Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Sex Transm Infect 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Objectives: We aimed to characterise patterns of anal and oral detection of among men who have sex with men (MSM) with early syphilis.

Methods: 200 MSM with serologically confirmed primary, secondary and early latent syphilis were tested with PCR using an anal canal swab, oral rinse, plus swabs from any anal and oral lesions in a prospective, cross-sectional study. Anal and oral cycle threshold values were compared between subsets of men and according to rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titre. Read More

BMJ Open 2022 May 26;12(5):e055674. Epub 2022 May 26.

Discipline of Women's Health, University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Objectives: To explore Australian healthcare providers' (HCPs') preferred content, format and access to education regarding long-term health after hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP), in order to guide the development of education programmes.

Design And Setting: A qualitative study using a framework analysis was undertaken. Registered HCP who were practising in Australia and previously completed a survey about long-term health after HDP were invited to participate. Read More

BMJ Health Care Inform 2022 May;29(1)

Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Objective: To explore emergency department (ED) and urgent care (UC) clinicians' perceptions of digital access to patients' past medical history (PMH).

Methods: An online survey compared anticipated and actual value of access to digital PMH. UTAUT2 (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2) was used to assess technology acceptance. Read More

Environ Pollut 2022 May 23:119498. Epub 2022 May 23.

Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.

In this study, changes in PFAS leachability and bioavailability were determined following the application of RemBind®100 (R100) and RemBind®300 (R300; 1-10% w/w) to PFAS-contaminated soil (Ʃ PFAS 3.093-32.78 mg kg). Read More

Chemosphere 2022 May 23:135033. Epub 2022 May 23.

School of Computing, Australian National University, 145 Science Road, Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia. Electronic address:

The economic and social future of nanotechnology depends on our ability and manufacture nanomaterials that avoid potential toxicity, by identifying them before they are made, used and released into the environment. Safety-by-design is a framework for including these issues at an early stage of the development process, buy balancing multiple nanoparticle properties and selection criteria remains challenging. Based on a synthetic data set of over 19,000 possible sunscreen product specifications, we have used multi-target machine learning to predict the corresponding size, shape, concentration and polytype of titania nanoparticle additives. Read More

Environ Res 2022 May 23:113556. Epub 2022 May 23.

School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, 288 Herston Road, Herston, QLD, 4006, Australia. Electronic address:

Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with risk of asthma attacks. We investigated the association between ultra-short-term exposure to air pollution and risk of childhood asthma exacerbations. Hourly data on emergency department visits (EDVs) for asthma in children during 2013-2015 in Brisbane, Australia, were obtained. Read More

Lancet Microbe 2022 May 23. Epub 2022 May 23.

Key Laboratory of Aetiology and Epidemiology of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Universities of Shandong, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Tai'an, China; School of Public Health, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Tai'an, China. Electronic address:

Background: Chlamydia psittaci can infect a wide range of avian species, occasionally causing psittacosis (also known as parrot fever) in humans. Most human psittacosis cases are associated with close contact with pet birds or poultry. In December, 2020, an outbreak of severe community-acquired pneumonia of unknown aetiology was reported in a hospital in Shandong province, China, and some of the patients' close contacts had respiratory symptoms. Read More

Ultrason Sonochem 2022 May 18;86:106041. Epub 2022 May 18.

School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia. Electronic address:

The current work features process parameters for the ultrasound (25 kHz)-assisted fabrication of polydopamine-shelled perfluorocarbon (PDA/PFC) emulsion droplets with bimodal (modes at 100-600 nm and 1-6 µm) and unimodal (200-600 nm) size distributions. Initial screening of these materials revealed that only PDA/PFC emulsion droplets with bimodal distributions showed photoacoustic signal enhancement due to large size of their optically absorbing PDA shells. Performance of this particular type of emulsion droplets as photoacoustic agents were evaluated in Intralipid®-India ink media, mimicking the optical scattering and absorbanceof various tissuetypes. Read More

J Environ Manage 2022 May 23;317:115298. Epub 2022 May 23.

NSW Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries), Grafton, NSW, Australia; Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Qld, 4111, Australia.

Seizure 2022 May 18;99:91-98. Epub 2022 May 18.

Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

Objectives: To compare academic performance and high school completion of young people admitted to hospital with epilepsy and matched peers from the general population not admitted to hospital with epilepsy during the study period.

