30913 research outputs found
Sort by
Visual approach computation in feeding hoverflies
Get PDFhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.On warm sunny days, female hoverflies are often observed feeding from a wide range of wild and cultivated flowers. In doing so, hoverflies serve a vital role as alternative pollinators, and are suggested to be the most important pollinators after bees and bumblebees. Unless the flower hoverflies are feeding from is large, they do not readily share the space with other insects, but instead opt to leave if another insect approaches. We used high-speed videography followed by 3D reconstruction of flight trajectories to quantify how female Eristalis hoverflies respond to approaching bees, wasps and two different hoverfly species. We found that, in 94% of the interactions, the occupant female left the flower when approached by another insect. We found that compared with spontaneous take-offs, the occupant hoverfly's escape response was performed at ∼3 times higher speed (spontaneous take-off at 0.2±0.05 m s−1 compared with 0.55±0.08 m s−1 when approached by another Eristalis). The hoverflies tended to take off upward and forward, while taking the incomer's approach angle into account. Intriguingly, we found that, when approached by wasps, the occupant Eristalis took off at a higher speed and when the wasp was further away. This suggests that feeding hoverflies may be able to distinguish these predators, demanding impressive visual capabilities. Our results, including quantification of the visual information available before occupant take-off, provide important insight into how freely behaving hoverflies perform escape responses from competitors and predators (e.g. wasps) in the wild
Transdisciplinary research for impact: protocol for a realist evaluation of the relationship between transdisciplinary research collaboration and knowledge translation
Get PDFThis is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the
Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially,
and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is
properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http:// creativecommons. org/
licenses/ by- nc/ 4. 0/Introduction Transdisciplinary teams are increasingly regarded as integral to conducting effective research. Similarly, knowledge translation is often seen as a solution to improving the relevance and benefits of health research. Yet, whether, how, for whom and under which circumstances transdisciplinary research influences knowledge translation is undertheorised, which limits its potential impact. The proposed research aims to identify the contexts and mechanisms by which transdisciplinary research contributes to developing shared understandings and behaviours of knowledge translation between team members.
Methods and analysis Using a longitudinal case-study design approach to realist evaluation, we outline a study protocol examining whether, how, if and for whom transdisciplinary collaboration can impact knowledge translation understandings and behaviours within a 5-year transdisciplinary Centre of Research Excellence. Data are being collected between February 2017 and December 2020 over four rounds of theory development, refinement and testing using interviews, observation, document review and visual elicitation as data sources.This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research
Council of Australia via funding provided for the Centre of Research Excellence in
Transdisciplinary Frailty Research to Achieve Healthy ageing, grant number GNT
1102208
The relationship between intimate partner violence reported at the first antenatal booking visit and obstetric and perinatal outcomes in an ethnically diverse group of Australian pregnant women: a population-based study over 10 years
Get PDFNo commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Objectives Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health issue affecting mainly women and is known to escalate during pregnancy and impact negatively on obstetric and perinatal outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of IPV in a pregnant multicultural population and to determine the relationship between IPV reported at booking interview and maternal and perinatal outcomes.
Design This is a retrospective population-based data study. We analysed routinely collected data (2006–2016) from the ObstetriX system on a cohort of pregnant women.
Setting and participants 33 542 women giving birth in a major health facility in Western Sydney.
Primary outcomes Incidence of IPV, association with IPV and other psychosocial variables and maternal and perinatal outcomes.
Result 4.3% of pregnant women reported a history of IPV when asked during the routine psychosocial assessment. Fifty-four per cent were not born in Australia, and this had increased significantly over the decade. Women born in New Zealand (7.2%) and Sudan (9.1%) were most likely to report IPV at the antenatal booking visit, with women from China and India least likely to report IPV. Women who reported IPV were more likely to report additional psychosocial concerns including Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale scores > 13 (7.6%), thoughts of self-harm (2.4%), childhood abuse (23.6%), and a history of anxiety and depression (34.2%). Women who reported IPV were more likely to be Australian born, smoke and be multiparous and to have been admitted for threatened preterm labour (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.8, 95% CI 1.28 to 2.39).
