An immune gate of depression - Early neuroimmune development in the formation of the underlying depressive disorder.

The prevalence of depression worldwide is increasing from year to year and constitutes a serious medical, economic and social problem. Currently, despite multifactorial risk factors and pathways contributing to depression development, a significant aspect is attributed to the inflammatory process. Cytokines are considered a factor activating the kynurenine pathway, which leads to the exhaustion of tryptophan in the tryptophan catabolite (TRYCAT) pathway.

A pragmatic randomized controlled trial exploring the relationship between pulse number and response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment in depression.

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment (rTMS) is an effective treatment for depression but the optimal methods of administration have yet to be determined. In particular, it is unclear whether there is a relationship between elements of the dose of stimulation (i.e.

A systems-centred approach to reducing medication error: Should pre-hospital providers and emergency departments dose children by age during resuscitation?

The high-risk, high-stress and high-stakes environment of out-of-hospital or emergency department paediatric resuscitation is prone to human error, and medication errors are common. This could be contributing to the difference in survival rate of resuscitation in the out-of-hospital versus inpatient setting. Medication for children during resuscitation requires estimation of the child's weight and calculation of the corresponding drug dose.

The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins.

The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity.

Bisphenol A exposure under metabolic stress induces accelerated cellular senescence in vivo in a p53 independent manner.

Senescence is an irreversible process that is a characteristic of age-associated disease like Type 2 diabetes (T2D). Bisphenol-A (BPA), one of the most common endocrine disruptor chemicals, received special attention in the development of insulin resistance and T2D. To understand the role played by BPA in cellular senescence under metabolic stress, zebrafish embryos were exposed to BPA in the absence and presence of hyperglycaemia.

Use of clinical quality indicators to improve lung cancer care in a regional/rural network of health services.

Problem: Optimal lung cancer care requires multidisciplinary team input, with access to specialised diagnostic and therapeutic services that may be limited in rural or regional areas and impact clinical outcomes. Clinical quality indicators can be used to measure the quality of care delivered to patients with lung cancer in a region and identify areas for improvement. We describe the implementation of internationally recognised clinical quality indicators for lung cancer care in the Barwon South Western region.

Consumer and clinician perspectives on personalising breast cancer prevention information.

Background: Personalised prevention of breast cancer has focused on women at very high risk, yet most breast cancers occur in women at average, or moderately increased risk (≤moderate risk).

Objectives: To determine; 1) interest of women at ≤ moderate risk (consumers) in personalised information about breast cancer risk; 2) familial cancer clinicians' (FCCs) perspective on managing women at ≤ moderate risk, and; 3) both consumers' and FCCs reactions to iPrevent, a personalised breast cancer risk assessment and risk management decision support tool.

Methods: Seven focus groups on breast cancer risk were conducted with 49 participants; 27 consumers and 22 FCCs.

Methamphetamine use in patients presenting to emergency departments and psychiatric inpatient facilities: what are the service implications?

Objectives:: The aim of this study is to understand better the service implications of patients presenting to an inner city Australian Emergency Department (ED) and Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Service (AIS) with a history of recent crystal methamphetamine use.

Methods:: An audit was taken of all patients with recent crystal methamphetamine use presenting to St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne ED and AIS over the month of September 2017. Recorded information included patient demographics, diagnosis, aggressive episodes, restrictive interventions and other risk incidents.

Leaky brain in neurological and psychiatric disorders: Drivers and consequences.

Background: The blood-brain barrier acts as a highly regulated interface; its dysfunction may exacerbate, and perhaps initiate, neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Methods: In this narrative review, focussing on redox, inflammatory and mitochondrial pathways and their effects on the blood-brain barrier, a model is proposed detailing mechanisms which might explain how increases in blood-brain barrier permeability occur and can be maintained with increasing inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress being the initial drivers.

Results: Peripheral inflammation, which is causatively implicated in the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders, is associated with elevated peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokines, which in turn cause increased blood-brain barrier permeability.

Live Metabolic Profile Analysis of Zebrafish Embryos Using a Seahorse XF 24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer.

The Agilent Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyzer can be used to measure the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extra cellular acidification rate (ECAR), from which mitochondrial bioenergetics measurements can be determined including basal respiration, respiration due to ATP turnover, uncoupled respiration/proton leak, and maximum respiration. This novel method demonstrates how to use a Seahorse XF 24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer to measure the bioenergetic flux of zebrafish embryos in vivo during development. This provides a tool that enables characterization of metabolic parameters in a living organism, utilizing Agilent Islet Capture Microplates where respiration parameters can be compared between controls and genetically altered/pharmacologically treated embryos in real time.

Mapping risk factors for depression across the lifespan: An umbrella review of evidence from meta-analyses and Mendelian randomization studies.

The development of depression may involve a complex interplay of environmental and genetic risk factors. PubMed and PsycInfo databases were searched from inception through August 3, 2017, to identify meta-analyses and Mendelian randomization (MR) studies of environmental risk factors associated with depression. For each eligible meta-analysis, we estimated the summary effect size and its 95% confidence interval (CI) by random-effects modeling, the 95% prediction interval, heterogeneity with I, and evidence of small-study effects and excess significance bias.

