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Machine learning is a valuable tool that can accelerate the discovery and design of materials occupying combinatorial chemical spaces. However, the prerequisite need for vast amounts of training data can be prohibitive when significant resources are needed to characterize or simulate candidate structures. Recent results have shown that structure-free encoding of complex materials, based entirely on chemical compositions, can overcome this impediment and perform well in unsupervised learning tasks. In this study, we extend this exploration to supervised classification, and show how structure-free encoding can accurately predict classes of material compounds for battery applications without time consuming measurement of bonding networks, lattices or densities. Scientific contribution: The comprehensive evaluation of structure-free encodings of complex materials in classification tasks, including binary and multi-class separation, inclusive of three classifiers based on different logic function, is measured four metrics and learning curves. The encoding is applied to two data sets from computational and experimental sources, and the outcomes visualised using 5 approaches to confirms the suitability and superiority of Mendeleev encoding. These methods are general and accessible using source software, to provide simple, intuitive and interpretable materials informatics outcomes to accelerate materials design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional design process for aluminium alloys has primarily relied upon iterative alloy production and testing, which can be time intensive and expensive. Machine learning has recently been demonstrated to have promise in predicting alloy properties based on the inputs of alloy composition and alloy processing conditions. In the search for optimal alloy concentrations that meet desired properties, as the search space expands, the optimisation process can become more time intensive and computationally expensive, depending on the methodology used. We propose a faster workflow for inverse alloy design by using multi-target machine-learning models. We train a random forest regressor to predict the concentration of alloying elements and a random forest classifier to determine the processing condition. We further analysed the inverse model and validated findings against alloys reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic mandated a substantial switch in primary health care delivery from an in-person to a mainly remote telephone or video service. As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its third year, limited progress appears to have been made in terms of policy development around consultation methods for the post-acute phase of the pandemic. In September 2020, the International Primary Care Respiratory Group convened a global panel of primary care clinicians – including family physicians, paediatricians, pharmacists, academics and patients – to consider the policy and health management implications of the move to remote consultations in the primary care setting. The group gave special consideration to how and how far remote consultations should be integrated into routine primary health care delivery. Remote consultations can be a useful alternative to in-person consultations in primary care not only in situations where there is a need for viral infection control but also for the routine delivery of chronic disease management. However, they may not be more time efficient for the clinician, and they can add to the workload and work-related stress for primary care practitioners if they remain the dominant consultation mode. Remote consultations are also less appropriate than in-person consultations for new disease diagnosis, dealing with multiple issues and providing complex care. Ensuring health care professionals have the appropriate skill set to effectively deliver remote consultations, administrative and/or IT support and appropriate reimbursement will be key to achieving optimal integration of remote consultations into routine clinical practice. Addressing digital access and digital literacy issues at a societal level will also be essential to ensure individuals have fair and equitable access to the internet and sufficient security for exchange of personal and health-related data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study a new approach to inverse design is presented that draws on the multi‐functionality of nanomaterials and uses sets of properties to predict a unique nanoparticle structure. This approach involves multi‐target regression and uses a precursory forward structure/property prediction to focus the model on the most important characteristics before inverting the problem and simultaneously predicting multiple structural features of a single nanoparticle. The workflow is general, as demonstrated on two nanoparticle data sets, and can rapidly predict property/structure relationships to guide further research and development without the need for additional optimization or high‐throughput sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functionality of many nanomaterials involves the collective properties of aggregates and self‐assembled superstructures. Using the mesostructure as a design parameter requires predictive capabilities, but this is challenging when nanoparticle samples present a diverse mixture of shapes and surface facets. Molecular dynamics with over 5000 nanoparticles is used here to simulate different mixtures of polyhedral nanodiamonds, with surfaces indicative of their characteristic multipolar surface electrostatic potential. It is found that polydispersed samples have different aggregation behavior than monodispersed samples, particularly in regard to the interparticle coordination and degree of long‐range order, but mixing nanoparticle shapes does not affect aggregate porosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fractal dimension of a surface allows its degree of roughness to be characterized quantitatively. However, limited effort is attempted to calculate the fractal dimension of surfaces computed from precisely known atomic coordinates from computational biomolecular and nanomaterial studies. This work proposes methods to estimate the fractal dimension of the surface of any 3D object composed of spheres, by representing the surface as either a voxelized point cloud or a mathematically exact surface, and computing its box‐counting dimension. Sphractal is published as a Python package that provides these functionalities, and its utility is demonstrated on a set of simulated palladium nanoparticle data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) absorbed from the large intestine may contribute to the inflammatory response to high starch feeding in dairy cows. This work evaluated the impact of buffers or alkalinizing agents with expected large intestinal activity on faecal indicators of intestinal fermentation and LPS. Ten late‐lactation cows were used in a replicated 5 × 5 Latin square design with 7‐day periods. Cows were fed a diet containing 265 g/kg dry matter of starch and were abomasally infused with 1 g/kg body weight cornstarch daily. Treatments were control (CON), ration supplementation with 200 g/day sodium bicarbonate (FSB), 200 g/day calcium carbonate (FCC) or 125 g/day calcium carbonate plus 75 g/day of magnesium oxide (FCCM), or abomasal infusion of a lipid encapsulate providing 200 g/day sodium bicarbonate (ISB). The FCC, FCCM and ISB treatments were hypothesized to have large intestinal buffering effects, and FSB was included as a secondary control. Milk, feed, rumen and faecal samples were collected on day 7 of each period. Treatment did not affect intake, milk yield or milk composition. There were no effects of treatment on ruminal measures except that ISB tended to reduce and the post‐ruminal treatments as a whole (FCC, FCCM and ISB) reduced rumen butyrate compared with CON. Faecal pH was greater for FCCM compared with all other treatments. Total faecal VFA tended to increase with FCC and FCCM compared with CON and was increased by the post‐ruminal treatments as a whole compared with CON. Treatment did not affect faecal dry matter, lactate or LPS or apparent total tract nutrient digestibility. Although some treatments altered fermentation as evidenced by the change in faecal VFA, this was not accompanied by a decrease in faecal LPS. The strategies employed in this study had limited effects on large intestinal fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on nursing and medical personnel and their attitudes and engagement toward the implementation of a new standardized aseptic technique (AT) practice at an emergency department (ED) of a tertiary hospital in Perth, Australia. According to the article, themes of facilitating adaptive change include consistency, acknowledgement, communication, and understanding.

