30913 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Preoperative Puborectal Muscle Function Assessed by Transperineal Ultrasound in Urinary Continence Outcomes at 3, 6, and 12 Months After Robotic-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Get PDFThis 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 unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Purpose
The efficacy of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) for men with postprostatectomy incontinence (PPI) after robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is controversial and the mechanism for its possible effect remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between bladder neck (BN) displacement, as a proxy for puborectal muscle activation, and continence outcomes after RARP.
Methods
Data were extracted from the South Australian Prostate Cancer Clinical Outcomes Collaborative database for men undergoing RARP by high volume surgeons who attended preoperative pelvic floor physiotherapy for pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training between 2012 and 2015. Instructions were to contract the PFM as if stopping the flow of urine. BN displacement was measured with 2-dimensional transperineal ultrasound, without digital rectal examination. Urinary continence status was assessed preoperatively and at 3, 6, and 12 months using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite 26. Data were analysed using logistic regression and mixed effects linear modelling. Confounding variables considered were baseline continence, age at diagnosis, margin status, nerve sparing procedures and pathological stage.
Results
Of 671 eligible men, 358 met the inclusion criteria and were available for analysis, with 136 complete datasets at 12-month follow-up. While BN movement was associated with preoperative continence, there was no significant effect of BN displacement on the change in urinary continence at 12 months postprostatectomy (P=0.81) or on the influence of time on continence over 3–12 months.
Conclusions
Continence outcomes were not associated with BN displacement, produced by activity of the puborectal portion of the levator ani muscle, at 3, 6, or 12 months after RARP. These results suggest that the puborectal muscle does not play a role in the recovery of continence after RARP and may help to explain the negative findings of many studies of PFMT for PPI.Data analysed as part of this manuscript was extracted from the South Australian Prostate Cancer Clinical Outcomes
Collaborative (SA-PCCOC) Registry which has received funding from (in alphabetical order): Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Beat Cancer, Ferring Pharmaceuticals,
Ipsen, Movember Foundation, The Hospital Research Foundation, Tolmar Australia and the Urological Society of Australia and
New Zealand
Support for family diversity: a three-country study
Get PDF“This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article
published by Taylor & Francis in the Journal of
Reproductive and Infant Psychology on 12 February
2018, available online: https://
www.tandfonline.com/doi/
full/10.1080/02646838.2018.1434491”
This manuscript version is made available under the CCBY-
NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (February 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policy.Objective: To understand levels of support for differences between families in terms of sexuality and mode of family formation across three countries.
Background: Previous research has found that attitudes towards family diversity continue to improve over time, although differences remain.
Methods: Subjects were 1605 people living in Australia, the United Kingdom or the United States who completed a questionnaire which sought to explore levels of support for a diverse range of family forms and modes of family formation.
Results: Religiosity, political leanings and beliefs about the importance of genetic relatedness were all correlated with level of support. Gender of participant was a predictor of level of support. Cluster analysis indicated three clusters (unsupportive, neutral and supportive) for level of support, for which both sexuality and parent status were predictors.
Conclusion: Findings highlight the normative status of reproductive heterosex, and demonstrate the considerable value accorded to genetic relatedness.This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under a Future Fellowship [grant number FT130100087]; Flinders University under a Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences research grant
Growth and stress axis responses to dietary cholesterol in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in brackish water
Get PDFNote: This article was submitted to
Aquatic Physiology,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Physiology. This is an open-access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC
BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided
the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original
publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.
