Blink completeness and rate in dry eye disease: An investigator-masked, prospective registry-based, cross-sectional, prognostic study.

Purpose: To investigate the prognostic ability of blink rate and the proportion of incomplete blinking to predict dry eye disease diagnosis, as defined by the TFOS DEWS II criteria.

Methods: A total of 453 community residents (282 females, 171 males; mean ± SD age, 37 ± 19 years) were recruited in an investigator-masked, prospective registry-based, cross-sectional, prognostic study. Dry eye symptomology, tear film quality, and ocular surface characteristics were assessed in a single clinical session, and blink parameters evaluated by an independent masked observer.

Negative impact of self-reported executive problems in patients with functional/dissociative seizures: Results from a prospective long-term observational study.

Objective: Functional/dissociative seizures (FDS) are common and pose a considerable burden on both individual patients and healthcare systems. Cognitive complaints are frequent in patients with FDS. Previous studies on cognitive function in patients with FDS have yielded mixed results.

3-methyl-4-nitrophenol disturbs the maternal-to-zygotic transition of early embryos by damaging mitochondrial function and histone modification.

3-methyl-4-nitrophenol (PNMC), a chemical prevalent in various industries for drug, dye, and leather production, also serves as a primary byproduct of organophosphate insecticides. Despite its global recognition as an endocrine disruptor with documented reproductive toxicity, its detrimental impact on preimplantation embryonic development has yet to be thoroughly investigated. In this study, through the in vitro culture of mice embryos, it was initially observed that even low concentrations of PNMC exposure led to a significant reduction in blastocyst formation and a sharp decline in the ratio of inner cell mass within the blastocysts.

Targeted Cx43 therapeutics reduce NLRP3 inflammasome activation in rat burn injury.

Burns are dynamic injuries characterized by an initial zone of necrosis that progresses to compromise surrounding tissue. Acute inflammation and cell death are two main factors contributing to burn progression. These processes are modulated by Connexin43 (Cx43) hemichannels and gap junctions in burns and chronic wounds.

Dietary Salt-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors of New Zealand Adults Aged 18-65 Years.

Objective: To explore dietary salt-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of New Zealand (NZ) adults aged 18-65 years and assess differences by demographic subgroups.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey conducted between June 1, 2018 and August 31, 2018.

Setting: Participants were recruited in shopping malls, via social media, and a market research panel.

Six months of hybrid closed-loop therapy improves diabetes-specific positive well-being, and reduces diabetes distress and fear of hypoglycemia: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: This analysis aimed to investigate diabetes-specific psychological outcomes among adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) using hybrid closed-loop (HCL) versus standard therapy.

Research Design And Methods: In this multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled, parallel-group clinical trial, adults with T1D were allocated to 26 weeks of HCL (MiniMed™ 670G) or standard therapy (insulin pump or multiple daily injections without real-time continuous glucose monitoring). Psychological outcomes (awareness and fear of hypoglycemia; and diabetes-specific positive well-being, diabetes distress, diabetes treatment satisfaction, and diabetes-specific quality of life (QoL)) were measured at enrollment, mid-trial and end-trial.

Proposal and exploration of a novel score to quantify patient-perceived burden of inflammatory bowel disease under routine care.

Background: The burden of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is often reported on from a system or cost viewpoint. We created and explored a novel patient-perceived burden of disease (PPBoD) score in a large Australasian cohort.

Aim: To create and explore a novel patient-perceived burden of disease (PPBoD) score in a large Australasian cohort, and correlate PPBoD scores with demographics, disease and treatment factors.

Risk factors associated with 30-day mortality following COVID-19 infection in patients receiving kidney replacement therapy in Australian and New Zealand.

Background And Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted greatest among patients with pre-existing chronic health conditions, including chronic kidney disease. This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the 30-day mortality of patients receiving kidney replacement therapy (KRT) after infection with COVID-19, living in Australia and New Zealand between 2020 and 2022, including patients on haemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and renal transplant (KT) recipients.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using data from the Australian and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry (ANZDATA).

Medication compliance by cat owners prescribed treatment for home administration.

Background: Most veterinary literature examining medication compliance has described the phenomenon in dogs. The evidence available regarding factors affecting cat owner medication compliance is limited.

Objectives: Identify and describe factors associated with cat owners' noncompliance with veterinary recommendations for pet medications, as well as client-reported barriers and aids to administering medications prescribed by primary care veterinarians.

Cold Surface Waters of the Sub-Antarctic Pacific Ocean Support High Cyanophage Abundances and Infection Levels.

Cyanobacterial distributions are shaped by abiotic factors including temperature, light and nutrient availability as well as biotic factors such as grazing and viral infection. In this study, we investigated the abundances of T4-like and T7-like cyanophages and the extent of picocyanobacterial infection in the cold, high-nutrient-low-chlorophyll, sub-Antarctic waters of the southwest Pacific Ocean during austral spring. Synechococcus was the dominant picocyanobacterium, ranging from 4.

Assessing the Nutrient Composition of a Carnivore Diet: A Case Study Model.

Background/objectives: The rise in chronic metabolic diseases has led to the exploration of alternative diets. The carnivore diet, consisting exclusively of animal products, has gained attention, anecdotally, for imparting benefit for inflammatory conditions beyond that possible by other restrictive dietary approaches. The aim was to assess the micronutrient adequacy of four versions of the carnivore diet against national nutrient reference values (NRVs).

Efficacy and Satisfaction of a Chemically Characterized L. Extract-Based Food Supplement for Functional Constipation in Healthy Consumers: Preliminary Results of a Questionnaire-Based Survey.