One of the most exciting recent developments in nanoscience was the discovery of graphene (single sheets of carbon atoms, a two-dimensional “(2D) crystal”) and the subsequent discovery of the fascinating properties of this new material, e.g., electrons behaving as massless relativistic particles and an anomalous quantum Hall effect [A. K. Geim and K. S. Novoselov, Nat. Mater. 6, 183 (2007)]. It is also surprising that large sheets of graphene exist as it was widely believed that 2D crystals are unstable. Furthermore, because of the stability of folded graphene sheets, i.e., carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a fascinating question is why does not graphene spontaneously transform into CNTs? In this paper, we explore the thermal stability of small pieces of graphene, i.e., graphene nanoflakes by ab initio quantum mechanical techniques. We find that indeed nanoflakes are stable to being heated and do not under any conditions used here transform to CNTs. They do not, however, remain strictly 2D as at finite temperatures, they undergo extensive vibrational motion and remain buckled if annealed and then quenched to room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The widespread use of aluminium alloys in the aerospace, transport and marine industries is attributed to their desirable physical properties. The relationship between the alloy composition and microstructure and the resultant mechanical properties is complicated. Machine learning (ML) has become a valuable asset in designing new alloys. The accuracy of previously utilised ML models has been increased by partitioning the alloy data set and training regressors for individual partitions. This study uses a recently reported data-driven partitioning scheme that divides the data into classes based on feature similarity. Individual regressors were trained on each class and compared with the regressor trained on the entire data set. It was revealed that individual class-based regressors are more interpretable without loss in prediction accuracy. The results indicate that the data-driven partitioning scheme outperforms traditional domain knowledge based partitioning, providing both increased model accuracy and increased model interpretability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The youth (15-24 years old) in South Africa remain at high risk of HIV infection despite varied efforts to control the disease. An understanding of the perspectives of relevant stakeholders of HIV-prevention interventions targeting the youth is important to guide research, policy and practice aimed at improving these interventions. This study explores youth and intervention implementers' perceptions of a resilience-based HIV-prevention intervention (You Only Live Once) aimed at reducing risky sexual behaviours among the youth in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 young people who participated in the intervention, and four intervention implementers at a not-for-profit organisation in Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, South Africa. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged from the data: (1) Acceptability and impact of the intervention; (2) Factors influencing intervention implementation; and (3) Recommendations to improve intervention implementation. These findings provide insights into the acceptability, impact, barriers and facilitators of resiliencebased HIV-prevention interventions for the youth in South Africa and similar contexts, and how implementation of these interventions could be enhanced. The findings can help researchers, policy makers and health care practitioners in the field of HIV prevention to improve interventions targeting young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic and social future of nanotechnology depends on our ability and manufacture nanomaterials that avoid potential toxicity, by identifying them before they are made, used and released into the environment. Safety-by-design is a framework for including these issues at an early stage of the development process, but balancing multiple nanoparticle properties and selection criteria remains challenging. Based on a synthetic data set of over 19,000 possible sunscreen product specifications, we have used multi-target machine learning to predict the corresponding size, shape, concentration and polytype of titania nanoparticle additives. The study considers the optical properties responsible for the sun protection factor and product transparency, including the extinction coefficients for ultra violet and visible light, and the potential for toxicity due to the generation of reactive oxygen species from the photocatalytically active facets of both anatase and rutile nanoparticles, as a function of the size and shape. We predict a number of conventional forward structure/property and property/product relationships, but show that a direct structure/product relationship provides superior performance when predicting multiple properties or product specifications simultaneously. These models are then inverted, re-optimized and re-trained to provide focused, high performing inverse design models that do not require additional optimization, and are capable of identifying nanoparticle configurations outside of the training set. The ability to directly predict suitable nanoparticle structures that conform to prerequisite sun protection, transparently and potential toxicity thresholds represents a new approach to safety-by-design that can be applied to other products and materials where multiple design criteria must be met at the same time. [Display omitted] • Using multi-target random forest regression, the the performance of sunscreens can be directly predicted based on the type of TiO 2 nanoparticle additives. • Using inverse design, the type of TiO 2 nanoparticle additives is selected based on the desired SPF, aesthetic appearance and potential toxicity. • Difficult property/product relationships can be avoided by predicting structure/product relationships directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are nanoporous materials with exceptional host-guest properties poised for groundbreaking innovations in gas separation applications according to high-throughput (HT) screening data. However, MOF structural libraries are nearly infinite in practice and so statistical and information technology will play a fundamental role in implementing and rationalizing MOF virtual screening. In this work, we apply k-means clustering and archetypal analysis (AA) to identify the truly significant nanoporous structures in a large library of ~82000 virtual MOFs. Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models of the theoretical CO2 and N2 uptake capacities were also developed using a calibration set of ~16000 hypothetical MOF structures derived from the prototypes and archetype frameworks. Since uptake capacities correlated poorly to the void fraction, surface area and pore size but these properties were used to build binary classifier predictors that successfully identify "high-performing" nanoporous materials in an external test set of ~65000 MOFs with accuracy higher than 94%. The accuracy of the classification decreased for MOFs with fluorine substituents. The classification models can serve as efficient filtering tools to detecting promising high-performing candidates at the early stage of virtual high-throughput screening of novel porous materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This work aims to explore staff perceptions of (1) the effectiveness of organizational communication during the COVID‐19 pandemic and (2) the impact of organizational communication on staff well‐being and ability to progress their work and patient care. Background: Effective coordination and communication are essential in a pandemic management response. However, the effectiveness of communication strategies used during the COVID‐19 pandemic is not well understood. Design: An exploratory cross‐sectional research design was used. A 33‐item survey tool was created for the study. Methods: The study was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in Western Australia. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from nursing, medical, allied health services, administrative and clerical, and personal support services (N = 325). Data were collected between December 2020 and May 2021. Results: Overall, all occupational groups found working during the COVID‐19 pandemic stressful, and all groups wanted accessible and accurate communication from management and new policies, procedures, and protocols for future outbreaks. Conclusions: The use of occupational group‐relevant strategies and COVID‐19 protocols, as well as the on‐going use of email, face‐to‐face meetings with debrief sessions, are needed to improve communication and support staff to fulfil their roles. Summary statement: What is already known about the topic? Effective coordination and communication that is timely and two‐way in nature, is an essential part of a pandemic management response. What this paper adds? All occupational groups found working during the COVID‐19 pandemic stressful; all groups wanted accessible and accurate communication from management and new policies, procedures, and protocols for future outbreaks. The implications of this paper: Managing a pandemic situation in health care settings is challenging for all levels of staff including management and all occupational work groups.The use of occupational group‐relevant strategies and COVID‐19 protocols, as well as the on‐going use of email, face‐to‐face meetings with debrief sessions, are needed to improve communication and support staff to fulfil their roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thefabrication of silicon nanoparticles terminated with halogenspecies provides a convenient route to create readily functionalizablenanostructures; however, the relationship between formation conditionsand the thermodynamic ground-state morphology of the nanoparticlesthus formed remains poorly understood. In this work, we use densityfunctional theory calculations to compute surface energies of siliconsurfaces terminated with fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine asa function of halogen chemical potential and hence we compute, viaa nanomorphology model, the thermodynamically optimal morphology of halogen-terminated silicon nanoparticles. We predict a variety of optimal nanoparticle shapes consisting primarily of Si(100), Si(113),and Si(111) facets with varying terminations, and we demonstrate howcontrol over morphology may be attained by controlling the chemicalenvironment. Implications for the fabrication of nanoparticles withfacet-selective reactivity are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assembledmonolayers (SAMs) are applied to gold nanoparticlesto guide growth, increase stability, and provide additional functionality.However, as with any surface coating, the changes to the energeticsof the surface can have unanticipated consequences, as well as introducingnew opportunities. Understanding the relationship between the efficiencyand type of SAMs and the underlying gold nanoparticles is challenging,but can be explored very efficiently using theory and computer simulation.In this paper, the relationship between the density of alkanethiolSAMs with different chain lengths and the shape of gold nanoparticlesis reported as a function of size, including the impact of highlyunder-coordinated sites such as edges and corners. The results showthat the most favorable sites for adsorption are on the {111} facetsadjacent to the {111}|{111} edges (followed by the corners), but itis the concentration of SAMs on facets themselves that drives variationsin the morphology. With the right choice of thiol and control of theSAM efficiency, it will be possible to create gold nanoparticles witha majority of either {111} or {100} facets, as required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rural longitudinal placements are now a key part of clinical medical education, and are part of workforce strategies to enhance the rural medical workforce. Learning trajectories (a map to guide student learning) have been recommended as a means of maximising student learning on placements, and have the potential to assist long-term rural students and supervisors in adapting to a longitudinal clerkship. Context: This study focuses on year-3 medical students in rural longitudinal clinical placements at an Australian graduate-entry medical school. Innovation: This article reports the outcomes of working with current rural supervisors and students to develop a learning trajectory across the rural stream year, for implementation in future years. Implications: Students and supervisors identified incremental learning goals in keeping with Dreyfus's model of progressive skill development. Students offered tips to future students to adjust to variations in learning experiences across rural sites. Some supervisors were reluctant to have a learning trajectory, fearing it would be seen as proscriptive and reduce student ambition for varied rich experiences. Future research will focus on the impact of the rural learning trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While significant progress has been made toward production of monodispersed samples of a variety of nanoparticles, in cases such as diamond nanoparticles (nanodiamonds) a significant degree of polydispersivity persists, so scaling-up of laboratory applications to industrial levels has its challenges. In many cases, however, monodispersivity is not essential for reliable application, provided that the inevitable uncertainties are just as predictable as the functional properties. As computational methods of materials design are becoming more widespread, there is a growing need for robust methods for modeling ensembles of nanoparticles, that capture the structural complexity characteristic of real specimens. In this paper we present a simple statistical approach to modeling of ensembles of nanoparticles, and apply it to nanodiamond, based on sets of individual simulations that have been carefully selected to describe specific structural sources that are responsible for scattering of fundamental properties, and that are typically difficult to eliminate experimentally. For the purposes of demonstration we show how scattering in the Fermi energy and the electronic band gap are related to different structural variations (sources), and how these results can be combined strategically to yield statistically significant predictions of the properties of an entire ensemble of nanodiamonds, rather than merely one individual 'model' particle or a non-representative sub-set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To quantify utilisation of allied health care services by diabetics in rural NSW and explore reasons for any underutilisation. Design Self-administered mail survey of 268 patients with diagnosed diabetes identified from practice registers. Setting Two rural general practices. Participants One hundred seventeen respondents with diabetes. Main outcome measure Annual frequency of visits to allied health practitioners. Results In the last year, 40.2% of patients had seen a diabetes educator ( DE), 21.4% a dietitian and 47% a podiatrist. However, 25-40% of patients had never used each of the services. Reasons for nonutilisation were non-referral (35.9-68.0%) and lack of perceived need (40.6-59.0%). One third of patients who had not seen a DE in the last year thought their 'general practitioner ( GP) provides a similar service'. However, mean annual GP visits (5.6) were significantly lower than urban and rural comparisons. Patients with formal management plans were, in the last year, twice as likely to have seen a DE and podiatrist, and reported two extra visits to their GP compared to those without. Conclusions Rates of allied