2,802 results match your criteria: "University of Wollongong and Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute[Affiliation]"

Introduction: Families affected by another's substance use, including methamphetamine, experience harms to their mental and physical health. Yet, research has paid little attention to support and service needs of this population. This pilot study examines the feasibility and outcomes of SMART Family and Friends, a video-conference-delivered mutual-support group targeting families affected by another's methamphetamine use.

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Dietary Intakes of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Impulsivity: Comparing Non-Restricted, Vegetarian, and Vegan Diets.

Nutrients

March 2024

School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, Lipid Research Centre, Molecular Horizons, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.

Background: Research suggests a link between deficiencies in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) and impulsivity among psychiatric populations. However, this association is less evident in non-clinical populations. As omega-3 LCPUFAs are predominantly sourced through fish consumption, non-fish dieters may be more vulnerable to higher impulsivity.

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Designing a standardised emergency nurse career pathway for use across rural, regional and metropolitan New South Wales, Australia: A consensus process.

Australas Emerg Care

September 2024

Northern Sydney Local Health District, NSW, Australia; Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mallet St, Camperdown, NSW, Australia; School of Nursing and Midwifery and Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Experience in the Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia; Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research - Eastern Health Partnership, Box Hill, VIC, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • Emergency nurses are super important in hospitals because they are the first ones to help patients in the emergency department (ED).
  • To make sure they provide the best care, a special career pathway was created for nurses in different areas of New South Wales in Australia.
  • This pathway includes 180 hours of training, helping nurses improve their skills and become experts over time, making emergency care safer and more effective.
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Using an under-utilised rural hospital to reduce surgical waiting lists.

Aust Health Rev

June 2024

Graduate School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Keiraville, NSW 2522, Australia; and Department of Surgery, Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, Scenic Drive, Nowra, NSW 2541, Australia.

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate patient outcomes from a 12-month pilot program establishing specialist surgical services in a small rural (Modified Monash Model, MM4) hospital on the south coast of NSW. Methods Suitable patients for ambulatory surgery were selected based on strict anaesthetic, surgical and social criteria. Skills shortfalls among nursing staff, usually with emergency or inpatient experience, were addressed by appropriate re-training and in-service training in scrub, scout and anaesthetic duties.

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Objectives: Donor haematopoietic stem cell transplantation treats leukaemia by inducing graft-versus-leukaemia (GVL) immunity. However, this benefit is often mitigated by graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which is reduced by post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) alone or combined with tocilizumab (TOC) in humanised mice. This study established a preclinical humanised mouse model of GVL and investigated whether PTCy alone or combined with TOC impacts GVL immunity.

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Background: In this study we compare results obtained when applying the monozygotic twin difference cross-lagged panel model (MZD-CLPM) and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to the same data. Each of these models is designed to strengthen researchers' ability to draw causal inference from cross-lagged associations. We explore differences and similarities in how each model does this, and in the results each model produces.

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Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is a widely used psychiatric treatment; however, it remains contentious. It is therefore important that people are provided with accurate and balanced information before consenting to ECT. The aim of this study was to audit and analyse the content and language of ECT information sheets used in local health districts (LHDs) across the state of New South Wales Australia.

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Introduction: In older people undergoing surgery, there is a lower tolerance for complications. This highlights the need for documented clinical practices on proper prevention, pre-screening and management of complications such as postoperative delirium (POD). Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines exist for delirium management; however, the management of delirium in clinical settings differs widely.

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Implementation Evaluation of an Early Notification Care Bundle for Patients with Hip Fracture (eHIP).

Gerontology

May 2024

Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction: Hip fracture in older adults results in significant mortality and is one of the costliest fall-related injuries. The Australian Commission for Quality and Safety in Health Care hip fracture clinical care standards consolidate the best available evidence for managing this patient group; however, uptake is variable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a multidisciplinary early activation mechanism and bundle of care (eHIP) on patient and health service outcomes.

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Rethinking the tiered trauma team response: A case-series study in a regional trauma centre.

Emerg Med Australas

August 2024

Research Operations, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

Objective: To reduce perceived unnecessary resource use, we modified our tiered trauma response. If a patient was not physiologically compromised, surgical registrar attendance was not mandated. We investigated the effect of this change on missed injury, unplanned representation to ED, diagnostic imaging rates and staff satisfaction.

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In Australia, acute inpatient units within public mental health services have become the last resort for mental health care. This research explored barriers and facilitators to safe, person-centred, recovery-oriented mental health care in these settings. It utilised participant observations conducted by mental health nurses in acute inpatient units.

