One-Year Outcomes of Early, Compassionate Use of the PASCAL Ace Implant System for Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair.

Background: Continued development of transcatheter mitral repair technologies is needed to address the large and diverse population of high-risk patients with symptomatic mitral regurgitation (MR). The new PASCAL Ace implant system, with its narrower profile, complements the original PASCAL transcatheter valve repair system. The aim of this study is to report 1-year outcomes from the early, compassionate-use observational experience with the novel PASCAL Ace implant system.

Characteristics and health outcomes of patients hospitalised with hypomagnesaemia: a retrospective study from a single centre in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Background: Magnesium is an essential cation in the human body involved in many processes in the human body. Hypomagnesium has been linked to many poor health outcomes.

Aims: To study the clinical and biochemical characteristics and health outcomes of patients admitted and found to have hypomagnesaemia in an Australian hospital with a high proportion of Indigenous Australians.

trial: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial of online education modules to facilitate effective family caregiver involvement in oncology.

Objective: Informal family caregivers play a crucial role in cancer care. Effective caregiver involvement in cancer care can improve both patient and caregiver outcomes. Despite this, interventions improving the caregiver involvement are sparse.

Factors associated with medical students' interest in remote and very remote practice in Australia: A national study.

Objective: To investigate the factors that are associated with medical student interest in remote and very remote practice in Australia.

Design: Aggregated data of an annual cross-sectional survey from 2013 to 2017.

Setting: Australia.

Examining the Evidence for an Adult Healthy Middle Ear Microbiome.

Otitis media (OM) is a cluster of diseases of the middle ear that commonly result from bacterial infection. OM subtypes in which the tympanic membrane is intact (acute otitis media and otitis media with effusion) are presumed to result from pathogen translocation through the eustachian tube. Recent molecular-based studies have suggested that a diverse middle ear microbiome exists in the absence of disease.

The impact of CFTR modulator therapies on CF airway microbiology.

Major historical advances in cystic fibrosis (CF) respiratory clinical care, including mechanical airway clearance and inhaled medications, have aimed to address the consequences of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) dysfunction. In contrast, CFTR modulator therapies instead target the underlying protein defect that leads to CF lung disease. The extent to which these therapies might reduce susceptibility to chronic lung infections remains to be seen.

Evaluation of a Novel Bony Landmark-Based Method for Teaching Percutaneous Insertion of Subclavian Venous Catheters in Pediatric Patients.

Background: Surgical trainees performing subclavian vein (SCV) cannulation often incorrectly perceive needle trajectory and anatomical relations. As surface landmark-based methods derived from adult surgical practice may be less effective in younger patients, we developed and evaluated a novel bony landmark-based method for teaching SCV cannulation for central venous access device (CVAD) placement in children.

Methods: Over 2 sequential 3-year periods, pediatric surgical trainees were taught infraclavicular SCV cannulation via surface- and bony-landmark approaches, respectively.

Case report: Identification of intra-laboratory blood culture contamination with Staphylococcus aureus by whole genome sequencing.

Staphylococcus aureus in blood cultures is rarely considered a contaminant. We report a case of intra-laboratory contamination between blood culture bottles which was confirmed by whole genome sequencing, highlighting the importance of molecular analysis in the clinical laboratory setting.

An Estimation of the Burden of Sports Injuries among African Adolescents.

The extent to which sports injuries contribute to the burden of injury among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is unknown. The goal of this study was to estimate the incidence of sports injuries among adolescents in Africa. Data from the World Health Organization Global School-Based Student Health surveys were used to estimate the annual number of African adolescents sustaining sports injuries.

Revised criteria of International Workshop on Ocular Sarcoidosis (IWOS) for the diagnosis of ocular sarcoidosis.

Aims: International criteria for the diagnosis of ocular sarcoidosis (OS) was established by the first International Workshop on Ocular Sarcoidosis (IWOS) and validations studies revealed certain limitations of the criteria. To overcome the limitations, revised IWOS criteria was established in an international meeting. This manuscript was aimed at reporting the revised IWOS criteria.

Erratum to "Molecular Responses of Human Retinal Cells to Infection with Dengue Virus".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2017/3164375.].

Opportunistic bacteria confer the ability to ferment prebiotic starch in the adult cystic fibrosis gut.

Chronic disruption of the intestinal microbiota in adult cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is associated with local and systemic inflammation, and has been linked to the risk of serious comorbidities. Supplementation with high amylose maize starch (HAMS) might provide clinical benefit by promoting commensal bacteria and the biosynthesis of immunomodulatory metabolites. However, whether the disrupted CF gut microbiota has the capacity to utilise these substrates is not known.

Public Health Costs for Northern Territory and South Australian Cardiac Surgery Patients.

