30913 research outputs found
Sort by
Characteristics of patients with haematological and breast cancer (1996–2009) who died of heart failure-related causes after cancer therapy
No full textThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Aims To describe the characteristics and time to death of patients with breast or haematological cancer who died of heart failure (HF) after cancer therapy. Patients with an index admission for HF who died of HF-related causes (IAHF) and those with no index admission for HF who died of HF-related causes (NIAHF) were compared.
Methods and results We performed a linked data analysis of cancer registry, death registry, and hospital administration records (n = 15 987). Index HF admission must have occurred after cancer diagnosis. Of the 4894 patients who were deceased (30.6% of cohort), 734 died of HF-related causes (50.1% female) of which 279 (38.0%) had at least one IAHF (41.9% female) post-cancer diagnosis. Median age was 71 years [interquartile range (IQR) 62–78] for IAHF and 66 years (IQR 56–74) for NIAHF. There were fewer chemotherapy separations for IAHF patients (median = 4, IQR 2–9) compared with NIAHF patients (median = 6, IQR 2–12). Of the IAHF patients, 71% had died within 1 year of the index HF admission. There was no significant difference in HF-related mortality in IAHF patients compared with NIAHF (HR, 1.10, 95% CI, 0.94–
1.29, P= 0.225).
Conclusions The profile of IAHF patients who died of HF-related causes after cancer treatment matched the current profile of HF in the general population (over half were aged ≥70 years). However, NIAHF were younger (62% were aged ≤69 years), female patients with breast cancer that died of HF-related causes before hospital admission for HF-related causes—a group that may have been undiagnosed or undertreated until death
Heart Failure Following Cancer Therapy in Patients with Hematological Malignancies Aged 18 Years and Under: A Linked Health Data Analysis (1996-2009)
No full textMade available in accordance with Publisher's Open Access policyntroduction: The causal link between chemotherapy treatments and subsequent cardiotoxicity is well established, particularly for children with hematological malignancies. Little information exists on the characteristics and outcomes for patients with heart failure (HF) after chemotherapy. This study aimed to describe the characteristics, survival and mortality of patients who received chemotherapy for hematological cancer (leukemias, lymphomas and related disorders) before 18 years old and subsequently developed HF compared to those who did not.
Methods: Linked health data (1996-2009) from the Queensland Cancer Registry, Death Registry and Hospital Administration records for HF and chemotherapy admissions were reviewed. From all breast and hematological cancers patients (n=73,158), 15,987 received chemotherapy, including 819 patients aged ≤18 years at time of cancer diagnosis. Patients were categorized as those with an index HF admission (occurred after cancer diagnosis) and those without an index HF admission (non HF).
Results: Of the 819 patients, 3.7% (n=30) had an index HF admission. Median age of HF patients at time of cancer diagnosis was 5 years (IQR 3-12) compared to 7 years (IQR 3-14) in the non HF group (p=0.503). Median follow up from cancer diagnosis was 2.5 years in the HF group compared to 5.42 years in the non HF group (p<0.01). Of those who developed HF, 70% (n=21) had the index admission within 12 months of their cancer diagnosis. Of those with HF, 53.3% (n=16) died (all cause) compared to 14.6% (n=115) with no HF. On adjustment for age, sex and chemotherapy admissions, HF patients had an almost 5 fold increased mortality risk compared to non HF patients (HR 4.91 [95% CI, 2.88-8.36])
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that in children with hematological cancers the onset of HF occurred soon after chemotherapy and mortality risk is almost 5 times that of children who do not develop HF. Innovative strategies are still needed for the prevention and management of cardiotoxicity in this populatio
Ensuring Quality in Online Palliative Care Resources
No full textThis article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Evidence and information is an integral part of the processes enabling clinical and service delivery within health. It is used by health professionals in clinical practice and in developing their professional knowledge, by policy makers in decision making, and is sought by health consumers to help them manage their health needs and assess their options. Increasingly, this evidence and information is being disseminated and sought through online channels. The internet is fundamentally changing how health information is being distributed and accessed. Clinicians, patients, community members, and decision makers have an unprecedented capacity to find online information about palliative care and end-of-life care. However, it is clear that not all individuals have the skills to be able to find and assess the quality of the resources they need. There are also many issues in creating online resources that are current, relevant and authoritative for use by health professionals and by health consumers. This paper explores the processes and structures used in creating a major national palliative care knowledge resource, the CareSearch website, to meet the needs of health professionals and of patients and their families and carers
Distributed Sensor Logging: As Easy as a Mesh of Yoyos
No full textThis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.The Mass Gathering Data Acquisition and Analysis (MaGDAA) project involved the development of hardware and software solutions to facilitate the rapid and effective collection of autonomous and survey based data during mass gathering events. The aim of the project was the development and trial of a purpose-built Open Hardware based environment monitoring sensor prototypes using IOIO (pronounced “yoyo”) boards. Data from these sensors, and other devices, was collected using Open Source software running on Android powered mobile phones, tablets and other open hardware based platforms. Data was shared using a Wi-Fi mesh network based on an Open Source project called The Serval Project. Additional data in the form of survey based questionnaires were collected using ODK Collect, one of the applications in the Open Data Kit suite. The MaGDAA project demonstrated that it is possible for researchers (through the use of Open Source software and Open Hardware) to own, visualise, and share data without the difficulties of setting up and maintaining servers. MaGDAA proved to be an effective infrastructure independent sensor logging network that enables a broad range of data collection (demographic, predispositions, motivations, psychosocial and environmental influencers and modifiers of audience behaviour, cultural value) in the field of mass gathering research
A critical review of the long-term disability outcomes following hip fracture
No full textOpen Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: Hip fractures are an increasingly common consequence of falls in older people that are associated
with a high risk of death and reduced function. This review aims to quantify the impact of hip fracture on older
people’s abilities and quality of life over the long term.
