Shifts in seasonal influenza patterns in Australia during and after COVID-19: A comprehensive analysis.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, seasonal influenza virus circulation was heavily suppressed worldwide. In Australia, since the virus re-emerged in 2022, shifts in seasonal influenza patterns have been observed. Both the 2022 and 2023 seasons started earlier than pre-pandemic norms and were categorised as moderate to severe, highlighting the renewed importance of prevention strategies for seasonal influenza.

An objective and sensitive electrophysiological marker of word semantic categorization impairment in Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: Combining electroencephalographic (EEG) recording and fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) to provide an implicit, objective and sensitive electrophysiological measure of semantic word categorization impairment in Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

Methods: Twenty-five AD patients and 25 matched elderly healthy controls were tested with a validated FPVS-EEG paradigm in which different written words of the same semantic category (cities) appear at a fixed frequency of 4 words per second (4 Hz) for 70 seconds. Words from a different semantic category (animal) appear every 4 stimuli (i.

Estimating the differences in police and hospital records of people injured in traffic crashes in Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia.

The management of road safety relies on data from road traffic crashes to identify priorities, monitor trends and evaluate interventions. Both police and hospital records are important sources of information on crashes that result in injury; however, both are known to be incomplete, with the quality and completeness of data being lower in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study is to estimate the magnitude of the underreporting of crashes in Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia, as a case study that may be applicable elsewhere.

Quality and Safety Indicators for Care Transitions by Older Adults: A Scoping Review.

Objective: To identify quality and safety indicators routinely used to monitor, evaluate, and improve care transitions for older adults globally.

Design: A scoping literature review.

Setting And Participants: This review identified indicators used internationally to monitor and evaluate the quality and safety of care transitions by older adults.

Influence of road safety policies on the long-term trends in fatal Crashes: A Gaussian Copula-based time series count model with an autoregressive moving average process.

Time series analysis plays a vital role in modeling historical crash trends and predicting the possible changes in future crash trends. In existing safety literature, earlier studies employed multiple approaches to model long-term crash risk profiles, such as integer-valued autoregressive Poisson regression model, integer-valued generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic model, and generalized linear autoregressive and moving average models. However, these modeling frameworks often fail to fully capture several key properties of crash count data, especially negative serial correlation, and nonlinear dependence structures across temporal crash counts.

Adherence to Wearing Therapeutic Footwear Among People at High-Risk of Diabetes-Related Foot Ulcers in Jordan.

This study aimed to investigate the levels of adherence to wearing therapeutic footwear, and the factors associated, among people at high-risk of diabetes-related foot ulcers (DFUs) in Jordan. This was a secondary analysis of data from a multi-centre cross-sectional study of participants at high-risk of DFU in Jordan who had therapeutic footwear. Participants had socio-demographic, health, limb, and psychosocial variables collected, plus self-reported their proportion of adherence time wearing therapeutic footwear on an average day (excluding sleeping time) using a visual analogue scale.

Comparative assessment of airborne infection risk tools in enclosed spaces: Implications for disease control.

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, highlighted the importance of understanding transmission modes and implementing effective mitigation strategies. Recognizing airborne transmission as a primary route has reshaped public health measures, emphasizing the need to optimize indoor environments to reduce risks. Numerous tools have emerged to assess airborne infection risks in enclosed spaces, providing valuable resources for public health authorities, researchers, and the general public.

Comparative Analysis of the Therapeutic Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Secreted by Aged and Young Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Osteoarthritis Pathogenesis.

Osteoarthritis (OA), a joint disease, burdens global healthcare due to aging and obesity. Recent studies show that extracellular vesicles (EVs) from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) contribute to joint homeostasis and OA management. However, the impact of donor age on BMSC-derived EV efficacy remains underexplored.

Regulation of Electron Cloud Density by Electronic Effects of Substituents to Optimize Photocatalytic H Evolution of Carbon Dots.

Carbon dots (CDs) have a wide light absorption range, which are promising candidates for photocatalytic water splitting H evolution, but they show low activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) due to the slow transfer efficiencies of photogenerated carriers. The electron cloud density of photocatalyst is essential for the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers. In this study, the effect mechanism of electron cloud density regulated by the substituents with different electronic effects on the photocatalytic HER of glucose-based CDs is clarified.

The living centre: an innovative open-access model of breast cancer survivorship care.

People affected by breast cancer experience a multitude of toxicities and unmet needs across physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and economic domains that adversely impact their quality of life. High-quality and diverse supportive care is required to improve outcomes and rehabilitation for people affected by breast cancer. However, the availability and access to high-quality supportive care services is limited due to factors including cost and demand.

The Australian clinical trial landscape: Perceptions of rural, regional and remote health service capacity and capability.

Background: Access to clinical trials is limited for rural, regional and remote Australians, adding to the current health inequity between rural and metropolitan populations. The Australasian Teletrial Model was developed to bring clinical trials "closer to home". In 2020, the Australian Teletrial Program was funded to expand and support the uptake of the model across six Australian states and territories.

Müllerian anomalies and endometriosis: associations and phenotypic variations.