Background: The cost of performing cardiac surgery in the public health system in Australia is unclear. This paper analyses the cost of cardiac surgery performed at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC), South Australia, comparing cost by procedure, rheumatic valvular heart disease status, Aboriginality and location.

Methods: This study is a retrospective, population-based analysis of cardiac surgery data held in the Cardiac Surgery Registry cross-referenced to cost data provided by the FMC Department of Finance and Patient Travel, Accommodation and Transport Services at the Royal Darwin Hospital.

Role of radiotherapy in women over the age of 65 after breast conserving surgery for breast cancer: A 5-year retrospective study.

Background/objective: This study aimed to analyse the local recurrence (LR) and breast cancer related mortality (BCRM) in older women who underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS) with and without adjuvant radiotherapy (XRT).

Methods: This retrospective study included a total of 299 women who underwent BCS for early breast carcinoma, between the years of 2007 and 2011. Predictive risk factors, local recurrence (LR) and breast cancer related mortality (BCRM) were assessed with a mean follow-up period of 84 months.

Metformin treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in pregnancy: update on safety and efficacy.

With the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in women of childbearing age, prescribing antidiabetic medications in first-trimester pregnancy is becoming more common. Metformin treatment during this time is usually avoided in countries with well-resourced healthcare. This is based on historical concerns about safety to the foetus and the widespread availability of insulin.

Magnesium and Human Health: Perspectives and Research Directions.

Magnesium is the fourth most abundant cation in the body. It has several functions in the human body including its role as a cofactor for more than 300 enzymatic reactions. Several studies have shown that hypomagnesemia is a common electrolyte derangement in clinical setting especially in patients admitted to intensive care unit where it has been found to be associated with increase mortality and hospital stay.

Impact of Long-Term Erythromycin Therapy on the Oropharyngeal Microbiome and Resistance Gene Reservoir in Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis.

Long-term macrolide therapy reduces rates of pulmonary exacerbation in bronchiectasis. However, little is known about the potential for macrolide therapy to alter the composition and function of the oropharyngeal commensal microbiota or to increase the carriage of transmissible antimicrobial resistance. We assessed the effect of long-term erythromycin on oropharyngeal microbiota composition and the carriage of transmissible macrolide resistance genes in 84 adults with bronchiectasis, enrolled in the Bronchiectasis and Low-dose Erythromycin Study (BLESS) 48-week placebo-controlled trial of twice-daily erythromycin ethylsuccinate (400 mg).

Potential drug-drug interactions with direct oral anticoagulants in elderly hospitalized patients.

Background: To determine the prevalence and nature of potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in elderly hospitalized patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. Inclusion criteria were: aged over 65 years; taking apixaban, rivaroxaban or dabigatran; and admitted to the Repatriation General Hospital between April 2014 and July 2015.

Trimethoprim+Sulfamethoxazole Reduces Rates of Melioidosis in High-Risk Hemodialysis Patients.

Introduction: Melioidosis causes sepsis and death in the Top End of Northern Australia during the monsoonal wet season. Dialysis-dependent adults suffer higher melioidosis rates compared to low rates among renal transplant patients who routinely receive trimethoprim+sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis.

Methods: We performed a prospective interventional study to determine the efficacy and safety of daily trimethoprim+sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis in hemodialysis patients during the wet season, from 1 November 2014 to 30 April 2015.

Pharmacogenomics of CYP2C9: Functional and Clinical Considerations.

CYP2C9 is the most abundant CYP2C subfamily enzyme in human liver and the most important contributor from this subfamily to drug metabolism. Polymorphisms resulting in decreased enzyme activity are common in the gene and this, combined with narrow therapeutic indices for several key drug substrates, results in some important issues relating to drug safety and efficacy. CYP2C9 substrate selectivity is detailed and, based on crystal structures for the enzyme, we describe how CYP2C9 catalyzes these reactions.

Challenges of Diagnosing Viral Anterior Uveitis.

The viral causes of anterior uveitis (AU) emerged with the use of novel molecular diagnostic tests and serologic tests adapted for small volumes (Goldmann-Witmer Coefficient). The viral causes of AU may be underestimated, and some of the presumed idiopathic AU cases will probably be proven to be of viral origin in the coming years. So far, a viral origin of AU was suspected in patients who presented with unilateral hypertensive AU.

Fungal-derived cues promote ocular autoimmunity through a Dectin-2/Card9-mediated mechanism.

Uveitis (intraocular inflammation) is a leading cause of loss of vision. Although its aetiology is largely speculative, it is thought to arise from complex genetic-environmental interactions that break immune tolerance to generate eye-specific autoreactive T cells. Experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU), induced by immunization with the ocular antigen, interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP), in combination with mycobacteria-containing complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), has many clinical and histopathological features of human posterior uveitis.