to pregnant women in Western Australia.

Purpose: Medications are commonly used during pregnancy to manage pre-existing conditions and conditions that arise during pregnancy. However, not all medications are safe to use in pregnancy. This study utilized privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) to examine medications dispensed under the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to pregnant women in Western Australia (WA) overall and by medication safety category.

Reappraisal of sauropod dinosaur diversity in the Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia, through 3D digitisation and description of new specimens.

Skeletal remains of sauropod dinosaurs have been known from Australia for over 100 years. Unfortunately, the classification of the majority of these specimens to species level has historically been impeded by their incompleteness. This has begun to change in the last 15 years, primarily through the discovery and description of several partial skeletons from the Cenomanian-lower Turonian (lower Upper Cretaceous) Winton Formation in central Queensland, with four species erected to date: , , , and .

The Health4Life e-health intervention for modifying lifestyle risk behaviours of adolescents: secondary outcomes of a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of a school-based multiple health behaviour change e-health intervention for modifying risk factors for chronic disease (secondary outcomes).

Study Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial.

Setting, Participants: Students (at baseline [2019]: year 7, 11-14 years old) at 71 Australian public, independent, and Catholic schools.

Development of a real-time PCR (qPCR) method for the identification of the invasive paddle crab (, ).

Crabs can be transported beyond their native range anthropogenic-mediated means such as aquarium trade, live seafood trade and shipping. Once introduced into new locations, they can establish persisting populations and become invasive, often leading to negative impacts on the recipient environment and native species. Molecular techniques are increasingly being used as complementary tools in biosecurity surveillance and monitoring plans for invasive species.

Bone tumor necrosis rate detection in few-shot X-rays based on deep learning.

Although biopsy-based necrosis rate is a golden standard for reflecting the sensitivity of bone tumor and guiding postoperative chemotherapy, it requires biopsy which is invasive and time-consuming. In this paper, we develop a new necrosis rate detection method using time series X-ray images instead of biopsy. To overcome the limitations of few-shot samples, the proposed method utilizes a Generative Adversarial Network with Long Short-term Memory to generate time series X-ray images.

Lead Isotopic Constraints on the Provenance of Antarctic Dust and Atmospheric Circulation Patterns Prior to the Mid-Brunhes Event (~430 kyr ago).

A lead (Pb) isotopic record, covering the two oldest glacial-interglacial cycles (~572 to 801 kyr ago) characterized by lukewarm interglacials in the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Dome C ice core, provides evidence for dust provenance in central East Antarctic ice prior to the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE), ~430 kyr ago. Combined with published post-MBE data, distinct isotopic compositions, coupled with isotope mixing model results, suggest Patagonia/Tierra del Fuego (TdF) as the most important sources of dust during both pre-MBE and post-MBE cold and intermediate glacial periods. During interglacials, central-western Argentina emerges as a major contributor, resulting from reduced dust supply from Patagonia/TdF after the MBE, contrasting to the persistent dominance of dust from Patagonia/TdF before the MBE.

Frameworks for developing an Agro-Prosumer Community Group platform.

Background: The involvement of prosumers in the form of agricultural community groups has been acknowledged, and interest in it is increasing due to local food demand and quality of food. How to create a prosumer group? The definition of agro-prosumers and analysis of their behaviour, engaging new members to the existing groups, managing members and their goals are important factors to consider. Hence, to overcome this barrier and to improve the participation of prosumers, in this paper three key frameworks are presented to develop an Agro-Prosumer Community Group (APCGs) platform.

Periconnection: A novel macroecological effect in snow cover phenology modulating ecosystem productivity over upper Northern Hemisphere.

Snow cover plays an important role in maintaining ecosystems. However, knowledge on how snow cover phenology (SP) modulates ecosystem productivity (EP), especially for the lower- and higher-productivity ecosystems, is limited yet. The situation becomes more embarrassed when asking a more in-depth question as to the macroecological pattern of SP modulating EP - does this process act with the neighborhood effect common in ecology or any other? To answer this question, we proposed a new concept of "periconnection", by following the way of defining "teleconnection" but also exploring the potential effect from the surrounding sites.

Triage Modeling for Differential Diagnosis Between COVID-19 and Human Influenza A Pneumonia: Classification and Regression Tree Analysis.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has lasted much longer than an influenza season, but the main signs, symptoms, and some imaging findings are similar in COVID-19 and influenza patients. The aim of the current study was to construct an accurate and robust model for initial screening and differential diagnosis of COVID-19 and influenza A. All patients in the study were diagnosed at Fuyang No.

