Agar, M, Draper, B, Phillips, PA, Phillips, J, Collier, A, Harlum, J & Currow, D 2012, 'Making decisions about delirium: A qualitative comparison of decision making between nurses working in palliative care, aged care, aged care psychiatry, and oncology', PALLIATIVE MEDICINE, vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 887-896.
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Background: Delirium has a significant impact on nursing practice from diagnosis and management, with under-detection and variable management of delirium being international problems. This study aimed to explore nurses' assessment and management of delirium when caring for people with cancer, the elderly or older people requiring psychiatric care in the inpatient setting. Methods: Participants in this qualitative study were nurses working in Australian public hospital inpatient dedicated units in palliative care, aged care (geriatrics), aged care (geriatric) psychiatry and oncology. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore nurses' views about specific areas of delirium assessment and management. Purposive sampling was used and interviews conducted until thematic saturation reached. A thematic content analysis was performed from a grounded theory perspective. Results: A total of 40 participants were included in the study. The analysis revealed four broad analytical themes: (1) superficial recognition and understanding of the operational definition of delirium or recognition of delirium as a syndrome; (2) nursing assessment: investigative versus a problem solving approach; (3) management: maintaining dignity and minimizing chaos; and (4) distress and the effect on others. Discussion: Nurses have limited knowledge of the features of delirium regardless of their specialty discipline. Delirium was uniformly identified as a highly distressing experience for patients, families and staff alike. The majority of nurses had a superficial understanding of delirium management, and adopted a task-orientated approach aimed at addressing the more noticeable problems. These findings have implications for both education and knowledge translation. Innovative approaches are needed to align health professional behaviours with best evidence delirium care.
Allen, JC, Seidel, P, Schlosser, T, Ramsay, EE, Ge, Q & Ammit, AJ 2012, 'Cyclin D1 in ASM Cells from Asthmatics Is Insensitive to Corticosteroid Inhibition', Journal of Allergy, vol. 2012, pp. 1-6.
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Hyperplasia of airway smooth muscle (ASM) is a feature of the remodelled airway in asthmatics. We examined the antiproliferative effectiveness of the corticosteroid dexamethasone on expression of the key regulator of G1 cell cycle progression—cyclin D1—in ASM cells from nonasthmatics and asthmatics stimulated with the mitogen platelet-derived growth factor BB. While cyclin D1 mRNA and protein expression were repressed in cells from nonasthmatics in contrast, cyclin D1 expression in asthmatics was resistant to inhibition by dexamethasone. This was independent of a repressive effect on glucocorticoid receptor translocation. Our results corroborate evidence demonstrating that corticosteroids inhibit mitogen-induced proliferation only in ASM cells from subjects without asthma and suggest that there are corticosteroid-insensitive proliferative pathways in asthmatics.
Alrashdan, YA, Alkhouri, H, Chen, E, Lalor, DJ, Poniris, M, Henness, S, Brightling, CE, Burgess, JK, Armour, CL, Ammit, AJ & Margaret Hughes, J 2012, 'Asthmatic airway smooth muscle CXCL10 production: mitogen-activated protein kinase JNK involvement', American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, vol. 302, no. 10, pp. L1118-L1127.
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CXCL10 (IP10) is involved in mast cell migration to airway smooth muscle (ASM) bundles in asthma. We aimed to investigate the role of cytokine-induced MAPK activation in CXCL10 production by ASM cells from people with and without asthma. Confluent growth-arrested ASM cells were treated with inhibitors of the MAPKs ERK, p38, and JNK and transcription factor NF-κB, or vehicle, and stimulated with IL-1β, TNF-α, or IFN-γ, alone or combined (cytomix). CXCL10 mRNA and protein, JNK, NF-κB p65 phosphorylation, and Iκ-Bα protein degradation were assessed using real-time PCR, ELISA, and immunoblotting, respectively. Cytomix, IL-1β, and TNF-α induced CXCL10 mRNA expression more rapidly in asthmatic than nonasthmatic ASM cells. IL-1β and/or TNF-α combined with IFN-γ synergistically increased asthmatic ASM cell CXCL10 release. Inhibitor effects were similar in asthmatic and nonasthmatic cells, but cytomix-induced release was least affected, with only JNK and NF-κB inhibitors halving it. Notably, JNK phosphorylation was markedly less in asthmatic compared with nonasthmatic cells. However, in both, the JNK inhibitor SP600125 reduced JNK phosphorylation and CXCL10 mRNA levels but did not affect CXCL10 mRNA stability or Iκ-Bα degradation. Together, the JNK and NF-κB inhibitors completely inhibited their CXCL10 release. We concluded that, in asthmatic compared with nonasthmatic ASM cells, JNK activation was reduced and CXCL10 gene expression was more rapid following cytomix stimulation. However, in both, JNK activation did not regulate early events leading to NF-κB activation. Thus JNK and NF-κB provide independent therapeutic targets for limiting CXCL10 production and mast cell migration to the ASM in asthma.
Arsene, CTC, Gabrys, B & Al-Dabass, D 2012, 'Decision support system for water distribution systems based on neural networks and graphs theory for leakage detection', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 39, no. 18, pp. 13214-13224.
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Bachman, JR 2012, 'Music Festivals and Regional Development in Australia', Event Management, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 267-268.
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The article sets a context of the United Nations (2006) Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as an international agreement that in principle guarantees people with disability an equality of experience in all areas of citizenship including the event industry. The remainder of the article provides an understanding of the demographics of the group, the research literature in event specific journals, market arguments examples, and an overview of disability-specific events that the industry may not have previously considered. The article concludes with a call for the events industry to develop a culture of inclusive practice and for academic event researchers to place disability, access, and inclusion on the research agenda. © 2012 Cognizant Comm. Corp.
Baraket, M, Oliver, BGG, Burgess, JK, Lim, S, King, GG & Black, JL 2012, 'Is low dose inhaled corticosteroid therapy as effective for inflammation and remodeling in asthma? A randomized, parallel group study', Respiratory Research, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 11-11.
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Background: While most of the clinical benefits of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy may occur at low doses, results of dose-ranging studies are inconsistent. Although symptom/lung function response to low and high dose ICS medication is comparable, it is uncertain whether low dose ICSs are as effective as high dose in the treatment of inflammation and remodeling.Methods: 22 mild or moderate asthmatic adult subjects (corticosteroid free for > 2 months) participated in a randomized, parallel group study to compare effects of fluticasone propionate (FP) 200 mcg/day and 1000 mcg/day. Alveolar macrophage (AM)-derived cytokines and basement membrane thickness (BMT) were measured at baseline and after 7 weeks treatment while symptoms, spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to mannitol at baseline and 6 weeks.Results: FP improved spirometry, eNO, symptoms and AHR with no difference between low and high dose FP. Both high and low dose FP reduced GM-CSF, TNF-alpha and IL-1ra, with no change in BMT and with no differences between low and high dose FP.Conclusions: 200 μg/day of FP was as effective as 1000 μg/day in improving asthma control, airway inflammation, lung function and AHR in adults in the short term. Future studies should examine potential differential effects between low and high dose combination therapy (ICS/long acting beta agonist) on inflammation and airway remodeling over longer treatment periods. © 2012 Baraket et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Beck, D, Brandl, MB, Boelen, L, Unnikrishnan, A, Pimanda, JE & Wong, JWH 2012, 'Signal analysis for genome-wide maps of histone modifications measured by ChIP-seq', Bioinformatics, vol. 28, no. 8, pp. 1062-1069.
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Abstract Motivation: Chromatin structure, including post-translational modifications of histones, regulates gene expression, alternative splicing and cell identity. ChIP-seq is an increasingly used assay to study chromatin function. However, tools for downstream bioinformatics analysis are limited and are only based on the evaluation of signal intensities. We reasoned that new methods taking into account other signal characteristics such as peak shape, location and frequencies might reveal new insights into chromatin function, particularly in situation where differences in read intensities are subtle. Results: We introduced an analysis pipeline, based on linear predictive coding (LPC), which allows the capture and comparison of ChIP-seq histone profiles. First, we show that the modeled signal profiles distinguish differentially expressed genes with comparable accuracy to signal intensities. The method was robust against parameter variations and performed well up to a signal-to-noise ratio of 0.55. Additionally, we show that LPC profiles of activating and repressive histone marks cluster into distinct groups and can be used to predict their function. Availability and implementation: http://www.cancerresearch.unsw.edu.au/crcweb.nsf/page/LPCHP A Matlab implementation along with usage instructions and an example input file are available from: http://www.cancerresearch.unsw.edu.au/crcweb.nsf/page/LPCHP Contact: d.beck@student.unsw.edu.au; jpimanda@unsw.edu.au; jason.wong@unsw.edu.au Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Bernardo, DV & Hoang, DB 2012, 'Multi-layer security analysis and experimentation of high speed protocol data transfer for GRID', International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, vol. 3, no. 2/3, pp. 81-81.
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GRID computing infrastructures and applications coordinate uncontrolled and decentralised resources; using new fast data transfer protocols deliver and provide high data transmission that can meet high performance computing requirements of users, institutions, and industries. For such environments standard transport protocols such as TCP and UDP are not always sufficient given their fixed set of properties and limited flexibility. Today, TCP protocol variants have demonstrated better performance in either GRID simulations or WAN and in some limited network experiments. However, practical use in real applications of these protocols is still very limited because of the implementation and installation difficulties. On the other hand, users who need to transfer bulk data (e.g., in grid/cloud computing) usually turn to application level solutions where these variants do not fair well. Among protocols considered in the application level solutions are UDP-based protocols, such as UDT (UDP-based Data Transport Protocol).UDT is considered one of the most recently developed new transport protocols with congestion control algorithms. It was developed to support next generation high-speed networks, GRID, and including wide area optical networks. We surveyed and conducted experiments on existing mechanisms to determine their viability to secure UDT. The results of the experiments provide important dimensions to our aim of developing a comprehensive security architecture for UDT in the future.
Borger, P, Oliver, B, Heijink, I & Hardavella, G 2012, 'Beyond the Immune System: The Role of Resident Cells in Asthma and COPD', Journal of Allergy, vol. 2012, pp. 1-3.
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Bosse, Y 2012, 'Comments on Point:Counterpoint: Alterations in airway smooth muscle phenotype do/do not cause airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma', Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 113, no. 5, pp. 844-846.
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Brink, MS, Visscher, C, Coutts, AJ & Lemmink, KAPM 2012, 'Changes in perceived stress and recovery in overreached young elite soccer players', SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE & SCIENCE IN SPORTS, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 285-292.
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The aim of this study was to prospectively monitor sport-specific performance and assess the stressrecovery balance in overreached (OR) soccer players and controls. During two competitive seasons, 94 players participated in the study. The stressrecovery balance (RESTQ-Sport) and sport-specific performance (Interval Shuttle Run Test) were assessed monthly. Seven players with performance decrement of at least a month were classified as OR. Stress and recovery measures were assessed between groups (OR vs healthy players) and at different times within the OR group. An unfavorable total recovery score appeared 2 months before diagnosis when compared with the reference values of the healthy group established at the start of the season (P=0.009) and also over the two seasons (P=0.028). The scales Emotional Stress (P=0.044), Physical Recovery (P=0.009), General Well-being (P=0.001) and Sleep Quality (P=0.045) were sensitive to OR compared with the average of the healthy group over the two seasons. Finally, Fatigue and Being in Shape demonstrated the largest changes in stress and recovery within the OR players (effect size=1.14 and 1.50). The longitudinal monitoring of performance and changes in stress and recovery may be useful for the detection of OR in its earliest stage. The information obtained from these tests can be used to optimize individual training and recovery programs.
Brown, R, Kabani, K, Favaloro, J, Yang, S, Ho, PJ, Gibson, J, Fromm, P, Suen, H, Woodland, N, Nassif, N, Hart, D & Joshua, D 2012, 'CD86(+) or HLA-G(+) can be transferred via trogocytosis from myeloma cells to T cells and are associated with poor prognosis', BLOOD, vol. 120, no. 10, pp. 2055-2063.
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The transfer of membrane proteins between cells during contact, known as trogocytosis, can create novel cells with a unique phenotype and altered function. We demonstrate that trogocytosis is more common in multiple myeloma (MM) than chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia; that T cells are more probable to be recipients than B or natural killer cells; that trogocytosis occurs independently of either the T-cell receptor or HLA compatibility; and that after trogocytosis, T cells with acquired antigens can become novel regulators of T-cell proliferation. We screened 168 patients with MM and found that CD86 and human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) were antigens commonly acquired by T cells from malignant plasma cells. CD3 +CD86acq+ and CD3+ HLA-Gacq+ cells were more prevalent in bone marrow than peripheral blood samples. The presence of either CD86 or HLA-G on malignant plasma cells was associated with a poor prognosis. CD38++ side population cells expressed HLA-G, suggesting that these putative myeloma stem cells could generate immune tolerance. HLA-G+ T cells had a regulatory potency similar to natural Tregs, thus providing another novel mechanism for MM to avoid effective immune surveillance. © 2012 by The American Society of Hematology.
Chan, KY, Yiu, CKF, Dillon, TS, Nordholm, S & Ling, SH 2012, 'Enhancement of Speech Recognitions for Control Automation Using an Intelligent Particle Swarm Optimization', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 869-879.
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For over two decades, speech control mechanisms have been widely applied in manufacturing systems such as factory automation, warehouse automation, and industrial robotic control for over two decades. To implement speech controls, a commercial speech recognizer is used as the interface between users and the automation system. However, users commands are often contaminated by environmental noise which degrades the performance of speech recognition for controlling automation systems. This paper presents a multichannel signal enhancement methodology to improve the performance of commercial speech recognizers. The proposed methodology aims to optimize speech recognition accuracy of a commercial speech recognizer in a noisy environment based on a beamformer, which is developed by an intelligent particle swarm optimization. It overcomes the limitation of the existing signal enhancement approaches whereby the parameters inside commercial speech recognizers are required to be tuned, which is impossible in a real-world situation. Also, it overcomes the limitation of the existing optimization algorithm including gradient descent methods, genetic algorithms and classical particle swarm optimization that are unlikely to develop optimal beamformers for maximizing speech recognition accuracy. The performance of the proposed methodology was evaluated by developing beamformers for a commercial speech recognizer, which was implemented on warehouse automation. Results indicate a signi?cant improvement regarding speech recognition accuracy
Chan, MY, Nguyen, ND, Center, JR, Eisman, JA & Nguyen, TV 2012, 'Absolute Fracture-Risk Prediction by a Combination of Calcaneal Quantitative Ultrasound and Bone Mineral Density', Calcified Tissue International, vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 128-136.
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Abstract Quantitative ultrasound measurement (QUS) and bone mineral density (BMD) have each been shown to predict fracture risk in women. The present study examined whether a combination of QUS and BMD could improve the predictive accuracy of fracture risk. This is a population- based prospective study which involved 454 women and 445 men aged 6289 years. Femoral neck BMD (FNBMD) was measured by DXA and calcaneal QUS was measured as broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) by a CUBA sonometer. Fragility fracture was ascertained by X-ray reports during the follow-up period, which took place between mid-1989 and 2009. During the follow-up period (median 13 years, range 1115), 75 men and 154 women sustained a fragility fracture. In women, the model with FNBMD and BUA had a higher AUC compared to that without BUA (0.73 vs. 0.71 for any fracture, 0.81 vs. 0.77 for hip fracture, and 0.72 vs. 0.70 for vertebral fracture). Reclassification analysis yielded a total net reclassification improvement of 7.3%, 11.1%, and 5.2% for any, hip, and vertebral fractures, respectively. For men, the addition of BUA to FNBMD did not improve the predictive power for any, hip, or vertebral fracture. These results suggest that calcaneal QUS is an independent predictor of fracture risk and that a combination of QUS and BMD measurement could improve the predictive accuracy of fracture risk in elderly women.
Chan, SW, Dunlop, RA, Rowe, A, Double, KL & Rodgers, KJ 2012, 'L-DOPA is incorporated into brain proteins of patients treated for Parkinson's disease, inducing toxicity in human neuroblastoma cells in vitro', EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY, vol. 238, no. 1, pp. 29-37.
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Levodopa (l-dopa), a close structural analogue of the protein amino acid l-tyrosine, can substitute for l-tyrosine in protein synthesis and be mistakenly incorporated into newly synthesised proteins in vitro. We show that l- dopa-containing proteins are present in the brain in l-DOPA-treated Parkinson's disease patients and accumulate in specific brain regions. In vitro studies demonstrate that substitution of l-tyrosine residues in proteins with l-DOPA causes protein misfolding and promotes protein aggregation in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells resulting in the appearance of autofluorescent bodies. We show that the presence of l-DOPA-containing proteins causes profound changes in mitochondria and stimulates the formation of autophagic vacuoles in cells. Unlike l-DOPA, which is toxic to cells through its ability to generate radicals, proteins containing incorporated l-DOPA are toxic to SH-SY5Y cells by a mechanism independent of oxidative stress and resistant to antioxidants. These data suggest that the accumulation of l-DOPA-containing proteins in vulnerable cells might negatively impact on cell function. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.
Che, W, Manetsch, M, Quante, T, Rahman, MM, Patel, BS, Ge, Q & Ammit, AJ 2012, 'Sphingosine 1-phosphate induces MKP-1 expression via p38 MAPK- and CREB-mediated pathways in airway smooth muscle cells', Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research, vol. 1823, no. 10, pp. 1658-1665.
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Chen, H, Saad, S, Sandow, SL & Bertrand, PP 2012, 'Cigarette Smoking and Brain Regulation of Energy Homeostasis', Frontiers in Pharmacology, vol. 3, no. 147, pp. 1-8.
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Cigarette smoking is an addictive behavior, and is the primary cause of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, and cancer (among other diseases). Cigarette smoke contains thousands of components that may affect caloric intake and energy expenditure, although nicotine is the major addictive substance present, and has the best described actions. Nicotine exposure from cigarette smoke can change brain feeding regulation to reduce appetite via both energy homeostatic and reward mechanisms, causing a negative energy state which is characterized by reduced energy intake and increased energy expenditure that are linked to low body weight. These findings have led to the public perception that smoking is associated with weight loss. However, its effects at reducing abdominal fat mass (a predisposing factor for glucose intolerance and insulin resistance) are marginal, and its promotion of lean body mass loss in animal studies suggests a limited potential for treatment in obesity. Smoking during pregnancy puts pressure on the mother's metabolic system and is a significant contributor to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Smoking is a predictor of future risk for respiratory dysfunction, social behavioral problems, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and type-2 diabetes. Catch-up growth is normally observed in children exposed to intrauterine smoke, which has been linked to subsequent childhood obesity. Nicotine can have a profound impact on the developing fetal brain, via its ability to rapidly and fully pass the placenta. In animal studies this has been linked with abnormal hypothalamic gene expression of appetite regulators such as downregulation of NPY and POMC in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Maternal smoking or nicotine replacement leads to unhealthy eating habits (such as junk food addiction) and other behavioral disorders in the offspring.
Chen, H, Simar, D, Ting, JHY, Erkelens, JRS & Morris, MJ 2012, 'Leucine Improves Glucose and Lipid Status in Offspring from Obese Dams, Dependent on Diet Type, but not Caloric Intake', Journal of Neuroendocrinology, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 1356-1364.
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Previously, we showed that offspring from obese rat dams were hyperphagic, with increased adiposity, hyperlipidaemia and glucose intolerance associated with increased orexigenic neuropeptide expression after fasting. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) can inhibit food intake through a hypothalamic action. As we previously showed that maternal obesity down‐regulated hypothalamic mTOR, in the present study, we hypothesised that dietary leucine supplementation would activate hypothalamic mTOR to reduce food intake, thus limiting metabolic disorders in offspring from obese dams, regardless of postweaning diet. Obesity was induced in Sprague–Dawley females by high‐fat diet (HFD) for 5 weeks before mating, throughout gestation and lactation. Male pups from HFD‐fed mothers were weaned onto chow or HFD; within each dietary group, half were supplied with leucine via drinking water (1.5%) versus water control for 10 weeks. Those from chow‐fed mothers were fed chow and water. Maternal obesity led to increased adiposity in chow‐fed offspring. Postweaning HFD consumption exaggerated adiposity, hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinaemia and hyperlipidaemia. Supplementation with leucine doubled leucine intake and increased hypothalamic mTOR activation; however, appetite regulation was not affected. A reduction in blood lipid levels was observed in offspring regardless of diet, as well as improved glucose tolerance in HFD‐fed rats. In HFD‐fed rats, up‐regulated carnitine palmitoyl‐transferase‐1 and peroxisome‐proliferator‐activated receptor‐γ coactivator‐1α in muscle and glucose transporter 4 in fat suggested that leucine improved peripheral fat oxidation and glucose transport. Leucine is able to improve peripheral glucose and lipid metabolism independent of appetite and weight regulation, suggesting its potential application in the management of metabolic disorders.
Chen, P, Wong, L & Li, J 2012, 'Detection of Outlier Residues for Improving Interface Prediction in Protein Heterocomplexes', IEEE-ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 1155-1165.
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Sequence-based understanding and identification of protein binding interfaces is a challenging research topic due to the complexity in protein systems and the imbalanced distribution between interface and noninterface residues. This paper presents an out
Choi, AH, Matinlinna, JP & Ben-Nissan, B 2012, 'Finite element stress analysis of Ti-6Al-4V and partially stabilized zirconia dental implant during clenching', Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 353-361.
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Objective. The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences in stress between Ti-6Al-4V and PS-ZrO2 dental implant during clenching and whether these changes are clinically signi?cant to limit the use of zirconia in oral implantology. Materials and methods. The model geometry was derived from position measurements taken from 28 diamond blade cut cross-sections of an average size human adult edentulous mandible and generated using a special sequencing method. Data on anatomical, structural, functional aspects and material properties were obtained from measurements and published data. Ti- 6Al-4V and PS-ZrO2 dental implants were modelled as cylindrical structure with a diameter of 3.26 mm and length of 12.00 mm was placed in the ?rst molar region on the right hemimandible. Results. The analysis revealed an increase of 23% in the averaged tensile and compressive stress and an increase of 8% in the averaged Von Mises stress were recorded in the boneimplant interface when PS-ZrO2 dental implant was used instead of Ti-6Al-4V dental implant. The results also revealed only relatively low levels of stresses were transferred from the implant to the surrounding cortical and cancellous bone, with the majority of the stresses transferred to the cortical bone. Conclusion. Even though high magnitudes of tensile, compressive and Von Mises stresses were recorded on the Ti-6Al-4V and PS-ZrO2 dental implants and in the surrounding osseous structures, the stresses may not be clinically critical since the mechanical properties of the implant material and the cortical and cancellous bone could withstand stress magnitudes far greater than those recorded in this analysis.
Chou, J, Austin, C, Doble, P, Ben-Nissan, B & Milthorpe, B 2012, 'Trace elemental imaging of coralline hydroxyapatite by laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy', Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. n/a-n/a.
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Craig, A, Tran, Y, Wijesuriya, N & Nguyen, H 2012, 'Regional brain wave activity changes associated with fatigue', Psychophysiology, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 574-582.
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AbstractAssessing brain wave activity is a viable strategy for monitoring fatigue when performing tasks such as driving, and numerous studies have been conducted in this area. However, results of a systematic review on changes in brain wave activity associated with fatigue have revealed equivocal findings. This study investigated brain wave activity associated with fatigue in 48 nonprofessional healthy drivers as they participated in a simulated driving task until they fatigued. The results showed that as a person fatigues, slow wave activity increased over the entire cortex, in theta and in alpha 1 and 2 bands, while no significant changes were found in delta wave activity. Substantial increases also occurred in fast wave activity, though mostly in frontal sites. The results suggest that as a person fatigues, the brain loses capacity and slows its activity, and that attempts to maintain vigilance levels lead to increased beta activity.
Darcy, S 2012, '(Dis)Embodied Air Travel Experiences: Disability, Discrimination and the Affect of a Discontinuous Air Travel Chain', Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 91-101.
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This article presents an investigation of the embodied air travel experiences of people with disability. The study was informed by human rights frameworks, social approaches to disability and critical tourism. The research design included a review of newspaper articles, human rights complaint cases, open-ended responses to a survey on the tourism experiences of people with disabilities and semistructured in-depth interviews. The findings revealed that the air travel practices routinely contravened disability discrimination legislation and identified a series of socially constructed constraints across the air travel chain from the preplanning of trips through to disembarking after a flight. What emerged from these experiences was that the embodied individuals became (dis)embodied at each stage of the air travel chain. The inequitable, inaccessible, undignified and dependent practices resulted in heightened anxiety, increased helplessness and, in some cases, humiliation to which they were not subjected in their everyday lives. © The Authors 2012.
Deprez, D, Vaeyens, R, Coutts, AJ, Lenoir, M & Philippaerts, R 2012, 'Relative Age Effect and Yo-Yo IR1 in Youth Soccer', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE, vol. 33, no. 12, pp. 987-993.
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The aims of the study were to investigate the presence of a relative age effect and the influence of birth quarter on anthropometric characteristics, an estimation of biological maturity and performance in the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test level 1 in 606 elite, Flemish youth soccer players. The sample was divided into 5 chronological age groups (U10-U19), each subdivided into 4 birth quarters. Players had their APHV estimated and height, weight and Yo-Yo IR1 performance were assessed. Differences between quarters were investigated using uni- and multivariate analyses. Overall, significantly (P<0.001) more players were born in the first quarter (37.6%) compared to the last (13.2%). Further, no significant differences in anthropometric variables and Yo-Yo IR1 performance were found between the 4 birth quarters. However, there was a trend for players born in the first quarter being taller and heavier than players born in the fourth quarter. Players born in the last quarter tended to experience their peak in growth earlier, this may have enabled them to compete physically with their relatively older peers. Our results indicated selection procedures which are focused on the formation of strong physical and physiological homogeneous groups. Relative age and individual biological maturation should be considered when selecting adolescent soccer players. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart . New York.