Methods: Studies were identified through PubMed and Scopus searches and contact with experts. Cohort studies
of hip fracture patients reporting outcomes 3 months post-fracture or longer were included for review. Outcomes
of mobility, participation in domestic and community activities, health, accommodation or quality of life were
categorised according to the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning and synthesised
narratively. Risk of bias was assessed according to four items from the Strengthening the Reporting of
Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement.
Results: Thirty-eight studies from 42 publications were included for review. Most followed a clearly defined sample
from the time of fracture. Hip fracture survivors experienced significantly worse mobility, independence in function,
health, quality of life and higher rates of institutionalisation than age matched controls. The bulk of recovery of
walking ability and activities for daily living occurred within 6 months after fracture. Between 40 and 60 % of study
participants recovered their pre-fracture level of mobility and ability to perform instrumental activities of daily living,
while 40–70 % regained their level of independence for basic activities of daily living. For people independent in
self-care pre-fracture, 20–60 % required assistance for various tasks 1 and 2 years after fracture. Fewer people living
in residential care recovered their level of function than those living in the community. In Western nations, 10–20 %
of hip fracture patients are institutionalised following fracture. Few studies reported impact on participation in
domestic, community, social and civic life.
Conclusions: Hip fracture has a substantial impact on older peoples’ medium- to longer-term abilities, function,
quality of life and accommodation. These studies indicate the range of current outcomes rather than potential
improvements with different interventional approaches. Future studies should measure impact on life participation
and determine the proportion of people that regain their pre-fracture level of functioning to investigate strategies
for improving these important outcomes.
Keywords: Hip fracture, Recovery of function, Mobility limitation, Activities of daily living, Institutionalisation, Quality
of life, Osteoporosis, Aged, Longterm care, Review
Abbreviations: ADL, Activities of daily living; HR, Hazard ratio; IADL, Instrumental activities of daily living;
ICF, International classification of functioning, disability and health; OR, Odds ratio; QALY, Quality adjusted life year;
QOL, Quality of life; US, United States; WHO, World Health Organizatio
Identification of the CIMP-like subtype and aberrant methylation of members of the chromosomal segregation and spindle assembly pathways in esophageal adenocarcinoma
No full textThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has risen significantly over recent decades. Although survival has improved, cure rates remain poor, with <20% of patients surviving 5 years. This is the first study to explore methylome, transcriptome and ENCODE data to characterize the role of methylation in EAC. We investigate the genome-wide methylation profile of 250 samples including 125 EAC, 19 Barrett’s esophagus (BE), 85 squamous esophagus and 21 normal stomach. Transcriptome data of 70 samples (48 EAC, 4 BE and 18 squamous esophagus) were used to identify changes in methylation associated with gene expression. BE and EAC showed similar methylation profiles, which differed from squamous tissue. Hypermethylated sites in EAC and BE were mainly located in CpG-rich promoters. A total of 18575 CpG sites associated with 5538 genes were differentially methylated, 63% of these genes showed significant correlation between methylation and mRNA expression levels. Pathways involved in tumorigenesis including cell adhesion, TGF and WNT signaling showed enrichment for genes aberrantly methylated. Genes involved in chromosomal segregation and spindle formation were aberrantly methylated. Given the recent evidence that chromothripsis may be a driver mechanism in EAC, the role of epigenetic perturbation of these pathways should be further investigated. The methylation profiles revealed two EAC subtypes, one associated with widespread CpG island hypermethylation overlapping H3K27me3 marks and binding sites of the Polycomb proteins. These subtypes were supported by an independent set of 89 esophageal cancer samples. The most hypermethylated tumors showed worse patient survival
Review of The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee
No full textReview of The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Le
Nettie Palmer’s South to South: Australia, Chile and Writing the Nation
No full textThis article explores Australian writer and critic Nettie Palmer's presentation of the figure of Gabriela Mistral and vision of Latin American literature more generally. It compares changing experiences of women writers in the early twentieth century in Australia and in South America and connects these changes to their role in defining and developing concepts of national literature. Salter's proposal for finding both national and international literatures via the echoes and resemblances between texts and authors is used as a starting point for identifying fruitful points of comparison in the specific case of Palmer and Mistral as well as the limits of the Australia-Chile association. The complex role of gender and race in the construction of postcolonial aesthetics is linked to differences and similarities in the colonial histories of the two nations and the instability of women's identification with the evolving national discourse of the time
Complete poems, Transnational Literature November 2016
No full textComplete poetry Transnational literature November 2016, in one file for ease of downloading and printin