The political economy of digital profiteering: communication resource mobilization by anti-vaccination actors.

Contemporary communication requires both a supply of content and a digital information infrastructure. Modern campaigns of misinformation are especially dependent on that back-end infrastructure for tracking and targeting a sympathetic audience and generating revenue that can sustain the campaign financially-if not enable profiteering. However, little is known about the political economy of misinformation, particularly those campaigns spreading misleading or harmful content about public health guidelines and vaccination programs. To understand the political economy of health misinformation, we analyze the content and infrastructure networks of 59 groups involved in communicating misinformation about vaccination programs. With a unique collection of tracker and communication infrastructure data, we demonstrate how the political economy of misinformation depends on platform monetization infrastructures. We offer a theory of communication resource mobilization that advances understanding of the communicative context, organizational interactions, and political outcomes of misinformation production.

A dehydrated space-weathered skin cloaking the hydrated interior of Ryugu.

Without a protective atmosphere, space-exposed surfaces of airless Solar System bodies gradually experience an alteration in composition, structure and optical properties through a collective process called space weathering. The return of samples from near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu by Hayabusa2 provides the first opportunity for laboratory study of space-weathering signatures on the most abundant type of inner solar system body: a C-type asteroid, composed of materials largely unchanged since the formation of the Solar System. Weathered Ryugu grains show areas of surface amorphization and partial melting of phyllosilicates, in which reduction from Fe3+ to Fe2+ and dehydration developed. Space weathering probably contributed to dehydration by dehydroxylation of Ryugu surface phyllosilicates that had already lost interlayer water molecules and to weakening of the 2.7 µm hydroxyl (-OH) band in reflectance spectra. For C-type asteroids in general, this indicates that a weak 2.7 µm band can signify space-weathering-induced surface dehydration, rather than bulk volatile loss.

Drink and injection spiking: how to approach an increase in presentations?

In 2021, there was a significant increase in the number of reported drink spiking incidents across the UK. The new phenomenon of spiking via injection also emerged, which gained significant media attention. Campaigns encouraged potential spiking victims to attend an ED for testing. However, there is limited published research on drink spiking and no published studies on injection spiking. One UK guideline for the management of spiking exists, advising testing 'if clinically indicated' and is likely underused. Therefore, patients are often managed without drug testing, psychological support or a clear onward referral pathway. This practice review will explore the background of spiking, discuss drug testing options and highlight the psychological sequelae of spiking. An example guideline for the management of spiking incidents is attached.

Development and evaluation of a saliva-based chair-side diagnostic for the detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis.

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a key pathogen in the polymicrobial biofilm that is associated with the oral disease chronic periodontitis. A number of studies have shown that in humans the level of P. gingivalis in the polymicrobial biofilm is positively correlated with disease progression. The aim of this study was to develop a P. gingivalis diagnostic that has high specificity and sensitivity for P. gingivalis using a range of laboratory and clinical isolates and then compare the efficacy of the diagnostic with RTPCR using samples from chronic periodontitis patients and age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Key parameters for the kit were to use saliva as the biological fluid as this is a most convenient medium for chair-side sampling and to give a positive reading for the reported threshold for detection of 5×10(5) P. gingivalis cells/mL that indicates disease progression. We initially screened a range of monoclonal antibodies for recognition of the P. gingivalis conserved virulence factor RgpA-Kgp complex and identified two mAbs that could be used in a capture and detection ELISA system. These mAbs were used to formulate and manufacture the GC P. gingivalis saliva diagnostic kit used in the study. To validate the saliva kit, saliva (P. gingivalis free) was spiked with known concentrations of viable P. gingivalis whole cells of W50, 381, A7A1-28, and ATCC 33277; P. gingivalis clinical isolates; P. gingivalis vesicles; and the secreted form of the RgpA-Kgp complex. Laboratory findings indicated that the kit was able to detect all laboratory and clinical isolate strains of P. gingivalis at 5×10(4)/mL to 5×10(5)/mL. It was also able to detect the RgpA-Kgp complex and vesicles at 5×10(4) and 5×10(5) cell equivalent doses, respectively. Saliva and plaque were then collected from 50 subjects with moderate-severe chronic periodontitis and 50 age- and sex-matched subjects with healthy periodontium. Real-time PCR was utilised to analyse levels of P. gingivalis in both saliva and plaque. The saliva kit was found to give a positive result within 90 seconds. Using point bi-serial correlation analysis, a significant (p=0.04) correlation was found for detection of P. gingivalis using the saliva kit and P. gingivalis levels in saliva and plaque as determined by real-time PCR. A sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 96% were found when compared to real-time PCR at a 10(5) P. gingivalis cell threshold.In conclusion, the P. gingivalis saliva kit was shown to be rapid and has a comparable detection capacity to real-time PCR. Thus, the P. gingivalis saliva diagnostic has the potential to be a simple and time-efficient chair-side diagnostic for the detection of P. gingivalis.

