Minerva Elements Records

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    Mental Health First Aid training for China: protocol for a randomised controlled trial
    Reavley, NJ ; Morgan, AJ ; Jorm, AF ; Kitchener, BA ; Lu, S ; Li, W ; Wang, Y ; Kelly, CM ; Zhao, M ; He, Y (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2023-01-01)
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    Files, Families and the Nation: An Archival History, Perhaps
    Silverstein, J (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2023-10-02)
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    Immobilisation of migrant domestic worker women and their children born in Lebanon
    Block, K ; Fernandez, B ; McGee, T ; Al-Barazi, Z ; Brennan, D (ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2023-01-01)
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    Migration, belonging, and the sustainability of atoll islands through a changing climate.
    Jarillo, S ; Barnett, J (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2024-01-16)
    Climate change might catalyze and exacerbate the trend of outmigration from low-lying atoll islands. There is speculation that migration away from atolls may not stop until such islands are abandoned. Yet migration creates both opportunities and risks for the sustainability of atoll communities. There is a trade-off between reduced demographic pressure on increasingly fragile atoll island environments and the financial and human resources necessary to adapt to climate change that can result from migration. Here we propose and analyze belonging as the centripetal force that makes migration a process that enhances the sustainability of atoll populations. We examine the relationship between migration, belonging, and the sustainability of populations on atoll islands based on data collected in three atoll islands in the Pacific: the island state of Niue; Namdrik Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and Budibudi atoll (Laughlan Islands) in Papua New Guinea. In each case, belonging binds the people who live in and migrate from these places into a collective commitment to their continuity, yet it does so to different degrees according to the economic opportunities available to migrants and the infrastructure that enables extended communities to remain connected.
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    Trauma-Informed Care and Equity in Group Pregnancy Care for Women of Refugee Background: Reflections from the Workforce
    Hearn, F ; Biggs, L ; Brown, SJ ; Krastev, A ; Szwarc, J ; Riggs, E (MDPI AG, )
    For women and families of refugee background having a baby in Australia, trauma-related experiences contribute to maternal and neonatal health inequities. Group Pregnancy Care for women of refugee background is a new model of care that was codesigned with communities of refugee background, to incorporate a trauma-informed approach to care. The aim of this paper is to explore how trauma-informed care is understood by Group Pregnancy Care professional staff. An exploratory descriptive qualitative study involving twenty-three semi-structured interviews with past and present professional staff was conducted. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The results reported in this paper include five themes: acknowledging the universal potential for trauma; accountability to community; practising in trauma-informed ways; how can we determine whether trauma-informed care is happening?; and understanding equity. The analysis showed that GPC staff aimed to practise in trauma-informed ways and understood that their ability to integrate trauma-informed care could improve over time. However, there were times when participants perceived organisation- or structural-level barriers that were incongruous with their understanding of health equity, which created tension and led to feelings for some of being in a ‘battle against the system’. Key individual- and organisation-level factors were identified that assisted with integrating trauma-informed care, including a safe and accessible space to hold the program, strategies to minimise the risk of retraumatisation and burnout, and adequate time to facilitate group processes and support staff to participate in team reflective practises. Understanding trauma-informed care and equity were seen to have important implications for workforce wellbeing and the promotion of refugee maternal and child health.
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    Levodopa Rescues Retinal Function in the Transgenic A53T Alpha-Synuclein Model of Parkinson's Disease
    Tran, KKN ; Wong, VHY ; Vessey, KA ; Finkelstein, DI ; Bui, BV ; Nguyen, CTO (MDPI, 2024-01)
    BACKGROUND: Loss of substantia nigra dopaminergic cells and alpha-synuclein (α-syn)-rich intraneuronal deposits within the central nervous system are key hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD). Levodopa (L-DOPA) is the current gold-standard treatment for PD. This study aimed to evaluate in vivo retinal changes in a transgenic PD model of α-syn overexpression and the effect of acute levodopa (L-DOPA) treatment. METHODS: Anaesthetised 6-month-old mice expressing human A53T alpha-synuclein (HOM) and wildtype (WT) control littermates were intraperitoneally given 20 mg/kg L-DOPA (50 mg levodopa, 2.5 mg benserazide) or vehicle saline (n = 11-18 per group). In vivo retinal function (dark-adapted full-field ERG) and structure (optical coherence tomography, OCT) were recorded before and after drug treatment for 30 min. Ex vivo immunohistochemistry (IHC) on flat-mounted retina was conducted to assess tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive cell counts (n = 7-8 per group). RESULTS: We found that photoreceptor (a-wave) and bipolar cell (b-wave) ERG responses (p < 0.01) in A53T HOM mice treated with L-DOPA grew in amplitude more (47 ± 9%) than WT mice (16 ± 9%) treated with L-DOPA, which was similar to the vehicle group (A53T HOM 25 ± 9%; WT 19 ± 7%). While outer retinal thinning (outer nuclear layer, ONL, and outer plexiform layer, OPL) was confirmed in A53T HOM mice (p < 0.01), L-DOPA did not have an ameliorative effect on retinal layer thickness. These findings were observed in the absence of changes to the number of TH-positive amacrine cells across experiment groups. Acute L-DOPA treatment transiently improves visual dysfunction caused by abnormal alpha-synuclein accumulation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings deepen our understanding of dopamine and alpha-synuclein interactions in the retina and provide a high-throughput preclinical framework, primed for translation, through which novel therapeutic compounds can be objectively screened and assessed for fast-tracking PD drug discovery.
