19683 research outputs found
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Using transcranial direct current stimulation to improve outcomes and reduce hip osteoarthritis burden (the STIM HIPS study): A protocol for a randomised, triple blind controlled trial
No full textABSTRACT: Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), via an electrical current being sent through the brains motor cortex, can elicit pain reduction and improved function in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA), compared to a sham. However, it is unknown whether tDCS-induced reductions in pain can be expected in hip OA given differences between hip and knee OA phenotypes. Methods: Two-armed (n ¼ 39 per arm), triple-blind, randomised controlled trial, with an 8-week intervention window and 8-week post-intervention follow-up assessing the efficacy of real anodal tDCS plus exercise versus sham tDCS plus exercise. Primary outcome measure is the International Hip Outcome Tool–33 (iHOT-33). Aims: The primary objective of this randomised controlled trial is to quantify the effect of tDCS and exercise on pain, disability and quality of life in people with hip OA. Our secondary objectives include: 1) quantifying the influence of motor cortex excitability and conditioned pain modulation on treatment effects, and 2) quantifying the economic cost/benefit of tDCS for improving health-related quality of life in people with hip OA. Analysis: Data distributions will be examined for each outcome and guide preliminary statistical between group test selections. Repeated mixed effects models will determine between-group differences for the primary outcome (iHOT-33), accounting for relevant confounders (i.e., age; sex; body mass index; radiographic severity) with relevant model assumptions examined. Secondary analysis will determine between-group differences for the other outcomes of interest (cortex excitability and conditioned pain modulation). Implications: This randomised controlled trial investigates a novel intervention to improve pain, function and quality of life in people with hip OA. </p
Multisensory Processing as a Concurrent Contributor to Cognitive and Language Development in School-Aged Children (A Bayesian Approach)
No full textSubmitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Psychology, Counselling and Therapy La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Practice considerations for creating an LGBTIQ-inclusive family violence refuge: Lessons from Rainbow Health Australia's mentoring pilot project
No full textThis guide provides information and inclusive practice guidance for family violence refuges that seek to safely support LGBTIQ people experiencing or at risk from family violence.Like all people, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people deserve to live in a supportive community, and be treated with care and respect. Achieving this will require collaborative and concerted effort to promote choice, bodily autonomy, equality, and celebration of diverse human experiences of sex, gender and sexuality.The Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence called for increased support for LGBTIQ victim-survivors who need to escape family violence and find safe accommodation. To work towards meeting this recommendation, Family Safety Victoria (FSV) funded Rainbow Health Australia to lead the LGBTIQ-inclusive Family Violence Refuge Mentoring Project 2019–2020. In this project Rainbow Health Australia mentored two family violence refuges in LGBTIQ-inclusive practice. This guide, which is for family violence refuges Australia-wide, is a major output of this project.Rainbow Health Australia developed this guide in collaboration with two Victorian family violence refuges (referred to in this guide as ‘Refuge 1’ and ‘Refuge 2’) that were seeking to become LGBTIQ-inclusive. Both refuges were working towards Rainbow Tick accreditation – that is, accreditation using the Rainbow Tick framework to create an LGBTIQ-inclusive service and workplace.Over the course of 12 months, Rainbow Health Australia provided mentoring and tailored training and support to each participating refuge to improve their organisational capacity for inclusion of LGBTIQ clients and staff.This guide comprises: a) the key learnings from this mentoring, training and support process. This includes direct quotes from staff at the participating refuges about their experiences; b) insights on the contextual application of inclusive practice principles in a refuge setting; and c) ‘signposts’ to relevant sections in other key documents that reference LGBTIQ inclusion.</p
Hope for vascular cognitive impairment: Ac-YVAD-cmk as a novel treatment against white matter rarefaction