Disler, RT, Currow, DC, Phillips, JL, Smith, T, Johnson, MJ & Davidson, PM 2012, 'Interventions to support a palliative care approach in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: An integrative review', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING STUDIES, vol. 49, no. 11, pp. 1443-1458.
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Background: End-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a debilitating, life-limiting condition. A palliative approach is appropriate for individuals with end-stage COPD, yet currently few interventions embrace this holistic, multidisciplinary and inclusive perspective. Objective: To describe interventions to support a palliative care approach in patients with end-stage COPD. Design: Integrative review. Data sources and review method: Peer reviewed articles meeting the search criteria were accessed from Medline, PsychINFO, CINAHL and Google Scholar databases as well as Caresearch online resource. The domains of quality palliative care developed by Steinhauser were used as the conceptual framework to synthesise information. Results: This review has shown that a range of palliative interventions are used to address the needs of individuals with end-stage COPD. Although evidence exists for discrete elements of palliative management in this patient group, there is limited evidence for health service coordination and models that integrate the multiple domains of palliative care with active management. Conclusion: Further investigation is required to address the complex personal, provider and system elements associated with managing end-stage COPD. A comprehensive and collaborative approach is required to address the complex and varied needs of individuals with end-stage COPD and their families. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Duffield, R, McCall, A, Coutts, AJ & Peiffer, JJ 2012, 'Hydration, sweat and thermoregulatory responses to professional football training in the heat', JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCES, vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 957-965.
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This study examined the relationship between intensity of training and changes in hydration status, core temperature, sweat rate and composition and fluid balance in professional football players training in the heat. Thirteen professional football playe
Eager, DM & Little, H 2012, 'A new Standard for children's space nets', Journal Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia, vol. April/May, pp. 20-22.
Eastwood, M & Gabrys, B 2012, 'Generalised bottom-up pruning: A model level combination of decision trees', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 9150-9158.
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Edwards, M, Onyx, J, Maxwell, H & Darcy, S 2012, 'Meso level Social Impact: Meaningful Indicators of Community Contribution', Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 18-37.
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Social impact measures are not widely agreed, nor implemented by third sector organisations. Meso level indicators of social impact are underdeveloped. Financialised methods such as Social Return on Investment can only account for direct outcomes of defined programs and activities. The broader societal impacts of any such activities are undervalued. This paper outlines the findings of a grounded theoretical approach to determining measures of social impact within a large Australian iconic third sector organisation. Several key factors revealed in this study are discussed in regards to their potential for attributing social impact to organisational activities outside of a program specific outcome. Based on these findings the paper concludes that the development of a tool to measure meso level organisational social impact of third sector organisations may be attainable.
Ellis, J, Goodswen, S, Kennedy, PJ & Bush, S 2012, 'The Core Mouse Response to Infection by Neospora Caninum Defined by Gene Set Enrichment Analyses', Bioinformatics and Biology Insights, vol. 6, pp. BBI.S9954-BBI.S9954.
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In this study, the BALB/c and Qs mouse responses to infection by the parasite Neospora caninum were investigated in order to identify host response mechanisms. Investigation was done using gene set (enrichment) analyses of microarray data. GSEA, MANOVA, Romer, subGSE and SAM-GS were used to study the contrasts Neospora strain type, Mouse type (BALB/c and Qs) and time post infection (6 hours post infection and 10 days post infection). The analyses show that the major signal in the core mouse response to infection is from time post infection and can be defined by gene ontology terms Protein Kinase Activity, Cell Proliferation and Transcription Initiation. Several terms linked to signaling, morphogenesis, response and fat metabolism were also identified. At 10 days post infection, genes associated with fatty acid metabolism were identified as up regulated in expression. The value of gene set (enrichment) analyses in the analysis of microarray data is discussed.
Ellison, P, Tipper, JL, Jennings, LM & Fisher, J 2012, 'Biological activity of polyethylene wear debris produced in the patellofemoral joint', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, vol. 226, no. 5, pp. 377-383.
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Polyethylene wear is considered a threat to the long term survival of total knee replacements. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution that resurfacing the patella makes to wear debris-induced osteolysis following total knee replacement. Ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles were isolated from simulator lubricant. Particle shape, size, and volume distributions were recorded allowing the osteolytic potential of the wear debris produced in the patellofemoral joint to be estimated using the concept of specific biological activity and functional biological activity. Values were compared with those reported for the tibiofemoral joint. Specific biological activity for the patellofemoral joint was not significantly different from the values for the tibiofemoral joint of total knee replacement devices, and therefore, has a similar potential to stimulate osteolytic cytokine release from macrophages. Functional biological activity was significantly lower for the patellofemoral joint compared with the tibiofemoral joint. Functional biological activity was significantly lower for the patellofemoral joint compared with the fixed bearing and rotating platform total knee replacement devices. However, as patellar resurfacing is commonly fitted as part of a total knee replacement system, this results in a 20% increase in overall functional biological activity for the system. Therefore, implanting a patellar resurfacing will increase the potential for osteolysis in the knee.
Engels, B, Jannot, G, Remenyi, J, Simard, MJ & Hutvagner, G 2012, 'Polypyrimidine Tract Binding Protein (hnRNP I) Is Possibly a Conserved Modulator of miRNA-Mediated Gene Regulation', PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. e33144-e33144.
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MiRNAs can regulate gene expression through versatile mechanisms that result in increased or decreased expression of the targeted mRNA and it could effect the expression of thousands of protein in a particular cell. An increasing body of evidence suggest that miRNAs action can be modulated by proteins that bind to the same 3′UTRs that are targeted by miRNAs, suggesting that other factors apart from miRNAs and their target sites determine miRNA-modulation of gene expression. We applied an affinity purification protocol using biotinylated let-7 miRNA inhibitor to isolate proteins that are involved in let-7 mediated gene regulation that resulted in an affinity purification of Polypyrimidine Tract Binding protein (PTB). Here we show that PTB interacts with miRNAs and human Argonaute 2 (hAgo2) through RNA as well as identified potential mammalian cellular targets that are co-regulated by PTB and hAgo2. In addition, using genetic approach, we have demonstrated that PTB genetically interacts with Caenorhabditis elegans let-7 indicating a conserved role for PTB in miRNA-mediated gene regulation. © 2012 Engels et al.
Essilfie, A-T, Simpson, JL, Dunkley, ML, Morgan, LC, Oliver, BG, Gibson, PG, Foster, PS & Hansbro, PM 2012, 'Combined Haemophilus influenzae respiratory infection and allergic airways disease drives chronic infection and features of neutrophilic asthma', THORAX, vol. 67, no. 7, pp. 588-599.
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Background: 20-30% of patients with asthma have neutrophilic airway inflammation and reduced responsiveness to steroid therapy. They often have chronic airway bacterial colonisation and Haemophilus influenzae is one of the most commonly isolated bacteria. The relationship between chronic airway colonisation and the development of steroid-resistant neutrophilic asthma is unclear. Objectives: To investigate the relationship between H influenzae respiratory infection and neutrophilic asthma using mouse models of infection and ovalbumin (OVA)- induced allergic airways disease. Methods: BALB/c mice were intratracheally infected with H influenzae (day 10), intraperitoneally sensitised (day 0) and intranasally challenged (day 12-15) with OVA. Treatment groups were administered dexamethasone intranasally during OVA challenge. Infection, allergic airways disease, steroid sensitivity and immune responses were assessed (days 11, 16 and 21). Results: The combination of H influenzae infection and allergic airways disease resulted in chronic lung infection that was detected on days 11, 16 and 21 (21, 26 and 31 days after infection). Neutrophilic allergic airways disease and T helper 17 cell development were induced, which did not require active infection. Importantly, all features of neutrophilic allergic airways disease were steroid resistant. Toll-like receptor 4 expression and activation of phagocytes was reduced, but most significantly the influx and/or development of phagocytosing neutrophils and macrophages into the airways was inhibited. Conclusions: The combination of infection and allergic airways disease promotes bacterial persistence, leading to the development of a phenotype similar to steroid-resistant neutrophilic asthma and which may result from dysfunction in innate immune cells. This indicates that targeting bacterial infection in steroid-resistant asthma may have therapeutic benefit.
Estrada, K, Styrkarsdottir, U, Evangelou, E, Hsu, Y-H, Duncan, EL, Ntzani, EE, Oei, L, Albagha, OME, Amin, N, Kemp, JP, Koller, DL, Li, G, Liu, C-T, Minster, RL, Moayyeri, A, Vandenput, L, Willner, D, Xiao, S-M, Yerges-Armstrong, LM, Zheng, H-F, Alonso, N, Eriksson, J, Kammerer, CM, Kaptoge, SK, Leo, PJ, Thorleifsson, G, Wilson, SG, Wilson, JF, Aalto, V, Alen, M, Aragaki, AK, Aspelund, T, Center, JR, Dailiana, Z, Duggan, DJ, Garcia, M, Garcia-Giralt, N, Giroux, S, Hallmans, G, Hocking, LJ, Husted, LB, Jameson, KA, Khusainova, R, Kim, GS, Kooperberg, C, Koromila, T, Kruk, M, Laaksonen, M, Lacroix, AZ, Lee, SH, Leung, PC, Lewis, JR, Masi, L, Mencej-Bedrac, S, Nguyen, TV, Nogues, X, Patel, MS, Prezelj, J, Rose, LM, Scollen, S, Siggeirsdottir, K, Smith, AV, Svensson, O, Trompet, S, Trummer, O, van Schoor, NM, Woo, J, Zhu, K, Balcells, S, Brandi, ML, Buckley, BM, Cheng, S, Christiansen, C, Cooper, C, Dedoussis, G, Ford, I, Frost, M, Goltzman, D, González-Macías, J, Kähönen, M, Karlsson, M, Khusnutdinova, E, Koh, J-M, Kollia, P, Langdahl, BL, Leslie, WD, Lips, P, Ljunggren, Ö, Lorenc, RS, Marc, J, Mellström, D, Obermayer-Pietsch, B, Olmos, JM, Pettersson-Kymmer, U, Reid, DM, Riancho, JA, Ridker, PM, Rousseau, F, lagboom, PES, Tang, NLS, Urreizti, R, Van Hul, W, Viikari, J, Zarrabeitia, MT, Aulchenko, YS, Castano-Betancourt, M, Grundberg, E, Herrera, L, Ingvarsson, T, Johannsdottir, H, Kwan, T, Li, R, Luben, R, Medina-Gómez, C, Th Palsson, S, Reppe, S, Rotter, JI, Sigurdsson, G, van Meurs, JBJ, Verlaan, D, Williams, FMK, Wood, AR, Zhou, Y, Gautvik, KM, Pastinen, T, Raychaudhuri, S, Cauley, JA, Chasman, DI, Clark, GR, Cummings, SR, Danoy, P, Dennison, EM, Eastell, R, Eisman, JA, Gudnason, V, Hofman, A, Jackson, RD, Jones, G, Jukema, JW, Khaw, K-T, Lehtimäki, T, Liu, Y, Lorentzon, M, McCloskey, E, Mitchell, BD, Nandakumar, K, Nicholson, GC, Oostra, BA, Peacock, M, Pols, HAP, Prince, RL, Raitakari, O, Reid, IR, Robbins, J, Sambrook, PN, Sham, PC, Shuldiner, AR, Tylavsky, FA, van Duijn, CM, Wareham, NJ, Cupples, LA, Econs, MJ, Evans, DM, Harris, TB, Kung, AWC, Psaty, BM, Reeve, J, Spector, TD, Streeten, EA, Zillikens, MC, Thorsteinsdottir, U, Ohlsson, C, Karasik, D, Richards, JB, Brown, MA, Stefansson, K, Uitterlinden, AG, Ralston, SH, Ioannidis, JPA, Kiel, DP & Rivadeneira, F 2012, 'Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 56 bone mineral density loci and reveals 14 loci associated with risk of fracture', Nature Genetics, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 491-501.
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Bone mineral density (BMD) is the most widely used predictor of fracture risk. We performed the largest meta-analysis to date on lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD, including 17 genome-wide association studies and 32,961 individuals of European and east Asian ancestry. We tested the top BMD-associated markers for replication in 50,933 independent subjects and for association with risk of low-trauma fracture in 31,016 individuals with a history of fracture (cases) and 102,444 controls. We identified 56 loci (32 new) associated with BMD at genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10 -8). Several of these factors cluster within the RANK-RANKL-OPG, mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, endochondral ossification and Wnt signaling pathways. However, we also discovered loci that were localized to genes not known to have a role in bone biology. Fourteen BMD-associated loci were also associated with fracture risk (P < 5 × 10 -4, Bonferroni corrected), of which six reached P < 5 × 10 -8, including at 18p11.21 (FAM210A), 7q21.3 (SLC25A13), 11q13.2 (LRP5), 4q22.1 (MEPE), 2p16.2 (SPTBN1) and 10q21.1 (DKK1). These findings shed light on the genetic architecture and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying BMD variation and fracture susceptibility. © 2012 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
Fisher, J, Al Hajjar, M, Williams, S, Tipper, J, Ingham, E & Jennings, L 2012, '(v) Simulation and measurement of wear in metal-on-metal bearings in vitro- understanding the reasons for increased wear', Orthopaedics and Trauma, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 253-258.
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A new Stratified Approach For Enhanced Reliability (SAFER) pre-clinical simulation testing of joint prostheses has been described in a preceding paper in this volume. The application of SAFER in vitro simulation and testing to metal-on-metal bearings is described in this review paper. The review aims to provide further understanding of the reasons for, and causes of, increased wear in metal-on-metal hips in a proportion of patients. Variation in positioning (mal-positioning) of the head and cup in hip prostheses results in the head contacting the rim of the cup and producing increased wear. Variation in both translational and rotational positioning has been investigated. Variation in translational positioning of the centres of the head and cup, which is not detected on radiographs, is a frequent occurrence clinically and can result in a substantial increase in wear rate. The variation in translational positioning acts synergistically with variation in rotational positioning to produce substantial increases in wear. These recent findings are consistent with the wear mechanisms and formation of stripe wear reported for ceramic-on-ceramic bearings over a decade ago, and provide insight into the reasons for the variation and increases in the wear rate found clinically in metal-on-metal hips in specific patients, which may cause premature failure. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Ge, Q, Moir, LM, Trian, T, Niimi, K, Poniris, M, Shepherd, PR, Black, JL, Oliver, BG & Burgess, JK 2012, 'The phosphoinositide 3 '-kinase p110 delta modulates contractile protein production and IL-6 release in human airway smooth muscle', JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY, vol. 227, no. 8, pp. 3044-3052.
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Transforming growth factor (TGF) ß1 increases pro-inflammatory cytokines and contractile protein expression by human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells, which could augment airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness. Phosphoinositide 3' kinase (PI3K) is one of the signaling pathways implicated in TGFß1 stimulation, and may be altered in asthmatic airways. This study compared the expression of PI3K isoforms by ASM cells from donors with asthma (A), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or neither disease (NA), and investigated the role of PI3K isoforms in the production of TGFß1 induced pro-inflammatory cytokine and contractile proteins in ASM cells. A cells expressed higher basal levels of p110d mRNA compared to NA and COPD cells; however COPD cells produced more p110d protein. TGFß1 increased 110d mRNA expression to the same extent in the three groups. Neither the p110d inhibitor IC87114 (1, 10, 30?µM), the p110ß inhibitor TGX221 (0.1, 1, 10?µM) nor the PI3K pan inhibitor LY294002 (3, 10?µM) had any effect on basal IL-6, calponin or smooth muscle a-actin (a-SMA) expression. However, TGFß1 increased calponin and a-SMA expression was inhibited by IC87114 and LY294002 in all three groups. IC87114, TGX221, and LY294002 reduced TGFß1 induced IL-6 release in a dose related manner in all groups of ASM cells. PI3K p110d is important for TGFß1 induced production of the contractile proteins calponin and a-SMA and the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 in ASM cells, and may therefore be relevant as a potential therapeutic target to treat both inflammation and airway remodeling.
George, AM & Jones, PM 2012, 'Perspectives on the structure–function of ABC transporters: The Switch and Constant Contact Models', Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 95-107.
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ABC transporters constitute one of the largest protein families across the kingdoms of archaea, eubacteria and eukarya. They couple ATP hydrolysis to vectorial translocation of diverse substrates across membranes. The ABC transporter architecture comprises two transmembrane domains and two cytosolic ATP-binding cassettes. During 2002-2012, nine prokaryotic ABC transporter structures and two eukaryotic structures have been solved to medium resolution. Despite a wealth of biochemical, biophysical, and structural data, fundamental questions remain regarding the coupling of ATP hydrolysis to unidirectional substrate translocation, and the mechanistic suite of steps involved. The mechanics of the ATP cassette dimer is defined most popularly by the 'Switch Model', which proposes that hydrolysis in each protomer is sequential, and that as the sites are freed of nucleotide, the protomers lose contact across a large solvent-filled gap of 20-30 angstrom: as captured in several X-ray solved structures. Our 'Constant Contact' model for the operational mechanics of ATP binding and hydrolysis in the ATP-binding cassettes is derived from the 'alternating sites' model, proposed in 1995, and which requires an intrinsic asymmetry in the ATP sites, but does not require the partner protomers to lose contact. Thus one of the most debated issues regarding the function of ABC transporters is whether the cooperative mechanics of ATP hydrolysis requires the ATP cassettes to separate or remain in constant contact and this dilemma is discussed at length in this review.
Gerace, D, Ren, B, Hawthorne, WJ, Byrne, MR, Phillips, P, OʼBrien, BA, Nassif, N, Alexander, IE & Simpson, AM 2012, 'Pancreatic Transdifferentiation in Porcine Liver Following Lentiviral Delivery of Human Furin-Cleavable Insulin', Transplantation Journal, vol. 94, no. 10S, pp. 172-172.
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Golzan, SM, Avolio, A & Graham, SL 2012, 'Hemodynamic Interactions in the Eye: A Review', Ophthalmologica, vol. 228, no. 4, pp. 214-221.
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The ocular circulation provides readily visible information about the state of the systemic circulation, as well as being potentially of relevance to the pathogenesis of ocular disorders such as glaucoma. The interaction between intraocular pressure, retinal vessels and cerebrospinal fluid pressure located at the retrolaminar portion of the eye has been of great interest for both ophthalmic and neurological clinicians and researchers. Understanding the relationship between these physiological parameters can explain phenomena such as spontaneous retinal venous pulsatility, and characterize the effects of the translaminar pressure gradient. It may be feasible to use measurable changes in venous pulsatility to enhance clinical assessment in different diseases. In this article we review recent findings on ocular hemodynamics and the relevance of these parameters in the diagnosis of ophthalmic and neurological diseases.
Golzan, SM, Kim, MO, Seddighi, AS, Avolio, A & Graham, SL 2012, 'Non-invasive Estimation of Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure Waveforms by Means of Retinal Venous Pulsatility and Central Aortic Blood Pressure', Annals of Biomedical Engineering, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 1940-1948.
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Goodswen, SJ, Kennedy, PJ & Ellis, JT 2012, 'Evaluating High-Throughput Ab Initio Gene Finders to Discover Proteins Encoded in Eukaryotic Pathogen Genomes Missed by Laboratory Techniques', PLOS ONE, vol. 7, no. 11.
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Green, DW, Li, G, Milthorpe, B & Ben-Nissan, B 2012, 'Adult stem cell coatings for regenerative medicine', Materials Today, vol. 15, no. 1-2, pp. 60-66.
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Stem cells can become potent tools for the treatment of degenerative disorders such as heart failure, eye disease and osteoarthritis. Housing stem cells inside a hydrogel coating, directly deposited around them individually and in groups, may be an important solution to the problem of increasing stem cell viability and protection in cultivation. Such coatings can target regulatory proteins and genes for maintenance, differentiation and development into tissues. Already polymer coatings are being applied directly to protect insulin producing pancreatic islet cells in the hope of treating type I diabetes. Here, we review current emerging developments in adult mesenchymal stem cell nanocoating and microcoating techniques and assess their unique practical engineering, biological and potential clinical advantages.
Ho-Pham, LT, Mai, LD, Pham, HN, Nguyen, ND & Nguyen, TV 2012, 'Reference ranges for vertebral heights and prevalence of asymptomatic (undiagnosed) vertebral fracture in Vietnamese men and women', Archives of Osteoporosis, vol. 7, no. 1-2, pp. 257-266.
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Summary Based on quantitative measurements of vertebral heights, the prevalence of undiagnosed vertebral fracture in Vietnamese men and women aged 50 years and older was 23 and 26 %, respectively Background The present study sought to develop reference ranges for vertebral heights and to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic vertebral fracture in Vietnamese men and women. Methods The study included 312 men and 657 women aged over 18 who were randomly selected from the community. The ImageJ software program was used to measure anterior height (Ha), middle height (Hm), and posterior height (Hp) for each vertebra (T4 to T12 and L1 to L5). Four vertebral ratios were determined: Ha/Hp, Hm/Hp, Hp/Hp+1, and Hp/Hp -1. Reference ranges for the ratios were then developed by the method of Winsorized mean. Vertebral fracture was diagnosed as a ratio lower than three standard deviations from the normal mean. Results For any given vertebra, Ha, Hm, and Hp in men were higher than in women. In both sexes, Ha and Hm increased in a stepwise fashion from T4 to L3 and then gradually reduced in L4L5. Vertebral heights for T4T9 tended to decrease, while vertebral height for T10L5 tended to increase with advancing age. Among those aged over 50 years, the prevalence of vertebral fracture in men was 23.3 % (95 % confidence interval (CI) 16.831.3 %) which was lower than that in women (26.5 %; 95 % CI 22.431.1 %). The prevalence increased with advancing age, such that from the age of over 70, 41 % of men and 42 % women had at least one vertebral fracture. Conclusion One fourth of Vietnamese men and women aged 50 years and older have a symptomatic vertebral fracture. This prevalence is equivalent to that in Caucasian populations.
Huang, S-W, Cirmi, G, Moses, J, Hong, K-H, Bhardwaj, S, Birge, JR, Chen, L-J, Kabakova, IV, Li, E, Eggleton, BJ, Cerullo, G & Kärtner, FX 2012, 'Optical waveform synthesizer and its application to high-harmonic generation', Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 074009-074009.
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Ichimaru, Y, Krimmer, DI, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BGG 2012, 'TGF-β enhances deposition of perlecan from COPD airway smooth muscle', American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, vol. 302, no. 3, pp. L325-L333.
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are characterized by irreversible remodeling of the airway walls, including thickening of the airway smooth muscle layer. Perlecan is a large, multidomain, proteoglycan that is expressed in the lungs, and in other organ systems, and has been described to have a role in cell adhesion, angiogenesis, and proliferation. This study aimed to investigate functional properties of the different perlecan domains in relation to airway smooth muscle cells (ASMC). Primary human ASMC obtained from donors with asthma ( n = 13), COPD ( n = 12), or other lung disease ( n = 20) were stimulated in vitro with 1 ng/ml transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) before perlecan deposition and cytokine release were analyzed. In some experiments, inhibitors of signaling molecules were added. Perlecan domains I–V were seeded on tissue culture plates at 10 μg/ml with 1 μg/ml collagen I as a control. ASM was incubated on top of the peptides before being analyzed for attachment, proliferation, and wound healing. TGF-β1 upregulated deposition of perlecan by ASMC from COPD subjects only. TGF-β1 upregulated release of IL-6 into the supernatant of ASMC from all subjects. Inhibitors of SMAD and JNK signaling molecules decreased TGF-β1-induced perlecan deposition by COPD ASMC. Attachment of COPD ASMC was upregulated by collagen I and perlecan domains IV and V, while perlecan domain II upregulated attachment only of asthmatic ASMC. Seeding on perlecan domains did not increase proliferation of any ASMC type. TGF-β1-induced perlecan deposition may enhance attachment of migrating ASMC in vivo and thus may be a mechanism for ASMC layer hypertrophy in COPD.
Jennings, D, Cormack, SJ, Coutts, AJ & Aughey, RJ 2012, 'GPS Analysis of an International Field Hockey Tournament', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS PHYSIOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 224-231.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of multiple games on exercise intensity during a world-class hockey tournament. Methods: 15 players (mean +/- SD age 27 +/- 4 y, stature 179 +/- 5 cm, body mass 77 +/- 5 kg, and estimated VO2 64.2 +/- 3.1 mL . kg(-1). min(-1)) competing in the Champions Trophy (CT). Global-positioning systems assessed total distance (TD), low-speed activity (LSA; 0.10-4.17 m/s), and high-speed running (HSR; >4.17 m/s) distance. Differences in movement demands (TD, LSA, HSR) between positions and matches were assessed using the effect size and percent difference +/- 90% confidence intervals. Two levels of comparison were made. First, data from subsequent matches were compared with match 1, and, second, data from each match compared with a tournament average (TA). Results: In all matches, compared with game 1, midfielders performed less HSR distance. However, the amount of HSR did not decrease as the tournament progressed. When compared with the TA, defenders showed more variation in each match. All positions showed lower movement outputs when the team won by a large margin. Conclusions: It was possible for elite team-sport athletes to maintain exercise intensity when playing 6 matches in a period of 9 days, contrary to the only other investigation of this in elite male field hockey.
Jennings, DH, Cormack, SJ, Coutts, AJ & Aughey, RJ 2012, 'INTERNATIONAL FIELD HOCKEY PLAYERS PERFORM MORE HIGH-SPEED RUNNING THAN NATIONAL-LEVEL COUNTERPARTS', JOURNAL OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING RESEARCH, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 947-952.