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    Human Nasal Epithelium Organoids for Assessing Neutralizing Antibodies to a Protective SARS-CoV-2 Virus-like Particle Vaccine
    Carrera Montoya, J ; Collett, S ; Fernandez Ruiz, D ; Earnest, L ; Edeling, MA ; Yap, AHY ; Wong, CY ; Cooney, JP ; Davidson, KC ; Roberts, J ; Rockman, S ; Tran, BM ; McAuley, JL ; Deliyannis, G ; Grimley, SL ; Purcell, DFJ ; Waters, SA ; Godfrey, DI ; Hans, D ; Pellegrini, M ; Mackenzie, JM ; Vincan, E ; Heath, WR ; Torresi, J (MDPI AG, )
    Existing mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have shown efficacy in reducing severe cases and fatalities. However, their effectiveness against infection caused by emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants has waned considerably, necessitating the development of variant vaccines. Ideally, next-generation vaccines will be capable of eliciting broader and more sustained immune responses to effectively counteract new variants. Additionally, in vitro assays that more closely represent virus neutralization in humans would greatly assist in the analysis of protective vaccine-induced antibody responses. Here, we present findings from a SARS-CoV-2 VLP vaccine encompassing three key structural proteins: Spike (S), Envelope (E), and Membrane (M). The VLP vaccine effectively produced neutralizing antibodies as determined by surrogate virus neutralization test, and induced virus-specific T-cell responses: predominantly CD4+, although CD8+ T cell responses were detected. T cell responses were more prominent with vaccine delivered with AddaVax compared to vaccine alone. The adjuvanted vaccine was completely protective against live virus challenge in mice. Furthermore, we utilized air–liquid-interface (ALI)-differentiated human nasal epithelium (HNE) as an in vitro system, which authentically models human SARS-CoV-2 infection and neutralization. We show that immune sera from VLP-vaccinated mice completely neutralized SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, demonstrating the potential of ALI-HNE to assess vaccine induced Nab.
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    A Network of Sites and Upskilled Therapists to Deliver Best-Practice Stroke Rehabilitation of the Arm: Protocol for a Knowledge Translation Study
    Carey, LM ; Cahill, LS ; Blennerhassett, JM ; Nilsson, M ; Lannin, NA ; Thijs, V ; Hillier, S ; Cadilhac, DA ; Donnan, GA ; Morris, ME ; Churilov, L ; Walker, M ; Ramanathan, S ; Pollack, M ; May, E ; Cloud, GC ; Mcgowan, S ; Wijeratne, T ; Budge, M ; Mckinnon, F ; Olver, J ; Hogg, T ; Murray, M ; Haslam, B ; Koukoulas, I ; Nielsen, B ; Mak-Yuen, Y ; Turville, M ; Neilson, C ; Butler, A ; Kim, J ; Matyas, TA (MDPI, 2023-12)
    Implementation of evidence-informed rehabilitation of the upper limb is variable, and outcomes for stroke survivors are often suboptimal. We established a national partnership of clinicians, survivors of stroke, researchers, healthcare organizations, and policy makers to facilitate change. The objectives of this study are to increase access to best-evidence rehabilitation of the upper limb and improve outcomes for stroke survivors. This prospective pragmatic, knowledge translation study involves four new specialist therapy centers to deliver best-evidence upper-limb sensory rehabilitation (known as SENSe therapy) for survivors of stroke in the community. A knowledge-transfer intervention will be used to upskill therapists and guide implementation. Specialist centers will deliver SENSe therapy, an effective and recommended therapy, to stroke survivors in the community. Outcomes include number of successful deliveries of SENSe therapy by credentialled therapists; improved somatosensory function for stroke survivors; improved performance in self-selected activities, arm use, and quality of life; treatment fidelity and confidence to deliver therapy; and for future implementation, expert therapist effect and cost-effectiveness. In summary, we will determine the effect of a national partnership to increase access to evidence-based upper-limb sensory rehabilitation following stroke. If effective, this knowledge-transfer intervention could be used to optimize the delivery of other complex, evidence-based rehabilitation interventions.
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    Quantifying Firebrand and Radiative Heat Flux Risk on Structures in Mallee/Mulga-Dominated Wildland-Urban Interface: A Physics-Based Approach
    Wickramasinghe, A ; Khan, N ; Filkov, A ; Moinuddin, K (MDPI, 2023-12)
    Fire spread in the Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) can occur due to direct flame contact, convection, radiation, firebrand attack, or their combinations. Out of them, firebrand attack significantly contributes to damaging structures. To improve the resistance of buildings in wildfire-prone areas, the Australian Standards AS3959 provides construction requirements introducing Bushfire Attack Levels (BAL) based on quantified radiation heat flux. However, quantifying firebrand attack presents challenges, and the standard does not provide specific recommendations in this regard. This study aims to address this research gap by quantifying firebrand flux on houses according to the BALs in Mallee/Mulga-dominated vegetation using physics-based modelling. The study follows the AS3959 vegetation classifications and fire-weather conditions. The study considers Fire Danger Indices (FDI) of 100, 80, and 50 and identifies the housing components most susceptible to firebrand attack and radiant heat flux. The findings reveal an increasing firebrand flux with higher BAL values across all FDIs, with a greater percentage difference observed between FDIs 50 and 80 compared to FDIs 80 and 100. Furthermore, an exponential relationship is found between radiative heat flux and firebrand flux. This research contributes the development of effective strategies to mitigate the firebrand danger and enhance the resilience of structures to enhance AS3959.