340 results match your criteria: "The Alfred and Monash University[Affiliation]"

Objectives: Whilst public health measures were effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission, unintended negative consequences may have occurred. This study aims to assess changes alcohol consumption and the heavy episodic drinking (HED) during the pandemic.

Methods: Data were from the Optimise Study, a longitudinal cohort of Australian adults September 2020-August 2022 that over-sampled priority populations at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, developing severe COVID-19 or experiencing adverse consequences of lockdowns.

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Article Synopsis
  • Prisons in Victoria, Australia, have implemented a statewide nurse-led model of care since 2015 to enhance hepatitis C testing and treatment among inmates, crucial for elimination efforts.
  • From 2015 to 2021, 3,133 DAA treatment courses were prescribed to 2,768 inmates, with a significant increase in prescriptions over the years and a median age of treated individuals being 39.
  • The program achieved a 93% success rate in sustained viral response (SVR12), demonstrating the effectiveness of decentralized, nurse-led initiatives in tackling hepatitis C in high-prevalence settings like prisons.
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Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) presents a significant global health challenge, particularly among individuals with liver cirrhosis, with hepatitis C (HCV) a major cause. In people with HCV-related cirrhosis, an increased risk of HCC remains after cure. HCC surveillance with six monthly ultrasounds has been shown to improve survival.

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What Lies Beneath? The Role of Community Engagement in Translating COVID-19 Research Findings to Policy-Makers.

Int J Health Policy Manag

August 2024

Centre for Health Communication and Participation, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.

Background: Community engagement is key to developing local and context-specific strategies for the prevention and control of COVID-19. However, expedited research design and approval in the early days of the pandemic may have limited the opportunities for community members to influence pandemic-related research. In this study, we sought to understand how a Community Engagement Group (CEG) could impact a large longitudinal COVID-19 research project (Optimise), when involved solely in the interpretation and knowledge translation phases of the research.

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Article Synopsis
  • The World Health Organization initiated a fungal pathogen priority list due to the rising threat of fungal diseases, focusing on the epidemiology of Talaromyces marneffei, Coccidioides species, and Paracoccidioides species.
  • A total of 48 studies were reviewed, revealing high mortality rates for invasive infections (up to 22.7%) and frequent hospitalizations for coccidioidomycosis (up to 84%), often with readmission.
  • There is evidence of reduced effectiveness of certain antifungals against some species, with risk factors for mortality related to CD4 counts, and outbreaks commonly linked to construction activities; increased surveillance and further studies are needed.
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The World Health Organization, in response to the growing burden of fungal disease, established a process to develop a fungal priority pathogens list. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the epidemiology and impact of eumycetoma. PubMed and Web of Science were searched to identify studies published between 1 January 2011 and 19 February 2021.

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Introduction: A disproportionate number of COVID-19 deaths occur in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs), where better evidence is needed to target COVID-19 interventions to prevent mortality. This study used an agent-based model to assess the role of community prevalence, vaccination strategies, and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on COVID-19 outcomes in RACFs in Victoria, Australia.

Methods: The model simulated outbreaks in RACFs over time, and was calibrated to distributions for outbreak size, outbreak duration, and case fatality rate in Victorian RACFs over 2022.

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Background And Aims: No direct-acting antiviral is currently approved for acute HCV infection, delaying treatment. We investigated the effectiveness and safety of 8-week glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) in patients with acute HCV infection.

Approach And Results: This noninterventional, single-arm, retrospective chart review was designed to enroll adults/adolescents with acute HCV infection.

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Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are more prevalent in people who inject drugs (PWID) who often experience additional health risks. HCV induces inflammation and immune alterations that contribute to hepatic and non-hepatic morbidities. It remains unclear whether curative direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy completely reverses immune alterations in PWID.

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Point-of-care HCV RNA testing improves hepatitis C testing rates and allows rapid treatment initiation among people who inject drugs attending a medically supervised injecting facility.

Int J Drug Policy

March 2024

Department of Gastroenterology, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia; Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address:

Background: To achieve hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination targets, simplified care engaging people who inject drugs is required. We evaluated whether fingerstick HCV RNA point-of-care testing (PoCT) increased the proportion of clients attending a supervised injecting facility who were tested for hepatitis C.

Methods: Prospective single-arm study with recruitment between 9 November 2020 and 28 January 2021 and follow-up to 31 July 2021.

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All-cause mortality before and after DAA availability among people living with HIV and HCV: An international comparison between 2010 and 2019.

Int J Drug Policy

February 2024

Sorbonne Université, INSERM, Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, iPLESP, Paris, France; AP-HP, Department of Infectious Diseases, Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France.