Conclusions A report of IPV at the first antenatal booking visit is associated with a higher level of reporting on all psychosocial risks, higher antenatal admissions, especially for threatened preterm labour. More research is needed regarding the effectiveness of current IPV screening for women from other countries.Funding for the project came from a Western Sydney University Research
Partnership grant with NSW Health
What attributions do Australian highperforming general practices make for their success? Applying the clinical microsystems framework: a qualitative study
Get PDFNo commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Objectives To identify the success attributions of high-performing Australian general practices and the enablers and barriers they envisage for practices wishing to emulate them.
Design Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and content analysis of the data. Responses were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded according to success characteristics of high-performing clinical microsystems.
Setting Primary healthcare with the participating general practices representing all Australian states and territories, and representing metropolitan and rural locations.
Participants Twenty-two general practices identified as high performing via a number of success criteria. The 52 participants were 19 general practitioners, 18 practice managers and 15 practice nurses.
Results Participants most frequently attributed success to the interdependence of the team members, patient-focused care and leadership of the practice. They most often signalled practice leadership, team interdependence and staff focus as enablers that other organisations would need to emulate their success. They most frequently identified barriers that might be encountered in the form of potential deficits or limitations in practice leadership, staff focus and mesosystem support.
Conclusions Practice leaders need to empower their teams to take action through providing inclusive leadership that facilitates team interdependence. Mesosystem support for quality improvement in general practice should focus on enabling this leadership and team building, thereby ensuring improvement efforts are converted into effective healthcare provision.The research reported in this article was funded by a grant from the
Australian Government Department of Health
Patch-Seq Protocol to Analyze the Electrophysiology, Morphology and Transcriptome of Whole Single Neurons Derived From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Get PDFThis 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(s) 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.The human brain is composed of a complex assembly of about 171 billion
heterogeneous cellular units (86 billion neurons and 85 billion non-neuronal glia cells).
A comprehensive description of brain cells is necessary to understand the nervous
system in health and disease. Recently, advances in genomics have permitted the
accurate analysis of the full transcriptome of single cells (scRNA-seq). We have
built upon such technical progress to combine scRNA-seq with patch-clamping
electrophysiological recording and morphological analysis of single human neurons
in vitro. This new powerful method, referred to as Patch-seq, enables a thorough,
multimodal profiling of neurons and permits us to expose the links between functional
properties, morphology, and gene expression. Here, we present a detailed Patch-seq
protocol for isolating single neurons from in vitro neuronal cultures. We have validated
the Patch-seq whole-transcriptome profiling method with human neurons generated
from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs/iPSCs) derived from healthy
subjects, but the procedure may be applied to any kind of cell type in vitro. Patch-seq
may be used on neurons in vitro to profile cell types and states in depth to unravel the
human molecular basis of neuronal diversity and investigate the cellular mechanisms
underlying brain disorders.This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation
for Scientific Research (NWO), Rubicon Fellowship
(019.163LW.032) (to MvdH); the Brain Foundation, the
Walker Family, and the Perpetual Impact Philanthropy (grant
IPAP2017/0717) (to CB); the G. Harold & Leila Y. Mathers
Charitable Foundation, JPB Foundation, and the NIH (Grants
MH095741, MH092758, and U01 MH106882) (to FG). GY
was supported by R01 grants MH107369, HD085902, and
AI095277 from the National Institute of Health and Seed Grant
BRFSG-2014-14 from the Brain Research Foundation
Surface Chemical Characterisation of Pyrite Exposed to Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Associated Extracellular Polymeric Substances
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/).A. ferrooxidans and their metabolic products have previously been explored as a viable
alternative depressant of pyrite for froth flotation; however, the mechanism by which separation is
achieved is not completely understood. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoemission electron
microscopy (PEEM), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and captive bubble
contact angle measurements have been used to examine the surface physicochemical properties of
pyrite upon exposure to A. ferrooxidans grown in HH medium at pH 1.8. C K-edge near edge X-ray
absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra collected from PEEM images indicate hydrophilic lipids,
fatty acids and biopolymers are formed at the mineral surface during early exposure. After 168 h,
the spectra indicate a shift towards protein and DNA, corresponding to an increase in cell population
and biofilm formation on the surface, as observed by SEM. The Fe L-edge NEXAFS show gradual
oxidation of the mineral surface from Fe(II) sulfide to Fe(III) oxyhydroxides. The oxidation of the
iron species at the pyrite surface is accelerated in the presence of A. ferrooxidans and extracellular
polymeric substances (EPS) as compared to HH medium controls. The surface chemical changes
induced by the interaction with A. ferrooxidans show a significant decrease in surface hydrophobicity
within the first 2 h of exposure. The implications of these findings are the potential use of EPS
produced during early attachment of A. ferrooxidans, as a depressant for bioflotation.This work has been supported by the Australian Research Council under FT110100099.
