19683 research outputs found
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A lipidomic based metabolic age score captures cardiometabolic risk independent of chronological age
No full textBackground: Metabolic ageing biomarkers may capture the age-related shifts in metabolism, offering a precise representation of an individual's overall metabolic health. Methods: Utilising comprehensive lipidomic datasets from two large independent population cohorts in Australia (n = 14,833, including 6630 males, 8203 females), we employed different machine learning models, to predict age, and calculated metabolic age scores (mAge). Furthermore, we defined the difference between mAge and age, termed mAgeΔ, which allow us to identify individuals sharing similar age but differing in their metabolic health status. Findings: Upon stratification of the population into quintiles by mAgeΔ, we observed that participants in the top quintile group (Q5) were more likely to have cardiovascular disease (OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.62–2.83), had a 2.01-fold increased risk of 12-year incident cardiovascular events (HR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.45–2.57), and a 1.56-fold increased risk of 17-year all-cause mortality (HR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.34–1.79), relative to the individuals in the bottom quintile group (Q1). Survival analysis further revealed that men in the Q5 group faced the challenge of reaching a median survival rate due to cardiovascular events more than six years earlier and reaching a median survival rate due to all-cause mortality more than four years earlier than men in the Q1 group. Interpretation: Our findings demonstrate that the mAge score captures age-related metabolic changes, predicts health outcomes, and has the potential to identify individuals at increased risk of metabolic diseases. Funding: The specific funding of this article is provided in the acknowledgements section
Where to start when you don't know where to start: Involving the public in fundamental biomedical science research
No full textWe know that involving the public in fundamental biomedical research delivers benefits – including building public trust in science, empowering consumers, and increasing the quality and translatability of research. There’s also growing recognition that the public should play an active role in the decisions that affect their health.However, we also recognise that biomedical research scientists face unique challenges when involving the public. For example, researchers often feel apprehensive and uncertain about how to involve the public and may fear it’s yet another imposition on an already heightened workload. There are also few resources and practical directions available to show how researchers can best do this.The following guide aims to address this gap. It includes practical information and tips for fundamental biomedical researchers who want to develop meaningful partnerships when involving the public.Contents: 1. Challenges of public involvement in fundamental biomedical research2. Benefits of public involvement in fundamental biomedical research3. Involving the public meaningfully in fundamental biomedical research: Key considerations and approaches4. Methods to engage and involve the public in your research5. Case studiesi. Methods case studiesii. Developing potential partnerships case study6. Summary of tips for positive long-term collaboration with the public7. Recommendations8. Resources</p
Education beyond ethnic and religious divides: A critical analysis of Bangladeshi primary and secondary education policies
No full textNo description supplied.</p
Perspectives on the implementation of health informatics curricula frameworks
No full textBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of equipping health professionals with knowledge and skills to effectively use digital technology for healthcare delivery. However, questions persist about the best approach to effectively educate future health professionals for this. A workshop at the 15th Nursing Informatics International Congress explored this issue. Objective: To report findings from an international participatory workshop exploring pre-registration informatics implementation experiences. Methods: A virtual workshop was held using whole and small group interactive methods aiming to 1) showcase international examples of incorporating health informatics into pre-registration education; 2) highlight essential elements and considerations for integrating health informatics into curricula; 3) identify integration models of health informatics; 4) identify core learning objectives, resources, and faculty capabilities for teaching informatics; and 5) propose curriculum evaluation strategies. The facilitators’ recorded data and written notes were content analysed. Results: Fourteen participants represented seven countries and a range of educational experiences. Four themes emerged: 1) Design: scaffolding digital health and technology capabilities; 2) Development: interprofessional experience of and engagement with digital health technology capabilities; 3) implementation strategies; and 4) Evaluation: multifaceted, multi-stakeholder evaluation of curricula. These themes were used to propose an implementation framework. Discussion: Workshop findings emphasise global challenges in integrating health informatics into curricula. While course development approaches may appear linear, the learner-centred implementation framework based on workshop findings, advocates for a more cyclical approach. Iterative evaluation involving stakeholders, such as health services, will ensure that health professional education is progressive and innovative. Conclusions: The proposed implementation framework serves as a roadmap for successful health informatics implementation into health professional curricula. Prioritising engagement with health services and digital health industry is essential to ensure the relevance of implemented informatics curricula for the future workforce, acknowledging the variability in placement experiences and their influence on informatics exposure, experience, and learning.</p
Evidence of heat sensitivity in people with Parkinson’s disease
