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Background: Worldwide, the cardiology profession has an under-representation of women. We assessed medical students' perceptions of cardiology as a career choice with the aim of identifying barriers to gender diversity., Method: An anonymous survey was distributed to medical students studying at three Australian medical universities. Questions pertained to demographics, year and stage of medical training, desire to pursue cardiology, and perceived barriers to a cardiology career. Results were analysed according to identified gender and desire to pursue or not pursue a cardiology career. Multivariable logistic regression evaluated for independent associations. The primary outcome were barriers identified to pursuing a career in cardiology., Results: From 127 medical student respondents (86.6% female, mean age 25.9±4.8 years), 37.0% stated they wanted to pursue a career in cardiology (39.1% of women versus 23.5% of men, p=0.54). The top four perceived barriers to a cardiology career included: poor work-life balance (92/127, 72.4%), physician training process (63/127, 49.6%), on-call requirements (50/127, 39.4%) and lack of flexibility (49/127, 38.6%), with no gender differences. Women were more likely to report gender-related barriers (37.3% versus 5.9%, p=0.01) and less likely to identify procedural aspects as a barrier (5.5% women versus 29.4% men, p=0.001). Students in their pre-clinical years were more likely to want a career in cardiology (odds ratio 3.0, 95% confidence interval 1.2-7.7, p=0.02)., Conclusions: A high proportion of female and male medical students want to pursue a career in cardiology with both genders identifying major barriers of poor work-life balance, lack of flexibility, on-call requirements and the training process., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Streptococcus pyogenes is a leading cause of infection-related morbidity and mortality. A reinvigorated vaccine development effort calls for new clinically relevant human S pyogenes experimental infection models to support proof of concept evaluation of candidate vaccines. We describe the initial Controlled Human Infection for Vaccination Against S pyogenes (CHIVAS-M75) study, in which we aimed to identify a dose of emm75 S pyogenes that causes acute pharyngitis in at least 60% of volunteers when applied to the pharynx by swab., Methods: This observational, dose-finding study was done in a clinical trials facility in Melbourne (VIC, Australia). Groups of healthy volunteers aged 18-40 years, at low risk of complicated S pyogenes disease, and without high type-specific anti-emm75 IgG antibodies against the challenge strain were challenged and closely monitored as inpatients for up to 6 days, and then as outpatients for 6 months. Antibiotics were started upon diagnosis (clinical signs and symptoms of pharyngitis and a positive rapid molecular test) or after 5 days in those without pharyngitis. Rapid test results were confirmed by standard bacterial culture. After a sentinel participant, cohorts of five and then ten participants were challenged, with protocol-directed dose-escalation or de-escalation for subsequent cohorts. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants at each dose level with pharyngitis by day 5 after challenge. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03361163., Findings: Between July 10, 2018, and Sept 23, 2019, 25 healthy adults were challenged with emm75 S pyogenes and included in analyses. Pharyngitis was diagnosed in 17 (85%; 95% CI 62-97) of 20 participants at the starting dose level (1-3 × 10 5 colony-forming units [CFU]/mL). This high proportion prompted dose de-escalation. At the lower dose level (1-3 × 10 4 CFU/mL), pharyngitis was diagnosed in one of five participants. Immunological, biochemical, and microbiological results supported the clinical picture, with acute symptomatic pharyngitis characterised by pharyngeal colonisation by S pyogenes accompanied by significantly elevated C-reactive protein and inflammatory cytokines (eg, interferon-γ and interleukin-6), and modest serological responses to streptolysin O and deoxyribonuclease B. There were no severe (grade 3) or serious adverse events related to challenge., Interpretation: We have established a reliable pharyngitis human infection model with reassuring early safety findings to accelerate development of vaccines and other interventions to control disease due to S pyogenes., Funding: Australian National Health and Medical Research Council., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests JBD is the inventor of technologies related to the development of S pyogenes vaccines; the University of Tennessee Research Foundation has licensed these technologies to Vaxent, of which JBD is the chief scientific officer and a member. MP and MFG are inventors on patents related to S pyogenes vaccines, and Griffith University (Gold Coast, QLD, Australia) has licensed some of these technologies to Olymvax Pharmaceuticals (China). NJM is an inventor on a patent related to S pyogenes analytical methods and compositions. MJW has a patent pending related to S pyogenes vaccines. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Timor-Leste is one of the poorest countries in the world. The East Timor Hearts Fund is a charitable organisation involving Australian cardiologists providing outreach screening and access to cardiac interventions., Aims: To assess ten years of clinical volume, demographics and patient outcomes. Our intention was to identify existing limitations to facilitate planning for further capacity building over the next decade., Methods: The East Timor Hearts Fund database was sectioned into 2-year intervals (2009/2010, 2011/2012, 2013/2014, 2015/2016 and 2017/2018). Demographics and clinical outcomes of patients were compared, with subgroup analysis of adult (>18 years old), paediatric and interventional patients., Results: Over 10 years, 2050 patient encounters have occurred; 1119 (54.6%) encounters occurred in 2017/2018; 73.6% of patients were assessed in the capital Dili. Rheumatic and congenital cardiac diseases remain very common (39.1% of adult new patients and 74.2% of paediatric new patients), with 1.4% of new patients exhibiting both pathologies. The number of new patients with rheumatic or congenital heart disease tripled in 2017/2018 compared to 2009/2010 (99 vs 34 patients, P < 0.0001). Paediatric case volume increased over 10-fold over 10 years (288 new patients in 2017/2018 vs 24 in 2009/2010, P < 0.0001), with corresponding increase in proportion of paediatric interventions (59.4% in 2017/2018 vs 25.0% in 2009/2010, P = 0.027). For patients undergoing intervention (n = 87), post-procedural complications and mortality are extremely low (3.4% and 1.1%, respectively), with all eligible patients attending at least one post-procedure appointment., Conclusion: Demand for cardiac services in Timor-Leste is rising exponentially, with inequitable geographic coverage. Rheumatic and congenital cardiac diseases remain priorities for assessment, and paediatric case volume is increasing. Patients undergoing intervention experience good medical outcomes., (© 2019 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.)

Aims: This study aims to determine if traditional markers of disadvantage [female sex, low socio-economic status (SES), and remoteness] are associated with lower prescription of evidence-based therapy and higher mortality among patients with moderate-severe heart failure with reduced ejection fraction., Methods and Results: We recruited 452 consecutive class II-III heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients. Baseline clinical data were recorded prospectively. The primary outcome was the association of female sex on overall survival. Secondary outcomes included association between evidence-based therapy delivery and sex and association of SES and remoteness on heart failure therapy and survival. The Australian Bureau of Statistics generated all indices. Median follow-up was 37.9 months. One hundred and nine patients (24.3%) were women. There was no difference in overall survival based on sex (hazard ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence interval: 0.74-1.92, 0.48). There was no difference in prescription of beta-blockers [χ 2 (1) = 0.91, 0.66], angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors [χ 2 (1) = 0.001, 0.97], nor aldosterone antagonists [χ 2 (1) = 2.71, 0.10]. There was no difference in rates of primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation in men compared with women [χ 2 (1) = 0.35, 0.56]. Neither higher SES nor inner city residence conferred an overall survival benefit., Conclusions: In this Australian cohort of heart failure patients, delivery of care and likelihood of death are comparable between the sexes, SES groups, and rural vs. city residents., (© 2019 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)