Genitourinary symptoms in women with breast cancer: frequency, severity and impact.

Purpose: To improve understanding of genitourinary symptoms (GUS) in women with breast cancer (BC).

Methods: Women with BC completed a survey assessing the type, severity, and impact of GUS experienced, and perceptions of treatment options.

Results: Surveys were completed by 506 women: median age 60 years (range 30 - 83).

Early Intervention Influences 9-Year Speech, Language, Cognitive, and Quality-of-Life Outcomes in Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Children.

Objectives: Early identification of congenital deafness enables early intervention, but evidence on the influence of age at fitting of hearing aids (HAs) or cochlear implants (CIs) on outcomes in school-aged children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) is limited. This study (1) described developmental outcomes and health-related quality of life in DHH children; and (2) examined the relationships among demographic factors, including age at fitting of HAs or CIs, and outcomes.

Design: This prospective cohort study included participants in a population-based study who were followed up at 9 years of age.

Early cardiovascular collapse after envenoming by snakes in Australia, 2005-2020: an observational study (ASP-31).

Objectives: To investigate the frequency, timing, and characteristics of cardiovascular collapse after snakebite in Australia, and the complications of collapse following envenoming.

Study Design: Observational study; analysis of prospectively collected demographic and clinical data.

Setting, Participants: People with confirmed snake envenoming recruited to the Australian Snakebite Project at one of 200 participating Australian hospitals, 1 July 2005 - 30 June 2020.

Antidepressants for low back pain and spine-related leg pain.

Background: Antidepressants are commonly used to treat low back pain and spine-related leg pain. However, their benefits and harms are uncertain. This is an update of a 2008 Cochrane review of antidepressants for non-specific low back pain.

Thrombotic response to mechanical circulatory support devices.

Cardiovascular mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device use triggers thrombosis and haemostatic disorders, which may become fatal if thrombi occlude circulation or cause embolic complications. Consequently, anti-thrombotic medications are administered, which often cannot eliminate thrombosis, and further compromise patient survival by introducing an additional risk of severe bleeding events. MCS thrombosis is induced and affected by the combined relationships of patient pathology, the foreign artificial biomaterial's surface properties, and pathological flow conditions.

The interplay between endothelial glycocalyx maturity and both the toxicity and intracellular uptake of charged nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles are widely studied for delivering treatments to target tissues, but few have reached clinical use. Most nanoparticles encounter blood vessels on their way to target tissues. The inner surface of these vessels is lined with endothelial cells covered by a glycocalyx, an extracellular matrix rich in anionic glycans.

Pediatric isolated oculomotor nerve palsy induced by peduncular atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor: case report and literature review.

Central nervous system atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy. We present the case of a 4-year-old girl with ATRT whose initial clinical sign was acute isolated oculomotor nerve palsy. While initial imaging was interpreted as normal, repeat cerebral magnetic resonance imaging with contrast indicated a compressive lesion in the left side of interpeduncular cistern.

To rescue or not to rescue immature oocytes: Prospects and challenges.

In vitro maturation (IVM) of immature oocytes has been explored for research and clinical purposes since the dawn of assisted reproduction technologies. Oocyte maturation is a highly specific process, based on complex mutual relationships between the germ and somatic cell compartments. The complexity of this relationship has made the quest for achieving oocyte maturation in vitro arduous.

Application of construction waste residue-based compositing fillers in bioretention facility: Intensified nitrogen removal and mitigated by-product effects.

Bioretention facilities (BRF) are widely utilized in sponge cities for stormwater management, but they face challenges in effectively controlling nitrogen due to the instability of traditional fillers. Pyrite has been extensively employed as an electron donor to enhance nitrogen removal; however, it generates by-products such as H, SO, and Fe/Fe that can pose environmental issues. Construction waste residues (CWR), consisting of waste brick and concrete, have been explored as alternative fillers, but they suffer from alkaline leaching problems.

A synthesis of meta-analyses of immersive virtual reality interventions in pain.

The severity and impact of pain can vary greatly, even in individuals with the same physical injury. This variation underscores the need for a variety of treatment strategies in effective pain management. Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology that has been used as a treatment in diverse pain populations and for diverse indications.

Novel cationic dihydropyrrol-2-one compounds as antimicrobial agents and quorum sensing inhibitors.

Antimicrobial resistance has grown to become a global crisis consistently participating in the death of millions worldwide and accumulating costs on healthcare. Quorum sensing inhibition is a new alternative antimicrobial strategy that has been gaining attention due to its ability to suppress the resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). This approach shows great potential in overcoming bacterial resistance and could provide a much needed substitute to conventional antibiotics in the future.

Novel ultrathin Bi@Fe-based metal-organic frameworks nanosheets for efficient solar-driven photocatalytic water purification: Synergistic effect of localized surface plasmon resonance and high-density exposed metal active centers.

Fe-based metal-organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) have been extensively studied as fascinating photocatalysts due to their tunable structure and appealing light response. However, the application of traditional three-dimensional (3D) Fe-MOFs is limited by rapid carrier recombination and inaccessible active sites. In this work, a novel two-dimensional (2D) Bi decorated Fe-MOFs nanosheet photocatalyst was constructed, which exhibits significantly enhanced solar-driven photocatalytic activity due to the synergistic effect of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and surface high-density exposed metal active sites.

A bench-to-bedside narrative review of the sleep-social-oxytocin nexus.