Comparison of solvate ionic liquids and DMSO as an in vivo delivery and storage media for small molecular therapeutics.

Background: Solvate ionic liquids (SILs) are a new class of ionic liquids that are equimolar solutions of lithium bistrifluoromethanesulfonimide in either triglyme or tetraglyme, referred to as G3LiTFSA and G4LiTFSA, respectively. SILs play a role in energy storage lithium batteries, and have been proposed as potential alternatives to traditional organic solvents such as DMSO. G3TFSA and G4TFSA have been shown to exhibit no toxicity in vivo up to 0.

Personalised telehealth intervention for chronic disease management: A pilot randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of home-based telehealth monitoring on health outcomes, quality of life and costs over 12 months for patients with diabetes and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who were identified as being at high risk of readmission to hospital.

Methods: This pilot study was a randomised controlled trial combined with an economic analysis to examine the outcomes of standard care versus home-based telehealth for people with diabetes and/or COPD who were at risk of hospital readmission within one year. The primary outcomes were (i) hospital admission and length of stay (LOS); and (ii) health-related quality of life (HRQOL); and the secondary outcomes were (i) health-related clinical outcomes; (ii) anxiety and depression scores; and (iii) health literacy.

Refractory hyperparathyroidism with a T3 bony lesion-differential diagnoses.

We report a case of severe hyperparathyroidism complicated by osteitis fibrosa cystica in an 83-year-old man post-myocardial infarction. The lesions were evident on magnetic resonance imaging only. A diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma was considered due to clinical appearance of the parathyroid intraoperatively and the presence of an invasive T3 lesion mimicking metastatic disease.

Peripheral blood stem cell mobilisation with G-CSF alone versus G-CSF and cyclophosphamide after bortezomib, cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone induction in multiple myeloma.

Bortezomib-based induction is often used in transplant-eligible patients with myeloma. The optimal peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilisation strategy in this context is unclear. We reviewed the efficacy of G-CSF alone (G-alone) vs.

Comparison of pulmonary artery catheter, echocardiography, and arterial waveform analysis monitoring in predicting the hemodynamic state during and after cardiac surgery.

Objective: The aim of this trial was to determine whether Flotrac Vigileo™ (FV™) provides a reliable representation of the hemodynamic state of a cardiac surgical patient population when compared to pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) and echocardiography in the peril-operative period.

Design: This was a prospective observational trial comparing perioperative hemodynamic states using transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), FV™ and PAC during and post cardiothoracic surgery.

Setting: Tertiary regional hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Thyroidectomy for the treatment of Graves' thyrotoxicosis in thioamide-induced agranulocytosis and sepsis.

Unlabelled: A 51 year old man presented with sepsis in the setting of thioamide-induced agranulocytosis. Empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics was followed by directed narrow-spectrum antibiotics, and his neutrophil count recovered with support from granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) analogue transfusions. After a brief period of multi-modal therapy for nine days including potassium iodide (Lugol's iodine), cholestyramine, propanolol and lithium to temper his persisting hyperthyroidism, a total thyroidectomy was performed while thyroid hormone levels remained at thyrotoxic levels.

Idarubicin Dose Escalation During Consolidation Therapy for Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Purpose Higher doses of the anthracycline daunorubicin during induction therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have been shown to improve remission rates and survival. We hypothesized that improvements in outcomes in adult AML may be further achieved by increased anthracycline dose during consolidation therapy. Patients and Methods Patients with AML in complete remission after induction therapy were randomly assigned to receive two cycles of consolidation therapy with cytarabine 100 mg/m daily for 5 days, etoposide 75 mg/m daily for 5 days, and idarubicin 9 mg/m daily for either 2 or 3 days (standard and intensive arms, respectively).

Relationship between depression and frailty in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: Depression and frailty are prevalent and burdensome in older age. However, the relationships between these entities are unclear and no quantitative meta- analysis exists. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the associations between depression and frailty.

Learning on the fly: How rural junior doctors learn during consultations with retrieval physicians.

Objective: This study explores how rural junior doctors learn while consulting retrieval physicians about critically ill and injured patients, as well as the tensions characterising teaching and learning in this setting.

Methods: Data were collected via three focus groups, involving rural junior doctors (n = 8), rural senior doctors (n = 3) and retrievalists (n = 3). The discussions were transcribed and subject to multistage coding.

The Use of the Zebrafish Model to Aid in Drug Discovery and Target Validation.

The zebrafish is fast becoming a leading and prominent model organism used by researchers for developmental biology, and research in modeling human diseases in zebrafish is being undertaken at a fast pace. Many therapeutic areas, including oncology and cardiovascular diseases to name a few all have zebrafish models based on known disease mechanisms that are translatable to modes of action in humans. Many novel assays have been and are continuing to be developed to study human disease in zebrafish.