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Determinants of cancer screenings participation in Queensland : a scoping review
Get PDFIntroduction: Cancer screening programmes for cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer have successfully reduced mortality rates among target groups. However, a large proportion of women and men are unscreened. Aim: This review aims to provide an overview of the literature regarding the determinants of cancer screening participation among target groups in Queensland. Methods: Electronic databases were searched for studies on determinants of cancer screening participation in Queensland. Retrieved studies were screened, and eligible articles were selected for data extraction. Both peer-reviewed and grey literature studies were included. The determinants of cancer screening participation were classified according to the I-Change model. Results: Sixteen out of 75 articles were selected and analysed. Information factors, such as the lack of tailored strategies, determined cancer screening participation. Age, gender, cultural beliefs, fear and past experiences were the most reported predisposing factors to cancer screening participation. Lack of knowledge, misconceptions, low awareness, timely access to service, privacy and confidentiality were mainly reported awareness and motivation factors. Encouragement from health professionals, providing more information and interactions with communities would result in different effects on cancer screening participation among the target groups. Discussion: The I-Change model is a valuable tool in mapping the current determinants of cancer screening participation programs. Further research may be needed to fully understand the barriers and facilitators of cancer screening programs. © 2024 Author
Examining the intra-rater reliability of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)-Induced Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) within and between sessions: a step towards ensuring accuracy of observed mep changes in repeated measures studies conducted by newly trained TMS operators
Get PDFBackground: An essential factor in the validity of motor evoked potential (MEP)s recorded by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over multiple times is their test-retest reliability which to a large extent depends on the accuracy and competence of the assessor (intra-rater reliability). However, intra-rater reliability is infrequently reported in TMS studies suggesting that this is rarely done. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the intra-rater within and between-session reliability of a newly trained TMS assessor prior to a main TMS study and report on the methodology used to encourage similar practice. Methods: Fourteen (10 males, 4 females; mean age: 32 ± 5.8 years) participants took part in the study. Motor evoked potentials were elicited from a relaxed, right first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle three times (T1, T2 and T3) across two testing sessions at least 48 hours apart. During the first session, MEPs were recorded twice (T1 and T2) within an interval of 20 minutes to determine the within (intra) session reliability of the assessor. During the second session, a single measurement was carried out (T3) which was compared to T1 to determine the inter-session reliability. Results: Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) did not reveal significant difference in the amplitude of the MEPs obtained across the three time periods (P = 0.196) demonstrating agreement in the MEPs and hence the reliability of the assessor. Additionally, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between T1 and T2; and T1 and T3 were 0.952 (P < 0.001) and 0.833 (P = 0.001) respectively further indicating the within and between sessions reliability of the assessor. Conclusions: The agreement between the three measured MEPs amplitude and the significant ICC demonstrates the reliability of the assessor in this study to use TMS for research. We suggest that the intra-rater reliability of new TMS operators should be established using the methodology in this report prior to main TMS studies. © 2023, Salihu et al
Lophomonas as a respiratory pathogen—jumping the gun
No full textHuman infections with the protozoan Lophomonas have been increasingly reported in the medical literature over the past three decades. Initial reports were based on microscopic identification of the purported pathogen in respiratory specimens. Later, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed to detect Lophomonas blattarum, following which there has been a significant increase in reports. In this minireview, we thoroughly examine the published reports of Lophomonas infection to evaluate its potential role as a human pathogen. We examined the published images and videos of purported Lophomonas, compared its morphology and motility characteristics with host bronchial ciliated epithelial cells and true L. blattarum derived from cockroaches, analyzed the published PCR that is being used for its diagnosis, and reviewed the clinical data of patients reported in the English and Chinese literature. From our analysis, we conclude that the images and videos from human specimens do not represent true Lophomonas and are predominantly misidentified ciliated epithelial cells. Additionally, we note that there is insufficient clinical evidence to attribute the cases to Lophomonas infection, as the clinical manifestations are non-specific, possibly caused by other infections and comorbidities, and there is no associated tissue pathology attributable to Lophomonas. Finally, our analysis reveals that the published PCR is not specific to Lophomonas and can amplify DNA from commensal trichomonads. Based on this thorough review, we emphasize the need for rigorous scientific scrutiny before a microorganism is acknowledged as a novel human pathogen and discuss the potential harms of misdiagnoses for patient care and scientific literature. Copyright © 2023 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved
