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Implementation of a strategy to facilitate effective medical follow-up for Australian First Nations children hospitalised with lower respiratory tract infections: Study protocol
No full textBackground
First Nations children hospitalised with acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) are at increased risk of future bronchiectasis (up to 15–19%) within 24-months post-hospitalisation. An identified predictive factor is persistent wet cough a month after hospitalisation and this is likely related to protracted bacterial bronchitis which can progress to bronchiectasis, if untreated. Thus, screening for, and optimally managing, persistent wet cough one-month post-hospitalisation potentially prevents bronchiectasis in First Nations’ children. Our study aims to improve the post-hospitalisation medical follow-up for First Nations children hospitalised with ALRIs and thus lead to improved respiratory health. We hypothesize that implementation of a strategy, conducted in a culturally secure manner, that is informed by barriers and facilitators identified by both parents and health care providers, will improve medical follow-up and management of First Nations children hospitalized with ALRIs.
Methods
Our trial is a multi-centre, pseudo-randomized stepped wedge design where the implementation of the strategy is tailored for each study site through a combined Participatory Action Research and implementation science approach informed by the Consolidated Framework of Implementation Research. Outcome measures will consist of three categories related to (i) health, (ii) economics and (iii) implementation. The primary outcome measure will be Cough-specific Quality of Life (PC-QoL). Outcomes will be measures at each study site/cluster in three different stages i.e., (i) nil-intervention control group, (ii) health information only control group and (iii) post-intervention group.
Discussion
If our hypothesis is correct, our study findings will translate to improved health outcomes (cough related quality of life) in children who have persistent wet cough a month after hospitalization for an ALRI
Role of plants in determining the soil response to either a single freeze-thaw or dry-wet event
No full textIn a changing climate, extreme weather events are predicted to increase in frequency and magnitude. These events may induce stress in plants and soil microbial communities, but the impact of climate extremes on root-soil interactions remains poorly understood. To better understand the response of a temperate agroecosystem to winter freezing and drought, a mild (−5 °C) or severe (−10 °C) freeze-thaw, or dry-wet cycle was imposed on mesocosms planted with winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and unplanted soil. We measured the effect of the stresses on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes (CO2, N2O, CH4), plant tissue composition, soil solute concentrations and soil microbial community structure. Only the most severe freezing event had a direct effect on soils, with pulses of CO2 and N2O released after thawing. In contrast, all stresses reduced C fixation and respiration in planted treatments. Total CO2 flux from planted mesocosms was reduced during the drought period and CO2 flux was negatively correlated with soil water content. The severe freeze-thaw event caused lasting damage to plants and increased rhizodeposition, resulting in increased CO2 efflux and a small alteration in soil microbial community composition. The presence of plants resulted in significantly greater total CO2 flux following freeze-thaw or dry-wet events, but only in unplanted soil was there a net increase in GHG emissions. These results demonstrate that, although the effects of stress appear magnified where plants are present, the maintenance of winter plant cover in temperate agricultural soils reduces the effects of extreme weather events on future climate
Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover
No full textUrbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale
Benefits of business conference participation for Australian SME managers: a case study of a belt and road initiative conference
No full textPurpose
This study aims to explore the benefits of participation in a topic-relevant business conference as a learning and professional development apparatus for senior managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It analyzes the experiences of 12 Australian SME senior managers who participated in a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) business conference in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through pre- and post-conference attendance interviews. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s (2005) four levels framework was used to analyze the effectiveness of business conferences on the participants at four different levels of the framework: reaction, learning, behavior and results.
Findings
This study finds that the business conference has shown effectiveness for the participants at the reaction (Level 1), learning (Level 2) and behavior (Level 3), indicating that participation in a topic-relevant business conference is useful for the learning and professional development of SME managers. However, only a moderate level of results (Level 4) was identified from attending the BRI conference, which implies that the content and quality of the business conference may influence the achievement of expected results.
