Surgical resection of chest wall sarcomas: an analysis of survival and predictors of outcome at an Australian multidisciplinary sarcoma service.

Background: Chest wall sarcomas are a rare group of tumours. Surgical resection is considered the mainstay of curative treatment, however, resection and reconstruction of chest wall defects presents complex issues for the clinician.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 59 patients undergoing surgical management of chest wall sarcoma between December 1996 and July 2020 was conducted across a multidisciplinary sarcoma service in Melbourne, Australia.

Early surgical complications of total hip arthroplasty related to surgical approach.

Background: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) can be performed through a number of surgical approaches. The aim was to compare the incidence of early surgical complications in THA related to approach.

Methods: A retrospective review of prospectively recorded data extracted from St.

Cytokines and HIV-1: interactions and clinical implications.

Cytokines play an important role in controlling the homoeostasis of the immune system. Infection with HIV results in dysregulation of the cytokine profile in vivo and in vitro. During the course of HIV-1 infection secretion of T-helper type 1 (Th1) cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-2, and antiviral interferon (IFN)-gamma, is generally decreased, whereas production of T helper type 2 (Th2) cytokines, IL-4, IL-10, proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-8) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, is increased.

Peer-delivered hepatitis C testing and counselling: a means of improving the health of injecting drug users.

We hypothesized that providing injecting drug users (IDUs) with free hepatitis C testing and counselling at a needle and syringe programme (NSP) would be an effective model. Between August 1999 and January 2000, our peer outreach worker offered these services from a busy NSP in western Melbourne. Over 300 counselling episodes were provided, and 47 IDUs who were not tested in the previous 12 months were given tests and full pre- and post-test counselling, and were interviewed about reasons for not being tested, their knowledge of hepatitis C, and their risk behaviour.

Researching Aboriginal health: experience from a study of urban young people's health and well-being.

European colonisation had a devastating effect on the health and well-being of indigenous people in Australia. The history of Aboriginal health research has reflected the history of colonisation; research has understandably been viewed with distrust. The need for accurate statistics and improved understanding of health problems is clear, but obtaining them is not easy.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Nef binds to tumor suppressor p53 and protects cells against p53-mediated apoptosis.

The nef gene product of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is important for the induction of AIDS, and key to its function is its ability to manipulate T-cell function by targeting cellular signal transduction proteins. We reported that Nef coprecipitates a multiprotein complex from cells which contains tumor suppressor protein p53. We now show that Nef interacts directly with p53.

Pumping iron, risking infection? Exposure to hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV among anabolic-androgenic steroid injectors in Victoria, Australia.

Aims: To measure exposure to the hepatitis C and B viruses and HIV among Victorian steroid injectors and evaluate associations between exposure and risk behaviour, and report other characteristics of the study group.

Design: Seroprevalence study using a convenience sample.

Setting: Victoria, Australia.

Tracing and recruiting a cohort with community acquired hepatitis 25 years later.

Objective: We describe the methods used to trace and recruit a cohort (including injecting drug users) 25 years after admission to hospital in Melbourne with hepatitis.

Methods: Information recorded in the original medical record was used for tracing purposes. Subjects were located using the electoral roll, CD-ROM telephone directory, the Health Insurance Commission database, Hepatitis Foundation newsletters, advertising and features in the press and local radio.

Preventive and therapeutic strategies for respiratory syncytial virus infection.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remains an important cause of pneumonitis in infants and in the elderly and immunosuppressed. Passive immunoprophylaxis of high-risk infants with the humanised monoclonal antibody palivizumab reduces RSV-related hospitalisation and admission to intensive care units by about 50%, although optimal and cost-effective use of this agent remains undefined. The development of an RSV vaccine is the focus of much research and recent advances with live attenuated vaccines are promising--several agents are in clinical trials.

Infectivity of wild-type and deleted proviral SIV DNA.

Live attenuated lentiviruses are potentially effective candidate HIV vaccines; however, delivery of these viruses in the field would be problematic. Delivery of attenuated lentiviruses as proviral DNA would be a simple means of immunization, but the efficiency of this method of delivery is not known. In this study, macaques were readily infected following inoculation of plasmid DNA encoding proviral simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac239), whether given i.

Pathogenesis of replication competent retroviruses derived from mouse cells in immunosuppressed primates: implications for use of neoplastic cells as vaccine substrates.

T-cell lymphomas developed in three of 10 immunosuppressed rhesus macaques during early experiments using retroviral vectors to transfer marker genes into CD34+ bone marrow cells for subsequent transplantation in the animals. Direct PCR analyses of RNA obtained from tumour tissues from these macaques revealed the presence of several different recombinant murine leukaemia viruses (MuLV). Most prominent was a recombinant designated Mo(LTR)Ampho(env) in which the amphotropic env of the helper packaging virus was joined to a modified form of long terminal repeat (LTR) of the Moloney MuLV-derived vector that contained an additional copy of the core enhancer.

c-Myb influences HIV type 1 gene expression and virus production.

c-Myb is expressed in proliferating T cells. Fifteen c-Myb-binding sites can be identified in the HIV-1 long terminal repeat (LTR), suggesting that c-Myb may regulate HIV-1 gene expression and virus replication. Increasing the cellular levels of c-Myb by transient transfection of CEM cells resulted in a 10- to 20-fold activation of HIV-1 LTR-driven gene expression and mutation of one high-affinity Myb-binding site within the LTR reduced this activation by 60 to 70%.

HIV seroconverters: using surveillance to characterise people with incident HIV infection in Victoria, Australia.