health service utilisation were not significantly lower than urban rates; however, there is room for increased uptake of multidisciplinary services. Patients who do not access these services may expect their GP to fulfil multiple roles within a limited number of visits and may not understand the role of other practitioners. Where allied health services are available locally, utilisation may be improved by increasing use of management plans and fostering awareness of the role of allied health practitioners in diabetes management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nanoparticulate hematite is a promising material for catalytic and photoelectrochemical applications, where the surfaces are engineered to improve efficiency in different chemical environments. In the presence of water, the surfaces are typically passivated by hydroxyl groups, which modify the surface stability and reactivity. We use density functional theory and first principles thermodynamics to investigate the low-index surfaces (001), (101), and (104) in hydrous environments. For each of the surfaces, we build various hydroxylation configurations and compare their thermodynamic stability under different environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, and supersaturation of oxygen). The results enable us to construct surface phase diagrams, which provide guidance to the selection of surface structures, and the control of environmental conditions for specific applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Under a given set of conditions, nanomaterials can crystallize into structures that are entirely inconsistent with the bulk material and may adopt a range of faceted morphologies that depend on the particle size. A size-dependent phase diagram, a graphical representation of the chemical equilibrium, offers a convenient way to describe this relationship among the size, morphology, and thermodynamic environment. Although creating such a diagram from conventional experiments is extremely challenging (and costly), theory and simulation allow us to use virtual experiments to control the temperature, pressure, size, structure and composition independently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene nanoflakes provide a range of opportunities for engineering graphene for future applications, due to the large number of configurational degrees of freedom associated with the addition of different types of corners and edge states in the structure. Since these materials can, in principle, span the molecular to macroscale dimensions, the electronic properties may also be discrete or continuous, depending on the application in mind. However, since the widespread use of graphene nanoflakes will require them to be predictable, stable and robust against variations associated with some degree of structural polydispersivity, the development of a complete understanding of the relationship between structure, properties and property dispersion is essential. In this paper we used electronic structure computer simulations to model the thermodynamic, mechanical and electronic properties of trigonal graphene nanoflakes with acute (highly reactive) corners. We find that these acute corners introduce new features that are different to the obtuse corners characteristic of hexagonal graphene nanoflakes, as well as different electronic states in the vicinity of the Fermi level. The structure and properties are sensitive to size and functionalization, and may provide new insights into the engineering of graphene nanoflake components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing emphasis on ambulatory health care, clinical educators need to ensure that students are sufficiently prepared to maximise learning opportunities during placements in ambulatory settings This study focuses on third-year medical students entering urban or rural clinical placements at an Australian graduate entry medical school. All rural and a subset of urban students received intensive training in taking Papanicolaou (Pap) smears prior to starting the clinical placement. Training involved gynaecological teaching associates, active practice and real-time feedback. Evaluation included workshop feedback, reflection on effectiveness during the placement, and comparison of trained and untrained students' recorded clinical experience of taking Pap smears. Students given pre-placement training praised their learning experience, and on average took more Pap smears during their placement than did their untrained peers. The difference, however, did not reach statistical significance. The pre-placement teaching workshop on a difficult skill was popular and worthy of further study regarding other challenging clinical skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron oxides and oxyhydroxides are challenging to model computationally as competing phases may differ in formation energies by only several kJ mol-1, they undergo magnetization transitions with temperature, their structures may contain partially occupied sites or long-range ordering of vacancies, and some loose structures require proper description of weak interactions such as hydrogen bonding and dispersive forces. If structures and transformations are to be reliably predicted under different chemical conditions, each of these challenges must be overcome simultaneously while preserving a high level of numerical accuracy and physical sophistication. Here we present comparative studies of structure, magnetization, and elasticity properties of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides using density-functional-theory calculations with plane-wave (PW) and locally-confined-atomic- orbital basis sets, which are implemented in VASP and SIESTA packages, respectively. We have selected hematite (α-Fe2O3), maghemite (γ-Fe2O3), goethite (α-FeOOH), lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH), and magnetite (Fe3O4) as model systems from a total of 13 known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides, and we used the same convergence criteria and almost equivalent settings to make consistent comparisons. Our results show that both basis sets can reproduce the energetic stability and magnetic ordering, and are in agreement with experimental observations. There are advantages to choosing one basis set over the other, depending on the intended focus. In our case, we find the method using PW basis set the most appropriate, and we combine our results to construct the first phase diagram of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides in the space of competing chemical potentials, generated entirely from first principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous reports have described the superior properties of nanoparticles and their diverse range of applications. Issues of toxicity, workplace safety and environmental impact have also been a concern. Here we show a theoretical comparison of how the size of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and their concentration in sunscreens can affect efficacy, aesthetics and potential toxicity from free radical production. The simulation results reveal that, unless very small nanoparticles can be shown to be safe, there is no combination of particle size and concentration that will deliver optimal performance in terms of sun protection and aesthetics. Such a theoretical method complements well the experimental approach for identifying these characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses how ab initio simulations can help address potential hazards and risks in nanotscience and nanotechnology. The author stresses the importance of using the right tools for the job, strong monitoring of temperature and stimulating the right environment. The author also highlights areas in which ab initio computer simulations can help develop understanding on hazards and suggest ways in which these techniques can be made more applicable in nanotechnology.