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International field hockey players perform more high-speed running than national-level counterparts. J Strength Cond Res 26(4): 947-952, 2012-This study compared the activity profile of national and international male field hockey athletes. Sixteen players (mean (+/-SD) age, stature, and body mass: 22 +/- 4 y, 178 +/- 8 cm, and 78 +/- 9 kg, respectively) competing in the national-level Australian Hockey League (AHL) and 16 players [mean (+/-SD) age, stature, and body mass: 27 +/- 4 y, 179 +/- 5 cm, and 77 +/- 5 kg, respectively] competing in the international Champions Trophy (CT) tournament participated in this study. Global positioning systems assessed total distance (TD), meters per minute (m.min(-1)), and high-speed running distance (HSR;.4.17 m.s(-1)). Differences in multistage fitness test performance, movement between competition, positions, and halves were assessed using effect size and percent difference +/-90% confidence intervals. The CT players had a 10.1% greater multistage fitness test, 13.9% and 42.0% more TD and HSR, respectively, than AHL. During CT, strikers performed 10.1 +/- 7.4% less HSR than midfielders and 26.6 +/- 8.2% more HSR than defenders. The AHL defenders covered less TD and HSR distance compared with strikers and midfielders (8.1 +/- 3.6% and 8.4 +/- 2.6%; 36.1 +/- 11.1% and 51.5 +/- 12.1%, respectively). The AHL strikers, midfielders, and defenders (19.9 +/- 8.8%, 32.1 +/- 7.9%, and 30.3 +/- 10.7%, respectively), all performed less HSR distance than their CT counterparts. Finally, TD decreased from the first to second halves across all positions (6.1-7.5%) in both competitions. International competition increases the running profile of hockey players, with greater HSR at the elite level and positional differences including decreased running during the second half in both competitions.
Jennings, LM, Al-Hajjar, M, Brockett, CL, Williams, S, Tipper, JL, Ingham, E & Fisher, J 2012, '(iv) Enhancing the safety and reliability of joint replacement implants', Orthopaedics and Trauma, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 246-252.
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A new Stratified Approach For Enhanced Reliability (SAFER) pre-clinical simulation testing of joint prostheses is presented in this article. The aim of this approach is preclinical systematic testing of wear performance in the much wider envelope of conditions found clinically rather than relying only on the standard testing conditions that are currently used. The approach includes variations in surgical delivery, variations in kinematics, variations in the patient population and degradation of the biomaterial properties. Clinical experience of existing prostheses has been used to validate the new in vitro methods. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Jones, PM & George, AM 2012, 'Role of the D-Loops in Allosteric Control of ATP Hydrolysis in an ABC Transporter', The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol. 116, no. 11, pp. 3004-3013.
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ABC transporters couple ATP hydrolysis to movement of substrates across cell membranes. They comprise two transmembrane domains and two cytosolic nucleotide-binding domains forming two active sites that hydrolyze ATP cooperatively. The mechanism of ATP hydrolysis is controversial and the structural dynamic basis of its allosteric control unknown. Here we report molecular dynamics simulations of the ATP/apo and ATP/ADP states of the bacterial ABC exporter Sav1866, in which the cytoplasmic region of the protein was simulated in explicit water for 150 ns. In the simulation of the ATP/apo state, we observed, for the first time, conformers of the active site with the canonical geometry for an in-line nucleophilic attack on the ATP gamma-phosphate. The conserved glutamate immediately downstream of the Walker B motif is the catalytic base, forming a dyad with the H-loop histidine, whereas the Q-loop glutamine has an organizing role. Each D-loop provides a coordinating residue of the attacking water, and comparison with the simulation of the ATP/ADP state suggests that via their flexibility, the D-loops modulate formation of the hydrolysis-competent state. A global switch involving a coupling helix delineates the signal transmission route by which allosteric control of ATP hydrolysis in ABC transporters is mediated.
Kabakova, IV, Yu, Z, Halliwell, D, Fonjallaz, P-Y, Tarasenko, O, de Sterke, CM & Margulis, W 2012, 'Switching and dynamic wavelength conversion in a fiber grating cavity', Journal of the Optical Society of America B, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 155-155.
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Kabakova, IV, Zou, L, Brawley, GA, Florea, C, Aggarwal, ID, Sanghera, JS, Mägi, EC, Li, E & Eggleton, BJ 2012, 'Dynamics of photoinduced refractive index changes in As2S3fibers', Applied Optics, vol. 51, no. 30, pp. 7333-7333.
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Kennett, DC, Kempton, T & Coutts, AJ 2012, 'FACTORS AFFECTING EXERCISE INTENSITY IN RUGBY-SPECIFIC SMALL-SIDED GAMES', JOURNAL OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING RESEARCH, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 2037-2042.
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Factors affecting exercise intensity in rugby-specific small-sided games. J Strength Cond Res 26(8): 2037-2042, 2012-Small-sided games (SSGs) have been suggested as a method for concurrently training physical, technical and tactical capabilities of rugby union players.
Krimmer, DI, Burgess, JK, Wooi, TK, Black, JL & Oliver, BGG 2012, 'Matrix Proteins from Smoke-Exposed Fibroblasts Are Pro-proliferative', American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 34-39.
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Airway remodeling decreases lung function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition is increased in remodeled airways and drives cellular processes of proliferation, migration, and inflammation. We investigated the role of cigarette smoke in altering the ECM deposited from human lung fibroblasts. Lung fibroblasts isolated from patients with COPD or other lung disease were exposed to cigarette smoke extract (CSE) and 5 ng/ml transforming growth factor-β1 for 72 hours; in some experiments, inhibitors of signaling molecules were added. Deposition of perlecan, fibronectin, and elastin were measured by ELISA, as was release of IL-8 and IL-13. Unstimulated fibroblast cells were reseeded onto deposited matrix and assessed for proliferation and cytokine release. CSE (5%) increased deposition of fibronectin and perlecan from only COPD fibroblasts. Fibronectin and perlecan deposition was attenuated by addition of the NF-κB inhibitor, BMS-345541, and the signal transduction and activator of transcription-1/3 inhibitor, pyridone 6, respectively. CSE (5%) increased IL-8 release from COPD fibroblasts more than non-COPD fibroblasts. This increase was attenuated by BMS-345541. Matrix deposited after 5%CSE stimulation increased proliferation of fibroblasts, but did not alter cytokine release. ECM produced from COPD fibroblasts after CSE exposure has proproliferative effects. Thus, the ECM in patients with COPD may create an environment that promotes airway remodeling.
Lai, JCY, Leung, FHF, Ling, SH & Shi, EC 2012, 'An Improved Differential Evolution and Its Industrial Application', Journal of Intelligent Learning Systems and Applications, vol. 04, no. 02, pp. 81-97.
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In this paper, an improved Differential Evolution (DE) that incorporates double wavelet-based operations is proposed to solve the Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) problem. The double wavelet mutations are applied in order to enhance DE in exploring the solution space more effectively for better solution quality and stability. The first stage of wavelet operation is embedded in the DE mutation operation, in which the scaling factor is governed by a wavelet function. In the second stage, a wavelet-based mutation operation is embedded in the DE crossover operation. The trial population vectors are modified by the wavelet function. A suite of benchmark test functions is employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed DE in different problems. The result shows empirically that the proposed method out-performs signifycantly the conventional methods in terms of convergence speed, solution quality and solution stability. Then the proposed method is applied to the Economic Load Dispatch with Valve-Point Loading (ELD-VPL) problem, which is a process to share the power demand among the online generators in a power system for minimum fuel cost. Two different conditions of the ELD problem have been tested in this paper. It is observed that the proposed method gives satisfactory optimal costs when compared with the other techniques in the literature
Lambert, M & Kennedy, P 2012, 'Using Artificial Intelligence to Build with Unprocessed Rock', Key Engineering Materials, vol. 517, pp. 939-945.
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Unprocessed rock is a massive resource of very cheap building material with very low embodied energy. However, it is highly underutilised due to the difficulty of dealing with irregular shaped blocks. We have developed a novel software application using the artificial intelligence methods of search and optimisation to simulate building three-dimensional structures in a virtual world. The aim of our software is to help builders solve the 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of building with rock rubble with an emphasis on its potential use for building sustainable housing and infrastructure. This paper describes our approach and the design of our software including an overview of the rock digitising, optimisation software and building methods. We present simulation results of building and testing several small drystone structures using the prototype software.
Li, X, McGrath, KC, Nammi, S, Heather, AK & Roufogalis, BD 2012, 'Attenuation of Liver Pro‐Inflammatory Responses by Zingiber officinale via Inhibition of NF‐kappa B Activation in High‐Fat Diet‐Fed Rats', Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, vol. 110, no. 3, pp. 238-244.
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Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether treatment with a ginger (Zingiber officinale) extract of high‐fat diet (HFD)‐fed rats suppresses Nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB)‐driven hepatic inflammation and to subsequently explore the molecular mechanisms in vitro. Adult male Sprague‐Dawley rats were treated with an ethanolic extract of Zingiber officinale (400 mg/kg) along with a HFD for 6 weeks. Hepatic cytokine mRNA levels, cytokine protein levels and NF‐κB activation were measured by real‐time PCR, Western blot and an NF‐κB nuclear translocation assay, respectively. In vitro, cell culture studies were carried out in human hepatocyte (HuH‐7) cells by treatment with Zingiber officinale (100 μg/mL) for 24 hr prior to interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β, 8 ng/mL)‐induced inflammation. We showed that Zingiber officinale treatment decreased cytokine gene TNFα and IL‐6 expression in HFD‐fed rats, which was associated with suppression of NF‐κB activation. In vitro, Zingiber officinale treatment decreased NF‐κB‐target inflammatory gene expression of IL‐6, IL‐8 and serum amyloid A1 (SAA1), while it suppressed NF‐κB activity, IκBα degradation and IκB kinase (IKK) activity. In conclusion, Zingiber officinale suppressed markers of hepatic inflammation in HFD‐fed rats, as demonstrated by decreased hepatic cytokine gene expression and decreased NF‐κB activation. The study demonstrates that the anti‐inflammatory effect of Zingiber officinale occurs at least in part through the NF‐κB signalling pathway.
Li, Y & Li, J 2012, 'Disease gene identification by random walk on multigraphs merging heterogeneous genomic and phenotype data', BMC Genomics, vol. 13, no. Suppl 7, pp. S27-S27.
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Background High throughput experiments resulted in many genomic datasets and hundreds of candidate disease genes. To discover the real disease genes from a set of candidate genes, computational methods have been proposed and worked on various types of genomic data sources. As a single source of genomic data is prone of bias, incompleteness and noise, integration of different genomic data sources is highly demanded to accomplish reliable disease gene identification. Results In contrast to the commonly adapted data integration approach which integrates separate lists of candidate genes derived from the each single data sources, we merge various genomic networks into a multigraph which is capable of connecting multiple edges between a pair of nodes. This novel approach provides a data platform with strong noise tolerance to prioritize the disease genes. A new idea of random walk is then developed to work on multigraphs using a modified step to calculate the transition matrix. Our method is further enhanced to deal with heterogeneous data types by allowing cross-walk between phenotype and gene networks. Compared on benchmark datasets, our method is shown to be more accurate than the state-of-the-art methods in disease gene identification. We also conducted a case study to identify disease genes for Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus. Some of the newly identified disease genes are supported by recently published literature.
Li, Z, He, Y, Cao, L, Wong, L & Li, J 2012, 'Conservation of water molecules in protein binding interfaces', International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, vol. 8, no. 3/4, pp. 228-228.
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The conservation of interfacial water molecules has only been studied in small data sets consisting of interfaces of a specific function. So far, no general conclusions have been drawn from largescale analysis, due to the challenges of using structural alignment in large data sets. To avoid using structural alignment, we propose a solvated sequence method to analyse water conservation properties in protein interfaces. We first use water information to label the residues, and then align interfacial residues in a fashion similar to normal sequence alignment. Our results show that, for a watercontacting interfacial residue, substituting it into hydrophobic residues tends to desolvate the local area. Surprisingly, residues with short side chains also tend not to lose their contacting water, emphasising the role of water in shaping binding sites. Deeply buried water molecules are found more conserved in terms of their contacts with interfacial residues
Li, Z, He, Y, Wong, L & Li, J 2012, 'Progressive dry-core-wet-rim hydration trend in a nested-ring topology of protein binding interfaces', BMC BIOINFORMATICS, vol. 13.
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Background Water is an integral part of protein complexes. It shapes protein binding sites by filling cavities and it bridges local contacts by hydrogen bonds. However, water molecules are usually not included in protein interface models in the past, and few distribution profiles of water molecules in protein binding interfaces are known. Results In this work, we use a tripartite protein-water-protein interface model and a nested-ring atom re-organization method to detect hydration trends and patterns from an interface data set which involves immobilized interfacial water molecules. This data set consists of 206 obligate interfaces, 160 non-obligate interfaces, and 522 crystal packing contacts. The two types of biological interfaces are found to be drier than the crystal packing interfaces in our data, agreeable to a hydration pattern reported earlier although the previous definition of immobilized water is pure distance-based. The biological interfaces in our data set are also found to be subject to stronger water exclusion in their formation. To study the overall hydration trend in protein binding interfaces, atoms at the same burial level in each tripartite protein-water-protein interface are organized into a ring. The rings of an interface are then ordered with the core atoms placed at the middle of the structure to form a nested-ring topology. We find that water molecules on the rings of an interface are generally configured in a dry-core-wet-rim pattern with a progressive level-wise solvation towards to the rim of the interface. This solvation trend becomes even sharper when counterexamples are separated.
Ling, SH & Nguyen, HT 2012, 'Natural occurrence of nocturnal hypoglycemia detection using hybrid particle swarm optimized fuzzy reasoning model', ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDICINE, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 177-184.
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Introduction: Low blood glucose (hypoglycemia) is a common and serious side effect of insulin therapy in patients with diabetes. This paper will make a contribution to knowledge in the modeling and design of a non-invasive hypoglycemia monitor for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) using a fuzzy-reasoning system. Methods: Based on the heart rate and the corrected QT interval of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, we have developed a hybrid particle-swarm-optimization-based fuzzy-reasoning model to recognize the presence of hypoglycemic episodes. To optimize the fuzzy rules and the fuzzy-membership functions, a hybrid particle-swarm-optimization with wavelet mutation operation is investigated. Conclusion: We have investigated the detection for the natural occurrence of nocturnal hypoglycemic episodes in T1DM using a hybrid particle-swarm-optimization-based fuzzy-reasoning model with physiological parameters. In this study, no restricted environment (e.g. patient's dietary requirements) is required. Furthermore, the sampling time is between 5 and 10 min. To conclude, we have shown that the testing performances of the proposed algorithm for detection of advanced hypoglycemic and hypoglycemic episodes for T1DM patients are satisfactory.
Ling, SSH, Nguyen, H & Lam, HK 2012, 'Computational intelligence in health technologies.', Int J Bioinform Res Appl, vol. 8, no. 5-6, pp. 323-324.
Ling, SSH, San, PP, Nguyen, HT & Leung, FHF 2012, 'Non-Invasive nocturnal hypoglycemia Detection for insulin-Dependent Diabetes mellitus using Genetic Fuzzy Logic Method.', Int. J. Comput. Intell. Appl., vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 1-17.
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Hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose, is the most common complication experienced by Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. It is dangerous and can result in unconsciousness, seizures and even death. The most common physiological parameter to be effected from hypoglycemic reaction are heart rate (HR) and correct QT interval (QTc) of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. Based on physiological parameters, a genetic algorithm based fuzzy reasoning model is developed to recognize the presence of hypoglycemia. To optimize the parameters of the fuzzy model in the membership functions and fuzzy rules, a genetic algorithm is used. A validation strategy based adjustable fitness is introduced in order to prevent the phenomenon of overtraining (overfitting). For this study, 15 children with 569 sampling data points with Type 1 diabetes volunteered for an overnight study. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is found to be satisfactory by giving better sensitivity and specificity compared with other existing methods for hypoglycemia detection. © 2012 Imperial College Press.
Liu, Q, Wong, L & Li, J 2012, 'Z-score biological significance of binding hot spots of protein interfaces by using crystal packing as the reference state', BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-PROTEINS AND PROTEOMICS, vol. 1824, no. 12, pp. 1457-1467.
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Characterization of binding hot spots of protein interfaces is a fundamental study in molecular biology. Many computational methods have been proposed to identify binding hot spots. However, there are few studies to assess the biological significance of binding hot spots. We introduce the notion of biological significance of a contact residue for capturing the probability of the residue occurring in or contributing to protein binding interfaces. We take a statistical Z-score approach to the assessment of the biological significance. The method has three main steps. First, the potential score of a residue is defined by using a knowledge-based potential function with relative accessible surface area calculations. A null distribution of this potential score is then generated from artifact crystal packing contacts. Finally, the Z-score significance of a contact residue with a specific potential score is determined according to this null distribution. We hypothesize that residues at binding hot spots have big absolute values of Z-score as they contribute greatly to binding free energy. Thus, we propose to use Z-score to predict whether a contact residue is a hot spot residue. Comparison with previously reported methods on two benchmark datasets shows that this Z-score method is mostly superior to earlier methods. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Methods for Protein Interaction and Structural Prediction.
Liu, Z, Chen, Q, Dai, N, Yu, Y, Yang, L & Li, J 2012, 'Tunable white light emitting glass suitable for long-wavelength ultraviolet excitation', Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, vol. 358, no. 23, pp. 3289-3293.
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Lock, D, Taylor, T, Funk, D & Darcy, S 2012, 'Exploring the Development of Team Identification', Journal of Sport Management, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 283-294.
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Individuals strive to attach themselves to social groups that reflect positively on the way they view themselves (Tajfel, 1972, 1982; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). While social categories span a myriad of activities, pursuits and organizations, sport teams provide a pertinent example of social categories from which individuals derive social identity benefits (Cialdini & Richardson, 1980). As a result, social identity theory has been extensively applied to sport consumers as a framework contributing to understanding of identity formation (Fisher & Wakefield, 1998; James, 2001), strength (Wann & Branscombe, 1993, 1995), structure (Heere & James, 2007) and management for sport fans (Cialdini et al., 1976; Cialdini & Richardson, 1980; Snyder, Lassegard, & Ford, 1986).
Lund, ME, O‘Brien, BA, Hutchinson, AT, Robinson, MW, Simpson, A, Dalton, JP & Donnelly, S 2012, 'Secreted Molecules from the Helminth Parasite Fasciola Hepatica Prevent Pro-Inflammatory Immune Responses to Prevent Autoimmune Diabetes', Transplantation Journal, vol. 94, no. 10S, pp. 232-232.
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Lund, ME, OʼBrien, BA, Hutchinson, AT, Robinson, MW, Simpson, A, Dalton, JP & Donnelly, S 2012, 'Secreted Molecules from the Helminth Parasite Fasciola Hepatica Prevent Pro-Inflammatory Immune Responses to Prevent Autoimmune Diabetes', Transplantation Journal, vol. 94, no. 10S, pp. 1131-1131.
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Manetsch, M, Che, W, Seidel, P, Chen, Y & Ammit, AJ 2012, 'MKP-1: A negative feedback effector that represses MAPK-mediated pro-inflammatory signaling pathways and cytokine secretion in human airway smooth muscle cells', Cellular Signalling, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 907-913.
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Manetsch, M, Ramsay, EE, King, EM, Seidel, P, Che, W, Ge, Q, Hibbs, DE, Newton, R & Ammit, AJ 2012, 'Corticosteroids and β2‐agonists upregulate mitogen‐activated protein kinase phosphatase 1: in vitro mechanisms', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 166, no. 7, pp. 2049-2059.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSEAirway remodelling is a consequence of long‐term inflammation and MAPKs are key signalling molecules that drive pro‐inflammatory pathways. The endogenous MAPK deactivator – MAPK phosphatase 1 (MKP‐1) – is a critical negative regulator of the myriad pro‐inflammatory pathways activated by MAPKs in the airway.EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHHerein we investigated the molecular mechanisms responsible for the upregulation of MKP‐1 in airway smooth muscle (ASM) by the corticosteroid dexamethasone and the β2‐agonist formoterol, added alone and in combination.KEY RESULTSMKP‐1 is a corticosteroid‐inducible gene whose expression is enhanced by long‐acting β2‐agonists in an additive manner. Formoterol induced MKP‐1 expression via the β2‐adrenoceptor and we provide the first direct evidence (utilizing overexpression of PKIα, a highly selective PKA inhibitor) to show that PKA mediates β2‐agonist‐induced MKP‐1 upregulation. Dexamethasone activated MKP‐1 transcription in ASM cells via a cis‐acting corticosteroid‐responsive region located between −1380 and −1266 bp of the MKP‐1 promoter. While the 3′‐untranslated region of MKP‐1 contains adenylate + uridylate elements responsible for regulation at the post‐transcriptional level, actinomycin D chase experiments revealed that there was no increase in MKP‐1 mRNA stability in the presence of dexamethasone, formoterol, alone or in combination. Rather, there was an additive effect of the asthma therapeutics on MKP‐1 transcription.CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONSTaken together, these studies allow us a greater understanding of the molecular basis of MKP‐1 regulation by corticosteroi...
Manetsch, M, Seidel, P, Heintz, U, Che, W, Hughes, JM, Ge, Q, Sukkar, MB & Ammit, AJ 2012, 'TLR2 ligand engagement upregulates airway smooth muscle TNFα-induced cytokine production', American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, vol. 302, no. 9, pp. L838-L845.
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Airway inflammation and respiratory infections are important factors contributing to disease exacerbation in chronic airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells express Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and may be involved in the amplification of airway inflammatory responses during infectious exacerbations. We determined whether infectious stimuli (mimicked using Pam3CSK4, a synthetic bacterial lipopeptide that binds to TLR2/TLR1) further enhance ASM cell inflammatory responses to TNFα in vitro and the signaling pathways involved. Human ASM cells were pretreated for 1 h with Pam3CSK4 (1 μg/ml) in the absence or presence of TNFα (10 ng/ml), and IL-6 and IL-8 release was measured after 24 h. As expected, stimulation with Pam3CSK4 or TNFα alone induced significant IL-6 and IL-8 release. Furthermore, Pam3CSK4 significantly increased TNFα-induced IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA expression and protein release and neutrophil chemotactic activity. The potentiating effect of Pam3CSK4 on TNFα-induced inflammatory responses was not due to enhanced TLR2 expression nor did it involve augmentation of NF-κB or MAPK signaling pathways. Rather, Pam3CSK4 induced cAMP response element (CRE) binding protein phosphorylation and induced CRE-mediated transcriptional regulation, suggesting that Pam3CSK4 and TNFα are acting in concert to enhance ASM cytokine secretion via parallel transcriptional pathways. Our findings suggest that ASM cells may be involved in the amplification of airway inflammatory responses during infectious exacerbations in chronic airway disease.
Martinac, B & Cranfield, CG 2012, 'Shining a light on the structural dynamics of ion channels using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET).', IPSI BgD Transactions on Advanced Research, vol. 8, pp. 19-24.
McGrath, KC, Li, XH, Gaus, K, Williams, P, Celermajer, DS, Handelsman, DJ & Heather, AK 2012, 'Androgens rapidly activate nuclear factor-kappa B via intracellular Ca2+ signalling in human vascular endothelial cells', Journal of Steroids & Hormonal Science, vol. S2, pp. 1-6.
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There exists a striking gender difference in the incidence of atherosclerosis. Androgen exposure may predispose men to earlier onset atherosclerosis. We previously demonstrated that the potent androgen, dihydrotestosterone, enhanced the binding of monocytes to endothelial cells, via androgen receptor/nuclear factor kappa B-dependent expression of the cell adhesion molecules, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1. We now show that testosterone and dihydrotestosterone can also induce a novel, non-genomic pathway that leads to the rapid activation of nuclear factor-kappa B via intracellular Ca2+ signalling, initiated at the plasma membrane. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells exposed to 6-60 nM testosterone or dihydrotestosterone showed a rapid increase in intracellular calcium levels. The testosterone or dihydrotestosterone effect on increased intracellular calcium could not be abrogated by pre-incubation with androgen receptor antagonist, hydroxyflutamide, or by U73122, an inhibitor of intracellular calcium release from endoplasmic reticulum stores.
McGrath, KCY & Heather, AK 2012, 'Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Inflammatory Disease', Endocrinology, vol. 153, no. 7, pp. 2949-2952.
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In this issue of Endocrinology, Miani and colleagues (1) provide evidence that increased circulating levels of free fatty acids (FFA) associated with obesity induce a mild endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in pancreatic ß-cells that predisposes them to an augmented inflammatory response when exposed to cytokines such as IL-1ß or TNF-a. They found that rat insulinoma cells (INS-1E), or primary rat ß-cells, when exposed to the ER stressor sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) blocker (cyctopiazonic acid) or free fatty acids (FFA), followed by exposure to low-dose IL-1ß or TNF-a, had enhanced expression of the inflammatory markers CCL2, CXCL1, iNOS, and Fas. Interrogation of the molecular pathway showed augmented nuclear factor-?B (NF-?B) activation, after degradation of forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) protein. Using small interfering RNA that targeted specific ER stress pathways, the investigators demonstrated involvement of the inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1)/X-box binding protein-1s (XBP1s) pathway. The importance of these findings is that obesity-associated FFA may easily induce mild ß-cell ER stress that, in turn, triggers a heightened inflammatory response that could drive apoptosis. ß-cell apoptosis is the primary pathogenic mechanism that underlies type 1 diabetes, an area of growing concern because the worldwide incidence of type 1 diabetes is increasing at a rapid rate.
Mendham, AE, Coutts, AJ & Duffield, R 2012, 'The acute effects of aerobic exercise and modified rugby on inflammation and glucose homeostasis within Indigenous Australians', EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY, vol. 112, no. 11, pp. 3787-3795.