Although recognition of the significant reciprocal interplay between sleep and social processes has grown over the past two decades, theoretical frameworks conceptualising this interplay have predominantly focused on psychosocial factors. The current lack of attention to putative neurobiological substrates and physiological mechanisms that may facilitate the dynamics of sleep-social relationships limits interdisciplinary research into sleep and clinical treatment of sleep problems and disorders. Thus, this narrative review hypothesises that the neuropeptide oxytocin represents a promising candidate physiological substrate underpinning sleep-social interplay, and integrates the endogenous oxytocin system into a novel tripartite biopsychosocial framework-the sleep-social-oxytocin nexus.

Denosumab discontinuation in the clinic: implications of rebound bone turnover and emerging strategies to prevent bone loss and fractures.

Denosumab is a highly effective treatment for osteoporosis, and its long-term use is associated with incremental gains in bone mineral density (BMD) and sustained fracture risk reduction. Stopping denosumab, however, results in rebound increase in bone turnover, loss of treatment-associated BMD gains, and in the worst case, spontaneous vertebral fractures (VFs). Insights into the risk factors and the underlying mechanisms for rebound-associated bone loss and true incidence of rebound VFs are emerging.

Comparative Effectiveness of Different Opioid Regimens, in Daily Dose or Treatment Duration, Prescribed at Surgical Discharge: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Opioids are prescribed for postsurgical pain management, but a balance between achieving adequate pain control and minimising opioid-related harm is required. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of different opioid regimens, in daily dose or treatment duration, prescribed at surgical discharge.

Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and ICTRP was performed from inception to 12 January 2025.

Developmental air pollution exposure augments airway hyperreactivity, alters transcriptome, and DNA methylation in female adult progeny.

Maternal exposure to particulate air pollution increases the incidence and severity of asthma in offspring, yet the mechanisms for this are unclear. Known susceptibility loci are a minor component of this effect. We interrogate a mouse allergic airway disease model to assess epigenetic associations between maternal air pollution exposure and asthma responses in offspring.

Human infant EEG recordings for 200 object images presented in rapid visual streams.

Understanding the neural basis of human object recognition and semantic knowledge has been a significant area of exploration, with recent focus aiming to reveal the developmental trajectory of this core brain function. At present, however, there is limited access to high-quality neuroimaging data obtained from human infants. Addressing this gap, we present a dataset comprising electroencephalography responses from 42 human infants obtained in response to visual presentations of various objects.

Dilatation of the main pulmonary artery in patients with isolated pulmonary stenosis: Arteriopathy or hemodynamic consequence?

Background: Main pulmonary artery (mPA) dilatation has been reported in patients with isolated pulmonary valve (PV) stenosis. The aim of our study was to detect the incidence of mPA dilatation and aneurysm in patients with isolated PV stenosis and the association with PV function.

Methods: In this single-centre retrospective observational study all patients with a diagnosis of isolated PV stenosis referred to our centre were enrolled.

Energy metabolism: an emerging therapeutic frontier in liver fibrosis.

Liver fibrosis is a progressive response to chronic liver diseases characterized by a wound-healing process that leads to the accumulation of fibrillary extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in and around the liver tissue. If left untreated, liver fibrosis can advance to cirrhosis and ultimately result in liver failure. Although there have been significant advancements in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in liver fibrosis, effective therapeutic strategies to reverse or halt the condition remain limited.

Persistent behavioural consequences of chronic adolescent cannabidiol (CBD) in a mouse model with increased susceptibility to Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol and schizophrenia.

Increasingly, the cannabis sativa plant compound cannabidiol (CBD) is used to treat various psychiatric and neurological health conditions which occur in early life or adolescence, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. However, behavioural effects CBD during adolescence have received limited attention, and the long-lasting behavioural consequences of adolescent CBD treatment are unknown. Thus, this study investigated the effects of chronic CBD in adolescence on behaviours in adulthood, in a mouse model of susceptibility to cannabinoid drugs and schizophrenia, i.

Data-driven insights to inform splice-altering variant assessment.

Disease-causing genetic variants often disrupt mRNA splicing, an intricate process that is incompletely understood. Thus, accurate inference of which genetic variants will affect splicing and what their functional consequences will be is challenging, particularly for variants outside of the essential splice sites. Here, we describe a set of data-driven heuristics that inform the interpretation of human splice-altering variants (SAVs) based on the analysis of annotated exons, experimentally validated SAVs, and the currently understood principles of splicing biology.

Impact of hyposalinity on the barrens-forming sea urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii in context with flooding events.

The sea urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii is an ecologically important species in southeastern Australia, where its grazing contributes to the formation of macroalgal-free barrens habitat. While climate warming has facilitated this species southward range extension, climate change is also causing an increase in the frequency of storm-driven hyposalinity events. These events can expose marine organisms to acute or gradual decrease salinity stress, depending on the rate and duration of freshwater influx.

The future midwifery workforce: A survey of the education experiences of midwifery students in Australia.

Aim: To understand students' views on and experiences of their pre-registration midwifery education in Australia, including continuity of care experiences and clinical practice placements and their preferences for future employment.

Background: Increasing the number of midwifery student enrolments and improving student experience are suggested solutions to shortages in the Australian midwifery workforce.

Design: An anonymous online survey.

Risk and triggering factors for diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in primary antiphospholipid syndrome. An observational follow-up study and a systematic review of the literature.

Background: Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) represents a serious, life-threatening complication of primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS), a thrombophilic disorder mainly characterized by vascular thrombosis and/or pregnancy morbidity. Risk factors for DAH in PAPS patients and the comorbidities that may trigger DAH were investigated here in the effort to identify possible independent predictors of DAH in PAPS patients.

Methods: Only PAPS patients fulfilling the Sydney criteria were taken into consideration.