The impact of contextual socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of residents on COVID-19 outcomes during public health restrictions in Sydney, Australia.

Objective: To investigate the impact of contextual socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of residents on COVID-19 outcomes during public health measures.

Methods: Aggregated data from the NSW Notifiable Conditions Information Management System linked to Australian Census data, by periods of strict and relaxed measures, were used.

Results: During strict measures, residents of areas of lower socioeconomic status (SES) had a higher risk of infection, with the lowest areas having greater risk compared with the highest areas ((hazard ratio (HR)) 7.

Using theory-informed, arts-based research translation to change community attitudes towards people who inject drugs newly released from prison: A randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: Community attitudes contribute to social exclusion of people with incarceration and injecting drug use histories. Interventions that positively impact community attitudes can strengthen efforts to reduce recidivism and support positive outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the impact of such interventions on public perceptions towards people who inject drugs newly released from prison.

Stepping up to the plate: Leadership and local government waste managers opinions of household food waste interventions.

Landfilling of household food waste contributes to global emissions yet remains prevalent worldwide. Achieving net-zero emissions targets necessitates the diversion of organic waste from landfills, placing considerable pressure on local authorities to provide waste diversion services. However, even where policies, funding, and capacity to implement food waste diversion appears to exist, service inconsistencies abound.

To hoard or not to hoard purchased items - does it matter? A clinical cross-sectional study on compulsive buying-shopping disorder.

Background: Research with individuals with compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD) indicated that comorbid hoarding disorder (HD), as determined by questionnaire cutoffs, is associated with more severe CBSD. This study investigated a clinical sample with CBSD and determined the prevalence of HD by clinical interview, explored whether hoarding refers to consumer goods and/or non-purchased, free items, and compared patients with (HD+) and without (HD-) comorbid HD regarding materialism, impulsiveness, general psychopathology, CBSD and HD symptoms. Additionally, the relationship between CBSD symptoms and other study variables was explored in the total sample.

Diagnostic Performance of Artificial Intelligence-Based Methods for Tuberculosis Detection: Systematic Review.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant health concern, contributing to the highest mortality among infectious diseases worldwide. However, none of the various TB diagnostic tools introduced is deemed sufficient on its own for the diagnostic pathway, so various artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods have been developed to address this issue.

Objective: We aimed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of AI-based algorithms for TB detection across various data modalities.

Web-Based Application for Reducing Methamphetamine Use Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: Randomized Waitlist Controlled Trial.

Background: Digital interventions can help to overcome barriers to care, including stigma, geographical distance, and a lack of culturally appropriate treatment options. "We Can Do This" is a web-based app that was designed with input from cultural advisors and end users to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking to stop or reduce their use of methamphetamine and increase psychosocial well-being.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the "We Can Do This" web-based app as a psychosocial treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who use methamphetamine.

Contrasting genetic predisposition and diagnosis in psychiatric disorders: A multi-omic single-nucleus analysis of the human OFC.

Psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder exhibit substantial genetic and clinical overlap. However, their molecular architecture remains elusive due to their polygenic nature and complex brain cell interactions. We integrated clinical data with genetic susceptibility to investigate gene expression and chromatin accessibility in the orbitofrontal cortex of 92 postmortem human brain samples at the single-nucleus (sn) level.

Rationale and design of the Renal Lifecycle Trial assessing the Effect of Dapagliflozin on Cardiorenal Outcomes in Severe Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background: Several clinical trials have shown beneficial effects of sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors on kidney disease progression and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, some subgroups of patients with CKD have been excluded from participation in these trials, such as patients with severely impaired kidney function, patients on dialysis, and kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: The Renal Lifecycle trial (NCT05374291) is a pragmatic, international, multicenter, investigator-initiated, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial planned to enroll approximately 1500 patients with 1) an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≤25 ml/min/1.

Degradation of Glyphosate to Benign N-Formyl Glycine Using MOF-808 Nanocrystals.

Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethyl glycine, GPh) is an industrial herbicide used worldwide in modern agricultural practices. With the growing concerns about cumulative environmental and health effects, pathways for catalytic GPh degradation to benign products are becoming a pressing societal need. This report demonstrates that Zr-based metal-organic framework (MOF-808) with different crystal sizes and designed defect sites can be employed as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the complete degradation of GPh at room temperature.

Hereditary Angioedema with Normal C1 Inhibitor: an Updated International Consensus Paper on Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, and Treatment.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) has been recognized for almost 150 years. The newest form of HAE, where C1 inhibitor levels are normal (HAE-nC1INH), was first described in 2000. Over the last two decades, new types of apparent non-mast cell-mediated angioedema with normal quantity and activity of C1INH have been described, in some cases with proven genetic pathogenic variants that co-segregate with angioedema expression within families.

Interplay Between Pollution and Avian Influenza Virus in Shorebirds and Waterfowl.

Anthropogenic pollution may disrupt wildlife immune function and increase susceptibility to, and ability to withstand, infection. Of particular concern is avian influenza virus (AIV), which in its low-pathogenic form is endemic in many wild bird populations, notably waterfowl and shorebirds, and in its high-pathogenic form poses a threat to wildlife, livestock and people. Many pollutants have immunomodulative properties, yet little is known about how these pollutants affect AIV infection risk specifically.

Validation of the capnodynamic method to calculate mixed venous oxygen saturation in postoperative cardiac patients.