Who punched me in the back? becoming a CKD researcher
No full textChronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent, deadly killer. CKD causes your kidneys to become damaged and can no longer clean your blood. As a result, your body becomes overloaded with fluid, and you suffer from headaches, migraines, nausea, vomiting, and most days, it feels like someone punched you in the back, amongst other symptoms. Like many other Australians, it was too late when I was diagnosed with CKD. My kidney function had reduced to 18%. Despite following a strict diet and medication schedule, within 2 years of diagnosis, my kidney function reduced to less than 5%, and I became a haemodialysis patient. I have survived this time by using a positive mindset and regular meditation. This chapter is my story of CKD from a young child to the current day and how becoming a haemodialysis patient inspired me to become a CKD researcher with lived experience
Research partners with lived experience : stories from patients and survivors
No full textThis book aims to foster collaborations between patients who have intense lived experience with a medical condition or family violence and researchers investigating them. Inviting patients or survivors into the research team is found to have significant advantages, and chapters review the literature on the benefits they can bring to investigative research teams. The collaboration can take place at multiple stages of research from helping to research design, participating in co-investigators, contributing to the interpretation of results, etc. The conditions addressed in this book include medical conditions from anxiety, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, lupus, asthma, chronic kidney disease, etc. The authors are higher degree students, academics, and active research team members who share their experiences. This is be instrumental in helping patients and survivors decide whether to transition to research. It will also support research team leaders in determining how to benefit from the new perspectives researchers with lived experience bring. The personal narratives provide insight into the challenges and rewards of having lived experience while conducting research
Temporal samples of visual information guides skilled interception
Get PDFThis study investigated whether performance of an interceptive skill requires an intact visual-perception-action cycle. Eleven skilled male Australian rules football athletes (Mage = 17.54, SD = 0.15) were recruited from an elite developmental pathway squad for a within-subject study. Participants were required to kick a ball directly at a goal from a 20-meter distance while wearing a pair of stroboscopic glasses. The glasses were used to create four vision conditions. Condition one kept intact the visual-perception-action cycle with uninterrupted vision of the motor skill. Three other conditions included stroboscopic vision that presented temporal samples of vision, which interrupted the perception-action cycle through progressive increases to intermittent vision occlusion of the motor skill. Goal kick error of ball position relative to a central target line within the goal and number of successful goals kicked were measured. Written report of internal and external focus of attention was also measured after each vision condition. Generalized estimating equation analysis did not reveal a significant decrement in kick target error, nor accuracy of goals scored, across normal to stroboscopic vision conditions. Performance was maintained despite a shift in attention focus from external to internal across normal to stroboscopic vision conditions. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for the visual regulation of skilled interceptive actions. Copyright © 2024 Müller, Beseler, Morris-Binelli and Mesagno
Ecological and statistical models to configure flow regime for environment benefit in highly engineered rivers : a case study in the MacKenzie River, Southeast Australia
No full textEcological and statistical models were developed using freshwater algal assemblages to assess water quality and ecological health of a regulated river. These models were used to inform configuration of flows to maintain or improve environmental conditions of the waterway whilst meeting consumptive water supply commitments. The flow regime of the MacKenzie River, western Victoria, Australia, has been substantially modified since the construction of a water supply reservoir on its upper reach in 1887. Water is withdrawn at several locations downstream of the reservoir, creating a substantially modified flow regime, impacting key environmental values of the river. To assess the impact of the different flow regimes on river health and ecosystem function, ten sites were repeatedly sampled along the river between February 2012 and April 2014. Physical and chemical characteristics of water, including pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, cations, and anions, were measured. Biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, including dry mass, ash-free dry mass, chlorophyll-a concentration, and species composition, were also measured. Exploration of the algal assemblage and water chemistry data using the computationally unconstrained ordination technique such as principal component analysis principal component analysis (PCA), correspondence analysis (CA), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated two strong gradients in the data sets. Furthermore, the quantitative ecosystem response models have been developed as the prototype tool to assist in the future configuration of flows in this river. The empirical data and models showed the lower reaches of the river to be in poor condition under low flows, but this condition improved under flows of 35 ML/day, as indicated by the reduction in green algae and cyanobacteria and improvement. Finally, the results are presented to tailor discharge and duration of water volume by amalgamation of consumptive and environmental flows to improve the condition of the stream thereby supplementing the flows dedicated to environmental outcomes. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
