Driving improvements in emerging disease surveillance through locally-relevant capacity strengthening

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) threaten the health of people, animals, and crops globally, but our ability to predict their occurrence is limited. Current public health capacity and ability to detect and respond to EIDs is typically weakest in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many known drivers of EID emergence also converge in LMICs. Strengthening capacity for surveillance of diseases of relevance to local populations can provide a mechanism for building the cross-cutting and flexible capacities needed to tackle both the burden of existing diseases and EID threats. A focus on locally relevant diseases in LMICs and the economic, social, and cultural contexts of surveillance can help address existing inequalities in health systems, improve the capacity to detect and contain EIDs, and contribute to broader global goals for development

Rituximab in autoimmune connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease

Objective. CTD-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) often fails to respond to conventional immunomodulatory agents. There is now considerable interest in the use of rituximab in systemic autoimmune CTD in patients refractory to standard treatments. The aim of this study was to review the experience of North Bristol NHS Trust managing patients with CTD-associated ILD with rituximab and explore possible associations with treatment response. Methods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients who received rituximab under the Bristol CTD-ILD service, having failed to respond to other immunomodulatory treatments. Results were collated for pulmonary function and radiological outcomes before and after treatment. Results. Twenty-four patients were treated with rituximab. Their physiological parameters had failed to improve despite other immunomodulatory agents, with a mean change in forced vital capacity (FVC) prior to therapy of − 3.3% (95% CI − 5.6, −1.1) and mean change in diffusing capacity of carbon monoxide of − 4.3% (95% CI − 7.7, −0.9). After rituximab, radiology remained stable or improved for 11 patients, while worsening was observed in 9 patients. The decline in FVC was halted following treatment, with a mean change of + 4.1% (95% CI 0.9, 7.2), while diffusing capacity of carbon monoxide was stable [mean change +2.1% (95% CI − 1.0, 5.2)]. Patients with myositis overlap or antisynthetase syndrome appeared to respond well to treatment, with four patients showing clinically significant improvement in FVC &gt;10%. Conclusion. Rituximab is a therapeutic option in treatment-refractory CTD-associated ILD. Some disease subgroups may respond better than others, however, more work is needed to define its role in managing these patients. </p

Enabling Large Focal Plane Arrays Through Mosaic Hybridization

We have demonstrated advances in mosaic hybridization that will enable very large format far-infrared detectors. Specifically we have produced electrical detector models via mosaic hybridization yielding superconducting circuit patbs by hybridizing separately fabricated sub-units onto a single detector unit. The detector model was made on a 100mm diameter wafer while four model readout quadrant chips were made from a separate 100mm wafer. The individually fabric.ted parts were hybridized using a Suss FCI50 flip chip bonder to assemble the detector-readout stack. Once all of the hybridized readouts were in place, a single, large and thick silicon substrate was placed on the stack and attached with permanent epoxy to provide strength and a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion match to the silicon components underneath. Wirebond pads on the readout chips connect circuits to warm readout electronics; and were used to validate the successful superconducting electrical interconnection of the model mosaic-hybrid detector. This demonstration is directly scalable to 150 mm diameter wafers, enabling pixel areas over ten times the area currently available

Symposium: Giving Korematsu v. United States A Sober Second Thought

We are elated to present Professor Mark Killenbeck’s thought provoking article, Sober Second Thought? Korematsu Reconsidered. Killenbeck dives into the Korematsu opinion and its history with great care to determine whether it truly “has no place in law under the Constitution” as Chief Justice John Roberts declared in Trump v. Hawaii.1 While Korematsu’s result provides an understandable “impulse to condemn” it, Killenbeck shows us that focusing solely on the case’s result “stands apart from and in stark contrast to its most important place in the constitutional order: articulation of precepts and terminology that provide the foundations for strict scrutiny.

