The number of people affected by at least one chronic disease is increasing worldwide, with poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) being a major consequence(1). HRQOL is an important measure for quantifying and evaluating the impacts of a disease or intervention on self-perceived wellbeing. Anti-inflammatory diets are consistently associated with improvements in disease-specific outcomes(2,3), but their effect on HRQOL is unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory dietary interventions on HRQOL in adults with one or more chronic diseases. Five databases were searched from inception to May 2024 for randomised controlled trials evaluating the impact of an anti-inflammatory diet (e.g., Mediterranean, low-carbohydrate) on HRQOL. Screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane Risk of Bias v2.0 tool were performed independently by two authors. Certainty of evidence was determined using the GRADE approach. Pooled effect sizes for HRQOL, separated into mental (MCS) physical (PCS) and general component scores (GCS) were calculated using random-effects meta-analyses and reported as standardised mean difference (SMD). Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions were performed to assess the influence of study-level characteristics on HRQOL outcomes. Twenty-three studies reporting HRQOL data for 2753 participants were included. The most common chronic diseases evaluated were type 2 diabetes (8 studies, 35%), musculoskeletal conditions (5 studies, 22%), and cardiovascular conditions (3 studies, 13%). Anti-inflammatory dietary interventions evaluated included the Mediterranean diet (14 studies, 61%), low-carbohydrate diets (8 studies, 35%), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (1 study, 4%) and low-sugar, low-yeast diet (1 study, 4%). Anti-inflammatory diets were associated with small improvements in PCS compared to usual care/non-anti-inflammatory dietary interventions such as national dietary guidelines and low-fat diets (SMD 0.22, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.38) but not MCS (SMD 0.10, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.23) or GCS (SMD 0.40, 95% CI −0.32 to 1.13). Assessment by study-level characteristics revealed that studies with a higher risk of bias reported a larger effect on PCS, and diet-only interventions (compared to multi-component interventions) had a greater effect on MCS. No study met the Cochrane criteria for low risk of bias, and certainty of evidence was low (PCS and MCS) to very low (GCS). This systematic review suggests that anti-inflammatory diets may lead to a small improvement in physical HRQOL, but not mental or general HRQOL. The low certainty of evidence calls for further high-quality RCTs with detailed descriptions of dietary interventions in individuals with one or more chronic diseases.

Japan to date has provided an inspiring role model for Asian workers trying to ban the importation and mining of asbestos in Asia. Japanese money has enabled international gatherings of workers and officials trying to end the importation and use of this deadly dust.

The air turned chilly as the sun sighed into the nearby hills. It picked up the smells of dust mixed with metallic and dung flavours. Miss Phaeng watched, holding her breath as the last sliver of red fell out of sight. Casting a quick mantra to the spirits of nature, she swallowed a glass of lao lao to start the evening.

In parts of Asia, carrying 500 grams of one white powder can draw a death sentence, but importing 1,000 tons of another lethal white dust is both legal and profitable.

In this study, we draw on an analysis of publicly available information from university websites and Google Scholar to explore the qualifications, relevant experience, and scholarship of academics involved in postgraduate special/inclusive education courses in Australian universities. Overall, we found information on 148 academics employed at 23 universities, of whom 124 were teaching a unit or units with content relevant to the education of students with disability. Of these, 23% were described as having a qualification in special or inclusive education, 20% were described as having experience in a setting relevant to people with disability, and 51% had evidence of scholarship in special or inclusive education. These results are a cause for some concern and suggest staffing of special/inclusive education courses is not always ideal, with many academics apparently teaching out of their area of expertise.

Antenatal steroids (ANS) are one of the most widely prescribed medications in pregnancy, being administered to women at risk of preterm delivery. In the setting of preterm delivery at or below 35 weeks’ gestation, systematic review data show ANS reduce perinatal morbidity and mortality, primarily by promoting fetal lung maturation. However, with the expanding use of this intervention has come a growing appreciation for the potential off-target, adverse effects of ANS therapy on wider fetal development. We undertook a narrative literature review of the animal and clinical literature to assess current evidence for adverse effects of ANS exposure and fetal development. This review presents a summary of the evidence relating to the potential for wide-ranging, off-target, adverse effects of ANS therapy on fetal development and programming. We highlight an urgent need for further animal and clinical studies investigating the effects of ANS on the fetal immune, cardiovascular, renal and hepatic systems given a current sparsity of evidence. We also strongly suggest an emphasis on open disclosure, discussion and education of clinicians and patients with regard to the potential benefits and risks of ANS therapy, particularly in late preterm and term gestations where infants derive relatively few benefits from these drugs. We also propose further studies on the optimisation of ANS therapy through improved patient selection and improved dosing regimens based on a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic informed understanding of ANS action on the fetal lung.

The North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) collaborative, which formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed for heritage-at-risk partners to shift from reactive to proactive strategies. The result was the creation of the NAHAR research pipeline to respond to landscapes at risk. The pipeline includes modeling of environmental changes to the landscape; monitoring sites to verify location and assess condition; meeting with the public, descendant community, land managers, and transdisciplinary experts in their field to discuss climate change impacts to their heritage in the next 10 years; methodizing by means of a workflow organizer using data from the modeling, monitoring, and meeting; and when appropriate, mitigating areas identified during the methodizing process. In 2020, the Florida Public Archaeology Network—along with partners in Georgia, South Carolina, Washington, Texas, and Louisiana—began the Science Collaborative People of Guana project at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve (GTM NERR) north of St. Augustine, Florida. Using a collaborative science mindset, the project team applied the NAHAR pipeline to gain a better sense of how resources were used in the past and how they currently are being used by communities to ensure responsive resource management and relationship building with visitors, descendants, and other community stakeholders, such as the Gullah/Geechee Nation. This article will provide the building blocks for other collaborative teams to follow the NAHAR pipeline and share lessons learned from the two-year project.