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This study investigated the acute effects of two exercise modes, including cycle ergometry and modified rugby on inflammation and glucose regulation within an Indigenous Australian population. Ten sedentary, untrained Indigenous male participants volunteered to participate and were not clinically diagnosed with cardiovascular or metabolic disorders. Following baseline testing and in a randomized cross-over design participants completed two exercise protocols (cycle ergometry and modified rugby) of 40-min duration separated by 7 days recovery. Fasting venous blood was collected pre, post, 30, 60 and 240 min post exercise for analysis of glucose, insulin, cortisol and inflammatory markers of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-a, interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6, IL-1 receptor agonist (ra) and C-reactive protein (CRP). IL-6 and IL-1ra were significantly (P < 0.05) increased within the 240 min post-exercise period, without significant differences between protocols (P > 0.05). There were no significant changes within or between protocols for TNF-a, IL-1ß and CRP (P > 0.05). A comparison of insulin resistance: homeostasis model (HOMA) between resting and 240 min post exercise shows a change from a baseline value of 4.44 (3.71) to 1.76 (1.67) HOMA in cycle ergometry (P < 0.05) and to 1.54 (1.33) HOMA in modified rugby (P < 0.05), without differences between sessions (P > 0.05). This study identified similar acute inflammatory and glucose regulatory responses between cycle ergometry and modified rugby. Prescribing modified rugby as a mode of physical activity may provide Indigenous populations with a community-based approach to promote increased engagement in physical activity and assist in the acute regulation of glucose disposal and inflammatory cytokines
Mojtaba Golzan, S, Leaney, J, Cordina, R, Avolio, A, Celermajer, DS & Graham, SL 2012, 'Spontaneous retinal venous pulsatility in patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease', Heart and Vessels, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 618-623.
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Spontaneous retinal venous pulsations (SRVP) are assessed as a clinical marker for patients with ophthalmic or neurological disorders. The pulsations are influenced by intraocular pressure (IOP), cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFp), and retinal venous pressure (RVP). However, little is known about the effect of cyanosis with polycythemia, a common finding in adults with complex congenital heart disease (CHD), on SRVP. This study investigated 11 subjects with long-standing cyanosis secondary to CHD and 11 control subjects to determine if there were measurable differences in resting pulsatility for a given IOP level. Intraocular pressure was measured using Goldman tonometry, and dynamic SRVP was recorded noninvasively using a retinal vessel imaging system. Peak amplitude of SRVP at each cardiac cycle was measured and compared with IOP. Heart rate was also monitored during the tests. Results show that for a similar baseline IOP, SRVP amplitudes are significantly lower in cyanotic patients compared with normal subjects (P < 0.0001). This may be explained by an increased RVP or high CSFp in these patients. Mean venous diameter is also significantly higher in cyanotic patients (P < 0.01), but no significant relationship was found between SRVP or diameter with blood parameters.
Montavon, C, Gloss, BS, Warton, K, Barton, CA, Statham, AL, Scurry, JP, Tabor, B, Nguyen, TV, Qu, W, Samimi, G, Hacker, NF, Sutherland, RL, Clark, SJ & O'Brien, PM 2012, 'Prognostic and diagnostic significance of DNA methylation patterns in high grade serous ovarian cancer', Gynecologic Oncology, vol. 124, no. 3, pp. 582-588.
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Objective. Altered DNA methylation patterns hold promise as cancer biomarkers. In this study we selected a panel of genes which are commonly methylated in a variety of cancers to evaluate their potential application as biomarkers for prognosis and diagnosis in high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC); the most common and lethal subtype of ovarian cancer. Methods. The methylation patterns of 10 genes (BRCA1, EN1, DLEC1, HOXA9, RASSF1A, GATA4, GATA5, HSULF1, CDH1, SFN) were examined and compared in a cohort of 80 primary HGSOC and 12 benign ovarian surface epithelium (USE) samples using methylation-specific headloop suppression PCR. Results. The genes were variably methylated in primary HGSOC, with HOXA9 methylation observed in 95% of cases. Most genes were rarely methylated in benign USE, with the exception of SFN which was methylated in all HGSOC and benign USE samples examined. Methylation of DLEC1 was associated with disease recurrence, independent of tumor stage and suboptimal surgical debulking (HR 3.5 (95% CI:1.10-11.07), p=0.033). A combination of the methylation status of HOXA9 and EN1 could discriminate HGSOC from benign USE with a sensitivity of 98.8% and a specificity of 91.7%, which increased to 100% sensitivity with no loss of specificity when pre-operative CA125 levels were also incorporated. Conclusions. This study provides further evidence to support the feasibility of detecting altered DNA methylation patterns as a potential diagnostic and prognostic approach for HGSOC.
Newton-John, TRO & McDonald, AJ 2012, 'Pain management in the context of workers compensation: a case study', TRANSLATIONAL BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 38-46.
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The clinical management of chronic pain is a biopsychosocial challenge in itself; however, when the pain occurs in the context of workers compensation, there is even greater clinical complexity. A review of the literature shows that patients being treated for chronic pain under workers compensation are generally more distressed and have poorer outcomes both clinically and vocationally than non-compensated patients. A range of factors is identified to explain these differences, including operation of the system itself. However, a case study is presented involving a 49-year-old woman with chronic neck pain, whose clinical history illustrates how workers compensation can negatively influence outcomes, but where successful rehabilitation is also possible. © 2012 Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Nguyen, HT, Pourian, M, Bystrom, B, Dahlin, I, Duc, PT, Nguyen, TV, von Schoultz, B & Hirschberg, AL 2012, 'Low aglycone content in commercial soy drink products.', Asia Pac J Clin Nutr, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 52-56.
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The effectiveness of soy isoflavones to prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women is controversial. While consumption of soy in Vietnam is very high, we recently reported a prevalence of osteoporosis comparable to that of many Western populations. In the present study, we analyzed the isoflavone content of soy drink products commercially available in Vietnam and Sweden, and we also compared these products to 'home-made' soy drink from beans of different origin. The amounts of the bioactive aglycones (daidzein, glycitein and genistein) and their glycoside isomers were quantified by high-pressure liquid chromatography. We found that the total isoflavone content was low in all preparations, around 70-100 mg/L and of this only 10% were bioactive aglycones. Of these, the Vietnamese products contained significantly lower levels of glycitein than the products from Sweden and 'home-made' soy drink preparations. The results show that consumption of several liters of soy drink per day would be needed to achieve threshold levels for a protective effect on bone. There was no significant association between total protein and isoflavone content in different products. Accurate labeling of soy drink and other products eg of aglycone and glycoside content would allow health professionals and researchers to better explore the possible benefits of soy in dietary intervention studies.
Nguyen, TV & Eisman, JA 2012, 'Genetics and the Individualized Prediction of Fracture', Current Osteoporosis Reports, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 236-244.
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Recent genome-wide association studies have identified many genetic variants associated with fracture risk. These genetic variants are common in the general population but have very modest effect sizes. A remaining challenge is to translate these genetic variant discoveries to better predict the risk of fracture based on an individual's genetic profile (ie, individualized risk assessment). Empirical and simulation studies have shown that 1) the utility of a single genetic variant for fracture risk assessment is very limited; but 2) a profile of 50 genetic variants, each with odds ratio ranging from 1.02 to 1.15, can improve the accuracy of fracture prediction and classification beyond that obtained by conventional clinical risk factors. These results are consistent with the view that genetic profiling, when integrated in existing risk assessment models, can inform a more accurate prediction of fracture risk in an individual.
Niimi, K, Ge, Q, Moir, LM, Ammit, AJ, Trian, T, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BGG 2012, 'β2-Agonists upregulate PDE4 mRNA but not protein or activity in human airway smooth muscle cells from asthmatic and nonasthmatic volunteers', American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, vol. 302, no. 3, pp. L334-L342.
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β2-Adrenergic receptor (β2AR) agonists induce airway relaxation via cAMP. Phosphodiesterase (PDE)s degrade and regulate cAMP, and in airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells PDE4D degrades cAMP. Long-acting β2-agonists are now contraindicated as monotherapy for asthma, and increased PDE4D has been speculated to contribute to this phenomenon. In this study we investigated the expression of PDE4D in asthmatic and nonasthmatic ASM cells and its regulation by formoterol and budesonide. Primary ASM cells from people with or without asthma were stimulated with transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, formoterol, and/or budesonide. PDE4D mRNA was assessed by real-time PCR, or PCR to assess splice variant production. PDE4D protein was assessed by Western blotting, and we investigated the effect of formoterol on cAMP production and PDE activity. Interleukin (IL)-6 was assessed using ELISA. PDE4D mRNA was dose dependently upregulated by formoterol, with a single splice variant, PDE4D5, present. Formoterol did not induce PDE4D protein at time points between 3 to 72 h, whereas it did induce and increase IL-6 secretion. We pretreated cells with actinomycin D and a proteasome inhibitor, MG132, and found no evidence of alterations in mRNA, protein expression, or degradation of PDE4D. Finally PDE activity was not altered by formoterol. This study shows, for the first time, that PDE4D5 is predominantly expressed in human ASM cells from people with and without asthma and that formoterol does not upregulate PDE4D protein production. This leads us to speculate that continual therapy with β2AR agonists is unlikely to cause PDE4-mediated tachyphylaxis.
Nolan, LM, Beatson, SA, Croft, L, Jones, PM, George, AM, Mattick, JS, Turnbull, L & Whitchurch, CB 2012, 'Extragenic suppressor mutations that restore twitching motility to fimL mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are associated with elevated intracellular cyclic AMP levels', MICROBIOLOGYOPEN, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 490-501.
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Cyclic AMP (cAMP) is a signaling molecule that is involved in the regulation of multiple virulence systems of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The intracellular concentration of cAMP in P. aeruginosa cells is tightly controlled at the levels of cAMP synthesis and degradation through regulation of the activity and/or expression of the adenylate cyclases CyaA and CyaB or the cAMP phosphodiesterase CpdA. Interestingly, mutants of fimL, which usually demonstrate defective twitching motility, frequently revert to a wild-type twitching-motility phenotype presumably via the acquisition of an extragenic suppressor mutation(s). In this study, we have characterized five independent fimL twitching-motility revertants and have determined that all have increased intracellular cAMP levels compared with the parent fimL mutant. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that only one of these fimL revertants has acquired a loss-of-function mutation in cpdA that accounts for the elevated levels of intracellular cAMP. As mutation of cpdA did not account for the restoration of twitching motility observed in the other four fimL revertants, these observations suggest that there is at least another, as yet unidentified, site of extragenic suppressor mutation that can cause phenotypic reversion in fimL mutants and modulation of intracellular cAMP levels of P. aeruginosa. Pseudomonas aeruginosa fimL mutants, which usually demonstrate defective twitching motility, frequently revert to a wild-type twitching-motility phenotype presumably via the acquisition of an extragenic suppressor mutation(s). In this study, we have characterized five independent fimL twitching-motility revertants and have determined that all have increased intracellular cAMP levels compared with the parent fimL mutant. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that only one of these fimL revertants has acquired a loss-of-function mutation in cpdA that accounts for the elevated levels of intracellular cAMP. © ...
Nomura, T, Cranfield, CG, Deplazes, E, Owen, DM, Macmillan, A, Battle, AR, Constantine, M, Sokabe, M & Martinac, B 2012, 'Differential effects of lipids and lyso-lipids on the mechanosensitivity of the mechanosensitive channels MscL and MscS', PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, vol. 109, no. 22, pp. 8770-8775.
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Mechanosensitive (MS) channels of small (MscS) and large (MscL) conductance are the major players in the protection of bacterial cells against hypoosmotic shock. Although a great deal is known about structure and function of these channels, much less is known about how membrane lipids may influence their mechanosensitivity and function. In this study, we use liposome coreconstitution to examine the effects of different types of lipids on MscS and MscL mechano-sensitivity simultaneously using the patch-clamp technique and confocal microscopy. Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)-FRET microscopy demonstrated that coreconstitution of MscS and MscL led to clustering of these channels causing a significant increase in the MscS activation threshold. Furthermore, the MscL/MscS threshold ratio dramatically decreased in thinner compared with thicker bilayers and upon addition of cholesterol, known to affect the bilayer thickness, stiffness and pressure profile. In contrast, application of micromolar concentrations of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) led to an increase of the MscL/MscS threshold ratio. These data suggest that differences in hydrophobic mismatch and bilayer stiffness, change in transbilayer pressure profile, and close proximity of MscL and MscS affect the structural dynamics of both channels to a different extent. Our findings may have far-reaching implications for other types of ion channels and membrane proteins that, like MscL and MscS, may coexist in multiple molecular complexes and, consequently, have their activation characteristics significantly affected by changes in the lipid environment and their proximity to each other.
Nuryani, N, Ling, SSH & Nguyen, HT 2012, 'Electrocardiographic Signals and Swarm-Based Support Vector Machine for Hypoglycemia Detection', ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 934-945.
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Cardiac arrhythmia relating to hypoglycemia is suggested as a cause of death in diabetic patients. This article introduces electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters for artificially induced hypoglycemia detection. In addition, a hybrid technique of swarm-based support vector machine (SVM) is introduced for hypoglycemia detection using the ECG parameters as inputs. In this technique, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed to optimize the SVM to detect hypoglycemia. In an experiment using medical data of patients with Type 1 diabetes, the introduced ECG parameters show significant contributions to the performance of the hypoglycemia detection and the proposed detection technique performs well in terms of sensitivity and specificity.
Oldfield, CC, McHenry, CR, Clausen, PD, Chamoli, U, Parr, WCH, Stynder, DD & Wroe, S 2012, 'Finite element analysis of ursid cranial mechanics and the prediction of feeding behaviour in the extinct giant Agriotherium africanum', Journal of Zoology, vol. 286, no. 2, pp. 171-171.
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AbstractHistorically, predicting ursid feeding behaviour on the basis of morphometric and mechanical analyses has proven difficult. Here, we apply three‐dimensional finite element analysis to models representing five extant and one fossil species of bear. The ability to generate high bite forces, and for the skull to sustain them, is present in both the giant panda and the gigantic extinct Agriotherium africanum. Bite forces for A. africanum are the highest predicted for any mammalian carnivore. Our findings do not resolve whether A. africanum was more likely a predator on, or scavenger of, large terrestrial vertebrates, but show that its skull was well‐adapted to resist the forces generated in either activity. The possibility that A. africanum was adapted to process tough vegetation is discounted. Results suggest that the polar bear is less well‐adapted to dispatch large prey than all but one of the five other species considered.
Parekh, HJ, Nguyen, HB, Hall, SL, Rehage, M, Anholm, J, Specht, L & Linkhart, TA 2012, 'Direct Pro-Inflammatory Effect of C-Reactive Protein on Human Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells', European Journal of Inflammation, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 357-363.
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C-reactive protein (CRP) has a prognostic role in cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Recent data suggest its pro-inflammatory effects in atherosclerotic lesion formation. This raises the hypothesis of whether or not CRP has pro-inflammatory effects on pulmonary vasculature by inducing the production of endothelin-1 (ET)-1, a potent vasoconstrictor and proliferative cytokine, and expression of adhesion molecules which could culminate in inflammatory cell recruitment and vascular injury. Human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs) were cultured and incubated with 25μg/ml of human recombinant CRP and with interleukin (IL)-1β 10ng/ml, a well-known activator of endothelial cells, which served as a positive control for 24 hours. Expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 was assessed by flow cytometry. Secretion of ET-1 from HPAECs was also evaluated. In this study we show that incubation of HPAECs with human recombinant CRP for 24 hours induced a significant increase in ICAM-1 expression (from 610 to 6553 mean fluorescence intensity, p < 0.005) and VCAM-1 expression (from 212 to 303 mean fluorescence intensity, p < 0.05), as compared to control. Adhesion molecule induction was similar to that observed in endothelial cells activated with IL-1β. Likewise, CRP potentiated the ET-1 production by HPAECs. The levels of ET-1 were significantly higher at 24 hours (control 19.94±3 vs CRP 46.54±18 pg/ml, p < 0.05). In conclusion, this study makes a novel observation that CRP induces expression of adhesion molecules and secretion of ET-1 in HPAECs. Our study provides the first evidence that CRP exerts direct proinflammatory effects on pulmonary artery endothelial cells.
Parker, D, Clifton, K, Shams, R & Young, J 2012, 'The effectiveness of nurse-led care in general practice on clinical outcomes in adults with type 2 diabetes', JBI Library of Systematic Reviews, vol. 10, no. 38, pp. 2514-2558.
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© the authors 2012. Background: In Australia, diabetes was identified as a national health priority area in 1996; nevertheless the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased dramatically since then. Nurses have been working within Australian general practices for several decades but only in recent years has the role of the practice nurse in primary health care increased. Objectives: This review aims to identify the effectiveness of nurse-led care in general practice as compared to general practitioner care on clinical outcomes in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Parr, WCH, Wroe, S, Chamoli, U, Richards, HS, McCurry, MR, Clausen, PD & McHenry, C 2012, 'Toward integration of geometric morphometrics and computational biomechanics: New methods for 3D virtual reconstruction and quantitative analysis of Finite Element Models', Journal of Theoretical Biology, vol. 301, pp. 1-14.
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Patterson, I, Darcy, S & Mönninghoff, M 2012, 'Attitudes and experiences of tourism operators in Northern Australia towards people with disabilities', World Leisure Journal, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 215-229.
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The last decade has seen an increasing interest in disability, access and tourism. This has culminated in the emergence of a body of work on “accessible tourism.” Disability and access have been the subject of a great deal of government regulation and coordination through building codes, awareness training and state-based tourism marketing authorities and policy engagement. Yet, the supply-side perspective of industry responses to this consumer group has been under researched (Darcy & Pegg, 2011). This study seeks to redress this omission through examining the attitudes and experiences of tourism operators. The area chosen for the study was Queensland, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 32 tourism operators across five major regional tourism locations. The interviews investigated the level of engagement with the consumer group, their motivations for catering for the group and their experiences with the service provision to the group. The results of the study showed that, while the macro policy environment is conducive to having an accessible built environment, transport and service sector, the level of engagement by the tourism industry still involves an ad hoc process of trial and error on the part of individual operators. In comparison with previous decades, tourism operators are now making significant efforts to make their products and services more accessible to people with disabilities. However, most operators in the study noted that there is still a weak demand from the accessible tourism market and low recognition of their existing product offerings. © 2012 World Leisure Organization.
Paul, RG, Elston, MS, Gill, AJ, Marsh, D, Beer, I, Wolmarans, L, Conaglen, JV & Meyer-Rochow, GY 2012, 'Hypercalcaemia due to parathyroid carcinoma presenting in the third trimester of pregnancy', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 204-207.
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Primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) in pregnancy may be associated with significant maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Medical management of pHPT in pregnancy is limited, and surgery is the only definitive therapeutic option. The ideal timing for surgery is mid‐second trimester, but surgery may also be safely performed in the third trimester. Delayed parathyroid surgery may result in a hypercalcaemic crisis postpartum owing to loss of active placental calcium transfer. We present a case of parathyroid carcinoma in pregnancy presenting with pre‐eclampsia at 32 weeks’ gestation.
Perdomo, J, Jiang, X-M, Carter, DR, Khachigian, LM & Chong, BH 2012, 'SUMOylation Regulates the Transcriptional Repression Activity of FOG-2 and Its Association with GATA-4', PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. e50637-e50637.
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Petriwskyj, A, Robinson, A, Parker, D, Banks, S & Andrews, S 2012, 'Family involvement in decision making for people with dementia in residential aged care: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence', JBI Library of Systematic Reviews, vol. 10, no. 42, pp. 1-17.
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© 2012, Joanna Briggs Institute. All rights Reserved. Review question/objective The qualitative and quantitative objective of this review is to scope the extant knowledge about family involvement in decision making for people with dementia living in residential aged care. More specifically, the review question/s are •Who are the decision makers for people with dementia living in residential care? •What is the experience of decision making for family members in the residential care setting? •What are the barriers or facilitators to decision making by families? •What is the impact of decision making processes on family members? •What is the impact of collaborative decision making with family on the person with dementia? •What processes or strategies do family decision-makers use?
Phillips, JL, Piza, M & Ingham, J 2012, 'Continuing professional development programmes for rural nurses involved in palliative care delivery: An integrative review', NURSE EDUCATION TODAY, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 385-392.
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Purpose To review published studies evaluating the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes on rural nurses palliative care capabilities in order to inform the development of targeted learning activities for this population. Design An integrative review. Methods Searches of key electronic databases and the World Wide Web was undertaken using key words, followed by hand searching for relevant articles. All studies were reviewed by two authors using a critical appraisal tool and level of evidence hierarchy. Results The search strategies generated 74 articles, with 10 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. All of these studies evaluated palliative care CPD programmes involving rural nurses which focused on increasing palliative care capabilities. The evidence generated by this review was limited by the absence of randomised controlled trials. A level III-1 study, with a small sample size provided the highest level of evidence, but the lack of control negated the investigators' capacity to confirm causality. Few studies measured the impact of CPD on the quality of care or utilised novel technology to address the tyranny of distance. Despite, these limitations valuable insights into the barriers and facilitators to engaging rural nurses in palliative care learning opportunities were identified.
Phillips, JL, Rolley, JX & Davidson, PM 2012, 'Developing Targeted Health Service Interventions Using the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model: Two Australian Case Studies', Nursing Research and Practice, vol. 2012, pp. 1-8.
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Aims and Objectives. This paper provides an overview of the applicability of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model to the development of targeted nursing led chronic illness interventions.Background. Changing health care practice is a complex and dynamic process that requires consideration of social, political, economic, and organisational factors. An understanding of the characteristics of the target population, health professionals, and organizations plus identification of the determinants for change are also required. Synthesizing this data to guide the development of an effective intervention is a challenging process. The PRECEDE-PROCEED Model has been used in global health care settings to guide the identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation of various health improvement initiatives.Design. Using a reflective case study approach, this paper examines the applicability of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model to the development of targeted chronic care improvement interventions for two distinct Australian populations: a rapidly expanding and aging rural population with unmet palliative care needs and a disadvantaged urban community at higher risk of cardiovascular disease.Results. The PRECEDE-PROCEED Model approach demonstrated utility across diverse health settings in a systematic planning process. In environments characterized by increasing health care needs, limited resources, and growing community expectations, adopting planning tools such as PRECEDE-PROCEED Model at a local level can facilitate the development of the most effective interventions.Relevance to Clinical Practice. The PRECEDE-PROCEED Model is a strong theoretical model that guides the development of realistic nursing led interventions with the best chance of being successful in existing health care environments.
R. Doddareddy, M, Rawling, T & J. Ammit, A 2012, 'Targeting Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Phosphatase-1 (MKP-1): Structure-Based Design of MKP-1 Inhibitors and Upregulators', Current Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 163-173.
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Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatases (MKPs) are dual specificity protein phosphatases (DUSPs) that dephosphorylate both phospho-tyrosine and phospho-threonine residues on mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Because the MAPK family of signalling molecules (phospho-p38 MAPK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)) play essential roles in cell signalling pathways that regulate cell growth and inflammation, controlling MAPK-mediated pathways is a therapeutically attractive strategy. While small molecule MAPK inhibitors have utility, in this review we will focus on exploring the potential of targeting the endogenous MAPK deactivator--MKP-1. Importantly, there is a strong justification for developing both inhibitors and upregulators of MKP-1 because of the diverse roles played by MAPKs in disease: for example, in cancer, MKP-1 inhibitors may prove beneficial, as MKP-1 is overexpressed and is considered responsible for the failure of JNK-driven apoptotic pathways induced by chemotherapeutics; conversely, in inflammatory diseases such as asthma and arthritis, MKP-1 reduces MAPK-mediated signalling and developing novel ligands to upregulate MKP-1 levels would be a therapeutically attractive anti-inflammatory strategy. Thus, in this review we utilise MKP-1 homology modeling to highlight the structural features of MKP-1 inhibitors that permit potent and selective inhibition, and to provide insights into the structural requirements for selective MKP-1 upregulators.
Rana, M & ASME 2012, 'INTRODUCTION', PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASME PRESSURE VESSELS AND PIPING CONFERENCE, PVP 2012, VOL 1, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 441-441.
Robinson, MW, Alvarado, R, To, J, Hutchinson, AT, Dowdell, SN, Lund, M, Turnbull, L, Whitchurch, CB, O'Brien, BA, Dalton, JP & Donnelly, S 2012, 'A helminth cathelicidin-like protein suppresses antigen processing and presentation in macrophages via inhibition of lysosomal vATPase', FASEB JOURNAL, vol. 26, no. 11, pp. 4614-4627.
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We previously reported the identification of a novel family of immunomodulatory proteins, termed helminth defense molecules (HDMs), that are secreted by medically important trematode parasites. Since HDMs share biochemical, structural, and functional characteristics with mammalian cathelicidin-like host defense peptides (HDPs), we proposed that HDMs modulate the immune response via molecular mimicry of host molecules. In the present study, we report the mechanism by which HDMs influence the function of macrophages. We show that the HDM secreted by Fasciola hepatica (FhHDM-1) binds to macrophage plasma membrane lipid rafts via selective interaction with phospholipids and/or cholesterol before being internalized by endocytosis. Following internalization, FhHDM-1 is rapidly processed by lysosomal cathepsin L to release a short C-terminal peptide (containing a conserved amphipathic helix that is a key to HDM function), which then prevents the acidification of the endolysosomal compartments by inhibiting vacuolar ATPase activity. The resulting endolysosomal alkalization impedes macrophage antigen processing and prevents the transport of peptides to the cell surface in conjunction with MHC class II for presentation to CD4+ T cells. Thus, we have elucidated a novel mechanism by which helminth pathogens alter innate immune cell function to assist their survival in the host.
