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The 2021 Resolution on Oral Health by the 74th World Health Assembly supports an important health policy direction: inclusion of oral health in universal health coverage. Many healthcare systems worldwide have not yet addressed oral diseases effectively. The adoption of value-based healthcare (VBHC) reorients health services towards outcomes. Evidence indicates that VBHC initiatives are improving health outcomes, client experiences of healthcare, and reducing costs to healthcare systems. No comprehensive VBHC approach has been applied to the oral health context. Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV), an Australian state government entity, commenced a VBHC agenda in 2016 and is continuing its efforts in oral healthcare reform. This paper explores a VBHC case study showing promise for achieving universal health coverage that includes oral health. DHSV applied the VBHC due to its flexibility in scope, consideration of a health workforce with a mix of skills, and alternative funding models other than fee-for-service.

Males are at higher risk of death by suicide than females in Australia, and among men, blue-collar males are at higher risk compared to other working males. In response, MATES in Construction developed a workplace suicide prevention program for the construction sector in 2007 that has been widely implemented in Australia. In the current project, this program is being adapted and trialled in the manufacturing sector. The common aims of MATES programs are to improve suicide prevention literacy, help-seeking intentions, and helping behaviours. The program will be evaluated using a cluster randomised-controlled trial design with waitlist controls across up to 12 manufacturing worksites in Australia. We hypothesise that after 8 months of the MATES in Manufacturing program, there will be significantly greater improvements in help-seeking intentions (primary outcome) compared to waitlist controls. The project is led by Deakin University in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and in partnership with MATES in Construction and a joint labour-management Steering Group. Trial registration: The trial was registered retrospectively with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on 25 January 2022 (ACTRN12622000122752). Protocol version: 2.0, November 2022.

Variation at 14 microsatellite loci was surveyed in 26 chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta populations from Japan, one population from West Kamchatka and three populations from North America to determine population structure. Microsatellites were then applied to estimate stock composition of chum salmon in mixed-stock fisheries. The genetic differentiation index ( F st ) over all populations and loci was 0.031, with individual locus values ranging from 0.010 to 0.081. Seven regional populations were observed in Japanese chum salmon, with late-run populations from the Pacific Coast of Honshu the most distinct. Japanese populations displayed greater genetic diversity than did those in North America. Transplantation history in some Japanese river populations influenced their present genetic characteristics. Analysis of simulated mixtures from fishery sampling suggested that accurate and precise regional estimates of stock composition should be produced when the microsatellites were used to estimate stock compositions. Stock compositions for a 2005 sample of maturing, migrating chum salmon off the north-west coast of Hokkaido near the border of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk indicated that this region may be a migration corridor for Hokkaido populations from the Sea of Japan coast. Microsatellites have the ability to provide fine-scale resolution of stock composition in Japanese coastal fisheries.

The authors employ targeted next-generation sequencing to identify driving oncogenic alterations in patients with lung cancer with no known oncogenes. They discover two gene fusions involving NTRK1 that lead to constitutive activation of the kinase TRKA and can drive transformation. The fusions can be targeted with available kinase inhibitors and may represent therapeutic targets. We identified new gene fusions in patients with lung cancer harboring the kinase domain of the NTRK1 gene that encodes the high-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (TRKA protein). Both the MPRIP - NTRK1 and CD74 - NTRK1 fusions lead to constitutive TRKA kinase activity and are oncogenic. Treatment of cells expressing NTRK1 fusions with inhibitors of TRKA kinase activity inhibited autophosphorylation of TRKA and cell growth. Tumor samples from 3 of 91 patients with lung cancer (3.3%) without known oncogenic alterations assayed by next-generation sequencing or fluorescence in situ hybridization demonstrated evidence of NTRK1 gene fusions.

This study deals with the preparation and characterization of platinum/reduced graphene oxide (Pt/rGO) as an efficient cathode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Herein, the Pt/rGO material was synthesized by co-precipitation from hexachloroplatinic acid (H 2 PtCl 6 ) and graphene oxide (GO) precursors. The fabrication of cathodes from Pt/rGO composite paste was carried out using screen-printing paste. The electrochemical behaviors of as-prepared cathodes were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry; the performance of fabricated DSSCs was measured by current density–voltage (J-V) curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The structural characteristics of the Pt/rGO binary composites were confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy. Empirical data showed that choosing ascorbic acid as a reducing agent at a ratio of 5:1 between ascorbic acid weight and precursor mixture weight, as well as a GO weight percentage of 20% fabricated DSSCs successfully with a conversion efficiency of 6.25%, which was approximately 90% compared to that of pure commercial Pt material. Characterization results indicated that the Pt nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed on the rGO sheets with an average diameter of less than 25 nm. The Pt/rGO hybrid composite is highly expected to replace Pt in the fabrication of cathodes in DSSCs for low-cost DSSC production in the promising future.