This paper describes a cohort of people living in Victoria, Australia, diagnosed with incident HIV infection and identified through routine HIV surveillance. All HIV diagnoses notified to the Victorian HIV Registry between January 1997 and September 1998 were included. Infections were classified as incident if there was a prior negative test and/or seroconversion illness within 12 months of the first positive HIV test.

Parent to child transmission of HIV: policy considerations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Background: As HIV spreads through many countries in Asia and the Pacific, women of reproductive age are becoming infected and we can expect increasing numbers of infants to be infected. Rapid advances in knowledge about mother to child transmission (MTCT), new findings from intervention studies, recognition of complex ethical implications, and changing attitudes and behaviours combine to create uncertainty for policy makers.

Objective: Policy makers need sound advice but MTCT and its prevention are complicated topics.

Lipid rafts and HIV-1: from viral entry to assembly of progeny virions.

Background: Lipid rafts are currently an intensely investigated topic of cell biology. In addition to a demonstrated role in signal transduction of the host cell, lipid rafts serve as entry and exit sites for microbial pathogens and toxins, such as FimH-expressing enterobacteria, influenza virus, measles virus and cholera toxin. Furthermore, caveolae, a specialised form of lipid raft, are required for the conversion of the non-pathogenic prion protein to the pathogenic scrapie isoform.

Quantifying complement-mediated phagocytosis by human monocyte-derived macrophages.

The present study demonstrates that SRBC can be opsonized with untreated human serum such that lysis by active complement components is minimal but sufficient opsonization occurs to permit high rates of complement-mediated phagocytosis. Phagocytosis of SRBC opsonized with 2% whole human serum by human monocyte-derived macrophages was quantified in a colourimetric assay. Ingestion of SRBC was shown to occur solely via complement receptors because no phagocytosis was observed when SRBC were coated with heat- inactivated human serum, phagocytosis was augmented by the phorbol ester, PMA, and phagocytosis was inhibited by a protein kinase C (PKC)-specific inhibitor RO 31-8220.

Proteolytic processing of the p2/nucleocapsid cleavage site is critical for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA dimer maturation.

Differences in virion RNA dimer stability between mature and protease-defective (immature) forms of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) suggest that maturation of the viral RNA dimer is regulated by the proteolytic processing of the HIV-1 Gag and Gag-Pol precursor proteins. However, the proteolytic processing of these proteins occurs in several steps denoted primary, secondary, and tertiary cleavage events and, to date, the processing step associated with formation of stable HIV-1 RNA dimers has not been identified. We show here that a mutation in the primary cleavage site (p2/nucleocapsid [NC]) hinders formation of stable virion RNA dimers, while dimer stability is unaffected by mutations in the secondary (matrix/capsid [CA], p1/p6) or a tertiary cleavage site (CA/p2).

Comparison of genotyping and phenotyping methods for determining susceptibility of HIV-1 to antiretroviral drugs.

Objective(s): To compare antiretroviral resistance susceptibility testing of patient HIV-1 strains using genotype and phenotype methods.

Design: Eighteen plasma samples with viral load > 2000 HIV-1 RNA copies/ml were randomly selected for testing by both methods. Disease and treatment data were available for all patients.

FcgammaR-mediated phagocytosis by human macrophages involves Hck, Syk, and Pyk2 and is augmented by GM-CSF.

The receptors for the constant region of immunoglobulin G (FcgammaR) are widely expressed on cells of hemopoietic lineage and plays an important role in host defense. We investigated the signaling pathways during FcgammaR-mediated phagocytosis in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) and examined the effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) on these events. FcgammaR-mediated phagocytosis resulted in enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation of a wide range of cellular proteins and activation of tyrosine kinases Hck, Syk, and Pyk2, as well as the multidomain adapter protein paxillin.

Simian immunodeficiency virus infections in vervet monkeys (Clorocebus aethiops) at an Australian zoo.

A number of monkey species, including African green monkeys and African vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops), are frequently infected in the wild and in captivity with a Simian immunodeficiency virus strain, SIVagm, a primate lentivirus. Up to 50% of African green monkeys are estimated to be infected with SIVagm. SIV strains are very closely related to HIV-2 strains, which are a cause of AIDS in humans, predominantly in western Africa, although cases in Australia have also been reported.

Gag-Pol supplied in trans is efficiently packaged and supports viral function in human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

The intracellular trafficking and subsequent incorporation of Gag-Pol into human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) remains poorly defined. Gag-Pol is encoded by the same mRNA as Gag and is generated by ribosomal frameshifting. The multimerization of Gag and Gag-Pol is an essential step in the formation of infectious viral particles.

Going where the epidemic is. Epidemiology and control of hepatitis C among injecting drug users.

Background: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is continuing to spread among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Australia; other forms of transmission are uncommon or rare. Control of the epidemic of this potentially serious viral infection will only be achieved when transmission among IDUs is addressed.

Objective: To briefly review current knowledge about transmission and impact of HCV, so as to provide an informed basis for patient counselling.

Drug treatment services for ethnic communities in Victoria, Australia: an examination of cultural and institutional barriers.

Under-representation of ethnic minorities at drug treatment services represents under-utilisation rather than a lower need. To explore barriers to drug treatment among ethnic communities we undertook a comprehensive review of international and Australian literature to identify problems their members experience upon the discovery of illicit drug use in their community, how drug treatment is addressed and challenges for improved drug treatment outcomes. The concepts and themes derived from the literature were then compared with our research findings from key informant interviews and consultations with non-illicit drug-using spokespersons from eight ethnic communities in Victoria, Australia.