The article reflects on the hazards associated with nanomaterials and the protection against them. Nanomaterials are discrete pieces of matter with a critical diameter between 0.1 and 100 nm. It implied that knowledge on the classification of these nanomaterials whether hazardous or non-hazardous is the best defence that can be utilized to protect from the potential dangers these nanomaterials can bring to humans and the environment.

We showed recently that the human T-lymphotropic virus, type 1 (HTLV-1), spreads directly from cell to cell via a virological synapse. The HTLV-1 virological synapse resembles the immunological synapse; each is a specialized contact between a lymphocyte and another cell that contains organized protein microdomains, and each involves repolarization of the T-cell microtubule cytoskeleton. However, formation of the virological synapse is not triggered by T-cell receptor-mediated antigen recognition. On the basis of our previous data, we postulated that formation of the viral synapse was triggered by a conjunction of two signals, one from HTLV-1 infection of the T-cell and one from cell-cell contact. We have recently identified ICAM-1 engagement as a cell-contact signal that causes the microtubule polarization associated with the virological synapse. Here we used confocal microscopy of T-lymphocytes naturally infected with HTLV-1 or transfected with individual HTLV-1 genes to investigate the role of the viral transcriptional transactivator protein Tax. Polarization of the microtubules was induced by cell-cell contact or by cross-linking T-cell surface molecules with monoclonal antibodies adsorbed to latex beads. We show that Tax, which is mainly found in the nucleus, is also present at two specific extranuclear sites as follows: around the microtubule organizing center in association with the cis-Golgi and in the cell-cell contact region. We show that expression of Tax provides an intracellular signal that synergizes with ICAM-1 engagement to cause the T-cell microtubule polarization observed at the virological synapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of carbon based nano-scale materials is extremely diverse at the molecular level and is very important in determining the properties and potential uses of these materials. Ab initio quantum mechanical methods have proved to be successful in giving insight into this structure. This is especially so, for nano-diamond clusters, -wires and -tubes. Here, we apply ab initio DFT based simulations to study some aspects of the structure and properties of graphene layers and graphene tubes to compare and contrast some of their properties such as energy, interconversion and X-ray spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pigs were vaccinated with the emergency inactivated foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccine—water-in-oil-in-water emulsion with Montanide ISA206—known to protect after 3–5 days. Peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) sub-populations did not differ between vaccinates and controls post-vaccination. There was neither lymphopenia nor inflammatory reaction. FMDV-specific antibody and T lymphocyte activity developed in the vaccinates. Virus-induced Th1-like cytokine protein and mRNA (IFNγ and IL-2) were identified, particularly IFNγ. Th2-like cytokine protein and mRNA (IL-4 and IL-6) were also induced in an FMDV-specific manner. IL-10 was induced by both virus and mock antigen. The current emergency FMDV vaccine induces a diverse immune defence network—innate, and both Th1-like and Th2-like responses—without adverse reactions such as lymphopenia or inflammatory responses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Modification of murine K1735 melanoma cells to express the immune costimulator B7-1 had no effect on tumor formation in syngeneic mice. In contrast, <40% of mice inoculated with K1735 cells modified to secrete murine interleukin-2 (IL-2) formed tumors, and no tumors formed when the K1735 cells coexpressed both murine IL-2 and B7-1. However, administration of systemic recombinant human IL-2 had no detectable effect on the formation of tumors by the B7-1-expressing K1735 cells. By contrast, admixtures of IL-2-secreting and B7-1-expressing K1735 cells formed fewer tumors than either cell type alone. Murine IL-2 was effective only when secreted locally, because the IL-2-secreting cells inoculated into the right flank did not affect the growth of the B7-1-expressing cells inoculated into the opposite flank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning can extract complex structure/property relationships but is often insufficient to explain how to control or tune the properties of materials, particularly when they are multi‐functional. This study demonstrates the value of combining multi‐target regression and multi‐target causal graphs to address the need to simultaneously control multiple properties of nanomaterials, and the need to translate these relationships into actionable insights. Using nanodiamonds as an exemplar, recursive feature elimination is first used to identify nine structural features that allow simultaneous prediction of their electron charge transfer properties and thermochemical stability to high accuracy by an interpretable random forest regressor. A multi‐target Bayesian network with domain knowledge incorporated via interactive learning using a hill‐climbing algorithm then determines how these important structural features of nanodiamonds relate to their functional properties, proposing causal paths that can be used to inform experimental design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fractal dimension of a surface allows its degree of roughness to be characterised quantitatively. The three‐dimensional surface computed from precise atomic coordinates can be represented as either a voxelised point cloud or a mathematically exact surface. Sphractal is a Python package that estimates the fractal dimensions of such surfaces by computing their box‐counting dimensions. For details on this package and a demonstration of its utility, see article number 2301227 by Jonathan Yik Chang Ting and co‐workers..By Jonathan Yik Chang Ting; Andrew Thomas Agars Wood and Amanda Susan BarnardReported by Author; Author; Author [Extracted from the article]

