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The Role of Subinhibitory Concentrations of Daptomycin and Tigecycline in Modulating Virulence in Staphylococcus aureusStaphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections are notoriously complicated by the ability of the organism to grow in biofilms and are difficult to eradicate with antimicrobial therapy.
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Addressing hard‐to‐reach populations for achieving malaria elimination in the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network countriesMember countries of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network are pursuing the regional goal of malaria elimination by 2030. The countries are in different phases of malaria elimination, but most have demonstrated success in shrinking the malaria map in the region. However, continued transmission in hard‐to‐reach populations, including border and forest malaria, remains an important challenge. In this article, we review strategies for improving intervention coverage in hard‐to‐reach populations. Currently available preventive measures, including long‐lasting insecticidal nets and long‐lasting insecticidal hammocks, and prompt diagnosis and treatment need to be expanded to hard‐to‐reach populations. This can be done through mobile malaria clinics, village volunteer malaria workers and screening posts. Malaria surveillance in the hard‐to‐reach areas can be enhanced through tools such as spatial decision support systems
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Fatal Perinatal Mitochondrial Cardiac Failure Caused by Recurrent De Novo Duplications in the ATAD3 LocusIn about half of all patients with a suspected monogenic disease, genomic investigations fail to identify the diagnosis. A contributing factor is the difficulty with repetitive regions of the genome, such as those generated by segmental duplications. The ATAD3 locus is one such region, in which recessive deletions and dominant duplications have recently been reported to cause lethal perinatal mitochondrial diseases characterized by pontocerebellar hypoplasia or cardiomyopathy, respectively.
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A place for neutrophils in the beneficial pathogen-agnostic effects of the BCG vaccineThe BCG vaccine has long been recognized for reducing the risk to suffer from infectious diseases unrelated to its target disease, tuberculosis. Evidence from human trials demonstrate substantial reductions in all-cause mortality, especially in the first week of life. Observational studies have identified an association between BCG vaccination and reduced risk of respiratory infectious disease and clinical malaria later in childhood.
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Protection against neonatal respiratory viral infection via maternal treatment during pregnancy with the benign immune training agent OM-85Incomplete maturation of immune regulatory functions at birth is antecedent to the heightened risk for severe respiratory infections during infancy. Our forerunner animal model studies demonstrated that maternal treatment with the microbial-derived immune training agent OM-85 during pregnancy promotes accelerated postnatal maturation of mechanisms that regulate inflammatory processes in the offspring airways.
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Genetic association study of childhood aggression across raters, instruments, and ageChildhood aggressive behavior (AGG) has a substantial heritability of around 50%. Here we present a genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of childhood AGG, in which all phenotype measures across childhood ages from multiple assessors were included. We analyzed phenotype assessments for a total of 328 935 observations from 87 485 children aged between 1.5 and 18 years, while accounting for sample overlap.
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Catalyst Twenty-Twenty: Post-Traumatic Growth at Scales of Person, Place and PlanetPlanetary health is a broad multidisciplinary effort that attempts to address what has been described as “Anthropocene Syndrome”—the wicked, interrelated challenges of our time. These include, but are not limited to, grotesque biodiversity losses, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, the global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health inequalities, social injustices, erosion of wisdom and civility, together with the many structural underpinnings of these grand challenges.
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Cord blood t cells expressing high and low pkcζ levels develop into cells with a propensity to display th1 and th9 cytokine profiles, respectivelyow Protein Kinase C zeta (PKCζ) levels in cord blood T cells (CBTC) have been shown to correlate with the development of allergic sensitization in childhood. However, little is known about the mechanisms responsible. We have examined the relationship between the expression of different levels of PKCζ in CBTC and their development into mature T cell cytokine producers that relate to allergy or anti‐allergy promoting cells.
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COVID-19 and changes in the National Immunisation Program: a unique opportunity to optimise the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)Christopher Blyth MBBS (Hons) DCH FRACP FRCPA PhD Centre Head, Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases; Co-Head, Infectious Diseases
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Impact of a revised postoperative care plan on pain and recovery trajectory following pediatric tonsillectomyA previous cohort of adenotonsillectomy patients at our institution demonstrated moderate-severe post-tonsillectomy pain scores lasting a median (range) duration of 6 (0-23) days and postdischarge nausea and vomiting affecting 8% of children on day 1 following surgery. In this subsequent cohort, we evaluate the impact of changes to our discharge medication and parental education on post-tonsillectomy pain and recovery profile.