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Survey Design and First Data Release

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey is a survey of 240,000 emission line galaxies in the distant universe, measured with the AAOmega spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). The target galaxies are selected using ultraviolet photometry from the GALEX satellite, with a flux limit of NUV<22.8 mag. The redshift range containing 90% of the galaxies is 0.2<z<1.0. The primary aim of the survey is to precisely measure the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) imprinted on the spatial distribution of these galaxies at look-back times of 4-8 Gyrs. Detailed forecasts indicate the survey will measure the BAO scale to better than 2% and the tangential and radial acoustic wave scales to approximately 3% and 5%, respectively. This paper provides a detailed description of the survey and its design, as well as the spectroscopic observations, data reduction, and redshift measurement techniques employed. It also presents an analysis of the properties of the target galaxies, including emission line diagnostics which show that they are mostly extreme starburst galaxies, and Hubble Space Telescope images, which show they contain a high fraction of interacting or distorted systems. In conjunction with this paper, we make a public data release of data for the first 100,000 galaxies measured for the project.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; this has some figures in low resolution format. Full resolution PDF version (7MB) available at http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/mjd/pub/wigglez1.pdf The WiggleZ home page is at http://wigglez.swin.edu.au

Indigenous Languages Programmes in Australian Schools - A Way Forward

Currently, over 16,000 Indigenous students and 13,000 non-Indigenous students located in 260 Australian schools are involved in an Indigenous language program. More than 80 different Indigenous languages are taught. This project sought to present practice which would strengthen the quality of Indigenous language programs in schools. The report consists of a literature review, a mapping exercise to document current practices relating to Indigenous languages in Australian schools, an analysis of existing models of teacher preparation, and six case studies of good practice examples

Independent and joint associations of grip strength and adiposity with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in 403,199 adults: the UK Biobank study.

Background: Higher grip strength (GS) is associated with lower mortality risk. However, whether this association is independent of adiposity is uncertain.Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between GS, adiposity, and mortality.Design: The UK Biobank study is an ongoing prospective cohort of >0.5 million UK adults aged 40-69 y. Baseline data collection (2006-2010) included measurements of GS and adiposity indicators, including body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2). Age- and sex-specific GS quintiles were used. BMI was classified according to clinical cutoffs.Results: Data from 403,199 participants were included in analyses. Over a median 7.0-y of follow-up, 8287 all-cause deaths occurred. The highest GS quintile had 32% (95% CI: 26%, 38%) and 25% (95% CI: 16%, 33%) lower all-cause mortality risks for men and women, respectively, compared with the lowest GS quintile, after adjustment for confounders and BMI. Obesity class II (BMI ≥35) was associated with a greater all-cause mortality risk. The highest GS quintile and obesity class II category showed relatively higher all-cause mortality hazards (not statistically significant in men) than the highest GS quintile and the normal weight category; however, the increased risk was relatively lower than the risk for the lowest GS quintile and obesity class II category. All-cause mortality risks were generally lower for obese but stronger individuals than for nonobese but weaker individuals. Similar patterns of associations were observed for cardiovascular mortality.Conclusions: Lower grip strength and excess adiposity are both independent predictors of higher mortality risk. The higher mortality risk associated with excess adiposity is attenuated, although not completely attenuated, by greater GS. Interventions and policies should focus on improving the muscular strength of the population regardless of their degree of adiposity

Alcohol intake in relation to non-fatal and fatal coronary heart disease and stroke: EPIC-CVD case-cohort study.

To investigate the association between alcohol consumption (at baseline and over lifetime) and non-fatal and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke

Comparison of Multiple Hop Test Kinematics Between Force-Platforms and Video Footage – A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Multiple hop performances have been assessed using force-platforms and motion-capture cameras. However, the accessibility of these technologies might be a hindering factor for many performance coaches. Currently, tablet devices are being used as alternatives to measure jumping and hopping performances. Objective: This study aimed to compare multiple hop kinematics using the Kinovea application with force-platforms, the gold standard. Methods: Using an observational cross-sectional study design, male athletes (n=44; age 20.1 ± 1.4 years) completed triple hops (3-Hop) and quintuple hops (5-Hop) on force-platforms while being filmed using an iPad. Ground contact time, flight time and total time were analysed using Kinovea and compared with the force platform data. Results: Statistical analysis showed a high level of agreement across all variables of interest but significant differences (flight time; -2.14 to -5.96 %, ground contact time; 4.89 to 5.83 %, total time; -0.37 to -0.58%) were observed across all variables of interest. A systematic bias for flight and ground contact times were seen for 3-Hop and 5-Hop. Conclusion: The use of iPad and Kinovea application can be used as a valid alternative to measure multiple hop kinematics when performance coaches do not have access to expensive force-platforms or motion-capture cameras