Data-efficient graph learning for responsible prediction and recommendation
Get PDFGraph learning offers a promising approach to uncover latent complex relationships within single or multiple graphs, thereby enhancing the performance of prediction and recommendation models. However, current graph learning methods often require significant computational resources and detailed training data for optimal performance. In real-world scenarios, graph-structured data are frequently sparse, with missing attributes and errors, particularly in distributed systems. Data heterogeneity can lead to Non-IID issues (e.g., imbalanced distribution) and limited computational resources. Additionally, ethical challenges in AI systems necessitate designing user-centered algorithms that consider privacy, transparency, and responsibility. These issues can degrade model performance, underscoring the need for user-centered, data-efficient graph learning models that enhance efficiency in both centralized and decentralized systems. Considering these challenges, this research investigates data-efficient graph learning for responsible prediction and recommendation in real-world applications. In this thesis, we propose effective and efficient graph learning algorithms for three sub-tasks: (1) Federated Graph Learning on Non-IID EHRs, (2) Multi-view Graph Learning on Sparse EHRs, and (3) Federated Graph Learning for Spatiotemporal Recommendation. Extracting latent disease patterns from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is crucial for disease analysis and significantly facilitates healthcare decision-making. The first task, federated graph learning on Non-IID EHRs, aims to obtain complex disease graph representations with temporal dynamics from global imbalanced and locally insufficient Non-IID EHRs for downstream disease prediction tasks. We propose a personalized federated graph learning framework named PEARL, designed to avoid performance decreases in the global model on individual clients while enhancing the personalized capabilities of the learned global model. To further improve its effectiveness, we introduce a fine-tuning scheme to personalize the global model using local EHRs. Extensive experiments conducted on the real-world MIMIC-III dataset validate PEARL’s effectiveness, demonstrating significant improvement (10.25% on F1 scores) compared to baseline approaches. The second task, multi-view learning, offers a comprehensive exploration of both structured and unstructured EHRs. However, the intrinsic uncertainty among disease features presents a significant challenge for multi-view feature alignment. The sparsity of realworld EHRs further exacerbates this difficulty. To address these challenges, we introduce a novel fuzzy multi-view graph learning framework named FuzzyMVG, designed to mitigate the impacts of uncertainty in disease features derived from sparse EHRs. Extensive experiments on the real-world MIMIC-III dataset validate FuzzyMVG’s effectiveness. Results in the diagnosis prediction task show higher Precision (0.2991) that FuzzyMVG outperforms other state-of-the-art baselines. Finally, the third task addresses the challenges of limited computational resources, privacy leakage, and data silos in spatiotemporal Point-of-Interests (PoI) recommendation within distributed systems. We propose an efficient federated graph learning-based model to mine complex spatiotemporal features for generating recommendations. Experiments on the PoI recommendation task based on real-life check-in data validate the effectiveness of our proposed model. The results indicate that our recommendation model achieves competitive results (a higher accuracy, RMSE of 0.1096) with lower computational costs than the baselines
Why women on corporate boards are more than just tokens : an Indian perspective
Get PDFPurpose: Situated in the context of India, where women’s representation on corporate boards remains low, this study aims to explore whether and how tokenism impacts the behaviours of female directors. Design/methodology/approach: The boardroom experiences and perceptions of 14 women directors are explored through semi-structured interviews and analysed using an inductive and interpretive process. Also, to get a counter perspective and avoid the social desirability bias from the women participants’ responses, 16 men directors are interviewed. Findings: The study finds that, as gender minorities, women directors' visibility on boards can create performance pressures on these women. To counter gender-based prejudices, women directors consciously alter their behaviours and project both male and female traits consistent with the director role. By doing so, women directors overcome tokenistic stereotypes and are accepted as part of the director in-group, irrespective of their numeric representation on the board. Practical implications: The research has implications for governments attempting to increase women’s board presence through affirmative actions and for firms aiming to improve the gender diversity of their board composition. Originality/value: These findings present an alternative perspective on women directors’ board behaviour by exploring the applicability of Western trends on tokenism and critical mass in the context of India, adding to the vast body of literature concerned with minorities on corporate boards. © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited
