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The SARS-CoV2 pandemic led to drastic social restrictions globally. Early data suggest that women in science have been more adversely affected by these lockdowns than men, with relatively fewer scientific articles authored by women. However, these observations test broad populations with many potential causes of disparity. Australia presents a natural experimental condition where several states of similar demographics and disease impact had differing approaches in their social isolation strategies. The state of Victoria experienced 280 days of lockdowns from 2020 to 2021, whereas the comparable state of New South Wales experienced 107 days, most of these in 2021, and other states even fewer restrictions. To assess how the gender balance changed in Australian biomedical publishing with the lockdowns, we created a custom workflow to analyse PubMed data from more than 120,000 published articles submitted in 2019–2021 from Australian authors. Broadly, Australian women have been incredibly resilient to the challenges faced by the lockdowns. There was an increase in the number of published articles submitted in 2020 that was equally due to women as men, including from Victoria. On the other hand, articles specifically addressing COVID-19 were significantly less likely to be authored by women than those on other topics, a finding not likely due to particular gender imbalance in virology or viral epidemiology, since publications on HIV followed similar patterns to previous years. By 2021, this imbalance had reversed, with more COVID-19-related papers authored by women than men. These data suggest women from Victoria were less able to rapidly transition to new research early in the pandemic but had accommodated to the new conditions by 2021. This work indicates we need strategies to support women in science as the pandemic continues and to continue to monitor the situation for its impact on vulnerable groups. • We analyzed PubMed data from >120,000 articles from Australian authors. • COVID-19 pandemic lockdown severity had no gender-specific effect. • Women authored fewer COVID-19 articles than expected in 2020. • Women's publishing of COVID-19 work normalized in 2021. • Women were less able to rapidly transition to new research in the COVID pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hopping mice (Genus Notomys) are a monophyletic group of Australian Old Endemic murid rodents in the Tribe Hydromyini four of which, Notomys alexis, N. mitchellii, N. fuscus and N cervinus, occur in arid or semiarid environments. Here, we compare the size and morphology of their testes, spermatozoa, accessory sex glands and external genitalia across the species, and from these data, we draw conclusions as to their likely breeding systems. We show that both wild caught and laboratory bred adult N. alexis, N. fuscus and N. mitchellii individuals have extremely small testes, but their spermatozoa vary in morphology across the species. The ventral prostate is the only large accessory sex gland present, and their glans penis has very large spines. By contrast N. cervinus individuals have significantly larger testes with their spermatozoa being less variable but generally more complex in morphology, their seminal vesicles and coagulating glands are much larger, whereas the glans penis has only small spines. Since these reproductive traits in N. cervinus are more similar to those of most other hydromyine rodents in the genus Pseudomys, they are likely to reflect the retention of the ancestral condition within the Notomys lineage whereas the divergent reproductive traits of the other species of tiny testes, variable sperm, small seminal vesicles and coagulating glands and large penile spines are probably more recently derived traits. It is suggested that N. cervinus with its relatively larger testes mass and greater abundance of sperm of more consistent morphology has retained a mating system that may potentially involve some intermale sperm competition whereas, by contrast, the reproductive anatomy of the other three Notomys species suggests that these species exhibit monogamy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Highly standardised biological models obscure effects in sub-populations. • Adding sex or age to analysis causes a large explosion in samples needed. • Statistical power differs for males and females in high throughput data sets such as RNAsequencing. • female/male gene dispersions vary enough to warrant different biological replicates between sexes. One of the chief advantages of using highly standardised biological models including model organisms is that multiple variables can be precisely controlled so that the variable of interest is more easily studied. However, such an approach often obscures effects in sub-populations resulting from natural population heterogeneity. Efforts to expand our fundamental understanding of multiple sub-populations are in progress. However, such stratified or personalised approaches require fundamental modifications of our usual study designs that should be implemented in Brain, Behavior and Immunity (BBI) research going forward. Here we explore the statistical feasibility of asking multiple questions (including incorporating sex) within the same experimental cohort using statistical simulations of real data. We illustrate and discuss the large explosion in sample numbers necessary to detect effects with appropriate power for every additional question posed using the same data set. This exploration highlights the strong likelihood of type II errors (false negatives) for standard data and type I errors when dealing with complex genomic data, where studies are too under-powered to appropriately test these interactions. We show this power may differ for males and females in high throughput data sets such as RNA sequencing. We offer a rationale for the use of alternative experimental and statistical strategies based on interdisciplinary insights and discuss the real-world implications of increasing the complexities of our experimental designs, and the implications of not attempting to alter our experimental designs going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study explores the potential effects of interspecific differences in breeding systems on testis organisation and sperm morphology of native murid rodents. It poses the question – what are the effects of depressed levels of intermale sperm competition, as indicated by small relative testes mass, on the morphology of testes and spermatozoa in murine rodents? Species from three separate murine tribes, those of the Hydromyini, Rattini and Arvicanthini, were investigated with low relative testes mass being used as a proxy for low, or non‐existent, levels of intermale sperm competition. The findings show that in only one of the tribes with low relative testes mass, that of the Hydromyini, was there a reduced testicular area occupied by seminiferous tubules, but in two of the tribes significantly smaller seminiferous tubule diameters were present. In all three tribes, most species with low relative testes mass had a highly derived sperm morphology that, unlike in species with large relative testes mass, had spermatozoa where the head lacked an apical hook, was highly variable in form, often had a very large acrosome overlying the apical region of the nucleus