Adolescent Suicidal Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia: Analysis of Acute Harms Assessed via Ambulance Data.

PURPOSE: This study investigated changes in suicidal ideation, attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI)-related ambulance attendances among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An interrupted time series analysis using data from the National Ambulance Surveillance System, a globally unique mental health and suicide surveillance system. Patients aged 12-17 years from the state of Victoria, Australia who were attended by ambulance for suicide attempts, suicide ideation, and NSSI between January 2016 and October 2021 were included. Monthly ambulance attendances during the pre-COVID period (January 2016-March 2020) were compared to those in the peak period of COVID-19 (April 2020-October 2021). RESULTS: There were 20,125 ambulance attendances for suicide ideation, suicide attempt, and NSSI in adolescents over the study period. During the pre-COVID period, the number of suicide ideation, attempts, and NSSI attendances was increasing by 1.1% per month (incidence rate ratio [IRR]:1.011; 95% confidence interval [1.009-1.013], p < .001). There was no change in the rate of all suicide ideation, attempt, and NSSI for all adolescents during the period of COVID-19. However, when disaggregated by gender, there was a 0.7% increase in the monthly rate of attendances for females (IRR: 1.007 [1.001-1.013], p = .029), and a 3.0% decrease for males (IRR: 0.970 [0.964-0.975], p < .001). DISCUSSION: Adolescent female suicide ideation, attempt, and NSSI attendances increased during the COVID-19 period, compared with males in the same time period. These findings suggest tailored intervention strategies may be needed to address the increasing trends of self-harm among young people.

Using ambulance surveillance data to characterise blood-borne viral infection histories among patients presenting with acute alcohol and other drug-related harms.

OBJECTIVE: Preventable transmission of blood-borne viruses (BBV), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV), continue in at-risk populations, including people who use alcohol and drugs (AODs). To our knowledge, no studies have explored the use of ambulance data for surveillance of AOD harms in patients with BBV infections. METHODS: We used electronic patient care records from the National Ambulance Surveillance System for people who were attended by an ambulance in Victoria, Australia between July 2015 and July 2016 for AOD-related harms, and with identified history of a BBV infection. Descriptive and geospatial analyses explored the epidemiological and psychosocial characteristics of patients for these attendances. RESULTS: The present study included 1832 patients with a history of a BBV infection who required an ambulance for AOD-related harms. Amphetamines were reported in 24.7% of attendances where the patient identified HIV history, and heroin was reported more often for patients with viral hepatitis history (HCV: 19.2%; HBV: 12.7%). Higher proportions of attendances with a viral hepatitis history were observed in patients from the most socially disadvantaged areas. Geospatial analyses revealed higher concentrations of AOD attendances with a BBV history occurring in metropolitan Melbourne. CONCLUSIONS: Our study describes the utility of ambulance data to identify a sub-population of patients with a BBV history and complex medical and social characteristics. Repeat attendances of BBV history patients to paramedics could present an opportunity for ongoing surveillance using ambulance data and possible paramedic intervention, with potential linkage to appropriate BBV services.

Deep neural networks are not a single hypothesis but a language for expressing computational hypotheses.

An ideal vision model accounts for behavior and neurophysiology in both naturalistic conditions and designed lab experiments. Unlike psychological theories, artificial neural networks (ANNs) actually perform visual tasks and generate testable predictions for arbitrary inputs. These advantages enable ANNs to engage the entire spectrum of the evidence. Failures of particular models drive progress in a vibrant ANN research program of human vision.

Decisional style, sleepiness, and online responsiveness.