Background: Cardiac output and mixed venous oxygen saturation are key variables in monitoring adequate oxygen delivery and have typically been measured using pulmonary artery catheterisation. The capnodynamic method measures effective pulmonary blood flow utilising carbon dioxide kinetics in ventilated patients. Combined with breath-by-breath measurements of carbon dioxide elimination, a non-invasive approximation of mixed venous oxygen saturation can be calculated.

Metformin therapy modifies corneal neuroimmune abnormalities in people with type 2 diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a debilitating microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus, with limited disease-modifying therapies to date. This study aimed to assess the effect of metformin on the corneal sub-basal nerve plexus as a peripheral neuropathy outcome measure in people with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: A cohort of 36 participants with type 2 diabetes receiving metformin therapy were recruited and underwent clinical assessment, corneal confocal microscopy and nerve conduction studies.

Rest activity rhythm fragmentation and synchronisation are linked with reduced cortical thickness in older adults 'at risk' for dementia.

Study Objectives: While alterations in rest-activity rhythms are common in older adults 'at risk' for dementia, it is unclear how rest-activity rhythms relate to underlying brain integrity.

Methods: Older adults aged > 50 years (n=143, mean age=67) with subjective and/or objective cognitive impairment underwent MRI scanning and 14-days of actigraphy. The following non-parametric measures were computed: intra-daily variability (IV), inter-daily stability (IS), relative amplitude (RA), and average activity during the least active 5-hour period (L5).

Risk communication about high-dose MDMA: Impact of a hypothetical drug alert on future MDMA use.

Introduction: Despite high-dose 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) drug alerts being distributed, no research has been conducted as to changes in use in response. This study aimed to determine if: (i) high-dose MDMA drug alerts, and (ii) varied descriptions of dose, effects and actions to reduce harm were associated with intentions to reduce the initial MDMA dose in a hypothetical scenario.

Methods: Australians who used MDMA pills/capsules in the past year completed an online survey.

Co-Designing a Framework for Social Media Health Communication to Young People: A Participatory Research Study.

Background: Social media became a key communication channel for public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for reaching younger populations less engaged with traditional channels. However, official social media health communication often fails to appeal to young people. Improving public health agency use of social media for health communication is vital to ensure health messages reach this priority population effectively, especially during public health emergencies.

Approach to the patient: Low testosterone concentrations in men with obesity.

Pathologic hypogonadism occurs when serum testosterone is significantly and persistently reduced by irreversible organic (structural, genetic) disorders of the hypothalamic pituitary testicular (HPT) axis. Men with pathologic hypogonadism require life-long testosterone replacement. In contrast, mild or moderate reductions in serum testosterone frequently accompany obesity and its numerous co-morbidities in men and are best considered as non-gonadal illness syndromes, wherein reduction in serum testosterone is usually reversible upon amelioration of the underlying non-gonadal illness.

Postglacial Recolonization of the Southern Ocean by Elephant Seals Occurred From Multiple Glacial Refugia.

The Southern Ocean is warming more rapidly than other parts of our planet. How this region's endemic biodiversity will respond to such changes can be illuminated by studying past events through genetic analyses of time-series data sets, including historic and fossil remains. Archaeological and subfossil remains show that the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) was common along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand in the recent past.

No impact of graft size or time to surgery on anterior tibial translation under weight-bearing following ACL reconstruction.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of graft size and time between injury to surgery (TBIS) on static anterior tibial translation (SATT) and dynamic anterior tibial translation (DATT) after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Methods: A consecutive series of patients treated with primary ACL reconstruction using hamstring autograft was reviewed. Preoperative SATT, DATT and posterior tibial slope (PTS) were measured with a previously validated technique by two independent reviewers on lateral weight-bearing knee radiographs.

Pathways to chronic disease detection and prediction: Mapping the potential of machine learning to the pathophysiological processes while navigating ethical challenges.

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are leading drivers of mortality worldwide, underscoring the need for improved efforts around early detection and prediction. The pathophysiology and management of chronic diseases have benefitted from emerging fields in molecular biology like genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, glycomics, and lipidomics. The complex biomarker and mechanistic data from these "omics" studies present analytical and interpretive challenges, especially for traditional statistical methods.

Participant recruitment and retention in randomised controlled trials of melanoma surveillance: A scoping review.

Background: This scoping review aims to collate and describe data on recruitment, retention, and strategies used to improve these, in randomised controlled trials of melanoma surveillance.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and CENTRAL databases from inception until October 23, 2023. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts, and full-texts, and one reviewer extracted data (convenience sample (n = 5) checked by a second).

Connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease: an approach to treatment amidst an expanding evidence base.

Connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) comprises a heterogenous group of conditions characterised by immune-mediated fibro-inflammatory pulmonary injury. Although the disease course is variable, CTD-ILD can progress to respiratory failure and thus has a profound impact on morbidity and mortality. Systemic sclerosis (SSc), rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic inflammatory myositis, Sjogren disease systemic lupus erythematosus and mixed connective tissue disease can all manifest or present with ILD.

Hyperhidrosis: don't sweat it.

Hyperhidrosis is an under-reported and under-treated condition that causes significant patient morbidity. Secondary causes require consideration, but the vast majority of cases are idiopathic. The condition is encountered by a range of clinicians, including neurologists, dermatologists and endocrinologists, and it pays to be familiar with the range of highly effective treatment options available for the treatment of both focal and generalised sweating disorders.