Quantifying Bite Forces for Solid Foods: Implications for Patients Postmandibular Reconstruction.

Background: Bite forces required to masticate different food consistencies remain unknown, complicating dietary guidelines following mandibular reconstruction. This study quantifies the forces required for solid foods and estimates safe bite limits postreconstruction.

Methods: Twenty food items were prepared according to IDDSI Levels 5 through 7b.

Chronic Pain in Parkinson's Disease: Prevalence, Sex Differences, Regional Anatomy and Comorbidities.

Objective: Chronic pain is prevalent among people living with Parkinson's disease (PD). We analyzed data from 10,631 Australian individuals with PD to assess the prevalence, age and sex differences, severity, anatomical distribution, clinical history, and associated factors.

Methods: We analysed data from 10,631 participants with PD enrolled in the Australian Parkinson's Genetics Study (APGS), an ongoing nationwide cohort.

Dual-functional surface coatings integrating antimicrobial and antibiofouling mechanisms: from material design to application landscapes.

Surface-mediated pathogen transmission remains a critical vector for infectious disease, especially amidst biofilm-associated infections and rising antimicrobial resistance. This review critically examines the emergence of dual-functional surface coatings that integrate antimicrobial and antibiofouling strategies to provide continuous protection against microbial contamination. This paper investigates how recent innovations leverage physicochemical repulsion, contact-active biocides, controlled-release systems, and stimuli-responsive architectures to tackle both microbial adhesion and survival.

Lead Astray? The Hidden Contaminants in Australian Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Market and Their Potential Health Impact.

Introduction: Unregulated anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) markets are a global phenomenon with significant variability in product composition and purity. This study aimed to determine the chemical composition of AAS sold in Australia.

Methods: This study analysed anonymously donated AAS samples.

Weight Change and Accumulation of Chronic Conditions in Women During Reproductive Years.

Objective: We examined the association between BMI change and risk of multimorbidity among women of reproductive age and estimated annual weight gain before and after diagnosis of chronic conditions.

Methods: Data were from 8895 women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health who had no chronic conditions at baseline. BMI from Survey 1 (ages 18-23) and Survey 3 (ages 25-30) defined BMI change categories.

Scalability and scaling-up strategy of a physical activity policy intervention in Australian childcare centres.

There is an urgent need for scalable interventions to promote physical activity in early childhood. An early childhood education and care (ECEC) physical activity policy intervention with implementation support strategies (Play Active) has been proposed for scale-up in Australia. This study sought to assess the scalability of Play Active and describe the Play Active scaling-up strategy.

Factors Affecting Quality Control (QC) Failure Rates in Somatic Breast Cancer (BRCA) Gene Testing in Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer: Experiences From an Australian Cancer Care Centre.

Aims: Castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is a common malignancy with poor prognostic outcomes. Breast cancer (BRCA) genes 1 and 2 mutations occur in prostate cancers and confer poorer prognoses. Somatic BRCA testing can lead to inconclusive results, which can gatekeep patients from accessing targeted medications.

Enucleation for insulinoma: consolidating evidence through systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Pancreas-preserving procedures such as enucleation (EN) are indicated for select patients with insulinomas. Despite the increasing popularity of EN, no consensus has been reached on the preferred surgical approach for the management of insulinomas. The aim of this meta-analysis of proportions is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of EN for patients with pancreatic insulinoma.

Critical thresholds of adult patch density and spacing during coral fertilization.

Climate change and other anthropogenic stressors have severe impacts on the ecological functioning of marine ecosystems by causing widespread declines in population sizes and, for surviving individuals, limiting the capacity for population recovery through sexual reproduction. Ecological theory suggests that affected populations can suffer local extinction because of Allee effects, where reduced population densities prevent gamete encounters, resulting in reproductive failure. Without understanding the relationship between the density or spacing of spawning individuals and fertilization success, coral reefs may unknowingly pass a critical population threshold, further complicating conservation efforts.

Emergence of a carbapenem-resistant atypical uropathogenic Escherichia coli clone as an increasing cause of urinary tract infection.

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales pose a critical global health threat, exemplified by increasing resistance of uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs). Here, we investigate the publicly available EnteroBase dataset and identify a signal of increasing UTI caused by phylogroup A E.

Paternal prepubertal passive smoke exposure is related to impaired lung function trajectories from childhood to middle age in their offspring.

Introduction: Paternal prepubertal passive smoke exposure may increase the risk of childhood asthma. However, its association with impaired lung function trajectories at risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in offspring was not investigated. We assessed the association between paternal prepubertal passive smoke exposure and lung function from childhood to middle age in their offspring.

Role of health communication on perceived risk and influence on preventative behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.

Objective: Risk perception is a key influencing factor on the adoption of preventative health behaviours. This study aimed to understand the role of health communication on how people perceived the risk of COVID-19 and influenced relevant health behaviours to minimise disease susceptibility during the COVID-19 pandemic among people with a chronic disease.

Design: This qualitative study involved a semi-structured interview of participants diagnosed with a chronic disease.

Enhancing dairy-like aromas and reducing beany flavours in mould-ripened soy cheeses.

Plant-based cheese alternatives often lack desirable cheese-like flavours characteristics of traditional dairy cheeses. This study aimed to develop soy-based cheeses with flavour profiles comparable to blue and white mould-ripened dairy cheeses, such as Roquefort and Camembert. Volatile compound profiles were analysed from soymilk fermented with Penicillium roqueforti or Penicillium camemberti.