Originality/value
This paper contributes a new understanding of the benefits of topic-relevant business conference participation as a learning and professional development apparatus for SME senior managers
Cytogenetics to functional genomics: six decades journey of Professor P.K. Gupta
Get PDFWe had the fortune of starting our scientific/research careers in the Molecular Biology and Crop Biotechnology Laboratory of Professor P.K. Gupta at Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut, UP, India. Here, we describe the most important scientific contributions of our beloved mentor in the area of cytotaxonomy, cytogenetics, mutation breeding, quantitative genetics, molecular biology, crop biotechnology and plant genomics, on his 85th birthday. Important contributions made in the development and use of genomics resources including the development and use of different kinds of molecular markers, genetic and physical mapping, quantitative trait locus (QTL) interval mapping, genome-wide association mapping and molecular breeding including marker-assisted selection have been briefly summarized. Efforts have been also made to give readers a glimpse of important contributions in the study of cytology/apomixis of grasses, cytotaxonomic studies in asteraceae/fabaceae, nuclear/repetitive DNA content in Lolium, interspecific/intergeneric relationships involving the genus Hordeum and re-examining taxonomy of the tribe Triticeae
Alginate oligosaccharides ameliorate busulfan-induced renal tubule injury
Get PDFKidney diseases endanger human health and place a heavy burden on global health care systems. The current study aimed to explore the beneficial advances of alginate oligosaccharides (AOS) as a functional food on kidney structure and function, and the underlying mechanisms with a busulfan disrupted kidney model. We found that AOS improved the busulfan disrupted renal tubules. Busulfan increased the protein levels of kidney injury marker kidney injury molecule-1, apoptosis marker caspase 3 and inflammation marker TNF-α while they were recovered by AOS. On the other hand, AOS promoted the expression of proteins involved in vascular development α-SMA, CD34 and TGF-β which were decreased by busulfan. Furthermore, AOS elevated the beneficial blood metabolites levels while reduced the harmful blood metabolites levels. Therefore, AOS can be applied to improve kidney function for the patients who take chemotherapeutics such as busulfan or other patients with chronic kidney diseases
Genomic characterisation of CC398 MRSA causing severe disease in Australia
No full textClonal complex 398 (CC398) livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) has been reported worldwide in a variety of food-animal species. Although CC398 is synonymous with LA-MRSA, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) variants have emerged, including the Panton–Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-positive ST398-V and ST398 single-locus variant ST1232-V, and the PVL-negative ST398-V clones. Using comparative genomic analysis, we determined whether ten CC398 MRSA bacteraemia episodes recently identified in Australia were due to LA-MRSA or CA-MRSA CC398. Isolates were sourced from the Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance S. aureus surveillance programme and episodes occurred across Australia. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and phylogenetic comparison of the ten CC398 bacteraemia isolates with previously published CC398 MRSA whole-genome sequences identified that the Australian CC398 isolates were closely related to the human-associated II-GOI clade and the livestock-associated IIa clade. The identified CC398 MRSA clones were: PVL-positive ST1232-V (5C2&5), PVL-negative community-associated ST398-V (5C2&5) and livestock-associated ST398-V (5C2&5). Our findings demonstrate the importance of using WGS and comparing the sequences with international sequences to distinguish between CC398 CA-MRSA and LA-MRSA and to determine the isolates’ origin. Furthermore, our findings suggest that CC398 CA-MRSA has become established in the Australian community and that ST398-V (5C2&5) LA-MRSA is now widespread in Australian piggeries. Our study emphasises the need for national One Health antimicrobial resistance surveillance programmes to assist in monitoring the ongoing epidemiology of MRSA and other clinically significant antimicrobial-resistant organisms
Swan Songs: The muddy waters of affect
Get PDFI was spawned within a fold of the Biokovo Mountains in the Dalmatian region of Croatia and born on the river’s edge in the Swan Valley of Western Australia.
When the Toscana sailed into Fremantle carrying my Mother, Father, Sister and I (in utero), it was 1958 and Dalmatian villagers dominated the Swan Valley landscape. Arriving in three waves and across two world wars, the Croatian diaspora community cultivated centuries-old traditions to help establish Western Australia's (WA) oldest wine/grape growing region. This cross-cultural story of family and community compels me to explore, via the lens of a practice-led PhD, how creative practice may uncover the different stories that exist in the liminal space. As well as textural preservation of a cultural group in transition, this project seeks to articulate the invisible and often excluded middle – liminal – of second-generation diasporic experience. The second-generation Croatian diaspora are unquestionably the ‘bridge’ generation. They straddle old-world affective inheritance steeped in tradition, imperialist domination, abject poverty, war, fear, loss, and memory on the one hand, in tension with new-world differences and translations on the other.