To Procrastinate or Not to Procrastinate: A Retrospective Study of the Optimal Timing of Containing the Global Spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

As global public health is under threat by the 2019-nCoV and a potential new wave of large-scale epidemic outbreak and spread is looming, an imminent question to ask is what the optimal strategy of epidemic prevention and control (P&C) measures would be, especially in terms of the timing of enforcing aggressive policy response so as to maximize health efficacy and to contain pandemic spread. Based on the current global pandemic statistic data, here we developed a logistic probability function configured SEIR model to analyse the COVID-19 outbreak and estimate its transmission pattern under different "anticipate- or delay-to-activate" policy response scenarios in containing the pandemic. We found that the potential positive effects of stringent pandemic P&C measures would be almost canceled out in case of significantly delayed action, whereas a partially procrastinatory wait-and-see control policy may still be able to contribute to containing the degree of epidemic spread although its effectiveness may be significantly compromised compared to a scenario of early intervention coupled with stringent P&C measures.

The pharmacokinetic properties of artemether and lumefantrine in Malaysian patients with Plasmodium knowlesi malaria.

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the pharmacokinetic properties of artemether, lumefantrine and their active metabolites in Plasmodium knowlesi malaria.

Methods: Malaysian adults presenting with uncomplicated P. knowlesi infections received six doses of artemether (1.

Polymorphism of Calcium Decahydrido--decaborate and Characterization of Its Hydrates.

Metal -borates and their derivatives have shown promise in several fields of application from cancer therapy to solid-state electrolytes partly owing to their stability in aqueous solutions and high thermal stability. We report the synthesis and structural analysis of α- and β-CaBH, which are structurally and energetically similar, both showing a tetrahedral coordination of Ca to four -borate cages. The main distinctions between the α- and β-polymorph are found in the crystal system (monoclinic or orthorhombic), topology (wurtzite or ), and the degree of displacement of Ca from the center of the coordination tetrahedron.

Diabetic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes: a review of pathogenic mechanisms, patient-related factors and therapeutic options.

The global prevalence of diabetic kidney disease is rapidly accelerating due to an increasing number of people living with type 2 diabetes. It has become a significant global problem, increasing human and financial pressures on already overburdened healthcare systems. Interest in diabetic kidney disease has increased over the last decade and progress has been made in determining the pathogenic mechanisms and patient-related factors involved in the development and pathogenesis of this disease.

Disease Burden Attributable to the First Wave of COVID-19 in China and the Effect of Timing on the Cost-Effectiveness of Movement Restriction Policies.

Objectives: Movement restriction policies (MRPs) are effective in preventing/delaying COVID-19 transmission but are associated with high societal cost. This study aims to estimate the health burden of the first wave of COVID-19 in China and the cost-effectiveness of early versus late implementation of MRPs to inform preparation for future waves.

Methods: The SEIR (susceptible, exposed, infectious, and recovered) modeling framework was adapted to simulate the health and cost outcomes of initiating MRPs at different times: rapid implementation (January 23, the real-world scenario), delayed by 1 week, delayed by 2 weeks, and delayed by 4 weeks.

The effects of outdoor access and stocking density on the performance of broilers reared under tropical conditions.

1. The effects of housing system and stocking density on growth performance and carcase yield of a commercial strain of broiler chickens reared under tropical environmental conditions may differ from temperate conditions.2.

Dysfunctional Gut Microbiome Networks in Childhood IgE-Mediated Food Allergy.

The development of food allergy has been reported to be related with the changes in the gut microbiome, however the specific microbe associated with the pathogenesis of food allergy remains elusive. This study aimed to comprehensively characterize the gut microbiome and identify individual or group gut microbes relating to food-allergy using 16S rRNA gene sequencing with network analysis. Faecal samples were collected from children with IgE-mediated food allergies ( = 33) and without food allergy ( = 27).

Alcohol Accessibility and Family Violence-related Ambulance Attendances.

There is substantial evidence supporting the association between alcohol license density and violent crime. However, the impact of different types of alcohol licenses on intimate partner and family violence is sparse. We explored the associations between access to alcohol outlets, and family and intimate partner violence using paramedic clinical records, given this service is often the first to respond to acute crises.

Outcomes and anticoagulation use for elderly patients that present with an acute hip fracture: multi-centre, retrospective analysis.

Background: Hip fractures are a common problem and corrective surgery is recommended within 24 h. However, most peri-operative direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) guidelines suggest a washout period of 48 h before major surgery. There are limited data on utility of drug levels.

Equitable Expanded Carrier Screening Needs Indigenous Clinical and Population Genomic Data.

Expanded carrier screening (ECS) for recessive monogenic diseases requires prior knowledge of genomic variation, including DNA variants that cause disease. The composition of pathogenic variants differs greatly among human populations, but historically, research about monogenic diseases has focused mainly on people with European ancestry. By comparison, less is known about pathogenic DNA variants in people from other parts of the world.