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Amniotic epithelial cells are fetal-derived stem cells, capable of differentiating into all three germ layers, including mature epithelial cell populations. Here, we hypothesised that the amniotic epithelium might serve as a surrogate tissue source for investigating transcriptional profiles in the respiratory epithelium of newborns.
Citation: Evans DJ, D Sly PD, Foster P, Donovan C. Who gets asthma, and why? Med J Aust. 2025;223(S10):S19-S23. Keywords: Asthma; Lung diseases;
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are often perceived to be a less harmful alternative to tobacco cigarettes. Potentially due to this perception, they are used by people with pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as asthma, who otherwise would not smoke. Despite this, there are few studies exploring the health effects of e-cigarette use on pre-existing asthma.
Mycobacteroides abscessus (MABS) is within the non-tuberculous mycobacteria family. It inhabits soil and water, exhibits multi-antibiotic resistance and causes opportunistic lung infections, which may progress to symptomatic MABS-pulmonary disease (MABS-PD) associated with substantial morbidity, increased healthcare utilisation, impaired quality of life and increased mortality.
Adverse prenatal conditions can induce intrauterine growth restriction and increase the risk of adulthood metabolic disease. Mechanisms underlying developmentally programmed metabolic disease remain unclear but may involve disrupted postnatal circadian rhythms and kisspeptin signalling.
Burkholderia cepacia complex causes life-threatening respiratory infections. Here, a bacteriophage with activity against B. cenocepacia was isolated from wastewater. It has a genome size of 70,144 bp and has the taxonomic classification Irusalimvirus. It has no genes associated with lysogeny, bacterial resistance, or virulence.
Japan recently experienced a record surge in streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Our environmental surveillance study reveals that Streptococcus pyogenes persists seasonally, peaking in autumn and winter in rural Japan. The dominant emm1 M1UK sublineage and csrS mutations heighten virulence, highlighting the urgent need for targeted surveillance and interventions.
The identification of a COPD etiotype associated with preterm birth (COPD-developmental) has expedited calls for intervention strategies that may improve health outcomes for survivors of preterm birth (<37 weeks' gestation). Pulmonary-rehabilitation style training interventions achieve physiological and symptom improvement in older people with COPD, but whether similar training interventions are suitable for young people is unclear. We sought to understand the perceived need and requirements of an exercise training intervention for children, adolescents and adults born preterm.
Language is significant for communicating knowledge across cultures and generations and has the power to attribute meanings and alter our worldviews.
The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii as an opportunistic pathogen in wound infections raises significant concerns due to its antibiotic resistance and biofilm-mediated antibiotic tolerance. This underscores the urgent need to explore an alternative approach to effectively managing wound infections caused by MDR A. baumannii.