As sleep problems can impair quality of work, an online questionnaire was used to examine relationships between sleepiness and decision making while obtaining unobtrusive indices of performance. Participants (N = 344) completed the Insomnia Severity Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire in a Qualtrics survey while reporting mobile phone use. Qualtrics recorded the time and the number of clicks required to complete each page of the survey. Multiple regression indicated that insomnia was associated with daytime sleepiness and Hypervigilance, and mobile phone use before bed. Participants with moderate sleepiness required a greater number of clicks to complete the questionnaire. Greater sleepiness was associated with longer times to complete these self-assessment tasks. Clinically significant sleepiness produces changes in performance that can be detected from online responsivity. As sleepy individuals can be appreciably and quantitatively slower in performing subjective self-assessment tasks, this argues for objective measures of sleepiness and automated interventions and the design of systems that allow better quality sleep.Practitioner summary: Work can require processing of electronic messages, but 24/7 accessibility increases workload, causes fatigue and potentially creates security risks. Although most studies use people's self-reports, this study monitors time and clicks required to complete self-assessment rating scales. Sleepiness affected online responsivity, decreasing online accuracy and increasing response times and hypervigilance.

Pseudouridine guides germline small RNA transport and epigenetic inheritance.

Epigenetic modifications that arise during plant and animal development, such as DNA and histone modification, are mostly reset during gamete formation, but some are inherited from the germline including those marking imprinted genes1. Small RNAs guide these epigenetic modifications, and some are also inherited by the next generation2,3. In C. elegans, these inherited small RNAs have poly (UG) tails4, but how inherited small RNAs are distinguished in other animals and plants is unknown. Pseudouridine (Ψ) is the most abundant RNA modification but has not been explored in small RNAs. Here, we develop novel assays to detect Ψ in short RNA sequences, demonstrating its presence in mouse and Arabidopsis microRNAs and their precursors. We also detect substantial enrichment in germline small RNAs, namely epigenetically activated siRNAs (easiRNAs) in Arabidopsis pollen, and piwi-interacting piRNAs in mouse testis. In pollen, pseudouridylated easiRNAs are localized to sperm cells, and we found that PAUSED/HEN5 (PSD), the plant homolog of Exportin-t, interacts genetically with Ψ and is required for transport of easiRNAs into sperm cells from the vegetative nucleus. We further show that Exportin-t is required for the triploid block: chromosome dosage-dependent seed lethality that is epigenetically inherited from pollen. Thus, Ψ has a conserved role in marking inherited small RNAs in the germline.

The neuroconnectionist research programme.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) inspired by biology are beginning to be widely used to model behavioural and neural data, an approach we call 'neuroconnectionism'. ANNs have been not only lauded as the current best models of information processing in the brain but also criticized for failing to account for basic cognitive functions. In this Perspective article, we propose that arguing about the successes and failures of a restricted set of current ANNs is the wrong approach to assess the promise of neuroconnectionism for brain science. Instead, we take inspiration from the philosophy of science, and in particular from Lakatos, who showed that the core of a scientific research programme is often not directly falsifiable but should be assessed by its capacity to generate novel insights. Following this view, we present neuroconnectionism as a general research programme centred around ANNs as a computational language for expressing falsifiable theories about brain computation. We describe the core of the programme, the underlying computational framework and its tools for testing specific neuroscientific hypotheses and deriving novel understanding. Taking a longitudinal view, we review past and present neuroconnectionist projects and their responses to challenges and argue that the research programme is highly progressive, generating new and otherwise unreachable insights into the workings of the brain.

Description of Trends over the Week in Alcohol-Related Ambulance Attendance Data.

Alcohol harms are often determined using a proxy measure based on temporal patterns during the week when harms are most likely to occur. This study utilised coded Australian ambulance data from the Victorian arm of the National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS) to investigate temporal patterns across the week for alcohol-related ambulance attendances in 2019. These patterns were examined by season, regionality, gender, and age group. We found clear temporal peaks: from Friday 6:00 p.m. to Saturday 3:59 a.m. for both alcohol-involved and alcohol-intoxication-related attendance, from Saturday 6:00 p.m. to Sunday 4:59 a.m. for alcohol-involved attendances, and from Saturday 5:00 p.m. to Sunday 4:49 a.m. for alcohol-intoxication-related attendances. However, these temporal trends varied across age groups. Additionally, hours during Thursday and Sunday evenings also demonstrated peaks in attendances. There were no substantive differences between genders. Younger age groups (18-24 and 25-29 years) had a peak of alcohol-related attendances from 7:00 p.m. to 7:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, whereas the peak in attendances for 50-59 and 60+ years was from 5:00 p.m. to 2:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. These findings further the understanding of the impacts of alcohol during different times throughout the week, which can guide targeted policy responses regarding alcohol use and health service capacity planning.