The importance of professional experience is clearly recognised in initial teacher education and in other professions. In this study, we explore one element of professional experience for trainee special/inclusive educators, placement in an educational setting for practicum, and how it is provided in postgraduate Australian special/inclusive education courses. We extracted data from publicly available material for all Australian postgraduate courses designed to prepare special and/or inclusive educators. Available data included the length of practicum, content of the unit related to practicum, supervision and placement arrangements, and assessment. We found that only 59% of courses included a unit that required completion of a practicum placement. Given there are no mandatory standards for special/inclusive educators, there was considerable variation in the way practical skills were assessed, the content of practicum units, mentoring arrangements and personnel involved. Practicum placements ranged from 10 to 30 days, and only two courses provided more than one placement. Further research is needed to consider the broader range of professional experiences that may be embedded in courses. We suggest that longer practicum placements should be mandatory in special/inclusive educator professional preparation and should include assessment of the implementation of specific evidence-based practices including collaboration with others.

Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars play a significant role in our understanding of the origin of the elements. They contribute to the abundances of C, N, and approximately 50% of the abundances of the elements heavier than iron. An aspect often neglected in studies of AGB stars is the impact of a stellar companion on AGB stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. In this study, we update the stellar abundances of AGB stars in the binary population synthesis code binary_c and calibrate our treatment of the third dredge-up using observations of Galactic carbon stars. We model stellar populations of low- to intermediate-mass stars at solar-metallicity and examine the stellar wind contributions to C, N, O, Sr, Ba, and Pb yields at binary fractions between 0 and 1. For a stellar population with a binary fraction of 0.7, we find $\sim$20–25% less C and s-process elements ejected than from a population composed of only single stars, and we find little change in the N and O yields. We also compare our models with observed abundances from Ba stars and find our models can reproduce most Ba star abundances, but our population estimates a higher frequency of Ba stars with a surface [Ce/Y] > $+0.2\,$dex. Our models also predict the rare existence of Ba stars with masses $ \gt 10\,\textrm{M}_{\odot}$.

Usage data on research outputs such as books and journals is well established in the scholarly community. Yet, as research impact is derived from a broader set of scholarly outputs, such as data, code, and multimedia, more holistic usage and impact metrics could inform national innovation and research policy. While usage data reporting standards, such as Project COUNTER, provide the basis for shared statistics reporting practice, mandated access to publicly funded research has increased the demand for impact metrics and analytics. In this context, stakeholders are exploring how to scaffold and strengthen shared infrastructure to better support the trusted, multistakeholder exchange of usage data across a variety of outputs. In April 2023, a workshop on Exploring National Infrastructure for Public Access and Impact Reporting supported by the United States (US) National Science Foundation (NSF) explored these issues. This paper contextualizes the resources shared and recommendations generated in the workshop.

This abstract was awarded the Student Competition Prize.

Periconception is the period spanning the weeks directly before and after conception and is a crucial window for optimising neurodevelopment in offspring(1-4). Iron and omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FAs) are two vital nutrients for the development of the nervous system however, little research has been conducted into their importance during the periconceptional window(5-8). This study investigated whether supplementing iron and n-3 FA deficient (ID and n-3 FAD) rat dams before conception compared to after conception results in different neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. We hypothesised that initiating iron and n-3 FA supplementation in deficient dams after conception would not be as efficacious in preventing impaired offspring neurodevelopment induced by double- deficiency, compared to initiating supplementation before conception.

Female rats consuming an ID and n-3 FAD diet were randomly allocated to receive iron and DHA/EPA supplementation either 10 days before (Pre-Fe+DHA/EPA) or 10 days after conception (Post-Fe+DHA/EPA). Dams and offspring (Pre-: n = 24; Post-: n = 26) were subsequently maintained on supplemented diets throughout the experiment. Between postnatal days 31–41, cognitive and behavioural tests were conducted on offspring. Offspring were euthanised between postnatal day 42–45 and n-3 FAs, iron and monoamine concentrations were measured in the hippocampus, striatum and frontal cortex. All outcomes were compared to offspring who were either iron and n-3 FA deficient (ID+n-3 FAD: n = 24) or sufficient (Control+Fe+DHA/EPA: n = 22). One-way ANCOVA, with sex as a covariate, was used to determine between-group differences and two-way ANOVA was used to explore diet-sex interactions.

There were no differences in brain iron or n-3 FA levels between Pre- and Post-Fe+DHA/EPA offspring (P > 0.05). Female Post-Fe+DHA/EPA offspring had greater norepinephrine concentrations in the frontal cortex (Pre-: 3.21± 0.57 ng/mg vs Post-: 2.50± 0.55 ng/mg; P = 0.014) and consumed less sucrose in the sucrose preference test (Pre-: 96.16± 1.73%; Post-: 90.15± 1.66%; P = 0.010) compared to Pre-Fe+DHA/EPA offspring. Female Post-Fe+DHA/EPA offspring also had significantly lower liver iron concentrations compared to female Pre-Fe+DHA/EPA offspring (Pre-: 537± 47.13 μg/L vs Post-: 310± 45.28 μg/L; P = 0.034). There were no other significant differences in monoamine concentrations or behavioural tests.

Our results indicate that supplementing ID and n-3 FAD mothers both before and after conception is efficacious in preventing neurodevelopmental deficits associated with deficiency. However, ID and n-3 FAD during the periconceptional period may alter reward-based learning in female offspring(9-11). Additionally, optimising iron provision during periconception may have important implications for the prevention of postnatal ID-anaemia, particular during early infancy(12).