No full textVascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the second leading cause of dementia with limited treatment options, characterised by cerebral hypoperfusion-induced white matter rarefaction (WMR). Subcortical VCI is the most common form of VCI, but the underlying reasons for region susceptibility remain elusive. Recent studies employing the bilateral cortical artery stenosis (BCAS) method demonstrate that various inflammasomes regulate white matter injury and blood-brain barrier dysfunction but whether caspase-1 inhibition will be beneficial remains unclear. To address this, we performed BCAS on C57/BL6 mice to study the effects of Ac-YVAD-cmk, a caspase-1 inhibitor, on the subcortical and cortical regions. Cerebral blood flow (CBF), WMR, neuroinflammation and the expression of tight junction-related proteins associated with blood-brain barrier integrity were assessed 15 days post BCAS. We observed that Ac-YVAD-cmk restored CBF, attenuated BCAS-induced WMR and restored subcortical myelin expression. Within the subcortical region, BCAS activated the NLRP3/caspase-1/interleukin-1beta axis only within the subcortical region, which was attenuated by Ac-YVAD-cmk. Although we observed that BCAS induced significant increases in VCAM-1 expression in both brain regions that were attenuated with Ac-YVAD-cmk, only ZO-1 and occludin were observed to be significantly altered in the subcortical region. Here we show that caspase-1 may contribute to subcortical regional susceptibility in a mouse model of VCI. In addition, our results support further investigations into the potential of Ac-YVAD-cmk as a novel treatment strategy against subcortical VCI and other conditions exhibiting cerebral hypoperfusion-induced WMR
The dynamics of more-than-human care in depot buprenorphine treatment: A new materialist analysis of Australian patients’ experiences
No full textBACKGROUND: Long-acting injectable depot buprenorphine has become an important treatment option for the management of opioid dependence. However, little is known about patients' experiences of depot buprenorphine and its embodied effects. This qualitative study aims to explore patients' experiences of depot buprenorphine treatment, including how it feels within the body, experiences of dosing cycles across time, and how this form of treatment relies on wider ecologies of care beyond the clinical encounter. METHODS: Participants were recruited from sites in Sydney, regional New South Wales, and Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Thirty participants (16 men, 14 women) participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants had histories of both heroin and prescription opioid consumption, and opioid agonist therapy including daily dosing of buprenorphine and methadone. RESULTS: Our analysis illuminates: (1) how patients' expectations and concerns about treatment are linked to past embodied experiences of withdrawal and uncertainty about the effectiveness of depot buprenorphine; (2) the diverse meanings patients attribute to the depot buprenorphine substrate 'under the skin'; and, (3) how depot buprenorphine is embedded within wider ecologies of care, such as counselling and social supports. CONCLUSION: Our analysis destabilises commonplace assumptions about a linear, causal relationship between the pharmacological action of depot buprenorphine and experiences of treatment. Instead, it highlights patients' variable experiences of depot buprenorphine, tracing the everyday practices, embodied feelings, expectations and wider networks of care that shape patient experiences. We conclude with some reflections on the implications of our analysis for alcohol and other drug treatment, specifically how they might inform the design of client education materials and care
Hausdorff dimension for the set with exponentially growing partial quotients in their Lüroth expansion
No full textNo description supplied.</p
Comprehensive analysis of bio-inspired laminated composites plates using a quasi-3D theory and higher order FE models
No full textA comprehensive study is carried out by employing various finite element models (FEMs) for the bending, buckling stability and free vibration analyses of bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates with various lamination schemes. A higher order quasi-3D kinematic plate theory is developed to include a shear deformation effect. The variational formulation of the problem is exploited to derive the equations of motion, element stiffness, geometrical stiffness, and mass matrices based on a non-conforming rectangular element. Three different finite elements models are derived based on non-conforming elements with different number of nodes and degree of freedom. The developed finite element model has been validated with those found in the open literature. The effects of boundary condition, lamination scheme, orthotropy ratio and aspect ratio on the mechanical response of the bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates are examined. Notably, for the lamination schemes investigated in this study, no shear locking phenomenon was observed in the analyses conducted using these FEMs. Dimensionless centre deflections, critical buckling loads and fundamental frequencies of bio-inspired helicoidal composite plates vary depending on the type of lamination scheme, boundary condition and aspect ratio. The new orientation schemes can replace the traditional ones to overcome the shear singularity and overcome the delamination defects.</p
A trans-diagnostic investigation of attention, hyper-focus, and monotropism in autism, attention dysregulation hyperactivity development, and the general population