The Incidence and Temporal Patterns of Use of Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Use in Traffic-Related Ambulance Attendances From 2015 to 2020 in Victoria, Australia.

OBJECTIVE: Amphetamine-type stimulants are increasingly implicated in road trauma incidents. Although ambulances are typically first to attend these emergencies, limited research has used paramedic clinical data to examine the contribution of amphetamine use to road trauma-related ambulance attendances. We describe the clinical and temporal risk profiles associated with amphetamine-related harm in road trauma incidents requiring paramedic attendance in the Australian state of Victoria. METHOD: This cross-sectional, retrospective observational study examined the Victorian component of a national surveillance data set (National Ambulance Surveillance System) of alcohol and other drug (AOD)-related ambulance attendances to determine the incidence and temporal profile of amphetamine use in traffic-related ambulance attendances from January 2015 to December 2020. RESULTS: Throughout the observation period, Victorian paramedics attended 8,163 alcohol, pharmaceutical, or illicit drug-related cases involving a road trauma. More than one quarter (2,161 cases, 27.4%) of these attendances were deemed related to the use of pharmaceutical and/or illicit drugs. Amphetamine alone was involved in nearly one third (640 cases, 29.6%) of non-alcohol-related road trauma attendances, and co-consumption of amphetamine with drugs other than alcohol occurred in more than one third (35.3%) of all AOD-related traffic incidents. Amphetamine-related road trauma attendances predominantly occurred on the weekend (Fri-Sun) during late night/early morning in metropolitan Melbourne. Between 2015 and 2020, the incidence of amphetamine-related road trauma ambulance attendances increased by 86.8%, from 1.1 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 1.9 per 100,000 population in 2020. CONCLUSIONS: Amphetamine-type stimulants are increasingly implicated in road trauma. Co-consumption with other potentially impairing substances reflects a concerning trend of polysubstance use among Victorian drivers.

Development and validation of a one-tube, nested real-time PCR method suitable for routine detection of Mycobacterium bovis in animal tissue.

AIMS: Development and validation of a real-time PCR test for high-throughput routine screening of animal tissue for Mycobacterium bovis and other Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) members. METHODS AND RESULTS: A preliminary study compared the results of a combination of five tissue preparation/DNA extraction methods and nine PCR assays on a panel of 92 cattle tissue samples of known M. bovis culture status (55 positive and 37 negative). The combination of DNA extraction and PCR was found to be important in achieving optimal detection of M. bovis. The optimal combination of a simple tissue preparation/DNA extraction method and a one-tube, nested real-time PCR to maximize the sensitivity of detection of an M. bovis-specific RD4 deletion and an IS1081 MTBC-specific target was selected for further evaluation. In total, tissue samples collected from 981 cattle and 366 non-bovine animals and submitted for routine TB culture were parallel tested with the selected method, as well as tissue samples obtained from 156 animals in certified TB-free cattle herds. CONCLUSION: For cattle, the optimized RD4-IS1081 PCR test exhibited a diagnostic sensitivity of 96% (95% CI: 94-97%) and specificity of 97% (95% CI: 95-98%) compared to culture. Specificity was 100% when testing the 156 samples from known TB-free cattle. For non-bovine species, the PCR had a diagnostic sensitivity of 93% (95% CI: 83-98%) and a specificity of 99% (95% CI: 97-100%).