Background/objectives: L. is rich in mucilage and is traditionally used for the management of numerous ailments including gastrointestinal disorders. Functional constipation (FC) is a gastrointestinal condition characterized by defecation anomalies such as infrequent stools, difficulty in stool passage, or both in the absence of pathological abnormalities.

Pacific Islands Families Study: Serum Uric Acid in Pacific Youth and the Associations with Free-Sugar Intake and Appendicular Skeletal Muscle Mass.

Background: Fructose (50% of sucrose/sugar) is one component of free-sugars and is metabolized to uric acid, which is a known risk factor for gout and metabolic syndrome. Pacific peoples in New Zealand experience a higher prevalence of gout, type 2 diabetes, and overweight/obesity than other ethnic groups. Interestingly, despite having a similar body mass index (BMI), they tend to have a higher proportion of appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM) and less fat than other ethnic groups.

Body Image Dissatisfaction Is Increased in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Compared to Healthy Matched Controls but Not Diseased Controls: A Case-Control Study from New Zealand.

: Body image dissatisfaction is elevated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as well as other chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine if the higher rate of body image dissatisfaction in IBD is specific to IBD or characteristic of chronic disease in general by comparing body image dissatisfaction in IBD patients with age- and gender-matched healthy individuals and those with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). : In this New Zealand-based case-control study conducted in a secondary care hospital, consecutive IBD patients aged 16 years and older were matched 1:1 with healthy individuals and T1DM patients based on age and gender.

Impact of Year and Genotype on Benzoxazinoids and Their Microbial Metabolites in the Rhizosphere of Early-Vigour Wheat Genotypes in Southern Australia.

Wheat () is grown on more arable acreage than any other food crop and has been well documented to produce allelochemicals. Wheat allelochemicals include numerous benzoxazinoids and their microbially transformed metabolites that actively suppress growth of weed seedlings. Production and subsequent release of these metabolites by commercial wheat cultivars, however, has not yet been targeted by focussed breeding programmes seeking to develop more competitive crops.

Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices Among Sri Lankan Veterinarians for Common Medical Conditions in Companion Animals.

Veterinarians are essential in antimicrobial stewardship. Companion animal (CA) practitioners have recently received more attention. There are few relevant studies on CA antimicrobial prescribing practices in South Asia.

Animal as the Solution II: Phenotyping for Low Milk Urea Nitrogen A1PF Dairy Cows.

The societal pressure on intensive pastoral dairying demands the search for strategies to reduce the amount of N flowing through and excreted by dairy cows. One of the strategies that is being currently explored focuses on the animal as a solution, as there are differences in N metabolism between cows even within the same herd. This work was conducted to explore such an approach in A1PF herds in New Zealand and the possibility of identifying A1PF cows that are divergent for milk urea nitrogen (MUN) concentration through phenotyping as a potential viable strategy to reduce N leaching and emissions from temperate dairy systems.

Assessing the physical activity training needs and preferences of community health workers in South Africa.

Background: Emerging work highlights the potential of community health workers (CHWs) to promote physical activity (PA) as a part of their role in preventing and managing non-communicable diseases. However, little is known about CHW preferences and desires towards receiving PA training.

Methods: Community health promoters (CHPs), a type of CHWs in South Africa, from seven health districts in Johannesburg participated in a day-long in-service training on PA and healthy eating.

Regulatory responses to ultra-processed foods are skewed towards behaviour change and not food system transformation.

Growing evidence suggests that diets high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are harming human and planetary health. UPFs therefore pose a complex regulatory challenge, yet, to date, little research has systematically assessed how governments have responded to UPFs in national food policies. Here we analyse data from the NOURISHING database to assess the scope and strength of UPF-related regulatory interventions worldwide, using three frameworks-namely, NOURISHING, the Nuffield Ladder and the Modalities of Control framework.

Adjunctive Fresh Frozen Plasma Versus Adjunctive Cryoprecipitate in Cardiac Surgery Patients Receiving Platelets for Perioperative Bleeding.

Objective(s): This study was designed to assess the relative association between adjunctive fresh frozen plasma (FFP) or adjunctive cryoprecipitate and morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery patients receiving platelets for perioperative bleeding.

Design: Retrospective cohort study using inverse probability of treatment weighting with entropy balancing.

Setting: Multi-institutional study of 58 centers using the Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons National Cardiac Surgery Database from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2021.

Digestion of gluten-derived immunogenic peptides along the gastrointestinal tract of the growing pig as a model for the adult human is enhanced with simultaneous consumption of exogenous proteases.

Background And Aims: Digestion of gluten-derived immunogenic peptides along the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is not well established. This study aimed to map the digestion of gluten-derived immunogenic peptides along the GIT using the growing pig as a human adult model, and actinidin as a model exogenous protease.

Methods: Entire male pigs 9 weeks of age (n=54, 19.

Menstrual health symptoms and literacy among young women in Aotearoa New Zealand: A nationwide cross-sectional survey.

Study Objective: To explore menstrual cycle symptoms, information sources and menstrual health literacy in young women (aged 13-25) and those who menstruate in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional online survey in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Participants: 1334 respondents (age 13-25 years, mean age 19.

Peroxidasin is associated with a mesenchymal-like transcriptional phenotype and promotes invasion in metastatic melanoma.

Cutaneous melanoma is a highly invasive, heterogeneous and treatment resistant cancer. It's ability to dynamically shift between transcriptional states or phenotypes results in an adaptive cell plasticity that may drive cancer cell invasion or the development of therapy resistance. The expression of peroxidasin (PXDN), an extracellular matrix peroxidase, has been proposed to be associated with the invasive metastatic melanoma phenotype.