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Background: The care of wounds is an ongoing issue for Indigenous people worldwide, yet culturally safe Indigenous wound care training programs for rural and remote Australian Aboriginal Health Workers are largely unavailable. The higher prevalence of chronic disease, lower socioeconomic status and poorer access to services experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders compared to non-Indigenous people, leads to a greater incidence of chronic wounds in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Identifying the barriers and enablers for delivering wound care will establish areas of need for facilitating the development of a specific wound care program for Aboriginal Health Workers and Aboriginal Health Practitioners. This paper reports the first phase of a larger project directly aligned to the Indigenous Australians' Health Program's objective of supporting the delivery and access to high quality, culturally appropriate health care and services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. This study aimed to examine experiences of Aboriginal Health Workers, Aboriginal Health Practitioners, and nurses for managing chronic wounds within rural and remote Aboriginal Medical Services in Queensland, Australia., Methods: Yarning facilitated by two Aboriginal researchers among Aboriginal Health Workers, Aboriginal Health Practitioners, and nurses currently employed within four Aboriginal Medical Services located in rural and remote areas of Queensland, Australia., Results: Two themes were developed through rigorous data analysis of yarning information and responses: participants' experiences of managing wounds and barriers and enablers to effective wound care., Conclusions: This study contributes an insight into the experiences of Aboriginal Health Workers on the current barriers and enablers to timely treatment of chronic wounds. Results from this study indicate a significant barrier to obtaining timely and effective wound care in regional and remote settings is access to an appropriately skilled, culturally competent, and resourced health work force. A lack of education and professional development for Aboriginal Health Workers can compromise their ability to maximise patient outcomes and delay wound healing. Findings have informed the development of an evidence based, culturally competent open access chronic wound care education program for Aboriginal Health Workers., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The performance and lifespan of cutting tools are significantly influenced by their surface quality. The present report highlights recent advances in enhancing the surface characteristics of tungsten carbide and high-speed steel cutting tools using a novel micro-machining technique for polishing and edge-honing. Notably, the main aim was to reduce the surface roughness while maintaining the hardness of the materials at an optimal level. By conducting a thorough analysis of surfaces obtained using different techniques, it was found that the micro-machining method effectively decreased the surface roughness of the cutting tools the most effectively out of the techniques investigated. Significantly, the surface roughness was reduced from an initial measurement of 400 nm to an impressive value of 60 nm. No significant change in hardness was observed, which guarantees the maintenance of the mechanical properties of the cutting tools. This analysis enhances the comprehension of surface enhancement methodologies for cutting tools through the presentation of these findings. The observed decrease in surface roughness, along with the consistent hardness, exhibits potential for improving tool performance. These enhancements possess the capacity to optimise manufacturing processes, increase tool reliability, and minimise waste generation.

1. A large-scale purification procedure has been developed for Clostridium botulinum type F neurotoxin. Commencing with 160 litres of bacterial culture, 101 mg of purified type F neurotoxin with a specific toxicity of 2 x 10(7) mouse LD50 (median lethal dose).mg-1 were obtained. 2. Purified type F neurotoxin was labelled to high specific radioactivity (900-1360 Ci/mmol) without loss of biological activity using a chloramine-T procedure. Of the two neurotoxin subunits, the heavy chain was preferentially radiolabelled. 3. Radiolabelled type F neurotoxin displayed specific saturable binding to rat synaptosomes. At least two pools of acceptors were evident: a low content of high-affinity acceptors sites [KD approximately 0.15 nM; Bmax (maximal binding) 20 fmol/mg] and a larger pool of lower-affinity sites (KD greater than 20 nM; Bmax greater than 700 fmol/mg). Both pools of acceptors were sensitive to trypsin and neuraminidase treatment, which suggests that protein and sialic acid residues are components of the synaptosomal acceptors. 4. Experiments investigating competition among botulinum neurotoxin types A, B, E and F for acceptors on rat brain synaptosomes showed that type F neurotoxin binds to acceptor molecules which are completely distinct from those of the other three neurotoxins.