Methods: A population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalised with epilepsy during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia, using linked birth, health, education, and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, sex, and residential postcode. Read More

Soc Sci Med 2022 May 19;305:115047. Epub 2022 May 19.

Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Copland Building #24, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia; University of Southern Queensland, 487-535 West Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, 4350, Australia.

In many settler-colonial countries, Indigenous people do not access disability services at rates commensurate with disability prevalence. Existing research suggests that services often do not reflect Indigenous values and social practices, impacting on accessibility. Furthermore, disability services have historically been implicated in processes of colonisation. Read More

Mar Pollut Bull 2022 May 23;180:113752. Epub 2022 May 23.

Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, South Korea. Electronic address:

This is the first study to analyze the whole-genome sequence of B. manjavacas Australian (Aus.) strain through combination of Oxford Nanopore long-read seq, resulting in a total length of 108. Read More

J Interpers Violence 2022 May 26:8862605221102480. Epub 2022 May 26.

School of Health Sciences and Social Work, 63617Griffith University, QLD Australia.

Although the impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) is well documented in the international literature, little is known about the critical points of recovery across the life course for survivors of institutional CSA. The aim of this study was to identify critical points, or events across the life course that may increase, or decrease, a survivor's vulnerability to the complex traumatization of institutional CSA (ICSA). The sample consisted of two hundred and forty-eight witness statements extracted from the 56 publicly available case studies presented to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse during 2013-2016 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). Read More

J Patient Saf 2022 May 22. Epub 2022 May 22.

Health and Medical Research Office, Australian Government Department of Health, Canberra, Australia.

Objectives: Despite increased emphasis on education and training for patient safety in medical schools, there is little known about factors influencing decision making regarding patient safety behaviors. This study examined the nature and magnitude of factors that may influence opinions around patient safety-related behaviors as a means of providing insights into how Australian doctors and medical students view these issues relative to members of the public.

Methods: A national, multicenter, prospective, cross-sectional survey was conducted using responses to hypothetical patient safety scenarios involving the following: fabricating results, personal protective equipment, presenteeism, and reporting concerns. Read More

J Patient Saf 2022 May 25. Epub 2022 May 25.

Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Background: Making a medical error is a uniquely challenging psychosocial experience for clinicians. Feelings of personal responsibility, coupled with distress regarding potential or actual patient harm resulting from a mistake, create a dual burden. Over the past 20 years, experiential accounts of making an error have provided evidence of the associated distress and impacts. Read More

J Patient Saf 2022 Jun 15;18(4):337-341. Epub 2021 Oct 15.

From the School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

Objective: Concerns have been raised over the appropriateness of dosing of direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in clinical practice. We investigated this issue in patients who were initiated on a DOAC in Australian general practices.

Methods: This was a retrospective study among patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF) who were prescribed DOACs, using data obtained from 417 general practice sites across Australia over 8 years (2011-2019). Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022 May 26;119(22):e2116021119. Epub 2022 May 26.

Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Ministère de la Culture, UVSQ, MNHN, IPANEMA, F-91192 Saint-Aubin, France.

Significance For millennia, Aboriginal Australian peoples have used the extraordinary physicochemical properties of plant exudates from practical applications to cultural expression. We employ state-of-the-art spectroscopy to characterize the molecular compositions of well-preserved, native Australian plant exudates (, , , and ) from a historic collection assembled over a century ago. This work demonstrates the benefits of X-ray Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of these complex natural systems. Read More

Science 2022 May 26;376(6596):1012-1016. Epub 2022 May 26.

Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

The rate of adaptive evolution, the contribution of selection to genetic changes that increase mean fitness, is determined by the additive genetic variance in individual relative fitness. To date, there are few robust estimates of this parameter for natural populations, and it is therefore unclear whether adaptive evolution can play a meaningful role in short-term population dynamics. We developed and applied quantitative genetic methods to long-term datasets from 19 wild bird and mammal populations and found that, while estimates vary between populations, additive genetic variance in relative fitness is often substantial and, on average, twice that of previous estimates. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.

Achieving stable long-term mainstream nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) suppression is the bottleneck for the novel partial nitrification (PN) process toward energy- and carbon-efficient wastewater treatment. However, long-term PN stability remains a challenge due to NOB adaptation. This study proposed and demonstrated a novel strategy for achieving NOB suppression by the primary treatment of mainstream wastewater with a forward osmosis (FO) membrane process, which facilitated two external NOB inhibition factors (salinity and free nitrous acid, FNA). Read More

Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2022 May;33(5):e13781

Tropical Futures Institute, James Cook University Singapore, Singapore.