Rodgers, KJ & Jackson, CL 2012, 'Aneurysm prevention: keep the cat out of the bag', CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH, vol. 96, no. 3, pp. 350-351.
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Schweinsberg, SC, Wearing, SL & Darcy, S 2012, 'Understanding communities' views of nature in rural industry renewal: the transition from forestry to nature-based tourism in Eden, Australia', JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 195-213.
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This scoping paper examines the complex issue of assessing and understanding community views about the restructuring towards nature-based rural tourism of traditional agriculture and forestry rural economies and their activities that had hitherto shaped local identities. It shows how individual resident perceptions can be included within social impact assessment through the use of psychological methods and discusses the relative merits of using personal construct theory -based repertory grids. Ten repertory grid interviews were completed in Eden, New South Wales, Australia. The findings present both the resulting repertory grids and a more detailed discussion of the interpretation of the grids through two narratives that focus on residents considering what, in their opinion, constitutes a sustainable utilisation of local forest land. The discussion examines how the results of this type of analysis can be used to understand individual residents' decisions to support or reject nature-based tourism proposals in favour of traditional extractive forest-industry sectors. It shows how this assessment system could aid planners in reconciling stakeholder conflict over the ideal usage of public forest land by offering a structured means of giving heterogeneous rural communities a formal voice in tourism-planning processes. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Simar, D, Chen, H, Lambert, K, Mercier, J & Morris, MJ 2012, 'Interaction between maternal obesity and post-natal over-nutrition on skeletal muscle metabolism', Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 269-276.
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Background and aims: Maternal obesity and post-natal over-nutrition play an important role in programming glucose and lipid metabolism later in life. The aim of this study was to decipher the contributions of maternal obesity and post-natal over-nutrition on glucose and lipid metabolism in skeletal muscle. Method and results: Male offspring of Sprague Dawley rat mothers fed either chow or high fat diet (HFD) for 5 weeks prior to mating were subsequently fed either chow or HFD until 18 weeks of age. Collection of plasma and skeletal muscle was performed at weaning (20 days) and 18 weeks. At weaning, offspring from obese mothers showed increased body weight, plasma insulin and lactate concentrations associated with reduced skeletal muscle glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) and increased monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) protein. In 18-week old offspring, post-weaning HFD further exacerbated the elevated body weight caused by maternal obesity. Surprisingly this additive effect on body weight was not reflected in plasma glucose, insulin, lactate and MCT1; these markers were only increased by post-weaning HFD consumption. However, an additive effect of maternal obesity and post-weaning HFD led to decreased muscle GLUT4 levels, as well as mRNA levels of carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1, myogenic differentiation protein and myogenin. Conclusion: Post-weaning HFD exerted an additive effect to that of maternal obesity on body weight and skeletal muscle markers of glucose and lipid metabolism but not on plasma glucose and insulin levels, suggesting that maternal obesity and post-natal over-nutrition impair skeletal muscle function via different mechanisms. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.
Slattery, KM, Coutts, AJ & Wallace, LK 2012, 'Nutritional practices of elite swimmers during an intensified training camp: with particular reference to antioxidants', JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS, vol. 52, no. 5, pp. 501-505.
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Aim. Athletes should match their energy intake with expenditure in order to maintain lean body mass. It is also important to consume adequate amounts of antioxidant vitamins and minerals to maintain health. Methods. To assess the dietary habits of six nationally ranked Australian swimmers physical training load and dietary intake (24 h food recall) and were recorded on a daily basis during a 4 day intensive physical training period. Results. The results showed no significant difference between energy intake and expenditure (P=0.58) or the amount of carbohydrate consumed (P=0. 14) compared to the Australian recommended daily intake (RDI). Athletes reported a significantly greater intake of vitamin A (P<0.01), vitamin C (P<0.01), vitamin E (P<0.01) and protein (P<0.01) than the RDI. Conclusion. It was concluded that these elite swimmers have an adequate dietary intake to allow for optimal physical training and performance.
Slattery, KM, Wallace, LK, Bentley, DJ & Coutts, AJ 2012, 'Effect of training load on simulated team sport match performance', APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY NUTRITION AND METABOLISM-PHYSIOLOGIE APPLIQUEE NUTRITION ET METABOLISME, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 315-322.
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This study examined the effect of training load on running performance and plasma markers of anaerobic metabolism, muscle damage, and inflammation during a simulated team sport match performance.
Small, J, Darcy, S & Packer, T 2012, 'The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: Management implications beyond the visual gaze', Tourism Management, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 941-950.
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This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that investigated the embodied tourist experiences of 40 people who are vision impaired. The study, informed by the concept of 'embodied ontology', explored the corporeal and socially constructed experience of tourism. The findings highlighted the benefit of holidays for the participants and de-centred the 'visual gaze' in the tourist experience. The quality of the tourist experience related to participants' feelings of inclusion or exclusion in terms of their access to information, experience of wayfinding, travelling with a guide dog, and the knowledge and attitudes of others. It was evident that participants needed to manage their tourist experiences closely and constantly. The paper concludes that the tourism industry and community must understand the multi-sensory nature of the tourist experience if quality accessible experiences are to be available for tourists with vision impairment. Provision of multi-sensory experiences also enhances the experiences of sighted tourists. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Strand, H & Parker, D 2012, 'Effects of multidisciplinary models of care for adult pre-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease: a systematic review', International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 53-59.
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Su, SW, Anderson, BDO, Chen, W & Nguyen, HT 2012, 'Multi-realization of nonlinear systems', AUTOMATICA, vol. 48, no. 7, pp. 1455-1461.
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The system multi-realization problem is to find a state-variable realization for a set of systems, sharing as many parameters as possible. A multi-realization can be used to efficiently implement a multi-controller architecture for multiple model adaptive control. We extend the linear multi-realization problem to nonlinear systems. The problem of minimal multi-realization of a set of MIMO systems is introduced and solved for static feedback linearizable systems.
Suñer, S, Tipper, JL & Emami, N 2012, 'Biological effects of wear particles generated in total joint replacements: trends and future prospects', Tribology - Materials, Surfaces & Interfaces, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 39-52.
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Joint replacements have considerably improved the quality of life of patients with joints damaged by disease or trauma. However, problems associated with wear particles generated due to the relative motion between the components of the bearing are still present and can lead to the eventual failure of the implant. The biological response to wear debris affects directly the longevity of the prosthesis. The identification of the mechanisms by which cells respond to wear debris and how particles distribute into the human body may provide valuable information for the long term success of artificial joints. During the last few decades, orthopaedic research has been focused on predicting the in vivo performance of joint replacements. However, the exact relationship between material physicochemical properties and inflammatory response has not been fully understood. Laboratory wear simulators provide an accurate prediction of implant wear performance. Though, particles generated from such wear simulators require validation to compare them with particles extracted from peri-implant tissues. This review focuses initially on the current status of total joint replacements (hard on soft and hard on hard bearings) as well as on the tribological behaviour of the potential materials currently under investigation. Then, the correspondence between particles observed in vivo and those generated in vitro to predict the cellular response to wear debris is discussed. Finally, the biological effects of the degradation products generated by wear and corrosion are described. © 2012 W. S. Maney & Son Ltd.
Tan, X, Khalil, N, Tesarik, C, Vanapalli, K, Yaputra, V, Alkhouri, H, Oliver, BGG, Armour, CL & Hughes, JM 2012, 'Th1 cytokine-induced syndecan-4 shedding by airway smooth muscle cells is dependent on mitogen-activated protein kinases', AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LUNG CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR PHYSIOLOGY, vol. 302, no. 7, pp. 1700-1710.
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In asthma, airway smooth muscle (ASM) chemokine secretion can induce mast cell recruitment into the airways. The functions of the mast cell chemoattractant CXCL10, and other chemokines, are regulated by binding to heparan sulphates such as syndecan-4. This study is the first demonstration that airway smooth muscle cells (ASMC) from people with and without asthma express and shed syndecan-4 under basal conditions. Syndecan-4 shedding was enhanced by stimulation for 24 h with the Th1 cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β) or tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), but not interferon-γ (IFNγ), nor the Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-13. ASMC stimulation with IL-1β, TNF-α, and IFNγ (cytomix) induced the highest level of syndecan-4 shedding. Nonasthmatic and asthmatic ASM cell-associated syndecan-4 protein expression was also increased by TNF-α or cytomix at 4-8 h, with the highest levels detected in cytomix-stimulated asthmatic cells. Cell-associated syndecan- 4 levels were decreased by 24 h, whereas shedding remained elevated at 24 h, consistent with newly synthesized syndecan-4 being shed. Inhibition of ASMC matrix metalloproteinase-2 did not prevent syndecan-4 shedding, whereas inhibition of ERK MAPK activation reduced shedding from cytomix-stimulated ASMC. Although ERK inhibition had no effect on syndecan-4 mRNA levels stimulated by cytomix, it did cause an increase in cell-associated syndecan-4 levels, consistent with the shedding being inhibited. In conclusion, ASMC produce and shed syndecan-4 and although this is increased by the Th1 cytokines, the MAPK ERK only regulates shedding. ASMC syndecan-4 production during Th1 inflammatory conditions may regulate chemokine activity and mast cell recruitment to the ASM in asthma. © 2012 the American Physiological Society.
Tavakoli, J, Miar, S, Majid Zadehzare, M & Akbari, H 2012, 'Evaluation of effectiveness of herbal medication in cancer care: a review study.', Iran J Cancer Prev, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 144-156.
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Based on a common belief, herbal medicine with the least possible side effects should be the center of attention in cancer care; however, in many cases they have not been properly studied with reliable clinical trials in human subjects. In this review, it was attempted to identify the available evidence on the use and clinical effects of herbs in cancer care. The research consists of two major parts including immunomodulator and chemopreventive herbal compounds whose mechanism, biological response, anticancer element of extract and related benefits were completely studied. Also, the safety of herbal anticancer compounds was discussed. Although the use of herbal medicines in treating cancer shows less chemotherapy-induced, toxicity, more researches are required to reach their full therapeutic potentials.
Tsakonas, A & Gabrys, B 2012, 'GRADIENT: Grammar-driven genetic programming framework for building multi-component, hierarchical predictive systems', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 39, no. 18, pp. 13253-13266.
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Van Ly, D, Burgess, JK, Brock, TG, Lee, TH, Black, JL & Oliver, BGG 2012, 'Prostaglandins but not leukotrienes alter extracellular matrix protein deposition and cytokine release in primary human airway smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts', American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, vol. 303, no. 3, pp. L239-L250.
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Eicosanoids are lipid-signaling mediators released by many cells in response to various stimuli. Increasing evidence suggests that eicosanoids such as leukotrienes and prostaglandins (PGs) may directly mediate remodeling. In this study, we assessed whether these substances could alter extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and the inflammatory profiles of primary human airway smooth muscle cells (ASM) and fibroblasts. PGE2decreased both fibronectin and tenascin C in fibroblasts but only fibronectin in ASM. PGD2decreased both fibronectin and tenascin C in both ASM and fibroblasts, whereas PGF2αhad no effect on ECM deposition. The selective PGI2analog, MRE-269, decreased fibronectin but not tenascin C in both cell types. All the PGs increased IL-6 and IL-8 release in a dose-dependent manner in ASM and fibroblasts. Changes in ECM deposition and cytokine release induced by prostaglandins in both ASM and fibroblasts were independent of an effect on cell number. Neither the acute nor repeated stimulation with leukotrienes had an effect on the deposition of ECM proteins or cytokine release from ASM or fibroblasts. We concluded that, collectively, these results provide evidence that PGs may contribute to ECM remodeling to a greater extent than leukotrienes in airway cells.
Vicars, R, Prokopovich, P, Brown, TD, Tipper, JL, Ingham, E, Fisher, J & Hall, RM 2012, 'The Effect of Anterior-Posterior Shear on the Wear of CHARITÉ Total Disc Replacement', Spine, vol. 37, no. 9, pp. E528-E534.
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Voss, S, Nikolovski, Z, Bucheit, M, Racinais, S, Coutts, A, El Rayess, M, Orie, N, Aljaber, M, Muhammed Ali, A, Bakhamis, A, Mohamed Ali, V & Alsayrafi, M 2012, 'Non-acute responses of hematological and molecular markers to intermittent hypoxic exposure and physical exercise in hot environment', Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Volume 2012 Issue 1.
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Background & Objectives:Both exercise and hypoxia acutely elicit changes in systemic growth factors and cytokines that mediate increases in erythropoiesis, angiogenesis and, perhaps, arteriogenesis. To what extent the down-stream responses to these interventions are inter-related is, as yet, unclear. A role for circulating micro RNAs (cmiRNAs) in the regulation of these processes is a novel prospect. Thus the aims of this study are to investigate the effect of hypoxia and exercise training on relevant growth factors and cmiRNAs in a healthy human cohort. Methods:18 healthy, Caucasian, male, elite athletes participated in this study. The project was designed as a parallel, two-groups, matched, randomized, longitudinal (pre-, mid-, post-test), two week intervention. One group was exposed to hypoxia (15 hours/day) the other stayed in a normoxic environment. Both groups performed physical exercise in a 10°C hotter environment than usual. The exercise was standardized for both groups and the daily work load was monitored. Blood was sampled under fasting conditions in the morning, to avoid any effects of acute exercise. Hemoglobin (Hb), reticulocytes, erythropoietin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin 6 (IL-6), cmiRNAs 144, 146a, 221, 222 were tested in blood and sera.Results:In the normoxic group decreases from pre- to mid- and post-test were found for Hb (p=0.011, p=0.002) and IL-6 (p=0.028, p=0.008). However, in the hypoxic group several changes were apparent. In this group Hb changed at the pre- to mid-test (p=0.013), reticulocytes also increased from pre- to mid-test (p=0.066), erythropoietin increased from pre- to mid- and post-test (p=0.008, p=0.008). VEGF also showed a tendency to increase from pre- to mid-test (p=0.085) and increased from pre- to post-test (p=0.011). The 2-ΔΔCT values for cmiRNAs 221 and 222 showed an increasing trend at the post-test time point but did not reach statistical significance.Concl...
Warkiani, ME, Lou, C-P, Liu, H-B & Gong, H-Q 2012, 'A high-flux isopore micro-fabricated membrane for effective concentration and recovering of waterborne pathogens', Biomedical Microdevices, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 669-677.
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Waterloo, S, Ahmed, LA, Center, JR, Eisman, JA, Morseth, B, Nguyen, ND, Nguyen, T, Sogaard, AJ & Emaus, N 2012, 'Prevalence of vertebral fractures in women and men in the population-based Tromsø Study', BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-9.
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BACKGROUND: Osteoporotic vertebral fractures are, as the hip fractures, associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Norway has one of the highest reported incidences of hip fractures in the world. Because of methodological challenges, vertebral fractures are not extensively studied. The aim of this population based study was to describe, for the first time, the age- and sex specific occurrence of osteoporotic vertebral fractures in Norway. METHODS: Data was collected in the Tromso Study, 2007/8 survey. By the use of dual x-ray absorptiometry (GE Lunar Prodigy) vertebral fracture assessments were performed in 2887 women and men aged from 38 to 87 years, in addition to measurements of bone mineral density at the femoral sites. Information on lifestyle was collected through questionnaires. Comparisons between fractures and non-fractures were done sex stratified, by univariate analyses, adjusting for age when relevant. RESULTS: The prevalence of vertebral fractures varied from about 3% in the age group below 60 to about 19% in the 70+ group in women, and from 7.5% to about 20% in men, with an overall prevalence of 11.8% in women and 13.8% in men (p = 0.07). Among those with fractures, only one fracture was the most common; two and more fractures were present in approximately 30% of the cases. Fractures were seen from the fourth lumbar to the fifth thoracic vertebrae, most common between first lumbar and sixth thoracic vertebrae. The most common type of fracture was the wedge type in both sexes. Bone mineral density at the hip differed significantly according to type of fracture, being highest in those with wedge fractures and lowest in those with compression fractures. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of vertebral fractures increased by age in women and men, but the overall prevalence was lower than expected, considering the high prevalence of hip and forearm fractures in Norway. In both sexes, the wedge type was the fracture type most frequently observed and most ...
Weckmann, M, Moir, LM, Heckman, CA, Black, JL, Oliver, BG & Burgess, JK 2012, 'Lamstatin - a novel inhibitor of lymphangiogenesis derived from collagen IV', JOURNAL OF CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE, vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 3062-3073.
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The lymphatic system is essential for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and immunity. Its dysfunction in disease (such as lymphangioleiomyomatosis) can lead to chylous effusions, oedema or dissemination of malignant cells. Collagen IV has six α chains, of which some of the non-collagenous-1 domains have endogenous anti-angiogenic properties, however, little is known about specific endogenous anti-lymphangiogenic characteristics. In this study we sought to investigate the expression levels of collagen IV non-collagenous-1 domains in lung tissue of patients with and without lymphangioleiomyomatosis to explore the hypothesis that a member of the collagen IV family, specifically the non-collagenous domain-1 of α5, which we named lamstatin, has anti-lymphangiogenic properties. Levels of lamstatin detected by immunohistochemistry were decreased in lungs of lymphangioleiomyomatosis patients. We produced recombinant lamstatin in an E.coli expression system and synthesized a 17-amino acid peptide from a theoretically identified, active region (CP17) and tested their effects in vitro and in vivo. Recombinant lamstatin and CP17 inhibited proliferation, migration and cord formation of human microvascular lung lymphatic endothelial cells, in vitro. Furthermore, lamstatin and CP17 decreased complexity and dysplasia of the tumour-associated lymphatic network in a lung adenocarcinoma xenograft mouse model. In this study we identified a novel, direct inhibitor of lymphangiogenesis, derived from collagen IV. This may prove useful for exploring new avenues of treatment for lymphangioleiomyomatosis and metastasis via the lymphatic system in general. © 2012 The Authors Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine © 2012 Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Xiao, L, Lao, W-G, Tan, Y & Qu, X 2012, 'In Vitro Investigation of Anti-Diabetic Effect of Taxus cuspidate Extracts by Ultrasound Assisted Method', The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, vol. 40, no. 06, pp. 1205-1215.
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Extracting active components from Chinese medicinal herbs efficiently is a key step in the investigation of their pharmacological effects and modes of action. In this project, we compared the ultrasound-assisted method and the conventional solvent method for extracting the active compound of Taxus cuspidate (dong bei hong dou shan). Through the analysis of various extractions with a quadruple time-of-fight (Q-TOF) LC/MS, we demonstrated that the ultrasound-assisted method reduced solvent consumption and had shorter extraction time, while the extraction yields of the active compound (taxol) were equivalent to or even higher than those obtained with the conventional solvent extraction method. Through the comparison of Taxus cuspidate extracts (TCEs) with different concentrations of acetone and ethanol, we proved that 50% ethanol was an optimal solvent for extracting taxol from Taxus cuspidate. Based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) literature, we further determined whether TCEs possess antidiabetic effects by testing glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes treated with TCEs from Taxus cuspidate bark and twigs under insulin stimulation (100 nM). The results showed that neither taxol (10 μg/ml) nor TCEs (1 and 0.1 mg/ml) changed glucose uptake significantly compared with insulin alone. This study demonstrated that the ultrasound-assisted method with 50% ethanol is a highly efficient approach for extracting Taxus cuspidate, which may be applicable for extraction of other Chinese medicinal herbs. Extracts of Taxus cuspidate bark and twigs had no effect on insulin stimulated-glucose uptake in vitro. This result conflicts with the description in TCM literature. Further in vivo study to clarify Taxus cuspidate's metabolic actions is necessary.
Yang, S, Nguyen, ND, Eisman, JA & Nguyen, TV 2012, 'Association between beta-blockers and fracture risk: A Bayesian meta-analysis', Bone, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 969-974.
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Background: The association between beta-blockers (BB) and fracture risk is controversial, due largely to conflicting findings from previous studies. The present study sought to evaluate the effect of BB on fracture risk by using a Bayesian meta-analysis approach. Methods and results: We systematically retrieved 13 observational studies on the association between BB use and fracture risk. This meta-analysis involved more than 907.000 men and women with mean/median age of individual studies ranging from 43 to 81 years. We used a hierarchical Bayesian random effects model to synthesize the results. BB use was associated with an average 17% reduction in the risk of any fracture (risk ratio [RR] 0.83: 95% credible interval [Crl]: 0.71-0.93), hip fracture (RR 0.83: 95% Crl: 0.70-0.92) and vertebral fracture (RR 0.81:95% Crl: 0.61-0.99). The probability that BB use reduces fracture risk by at least 10% was 0.91. Conclusions: Beta-blockers are associated with reduced risk of fracture in older adults, but the effect size is likely to be modest. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Yuwono, M, Moulton, BD, Su, SW, Celler, BG & Nguyen, HT 2012, 'Unsupervised machine-learning method for improving the performance of ambulatory fall-detection systems', BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING ONLINE, vol. 11, pp. 1-11.
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Background: Falls can cause trauma, disability and death among older people. Ambulatory accelerometer devices are currently capable of detecting falls in a controlled environment. However, research suggests that most current approaches can tend to have insufficient sensitivity and specificity in non-laboratory environments, in part because impacts can be experienced as part of ordinary daily living activities. Method: We used a waist-worn wireless tri-axial accelerometer combined with digital signal processing, clustering and neural network classifiers. The method includes the application of Discrete Wavelet Transform, Regrouping Particle Swarm Optimization, Gaussian Distribution of Clustered Knowledge and an ensemble of classifiers including a multilayer perceptron and Augmented Radial Basis Function (ARBF) neural networks. Results: Preliminary testing with 8 healthy individuals in a home environment yields 98.6% sensitivity to falls and 99.6% specificity for routine Activities of Daily Living (ADL) data. Single ARB and MLP classifiers were compared with a combined classifier. The combined classifier offers the greatest sensitivity, with a slight reduction in specificity for routine ADL and an increased specificity for exercise activities. In preliminary tests, the approach achieves 100% sensitivity on in-group falls, 97.65% on out-group falls, 99.33% specificity on routine ADL, and 96.59% specificity on exercise ADL. Conclusion: The pre-processing and feature-extraction steps appear to simplify the signal while successfully extracting the essential features that are required to characterize a fall. The results suggest this combination of classifiers can perform better than MLP alone. Preliminary testing suggests these methods may be useful for researchers who are attempting to improve the performance of ambulatory fall detection systems.
Zhang, Y, Chen, W, Su, SW & Celler, B 2012, 'Nonlinear modelling and control for heart rate response to exercise', International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, vol. 8, no. 5/6, pp. 397-397.
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In order to accurately regulate cardiovascular response to exercise for individual exerciser, this study proposes a modelling and control integrated approach based on ε-insensitive Support Vector Regression (SVR) and switching control strategy. Firstly, a control oriented modelling approach is proposed to depict nonlinear behaviours of cardiovascular response at both onset and offset of treadmill exercises by using support vector machine regression. Then, based on the established nonlinear time-variant model, a novel switching Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm has been proposed for the optimisation of exercise efforts. The designed controller can take into account both coefficient drifting and parameter jump by embedding the identified model coefficient into the optimiser and adopting switching strategy during the transfer between onset and offset of exercises. The effectiveness of the proposed modelling and control approach was shown from the regulation of dynamical heart rate response to exercise through simulation using MATLAB.
Zhao, L, Hoi, SCH, Wong, L, Hamp, T & Li, J 2012, 'Structural and Functional Analysis of Multi-Interface Domains', PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 12, pp. e50821-e50821.
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A multi-interface domain is a domain that can shape multiple and distinctive binding sites to contact with many other domains, forming a hub in domain-domain interaction networks. The functions played by the multiple interfaces are usually different, but there is no strict bijection between the functions and interfaces as some subsets of the interfaces play the same function. This work applies graph theory and algorithms to discover fingerprints for the multiple interfaces of a domain and to establish associations between the interfaces and functions, based on a huge set of multi-interface proteins from PDB. We found that about 40% of proteins have the multi-interface property, however the involved multi-interface domains account for only a tiny fraction (1.8%) of the total number of domains. The interfaces of these domains are distinguishable in terms of their fingerprints, indicating the functional specificity of the multiple interfaces in a domain. Furthermore, we observed that both cooperative and distinctive structural patterns, which will be useful for protein engineering, exist in the multiple interfaces of a domain
Zhao, L, Wong, L, Lu, L, Hoi, SCH & Li, J 2012, 'B-cell epitope prediction through a graph model', BMC BIOINFORMATICS, vol. 13, no. suppl 17, pp. 1-12.
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Background Prediction of B-cell epitopes from antigens is useful to understand the immune basis of antibody-antigen recognition, and is helpful in vaccine design and drug development. Tremendous efforts have been devoted to this long-studied problem, however, existing methods have at least two common limitations. One is that they only favor prediction of those epitopes with protrusive conformations, but show poor performance in dealing with planar epitopes. The other limit is that they predict all of the antigenic residues of an antigen as belonging to one single epitope even when multiple non-overlapping epitopes of an antigen exist. Results In this paper, we propose to divide an antigen surface graph into subgraphs by using a Markov Clustering algorithm, and then we construct a classifier to distinguish these subgraphs as epitope or non-epitope subgraphs. This classifier is then taken to predict epitopes for a test antigen. On a big data set comprising 92 antigen-antibody PDB complexes, our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art epitope prediction methods, achieving 24.7% higher averaged f-score than the best existing models. In particular, our method can successfully identify those epitopes with a non-planarity which is too small to be addressed by the other models. Our method can also detect multiple epitopes whenever they exist.
Zheng, L, Hoang, DB & Li, M 2012, 'Wireless Hybrid QoS Architecture with an Enhancement of Fair Intelligent Congestion Control', Wireless Engineering and Technology, vol. 03, no. 03, pp. 113-124.