No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these
terms.Six isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets were formulated to contain 0% (control), 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, or 2.4% dietary cholesterol and fed to juvenile Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (2.20 ± 0.12 g) twice daily to apparent satiation for 8 weeks in triplicate at a salinity of 16. Fish fed 0.4% cholesterol showed a higher weight gain and specific growth rate and a lower feed coefficient ratio than fish fed other diets. No difference was found in the survival of Nile tilapia fed various levels of cholesterol. Cholesterol in the serum and liver and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the serum increased with the increase in the dietary cholesterol content. Relative to the control, no significant difference was found in the expression of head kidney P450scc mRNA between treatment groups. The expression of head kidney 11β-HSD2 mRNA was the highest in the control group, and it decreased significantly with increasing levels of diet cholesterol. Fish fed 0.4 or 1.2% cholesterol had a higher 20β-HSD2 mRNA expression in the head kidney than those fed other diets. Fish fed 0.8% cholesterol had higher expressions of GR1 and GR2B mRNA in the liver than other groups. Fish fed 0.4% cholesterol had the highest activity of gill Na+/K+-ATPase. Fish fed 0.8 to 2.4% cholesterol had higher serum cortisol contents than the fish in the control group and the fish fed 0.4% cholesterol. This study suggests that dietary cholesterol is not essential for Nile tilapia survival in brackish water, but 0.4% cholesterol supplementation in the Nile tilapia diet contributes to the improvement of hyperosmotic adaptation and increases in gill Na+/K+-ATPase activity and serum cortisol content by regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal stress axis.This research was supported by the Major State Basic
Research Development Program of China (973 Program)
(No. 2014CB138600)
Selective Attachment of Leptospirillum ferrooxidans for Separation of Chalcopyrite and Pyrite through Bio-Flotation
Get PDFThis 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/).The replacement of depressants used in sulfide mineral beneficiation, with bacteria and
their metabolites, promises to reduce the environmental impact left by the mining industry. In this
study, the attachment of Leptospirillum ferrooxidans, L.f, to chalcopyrite and pyrite was investigated
through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The impact of selective attachment, bacterial growth
conditions, and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was investigated through bio-flotation.
L.f exhibits selective attachment to pyrite between 0 h and 168 h exposure via an indirect contact
mechanism. Separation of chalcopyrite from pyrite was achieved through exposing the minerals for
72 h with an L.f culture grown on either HH media, chalcopyrite, or pyrite. The results produced 80.4,
43.4, and 47.4% recovery of chalcopyrite, respectively. However, EPS supernatant extracted from L.f
grown on chalcopyrite, conditioned for 48 h, provided the best separation efficiency by the selective
depression of pyrite resulting in 95.8% Cu recovery. Polysaccharide-rich EPS selectively attaches to
pyrite within 48 h, depressing its floatability and ensuring successful separation with a PIPX collector.This work was funded by the Australian Research Council
through FT110100099
Achondroplasia with SRY-positive 46, XX disorder of sex development: an extremely rare association
Get PDFThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0
Unported License.A 40-year-old man with achondroplasia presented with symptoms of hypogonadism, low libido and gynaecomastia.
He was found to have hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, and karyotype and fluorescent in situ hybridisation analysis
showed SRY-positive 46, XX disorder of sex development (DSD). He was tested to have the common activating mutation
of the FGFR3 gene implicated in achondroplasia, indicating that he had the two rare conditions independently, with
an extremely low incidence of 1 in 400 million. This, to the best of our knowledge, is the first report of an individual
having these two rare conditions concurrently. This case highlights that individuals with achondroplasia should have
normal sexual development, and in those presenting with incomplete sexual maturation or symptoms of hypogonadism
should prompt further evaluation. We also propose a plausible link between achondroplasia and 46, XX DSD through the
intricate interactions between the SRY, SOX9 and FGFR9 gene pathways.This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in
the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector
The forgotten victims: Prisoner experience of victimisation and engagement with the criminal justice system: Key findings and future directions
Get PDFCaution: Some people may find parts of this content confronting or distressing.
Creative Commons Licence Attribution-Non Commercial
This licence lets others distribute, remix and build upon the work, but only if it is for non-commercial purposes and they credit
the original creator/s (and any other nominated parties). Version 3.0 (CC Australia ported licence)
Please note that there is the potential for minor revisions of this paper.
