This is the eighth epidemiological report for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), reported in Australia as at 2359 Australian Eastern Daylight Time [AEDT] 22 March 2020. It includes data on COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Australia, the international situation and a review of current evidence. © Commonwealth of Australia CC BY-NC-ND.RATIONALE Bronchoscopic Lung Volume Reduction (BLVR) with Zephyr® Valves improves lung function, exercise tolerance and quality of life (QoL) of patients with hyperinflated emphysema and little to no collateral ventilation (CV). OBJECTIVES Post-hoc analysis of patient reported outcomes (PROs) including multidimensional measures of dyspnea, activity, and QoL in the LIBERATE Study are reported. METHODS 190 patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema and little to no CV in the target lobe were randomized 21 to Zephyr Valve or Standard of Care (SoC). selleck chemicals llc Changes in PROs at 12-months in the two groups were compared Dyspnea Transitional Dyspnea Index (TDI) focal score, COPD Assessment Test (CAT; breathlessness on hill/stairs), BORG, EXACT-PRO dyspnea domain; activity TDI magnitude of task/effort/functional impairment, CAT (limited activities), SGRQ-activity domain; and psychosocial status St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) – impacts domain, CAT (confidence and energy). RESULTS At 12-months, Zephyr Valve patients achieved statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in SGRQ, CAT, and TDI Focal score compared to SoC. Improvements in SGRQ were driven by the “impacts” and “activity” domains (p less then 0.05, and p less then 0.001, respectively). Reduction in CAT was through improvements in breathlessness (p less then 0.05), energy level (p less then 0.05), activities (p less then 0.001) and increased confidence when leaving home (p less then 0.05). TDI measures of effort, task, and functional impairment were uniformly improved (p less then 0.001). The EXACT-PRO dyspnea domain was significantly improved in Zephyr group. Improvements correlated with changes in residual volume (RV) and RV/TLC ratio. CONCLUSION Severe hyperinflated emphysema patients achieving lung volume reductions with Zephyr valves experience improvements in multidimensional scores for breathlessness, activity and psychosocial parameters out to at least 12-months. Clinical trial registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01796392).The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of volcanic rock porous carriers (VRPC) on sludge reduction, pollutant removal and microbial community structure in an anaerobic side-stream reactor (ASSR). Three lab-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs), including an anoxic-oxic MBR(AO-MBR) that served as control(C-MBR), an ASSR coupled MBR (A-MBR), an A-MBR filled with VRPC (FA-MBR) were stably and simultaneously operated for 120 day. The effect of the three reactors on the removal of COD was almost negligible (all greater than 95%), but the average removal efficiency of NH4-N, TN, and TP was significantly improved by the insertion of an ASSR, especially when the ASSR was filled with VRPC. Finally, A-MBR and FA-MBR achieved 16.2% and 26.4% sludge reduction rates, with observed sludge yield Yobs of 0.124 and 0.109 g SS/g COD, respectively. Illumina-MiSeq sequencing revealed that microbial diversity and richness were highest in the VRPC, indicating that a large number of microorganisms formed on the carrier surface in the form of a biofilm. Abundant denitrifying bacteria (Azospira, Comamonadaceae_unclassified and Flavobacterium) were immobilized on the carrier biofilm, which contributed to increased nitrogen removal. The addition of VRPC to the ASSR successfully immobilized abundant hydrolytic, fermentative and slow-growing microorganisms, which all contributed to reductions in sludge yield.The authors describe the experiences of abuse drawn from in-depth interviews conducted with 20 South Asian women in the United States and a sample of 21 abused women in Mumbai, India. We describe five major themes that identify the nature of domestic violence experienced in these two contexts, barriers to help-seeking and exiting abuse, and the process of ending the abusive relationship. The research sheds light on the similarities and differences in the two contexts. We outlined the similarities in the following themes (a) type of abuse, (b) treatment of children (c) abandonment. We found differences in the following themes (d) joint meeting, (e) back and forth between natal and marital home.Background MicroRNAs (miRNA) regulate the translation of mRNA during gene expression and investigations have highlighted their importance in pathophysiology. qRT-PCR is currently the gold standard method for detecting changes in miRNA expression. However, when used on heterogeneous samples, it cannot identify individual cell types harbouring miRNAs. For this, in situ hybridisation (ISH) can be used. ISH methods using locked nucleic acid (LNA) probes have been shown to give reliable results in formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples. In this study their use has been directly compared with conventional oligonucleotide probes (COP) for ISH.Methods FFPE samples of colorectal adenocarcinoma, squamous carcinoma of lung and cases of invasive breast carcinoma were used to evaluate COP and LNA methods for the demonstration of miR-126 and miR-205. To demonstrate the utility of the COP method demonstration of miR-21 in 19 Gleason stage 7 prostate biopsy FFPE tissues was also undertaken. The demonstration of miR-21 by ISH in high and low expressing prostate cancer cell lines was also compared with qRT-PCR.Results Similar results were obtained using the COP and LNA ISH methods for the demonstration of miR-126 and miR-205. miR-21 was successfully demonstrated in the prostate cancer samples by COP ISH and expression levels of the miRNA demonstrated in the cell lines corresponded with qRT-PCR.Conclusion This study has shown that simplification of ISH protocols by the use of COPs provides equivalent results to the use of LNA methods and it can be used to precisely identify cells in which miRNAs are expressed.Recent research suggests that people can learn to link the control process of task switching to predictive cues so that switch costs are attenuated following informative precues of switch likelihood. However, the precise conditions that shape such contextual cuing of control are not well understood. Farooqui and Manly (2015) raised the possibility that cued task switching is more effective when cues of control demand are presented subliminally. In the current study, we aimed to replicate and extend these findings by more systematically manipulating whether cues of control demand are consciously perceived or are presented subliminally and whether participants have explicit prior knowledge of the cue meaning or acquire cue knowledge through experience. The direct replication was unsuccessful We found no evidence for effective subliminal cuing but observed some evidence for participants reducing switch costs with explicit, supraliminal cues. Thus, cognitive control may be guided most effectively by explicitly understood and consciously perceived precues.