The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance, of the Australian Microscopy &
Microanalysis Research Facility at the South Australian Regional Facility (SARF) SA Nodes, Flinders University,
Adelaide University and the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre. We acknowledge travel funding
provided by the International Synchrotron Access Program (ISAP) managed by the Australian Synchrotron
AS_IA123_6566 and AS/IA133/7716
Context and clinical reasoning
Get PDFOpen 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.Introduction Studies have shown that a physician’s clinical reasoning performance can be influenced by contextual
factors. We explored how the clinical reasoning performance of medical students was impacted by contextual factors in
order to expand upon previous findings in resident and board certified physicians. Using situated cognition as the theoretical
framework, our aim was to evaluate the verbalized clinical reasoning processes of medical students in order to describe
what impact the presence of contextual factors has on their reasoning performance.
Methods Seventeen medical student participants viewed three video recordings of clinical encounters portraying straightforward
diagnostic cases in internal medicine with explicit contextual factors inserted. Participants completed a computerized
post-encounter form as well as a think-aloud protocol. Three authors analyzed verbatim transcripts from the
think-aloud protocols using a constant comparative approach. After iterative coding, utterances were analyzed and grouped
into categories and themes.
Results Six categories and ten associated themes emerged, which demonstrated overlap with findings from previous studies
in resident and attending physicians. Four overlapping categories included emotional disturbances, behavioural inferences
about the patient, doctor-patient relationship, and difficulty with closure. Two new categories emerged to include anchoring
and misinterpretation of data.
Discussion The presence of contextual factors appeared to impact clinical reasoning performance in medical students. The
data suggest that a contextual factor can be innate to the clinical scenario, consistent with situated cognition theory. These
findings build upon our understanding of clinical reasoning performance from both a theoretical and practical perspective.This project was supported, in part, by an unrestricted educational grant from MedU/iInTime as well as local intramural grant funding
Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
Get PDFPublished by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted
use, provided the original author and source are credited.Madtsoiids are among the most basal snakes, with a fossil
record dating back to the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian).
Most representatives went extinct by the end of the Eocene, but
some survived in Australia until the Late Cenozoic. Yurlunggur
and Wonambi are two of these late forms, and also the best-known
madtsoiids to date. A better understanding of the
anatomy and palaeoecology of these taxa may shed light on the
evolution and extinction of this poorly known group of snakes
and on early snake evolution in general. A digital endocast
of the inner ear of Yurlunggur was compared to those of 81
species of snakes and lizards with known ecological preferences
using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics. The inner
ear of Yurlunggur most closely resembles both that of certain
semiaquatic snakes and that of some semifossorial snakes.
Other cranial and postcranial features of this snake support
the semifossorial interpretation. While the digital endocast of
the inner ear of Wonambi is too incomplete to be included in
a geometric morphometrics study, its preserved morphology
is very different from that of Yurlunggur and suggests a
more generalist ecology. Osteology, palaeoclimatic data and the
palaeobiogeographic distribution of these two snakes are all
consistent with these inferred ecological differences.Financial support came from the Australian Research Council for funding to M.S.Y.L. and A.P. (grant no. DP
160103005)
Frazzled can act through distinct molecular pathways in epithelial cells to regulate motility, apical constriction, and localisation of E-Cadherin
Get PDFThis is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.Netrin receptors of the DCC/NEO/UNC-40/Frazzled family have well established roles in
cell migration and axon guidance but can also regulate epithelial features such as adhesion,
polarity and adherens junction (AJ) stability. Previously, we have shown that overexpression
of Drosophila Frazzled (Fra) in the peripodial epithelium (PE) inhibits wing disc eversion and
also generates cellular protrusions typical of motile cells. Here, we tested whether the
molecular pathways by which Fra inhibits eversion are distinct from those driving motility.
