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Objectives: We investigated changes over time in mental and social wellbeing indicators for vulnerable population subgroups during the pandemic. These groups were younger people, people with disabilities, low-income groups, unemployed, culturally, and linguistically diverse communities (CaLD), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples., Methods: A series of four repeated population representative surveys were conducted in June 2020, September 2020, January 2022, and June 2022. Questions included items on psychological distress, financial hardship, social connection, and life satisfaction., Results: For most groups, social connection and life satisfaction improved in 2022 relative to 2020. Psychological distress and financial hardship showed the opposite pattern, with some groups having worse results in 2022 relative to 2020. People without any vulnerability had better mental health and social wellbeing outcomes at each time point relative to the vulnerable population subgroups., Conclusion: Pandemic-related policies had differential effects over time and for different population groups. Future policies and research need to closely monitor how they impact population subgroups, and the overall results clearly demonstrate the inequity in mental health and social wellbeing outcomes for vulnerable population cohorts., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Joyce, Tran, Stocker and Fisher.)

Heterotrophic bacterial diazotrophs (HBDs) are ubiquitous in the pelagic ocean, where they have been predicted to carry out the anaerobic process of nitrogen fixation within low-oxygen microenvironments associated with marine pelagic particles. However, the mechanisms enabling particle colonization by HBDs are unknown. We hypothesized that HBDs use chemotaxis to locate and colonize suitable microenvironments, and showed that a cultivated marine HBD is chemotactic toward amino acids and phytoplankton-derived DOM. Using an in situ chemotaxis assay, we also discovered that diverse HBDs at a coastal site are motile and chemotactic toward DOM from various phytoplankton taxa and, indeed, that the proportion of diazotrophs was up to seven times higher among the motile fraction of the bacterial community compared to the bulk seawater community. Finally, three of four HBD isolates and 16 of 17 HBD metagenome assembled genomes, recovered from major ocean basins and locations along the Australian coast, each encoded >85% of proteins affiliated with the bacterial chemotaxis pathway. These results document the widespread capacity for chemotaxis in diverse and globally relevant marine HBDs. We suggest that HBDs could use chemotaxis to seek out and colonize low-oxygen microenvironments suitable for nitrogen fixation, such as those formed on marine particles. Chemotaxis in HBDs could therefore affect marine nitrogen and carbon biogeochemistry by facilitating nitrogen fixation within otherwise oxic waters, while also altering particle degradation and the efficiency of the biological pump., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to International Society for Microbial Ecology.)

Introduction: Cultural adaptation of a school-based mental health intervention developed in a high-income country is a cost-effective method to address the mental health needs of adolescents in resource-constrained settings. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the Resourceful Adolescent Program for Adolescents (RAP-A) for adolescents attending high school in Vietnam., Methods: The translation and adaptation were conducted using a five-step process including (1) initial stakeholder consultation, (2) forward translation, (3) backward translation, (4) adaptation, and (5) finalising the adapted version. An adaptation panel was established, including the RAP-A authors and mental health and public health experts from Australia, and psychology and public health experts from Vietnam. The panel collaborated closely with a group of stakeholders, including bilingual psychologists and psychiatrists, high school (grades 10-12) students and teachers throughout the adaptation process., Results: The adapted version of RAP-A was named 'Happy House'. Happy House was adapted to be delivered in larger groups and in longer sessions than the RAP-A. The 11 sessions in RAP-A were restructured to 6 sessions in Happy House. Major changes were not required for any of the materials. However, some content, illustrations and videos were adapted to be more feasible for the school context and to enhance the comprehensibility, acceptability and appropriateness., Conclusion: Happy House has great potential to be relevant, comprehensible and acceptable for Vietnamese adolescents. Further research is warranted to examine the relevance, comprehensibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of this program on adolescents' mental health before advocating for scaling up program delivery in high schools throughout Vietnam., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