The relationship between sleep and appetitive conditioning: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration animal/human studies: CRD42021234793/CRD42021234790) examined the relationship between sleep and appetitive conditioning. Inclusion criteria included: a) appetitive conditioning paradigm; b) measure of conditioning; c) sleep measurement and/or sleep loss; d) human and/etor non-human animal samples; and e) written in English. Searches of seven databases returned 3777 publications. The final sample consisted of 42 studies using primarily animal samples and involving food- and drug-related conditioning tasks. We found sleep loss disrupted appetitive conditioning of food rewards (p < 0.001) but potentiated appetitive conditioning of drug rewards (p < 0.001). Furthermore, sleep loss negatively impacted extinction learning irrespective of the reward type. Post-learning sleep was associated with increases in REM sleep (p = 0.02). Findings suggest sleep loss potentiates the impact of psychoactive substances in a manner likely to produce an increased risk of problematic substance use. In obese/overweight populations, sleep loss may be associated with deficits in the conditioning and extinction of reward-related behaviours. Further research should assess the relationship between sleep and appetitive conditioning in humans.

Adverse outcomes of GHB use: Analysis of ambulance attendances in metropolitan and regional Victoria.

BACKGROUND: Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) use and attributable harms have been increasing in Australia, however changes over time, including the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions on harms requiring an ambulance attendance, are unknown. This study utilised a novel population-based surveillance system to identify the types of GHB-related harms between January 2018 and 31 December 2021 in Victoria, Australia. METHODS: A cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of all GHB-related ambulance attendances between January 2018 and 31 December 2021 in Victoria, Australia was undertaken. Paramedic clinical notes and Glasgow Coma Scale scores were used to assess conscious state. Event codes were classified using dispatch information available in the database. Crude rates (per 100,000 population) and descriptive analyses were calculated for metropolitan and regional settings. Adjusted Odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals [95% CI] were used to assess the relationship between GCS severity and polysubstance combinations with GHB. RESULTS: There were 6,836 ambulance attendances for GHB recorded during the study period. A statistically significant increase in GHB-related attendance numbers was observed State-wide in 2019 (n = 1,402, p<0.001) and 2020 (n = 2,622, p<0.001), when comparing year on year attendances. While both numbers and rates (per 100,000 population) of GHB-related attendances were significantly lower in regional areas, significant increases were evident in both metropolitan and regional areas in 2019 and 2020 (both p<0.001). Attendances involving GHB and alcohol had higher odds of a severe GCS score (aOR:1.25; 95%: 1.04-1.49; p<0.019). A high proportion of GHB-attendances involved harms of significant concern including: overdose (56%) and a loss of, or altered state of consciousness (45%). CONCLUSIONS: We observed increases in GHB-related ambulance attendances over time in both metropolitan and regional areas, placing a significant burden on ambulance services. Our study demonstrates the value of using ambulance surveillance to obtain representative data on acute GHB-related harms.

Effect of shift work on frontline doctors' mood and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: Shift work has detrimental effects on healthcare workers, which may be further compounded by frontline work during the COVID-19 pandemic. We postulated that sleep would worsen and distress would increase during COVID-ward service. Methods: Doctors (n = 18) were recruited from a tertiary centre during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne, Australia. Participants had been rostered ON to consecutive 7 day or night shifts and a week OFF over a fortnight. 9 worked on COVID wards managing positive/suspected COVID patients, and 9 were allocated to general MEDICAL wards. Participants wore wrist actigraphy, and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) at baseline and the end of each week. Results: Both the COVID and MEDICAL groups spent less time in bed and had reduced total sleep time during their week ON shift compared to week OFF shift. The COVID group had worse sleep quality (PSQI Δ + 1.0, 6.8 vs 5.8, p = 0.036), daytime sleepiness (ESS Δ + 2.6, 8 vs 5.4, p = 0.014) and greater distress (K10 Δ + 1.7, 17 vs 15.3, p = 0.002) during their week ON compared to BASELINE. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic shift workers had poorer sleep during their week ON. Those working on COVID wards had greater distress during their week ON than those working on general MEDICAL wards. It is important to recognise the potential for sleep deficits and greater distress in medical workers during the pandemic.