Background: Among people living with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), people who inject drugs (PWID) have historically experienced higher mortality rates. Direct-acting antivirals (DAA), which have led to a 90 % HCV cure rate independently of HIV co-infection, have improved mortality rates. However, DAA era mortality trends among PWID with HIV/HCV remain unknown.

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Heart failure imposes a significant burden on all health care systems and has a 5-year mortality of 50%. Heart transplantation and ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation are the definitive therapies for end stage heart disease, although transplantation appears to offer superior long-term survival and quality of life over VAD implantation. Transplantation is limited by a shortage in donor hearts, resulting in considerable waiting list mortality.

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Background: Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) is a recalcitrant medical condition that affects many women of reproductive age. The importance of biofilm formation by in RVVC has been recently questioned. This study aimed to elucidate the fundamental growth modes of in the vagina of patients with RVVC or sporadic vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and to assess their roles in the persistence of RVVC.

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Introduction: Antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV-1 must be taken lifelong due to the persistence of latent virus in long-lived and proliferating CD4 T cells. Vitamin D is a steroidal gene transcription regulator which exerts diverse effects on immune and epithelial cells including reductions in CD4 T cell proliferation and improvement in gut barrier integrity. We hypothesised that a high dose of vitamin D would reduce the size of the HIV-1 reservoir by reducing CD4 T cell proliferation.

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Neuropsychological function in psychosis of epilepsy.

Epilepsy Res

October 2023

Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the neuropsychological effects of psychosis in patients with epilepsy (POE), highlighting structural issues in brain networks responsible for cognitive functions.
  • Twelve POE patients were compared to epilepsy patients without psychosis and healthy controls to assess their performance on memory and executive function tests.
  • Results indicated that POE patients performed the worst across cognitive tasks, particularly in working memory, verbal recall, and cognitive control, compared to the other groups.
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Article Synopsis
  • Gay and bisexual men taking HIV PrEP are at a higher risk for sexually transmitted infections, but the risk of Hepatitis C (HCV) among these users has not been well defined.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies found the HCV prevalence among PrEP users is relatively low, with the baseline prevalence of HCV antibodies at 0.97% and HCV RNA at 0.38%.
  • Incidence rates of HCV were generally higher in studies conducted before the widespread availability of direct-acting antiviral therapy, indicating that local healthcare resources and timing can significantly impact infection rates.
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Objectives: Direct-acting antivirals provide an opportunity to eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a public health threat in Australia, yet barriers to care remain. In this study, we use baseline data from a longitudinal cohort of people who inject drugs to understand differences in participant characteristics and explore experiences of stigma, health service utilisation and health literacy between three care cascade groups.

Design: Cross-sectional.

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Background: In 2021, the Australian Government Department of Health commissioned a consortium of modelling groups to generate evidence assisting the transition from a goal of no community COVID-19 transmission to 'living with COVID-19', with adverse health and social consequences limited by vaccination and other measures. Due to the extended school closures over 2020-21, maximizing face-to-face teaching was a major objective during this transition. The consortium was tasked with informing school surveillance and contact management strategies to minimize infections and support this goal.

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Lives saved by public health restrictions over the Victorian COVID-19 Delta variant epidemic wave, Aug-Nov 2021.

Epidemics

September 2023

Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Background: Prior to mid-2021, Australia's approach to COVID-19 was to eliminate community transmission. However, between August-November 2021, the state of Victoria, Australia, experienced an outbreak of the Delta variant that continued to grow despite extensive lockdowns and public health measures in place. While these public health restrictions were ultimately unable to stop community transmission, they likely had a major impact reducing transmission and adverse health outcomes relative to voluntary risk-mitigation only (e.

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Background: Policy responses to COVID-19 in Victoria, Australia over 2020-2021 have been supported by evidence generated through mathematical modelling. This study describes the design, key findings, and process for policy translation of a series of modelling studies conducted for the Victorian Department of Health COVID-19 response team during this period.

Methods: An agent-based model, Covasim, was used to simulate the impact of policy interventions on COVID-19 outbreaks and epidemic waves.

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Anti-infective characteristics of a new Carbothane ventricular assist device driveline.

Biofilm

December 2023

Infection Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia.

Objectives: Driveline infections are a major complication of ventricular assist device (VAD) therapy. A newly introduced Carbothane driveline has preliminarily demonstrated anti-infective potential against driveline infections. This study aimed to comprehensively assess the anti-biofilm capability of the Carbothane driveline and explore its physicochemical characteristics.

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