Please check the online version at www.anrows.org.au for any amendment.Many women in prison have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). As this form of violence is often intergenerational and entrenched, women in prison are widely considered to be at particular risk of ongoing victimisation following release from custody. And yet, their support needs often go unrecognised, and it is likely that a range of barriers exists that prevent ex-prisoners from accessing services. This project, jointly funded by ANROWS and Sparke Helmore Lawyers was conducted in partnership between James Cook University and the South Australian Department for Correctional Services. Led by Professor Andrew Day, this research develops an understanding of the factors that influence help-seeking by women in prison who may have concerns about their personal safety post-release and how this might inform service responses
Stochastic correction of carbon-14 activities: A Bayesian approach with argon-39 validation
Get PDFThis manuscript version is made available
under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (August 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyCarbon-14 (14C) has been measured in groundwater for over half a century and remains a widely used tool for understanding groundwater flow systems. Ultimately, the usefulness of 14C as a groundwater tracer relies on the ability to distinguish between changes in concentration due to various chemical/physical processes (e.g. chemical reactions with solid carbonate material, conditions at the water table), and changes due to ageing along flow paths, the latter being most informative of groundwater flow conditions. To this end, a number of correction methodologies have been developed to account for chemical modifications in groundwater systems. In this paper, we implement two different single sample correction models, one for closed and one for open system carbonate dissolution in conjunction with a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach at two sites; the sedimentary Port Willunga Formation Aquifer in South Australia and a fractured rock aquifer in the Hamersley Basin, northwest Australia. For comparison, we include argon-39 (39Ar) data taken from some of the wells sampled and use a mixing envelope constraint in the MCMC procedure. We found that considering all of the errors associated with 14C correction resulted in a distribution of values to consider for groundwater dating procedures. When accounting for all parameters associated with single sample correction techniques, the associated error was 10 times greater than the analytical errors. Additionally, inclusion of the 39Ar data produced mixed results, with little improvement observed in the Port Willunga Aquifer (closed system correction), and a significant improvement observed at the Hamersley site (open system). This is most likely due to the mixing caused by long screens and the sensitivity of the open system correction model. Our results highlight the importance of considering all sources of error in groundwater dating studies.Funding for the data collected from the Port Willunga Formation aquifer was provided by the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), an Australian Research Council Co-funded Centre of Excellence, and the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Groundwater Infrastructure Fund. The development of the technique, and data from the Hamersley Basin site was funded by Rio Tinto and the Australian Research Council (ARC) through the Linkage Project LP150100395
Vegetable Diversity, Injurious Falls, and Fracture Risk in Older Women: A Prospective Cohort Study
Get PDFThis 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/) which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.The importance of vegetable diversity for the risk of falling and fractures is unclear. Our objective was to examine the relationship between vegetable diversity with injurious falling and fractures leading to hospitalization in a prospective cohort of older Australian women (n = 1429, ≥70 years). Vegetable diversity was quantified by assessing the number of different vegetables consumed daily. Vegetable intake (75 g servings/day) was estimated using a validated food frequency questionnaire at baseline (1998). Over 14.5 years, injurious falls (events = 568, 39.7%), and fractures (events = 404, 28.3%) were captured using linked health records. In multivariable-adjusted Cox regression models, women with greater vegetable diversity (per increase in one different vegetable/day) had lower relative hazards for falls (8%; p = 0.02) and fractures (9%; p = 0.03). A significant interaction between daily vegetable diversity (number/day) and total vegetable intake (75 g servings/day) was observed for falls (pinteraction = 0.03) and fractures (pinteraction < 0.001). The largest benefit of higher vegetable diversity were observed in the one third of women with the lowest vegetable intake (<2.2 servings/day; falls HR 0.83 95% CI (0.71–0.98); fractures HR 0.74 95%CI (0.62–0.89)). Increasing vegetable diversity especially in older women with low vegetable intake may be an effective way to reduce injurious fall and fracture risk.The Perth Longitudinal Study of Ageing in Women (PLSAW) was funded by Healthway, the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation, and by project grants 254627, 303169, and 572604 from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. The salary of J.M.H. is supported by a NHMRC of Australia Senior Research Fellowship and a Royal Perth Hospital Medical Research Foundation Fellowship. The salary of J.R.L. is supported by a NHMRC of Australia Career Development Fellowship (ID: 1107474)