No full textThe monotropism hypothesis posits that hyper-focus on interests is core to autistic cognition; moreover, hyper-focus is common in attention dysregulation hyperactivity development (ADHD). However, ADHD is partly defined by susceptibility to distraction, and research has found evidence of attention capture in autism. We investigated hyper-focus in autism and ADHD, its relationship to inattention, and whether it is related to quality of life, hypervigilance, negative repetitive thinking, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. 492 adults (122 ADHD-only, 130 autistic-only, 141 autistic + ADHD, and 99 comparison) completed questionnaires indexing hyper-focus in multiple domains, inattention, and the valence of their hyper-focus experiences. Hyper-focus and inattention were elevated in all neurodivergent groups, and were positively correlated, implying that atypical regulation of attention, sometimes manifesting in hyper-focus and sometimes in inattention, is a trans-diagnostic phenomenon. Hyper-focus predicted poorer global quality of life, more hypervigilance, more negative repetitive thinking, and more symptoms of anxiety and depression; however, positive experiences of hyper-focus mediated an indirect relationship between hyper-focus and greater quality of life, partially attenuating the overall negative association. Indeed, neurodivergent participants not only reported more negative experiences of hyper-focus than controls, but also more positive experiences. Further studies could explore contextual factors influencing whether hyper-focus has positive or negative impacts on daily life
Adolescent athletes have better general than sports nutrition knowledge and lack awareness of supplement recommendations: A Systematic Literature Review
No full textAthletes nutrition choices influence sporting performance and recovery postexercise. Carefully timed pre-, during, and post-training foods and fluids ensure adequate energy availability during exercise and training, aid glycogen re-synthesis post-exercise, and maximise training adaptations 1, 2. The nutritional choices of adolescent athletes are of heightened significance as they face a period of rapid growth and development, during which nutrient intake may influence neurodevelopment, bone mineral density, and the risk of chronic illnesses 3, 4. Adhering to population-based dietary guidelines and sport-specific dietary recommendations can provide long-term health benefits and athletic advantages 1, 5, 6. Despite the benefits of following dietary recommendations, a study of Australian adolescent rugby players found that players were consuming inadequate vegetable serves, excessive energy was derived from discretionary choices (foods typically high in saturated fat/sodium and/or low in fibre and micronutrients), and carbohydrate intake was insufficient when compared to the Sports Dietitians Australia recommendations7. Similarly, low to moderate adherence to recommended dietary guidelines has been observed in adolescent Spanish beach handball players8, adolescent Cypriot swimmers9, and adolescent Brazilian volleyball players10. Considering the implications of non-adherence to both population-based and sport-specific dietary recommendations for short- and long-term health and athletic performance, it is pertinent to investigate the factors influencing adolescent athletes food choices
Hepatitis C virus reinfection incidence among gay and bisexual men with HIV in Australia from 2016 to 2020
No full textBackground: There is some concern that hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection might impact HCV micro-elimination efforts among gay and bisexual men (GBM) with HIV. However, there is a limited understanding of reinfection incidence in the context of unrestricted government-funded HCV treatment. We aimed to estimate HCV reinfection incidence among GBM with HIV in Australia from 2016 to 2020. Methods: Data were from 39 clinics participating in ACCESS, a sentinel surveillance network for blood borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections across Australia. GBM with HIV who had evidence of treatment or spontaneous clearance with at least one positive HCV RNA test, a subsequent negative HCV RNA test, and at least one additional HCV RNA test between 1st January 2016 and 31st December 2020 were eligible for inclusion. A new HCV RNA positive test and/or detectable viral load was defined as a reinfection. Generalised linear modelling was used to examine trends in reinfection. Results: Among 12 213 GBM with HIV who had at least one HCV test, 540 were included in the reinfection incidence analysis, of whom 38 (7%) had evidence of reinfection during the observation period. Over 1124 person-years of follow-up, the overall rate of reinfection was 3.4/100PY (95% CI 2.5–4.6). HCV reinfection incidence declined on average 30% per calendar year (Incidence Rate Ratio 0.70, 95% CI 0.54–0.91). Conclusion: HCV reinfection incidence has declined among GBM with HIV in Australia since government-funded unrestricted DAAs were made available. Ongoing HCV RNA testing following cure and prompt treatment for anyone newly diagnosed is warranted to sustain this