Remote detection of Cannabis-related impairments in performance?

RATIONALE: Researchers have traditionally studied the effects of psychoactive drugs such as Cannabis in controlled laboratory settings or relied on retrospective self-reports to measure impairment. However, advances in technology afford opportunities to conduct assessments remotely. OBJECTIVES: We considered whether objective click-stream data (time and number of clicks spent on a webpage) during an online survey could supplement self-reports of substance use problems. METHODS: The clickstream data of participants (n = 236) were examined as they completed an online study which included validated psychometric tests (Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised, Grit-O, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and Brief Self Control Scale). Clickstream data were compared to self-reported Cannabis use. RESULTS: People reporting Cannabis use within the last 4 weeks required more time and more clicks to complete the online survey, and this was specifically associated with reported frequency of use, duration of impairment, and problems with memory and concentration. Longer amounts of time and more clicks on the online questionnaire were associated with more recent Cannabis use rather than demographic factors or stimulant use. CONCLUSIONS: These results imply clickstream data remotely detected indecision or other deficits associated with previous Cannabis use.

Identifying Points of Prevention in Firearm-Related Suicides: A Mixed-Methods Study Based on Coronial Records.

PURPOSE: Firearm-related suicide is a noteworthy and preventable public health issue that has drawn limited attention in Australian research. Firearms are highly lethal and remain in the top three methods of suicide among Australian males. This study examines suicides occurring in Tasmania, the jurisdiction with the highest rate of firearm-related suicide, with the aim of aiding suicide prevention strategies. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze data from the Tasmanian Suicide Register. The quantitative analysis examined socio-demographic factors, substance use, physical and mental health, and access to services for suicides occurring between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016. The qualitative analysis comprised firearm-related suicides occurring between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2017. RESULTS: Firearms users were more likely than those employing other means of suicide to be male, retired, and residing in remote areas but were less likely to have had a previous mental illness diagnosis or evidence of suicidal ideation or self-harming behaviors. There was some evidence of increased impulsiveness among firearm users. We found 54% of decedents were licensed to own a firearm at the time of death. Firearms most often belonged to the decedent (52%) and 26% sourced a firearm from family or friends. Only 58% of cases involved a firearm with a dedicated storage facility. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention efforts need to take into account the unique profiles of those at risk of firearm-related suicide. Impulsiveness and the varying levels of adherence to firearms safety practices point to the need for strategies that limit physical access to firearms.HIGHLIGHTSFirearms-related suicides have a unique risk profile compared with other means of suicide.Mental illness diagnosis, suicidal thoughts, and self-harming behaviors were less commonly identified among firearms-related suicides than other means of suicide.Impulsiveness and the varying levels of adherence to firearms safety practices point to the need for strategies that limit physical access to firearms.

Disclosures of harming others during their most recent drinking session: Findings from a large national study of heavy-drinking adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: The extant Alcohol's Harms to Others (AHTO) literature is largely comprised of reports from victims. We investigated AHTO from perpetrators' perspectives, including how harms were associated with individual characteristics, and alcohol quantities consumed during the perpetration incident. METHODS: Participants (N = 2932) were 14-19 years old, recruited primarily through social media and screened as risky drinkers. They completed face-to-face (n = 594) or self-administered (n = 2338) surveys. They self-reported whether during their last risky drinking session (LRDS) they had perpetrated any verbal abuse, physical abuse or property damage. A multinomial logistic regression examined whether nine factors were associated with perpetrating zero, one or 2+ categories of AHTO. RESULTS: Eleven percent (n = 323) reported perpetrating at least one form of AHTO (7.5% verbal, 1.9% physical and 4.6% property). Perpetration of AHTO at LRDS was uniquely associated with: younger age, male gender, experiences of childhood physical punishment, greater perpetration incident-specific drinking, concurrent illicit drug use, and less frequent use of safety strategies while drinking in the past 12 months. Controlling for the other variables, an increase of six Australian standard drinks (60 g of alcohol) increased the odds of perpetration by 15% [95% confidence interval (CI) adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.08, 1.23], and an increase of 15 Australian standard drinks increased the odds by 42% (95% CI AOR 1.20, 1.69). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Individual characteristics, larger quantities of alcohol consumed, and a disinclination to practice harm reduction amplified risk of AHTO perpetration. This has implications for health promotion and risk prevention/reduction strategies.