Antidepressants have been shown to improve longevity in C. elegans . It is plausible that orthologs of genes involved in mood regulation and stress response are involved in such an effect. We sought to understand the underlying biology. First, we analyzed the transcriptome from worms treated with the antidepressant mianserin, previously identified in a large-scale unbiased drug screen as promoting increased lifespan in worms. We identified the most robust treatment-related changes in gene expression, and identified the corresponding human orthologs. Our analysis uncovered a series of genes and biological pathways that may be at the interface between antidepressant effects and longevity, notably pathways involved in drug metabolism/degradation (nicotine and melatonin). Second, we examined which of these genes overlap with genes which may be involved in depressive symptoms in an aging non-psychiatric human population ( n =3577), discovered using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach in a design with extremes of distribution of phenotype. Third, we used a convergent functional genomics (CFG) approach to prioritize these genes for relevance to mood disorders and stress. The top gene identified was ANK3 . To validate our findings, we conducted genetic and gene-expression studies, in C. elegans and in humans. We studied C. elegans inactivating mutants for ANK3 / unc-44 , and show that they survive longer than wild-type, particularly in older worms, independently of mianserin treatment. We also show that some ANK3 / unc-44 expression is necessary for the effects of mianserin on prolonging lifespan and survival in the face of oxidative stress, particularly in younger worms. Wild-type ANK3 / unc-44 increases in expression with age in C. elegans , and is maintained at lower youthful levels by mianserin treatment. These lower levels may be optimal in terms of longevity, offering a favorable balance between sufficient oxidative stress resistance in younger worms and survival effects in older worms. Thus, ANK3 / unc-44 may represent an example of antagonistic pleiotropy, in which low-expression level in young animals are beneficial, but the age-associated increase becomes detrimental. Inactivating mutations in ANK3 / unc-44 reverse this effect and cause detrimental effects in young animals (sensitivity to oxidative stress) and beneficial effect in old animals (increased survival). In humans, we studied if the most significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) for depressive symptoms in ANK3 from our GWAS has a relationship to lifespan, and show a trend towards longer lifespan in individuals with the risk allele for depressive symptoms in men (odds ratio (OR) 1.41, P =0.031) but not in women (OR 1.08, P =0.33). We also examined whether ANK3 , by itself or in a panel with other top CFG-prioritized genes, acts as a blood gene-expression biomarker for biological age, in two independent cohorts, one of live psychiatric patients ( n =737), and one of suicide completers from the coroner’s office ( n =45). We show significantly lower levels of ANK3 expression in chronologically younger individuals than in middle age individuals, with a diminution of that effect in suicide completers, who presumably have been exposed to more severe and acute negative mood and stress. Of note, ANK3 was previously reported to be overexpressed in fibroblasts from patients with Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome, a form of accelerated aging. Taken together, these studies uncover ANK3 and other genes in our dataset as biological links between mood, stress and longevity/aging, that may be biomarkers as well as targets for preventive or therapeutic interventions. Drug repurposing bioinformatics analyses identified the relatively innocuous omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), piracetam, quercetin, vitamin D and resveratrol as potential longevity promoting compounds, along with a series of existing drugs, such as estrogen-like compounds, antidiabetics and sirolimus/rapamycin. Intriguingly, some of our top candidate genes for mood and stress-modulated longevity were changed in expression in opposite direction in previous studies in the Alzheimer disease. Additionally, a whole series of others were changed in expression in opposite direction in our previous studies on suicide, suggesting the possibility of a “life switch” actively controlled by mood and stress.

Herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia occur more often with increasing age. In this controlled trial among 38,546 adults 60 years of age or older, vaccination with a live attenuated varicella–zoster vaccine reduced the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia by 66.5 percent (as compared with placebo) and the incidence of herpes zoster by 51.3 percent. In adults 60 years of age or older, vaccination with a live attenuated varicella–zoster vaccine reduced the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia by 66.5 percent (as compared with placebo) and the incidence of herpes zoster by 51.3 percent. Herpes zoster, or shingles, is characterized by unilateral radicular pain and a vesicular rash that is generally limited to a single dermatome. 1 , 2 Herpes zoster results from reactivation of latent varicella–zoster virus (VZV) within the sensory ganglia. 3 , 4 The incidence and severity of herpes zoster increase with advancing age; more than half of all persons in whom herpes zoster develops are older than 60 years. Complications occur in almost 50 percent of older persons with herpes zoster. 3 – 5 The most frequent debilitating complication is postherpetic neuralgia, a neuropathic pain syndrome that persists or develops after the dermatomal rash has healed. . . .

The outcome of coevolutionary interactions is predicted to vary across landscapes depending on local conditions and levels of gene flow, with some populations evolving more extreme specializations than others. Using a globally distributed parasite of colonial seabirds, the tick Ixodes uriae, we examined how host availability and geographic isolation influences this process. In particular, we sampled ticks from 30 populations of six different seabird host species, three in the Southern Hemisphere and three in the Northern Hemisphere. We show that parasite races have evolved independently on hosts of both hemispheres. Moreover, the degree of differentiation between tick races varied spatially within each region and suggests that the divergence of tick races is an ongoing process that has occurred multiple times across isolated areas. As I. uriae is vector to the bacterium responsible for Lyme disease Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, these results may have important consequence for the epidemiology of this disease. With the increased occurrence of novel interspecific interactions due to global change, these results also stress the importance of the combined effects of gene flow and selection for parasite diversification.

Buried red mud waste from groundwater refineries can cause pollution. The aim of this paper is to utilize this mud for the synthesis of Fe 3 O 4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Then, MNPs are encapsulated by a copolymer of methyl methacrylate and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonate via oleic acid linker. MNPs are prepared by a controlled co-precipitation method in the presence of a dispersant and surface-modified agents to achieve a high hydrophobic or hydrophilic surface. Mini-emulsion polymerization was conducted to construct a core–shell structure with MNPs as core and the copolymer as shell. The core–shell structure of the obtained particles enables them to disperse well in brine and to stabilize at high-temperature environments. The chemical structures and morphology of this nanocomposite were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The thermal stability of the nanocomposite was evaluated via a thermogravimetric analysis method for the solid state and an annealing experiment for the liquid state. The nanocomposite is about 14 nm, disperses well in brine and is thermally stable in the solid state. The blends of synthesized nanocomposite and carboxylate surfactant effectively reduced the interfacial tension between crude oil and brine, and remained thermally stable after 31 days annealed at 100°C. Therefore, a nanofluid of copolymer/magnetic nanocomposite can be applied as an enhanced oil recovery agent for harsh environments in offshore reservoirs.

Cation levels within the cytosol are coordinated by a network of transporters. Here, we examine the functional roles of calcium exchanger 1 (CAX1), a vacuolar H(+)/Ca(2+) transporter, and the closely related transporter CAX3. We demonstrate that like CAX1, CAX3 is also localized to the tonoplast. We show that CAX1 is predominately expressed in leaves, while CAX3 is highly expressed in roots. Previously, using a yeast assay, we demonstrated that an N-terminal truncation of CAX1 functions as an H(+)/Ca(2+) transporter. Here, we use the same yeast assay to show that full-length CAX1 and full-length CAX3 can partially, but not fully, suppress the Ca(2+) hypersensitive yeast phenotype and coexpression of full-length CAX1 and CAX3 conferred phenotypes not produced when either transporter was expressed individually. In planta, CAX3 null alleles were modestly sensitive to exogenous Ca(2+) and also displayed a 22% reduction in vacuolar H(+)-ATPase activity. cax1/cax3 double mutants displayed a severe reduction in growth, including leaf tip and flower necrosis and pronounced sensitivity to exogenous Ca(2+) and other ions. These growth defects were partially suppressed by addition of exogenous Mg(2+). The double mutant displayed a 42% decrease in vacuolar H(+)/Ca(2+) transport, and a 47% decrease in H(+)-ATPase activity. While the ionome of cax1 and cax3 lines were modestly perturbed, the cax1/cax3 lines displayed increased PO4(3-), Mn(2+), and Zn(2+) and decreased Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) in shoot tissue. These findings suggest synergistic function of CAX1 and CAX3 in plant growth and nutrient acquisition.