Taronga Conservation Society Australia

Antimicrobial resistance in the monotreme microbiome

Context Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis requiring a One Health approach that recognises the interconnectedness of people, animals and the environment. Since wide adoption of the One Health framework, wildlife species have been identified as important pote...

Library strategies differentially shape microbial, functional, and host signals in clinical metagenomic sequencing

Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is increasingly used in infectious disease diagnostics, yet how library preparation shapes the microbial, functional, and host signals recovered from clinical samples remains poorly defined. Here, we performed a within-sample parallel...

Performance of point‐of‐care tests for diagnosing feline immunodeficiency virus infection in captive African lions ( Panthera leo )

Point-of-care (PoC) antibody (Ab) testing forms an integral component of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) diagnosis in both domestic and non-domestic felids, with test kits designed for use in domestic cats frequently extrapolated for use in their wild counterparts. The SNAP®...

Health beliefs and health seeking behaviour among families of children with a respiratory illness in Cape Town, South Africa: lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic

Globally, acute respiratory infections(ARIs)are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in children and the most common causes of visits of children to health facilities. Pandemics can unintentionally negatively impact on health beliefs and health-seeking behaviour,...

Can artificial intelligence improve precision dosing? a systematic review of narrow therapeutic index drugs

Abstract Background Precision dosing of narrow therapeutic index drugs remains challenging because of substantial interindividual variability and the narrow margin between therapeutic efficacy and toxicity. Artificial intelligence (AI)–based approaches may improve individualized...

How Feasible is the Use of Saliva for Antiviral Therapeutic Drug Monitoring? A Systematic Review and Analysis

Immunosuppressed patients are susceptible to serious viral infections, often necessitating antiviral prophylaxis and/or treatment. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) has been proposed to optimise drug exposure and clinical outcomes and is typically performed on full blood/plasma s...

Pit stop off the humpback highway: multi agency response to a sub-adult humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae in Sydney Harbour, Australia

The east coast Australian humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae population continues to recover post-whaling and is now estimated to be at least 50,000 individuals. The combination of population growth and increased human activities within coastal environments means there is a hi...

Expedited research and approval of medicines for drug-resistant bacterial infections in children.

Multidrug-resistant pathogens cause severe infections with substantial morbidity and mortality in neonates, infants and children, as they do in adults. However, the approval of therapies for multidrug-resistant infections in paediatric patients often lags years behind approval fo...