Mortality in an Aboriginal Medical Service (Redfern) cohort.

BACKGROUND: Published estimates of Aboriginal mortality and life expectancy (LE) for the eastern Australian states are derived from demographic modelling techniques to estimate the population and extent of under-recording of Aboriginality in death registration. No reliable empirical information on Aboriginal mortality and LE exists for New South Wales (NSW), the most populous Australian state in which 29% of Aboriginal people reside.This paper estimates mortality and LE in a large, mainly metropolitan cohort of Aboriginal clients from the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) Redfern, Sydney, NSW. METHODS: Identifying information from patient records accrued by the AMS Redfern since 1980 of definitely Aboriginal clients, without distinction between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (n=24,035), was extracted and linked to the National Death Index (NDI) at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Age-specific mortality rates and LEs for each sex were estimated using the AMS patient population as the denominator, discounted for deaths. Directly age-standardised mortality and LEs were estimated for 1995-1999, 2000-2004 and 2005-2009, along with 95% confidence intervals. Comparisons were made with other estimates of Aboriginal mortality and LE and with the total Australian population. RESULTS: Mortality declined in the AMS Redfern cohort over 1995-2009, and the decline occurred mostly in the ≤44 year age range. Male LE at birth was estimated to be 64.4 years (95%CI:62.6-66.1) in 1995-1999, 65.6 years (95%CI:64.1-67.1) in 2000-2004, and 67.6 years (95%CI:65.9-69.2) for 2005-2009. In females, these LE estimates were 69.6 (95%CI:68.0-71.2), 71.1 (95%CI:69.9-72.4), and 71.4 (95%CI:70.0-72.8) years. LE in the AMS cohort was 11 years lower for males and 12 years lower for females than corresponding all-Australia LEs for the same periods. These were similar to estimates for Australian Aboriginal people overall for the same period by the Aboriginal Burden of Disease for 2009, using the General Growth Balance (GGB) model approach, and by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for 2005-2007. LE in the AMS cohort was somewhat lower than these estimates for NSW Aboriginal people, and higher than ABS 2005-2007 estimates for Aboriginal people from Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia. CONCLUSIONS: The AMS Redfern cohort has provided the first empirically based estimates of mortality and LE trends in a large sample of Aboriginal people from NSW.

Analysis of dentists' participation in continuing professional development courses from 2001-2006.

Currently in Western Australia (WA) there is no requirement for dentists to participate in continuing professional development (CPD). The aim of this study was to determine the participation pattern of dentists in WA in CPD activities. Data was collated regarding registrants for courses conducted by the University Continuing Dental Education Committee. Information concerned number of courses attended by each dentist, location of work and year of graduation from university. Details of subject, length and type of courses conducted were also gathered. Most courses were half to one day in duration with many subjects covered. Between 10.1-24.4% of dentists registered in WA attended at least one course each year. Low numbers of recently graduated and older dentists attended courses. Similar percentages of metropolitan and rural dentists attended courses. Participation in CPD activities of dentists in WA was low. Half day or evening courses appear to be favoured by dentists.

Interferon-gamma responses to Candida recover slowly or remain low in immunodeficient HIV patients responding to ART.

Extended assessments of memory T-cell responses in HIV patients who have a satisfactory virological response to combination antiretroviral therapy (CART) have been limited by availability of longitudinal samples and of antigens to which most individuals (including HIV-negative controls) have been exposed. Studies of cytomegalovirus (CMV) show that interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) responses never recover completely, but this may be antigen-specific. Here we present responses to Candida and CMV antigens analyzed using a statistical approach that derives overall trends from samples collected at variable time points. Results were considered in relation to putative markers of T-regulatory cells. Blood mononuclear cells collected from seventeen HIV-1 patients (nadir <100 CD4 T cells/mL) 0-8 years after initiation of CART were stimulated with Candida spp lysate, Candida enolase protein or CMV lysate and production of IFN-gamma was assessed by ELISpot assay. CD4 T-cell counts increased fivefold and stabilized within 24 months on CART, following control of plasma viremia. IFN-gamma responses to Candida antigens began low and increased slowly, generating positive slope up to 60 months on CART (Candida enolase p=0.008; Candida lysate p=0.03; mixed-model Wald test). Only two patients displayed a CMV or Candida-specific IFN-gamma response above the median for seronegative controls. Proportions of T cells expressing CD25 or CD57 did not correlate with IFN-gamma responses. Slow reconstitution of IFN-gamma responses to CMV and Candida in previously immunodeficient patients with restored CD4+ T-cell counts on CART suggests a broad and nonresolving defect in memory T-cell responses.