Barriers to sleep in acute hospital settings.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the environmental and operational factors that disrupt sleep in the acute, non-ICU hospital setting. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a prospective study of adult patients admitted to an acute tertiary hospital ward (shared versus single room) and sleep laboratory (single room conducive to sleep). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This study measured ambient light (lux) and sound (dB), number of operational interruptions, and questionnaires assessing sleep and mental health. RESULTS: Sixty patients were enrolled, 20 in a double bedroom located close to the nursing station ('shared ward'), 20 in a single bedroom located distant to the nursing station ('single ward') and 20 attending the sleep laboratory for overnight polysomnography ('sleep laboratory'). Sleep was disturbed in 45% of patients in the shared and single ward groups (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index > 5). Light levels were appropriately low across all 3 locations. Sound levels (significant effect of room F(1.38) = 6.452, p = 0.015) and operational interruptions (shared ward 5.6 ± 2.5, single ward 6.2 ± 2.9, sleep laboratory 2.7 ± 2.1 per night, p < 0.05 wards compared to sleep laboratory) were higher in the shared and single ward group compared to the sleep laboratory but not compared to each other. Noise was rated as the greatest environmental disturbance by 70% of ward patients compared to 10% in the sleep laboratory. CONCLUSION: Higher noise levels and frequent operational interruptions are potential barriers to sleep and recovery on an acute medical ward which are not ameliorated by being in a single bedroom located distant to the nursing station.

Alcohol Accessibility and Family Violence-related Ambulance Attendances.

There is substantial evidence supporting the association between alcohol license density and violent crime. However, the impact of different types of alcohol licenses on intimate partner and family violence is sparse. We explored the associations between access to alcohol outlets, and family and intimate partner violence using paramedic clinical records, given this service is often the first to respond to acute crises. Coded ambulance attendance data from 694 postcodes in Victoria, Australia, from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018 where alcohol or another drug, mental health or self-harm associated with family or intimate partner violence was indicated were examined. A hybrid model of spatial autoregressive and negative binomial zero-inflated Poisson-based count regression models was used to examine associations with alcohol outlet density and socioeconomic factors. We found that access to a liquor license outlet was significantly associated with family violence-related attendances across all types of outlets, including on-premise (late night) licenses (ß = 1.73, SE: 0.18), restaurant licenses (ß = 0.83, SE: 0.28), and packaged liquor licenses (ß = 0.62, SE: 0.06). Our results demonstrate a significant relationship between alcohol-related harms in the context of family violence and provides evidence of the relationship between alcohol-related family violence in both victims and perpetrators. The findings of this study highlight the need for public health interventions such as licensing policy and town planning changes to reduce these harms by restricting alcohol availability.

Digitally Driven Aerosol Jet Printing to Enable Customisable Neuronal Guidance.

Digitally driven manufacturing technologies such as aerosol jet printing (AJP) can make a significant contribution to enabling new capabilities in the field of tissue engineering disease modeling and drug screening. AJP is an emerging non-contact and mask-less printing process which has distinct advantages over other patterning technologies as it offers versatile, high-resolution, direct-write deposition of a variety of materials on planar and non-planar surfaces. This research demonstrates the ability of AJP to print digitally controlled patterns that influence neuronal guidance. These consist of patterned poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) tracks on both glass and poly(potassium 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) (PKSPMA) coated glass surfaces, promoting selective adhesion of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. The cell attractive patterns had a maximum height ≥0.2 µm, width and half height ≥15 µm, Ra = 3.5 nm, and RMS = 4.1. The developed biocompatible PEDOT:PSS ink was shown to promote adhesion, growth and differentiation of SH-SY5Y neuronal cells. SH-SY5Y cells cultured directly onto these features exhibited increased nuclei and neuronal alignment on both substrates. In addition, the cell adhesion to the substrate was selective when cultured onto the PKSPMA surfaces resulting in a highly organized neural pattern. This demonstrated the ability to rapidly and flexibly realize intricate and accurate cell patterns by a computer controlled process.