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More subtle and explicit QoS control mechanisms are required at the radio access level, even though the simple and scalable Differentiated Services (DiffServ) QoS control model is acceptable for the core of the network. At the radio access level, available resources are severely limited and the degree of traffic aggregation is not significant, thus rendering the DiffServ principles less effective. In this paper we present a suitable hybrid QoS architecture framework to address the problem. At the wireless access end, the local QoS mechanism is designed in the context of IEEE 802.11 WLAN with 802.11e QoS extensions; so streams of those session-based applications are admitted, established according to the traffic profile they require, and guaranteed. As the core in the Admission Control of the hybrid QoS architecture, the Fair Intelligent Congestion Control (FICC) algorithm is applied to provide fairness among traffic aggregates and control congestion at the bottleneck interface between the wireless link and the network core via mechanisms of packet scheduling, buffer management, feedback and adjustments. It manages effectively the overloading scenario by preventing traffic violation from uncontrolled traffic, and providing guarantee to the priority traffic in terms of guaranteed bandwidth allocation and specified delay
Zhou, J, Su, S, Guo, AH & Chen, WD 2012, 'Abnormalities Detection of IMU Based on PCA in Motion Monitoring', Applied Mechanics and Materials, vol. 224, no. 1, pp. 533-538.
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Inertial measurement units (IMU) are used as an affordable and effective remote measurement method for health monitoring in body sensor networks (BSNs) based on tracking people’s daily motions and activities. These inertial sensors are mostly micro-electro-mechanical systems with a combination of multi-axis combinations of precision gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers to sense multiple degrees of freedom (DoF).Unfortunately in the process of motion monitoring actual sensor outputs may contain some abnormalities, which might result in the misinterpretations of activities. In this paper, we use Principal component analysis (PCA) combined with Hotelling’s T2 and SPE statistic to detect abnormal data in the process of motion monitoring with IMU to ensure the reliability and accuracy in application. The simulated results prove this method is effective and feasible.
Zliobaite, I, Bifet, A, Gaber, M, Gabrys, B, Gama, J, Minku, L & Musial, K 2012, 'Next challenges for adaptive learning systems', ACM SIGKDD Explorations Newsletter, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 48-55.
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Learning from evolving streaming data has become a 'hot' research topic in the last decade and many adaptive learning algorithms have been developed. This research was stimulated by rapidly growing amounts of industrial, transactional, sensor and other business data that arrives in real time and needs to be mined in real time. Under such circumstances, constant manual adjustment of models is in-efficient and with increasing amounts of data is becoming infeasible. Nevertheless, adaptive learning models are still rarely employed in business applications in practice. In the light of rapidly growing structurally rich 'big data', new generation of parallel computing solutions and cloud computing services as well as recent advances in portable computing devices, this article aims to identify the current key research directions to be taken to bring the adaptive learning closer to application needs. We identify six forthcoming challenges in designing and building adaptive learning (pre-diction) systems: making adaptive systems scalable, dealing with realistic data, improving usability and trust, integrat-ing expert knowledge, taking into account various application needs, and moving from adaptive algorithms towards adaptive tools. Those challenges are critical for the evolving stream settings, as the process of model building needs to be fully automated and continuous.
Ahad, MT, Dyson, L & Gay, V 1970, 'Towards an M-banking framework for rural SMEs in Bangladesh', INNOVATION VISION 2020: SUSTAINABLE GROWTH, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, VOLS 1-4, International Business Information Management, International Business Information Management Association, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 1153-1164.
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This research aims at discovering factors which impact on the intention of rural SME owners and managers to adopt m-banking in Bangladesh. Over the last ten years, a wide spectrum of mbanking frameworks has emerged that offers new insights into the adoption and acceptance of mbanking. However, m-banking has still not been extended to rural Bangladesh. To fill the gap this research surveyed 550 SMEs owners/managers in four rural villages. The result indicates that poor banking facilities, cost, credibility, gender, education and SME category are the main factors that significantly influence the intention to adopt m-banking. The analysis introduces three factors which have been largely overlooked in prior literature. The study broadens our understanding of m-banking and provides insights into developing m-banking strategies in Bangladesh. This research will be of potential value in accelerating the development of m-banking in Bangladesh
Alkhouri, H, Wai-Shing, M, Krimmer, D, Oliver, B, Armour, C & Hughes, JM 1970, 'The effects of human lung mast cell products on the synthetic functions of lung fibroblasts', EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY JOURNAL, EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY SOC JOURNALS LTD.
Apeh, E, Žliobaite, I, Pechenizkiy, M & Gabrys, B 1970, 'Predicting multi-class customer profiles based on transactions: A case study in food sales', Res. and Dev. in Intelligent Syst. XXIX: Incorporating Applications and Innovations in Intel. Sys. XX - AI 2012, 32nd SGAI Int. Conf. on Innovative Techniques and Applications of Artificial Intel., pp. 213-218.
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Predicting the class of customer profiles is a key task in marketing, which enables businesses to approach the customers in a right way to satisfy the customer's evolving needs. However, due to costs, privacy and/or data protection, only the business' owned transactional data is typically available for constructing customer profiles. We present a new approach that is designed to efficiently and accurately handle the multi-class classification of customer profiles built using sparse and skewed transactional data. Our approach first bins the customer profiles on the basis of the number of items transacted. The discovered bins are then partitioned and prototypes within each of the discovered bins selected to build the multi-class classifier models. The results obtained from using four multi-class classifiers on real-world transactional data consistently show the critical numbers of items at which the predictive performance of customer profiles can be substantially improved. © Springer-Verlag London 2012.
Bernardo, DV & Hoang, DB 1970, 'Compositional Logic for Proof of Correctness of Proposed UDT Security Mechanisms', 2012 IEEE 26TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED INFORMATION NETWORKING AND APPLICATIONS (AINA), International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (was ICOIN), IEEE, Fukuoka, Japan, pp. 686-694.
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We present an approach to analyze the applicability and secrecy properties of the selected security mechanisms when implemented with UDT. This approach extends applicability refinement methodology with symbolic model in UDT implementations. In our approach, we carry out a formal proof of correctness, therefore, determining applicability, using formal composition logic. This approach is modular, comprising a separate proof of each protocol section and providing insight into the network environment in which each section can be reliably employed. Moreover, the proof holds for a variety of failure recovery strategies and other implementation and configuration options. We derive our technique from the protocol composite logic on TLS and Kerberos in the literature. We, maintain, however, the novelty of our work for UDT specifically our newly developed mechanisms such as UDT-AO, UDT-DTLS, UDT-Kerberos(GSS-API) specifically for UDT.
Bernardo, DV & Hoang, DB 1970, 'Symbolic Analysis of the Proposed UDT Security Architecture', 2012 26th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops, 2012 IEEE Workshops of International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications (WAINA), IEEE, Fukuoka, Japan, pp. 171-176.
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In this paper, we analyze our UDT security architecture using rewrite based systems and automata. We present and use symbolic analysis approach to effectively verify our proposed architecture. This approach allows dataflow replication in the implementation of selected mechanisms integrated into the proposed architecture. We consider this approach effective by utilizing the properties of the rewrite systems to represent specific flows of the architecture to present a theoretical and reliable method to perform the analysis. We introduce abstract representation of the components that composes the architecture and conduct our analysis, through structural, semantics and query analyses. The result of this work, which is first in the literature, is a more robust theoretical and practical representation of a viable security architecture of UDT that is applicable to other high speed network protocols
Büttner, TFS, Kabakova, IV, Hudson, DD, Pant, R, Li, E & Eggleton, BJ 1970, 'Multi-wavelength Gratings formed via cascaded Stimulated Brillouin Scattering', Optics Express, The Optical Society, pp. 26434-26434.
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Chai, R, Hunter, GP, Ling, SH & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Real-Time Microcontroller based Brain Computer Interface for Mental Task Classifications using Wireless EEG Signals from Two Channels', Biomedical Engineering / 765: Telehealth / 766: Assistive Technologies, Biomedical Engineering, ACTAPRESS, Innsbruck, Austria, pp. 336-342.
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A brain computer interface (BCI) using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activities could provide severely disabled people with alternative means of control and communication. In a practical system, portability, low power and real-time operation are the keys requirements. This could be accomplished by using an embedded microcontroller based system. The main contribution of this paper shows the development of a real-time BCI prototype system to classify groups of mental tasks based on such a system. The relevant mental tasks used are mental arithmetic, figure rotation, letter composing, visual counting and eyes closed action. Moreover, the system uses a separate two channels only wireless EEG measurement module with the active positions at parietal and occipital lobes. The result shows the wireless EEG module has a good performance with a CMRR of more than 95dB. In addition, the size of the module is small (36×36 mm 2) and current consumption is low enough to operate off a 3V coin cell battery. The mental tasks were classified using a feed-forward back-propagation artificial neural network (ANN) trained with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. An accuracy of around 70% was achieved with bit rate at around 0.4 bits/trial for six subjects tested to select between three separate mental tasks.
Chai, R, Ling, SH, Hunter, GP, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Mental Non-motor Imagery Tasks Classifications of Brain Computer Interface for Wheelchair Commands Using Genetic Algorithm-Based Neural Network', 2012 INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS (IJCNN), IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 978-984.
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A genetic algorithm (GA)-based neural network classification in the application of brain computer interface (BCI) for controlling a wheelchair is presented in this paper. This study uses an electroencephalography (EEG) as a non-invasive BCI approach to discriminate three non-motor imagery mental tasks for disabled individuals who may have difficulty in using BCI based motor imagery tasks. The three tasks classification is mapped into three wheelchair movements: left, right and forward and the relevant combination mental tasks used in this study are mental arithmetic, letter composing, Rubik's cube rolling, visual counting, ringtone imagery and spatial navigation. The results show the proposed system provides good classification performance after selecting the most effective of three discriminative tasks across combination of the different non-motor imagery mental tasks for the five subjects tested. The average classification accuracy is between 76% and 85 %, with information transfer rates varies from 0.5 to 0.8 bits per trial.
Chai, R, Ling, SH, Hunter, GP, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Mental Task Classifications using Prefrontal Cortex Electroencephalograph Signals', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Xplore, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 1831-1834.
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For an electroencephalograph (EEG)-based brain computer interface (BCI) application, the use of gel on the hair area of the scalp is needed for low impedance electrical contact. This causes the set up procedure to be time consuming and inconvenient for a practical BCI system. Moreover, studies of other cortical areas are useful for BCI development. As a more convenient alternative, this paper presents the EEG based-BCI using the prefrontal cortex non-hair area to classify mental tasks at three electrodes position: Fp1, Fpz and Fp2. The relevant mental tasks used are mental arithmetic, ringtone, finger tapping and words composition with additional tasks which are baseline and eyes closed. The feature extraction is based on the Hilbert Huang Transform (HHT) energy method and the classification algorithm is based on an artificial neural network (ANN) with genetic algorithm (GA) optimization. The results show that the dominant alpha wave during eyes closed can still clearly be detected in the prefrontal cortex. The classification accuracy for five subjects, mental tasks vs. baseline task resulted in average accuracy is 73% and the average accuracy for pairs of mental task combinations is 72%. © 2012 IEEE.
Chai, R, Ling, SH, Hunter, GP, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Toward Fewer EEG Channels and Better Feature Extractor of Non-Motor Imagery Mental Tasks Classification for a Wheelchair Thought Controller', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Xplore, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 5266-5269.
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This paper presents a non-motor imagery tasks classification electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interface (BCI) for wheelchair control. It uses only two EEG channels and a better feature extractor to improve the portability and accuracy in the practical system. In addition, two different features extraction methods, power spectral density (PSD) and Hilbert Huang Transform (HHT) energy are compared to find a better method with improved classification accuracy using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based neural network classifier. The results from five subjects show that using the original eight channels with three tasks, accuracy between 76% and 85% is achieved. With only two channels in combination with the best chosen task using a PSD feature extractor, the accuracy is reduced to between 65% and 79%. However, the HHT based method provides an improved accuracy between 70% and 84% for the classification of three discriminative tasks using two EEG channels. © 2012 IEEE.
Chen, L & Hoang, DB 1970, 'Active data-centric framework for data protection in cloud environment', ACIS 2012 : Proceedings of the 23rd Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Australasian Conference on Information Systems, ACIS, Geelong, Vic., pp. 1-11.
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Cloud computing is an emerging evolutionary computing model that provides highly scalable services over highspeed Internet on a pay-as-usage model. However, cloud-based solutions still have not been widely deployed in some sensitive areas, such as banking and healthcare. The lack of widespread development is related to users' concern that their confidential data or privacy would leak out in the cloud's outsourced environment. To address this problem, we propose a novel active data-centric framework to ultimately improve the transparency and accountability of actual usage of the users' data in cloud. Our data-centric framework emphasizes 'active' feature which packages the raw data with active properties that enforce data usage with active defending and protection capability. To achieve the active scheme, we devise the Triggerable Data File Structure (TDFS). Moreover, we employ the zero-knowledge proof scheme to verify the request's identification without revealing any vital information. Our experimental outcomes demonstrate the efficiency, dependability, and scalability of our framework. Lingfeng Chen, Doan B.Hoang © 2012.
Clark, K, Currow, D, Talley, N, Dinning, P, Lam, L, Agar, M, Davidson, P, Shelby-James, T & Phillips, J 1970, 'Exploring the Underlying Physical Changes That Contribute to Bowel Problems in Palliative Care: Preliminary Result', JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE CARE, CENTRE RECHERCHE INSTITUT UNIV GERIATRIE MONTREAL, pp. 223-224.
Clayton, J, Davidson, PM, Phillips, J, Luckett, T, Green, A, Agar, M, Broadbent, A, Lovell, M & ImPaCCT, STOPPPT 1970, 'STOP PAIN PROJECT: A COLLABORATIVE, INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECT TO IMPROVE THE PERSON-CENTREDNESS OF ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF CANCER PAIN', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 267-267.
Cranfield, CG, Deplazes, E, MacMillan, A, Owen, D, Nomura, T, Constantine, M, Corry, B & Martinac, B 1970, 'Clustering of the Mechanosensitive Ion Channels of Large and Small Conductance MscL and MscS - a FRET-Flim Study', BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 56th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical-Society, CELL PRESS, San Diego, CA, pp. 120A-120A.
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Dehestani, D, Su, S, Nguyen, H, Guo, Y, Wall, J & Eftekhari, F 1970, 'Comprehensive sensitivity analysis of Heat Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system based on neural network model', 10th International Conference on Healthy Buildings 2012, pp. 1555-1560.
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Finding healthy HVAC model as the health reference for monitoring and fault tolerant system is the main aim in this area. To dispel this concern a comprehensive transient model of Heat Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems is developed by a fast Artificial Neural Network (ANN) in this study. The model is based on experimental data that are taken from our HVAC laboratory scale. The neural network is developed by using MATLAB coding and simulation technique. Our proposed model is validated against real HVAC system by minimum error. The developed model in this study can be used for a pre tuning of control system and put to good use for fault detection and isolation in order to accomplish highquality health monitoring and result in energy saving. The magnitude and trait of features are a good potential for automatic fault tolerant system based on machine learning systems.
Dehestani, D, Su, S, Nguyen, H, Vakiloroaya, V, Wall, J & Guo, Y 1970, 'Intelligent model based fault detection for heat ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system based on ANN model and SVM classifier', 10th International Conference on Healthy Buildings 2012, pp. 1253-1258.
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Due to a growing demand in improving energy efficiency in the built environment, reducing the energy consumption and operating costs of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems while still maintaining occupant comfort has become one of the critical issues. Reports indicate that efficiency and availability are heavily dependent upon high reliability and maintainability. Recently, the concept of e-maintenance has been introduced to reduce the cost of maintenance. In e-maintenance systems, the intelligent fault detection and isolation (FDI) system plays a crucial role for identifying equipment and other system failures. Applying these techniques to HVAC system fault detection makes it possible to improve total cost effectiveness of maintenance and thus increase the capacity utilization rates of equipment. Reduction of energy wasting in the system by on time fault detection is another important goal of applying these techniques. Therefore, this work proposes a new model based fault detection technique for HVAC systems based on Neural Network (NN) model and online support vector machines (SVM) classifier which integrates a dimension reduction scheme to analyze the failure of system. The NN generate a high accurate model which is based reference for SVM classifier. Finally, a series of experimental fault data are applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Final results show that online SVM can accurately detect faults in a HVAC cooling tower with minimum usage data. The technique is also shown to outperform an offline SVM on such energy systems for classification.
DiGiacomo, M, Davidson, PM, Lewis, J, Phillips, J & Nolan, M 1970, 'Early Widowhood in Older Women: A Time of Vulnerability and Health Stress', International Council on Women’s Health Issues (ICOWHI) Congress, Bangkok.
Ebrahimi Warkiani, M, Gong, HQ & Fane, A 1970, 'Surface Modification of Micro/Nano-Fabricated Filters', Key Engineering Materials, 2nd International Symposium on Advanced Synthesis and Processing Technology for Materials (ASPT2011)/8th Materials Science School for Young Scientists (KINKEN-WAKATE2011), Trans Tech Publications, Ltd., Sendai, PEOPLES R CHINA, pp. 87-98.
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Polymeric Micro-Fabricated Filters Have Excellent Sieving Properties. Their Identical Properties such as High Surface Porosity and Perfectly Patterned Pore Structure, which Is Combined with Mechanical Strength Make them Ideal for many Applications such as Microorganism Removal, Blood Filtration and Protein Purification. To Improve the Performance of the Micro-Fabricated Filters, we Employed Oxygen Plasma Treatment to Increase the Surface Hydrophilicity and Reduce the Membrane Fouling during Microfiltration. Hydrophilization and Integrity of the Surfaces Were Analyzed by Contact Angle Measurements and Topographic Imaging with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). Treatment of Polymeric Membranes with Oxygen Plasma Led to a Stable Hydrophilization and an Increased Surface Roughness. The Filtration Properties of the Modified and Unmodified Membranes Were Examined Using Clay Particles. A Significant Increase in Total Collected Volume of Filtrate Was Observed for the Treated Membranes during Filtration of Simulated Drinking Water Samples Using Clay Suspension.
Faiz, A, Tjin, G, Harkness, LM, Oliver, B, Black, JL & Burgess, JK 1970, 'Secreted Cathepsin H Activity Is Regulated By Corticosteroids And May Affect Airway Remodelling In Asthma', A68. TISSUE REMODELING IN THE LUNG, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Furqan, F & Hoang, DB 1970, 'Wireless Fair Intelligent Congestion Control -- A QoS Performance Evaluation', 2012 13th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies, 2012 13th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing Applications and Technologies (PDCAT), IEEE, pp. 3-9.
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In WiMAX architecture to avoid congestion at the base station, a mechanism namely WiMAX Fair Intelligent Congestion Control (WFICC) was proposed in [11]. WFICC ensures that the traffic is scheduled in such a way that the base station output buffer operates around a target operating point, without violating the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of connections. However, only preliminary results were presented in [11]. The aim of this paper is to investigate WFICC thoroughly and evaluate its performance in terms of throughput, delay and jitter for various Class of Services (CoSs) under various parameter settings of the algorithm. A detailed and comprehensive simulation study on various settings of parameters is performed in ns-2. The results show that WFICC performs extremely well in allocating resources fairly among Class of Services (CoSs), yet preserving their QoS requirements. Furthermore, WFICC is robust and easily adapted to various traffic conditions. © 2012 IEEE.
Gay, V & Leijdekkers, P 1970, 'Personalised Mobile Health and Fitness Apps: Lessons learned from myFitnessCompanion®.', pHealth, 9th International Conference on Wearable Micro and Nano Technologies for Personalized Health, IOS Press, Porto, Portugal, pp. 248-253.
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Smartphone and tablets are slowly but steadily changing the way we look after our health and fitness. Today, many high quality mobile apps are available for users and health professionals and cover the whole health care chain, i.e. information collection, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. Our team has developed a mobile health and fitness app called myFitnessCompanion (R) which has been available via Android market since February 2011. The objective of this paper is to share our experience with rolling out a mobile health and fitness app. We discuss the acceptance of health apps by end-users and healthcare industry. We discuss the acceptance of health apps will be distributed in the near future, the use of Personal Health Record (PHR) systems such as Microsoft Health Vault and impact of regulations (FDA) on the future of mobile health apps. The paper is based on seven years of experience by the authors as mobile health and fitness application developers and we discuss the challenges and opportunities for app developers in the health industry.
Ge, Q, Krimmer, D, Chen, L, Burgess, JK, Black, J & Oliver, BG 1970, 'Cigarette Smoke Induces A Distinct Fibrotic Signature In Bronchial Epithelial Cells', A64. LOCAL AND SYSTEMIC EFFECTS OF SMOKE EXPOSURE, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Ge, Q, Krimmer, D, Chen, L, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BG 1970, 'CIGARETTE SMOKE INDUCES A DISTINCT FIBROTIC SIGNATURE IN BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL CELLS IN COMPARISON TO TGFB', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 30-30.
Ghous, H, Kennedy, PJ, Ho, N & Catchpoole, DR 1970, 'Functional visualisation of genes using singular value decomposition', Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series, Australian Data Mining Conference, Australian Computer Society, Sydney, Australia, pp. 53-59.
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Progress in understanding core pathways and processes of cancer requires thorough analysis of many coding regions of the genome. New insights are hampered due to the lack of tools to make sense of large lists of genes identified using high throughput technology. Data mining, particularly visualisation that finds relationships between genes and the Gene Ontology (GO), has the potential to assist in functional understanding. This paper addresses the question of how well GO annotations can help in functional understanding of genes. We augment genes with associated GO terms and visualise with Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). Meaning of derived components is further interpreted using correlations to GO terms. The results demonstrate that SVD visualisation of GO-augmented genes matches the biological understanding expected in the simulated data and presents understanding of childhood cancer genes that aligns with published results.
Golzan, SM, Avolio, A & Graham, SL 1970, 'Non-invasive cerebrospinal fluid pressure estimation using multi-layer perceptron neural networks', 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), IEEE, San Diego, California USA, pp. 5278-5281.
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Cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFp) provides vital information in various neurological abnormalities including hydrocephalus, intracranial hypertension and brain tumors. Currently, CSFp is measured invasively through implanted catheters within the brain (ventricles and parenchyma) which is associated with a risk of infection and morbidity. In humans, the cerebrospinal fluid communicates indirectly with the ocular circulation across the lamina cribrosa via the optic nerve subarachnoid space. It has been shown that a relationship between retinal venous pulsation, intraocular pressure (IOP) and CSFp exists with the amplitude of retinal venous pulsation being associated with the trans-laminar pressure gradient (i.e. IOP-CSFp). In this study we use this characteristic to develop a non-invasive approach to estimate CSFp. 15 subjects were included in this study. Dynamic retinal venous diameter changes and IOP were measured and fitted into our model. Artificial neural networks (ANN) were applied to construct a relationship between retinal venous pulsation amplitude, IOP (input) and CSFp (output) and develop an algorithm to estimate CSFp based on these parameters. Results show a mean square error of 2.4 mmHg and 1.27 mmHg for train and test data respectively. There was no significant difference between experimental and ANN estimated CSFp values (p>;0.01).This study suggests measurement of retinal venous pulsatility in conjunction with IOP may provide a novel approach to estimate CSFp non-invasively.
Golzan, SM, Avolio, A, Magnussen, J & Graham, SL 1970, 'Visualization of orbital flow by means of phase contrast MRI', 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), IEEE, San Antonion, USA, pp. 3384-3387.
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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a high resolution medical imaging technique to image internal anatomical structures. Phase contrast MRI (pcMRI) technique is an add-on specification of MRI devices in order to quantify flow. Although different attempts have been introduced to measure orbital flows, a relationship between different ophthalmic physiological structures including superior ophthalmic vein, ophthalmic artery and optic nerve sheath (containing cerebrospinal fluid) using phase contrast MRI has not been established. In this study we investigate orbital flow in 5 normal subjects using a 3 tesla MRI device. pcMRI technique has been applied to extract flow in the superior ophthalmic vein and optic nerve sheath. Electrocardiogram of each subject was monitored and gated to the MRI in order to extract flow waveforms. Results show multiple peaks when assessing orbital flow waveforms, suggesting possible reflection of flow from back of the eye. These peaks have been characterized and a possible explanation to this phenomenon has been provided. This study enhances understanding of interaction between physiological structures at the retrolaminar portion of the eye which may be responsible for different ophthalmic abnormalities.
Guo, Y, Dehestani, D, Li, J, Wall, J, West, S & Su, S 1970, 'Intelligent outlier detection for HVAC system fault detection', 10th International Conference on Healthy Buildings 2012, Healthy Buildings, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, pp. 1553-1554.
Haddad, A, Su, SW, Celler, BG & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Enhancement Interval Training Exercise based on the Analysis of Dynamic Cardio-Respiratory Response', Biomedical Engineering / 765: Telehealth / 766: Assistive Technologies, Biomedical Engineering, ACTAPRESS, Innsbruck, Austria, pp. 458-464.
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Interval training is an effective method of improving aerobic function and cardiovascular fitness. Heart rate (HR) and oxygen uptake (VO2) are major indicators of human cardiovascular response to exercises. This study investigates human heart rate as well as oxygen uptake response dynamics to running exercises. Eight healthy male subjects were asked to run on a motor-controlled treadmill under a predefined running protocol. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were monitored and recorded using a COSMED portable gas analyzer (K4b2, Cosmed). The running protocol was repeated twice by each subject and averaged values were taken of each data set to reduce the influence of various internal and environmental factors on the measurements. Experimental results showed that the time constant of offset exercise for both heart rate and oxygen uptake is longer than that of onset exercise; they also showed that VO2 reached the steady state faster than heart rate for both onset and offset cases. These experimental results will also be used to build an interval training protocol. This study also showed how onset and offset time constants, as well as onset and offset steady state gains of an average VO2 profile can be used to simulate an interval training protocol.
