Diabetes in Peripheral Artery Disease: Prevalence, Complications, and Polypharmacy.

: Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and diabetes face high risks of comorbidities, tissue loss, and cardiovascular events. As global type 2 diabetes (T2DM) prevalence rises, so does its incidence in symptomatic patients with PAD, though this population is under-studied in Australia. This cross-sectional analysis sought to characterize PAD patients with diabetes regarding prevalence, major complications, medication use, and prescribing patterns, comparing them to non-diabetic PAD patients.

Design Considerations for Medicinal Cannabis Clinical Trials in People Receiving Palliative Care.

Context: Evaluating medicinal cannabis in clinical trials is important for informing its efficacy and safety in clinical care. Alongside the inherent practical challenges of conducting clinical trials in people receiving palliative care, operationalizing clinical trials with a medicinal cannabis product requires additional consideration of legal, regulatory, ethical, feasibility, pharmacological and product requirements.

Objectives: This manuscript aims to explore these considerations when operationalizing medicinal cannabis clinical trials in people receiving palliative care.

Patients' and providers' perspectives of a dose administration aid strategy to improve cardiovascular disease prevention in Australian primary healthcare.

Background: Hypertension is the most commonly managed problem in general practice in Australia, but blood pressure control is not achieved for most patients. An important factor to consider in hypertension control is patient medication adherence. Use of dose administration aids (DAAs) could increase adherence to medicines and reduce the frequency of medication errors.

Explainable time-to-progression predictions in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Prognostic machine learning research in multiple sclerosis has been mainly focusing on black-box models predicting whether a patients' disability will progress in a fixed number of years. However, as this is a binary yes/no question, it cannot take individual disease severity into account. Therefore, in this work we propose to model the time to disease progression instead.

A randomised controlled trial of a multidisciplinary TEAM-based approach to guide secondary cardiovascular risk reduction for patients with Peripheral Artery Disease (TEAM-PAD) study protocol.

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (1) is a vascular condition associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Effective secondary prevention strategies are essential to improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients with PAD. The TEAM-PAD study aims to determine if a centralised virtual multidisciplinary team (MDT) model of care is effective in improving guideline-recommended secondary cardiovascular risk reduction for outpatients with PAD.

Development and evaluation of text messages designed for people with COPD on the mobile pulmonary rehabilitation (m-PR™) platform.

Objective: To develop and evaluate the ease of understanding and helpfulness of text messages designed to educate, support and motivate people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as part of an eight-week mobile pulmonary rehabilitation program (m-PR™).

Design, Participants, Setting And Outcome Measures: Text messages were developed in an iterative three stage process: i. development of 85 evidence-based text messages by multidisciplinary health professionals.

Genotype and phenotype spectrum of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease due to mutations in SORD.

Biallelic loss-of-function mutations in the sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) gene cause the most common recessive type of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), CMT-SORD. However, the full genotype-phenotype spectrum and progression of the disease remain to be defined. Notably, a multicenter phase 2/3 study to test the efficacy of govorestat (NCT05397665), a new aldose reductase inhibitor, is currently ongoing.

Guidance for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Trials in Ulcerative Colitis: The Second ROME Consensus Conference.

Background: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is emerging as a potential treatment modality for individuals living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Despite its promise, the effectiveness of FMT for treating IBD, particularly for ulcerative colitis (UC), still requires thorough clinical investigation. Notwithstanding differences in methodologies, current studies demonstrate its potential for inducing remission in UC patients.

Consensus recommendations on multiple sclerosis management in Australia and New Zealand: part 2.

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system with rapidly evolving treatment options and strategies. An iterative modified Delphi process was used to develop 80 consensus recommendations for the management of MS in Australia and New Zealand. Part 1 of these guidelines includes recommendations related to selection of initial disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for MS, assessments before commencing DMT, monitoring disease activity on DMT, switching DMT, and discontinuing DMT.

Consensus recommendations on multiple sclerosis management in Australia and New Zealand: part 1.

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and degenerative disease of the central nervous system. There were 33 335 people with MS in Australia in 2021 and 2917 in New Zealand in 2006 and the prevalence and incidence are increasing with time. Although new treatments have substantially improved outcomes in recent decades, the treatment landscape has become increasingly complex due to the expanding number of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) and associated safety considerations.

Detection and management of postoperative atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting or non-cardiac surgery: a survey by the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration.

We developed a survey to describe current practice on the detection and management of new-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) occurring after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or non-cardiac surgery. We e-mailed an online anonymous questionnaire of 17 multiple choice or rank questions to an international network of healthcare professionals. Between June 2023 and June 2024, 158 participants from 25 countries completed the survey.

Pathway Of Low Anterior Resection syndrome (LARS) relief after Surgery (POLARiS): protocol for an international, open-label, multi-arm, phase 3 randomised superiority trial within a cohort, with economic evaluation, process evaluation and qualitative sub-study, to explore the natural history of LARS and compare transanal irrigation and sacral neuromodulation to optimised conservative management for people with major LARS following a high or low anterior resection for colorectal cancer.

Introduction: As a result of improving survival rates, the adverse consequences of rectal cancer surgery are becoming increasingly recognised. Low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) is one such consequence and describes a constellation of bowel symptoms after rectal cancer surgery which includes urgency, faecal incontinence, stool clustering and incomplete evacuation. LARS has a significant adverse impact on quality of life (QoL) and symptoms are present in up to 75% of patients in the first year after surgery.

Prevalence and Treatment Patterns of Anaemia in Individuals With Chronic Kidney Disease Across Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Aim: Anaemia is a significant complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, its prevalence and treatment patterns in Asia are poorly understood. We sought to quantify prevalence of anaemia and its treatment in people with CKD across the region.

Minor head trauma precipitating acute syndromes in neurogenetic disease.

Most minor head injuries have no immediate neurological sequelae. We present a case where acute neurological symptoms followed a very minor head injury, and an underlying genetic cause was identified. We highlight the role that head injuries, even when innocuous, may have in precipitating and worsening a neurogenetic disorder.

Comprehensive care of ulcerative colitis: new treatment strategies.

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory condition of the colon driven by aberrant immune activation. Although advanced medical therapies form the cornerstone of ulcerative colitis management, unmet needs include failure to induce and sustain remission in a substantial proportion of patients and in managing acute severe ulcerative colitis. We review new treatment strategies that might improve patient outcomes in the management of moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis.

Machine-learning based risk prediction of outcomes in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Australia: the AUS-COVID score.

Objective: We aimed to develop a highly interpretable and effective, machine-learning based risk prediction algorithm to predict in-hospital mortality, intubation and adverse cardiovascular events in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in Australia (AUS-COVID Score).

Materials And Methods: This prospective study across 21 hospitals included 1714 consecutive patients aged ≥ 18 in their index hospitalization with COVID-19. The dataset was separated into training (80%) and test sets (20%).

Congenital Titinopathy: Comprehensive Characterization of the Most Severe End of the Disease Spectrum.

Unlabelled: Congenital titinopathy has recently emerged as one of the most common congenital muscle disorders.

Objective: To better understand the presentation and clinical needs of the under-characterized extreme end of the congenital titinopathy severity spectrum.

Methods: We comprehensively analyzed the clinical, imaging, pathology, autopsy, and genetic findings in 15 severely affected individuals from 11 families.

The Association of Physical Activity With Overweight/Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Nepalese Adults: Evidence From a Nationwide Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Survey.

Background: The rising prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a significant public health concern, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to explore the association between physical activity levels, overweight/obesity, and T2DM in a nationwide survey of Nepalese adults.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the 2019 non-communicable diseases (NCD) risk factors STEPS survey conducted in Nepal.

Determinants of medication adherence in patients with acute coronary syndrome: a secondary analysis of a randomised clinical trial.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) remains a leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide. Approximately half of the patients who have had a prior hospital admission for CHD will have a recurrent coronary event, with the majority of these occurring within 12 months. Despite well-established evidence-based therapies, medication non-adherence is highly prevalent and reasons for medication non-adherence are poorly understood.

Vedolizumab serum trough concentrations with and without thiopurines in ulcerative colitis: The prospective VIEWS pharmacokinetics study.

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory condition requiring continuous treatment and monitoring. There is limited pharmacokinetic data on vedolizumab during maintenance therapy and the effect of thiopurines on vedolizumab trough concentrations is unknown.

Aim: To investigate the exposure-response relationship of vedolizumab and the impact of thiopurine withdrawal in UC patients who have achieved sustained clinical and endoscopic remission during maintenance therapy.

Global Perspectives on Returning Genetic Research Results in Parkinson Disease.

Background And Objectives: In the era of precision medicine, genetic test results have become increasingly relevant in the care of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). While large research consortia are performing widespread research genetic testing to accelerate discoveries, debate continues about whether, and to what extent, the results should be returned to patients. Ethically, it is imperative to keep participants informed, especially when findings are potentially actionable.

Move to improve - Prescribing physical activity and deprescribing paracetamol for low back pain: Protocol for a hybrid type III feasibility study.

Introduction: People experiencing low back pain (LBP) could potentially benefit from multimedia educational resources that integrate self-management strategies and improve awareness of the benefits of staying active and about medications that offer limited benefits, such as paracetamol. Primary care waiting rooms are potential spaces for presenting health promotion resources to improve health literacy through the dissemination of easily accessible health information. This feasibility study aims to explore the feasibility of conducting a large-scale trial to investigate the benefits of multimedia educational resources delivered at outpatient physiotherapy waiting rooms of public hospitals to support patients to participate in physical activity and reduce paracetamol intake for LBP.