Changes in alcohol intoxication-related ambulance attendances during COVID-19: How have government announcements and policies affected ambulance call outs?

BACKGROUND: In response to COVID-19, government-mandated health directives including widespread lockdowns were implemented. Changes in alcohol purchasing were reported, with growing concern that alcohol may be consumed as a way to cope with pandemic-associated stressors. Hitherto, there have been limited studies examining alcohol-related harms, including acute harms requiring an ambulance, and their relationship to government announcements or policies related to COVID-19. METHODS: Analyses were conducted between January and September 2020, with matched months in 2019, using Victorian data from the National Ambulance Surveillance System in Australia. Interrupted time series (ITS) models with odds ratios (OR) were used to map alcohol-related harms as a function of government policies for both metropolitan and regional areas. FINDINGS: A total of 43,003 alcohol intoxication-related ambulance attendances occurred between January 2019 and September 2020. Attendances in the home increased in 2020 by 9% compared to matched 2019 months. The most socioeconomically advantaged cases showed the highest percentage change. ITS models showed decreased odds of alcohol-related attendances at the beginning of each COVID-19 wave in metropolitan (OR:0•77; 95%CI: 0•71-0•83; p<0•001) and regional Victoria (OR: 0•72; 95%CI: 0•67-0•79, p<0•001) separately, and increased odds following the introduction of harsher restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne (OR:1•07; 95%CI:1•01-1•11, p=0•005). A 19% increase in odds of alcohol-related harms was observed at the end of the second wave lockdown period in regional Victoria (OR:1•19; 95%CI: 1•01-1•41, p=0•004). INTERPRETATION: Alcohol-related attendances during COVID-19 restrictions showed a displacement to home settings. Changes in patterns of harms were evident in specific sociodemographic groups, and geographic regions when mapped to government health directives. This study is one of the first to investigate alcohol-related harms at the population level in response to a global pandemic. FUNDING: Commonwealth Department of Health and Victorian Department of Health.

Effects of Surface Chemistry Interaction on Primary Neural Stem Cell Neurosphere Responses.

The characteristics of a material's surface are extremely important when considering their interactions with biological species. Despite surface chemistry playing a critical role in mediating the responses of cells, there remains no single rule which dictates absolute performance; this is particularly challenging when considering the response of differing cell types to a range of materials. Here, we highlight the functional behavior of neural stem cells presented as neurospheres, with respect to a range of alkane-based self-assembled monolayers presenting different functional groups: OH, CO2H, NH2, phenyl, CH3, SH, and laminin. The influence of chemical cues was examined in terms of neurosphere spreading on each of these defined surfaces (cell adhesion and migration capacity) and neuronal versus glial marker expression. Measurements were made over a time series of 3, 5, and 7 days, showing a dynamic nature to the initial responses observed after seeding. While OH surfaces presented an excellent platform for glial migration, larger proportions of cells expressing neuronal ß3-tubulin were found on SH- and laminin-coated surfaces. Axonal elongation was found to be initially similar on all surfaces with neurite lengths having a wider spread predominantly on NH2- and laminin-presenting surfaces. A generalized trend could not be found to correlate cellular responses with surface wettability, lipophilicity (log P), or charge/ionizability (pK a). These results highlight the potential for chemical cues to direct primary neural stem cell responses in contact with the defined materials. New biomaterials which control specific cell culture characteristics in vitro will streamline the up-scale manufacture of cellular therapies, with the enrichment of the required populations resulting from a defined material interaction.