We show that in disc proper (DP) epithelial cells Fra, in addition to inducing F-Actin rich protrusions,
can affect localization of AJ components and columnar cell shape. We then show
that these phenotypes have different requirements for the three conserved Fra cytoplasmic
P-motifs and for downstream genes. The formation of protrusions required the P3 motif of
Fra, as well as integrins (mys and mew), the Rac pathway (Rac1, wave and, arpc3) and
myosin regulatory light chain (Sqh). In contrast, apico-basal cell shape change, which was
accompanied by increased myosin phosphorylation, was critically dependent upon the P1
motif and was promoted by RhoGef2 but inhibited by Rac1. Fra also caused a loss of AJ proteins
(DE-Cad and Arm) from basolateral regions of epithelial cells. This phenotype required
all 3 P-motifs, and was dependent upon the polarity factor par6. par6 was not required for
protrusions or cell shape change, but was required to block eversion suggesting that control
of AJ components may underlie the ability of Fra to promote epithelial stability. The results
imply that multiple molecular pathways act downstream of Fra in epithelial cells.This work was supported by Australian
Research Council Discovery Project DP120104443
to RS and National Health and Medical Research
Council Australia Project Grant APP1107123 to
MJM. SG was supported by a International
Postgraduate Research Scholarship
Efficacy of melatonin with behavioural sleepwake scheduling for delayed sleep-wake phase disorder: A double-blind, randomised clinical trial
Get PDFThis is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.Background
Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder (DSWPD) is characterised by sleep initiation insomnia when attempting sleep at conventional times and difficulty waking at the required time for daytime commitments. Although there are published therapeutic guidelines for the administration of melatonin for DSWPD, to our knowledge, randomised controlled trials are lacking. This trial tested the efficacy of 0.5 mg melatonin, combined with behavioural sleep-wake scheduling, for improving sleep initiation in clinically diagnosed DSWPD patients with a delayed endogenous melatonin rhythm relative to patient-desired (or -required) bedtime (DBT).
Methods
This randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial was conducted in an Australian outpatient DSWPD population. Following 1-wk baseline, clinically diagnosed DSWPD patients with delayed melatonin rhythm relative to DBT (salivary dim light melatonin onset [DLMO] after or within 30 min before DBT) were randomised to 4-wk treatment with 0.5 mg fast-release melatonin or placebo 1 h before DBT for at least 5 consecutive nights per week. All patients received behavioural sleep-wake scheduling, consisting of bedtime scheduled at DBT. The primary outcome was actigraphic sleep onset time. Secondary outcomes were sleep efficiency in the first third of time in bed (SE T1) on treatment nights, subjective sleep-related daytime impairment (Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System [PROMIS]), PROMIS sleep disturbance, measures of daytime sleepiness, clinician-rated change in illness severity, and DLMO time.
Findings
Between September 13, 2012 and September 1, 2014, 307 participants were registered; 116 were randomised to treatment (intention-to-treat n = 116; n = 62 males; mean age, 29.0 y). Relative to baseline and compared to placebo, sleep onset occurred 34 min earlier (95% confidence interval [CI] −60 to −8) in the melatonin group. SE T1 increased; PROMIS sleep-related impairment, PROMIS sleep disturbance, insomnia severity, and functional disability decreased; and a greater proportion of patients showed more than minimal clinician-rated improvement following melatonin treatment (52.8%) compared to placebo (24.0%) (P < 0.05). The groups did not differ in the number of nights treatment was taken per protocol. Post-treatment DLMO assessed in a subset of patients (n = 43) was not significantly different between groups. Adverse events included light-headedness, daytime sleepiness, and decreased libido, although rates were similar between treatment groups. The clinical benefits or safety of melatonin with long-term treatment were not assessed, and it remains unknown whether the same treatment regime would benefit patients experiencing DSWPD sleep symptomology without a delay in the endogenous melatonin rhythm.
Conclusions
In this study, melatonin treatment 1 h prior to DBT combined with behavioural sleep-wake scheduling was efficacious for improving objective and subjective measures of sleep disturbances and sleep-related impairments in DSWPD patients with delayed circadian phase relative to DBT. Improvements were achieved largely through the sleep-promoting effects of melatonin, combined with behavioural sleep-wake scheduling.The study was funded by a project grant
from the National Health and Medical Research
Council (NHMRC; 1031513) to SMWR, SWL, RRG,
LCL, DJK and research support from the NHMRC
Australasian Sleep Trials Network. Financial
support for recruitment advertising was provided by Philips Respironics. RRG is supported by a
NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship
(1106974)