which suggests divergent processes of sperm–egg interaction at the time of fertilisation, and a significantly shorter tail. It is therefore hypothesised that, unlike in species with a large relative testes mass where high levels of intermale sperm competition maintain a streamlined sperm head with an apical hook to aid in zona penetration, in most species of murine rodents with low relative testes mass there is greater reliance on enzymatic digestion of the extracellular matrix around the egg, and especially that of the zona pellucida, to facilitate sperm penetration at the time of fertilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to compare rectal, pharyngeal and oesophageal temperature measurements in anaesthetized pigs. Data were compared using the Bland–Altman method, and correlation coefficients and error measures were calculated. Sixty-six sets of data were collected from 16 pigs weighing 16.2 ± 4.2 kg. The bias (and 95% limit of agreement) for rectal and pharyngeal compared with oesophageal temperature were 0.69 (–1.18 to 2.57) ℃ and 0.22 (−0.84 to 1.28) ℃, respectively. The correlation coefficients for rectal and pharyngeal compared with oesophageal temperature were 0.47 and 0.87, respectively. The absolute error for rectal and pharyngeal compared with oesophageal temperature was 0.7 ± 0.9℃ and 0.2 ± 0.5℃, respectively. Pharyngeal temperature measurement may be more suitable than rectal temperature measurement for estimation of oesophageal temperature during general anaesthesia of pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shedding patterns of Salmonella spp. and MLVA profiles of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica (I) serotype 1,4,[5],12:i:- were monitored in a 12-month longitudinal observational study of five pig herds to inform management; provide indications of potential hazard load at slaughter; and assist evaluation of MLVA for use by animal and public health practitioners. Twenty pooled faecal samples, stratified by age group, were collected quarterly. When Salmonella was cultured, multiple colonies were characterized by serotyping and where S. Typhimurium-like serovars were confirmed, isolates were further characterized by phage typing and multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Salmonella was detected in 43% of samples. Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i- was one of several serovars that persisted within the herds and was found among colonies from each production stage. Virtually all Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:- isolates were phage type 193, but exhibited 12 different, closely-related MLVA profiles. Salmonella 1,4,[5],12:i:- diversity within herds was low and MLVA profiles were stable indicating colonization throughout the herds and suggesting each farm had an endemic strain. High prevalence of S. 1,4,[5],12:i:- specific shedding among terminal animals indicated high hazard load at slaughter, suggesting that primary production may be an important pathway of S. 1,4,[5],12:i:- into the human food chain, this has implications for on-farm management and the application and targeting control measures and further evidence of the need for effective process control procedures to be in place during slaughter and in pork boning rooms. These findings have implications for animal health and food safety risk mitigation and risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Air pollution can have adverse health effects on asthma sufferers, but the effects vary with geographic, environmental and population characteristics. There has been no long time-series study in Australia to quantify the effects of environmental factors including pollen on asthma hospitalizations. Objectives This study aimed to assess the seasonal impact of air pollutants and aeroallergens on the risk of asthma hospital admissions for adults and children in Adelaide, South Australia. Methods Data on hospital admissions, meteorological conditions, air quality and pollen counts for the period 2003-2013 were sourced. Time-series analysis and case-crossover analysis were used to assess the short-term effects of air pollution on asthma hospitalizations. For the time-series analysis, generalized log-linear quasi-Poisson and negative binomial regressions were used to assess the relationships, controlling for seasonality and long-term trends using flexible spline functions. For the case-crossover analysis, conditional logistic regression was used to compute the effect estimates with time-stratified referent selection strategies. Results A total of 36,024 asthma admissions were considered. Findings indicated that the largest effects on asthma admissions related to PM2.5, NO2, PM10 and pollen were found in the cool season for children (0-17 years), with the 5-day cumulative effects of 30.2% (95% CI: 13.4-49.6%), 12.5% (95% CI: 6.6-18.7%), 8.3% (95% CI: 2.5-14.4%) and 4.2% (95% CI: 2.2-6.1%) increases in risk of asthma hospital admissions per 10 unit increments, respectively. The largest effect for ozone was found in the warm season for children with the 5-day cumulative effect of an 11.7% (95% CI: 5.8-17.9%) increase in risk of asthma hospital admissions per 10 ppb increment in ozone level. Conclusion Findings suggest that children are more vulnerable and the associations between exposure to air pollutants and asthma hospitalizations tended to be stronger in the cool season compared to the warm season, with the exception of ozone. This study has important public health implications and provides valuable evidence for the development of policies for asthma management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to 60% of opioid dependence is heritable. The role of immunogenetics has recently been highlighted via the association between interleukin-1 beta (IL-1B) genotypes and opioid dependence (Liu et al., Pharmacogenetics and Genomics 2009; 19:869–76). The current retrospective case-control study examined the association between other genetic variants controlling the central immune response to opioids and dependence in an opioid dependent (n =330) and a non-dependent population (n =274). Specifically IL-1B, IL-6, IL-6R, IL-10, TNFA, TGFB, TLR2, TLR4, MD2, MYD88, BDNF, CRP andICE genotypes were determined by Sequenom MassArray Multiplex SNP analysis. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to determine SNPs that are associated with opioid dependence. Summed cluster scores of SNPs associated with dependence (IL-1B, IL-6R, MD2, TLR2, and TGFB) were significantly different between the opioid dependent and non-dependent groups (median (range)): −5 (−10 to 1) vs −6 (−10 to 1), p =0.004. These results demonstrate for the first time that variability in the loci of multiple immune genes that control the central immune response to opioids contribute to opioid dependence. Validation studies are currently ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the authors of the article "The effects of air pollution on asthma hospital admissions in Adelaide, South Australia, 2003-2013: time-series and case-crossover analyses" in a previous issue is presented.

An abstract of the article "First demonstration of the neuroimmune link in humans using IV Endotoxin and Intradermal Capsaicin in the face and arm" by P. E. Rolan, M. R. Hutchinson, M. Buijs, J. Tuke, Y. H. Kwok, M. Gentgall, D. Williams and N. Nillsen is presented.