Müllerian anomalies are congenital conditions characterized by the incomplete development of the female reproductive tract. Women affected by Müllerian anomalies often display additional malformations of the renal, skeletal, and cardiovascular system, and are at a higher risk for infertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Several Müllerian anomalies have been reported in association with endometriosis, but it is unclear if all classes or anatomical variations are associated with the disease.

International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology: Current perspective on rumen microbial ecology to improve fiber digestibility.

Although cellulose has received the most attention, further research is needed for a complete comprehension of other fiber components in forage and nonforage fiber sources corresponding with the array of enzymes needed for depolymerization and resulting fermentation of sugars. The carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) have been described in detail herein, although new information will no doubt accumulate in the future. Known CAZymes are attributed to taxa that are easily detected via 16S rRNA gene profiling techniques, but such approaches have limitations.

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Drainage Cannula for Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

A critical factor in thrombus formation during venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO) is prothrombotic flow dynamics generated by the drainage cannula's design. This study aimed to create and evaluate a novel drainage cannula design which optimized blood flow dynamics to reduce thrombus formation. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to iteratively vary drainage cannula design parameters such as inner wall shape and side hole shape.

A comparative analysis of small extracellular vesicle (sEV) micro-RNA (miRNA) isolation and sequencing procedures in blood plasma samples.

Aims: Analysis of miRNA (18-23nt) encapsulated in small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) (diameter ~30-200 nm) is critical in understanding the diagnostic and therapeutic value of sEV miRNA. However, various sEV enrichment techniques yield different quantities and qualities of sEV miRNA. Here, we compare the efficacy of three sEV isolation techniques in four combinations for miRNA next-generation sequencing.

Unveiling the versatility of the thioredoxin framework: Insights from the structural examination of DsbA1.

In bacteria the formation of disulphide bonds is facilitated by a family of enzymes known as the disulphide bond forming (Dsb) proteins, which, despite low sequence homology, belong to the thioredoxin (TRX) superfamily. Among these enzymes is the disulphide bond-forming protein A (DsbA); a periplasmic thiol oxidase responsible for catalysing the oxidative folding of numerous cell envelope and secreted proteins. Pathogenic bacteria often contain diverse Dsb proteins with distinct functionalities commonly associated with pathogenesis.

Agent-based modeling for the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Cancer is a disease that arises from the uncontrolled growth of abnormal (tumor) cells in an organ and their subsequent spread into other parts of the body. If tumor cells spread to surrounding tissues or other organs, then the disease is life-threatening due to limited treatment options. This work applies an agent-based model to investigate the effect of intra-tumoral communication on tumor progression, plasticity, and invasion, with results suggesting that cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions affect tumor cell behavior.

Epigenome-wide association studies identify novel DNA methylation sites associated with PTSD: a meta-analysis of 23 military and civilian cohorts.

Background: The occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a traumatic event is associated with biological differences that can represent the susceptibility to PTSD, the impact of trauma, or the sequelae of PTSD itself. These effects include differences in DNA methylation (DNAm), an important form of epigenetic gene regulation, at multiple CpG loci across the genome. Moreover, these effects can be shared or specific to both central and peripheral tissues.

Effect of a multicomponent exercise program focused on multivariable fatigue improvement versus standard care for glenohumeral instability: MoveUS study protocol.

Background: Glenohumeral instability is a highly prevalent pathology; however, there are problems in defining it. Traditionally, structural problems such as labral injury or bone loss in the glenoid cavity and/or humeral side were considered the main causes; but recently, it has been seen that motor control plays a very relevant role. This means that currently, there is a disparity of action protocols, and the treatment of this pathology is a great challenge.

The Dynamic and Heterogeneous Effects of COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates in the USA.

Mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 has received intense political and ethical debates, while the literature on the causal effects of vaccination mandates on vaccination outcomes is very limited. In this study, we examine the effects of the announcement of vaccine mandates (VMs) for workers working in three sectors, including health, education, and state governments, on the uptake of first-dose and second-dose vaccination across 50 states in the United States of America. We show that VM announcements have heterogeneous effects; hence, standard two-way fixed effects and difference-in-differences estimators are biased.

Bridging genomics' greatest challenge: The diversity gap.

Achieving diverse representation in biomedical data is critical for healthcare equity. Failure to do so perpetuates health disparities and exacerbates biases that may harm patients with underrepresented ancestral backgrounds. We present a quantitative assessment of representation in datasets used across human genomics, including genome-wide association studies (GWASs), pharmacogenomics, clinical trials, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing.

Binocular Visual Field Loss and Crash Risk: An eFOVID Population-Based Study.

Purpose: Visual field loss poses a high personal cost to those affected, significantly impacting activities of daily living, including driving. However, there is conflicting evidence on the association between visual field loss and crash risk. This study examined the association between severity and location of binocular visual field loss and motor vehicle crashes in older adults aged 50+, using linked population data over a 29-year study period.

Hospital-Acquired Complications in Critically Ill Children and PICU Length of Stay, Duration of Respiratory Support, and Economics: Propensity Score Matching in a Single-Center Cohort, 2015-2020.

Objectives: To identify the health and economic costs of hospital-acquired complications (HACs) in children who require PICU admission.

Design: Propensity score matched cohort study analyzing routinely collected medical and costing data collected by the health service over 6 years (2015-2020).

Setting: Tertiary referral PICU in Queensland, Australia.