Handojoseno, AMA, Shine, JM, Nguyen, TN, Tran, Y, Lewis, SJG & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'The detection of Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's disease patients using EEG signals based on Wavelet decomposition', 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 69-72.
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Freezing of Gait (FOG) is one of the most disabling gait disturbances of Parkinsonâs disease (PD). The experience has often been described as â feeling like their feet have been glued to the floor while trying to walkâ and as such it is a common cause of falling in PD patients. In this paper, EEG subbands Wavelet Energy and Total Wavelet Entropy were extracted using the multiresolution decomposition of EEG signal based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform and were used to analyze the dynamics in the EEG during freezing. The Back Propagation Neural Network classifier has the ability to identify the onset of freezing of PD patients during walking using these features with average values of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity are around 75 %. This results have proved the feasibility of utilized EEG in future treatment of FOG.
Harkness, LM, Ashton, A, Oliver, B & Burgess, JK 1970, 'The Anti-Angiogenic Function Of Tumstatin In The Asthmatic Lung', A108. AIRWAYS HYPERRESPONSIVENESS: CAUSES AND TREATMENTS, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Harkness, LM, Ashton, AW, Oliver, BG & Burgess, JK 1970, 'TSANZ Poster Abstracts', Respirology, Wiley, pp. 42-87.
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Hoang, DB & Kamyabpour, N 1970, 'An Energy Driven Architecture for Wireless Sensor Networks', 2012 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING, APPLICATIONS, AND TECHNOLOGIES (PDCAT 2012), International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies, IEEE, Beijing, China, pp. 10-15.
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Most wireless sensor networks operate with very limited
energy sources-their batteries, and hence their usefulness in real
life applications is severely constrained. The challenging issues are
how to optimize the use of their energy or to harvest their own
energy in order to lengthen their lives for wider classes of
application. Tackling these important issues requires a robust
architecture that takes into account the energy consumption level
of functional constituents and their interdependency. Without such
architecture, it would be difficult to formulate and optimize the
overall energy consumption of a wireless sensor network. Unlike
most current researches that focus on a single energy constituent
of WSNs independent from and regardless of other constituents,
this paper presents an Energy Driven Architecture (EDA) as a new
architecture and indicates a novel approach for minimising the
total energy consumption of a WSN.
Hoang, DB & Pham, C 1970, 'Connectivity abstractions and “service-oriented network” architecture', 2012 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC), 2012 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC), IEEE, Maui, HI, USA, pp. 337-342.
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Current generation networks have been designed only for network connectivity; they have been stretched to the limit with many afterthought add-on features including quality of service, mobility, programmability, and security so that they can be deployed for business applications and processes. As such, service deployment on current networks are difficult, time consuming and with limited successes. This paper suggests a service architecture based on network connectivity abstraction, user connectivity abstraction and application/service connectivity abstraction. The paper also proposes a service-oriented network (SON) architecture that facilitates the development of services and applications regardless of the underlying network access technologies. The architecture is conceived through the consideration of the essential requirements of generic Internet applications from the service and network providers' perspective that addresses the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) application deployment pattern, user location and device mobility, and the structure of IP-converged networks.
Hoang, DB, Elliott, D, Mckinley, S, Nanda, P, Schulte, J & Duc Nguyen 1970, 'Tele-monitoring techniques to support recovery at home for survivors of a critical illness', 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT), 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT), IEEE, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, pp. 101-106.
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This paper proposes and explores the design of a system that includes sensor-based procedures and techniques for remote physiological sensing and functional assessment for these individuals. The remote monitoring (e.g. heart rate, SpOz level) and assessment system (6-minute walk test) was developed to support the recovery of survivors following a critical illness after their hospital discharge. The paper suggests a new model of care, through a clinician-patient remote monitoring loop, that will enable minimisation of the cost of frequent home visits and allow patients to recover safely in their home environment. © 2012 IEEE.
Howell, VM, Dickson, K-A, Kan, CWS, Hahn, MA & Marsh, DJ 1970, 'Abstract 3150: miR-100 in ovarian cancer cell lines', Cancer Research, Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), pp. 3150-3150.
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Abstract MicroRNA (miRNA), small non-coding RNA sequences that regulate gene expression, have the potential to function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. To determine the contribution of miRNA to ovarian oncogenesis this project sought to identify dysregulated miRNA and their targets in ovarian cancer cell lines. miRNA expression profiling was performed on 6 serous epithelial ovarian cancer (SEOC) cell lines and normal ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells. miRNAs differentially expressed between SEOC and OSEs were selected for further analyses and candidate target genes identified by prediction algorithms. miRNA expression was restored by transient transfection of miRNA mimics or stable transduction of lentiviral vectors expressing miRNA precursors. The effects on the expression of 2 predicted targets, SMARCA5 and FRAP1, were investigated using a luciferase reporter system, quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) and immunoblotting. The effect of miRs on cellular proliferation was also explored. Expression profiling identified miR-100 as having >5-fold lower expression in SEOC vs OSE cells. Seed sequences or binding sites for miR-100 were identified in the 3′UTRs of SMARCA5 and FRAP1. Using a luciferase expression system in OVCAR-3 cells, a miR-100 mimic repressed expression of SMARCA5 3′UTR by 40 % (p<0.0001), and FRAP1 3′UTR by 30% (p<0.0005). No effect of the mimic was observed when the predicted miR-100 binding sites in each gene's 3′UTR were mutated. Stable transduction of OV202 cells with pre-miR-100 resulted in a 3-5 fold increase in miR-100 expression. This stably transduced SEOC cell line showed decreased cellular proliferation, and repressed transcript and protein levels of SMARCA5/SNF2H and FRAP1/mTOR compared with the cell line transduced with the empty lentiviral vector. We identified miR-100 as a modulator of cellular proliferation in OV202 cells, possibly through regulation of SNF...
Jaffar, J, Tan, X, Black, JL, Oliver, BG, Argraves, WS, Twal, WO & Burgess, JK 1970, 'The Release Of Soluble Fibulin-1 From Airway Epithelial Cells Is Increased By Transforming Growth Factor Beta', D108. OUT OF CONTROL: PROLIFERATIVE AND FIBROTIC REMODELING OF THE LUNG, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Jaffar, J, Tan, X, Black, JL, Oliver, BG, Argraves, WS, Twal, WO & Burgess, JK 1970, 'TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR BETA INCREASES THE RELEASE OF SOLUBLE FIBULIN-1 FROM AIRWAY EPITHELIAL CELLS', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 42-42.
Jaffar, J, Tan, X, Black, JL, Oliver, BG, Corte, T, Argraves, WS, Twal, WO, Wolters, P & Burgess, JK 1970, 'FIBULIN-1 IS INCREASED IN THE BLOOD OF IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY FIBROSIS PATIENTS', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 53-53.
Jaffar, J, Tan, X, Black, JL, Oliver, BG, Corte, T, Wolters, P, Argraves, WS, Twal, WO & Burgess, JK 1970, 'The Serum Level Of Fibulin-1 Is Elevated In Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis', C103. PATHOGENESIS, BIOMARKERS, AND RISK FACTORS FOR INTERSTITIAL LUNG DISEASE: FROM BENCH TO BEDSIDE, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Kamyabpour, N & Hoang, DB 1970, 'A Task Based Sensor-Centeric Model for overall Energy Consumption', 2011 12th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies (PDCAT), International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies, IEEE, Gwangju, China, pp. 237-244.
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Sensors have limited resources so it is important to manage the resourcesefficiently to maximize their use. A sensor's battery is a crucial resource asit singly determines the lifetime of sensor network applications. Since thesedevices are useful only when they are able to communicate with the world, radiotransceiver of a sensor as an I/O and a costly unit plays a key role in itslifetime. This resource often consumes a big portion of the sensor's energy asit must be active most of the time to announce the existence of the sensor inthe network. As such the radio component has to deal with its embedded sensornetwork whose parameters and operations have significant effects on thesensor's lifetime. In existing energy models, hardware is considered, but theenvironment and the network's parameters did not receive adequate attention.Energy consumption components of traditional network architecture are oftenconsidered individually and separately, and their influences on each other havenot been considered in these approaches. In this paper we consider all possibletasks of a sensor in its embedded network and propose an energy managementmodel. We categorize these tasks in five energy consuming constituents. Thesensor's Energy Consumption (EC) is modeled on its energy consumingconstituents and their input parameters and tasks. The sensor's EC can thus bereduced by managing and executing efficiently the tasks of its constituents.The proposed approach can be effective for power management, and it also can beused to guide the design of energy efficient wireless sensor networks throughnetwork parameterization and optimization.
Kamyabpour, N & Hoang, DB 1970, 'Statistical Analysis to Extract Effective Parameters on Overall Energy Consumption of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)', 2012 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PARALLEL AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING, APPLICATIONS, AND TECHNOLOGIES (PDCAT 2012), International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies, IEEE, Beijing, China, pp. 20-23.
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In this paper, we use statistical tools to analysis dependency between Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) parameters and overall Energy Consumption (EC). Our approach has two key steps: profiling, and effective parameter extraction. In former step, a sensor network simulator is re-run 800 times with different values of the WSN parameters to profile the average residual energy in nodes. In latter step, three statistical analyses (p-value, linear and non-linear correlation) are applied to the outcome of profiled experiments to extract the most effective parameters on WSN residual energy.
Leijdekkers, P & Gay, V 1970, 'User Adoption of Mobile Apps for Chronic Disease Management: A Case Study Based on myFitnessCompanion®.', ICOST, International Conference on Smart Homes and Health Telematics (ICOST), Springer, Artimino, Italy, pp. 42-49.
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Health and fitness apps for smart phones and tablets are changing the way we look after your health. This paper analyses the usage of such an app called myFitnessCompanion for chronic disease management. The analysis is based on data collected from 5000* users over a period of 7 months. Highlights of the study show that blood glucose, weight and blood pressure are teh main physsiological data being monitored. Americans and Germans are the front-runners in adopting mobile health apps and are willing to pay for it. Most users choose to enter data manually instead of using automated wireless Bluetooth sensors. Users prefer to store the collected data on the phone rather than exporting it to Personal Health Record Systems
Ling, SH, Nguyen, HT, Leung, FHF, Chan, KY, Jiang, F & IEEE 1970, 'Intelligent Fuzzy Particle Swarm Optimization with Cross-Mutated Operation', 2012 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Australia, pp. 3009-3016.
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This paper presents a novel fuzzy particle swarm optimization with cross-mutated operation (FPSOCM), where a fuzzy logic is applied to determine the inertia weight of PSO and the control parameter of the proposed cross-mutated operation based on human knowledge. By introducing the fuzzy system, the value of the inertia weight of PSO becomes adaptive. The new cross-mutated operation effectively drives the solution to escape from local optima. To illustrate the performance of the FPSOCM, a suite of benchmark test functions are employed. Experimental results show the proposed FPSOCM method performs better than some existing hybrid PSO methods in terms of solution quality and solution reliability (standard deviation upon many trials). Moreover, an industrial application of economic load dispatch is given to show that the FPSOCM method performs statistically more significant than the existing hybrid PSO methods
Linh Lan Nguyen, Su, S & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Identification of Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia in Type 1 Diabetic patients using ECG parameters', 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), IEEE, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 2716-2719.
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Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia are both serious diseases related to diabetes mellitus. Among Type 1 Diabetic patients, there are who experience both hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic events. The aim of this study was to identify of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia based on ECG changes in this population. An ECG Acquisition and Analysis System based on LabVIEW software has been developed for collecting ECG signals and extracting features with abnormal changes. ECG parameters included Heart rate (HR), corrected QT interval (QTeC), PR interval, corrected RT interval (RTC) and corrected TpTe interval (TpTe C ). Blood glucose levels were used to classify glycemic states in subjects as hypoglycemic state ( 60 mml/l, Hypo), as normoglycemic state (80 to 110 mmol/l, Normo), and as hyperglycemic state 150 mml/l, Hyper). The results indicated that hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic states produce significant inverse changes on those ECG parameters. © 2012 IEEE.
Meng, Q & Kennedy, PJ 1970, 'Determining the Number of Clusters in Co-authorship Networks Using Social Network Theory', 2012 Second International Conference on Cloud and Green Computing, 2012 International Conference on Cloud and Green Computing (CGC), IEEE, Xiangtan, Hunan, China, pp. 337-343.
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Spectral clustering is a modern data clustering methodology with many notable advantages. However, this method has a weakness in that it requires researchers to specify a priori the number of clusters. In most cases, it is a challenge to know the number of clusters accurately. Here, we propose a novel way to solve this problem by involving the concept of group leaders and members from social network theory. From the perspective of social networks, groups are organized by leaders and this can provide a hint to finding the number of clusters in social networks by identifying group leaders. However, due to the fact that a group can have more than one leader, we also propose an algorithm to combine leaders from the same group. The number of leaders after the combination is expected to be the number of clusters in a network. We validate this proposed approach by using spectral clustering to cluster data comprising the co-authorship network from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The experimental results show that our proposed method is effective in determining the number of cluster and can facilitate spectral clustering to achieve better clusters compared with other methods of calculating the number of clusters
Meng, Q & Kennedy, PJ 1970, 'Using network evolution theory and singular value decomposition method to improve accuracy of link prediction in social networks', Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series, Australian Data Mining Conference, Australian Computer Society, Sydney, pp. 175-181.
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Link prediction in large networks, especially social networks, has received significant recent attention. Although there are many papers contributing methods for link prediction, the accuracy of most predictors is generally low as they treat all nodes equally. We propose an effective approach to identifying the level of activities of nodes in networks by observing their behaviour during network evolution. It is clear that nodes that have been active previously contribute more to the changes in a network than stable nodes, which have low activity. We apply truncated singular value decomposition (SVD) to exclude the interference of stable nodes by treating them as noise in our dataset. Finally, in order to test the effectiveness of our proposed method, we use co-authorship networks from an Australian university from between 2006 and 2011 as an experimental dataset. The results show that our proposed method achieves higher accuracy in link prediction than previous methods, especially in predicting new links.
Miro, JV, Poon, J, Huang, S & IEEE 1970, 'Low-cost Visual Tracking with an Intelligent Wheelchair for Innovative Assistive Care', 2012 12TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTROL, AUTOMATION, ROBOTICS & VISION (ICARCV), International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, IEEE, Guangzhou, China, pp. 1540-1545.
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This paper presents the development of a low-cost vision-based robotic wheelchair system towards autonomous convoying. The non-holonomic follower vehicle obtains visual real-time pose data of a known coplanar target installed on the back of the leading vehicle. This allows the tracking vehicle to mimic the path of the preceding vehicle, while maintaining a safe distance behind it with the aid of a controller based on the robot's kinematics constraints. A back-end visual filter is proposed in the planning strategy to overcome the noisy environmental information acquired from the camera as it tracks the vehicle in front. The effectiveness of the approach is evaluated in an indoor setting using data obtained from an instrumented wheelchair platform and a low-cost camera, and validated with observations from a laser range finder and derived (known) maps of the environment. © 2012 IEEE.
Ng, HY, Oliver, BG, Burgess, JK, Krymskaya, VP, Black, JL & Moir, LM 1970, 'Collagen IV α5 (Lamstatin) Decreases Proliferation And Migration Of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)–Cell Like TSC2-Negative Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts', D108. OUT OF CONTROL: PROLIFERATIVE AND FIBROTIC REMODELING OF THE LUNG, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Ng, HY, Oliver, BGG, Burgess, JK, Krymskaya, VP, Black, JL & Moir, LM 1970, 'PROLIFERATION AND MIGRATION OF TSC2-NULL MOUSE EMBRYONIC FIBROBLASTS IS INHIBITED BY THE NC1 DOMAIN OF COLLAGEN IV A5 (LAMSTATIN)', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 53-53.
Nguyen, AV, Nguyen, LB, Su, S & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Development of a Bayesian neural network to perform obstacle avoidance for an intelligent wheelchair', 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), IEEE, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 1884-1887.
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This paper presents an extension of a real-time obstacle avoidance algorithm for our laser-based intelligent wheelchair, to provide independent mobility for people with physical, cognitive, and/or perceptual impairments. The laser range finder URG-04LX mounted on the front of the wheelchair collects immediate environment information, and then the raw laser data are directly used to control the wheelchair in real-time without any modification. The central control role is an obstacle avoidance algorithm which is a neural network trained under supervision of Bayesian framework, to optimize its structure and weight values. The experiment results demonstrated that this new approach provides safety, smoothness for autonomous tasks and significantly improves the performance of the system in difficult tasks such as door passing. © 2012 IEEE.
Nguyen, JS, Nguyen, TN, Tran, Y, Su, SW, Craig, A, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Real-time Performance of a Hands-free Semi-autonomous Wheelchair System Using a Combination of Stereoscopic and Spherical Vision', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Xplore, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 3069-3072.
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This paper is concerned with the operational performance of a semi-autonomous wheelchair system named TIM (Thought-controlled Intelligent Machine), which uses cameras in a system configuration modeled on the vision system of a horse. This new camera configuration utilizes stereoscopic vision for 3-Dimensional (3D) depth perception and mapping ahead of the wheelchair, combined with a spherical camera system for 360-degrees of monocular vision. The unique combination allows for static components of an unknown environment to be mapped and any surrounding dynamic obstacles to be detected, during real-time autonomous navigation, minimizing blind-spots and preventing accidental collisions with people or obstacles. Combining this vision system with a shared control strategy provides intelligent assistive guidance during wheelchair navigation, and can accompany any hands-free wheelchair control technology for people with severe physical disability. Testing of this system in crowded dynamic environments has displayed the feasibility and real-time performance of this system when assisting hands-free control technologies, in this case being a proof-of-concept brain-computer interface (BCI). © 2012 IEEE.
Nguyen, LB, Nguyen, AV, Ling, SH, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'A Particle Swarm Optimization-based Neural Network for Detecting Nocturnal Hypoglycemia Using Electroencephalography Signals', 2012 INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS (IJCNN), IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 2730-2735.
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For patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), hypoglycemia or the state of low blood glucose level is a very common but dangerous complication. Hypoglycemia episodes can lead to a large number of serious symptoms and effects, including unconsciousness, coma and even death. The variety of hypoglycemia symptoms is originated from the inadequate supply of glucose to the brain. By analyzing electroencephalography (EEG) signals from five T1DM patients during an overnight study, we find that under hypoglycemia, both centroid theta frequency and centroid alpha frequency change significantly against non-hypoglycemia conditions. Furthermore, a neural network is developed to detect hypoglycemia using the mentioned two EEG features. A standard particle swarm optimization strategy is applied to optimize the parameters of this neural network. By using the proposed method, we obtain the classification performance of 82% sensitivity and 63% specificity. The results demonstrate that hypoglycemia episodes can be detected non-invasively and effectively from EEG signals.
Nguyen, LB, Nguyen, AV, Ling, SH, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'An Adaptive Strategy of Classification for Detecting Hypoglycemia using Only Two EEG Channels', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 3515-3518.
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Hypoglycemia is the most common but highly feared side effect of the insulin therapy for patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). Severe episodes of hypoglycemia can lead to unconsciousness, coma, and even death. The variety of hypoglycemic symptoms arises from the activation of the autonomous central nervous system and from reduced cerebral glucose consumption. In this study, electroencephalography (EEG) signals from five T1DM patients during an overnight clamp study were measured and analyzed. By applying a method of feature extraction using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and classification using neural networks, we establish that hypoglycemia can be detected non-invasively using EEG signals from only two channels. This paper demonstrates that a significant advantage can be achieved by implementing adaptive training. By adapting the classifier to a previously unseen person, the classification results can be improved from 60% sensitivity and 54% specificity to 75% sensitivity and 67% specificity.
Norouzi, M, De Bruijn, F & Miró, JV 1970, 'Planning Stable Paths for Urban Search and Rescue Robots', Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), Robot Soccer World Cup, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Istanbul, Turkey, pp. 90-101.
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Rescue robots are platforms designed to operate in challenging and uneven surfaces. These robots are often equipped with manipulator arms and varying traction arrangements. As such, it is possible to reconfigure the kinematic of robot in order to reduce potential instabilities, such as those leading to vehicle tip-over. This paper proposes a methodology to plan feasible paths through uneven topographies by planning stable paths that account for the safe interaction between vehicle and terrain. The proposed technique, based on a gradient stability criterion, is validated with two of the best known path search strategies in 3D lattices, i.e. the A* and the Rapidly-Exploring Random Trees. Using real terrain data, simulation results obtained with the model of a real rescue robot demonstrate significant improvements in terms of paths that are able to automatically avoid regions of potential instabilities, to concentrate on those where the freedom of exploiting posture adaptation permits generation of optimally safe paths. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Norouzi, M, Miro, JV, Dissanayake, G, IEEE & Japan, RSO 1970, 'Planning High-Visibility Stable Paths for Reconfigurable Robots On Uneven Terrain', 2012 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS), IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, Algarve, Portugal, pp. 2844-2849.
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This paper proposes a motion planning strategy for reconfigurable mobile robots in uneven terrain. Paths that guarantee stability while at the same time maximise the height of the sensor payload, thereby enhancing the capacity of the robot to explore the environment are obtained using a search algorithm based on A*. This is particularly applicable to operations such as search and rescue where observing the environment for locating victims is the major objective, although the proposed technique can be generalised to incorporate other potentially conflicting objectives such as minimising energy. The proposed planning strategy looks at exploiting the (possibly incomplete) environment information available to the robot and/or operator as it explores novel terrain. The effectiveness of the approach is evaluated using data obtained from a multi-tracked robot fitted with a manipulator arm and a range camera in a mock-up search and rescue arena. © 2012 IEEE.
Nuryani, N, Ling, SH, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Hybrid Particle Swarm-based Fuzzy Support Vector Machine for Hypoglycemia Detection', 2012 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FUZZY SYSTEMS (FUZZ-IEEE), IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems, IEEE, Australia, pp. 450-455.
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Severe hypoglycemia is potentially life-threatening. This article introduces a novel hypoglycemia detection strategy using a hybrid particle swarm - based fuzzy support vector machine (SFisSvm) technique. The inputs of this system are six electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters. The system parameters of SFisSvm are optimized using a particle swarm optimization method. The proposed hypoglycemia detector system is a combination of two subsystems, namely, fuzzy inference system (FIS) and support vector machine (SVM). Two most significant inputs, heart rate and RTpc are fed to FIS, and its output is used for input of the SVM. The other ECG parameters and the output of FIS are fed to SVM and, then, are classified to indicate the presence of hypoglycemia. In this study, three and five membership functions are investigated for FIS. Furthermore, radial basis function (RBF), sigmoid and linear kernel functions are employed for mapping the inputs to high dimensional space in SVM. Performances of SFisSvm with different kernel functions are compared. As conclusion, the performance of SFisSvm is found with 75.19%, 83.71% and 79.33% in terms of sensitivity, specificity and geometric mean.
Parker, D 1970, 'Psychometric Properties of the Family Perceptions of Care Scale in Australian Long-Term Care Settings', JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE CARE, CENTRE RECHERCHE INSTITUT UNIV GERIATRIE MONTREAL, pp. 213-213.
Parker, D, van der Steen, J & Clifton, K 1970, 'Bereaved Carer Satisfaction with Palliative Dementia Care: Comparisons between Long-Term Care (LTC) in Australia and the Netherlands', JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE CARE, CENTRE RECHERCHE INSTITUT UNIV GERIATRIE MONTREAL, pp. 228-228.
Patel, M, Miro, JV & Dissanayake, G 1970, 'A Hierarchical Hidden Markov Model to Support Activities of Daily Living with an Assistive Robotic Walker', 2012 4TH IEEE RAS & EMBS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIOMEDICAL ROBOTICS AND BIOMECHATRONICS (BIOROB), IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Biomechatronics, IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Biomechatronics, Rome, Italy, pp. 1071-1076.
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This paper proposes a Hierarchical Hidden Markov Model (HHMM) framework as the most suitable tool to exploit the interactions between an intelligent mobility aid and their human operator. The framework presented is capable of learning a mixed array of the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) that the typical user of these supportive devices would normally engage in, both navigational and non-navigational in nature, and provide assistance as and when required. The main contribution of this paper is the demonstration of how this probabilistic tool capable of modelling behaviours at multiple levels of abstraction is a natural embodiment of machine intelligence to support user activities. Effectiveness of the proposed HHMM framework is evaluated with a number of healthy volunteers using a conventional rolling walker equipped with sensing and navigational aids whilst operating in a structured environment resembling a home. A comparison with more traditional discriminative models and mixed generative-discriminative models is also presented to provide a complete picture that highlights the benefits of the proposed approach. © 2012 IEEE.
Phillips, JL, Heneka, N, Hickman, L, Lam, L & Shaw, T 1970, 'Enhancing interdisciplinary team pain assessment communication: Can Spaced Education improve comprehensive pain assessment practices in the specialist palliative care setting?', Palliative Care NSW State Conference, Dubbo.
Phillips, JL, Hickman, L, Heneka, N & Shaw, T 1970, 'Assessing specialist palliative care nurses pain assessment capabilities: identifying opportunities to improve patient outcomes', 16th Cancer Nurses Society Australia Conference, Hobart.
Phillips, JL, Hickman, L, Heneka, N & Shaw, T 1970, 'Can a novel on-line CPD program increase specialist palliative care nurses pain assessment capabilities and reduce patients’ reported pain scores?', WA Palliative Care Conference, Perth, WA.
