Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Variation In Seagrass Biomass Estimates In Low And High Density Settings: Implications For The Selection Of Sample Size, Mustafa K. Hossain, Kerrylee Rogers, Neil Saintilan

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Few seagrass biomass monitoring studies have considered the adequacy of monitoring intensity in their design. Power analysis is now widely used in ecological monitoring to determine sample size (replication) and the power (probability of not making a Type II error) of the monitoring design to detect change (effect size). We investigated seasonal variation of above-ground biomass of Zostera species at Woolooware Bay, Botany Bay, NSW and Ukerebagh Channel, Tweed River, NSW to show that seagrass biomass varies significantly between sites and seasonally. By conducting preliminary power analysis at each study site we found that our sampling design would only detect …

Casualisation Of The Teaching Workforce: Implications For Nursing Education, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Sharon Andrew, Kath Peters, Yenna Salamonson, Debra Jackson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Internationally, nursing faculty shortages have been reported and there is a potential for them to worsen into the next decade as existing faculty age. To, in part, address this issue, across disciplines there is clearly an international trend towards the increasing casualisation of the higher education workforce. Despite the potential impact of this two-tiered workforce structure, there has been limited examination of the discipline specific issues related to the employment of a growing number of sessional nursing staff. This paper provides a critical review of the literature related to the employment of sessional teachers in higher education. The paper advances …

Aripiprazole Differentially Affects Mesolimbic And Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Transmission: Implications For Long-Term Drug Efficacy And Low Extrapyramidal Side-Effects, Xu-Feng Huang, Chao Deng, Mei Han

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Aripiprazole has been used effectively to treat schizophrenia in the clinic ; however, its mechanisms ofaction are not clear. This study examined how short- and long-term aripiprazole treatment affects dopaminergic transmission in mesolimbic and nigrostriatal pathways. For comparison, the effects of haloperidol and olanzapine treatment were also examined. Aripiprazole significantly increased D2 receptor mRNA expression and decreased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA expression in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) after 1- and 12-wk treatment, but had no effect in substantia nigra (SN) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). Aripiprazole also decreased dopamine transporter (DAT) binding density in NAc (for 1- and 12- wk …

Characterizing The Litter In Postfire Environments: Implications For Seedling Recruitment, Andrew J. Denham, Robert Whelan, Tony D. Auld

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Litter accumulation after fire influences the magnitude of seed predation and seed germination. How litter accumulation and patchiness influence postfire seedling recruitment is poorly known. Species with persistent seed banks have seeds available for germination in the immediate postfire period. In contrast, plants with transient seed banks must flower after fire to place seeds in the postfire habitat. In southeastern Australian sclerophyll forests, most seedling recruitment occurs within 3 yr after fire. We found that less litter had accumulated in sites mass, including some species with very light seeds. In contrast, the seed mass of transient seed bank species is …

Systematic Review And Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis Of Diagnosis Of Heart Failure, With Modelling Of Implications Of Different Diagnostic Strategies In Primary Care, J. Mant, J. Doust, A. Roalfe, P. Barton, M. Cowie, P. Glasziou, D. Mant, R. Mcmanus, R. Holder, J. Deeks, K. Fletcher, M. Qume, S. Sohanpal, S. Sanders, F. Hobbs

Jenny Doust

Objectives: To assess the accuracy in diagnosing heart failure of clinical features and potential primary care investigations, and to perform a decision analysis to test the impact of plausible diagnostic strategies on costs and diagnostic yield in the UK health-care setting. Data sources: MEDLINE and CINAHL were searched from inception to 7 July 2006. ‘Grey literature’ databases and conference proceedings were searched and authors of relevant studies contacted for data that could not be extracted from the published papers. Review methods: A systematic review of the clinical evidence was carried out according to standard methods. Individual patient data (IPD) analysis …

Facts On Fats: What Are The Implications?, Jie J. Wang, Victoria M. Flood, Paul Mitchell

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

We are delighted to see a cross-discipline review article by Chong, Sinclair and Guymer appearing in this issue of CEO (‘Facts on fat’, pp. 464–471). As the authors anticipate, this review provides valuable information to readers of the Journal, who are mostly ophthalmologists. We also believe that this cross-discipline review article will enable readers to better understand the roles of dietary fats, and be in a position to convey better quality information to their patients. Given that a possible association between dietary fatty acid intake and age-related macular degeneration is a current hot topic in the ophthalmic literature, this review …

Western Australians' Perceptions Of The Survivability Of Different Cancers: Implications For Public Education Campaigns, Robert J Donovan, Owen Bj Carter, Geoffrey Jalleh, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Dietary Fats And Membrane Function: Implications For Metabolism And Disease, Anthony J. Hulbert, Nigel Turner, Leonard H. Storlein, Paul Else

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Lipids play varied and critical roles in metabolism, with function dramatically modulated by the individual fatty acid moities in complex lipid entities. In particular, the fatty acid composition of membrane lipids greatly influences membrane function. Here we consider the role of dietary fatty acid profile on membrane composition and, in turn, its impact on prevalent disease clusters of the metabolic syndrome and mental illness. Applying the classical physiological conformer-regulator paradigm to quantify the influence of dietary fats on membrane lipid composition (i.e. where the membrane variable is plotted against the same variable in the environment - in this case dietary …

Fgf-2 Counteracts Loss Of Tgfβ Affected Cells From Rat Lens Explants: Implications For Pco (After Cataract), Kylie Mansfield, Anna Cerra, Coral Chamberlain

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Purpose: While cataract surgery initially benefits most patients, many suffer secondary loss of vision because of posterior capsule opacification (PCO). Lens epithelial cells left behind at surgery become aberrant and migrate into the light path. TGF-beta (TGFβ) appears to play a key role in this process by inducing the cells to undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Paradoxically, it also typically induces them to undergo apoptotic death. The present study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that FGF plays a role in PCO formation by promoting the survival of abnormal cells with PCO-like characteristics.

Methods: Rat lens epithelial explants were cultured for …

Aids: Implications To Society And Approaches To Control, Robert W. Sidwell

Faculty Honor Lectures

It is perhaps a measure of today's society that a new disease of potentially world-wide implication does not gain national or international attention until a famous person contracts it. This was particularly seen with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) when it became known that Rock Hudson of movie and TV acclaim was dying of it. By the time the celebrated pianist and entertainer Liberace died of AIDS, the various public health agencies around the world had begun to focus on the problem, and enormous sums of money were being committed toward its control. Today, more U.s. dollars are budgeted for AIDS …