Background: Clinical cross-reactivity between bony fish, cartilaginous fish, frog, and chicken muscle has previously been demonstrated in fish-allergic patients. In indicative studies, two reports of anaphylaxis following the consumption of crocodile meat and IgE-cross-binding were linked to the major fish allergen parvalbumin (PV). This study investigates IgE-binding proteins in crocodile meat with a focus on PV and their clinical relevance. Read More

Sports Med 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

Performance, Hydration and Thermoregulation Laboratory, Faculty of Physical Activity Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, 2500 boul. de l'Université, Sherbrooke, P.Q., J1K 2R1, Canada.

Background: Heat is associated with physiological strain and endurance performance (EP) impairments. Studies have investigated the impact of caffeine intake upon EP and core temperature (C) in the heat, but results are conflicting. There is a need to systematically determine the impact of pre-exercise caffeine intake in the heat. Read More

Acta Parasitol 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

Parasitology Section, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.

Purpose: To confirm the identity of Longicollum edmondsi Golvan, 1969, Pomphorhynchidae Yamaguti, 1939, from Australia.

Methods: All the relevant specimens registered in Australian museums were examined. Those held as permanent slide preparations were examined directly and those stored in 70% ethanol were examined as temporary wet mounts, after clearing in lactophenol, using an Olympus BH-2 microscope with differential interference optics. Read More

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, 2006, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Maternal-infant bonding is important for children's positive development. Poor maternal-infant bonding is a risk factor for negative mother and infant outcomes. Although researchers have examined individual predictors of maternal-infant bonding, studies typically do not examine several concurrent and longitudinal predictors within the same model. Read More

Carbon Balance Manag 2022 May 26;17(1). Epub 2022 May 26.

School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia.

Background: Uncontrolled wildfires in Australian temperate Eucalyptus forests produce significant smoke emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO) and particulates. Emissions from fires in these ecosystems, however, have received less research attention than the fires in North American conifer forests or frequently burned Australian tropical savannas. Here, we use the 2013 Forcett-Dunalley fire that caused the first recorded pyrocumulonimbus event in Tasmania, to understand CO and particulate matter (PM) emissions from a severe Eucalyptus forest fire. Read More

ACS Nano 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.

Two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have served as favorable prototypes for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Despite promising catalytic activity, their OER reaction kinetics are still limited by the sluggish four-electron transfer process. Herein, we develop a ferrocene carboxylic acid (FcCA) partially substituted cobalt-terephthalic acid (CoBDC) catalyst with a bifunctional microreactor composed of two species of Co active sites and ligand FcCA (CoBDC FcCA). Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Queensland.

Objective: Australian federal, state and territory government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been subject to public oversight by various domestic inquiries and investigations, despite little analysis about what accountability these processes deliver in the context of public health emergencies (PHEs) involving communicable disease. This article identifies and describes recent inquiries and investigations. It examines their ability to promote accountability through mechanisms of answerability (information and justification) and enforceability (sanctions). Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Queensland.

Objectives: To evaluate the secondary prevention of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in the Townsville region, Australia.

Methods: Adherence to benzathine benzylpenicillin G (BPG) was determined for 196 children and young adults aged under 22 years between January 2009 and December 2019, and factors associated with BPG adherence were analysed. Secondary outcomes included attendance at specialist reviews and echocardiograms. Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

NCD Alliance, London, United Kingdom.

Objective: The roles of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in regulating harmful commodity industries (HCIs) are understudied. The aim of this paper is to identify the NGOs and the roles that they play in the governance of the ultra-processed food and alcohol industries in Australia.

Methods: We undertook an exploratory descriptive analysis of NGOs identified from an online search based on the typology we developed of type, issue area and governance function. Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Western Australia.

Objective: To identify a brand, key messages and resources to underpin a public health approach to food allergy prevention.

Methods: A focus group design was used to explore perceptions and opinions of potential brands, infant feeding messages and resources for providing standardised food allergy prevention information. Focus groups were conducted in February 2018 using interview guides and were transcribed verbatim. Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2022 May 26. Epub 2022 May 26.

Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory.

Objective: In the Northern Territory, people who commit drink driving offences are required to undertake an approved course or treatment to be eligible for a driver's licence, however, course uptake is low. We investigated barriers to program uptake.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 program attendees, course providers and government stakeholders. Read More