No full textExamining how heat affects people with Parkinson’s disease is essential for informing clinical decision-making, safety, well-being, and healthcare planning. While there is evidence that the neuropathology associated with Parkinson’s disease affects thermoregulatory mechanisms, little attention has been given to the association of heat sensitivity to worsening symptoms and restricted daily activities in people with this progressive disease. Using a cross-sectional study design, we examined the experiences of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the heat. Two-hundred and forty-seven people completed an online survey (age: 66.0 ± 9.2 years; sex: male = 102 (41.3%), female = 145 (58.7%)), of which 195 (78.9%) reported becoming more sensitive to heat with Parkinson’s disease. Motor and nonmotor symptoms worsened with heat in 182 (73.7%) and 203 (82.2%) respondents, respectively. The most commonly reported symptoms to worsen included walking difficulties, balance impairment, stiffness, tremor, fatigue, sleep disturbances, excess sweating, difficulty concentrating, and light-headedness when standing. Concerningly, over half indicated an inability to work effectively in the heat, and nearly half reported that heat impacted their ability to perform household tasks and social activities. Overall, heat sensitivity was common in people with Parkinson’s disease and had a significant impact on symptomology, day-to-day activities and quality of life
Exercising the imagination: ecofeminist science fictions as object-oriented thought experiments in education
No full textThis essay offers a rationale for deploying ecofeminist science fiction stories as object-oriented thought experiments in science and environmental education, with particular reference to developments in genetics and evolutionary biology, and their implications for human (and more-than-human) reproduction and kinship in the period following the determination of the double helical structure of DNA by scientists affiliated with Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory in 1953, and the impact of subsequent gene-centric discourses on the biological sciences and the wider culture. The utility and defensibility of this approach is exemplified by reference to two science fiction novels by the late Naomi Mitchison that foreground and anticipate implications of genetic sciences for matters of concern to ecofeminists, including reproductive rights and responsibilities, population control, human relations with the more-than-human, and problematizing gendered (and other) binaries in everyday speech and popular culture
Rates of species turnover across elevation vary with vertical stratum in rainforest ant assemblages
No full textClimatic variation at local scales can influence both exposure and sensitivity of organisms and thereby scale up to influence population persistence and community composition across broader geographic extents. Tropical forest canopies are more climatically dynamic than the understorey. Consequently, the niche space of forest canopies has higher overlap in thermal conditions along elevation gradients, which imposes less of a climatic barrier to arboreal species than their ground-dwelling counterparts. We use ant communities of the Australian Wet Tropics to test the prediction that ground communities should have higher rates of species turnover over elevation compared to arboreal communities. We sampled ground and arboreal ants along elevation gradients at a bioregional scale that includes four mountain sub-regions. We assessed community composition at three spatial resolutions (regional, elevation, vertical) and then calculated beta diversity (species turnover) over elevation for ground and arboreal communities using null modelling procedures to compare different sized species pools. Vertical niche affinity was a strong contributor to overall biogeographic patterns; indicated by a strong interaction between vertical niche and elevation in beta diversity models. On average, the ground community exhibited a pronounced elevational distance–decay pattern while the arboreal community showed no pattern. Mean species turnover was 36% higher in ground than arboreal communities. Our findings suggest that the vertical niche has a pronounced effect on biogeographic patterns which has important implications for understanding the role of local scale climate conditions in shaping communities and for potential responses to future climate change
Inelastic analysis of octagonal concrete-filled steel tubular short columns under eccentric loading
No full textOctagonal concrete-filled steel tubular (OCFST) columns combine the benefits of circular and square concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns so that they not only possess higher strength and ductility but also provide the ease of connection to composite beams. However, research studies have been very limited on the performance analysis of OCFST short beam-columns subjected to eccentric loading. In this study, a fiber-based numerical model is developed for the performance simulation of high-strength OCFST short beam-columns under eccentric loading. The simulation model takes into account material nonlinearities and concrete confinement induced by the octagonal steel tube. Computational methods are given that predict the axial load–moment interaction curves and moment–curvature responses of OCFST beam-columns. The developed fiber model is verified against available test data with good accuracy. The influences of important parameters on the responses of high-strength OCFST short beam-columns are studied by means of utilizing the computational model. It is found that the behavior of OCFST beam-columns is significantly influenced by the diameter-to-thickness ratio of the cross-section, concrete strength, steel yield stress, and axial load ratio. Interaction equations are proposed for expressing the axial load–moment strength envelopes of the cross-sections of OCFST beam-columns and validated against numerical results
WeChat Use in Managing Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease: a Sub-study of a Systematic Review on Social Media and the Effects on Health Outcomes
No full textNo description supplied.</p
Publishing during a sociology PhD in Australia: Differences by elite and non-elite universities and gender
No full textWe examined the latest decade of Australian sociology PhD completions for differences in the number and quality of research outputs students published during doctoral enrolment. There was no evidence of a statistically significant difference between Go8 PhD students and their non-Go8 PhD counterparts in terms of either the quantity of research publications achieved, or the quality of these publications as measured by high-impact journals. There was also insufficient evidence statistically to conclude that Go8 men and Go8 women differed from one another, or that non-Go8 men and non-Go8 women differed from one another in overall quantity of outputs and publishing in high-impact journals. However, publishing success of men and women, when combined, regardless of whether they were at elite Go8 or non-Go8 institutions, showed gender had a marginally significant effect on publication productivity, men outperforming women, in both publication counts and in publishing in high-impact journals