Phyo Phyo San, Ling, SH & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Optimized variable translation wavelet neural network and its application in hypoglycemia detection system', 2012 7th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA), 2012 7th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA), IEEE, Singapore, pp. 547-551.
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An hybrid particle swarm optimization based optimized variable translation wavelet neural network (VTWNN) is proposed for detection of hypoglycemic episodes in patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Due to excellent performance in capturing nonstationary signal and nonlinear function modeling of VTWNN, it is used as a suitable classifier in hypoglycemia detection system. A global training algorithm called hybrid particle swarm optimization with wavelet mutation (HPSOWM) operation is investigated for parameters optimization of proposed VTWNN detection system. In this clinical study, 15 children with Type 1 diabetes were observed overnight. All the real data sets collected from Department of Heath, Government of Western Australia. Several experiments are performed over a randomly selected training set 5 patients (184 data points), validation set 5 patients (192 data points) and testing set 5 patients (153 data points) respectively. Using variable translation wavelet neural network (VTWNN), the value of testing sensitivity and specificity are 79.07 % and 50.00 %. The results show that the proposed detection system performs well in terms of good sensitivity and acceptable specificity.
Qinxue Meng & Kennedy, PJ 1970, 'Using Field of Research Codes to Discover Research Groups from Co-authorship Networks', 2012 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining, 2012 International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM 2012), IEEE, Istanbul, Turkey, pp. 289-293.
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Nowadays, academic collaboration has become more prevalent and crucial than ever before and many studies of academic collaboration analysis are implemented based on coauthor ship networks. This paper aims to build a novel coauthor ship network by importing field of research codes based on Newman's model, and then analyze and extract research groups via spectral clustering. In order to explain the effectiveness of this revised network, we take the academic collaboration at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) as an example. The result of this study advances methods for selecting the most prolific research groups and individuals in research institutions, and provides scientific evidence for policymakers to manage laboratories and research groups more efficiently in the future.
San, PP, Ling, SH, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization Based Normalized Radial Basis Function Neural Network For Hypoglycemia Detection', 2012 INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS (IJCNN), IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 2718-2723.
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In this study, a normalized radial basis function neural network (NRBFNN) is presented for detection of hypoglycemia episodes by using physiological parameters of electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. ypoglycemia is a common and serious side effect of insulin therapy in patients with Type 1 diabetes. Based on heart rate (HR) and corrected QT interval (QTc) of electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, a hybrid particle swarm optimization based normalized RBFNN is developed for recognization of hypoglycemia episodes. A global learning algorithm called hybrid particle swarm optimization with wavelet mutation (HPSOWM) is used to optimize the parameters of NRBFNN. From a clinical study of 15 children with Type 1 diabetes, natural occurrence of nocturnal hypoglycemic episodes associated with increased heart rates and corrected QT interval are studied. The overall data are organized into a training set (5 patients), validation set (5 patients) and testing set (5 patients) randomly selected. Using the optimized NRBFNN, the testing performance for detection of hypoglycemic episodes are satisfactory with 76.74% of sensitivity and 51.82% of specificity.
San, PP, Ling, SH, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Intelligent Detection of Hypoglycemic Episodes in Children with Type 1 Diabetes using Adaptive Neural-Fuzzy Inference System', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Xplore, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 6325-6328.
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Hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose, is the most common complication experienced by Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. It is dangerous and can result in unconsciousness, seizures and even death. The most common physiological parameter to be effected from hypoglycemic reaction are heart rate (HR) and correct QT interval (QTc) of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. Based on physiological parameters, an intelligent diagnostics system, using the hybrid approach of adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), is developed to recognize the presence of hypoglycemia. The proposed ANFIS is characterized by adaptive neural network capabilities and the fuzzy inference system. To optimize the membership functions and adaptive network parameters, a global learning optimization algorithm called hybrid particle swarm optimization with wavelet mutation (HPSOWM) is used. For clinical study, 15 children with Type 1 diabetes volunteered for an overnight study. All the real data sets are collected from the Department of Health, Government of Western Australia. Several experiments were conducted with 5 patients each, for a training set (184 data points), a validation set (192 data points) and a testing set (153 data points), which are randomly selected. The effectiveness of the proposed detection method is found to be satisfactory by giving better sensitivity, 79.09% and acceptable specificity, 51.82%. © 2012 IEEE.
Schulte, J, Duc, NA, Hoang, DB, Elliott, D, McKinley, S & Nanda, P 1970, 'A remote sensor-based 6-minute functional walking ability test', 2012 IEEE Sensors, 2012 IEEE Sensors, IEEE, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 1-4.
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This paper proposes and implements an integrated remote sensor-based 6-minute walk test (6MWT) for monitoring a patient's clinical condition and correlate this data to the walking activity that the patient is performing to assess his/her functional ability and physical performance. The 6MWT is known to be one of the most effective rehabilitation tests for a clinician to assess individuals with a variety of clinical conditions including survivors of a critical illness. Our method deploys body sensors for measuring health conditions and an on-body accelerometer for detecting motion. An intelligent algorithm was developed to detect a walk step, count the number of steps, and dynamically derive the step distance based on an individual's real-time walking parameters. The path and the derived walk distance are then related to their vital signs to assess their functional ability under various walk conditions. Our remote 6MWT is being considered for a telehealth rehabilitation procedure in an integrated assistive healthcare system. © 2012 IEEE.
Shi, S, Li, JY & Gu, XM 1970, 'A Novel Method of High Frequency Weak Signal Detection Based on Chaotic Oscillator System and Wavelet Transform System', Applied Mechanics and Materials, 3rd International Conference on Mechanical and Electronics Engineering (ICMEE 2011), Trans Tech Publications, Ltd., PEOPLES R CHINA, Hefei, pp. 2770-2773.
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Based on chaotic oscillator system and wavelet transform system, this paper proposes a novel method on high frequency weak signal detection. Chaotic system is a typical non-linear system which is sensitive to certain signals and immune to noise at the same time. Its properties demonstrate the potential application on weak signal detection. Due to the good localization in both time domain and frequency domain, the wavelet transform method can automatically adjust to different frequency components and increase the Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Starting from the analysis of advantages and disadvantages of two signal detection methods, we put forward a combined method that takes advantage of each method to detect weak signals with high frequency. The simulation results show that the novel method can detect weak signals with frequency in an order of magnitude of 107Hz, and the input Signal-to-Noise Ratio threshold could be-42.5dB.
Tafavogh, S, Kennedy, PJ, Catchpoole, DR & IEEE 1970, 'Determining Cellularity Status of Tumors based on Histopathology using Hybrid Image Segmentation', 2012 INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS (IJCNN), IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 1-8.
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A Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system is developed to determine cellularity status of a tumor. The system helps pathologists to distinguish a tumor with cell proliferation from normal tumors. The developed CAD system implements a hybrid segmentation method to identify and extract the morphological features that are used by pathologists for determining cellularity status of tumor. Adaptive Mean Shift (AMS) clustering as a non-parametric technique is integrated with Color Template Matching (CTM) to construct segmentation approach. We used Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering as a parametric technique for the sake of comparison with our proposed approach. The output of our proposed system and EM are validated by two pathologists as ground truth. The result of our developed system is quite close to the decision of pathologists, and it significantly outperforms EM in terms of accuracy. © 2012 IEEE.
Thuraisingham, RA, Tran, Y, Craig, A & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Frequency analysis of eyes open and eyes closed EEG signals using the Hilbert-Huang Transform.', EMBC, International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 2865-2868.
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Frequency analysis based on the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) is examined as an alternative to Fourier spectral analysis in the study of EEG signals. This method overcomes the need for the EEG signal to be linear and stationary, assumptions necessary for the application of Fourier spectral analysis. The HHT method comprises two components: empirical mode decomposition (EMD) of the signal into intrinsic mode functions (IMFâs); and the Hilbert transform of the IMFâs. This technique is applied here in the study of consecutive eyes open (EO), eyes closed (EC) EEG signals of able bodied and spinal cord injured participants. The study found that in this EO, EC pair the instantaneous frequencies in the EO state were higher compared to the EC state. The Hilbert weighted frequency, a measure of the mean of the instantaneous frequencies present in an IMF, is used here to detect these changes from EO to the EC state in an EEG signal. Although there was a good detection of this change with information obtained from just one IMF (94% in able-bodied persons and 84% in SCI persons), almost 100% success in detecting between group differences was achieved using all the IMF's. This result has implications for assistive technology that rely on EEG changes in EO and EC states.
Tjin, G, Faiz, A, Harkness, L, Oliver, BGG, Black, JL & Burgess, JK 1970, 'EXPRESSION AND ROLE OF CATHEPSINS IN ASTHMATIC AIRWAYS', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 14-14.
Tran, Y, Thuraisingham, RA, Craig, A & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Stationarity and variability in eyes open and eyes closed EEG signals from able-bodied and spinal cord injured persons.', EMBC, International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 2861-2864.
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This paper examines the assumption of stationarity used in EEG brain activity analyses, despite EEG data often being non-stationary. Transformations necessary to obtain stationary data from measured non-stationary EEG data and methods to assess non-stationarity are illustrated using eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) data. The study shows that even short time EEG records of 10s duration exhibit nonstationary behavior. Examination of the change in variance when going from the EO to the EC state for both able bodied and spinal cord injured participants show that the difference in variance is consistently positive and statistically significant only when stationary data is used. This has implications for brain computer interfaces that utilizes changes in EO and EC EEG signals.
Truong, BCQ, Tuan, HD, Kha, HH & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Global optimization for human skin investigation in terahertz', 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2012 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 5474-5477.
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In this paper, the electromagnetic interaction between human skin and terahertz radiation is investigated through the double Debye parametersâ extraction algorithm. The changes of skin content are contrasted at the frequencies below one terahertz(THz) but the recent approaches could provide only a rough estimation. We propose an global optimization based identification, which results in globally accurate estimators in the frequency range up to two THz, and thus supports the validity of Debye model for Terahertz waveâs propagation and reflection in skin. Simulation results confirm our prominent methodology.
Truong, BCQ, Tuan, HD, Kha, HH & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'System identification for Terahertz wave's propagation and reflection in human skin', 2012 Fourth International Conference on Communications and Electronics (ICCE), 2012 Fourth International Conference on Communications and Electronics (ICCE), IEEE, Hue, Vietnam, pp. 364-368.
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This paper is concerned with parameter identification for the double Debye model of the Terahertz wave's propagation and reflection in human skin. The existing methods could provide estimators, which are accurate at the frequencies higher than one THz but rather row at the lower frequencies, where the majority of contrast for differentiating the changes of skin content is present. We propose another approach by using parametric quadratic optimization to locate the global optimal estimator. Simulation results confirm our reliable and prominent technique.
Valencia, R, Miro, JV, Dissanayake, G, Andrade-Cetto, J, IEEE & Japan, RSO 1970, 'Active Pose SLAM', 2012 IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS), IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, Algarve, Portugal, pp. 1885-1891.
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We present an active exploration strategy that complements Pose SLAM [1] and optimal navigation in Pose SLAM [2]. The method evaluates the utility of exploratory and place revisiting sequences and chooses the one that minimizes overall map and path entropies. The technique considers trajectories of similar path length taking marginal pose uncertainties into account. An advantage of the proposed strategy with respect to competing approaches is that to evaluate information gain over the map, only a very coarse prior map estimate needs to be computed. Its coarseness is independent and does not jeopardize the Pose SLAM estimate. Moreover, a replanning scheme is devised to detect significant localization improvement during path execution. The approach is tested in simulations in a common publicly available dataset comparing favorably against frontier based exploration. © 2012 IEEE.
Van Ly, D, Crossett, B, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BG 1970, 'Epithelial Derived Lipids Result In Rhinovirus Induced '2 Adrenoceptor Desensitization', A37. LIPIDS IN LUNG DISEASES, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Van Ly, D, Crossett, B, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BG 1970, 'EPITHELIAL DERIVED LIPIDS RESULT IN RHINOVIRUS INDUCED B-2 ADRENOCEPTOR DESENSITIZATION', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 24-24.
Van Ly, D, Trian, T, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BG 1970, 'PROSTAGLANDINS HAVE VARIABLE INDUCTION OF CAMP AND HETROLOGOUS beta(2) ADRENOCEPTOR DESENSITIZATION', RESPIROLOGY, WILEY-BLACKWELL, pp. 43-43.
Van Ly, D, Trian, T, Burgess, JK, Black, JL & Oliver, BG 1970, 'Prostaglandins Have Variable Induction Of CAMP And Hetrologus '2 Adrenoceptor Desensitization', C30. THE ROLE OF THE SMOOTH MUSCLE CELL IN AIRWAY DISEASE, American Thoracic Society 2012 International Conference, May 18-23, 2012 • San Francisco, California, American Thoracic Society.
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Wang, C, Savkin, AV, Nguyen, TN & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'An algorithm for collision free navigation of an intelligent powered wheelchair in dynamic environments', 2012 12th International Conference on Control Automation Robotics & Vision (ICARCV), 2012 12th International Conference on Control Automation Robotics & Vision (ICARCV 2012), IEEE, Guangzhou, China, pp. 1571-1575.
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We propose a biologically inspired navigation algorithm and implement it on an intelligent wheelchair. The intelligent wheelchair demonstrates an excellent performance in detecting and avoiding static and moving obstacles under the guidance of the proposed algorithm, and it is able to safely and efficiently reach the target in a cluttered dynamic environment.
Wei, W, Fan, X, Li, J & Cao, L 1970, 'Model the complex dependence structures of financial variables by using canonical vine', Proceedings of the 21st ACM international conference on Information and knowledge management, CIKM'12: 21st ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, ACM, Maui, Hawaii, USA, pp. 1382-1391.
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Financial variables such as asset returns in the massive market contain various hierarchical and horizontal relationships forming complicated dependence structures. Modeling and mining of these structures is challenging due to their own high structural complexities as well as the stylized facts of the market data. This paper introduces a new canonical vine dependence model to identify the asymmetric and non-linear dependence structures of asset returns without any prior independence assumptions. To simplify the model while maintaining its merit, a partial correlation based method is proposed to optimize the canonical vine. Compared with the original canonical vine, the new model can still maintain the most important dependence but many unimportant nodes are removed to simplify the canonical vine structure. Our model is applied to construct and analyze dependence structures of European stocks as case studies. Its performance is evaluated by measuring portfolio of Value at Risk, a widely used risk management measure. In comparison to a very recent canonical vine model and the 'full' model, our experimental results demonstrate that our model has a much better quality of Value at Risk, providing insightful knowledge for investors to control and reduce the aggregation risk of the portfolio. © 2012 ACM.
Wong, GY, Leung, FHF, Ling, S-H & IEEE 1970, 'Predicting Protein-Ligand Binding Site with Differential Evolution and Support Vector Machine', 2012 INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE ON NEURAL NETWORKS (IJCNN), IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, IEEE, Australia, pp. 2724-2729.
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Identification of protein-ligand binding site is an important task in structure-based drug design and docking algorithms. In these two decades, many different approaches have been developed to predict the binding site, such as geometric, energetic and sequence-based methods. When the scores are calculated from these methods, the method of classification is very important and can affect the prediction results greatly. A developed support vector machine (SVM) is used to classify the pockets, which are most likely to bind ligands with the attributes of grid value, interaction potential, offset from protein, conservation score and the information around the pockets. Since SVM is sensitive to the input parameters and the positive samples are more relevant than negative samples, differential evolution (DE) is applied to find out the suitable parameters for SVM. We compare our algorithm to four other approaches: LIGSITE, SURFNET, PocketFinder and Concavity. Our algorithm is found to provide the highest success rate.
Wong, MT, He, X, Nguyen, H & Yeh, W-C 1970, 'Mass Classification in Digitized Mammograms Using Texture Features and Artificial Neural Network', Lecture Notes in Computer Science, International Conference on Neural Information Processing, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Doha, Qatar, pp. 151-158.
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A technique is proposed to classify regions of interests (ROIs) of digitized mammograms into mass and non-mass regions using texture features and artificial neural network (ANN). Fifty ROIs were extracted from the MIAS MiniMammographic Database, with 25 ROIs containing masses and 25 ROIs containing normal breast tissue only. Twelve texture features were derived from the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) of each region. The sequential forward selection technique was used to select four significant features from the twelve features. These significant features were used in the ANN to classify the ROI into either mass or non-mass region. By using leave-one-out method on the 50 images using the four significant features, classification accuracy of 86% was achieved for ANN. The test result using the four significant features is better than the full set of twelve features. The proposed method is compared with some existing works and promising results are obtained
Yuwono, M, Su, SW, Moulton, B, Nguyen, H & IEEE 1970, 'Fast unsupervised learning method for rapid estimation of cluster centroids', 2012 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, pp. 889-896.
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Data clustering is a process where a set of data points is divided into groups of similar points. Recent approaches for data clustering have seen the development of unsupervised learning algorithms based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) techniques. These include Particle Swarm Clustering (PSC) and Modified PSC (mPSC) algorithms for solving clustering problems. However, the PSC and mPSC algorithms tend to be computationally expensive when applied to datasets that have higher levels of dimensionality and large volumes. This paper presents a novel and more efficient swarm clustering strategy we call Rapid Centroid Estimation (RCE). We compare the performance of RCE with the performance of PSC and mPSC in several ways including complexity analyses and particle behavior analyses. Our benchmark testing suggests that RCE can reach a solution 274 times quicker than PSC and 270 times quicker than mPSC for a clustering task where the dataset has a dimension of 80 and a volume of 500. We also investigated particle behaviors on two-class two-dimensional datasets with volume of 500, presenting 250 data for each well-separated class with known Gaussian centers. We found that RCE converged to the appropriate centers at 70 updates on average, compared to 19802 updates for PSC and 23006 updates for mPSC. An ANOVA indicates RCE is significantly faster than both PSC and mPSC.
Yuwono, M, Su, SW, Moulton, B, Nguyen, H & IEEE 1970, 'Method for increasing the computation speed of an unsupervised learning approach for data clustering', 2012 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Brisbane, pp. 2957-2964.
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Clustering can be especially effective where the data is irregular, noisy and/or not differentiable. A major obstacle for many clustering techniques is that they are computationally expensive, hence limited to smaller data volume and dimension. We propose a lightweight swarm clustering solution called Rapid Centroid Estimation (RCE). Based on our experiments, RCE has significantly quickened optimization time of its predecessors, Particle Swarm Clustering (PSC) and Modified Particle Swarm Clustering (mPSC). Our experimental results show that on benchmark datasets, RCE produces generally better clusters compared to PSC, mPSC, K-means and Fuzzy C-means. Compared with K-means and Fuzzy C-means which produces clusters with 62% and 55% purities on average respectively, thyroid dataset has successfully clustered on average 71% purity in 14.3 seconds.
Yuwono, M, Su, SW, Moulton, BD, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Gait Cycle Spectrogram Analysis using a Torso-attached Inertial Sensor', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Xplore, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 6539-6542.
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Measurement of gait parameters can provide important information about a person's health and safety. Automatic analysis of gait using kinematic sensors is a newly emerging area of research. We describe a new way to detect walking, and measure gait cadence, by using time-frequency signal processing together with spectrogram analysis of signals from a chest-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU). A pilot study of 11 participants suggests that this method is able to distinguish between walk and non-walk activities with up to 88.70% sensitivity and 97.70% specificity. Limitations of the method include instability associated with manual fine-tuning of local and global threshold levels. © 2012 IEEE.
Yuwono, M, Su, SW, Moulton, BD, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Gait episode identification based on wavelet feature clustering of spectrogram images', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE Xplore, San Diego, CA, USA, pp. 2949-2952.
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Measurement of gait parameters can provide important information about a person's health and safety. Automatic analysis of gait using kinematic sensors is a newly emerging area of research. We propose a new approach to detect gait episodes using Neural Network and and clustering of wavelet-decomposed spectrogram images. Signals from a chest-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU) is processed using Explicit Complementary Filter (ECF) to estimate and track torso angle. Using the feature obtained from wavelet decomposition of spectrogram images, we use an Augmented Radial Basis Neural Network (ARBF) to classify walking episodes. Cluster centroids of ARBF are optimized using Rapid Cluster Estimation (RCE). A pilot study of 11 participants suggests that our approach is able to distinguish between walk and non-walk activities with up to 85.71% sensitivity and 91.34% specificity. © 2012 IEEE.
Yuwono, M, Su, SW, Moulton, BD, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Optimization Strategies for Rapid Centroid Estimation', 2012 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, IEEE, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 6212-6215.
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Particle swarm algorithm has been extensively utilized as a tool to solve optimization problems. Recently proposed particle swarm±based clustering algorithm called the Rapid Centroid Estimation (RCE) is a lightweight alteration to Particle Swarm Clustering (PSC). The RCE in its standard form is shown to be superior to conventional PSC algorithm. We have observed some limitations in RCE including the possibility to stagnate at a local minimum combination and the restriction in swarm size. We propose strategies to optimize RCE further by introducing RCE+ and swarm RCE+. Five benchmark datasets from UCI machine learning database are used to test the performance of these new strategies. In Glass dataset swarm RCE+ is able to achieve highest purity centroid combinations with less iteration (90.3%±1.1% in 9±5 iterations) followed by RCE+ (89%±3.5% in 65±62 iterations) and RCE (87%±5.9% in 54±44). Similar quality is also reflected in other benchmark datasets including Iris, Wine, Breast Cancer, and Diabetes.
Zhang, Y, Haddad, A, Su, SW, Celler, BG & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Onset and Offset Exercise Response Model in Electronic Terms', Biomedical Engineering / 765: Telehealth / 766: Assistive Technologies, Biomedical Engineering, ACTAPRESS, Innsbruck, Austria, pp. 122-128.
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This paper investigated human heart rate (HR) and oxygen uptake (VO2) dynamics to running exercise and developed an electronic circuitry based mathematical model to quantitatively depict the metabolic and energy-generating process at both onset and offset of exercises. In order to investigate transient responses of both HR and VO2, eight healthy male subjects were asked to run on a motor-controlled treadmill exercise under a predefined running protocol. Heart rate and oxygen consumption were monitored and recorded using a COSMED portable gas analyzer (K4b2, Cosmed). The observed experimental results verified the belief that cardio-respiratory responses dynamics at onset and offset of moderate or high intense exercises are significantly different. In order to find a rational explanation for this phenomenon, a novel idea was inspired by applying a simple switchable resistance-capacitor (RC) circuit to unify the complex dynamics at onset and offset of exercises. The proposed physical system can not only analytically explain body's energy-generating process, metabolism and cardio-respiratory responses, but also mathematically account for cardio-respiratory dynamics at both onset and offset of exercises, in which the continuity of the output and states during switching is guaranteed.
Zhang, Y, Su, S, Savkin, A, Celler, B & Nguyen, H 1970, 'Multi-loop integral controllability analysis for nonlinear multiple-input single-output processes', 2012 2nd Australian Control Conference, AUCC 2012, Australian Control Conference, IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Sydney, NSW, Australia, pp. 81-85.
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Multi-loop integral control is still one of the most popular control strategies in industry due to its simplicity, efficiency, offset free tracking, and capability for fault tolerance. Skogestad and Morari introduced Decentralized Integral Controllability (DIC) to investigate the decentralized unconditional stability under multi-loop integral control for square systems. However, in engineering practice, some multivariable processes may not be square, which often utilize multiple redundant control inputs for the regulation of only one single output. This study extends the concept of Decentralized Integral Controllability to non-square systems, and presents sufficient conditions for Multiple-Input Single-Output nonlinear processes based on singular perturbation analysis. The proposed controllability analysis method is applied in the control of a real time temperature control system and achieves desired temperature tracking results. © 2012 Institute of Engineers.
Zhao, Y, Li, J, Christen, P & Kennedy, PJ 1970, 'Preface', Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series, p. vii.
Zheng, L, Hoang, DB & ACM 1970, 'Further Analysis and Tuning of Registered Multi-cycle Polling in Wireless Medium Access Management', HP-MOSYS '12: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACM WORKSHOP ON HIGH PERFORMANCE MOBILE OPPORTUNISTIC SYSTEMS, ACM/IEEE International Conference on Modelling, Analysis and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems, ACM, Paphos, Cyprus Island, pp. 53-59.
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Multimedia applications are supported by enhancing polling mechanisms to achieve Quality of Service, QoS, in the IEEE 802 MAC layer. We first briefly introduce the problems of reliability and efficiency with the basic polling medium access, particularly in highly loaded environments. A novel mechanism, Registered Polling is then described in details. The proposed mechanism provides a simple and efficient channel for implicit information update on traffic conditions. Based on these updates, it optimizes the actual polling order to meet the needs of multimedia applications. However, performance analysis shows dilemma between network utilization and delay bound guarantee. This motivates us to further investigate a multi-cycle enhancement. It is designed based on the detailed performance analysis on different traffic scenarios. The final scheme not only manages the network resources efficiently with total network utilization improvement but also proves us the parameterized QoS supports particularly for session-based applications.
Zhou, J, Su, SW & Guo, A 1970, 'Fault Detection and Identification of COSMED K4b2 based on PCA and Neural Network', WASET: International Conference on Information, Communications and Signal Processing, International Conference on Information, Communications and Signal Processing, WASET, Penang, Malaysia, pp. 729-734.
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COSMED K4b2 is a portable electrical device designed to test pulmonary functions. It is ideal for many applications that need the measurement of the cardio-respiratory response either in the field or in the lab is capable with the capability to delivery real time data to a sink node or a PC base station with storing data in the memory at the same time. But the actual sensor outputs and data received may contain some errors, such as impulsive noise which can be related to sensors, low batteries, environment or disturbance in data acquisition process. These abnormal outputs might cause misinterpretations of exercise or living activities to persons being monitored. In our paper we propose an effective and feasible method to detect and identify errors in applications by principal component analysis (PCA) and a back propagation (BP) neural network.