Background: Interventions aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior are considered an important strategy for averting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection among youth (15-24 years) who continue to be at risk of the disease. Enhancing intervention success requires a comprehensive understanding of the barriers and facilitators to interventions targeting youth. However, there is lack of a systematic review of both quantitative and qualitative studies to comprehensively identify and synthesize barriers and facilitators to HIV prevention interventions for reducing risky sexual behavior among youth worldwide. This review aimed to identify and synthesize barriers and facilitators to HIV prevention interventions for reducing risky sexual behavior among youth globally based on original peer-reviewed studies published in the last decade.Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute approach for mixed methods systematic reviews and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were used to guide this review. Nine electronic databases, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and World Health Organization websites, and reference lists of included studies and systematic reviews on barriers and facilitators to HIV prevention interventions for reducing risky sexual behavior among youth were searched for eligible articles. Studies that met the inclusion criteria underwent quality appraisal and data extraction. Findings were analyzed using thematic synthesis and underpinned by Nilsen, 2015's Determinant Framework.Results: Overall 13 studies comprising of eight qualitative studies, four quantitative studies and one mixed methods study were included in the review. Several barriers and facilitators across the five Determinant Framework domains were identified. Most of the barriers fell under the characteristics of the context domain (e.g., gender-biased norms). The next important group of barriers emerged within the characteristics of the end users domain (e.g., fear of relationship breakdown). In terms of facilitators, the majority fell under the characteristics of the strategy of facilitating implementation domain (e.g., implementation of intervention with fidelity) and characteristics of the end users domain (e.g., fear of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections). The next common set of facilitators appeared within the characteristics of the context domain (e.g., family support).Conclusion: This review identified several multi-level barriers and facilitators to HIV prevention interventions for reducing risky sexual behavior among youth. Multi-level and combination approaches are needed to address these factors and enhance intervention success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors show that, during a steady-state vapor phase growth of ZnO nanomaterials, indium doping causes the structural change from usual [0001]-axial short nanowires to [formula]-axial nanobelts of much larger aspect ratio. They used an analytical thermodynamic model based on geometric summation of the Gibbs free energy to predict the dimension dependence of the nanowires and nanobelts for both pure and In-doped ZnO. The calculation result agrees with the experiment observation that in situ indium doping influences the nucleation and supports the dominating growth of a-axial nanobelts over c-axial nanowires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with Class III obesity pose unique challenges to health care staff and organisations. Care requirements of this population are unique and require specialised equipment and knowledge to meet these needs, maintain the quality of care, as well as the safety of patients and staff. Aim: To synthesise the evidence on the nursing care of Class III obese patients in acute care settings. Methods: A scoping review informed by JBI. CINAHL Plus, Medline, Scopus, Proquest Central, Web of Science and Embase were searched for primary research articles about the nursing management of people classified as Class III obese in acute care. Methodological quality of included studies was assessed; data extracted and synthesised into themes. Results: Fourteen studies were included in the review. The synthesis generated three themes: Access to equipment, knowledge and training, patient care, and opportunities to improve care. Conclusions: A paucity of high-quality evidence informs the nursing care of people with Class III obesity in acute care. Access to appropriate equipment dominated the findings of this review. Adequate provision of equipment and education on its use are required. Education to promote engagement with patients, adapting clinical practice and promotion of self-care could improve care and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore and summarise the literature on the concept of 'clinical deterioration' as a nurse‐sensitive indicator of quality of care in the out‐of‐hospital context. Design: The scoping review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses Extension for Scoping Review and the JBI best practice guidelines for scoping reviews. Methods: Studies focusing on clinical deterioration, errors of omission, nurse sensitive indicators and the quality of nursing and midwifery care for all categories of registered, enrolled, or licensed practice nurses and midwives in the out‐of‐hospital context were included regardless of methodology. Text and opinion papers were also considered. Study protocols were excluded. Data Sources: Data bases were searched from inception to June 2022 and included CINAHL, PsychINFO, MEDLINE, The Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, EmCare, Maternity and Infant Care Database, Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, Informit Health and Society Database, JSTOR, Nursing and Allied Health Database, RURAL, Cochrane Library and Joanna Briggs Institute. Results: Thirty‐four studies were included. Workloads, education and training opportunities, access to technology, home visits, clinical assessments and use of screening tools or guidelines impacted the ability to recognise, relay information and respond to clinical deterioration in the out‐of‐hospital setting. Conclusions: Little is known about the work of nurses or midwives in out‐of‐hospital settings and their recognition, reaction to and relay of information about patient deterioration. The complex and subtle nature of non‐acute deterioration creates challenges in defining and subsequently evaluating the role and impact of nurses in these settings. Implications for the profession and/or patient care: Further research is needed to clarify outcome measures and nurse contribution to the care of the deteriorating patient in the out‐of‐hospital setting to reduce the rate of avoidable hospitalisation and articulate the contribution of nurses and midwives to patient care. Impact: What Problem Did the Study Address?: Factors that impact a nurse's ability to recognise, relay information and respond to clinical deterioration in the out‐of‐hospital setting are not examined to date. What Were the Main Findings?: A range of factors were identified that impacted a nurse's ability to recognise, relay information and respond to clinical deterioration in the out‐of‐hospital setting including workloads, education and training opportunities, access to technology, home visits, clinical assessments, use of screening tools or guidelines, and avoidable hospitalisation. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? Nurses and nursing management will benefit from understanding the factors that act as barriers and facilitators for effective recognition of, and responding to, a deteriorating patient in the out‐of‐hospital setting. This in turn will impact patient survival and satisfaction. Reporting Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses Extension for Scoping Review guidelines guided this review. The PRISMA‐Scr Checklist (Tricco et al., 2018) is included as (supplementary file 1).Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study." No Patient or Public Contribution: Not required as the Scoping Review used publicly available information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clostridioides difficile is an important enteric pathogen that causes significant morbidity and mortality in humans. With community‐acquired infections on the rise, it is important to identify reservoirs of the pathogen. Companion animals can be asymptomatic carriers of C. difficile and may therefore represent a reservoir, but epidemiological studies of C. difficile within the pet‐owner unit are needed, along with validated methods to detect C. difficile in both people and animals. The goal of this study was to assess the performance of commercial qPCR assays and a multiplex PCR for C. difficile compared to toxigenic culture. These assays were tested on up to 103 fecal samples from puppies, a population in which the prevalence of C. difficile is the highest. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values and negative predictive values were respectively 84.2%, 87.7%, 61.5%, and 95.9% for the Cepheid GeneXpert; 66.7%, 66.7%, 29.6%, and 90.9% for the DiaSorin Simplexa; and 94.4%, 85.0%, 65.4%, and 98.1%, for the multiplex qPCR. The agreement was highest between the GeneXpert and the multiplex PCR (90.1% agreement, with a kappa statistic of 0.77). For diagnostic purposes, the positive predictive values of the assays were low. However, the high sensitivities of the assays could render them useful for epidemiologic purposes. Companion animals might be a reservoir of Clostridioides difficile. Diagnostic assays that are validated in both people and pets are needed to conduct epidemiological investigations within the pet‐owner unit. We found that at least one commercial PCR assay to detect C. difficile in people is also highly sensitive in dogs and could therefore be used for epidemiological purposes within the pet‐owner unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the effectiveness of narrative inquiry as a research method in collecting and analyzing stories from a purposive sample of intensive care nurses and doctors, regarding their perceptions of the factors that influence decision-making in relation to the withdrawal of life sustaining treatment. Delaying the withdrawal of treatment when it is clearly indicated, may result in unnecessary patient suffering at the end of life, distress for the family as well as moral distress for staff. In narrative inquiry participants' first-hand accounts of their experiences are told through story; the focus of analysis is the story, with the story becoming the object of investigation. Initially, participants' stories were restoried to produce narratives that were co-constructed between researcher and participant. Narrative analysis, employing McCormack's lenses and the interconnected analytical lenses, facilitated vertical analysis of each narrative. Horizontal analysis through thematic analysis facilitated the derivation of themes that were consistent within or across narratives. We detail here how narrative inquiry methodology was effective in revealing the meaning participants gave to their decision-making experiences through story, offering a broader understanding of the factors that impact on decision-making regarding the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. The study's findings were powerful, derived from narratives rich and thick in description, depicting a multi-dimensional interpretation of the participants' perceptions of their decision-making experiences. Participants experienced transformative learning through the narrative process, which led to changes in ways of working in the study setting. Recommendations arose to enhance clinical practice and education in this vital area of practice as a result of this study. The application of narrative inquiry enabled the discovery of significant findings as an avenue to challenge legislation and current opinion regarding the autonomy and role of the family in decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a research study conducted by a group of researchers headed by researcher Tienchong Chang to introduce a way of moving nanoscale materials without using an external power source. Topics covered include the different applications of the nano-material motion control process, the use of computer simulations in Chang's virtual experiments, and the advantages of using computer simulations in Chang's research.

The article focuses on a study approved by the Australian National University (ANU) Human Research Ethics Committee, which compared assessment outcomes for medical students assigned in a Commomwealth-funded rural stream longitudinal clinical placement in Australia. The study utilized the data on the results of examinations taken by students from urban and rural students. The anxiety of rural supervisors over the result of these examinations are included in this study.

Aims and objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of traditional clinical predialytic fluid assessment by renal nurses and the efficacy of 2 additional fluid assessment methods focussing on the potential preventative effect for intradialytic hypotension (IDH). Background: Predialytic fluid assessment remains a daily challenge for renal nurses, when aiming for adverse event free haemodialysis treatments. Adding further objective parameters obtained through noninvasive methods into pre‐ and intradialytic fluid assessment could potentially improve health outcomes for haemodialysis patients. Design: Comparative, observational study of three fluid assessment methods on their reliability on volume status and correlation to clinical outcomes. Methods: Clinical predialytic nursing fluid assessments in 30 haemodialysis patients were compared with additional initial bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) measurements, and 3 serial intradialytic ultrasound scans of the inferior vena cava (IVC‐US) performed by a second renal nurse concurrently during the same session. A retrospective data analysis compared all measurements in each individual for the predictive value for IDH. A STROBE checklist for observational cohort studies was used for the reporting of results. Results: Seven subjects experienced episodes of symptomatic intradialytic hypotension (S‐IDH), which would have been anticipated by IVC‐US or by BIS in 5 patients (71%). Using an algorithm to predict IDH would have provided a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 95%. Conclusion: Both additional fluid assessment methods would have provided critical information before and during each haemodialysis session. Therefore, we consider them as being potentially effective for the prevention of intradialytic hypotension, with IVC‐US being similar to BIS. Relevance to clinical practice: Traditional clinical nursing fluid assessment methods in haemodialysis patients do not provide sufficient information to prevent episodes of IDH. Additional objective fluid assessment methods are useful and likely to lead to improved health outcomes in HD patients when applied by renal nurses. A combination of IVC‐US, MAP and BIS has potential to reduce the risk of IDH events in HD patients significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that examined clinical audit as a method of improving the management of chronic diseases in the general practice of rural health care. It specifically focuses on the management of coronary heart disease (CHD) and explores the experience of general practitioners in clinical audit. It was found that clinical audit in the form of monthly data collection and completion of "Plan-Do-Study-Act" (PDSA) cycles provided a structured approach in ensuring that targets in improving CHD conditions are met.