In this dissertation the methodology of ficto-criticism in collaboration with affect theory suspends a bridge across the liminal space supporting an inventory of traces that track the historical passage of ‘my peoples’ migration from Croatia to Western Australia. The thesis comprises two interlinked components. The creative artefact Swan Songs is a fluid multi-framed visual essay cinematically exploring the threshold of second-generation migration through the filtered lens of the first. The dissertation, The Muddy Waters of Affect expands on this, mapping histories of departure, arrival, and return, beginning at the turn of the twentieth century with Croatian diaspora on the Eastern Goldfields Wood-line before arriving to the Swan Valley Vineyards. This dissertation, as a work of creative research, is layered with past experience; artistic excursions supporting the notion that from the moment of birth deep knowing flows through the performing body as a living matrix
Digital transformation for crisis preparedness: Service employees’ perspective
No full textPurpose
Digital transformation (DT) has had a profound impact on how services are delivered, but its effects on service frontline employees in crisis have yet to be examined. Using conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this study is to empirically test the overall effects of DT within service organisations on service employees’ beliefs with respect to crisis preparedness, life satisfaction and customer orientation. It also examines the moderating effects of crisis-related anxiety and job experience on these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
This study’s hypotheses were tested quantitatively with an online survey of N = 592 frontline service employees working in hospitality and retail services organisation during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. A post-hoc study of customer-facing supervisors (N = 268) was conducted to validate the study findings and establish generalisability.
Findings
DT predicts service employees’ beliefs regarding crisis preparedness. In turn, crisis preparedness increases life satisfaction and customer orientation. Moreover, crisis-related anxiety negatively moderates the relationship between DT and crisis preparedness. Post hoc analyses validate the results derived from service employees’ data. Surprisingly, there is no significant relationship between crisis preparedness and life satisfaction for supervisors/managers with low job experience.
Originality/value
This study makes an empirical contribution to the service management literature by examining the impact of DT on service employees’ beliefs with respect to crisis preparedness that subsequently influences their life satisfaction and ability to remain customer oriented during a crisis. It highlights an important intersection between technology and service work in terms of a transformative impact of DT on service employee outcomes during crises
Hyperspectral imagery combined with machine learning to differentiate genetically modified (GM) and non-GM canola
Get PDFCanola, also known as rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), is an oilseed that produces a healthy food-grade oil, canola meal by-product, and biofuel. It is the fourth most grown grain in Australia. Genetically modified (GM) canola currently represents approximately twenty percent of national canola production; hence, with clashing public and industry perceptions of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), transparency and traceability must be enabled throughout the supply chain to protect markets and relationships with consumers. GM canola must not cross-contaminate non-GM canola as our largest export market, Europe, has extremely strict protocols on GMOs. GM and non-GM canola cannot be differentiated by the human eye, with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods currently the main alternative, which is expensive and time-consuming. This thesis evaluates the potential to differentiate GM from non-GM canola using the novel, rapid, and non-destructive technique of hyperspectral imaging combined with machine learning.
Hyperspectral imagery captures and processes wavelengths beyond simply red, green, and blue. It has a pre-existing multitude of uses including the characterisation and variety identification of other grains. In this study 500 images each of non-GM and GM canola seeds were captured. Seeds were placed on a black background with two lights sources. Images were captured from the 400nm to 1000nm wavelengths, a total of 80 bands, at a 25-millisecond exposure time. These images were run through a convolutional neural network in Keras for analysis. The high dynamic range and raw files were combined into a NumPy file for the hyperspectral image generator. Contrary to expectations, however, the models using the bitmap image files performed similarly to the models receiving the hyperspectral images. Regardless, both produced high validation accuracies around 90%, indicating a detectable phenotypical difference between the two, and further studies could lead to the development of a new approach to GM canola detection