The power of microbial life for the transformation towards a sustainable planet: key messages from the 2024 IUMS Congress in Florence, the city of the Renaissance.

The 2024 International Union of Microbiological Societies Congress was held in Florence, the city of Renaissance. The theme was to increase the awareness of the power of microbial life, recognizing that it can lead the transformation towards a sustainable planet. The meeting gathered over 1400 experts from more than 90 countries and focused on the transformative potential of microbiology in addressing global challenges and aligning microbial science with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Effect of restricted retail merchandising of discretionary food and beverages on population diet: post-trial follow-up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Background: Healthy Stores 2020 tested a co-designed strategy restricting retailer merchandising of unhealthy foods in a community-level pragmatic, partially randomised, parallel group trial in 20 remote Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community stores. We aimed to evaluate the impact of Healthy Stores 2020 on free sugar sales 24-weeks post-trial.

Methods: Twenty stores were randomly assigned by a statistician using a single sequence of random assignments to the intervention group, in which a strategy restricted merchandising of unhealthy food (either six or seven strategy components), or to a control group of usual retail practice.

An in vivo comparative study of pure Mg and Mg-Zn alloy plates implanted in the mandible of New Zealand rabbits.

Background: Biodegradable magnesium-based implants present significant potential for maxillofacial applications, particularly in mandible fixation, due to their osteoconductive properties and elimination of secondary removal surgeries.

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the in vivo biocompatibility and degradation behavior of pure magnesium (Mg) and Mg-Zn-Ca alloy plates implanted in the mandibles of New Zealand rabbits, providing insights into their clinical viability.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-four male New Zealand White rabbits were divided into two groups and received titanium, pure Mg, and Mg-Zn-Ca alloy plates passively implanted into the mandibular bone surface.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Risk Categories for Prioritising Patients for Best Possible Medication History Completion at a Quaternary Hospital.

Background: The Pharmacist Workload Prioritisation Work Instruction (PWPWI) was developed to optimise clinical pharmacy services, such as best possible medication history (BPMH) completion. Inpatients are assigned a risk category and associated BPMH completion timeframe.

Aim: To determine the proportion of inpatients who met criteria for urgent, high, moderate, and low risk, and the proportion in each category who were reviewed within 24 hours of admission, to inform PWPWI updates.

Place-based rural health professional pre-registration education programs: a scoping review.

Introduction: With an increasing focus on social accountability in program design in response to a shortage of rural healthcare professionals, emerging approaches in pre-registration health professional education (HPE) offer 'place-based' solutions. This review assesses the adoption of these approaches by the international HPE community and describes how programs are designed to recruit and train students 'in place'.

Methods: Utilizing a global scoping review, a search strategy of relevant HPE databases was developed based on the review's eligibility criteria and key search terms.

On-Site and Remote Sensing Assessment of Water Pollution in the Sokolov Coal Basin, Czech Republic.

Effective water pollution assessment is essential for promoting sustainable development, especially in mining regions, where water resources are frequently degraded. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and satellite imagery offer valuable tools for monitoring and evaluating surface water quality. This study aimed to compare the results of on-site water sampling with data obtained from multispectral images captured by UAVs and Sentinel-2 satellites, while also identifying the limitations of these methods.

Fungicide effects on wild plants: insights from a global meta-analysis.

Many studies have investigated plant-pathogen interactions by testing whether fungicides affect plant survival, growth, biomass, and/or diversity. Here, we synthesize these studies using a global meta-analysis of 369 experiments from 62 papers that compared plants treated with fungicide to untreated controls. Overall, fungicide increased the survival of native plant species and community biomass but decreased diversity, mirroring the effects of fencing out vertebrate herbivores.

Projecting Uncertainty in Ecosystem Persistence Under Climate Change.

Global projections of ecosystem responses to increasing climatic and anthropogenic pressures are needed to inform adaptation planning. However, data of appropriate spatiotemporal resolution are often not available to parameterize complex environmental processes at the global scale. Modeling approaches that can project the probability of ecosystem persistence when parameter uncertainty is high may offer a way forward.

Finding the way - nursing staff's perceptions and experiences of outdoor walks with residents in dementia care homes: a qualitative study.

Background: Outdoor walks have been shown to provide physical and cognitive benefits and may help reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in care home residents. However, little is known about how nursing staff perceive and integrate these walks into daily care. This study aimed to explore staff perceptions and experiences of outdoor walks, focusing on their benefits and how to integrate them into routine care.

Machine learning techniques in hepatic encephalopathy: a scoping review.

Introduction: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is defined as a specific type of cerebral dysfunction that encompasses a wide range of cognitive, psychomotor, and psychiatric disturbances. The burgeoning field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly Machine Learning (ML), offers promising avenues for early detection and enhanced control of HE. This scoping review aims to provide a consolidated overview of AI’s role in the diagnosis and management of HE, thereby informing and guiding future research endeavors in this domain.

Facilitators and barriers of lung cancer screening participation: umbrella and systematic review of the global evidence.

Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cancer worldwide, accounting for 2.5 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths in 2022.

Quantitative datasets of societal value, technology and policy for human-water system modelling.

Value, technology, and policy are three interactive societal factors affecting the willingness, capacity, and formal rules of human interactions with water. Existing human-water models generally neglect the dynamic and accumulated processes of these factors, failing to explain the societal causes of changes in water practices. Here we developed nine process-based quantitative datasets of Value-Technology-Policy regarding water.