Background. Missed nursing care adversely affects nurse and patient outcomes in healthcare settings. Comprehensive bibliometric overview of research output in this field is limited, which restricts knowledge of this complex phenomenon in terms of research trends, author's productivity, and thematic focus of scientific publications. This study aims to examine publications on missed nursing care by conducting a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. Methods. A search was performed in the Scopus database to identify 276 published studies on missed nursing care from inception to 20th February 2022. A bibliometric approach was used to comprehensively analyse retrieved publications based on trend, thematic focus, and scientific production. The R based software was used for data analysis. Results. The result from this bibliometric analysis indicates that the first study performed on the concept of missed nursing care was published in 2006. The United States of America (USA) ranked first in number of publications, and the study by Ball et al. published in 2014 was the most cited paper among the documents analysed. The results also identified names of prolific authors such as Kalisch B.J., Ausserhofer D., Willis E., Papastavrou E., Schubert M., Palese A., Simon M., and Aiken L. H. and relevant institutions in this field. Trending keywords identified included "missed nursing care," "unfinished nursing care," "patient safety," and "care left undone." In addition, thematic analysis showed emerging themes such as "neonatal intensive care unit," "patient satisfaction," "health resources," "failure to maintain," and "adverse events." Conclusion. Findings from this study reveal a lack of bibliometric analysis in missed nursing care research. This study provides significant contribution by presenting a comprehensive overview on thematic focus, hotspots studies, and directions for future research in this field. Findings from this study can guide scholars in defining research focus and aspects of research on missed nursing care for future exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) simulations were performed to investigate the effectiveness of any combination of five experimentally motivated constraints on the reproduction of a test case, a ternary ab initio model. It was found that low energy structures fitting a variety of constraints commonly used in the RMC methodology could still provide an incorrect description of the chemical structural unit populations in multi-elemental systems. It is shown that the use of an elemental bond type constraint is an effective way to avoid this. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate calculation of hydrogen abstraction reaction barriers is a challenging problem, often requiring high level quantum chemistry methods that scale poorly with system size. Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods provide an alternative approach that exhibit much better scaling, but these methods are still computationally expensive. We describe approaches that can significantly reduce the cost of QMC calculations of barrier heights, using the hydrogen abstraction of methanol by a hydrogen atom as an illustrative example. By analysing the combined influence of trial wavefunctions and pseudopotential quadrature settings on the barrier heights, variance, and time-step errors, we devise a simple protocol that minimizes the cost of the QMC calculations while retaining accuracy comparable to large-basis coupled cluster theory. We demonstrate that this protocol is transferable to other hydrogen abstraction reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nature, snowflake ice crystals arrange themselves into diverse symmetrical six-sided structures. We show an analogy of this when zinc (Zn) dissolves and crystallizes in liquid gallium (Ga). The lowmelting-temperature Ga is used as a “metallic solvent” to synthesize a range of flake-like Zn crystals. We extract these metallic crystals from the liquid metal solvent by reducing its surface tension using a combination of electrocapillary modulation and vacuum filtration. The liquid metal–grown crystals feature high morphological diversity and persistent symmetry. The concept is expanded to other single and binary metal solutes and Ga-based solvents, with the growth mechanisms elucidated through ab initio simulation of interfacial stability. This strategy offers general routes for creating highly crystalline, shape-controlled metallic or multimetallic fine structures from liquid metal solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are entering the next generation of the nano-age, where nanoscience is turning into nanotechnology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Interventions focused on promoting resilience or protective factors of youth have been proposed as a strategy for reducing risky behaviours associated with HIV infection among youth; however few studies have explored their effectiveness. This study assessed the impact of a resilience-based HIV prevention intervention (You Only Live Once) on risky sexual behaviours, resilience and protective factors of youth. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used. One hundred and ninety-seven youth aged 15–24 years were conveniently recruited from a non-profit organisation in Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, South Africa and participated in a 12-session, resilience-based HIV intervention delivered over a 1-week period by trained adult facilitators. Outcomes of interest were assessed at baseline and 3-month follow-up using validated risky sexual behaviour measures, and Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Mixed effect logistic and linear regression models were formulated to assess the impact of the intervention on risky sexual behaviours; resilience and protective factors respectively. Compared to baseline, participants at 3-month follow-up were 68 % less likely to have unprotected sex, 22 % less likely to regret their decision to engage in sexual activity and 0.4 % less likely to be pregnant or made someone pregnant. Conversely, participants at the 3-month follow-up had a higher propensity to engage in multiple sexual partnerships, transactional sex and intergenerational sex than baseline. Participants at 3-month follow-up had significant improvements in their scores of resilience, individual capacities and contextual factors that facilitate a sense of belonging (p < 0.05). You Only Live Once intervention appeared to have mitigated some risky sexual behaviours, and improved resilience and protective factors over a 3-month period. These findings suggest that the intervention has ability to reduce risky sexual behaviours associated with HIV, and improve resilience and protective factors among youth in South Africa. Further evaluation of the intervention with a rigorous study design, larger sample size and longer period for follow-up is warranted. • Interventions focused on promoting resilience or protective factors of youth have been proposed as a strategy for reducing risky behaviours associated with HIV infection among youth. • This study evaluated the impact of a resilience-based HIV prevention intervention on risky sexual behaviours, resilience and protective factors among youth in South Africa. • The intervention positively impacted some risky sexual behaviours, and resilience and protective factors, whilst some risky sexual behaviours and protective factors where not positively impacted. • The study provides preliminary evidence about the potential of resilience-based HIV prevention intervention to reduce risky sexual behaviours, and improve resilience and protective factors in South African youth. • Further evaluation of the intervention with a rigorous study design, larger sample size and longer period for follow-up is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]