Registered Nurses' experiences of End-of-Life (EOL) care in the acute setting in Singapore
No full textThis abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorBackground: Singapore is a multi-cultural society and has a resident population of 5.3 million people, 3.8 million citizens who are permanent residents and 1.5 million non-residents. Generally, the health of Singaporeans has been good. However, it is estimated 65% of the population spend time in hospital in their final year of life and about 61% die in hospitals. A review of the literature highlighted that EOL care can be stressful and the complexity surrounding death and dying can cause emotional and psychological distress to nurses. There is also a dearth of qualitative studies on nurses' EOL care practices and experiences within the context of acute care. Given the paucity of studies in the local and acute care context there is a need to understand Registered Nurses care practices and experiences on EOL care in acute hospitals. Aim: The primary aim of this study is to understand the EOL care practices and experiences among the Registered Nurses working in acute hospitals in Singapore. Methodology: The Hermeneutic Phenomenology underpinning Hans-George Gadamer's philosophy guided this study. Data was collected on 16 Registered Nurses using the purposeful sampling method following ethics approval. Data was collected over a period of eight months using semi-structured interviews. Each interview lasted for 45 minutes. Fleming's et al 2003 five stages of analysis were used as they were able to retain the philosophical underpinnings of Gadamer who does not offer a framework of analysis. Findings: Three themes emerged from the analysis of each interview. They were confronting challenges; understanding EOL care; and managing care effectively. Confronting challenges supporting sub-themes were (i)experiencing emotional labour; and (ii) barriers to providing palliative care. Understanding EOL care and its supporting sub-themes were (i) building connections; (ii) providing support to patients and family; and (iii) fulfilling wishes. Managing care effectively and its supporting themes were (i) open communication; (ii) working as a team; (iii) palliative team support; (iv) addressing training needs; and (v) personal coping. Conclusion: This study has led to an in-depth understanding of care practices and experiences of Registered Nurses in the context of an acute care setting in Singapore. The findings identified the need for continuous Education in End-of-Life and Palliative Care for Registered Nurses in acute hospitals. There is also a need to have a strong support system to address the physical and mental well-being of all registered nurses caring for the dying in the acute care settings. The findings also suggest there is a need to shift the misconception and continuously educate the family and patients about the principles of palliative care
Role of the pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary team in the management of heart failure
No full textThis abstract was prepared for the inaugural 'HDR Student Conference', Flinders University, November 2018. Copyright © the authorBackground: There is emerging evidence that heart failure (HF) patients who receive pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary care have better clinical outcomes than those who do not. This study investigates the role of the pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary team in the management of HF in-depth. Methods: A multi-method triangulation of a systematic review and a retrospective cohort study was used. A retrospective analysis (n=1058) of two cohorts of chronic HF patients from a tertiary referral hospital comparing those attending a pharmacist-involved Multidisciplinary Ambulatory Consulting Service (MACS) with the General Cardiology Heart Failure Services (GCHFS) without the pharmacist was performed. Results: A meta-analysis (n=4447) showed a significant reduction (P<0.05) in HF hospitalisations and all-cause hospitalisations but no effect on HF mortality and all-cause mortality. The overall trend was an improvement in medication adherence and significant improvements in HF knowledge (P<0.05). Both the clinics had similar rates of guideline-based prescriptions of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and their maximum tolerated doses in HF with reduced and preserved ejection fraction (EF) patients. However, significantly lower (P<0.001) B-blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) prescriptions were revealed in MACS clinic patients in HF with reduced and preserved EF. The pharmacist-involved multidisciplinary team in HF management reduced hospitalisations and improved medication adherence and HF knowledge. Older age of patients and contraindications to medications were the potential reasons for lower prescription of B-blockers and MRAs in MACS clinic. Recommendation for practice: The pharmacist is an essential member of a multidisciplinary team in HF management