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Introduction: Studies of health utilities among people who use opioids have mostly been based on in-treatment populations. We aim to report utility-based quality of life by participants' socio-demographic, drug and treatment characteristics, and to examine the determinants of health utility among people who use opioids regularly.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of participants who used opioids regularly, recruited across New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in 2018-2019.

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Concerns have been raised about the possibility of effects from exposure to short wavelength light (SWL), defined here as 380-550 nm, on human health. The spectral sensitivity of the human circadian timing system peaks at around 480 nm, much shorter than the peak sensitivity of daytime vision (i.e.

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Targeting 14-3-3θ-mediated TDP-43 pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia mice.

Neuron

April 2024

Dementia Research Centre and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. Electronic address:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are characterized by cytoplasmic deposition of the nuclear TAR-binding protein 43 (TDP-43). Although cytoplasmic re-localization of TDP-43 is a key event in the pathogenesis of ALS/FTD, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we identified a non-canonical interaction between 14-3-3θ and TDP-43, which regulates nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling.

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There is increasing interest in the potential long-term outcomes of participation in contact and collision sports, driven by evidence of higher rates of neurodegenerative diseases among former athletes. Recent research has capitalised on large-scale administrative health data to examine health outcomes in contact sport athletes. However, there is limited research on outcomes associated with participation in rugby union, a contact sport with a relatively high incidence of head trauma and musculoskeletal injuries.

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Background: Having a strong connection to culture and Country is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of Australian Aboriginal children. The aim of the research was to evaluate the feasibility of study methods and programme implementation of a co-created afterschool cultural programme, and identify areas for improvement.

Methods: Aboriginal Relational Research Methodology and mixed methods were applied to evaluate the feasibility of the implementation of the programme and study methods using a non-randomised single-group study design.

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Executive dysfunction is common in individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and presents a barrier to treatment engagement. The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive remediation (CR) for improving executive functioning and treatment retention in patients with SUD, using a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial. The sample included 527 adults enrolled across ten residential SUD treatment providers in NSW, Australia.

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Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) leads to the establishment of graft-versus-leukaemia (GVL) immunity, but in many cases also results in the development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). This study aimed to determine if P2X7 antagonism using Brilliant Blue G (BBG) could improve the beneficial effects of post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) in a humanised mouse model of GVHD, without comprising GVL immunity. NOD.

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Overexpression of forebrain PTP1B leads to synaptic and cognitive impairments in obesity.

Brain Behav Immun

March 2024

Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Immunity and Metabolism, Jiangsu International Laboratory of Immunity and Metabolism, Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221004, China. Electronic address:

Obesity has reached pandemic proportions and is a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Chronic inflammation is common in obese patients, but the mechanism between inflammation and cognitive impairment in obesity remains unclear. Accumulative evidence shows that protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a neuroinflammatory and negative synaptic regulator, is involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative processes.

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Article Synopsis
  • Blunt chest injuries can lead to serious health issues, and the implementation of the Chest Injury Care Bundle (ChIP) in emergency departments has improved patient care by reducing unnecessary ICU admissions and non-invasive ventilation use.
  • A study was conducted to analyze the financial implications of ChIP across various hospital sites, assessing treatment costs for 1,705 patients, with costs expressed in Australian dollars.
  • While initial results indicated that ChIP treatment costs were higher than standard care, the significant variability in costs across different locations made the overall findings statistically inconclusive, suggesting the need for further cost analysis.
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Olanzapine attenuates 5-HT2cR and GHSR1a interaction to increase orexigenic hypothalamic NPY: Implications for neuronal molecular mechanism of metabolic side effects of antipsychotics.

Behav Brain Res

April 2024

Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Immunity and Metabolism, Jiangsu International Laboratory of Immunity and Metabolism, Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221004, PR China; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute and School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address:

The main cause of second-generation antipsychotic (SGA)-induced obesity is considered due to the antagonism of serotonin 2c receptors (5-HT2cR) and activation of ghrelin receptor type 1a (GHSR1a) signalling. It is reported that 5-HT2cR interacted with GHSR1a, however it is unknown whether one of the SGA olanzapine alters the 5-HT2cR/GHSR1a interaction, affecting orexigenic neuropeptide signalling in the hypothalamus. We found that olanzapine treatment increased average energy intake and body weight gain in mice; olanzapine treatment also increased orexigenic neuropeptide (NPY) and GHSR1a signaling molecules, pAMPK, UCP2, FOXO1 and pCREB levels in the hypothalamus.

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