While the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) are frequently used in mental health research, few studies have reported comprehensive data on these measures from population or community samples. The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were used as indicators of symptoms of depression and anxiety in a national online anonymous survey to assess the mental health of adults in Australia during the COVID-19 restrictions. The aim of this study was to describe gender- and age-specific PHQ-9 and GAD-7 item and summary data contributed by those who completed this survey. Data were analysed descriptively. Complete survey responses were contributed by 13,829 people. For both measures, item-by-item results, summary statistics (mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, median and interquartile range) and prevalence of severity categories are reported for the whole sample, and disaggregated by gender and age groups. These comprehensive data provide a useful point of comparison for future COVID-19-related or other research among population or community samples. Other researchers are encouraged to report detailed PHQ-9 and GAD-7 data in the future, to enable and promote relevant between-group comparisons., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objectives: To estimate the population prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety, thoughts of being better off dead, irritability, and high optimism about the future, and of direct experience of COVID-19, loss of employment caused by COVID-19 restrictions, worry about contracting COVID-19, or major disadvantage because of the restrictions; to examine the relationship between these experiences and reporting mental symptoms., Design, Setting, Participants: Anonymous online survey of adult Australian residents, 3 April - 2 May 2020., Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported psychological status during the preceding fortnight assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9; symptoms of depression) and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Optimism about the future was assessed with a 10-point study-specific visual analogue scale., Results: 13 829 respondents contributed complete response data. The estimated prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) was 27.6% (95% CI, 26.1-29.1%) and of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 10) 21.0% (95% CI, 19.6-22.4%); 14.6% of respondents (95% CI, 13.5-16.0%) reported thoughts of being better off dead or self-harm (PHQ-9, item 9) on at least some days and 59.2% (95% CI, 57.6-60.7%) that they were more irritable (GAD-7, item 6). An estimated 28.3% of respondents (95% CI, 27.1-29.6%) reported great optimism about the future (score ≥ 8). People who had lost jobs, were worried about contracting COVID-19, or for whom the restrictions had a highly adverse impact on daily life were more likely to report symptoms of depression or anxiety, and less likely to report high optimism than people without these experiences., Conclusions: Mental health problems were widespread among Australians during the first month of the stage two COVID-19 restrictions; in addition, about one-quarter of respondents reported mild to moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety. A public mental health response that includes universal, selective and indicated clinical interventions is needed., (© 2020 The Authors. Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.)

Introduction: The Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP) is an evidence-based resilience intervention for adolescents. Operating in a strength-focused paradigm, the programme uses an integration of cognitive behavioural therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy to improve coping skills and build resilience. This study aims to establish whether a culturally and linguistically adapted intervention informed by RAP principles is effective in increasing resilience, enhancing coping skills and preventing symptoms of depression and anxiety., Methods and Analysis: We will translate, back-translate and culturally adapt the RAP for adolescents and training materials for facilitators, and the adapted intervention will be called Happy House. A two-arm parallel controlled trial will be conducted in eight high schools in the north of Vietnam. In each of the selected schools, all students from four randomly selected grade 10 classes (an estimation of about 1204 students) will be invited to participate. The control group will receive the usual curriculum. The intervention group will receive six weekly 90 min school-based group sessions of Happy House in addition to the usual curriculum. The primary outcome, depressive symptoms, will be measured using a locally validated version of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised. Secondary outcomes are mental well-being, coping self-efficacy, school connectedness, anger management and health risk behaviours. Data will be collected at recruitment, and at two weeks and six months post intervention. Mixed-effect logistic regression for the main outcome and mixed-effect linear and logistic regression models for the secondary outcomes will be conducted to estimate the effects of the intervention on the outcomes., Ethics and Dissemination: This trial has been approved by Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (No. 21455) and the Institutional Review Board of the Hanoi School of Public Health (488/2019/YTCC-HD3). Dissemination of findings will include peer-reviewed publications, international and national conferences, seminar and media presentations, national policy briefings in Vietnam, local language reports and lay language summaries for participants., Trial Registration Numbers: Registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, registration number: ACTRN12620000088943 (3/2/2020).WHO Universal Trial Number: U1111-1246-4079., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Epidemic models have successfully included many aspects of the complex contact structure apparent in real-world populations. However, it is difficult to accommodate variations in the number of contacts, clustering coefficient and assortativity. Investigations of the relationship between these properties and epidemic behaviour have led to inconsistent conclusions and have not accounted for their interrelationship. In this study, simulation is used to estimate the impact of social network structure on the probability of an SIR (susceptible-infective-removed) epidemic occurring and, if it does, the final size. Increases in assortativity and clustering coefficient are associated with smaller epidemics and the impact is cumulative. Derived values of the basic reproduction ratio (R(0)) over networks with the highest property values are more than 20% lower than those derived from simulations with zero values of these network properties., (Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)