Digital Commons Network^™

Concordance Of Molecular Microbiology And Conventional Culture Techniques For Infected Diabetic Foot Ulcer Management, Angela Oates, Sarah T. Brown, Colin C. Everett, Fran Game, Jane E. Nixon, Tim Sloan, Michelle M. Lister, Michael Backhouse, Benjamin A. Lipsky, David Russell, Howard Collier, Joanna Dennett, Rachael Gilberts, E. Andrea Nelson, Jon Deeks, Sue Mallett, Roger Gasdby, Jane Lewis, Julie Brittenden, Andrew Bradbury, Joanne Paton, Zoe Hoare, Deborah Fitzsimmons, Mark Wilcox, Gerry Rayman, Brenda Riley, Christine Thomas, Ravikanth Gouni, Haroon Siddique, Gillian A. Lomax

School of Health Professions

Aim: The management of infected diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) requires balancing the need for timely interventions against the desire for targeted antibiotic therapy, which relies on laboratory results. This study aimed to evaluate concordance between molecular and conventional culture and sensitivity (C&S) methods in identifying bacteria from infected DFUs. Methods: This study was conducted alongside CODIFI2, a Phase III randomised controlled trial comparing tissue sampling with wound swabbing. It assessed C&S and metagenomic 16S rRNA gene sequencing (M16S) in DFUs with suspected mild or moderate infections using both tissue and swab samples. Results: In 145 participants, C&S identified 248 microorganisms …

Which Factors Predict Outcome From Specialist Physiotherapy For Functional Motor Disorder? Prognostic Modelling Of The Physio4fmd Intervention, Glenn Nielsen, Teresa C. Lee, Louise Marston, Alan Carson, Mark J. Edwards, Laura H. Goldstein, Rachael Maree Hunter, Kate Holt, Jon Marsden, Markus Reuber, Jon Stone, Irwin Nazareth

School of Health Professions

Objectives: Physiotherapy is considered part of first line treatment for functional motor disorder (FMD) although not all patients benefit. Predictors of treatment outcome may help to inform triage decisions. We aimed to determine which baseline variables predicted treatment outcome in the pragmatic multicentre Physio4FMD randomised controlled trial of specialist physiotherapy for FMD. Methods: Participants randomised to the specialist physiotherapy arm of the trial were included in the analysis. Treatment outcome was dichotomised into improvement vs no improvement, based on two measures, Short Form 36 Physical Functioning (SF36 PF) and participant-rated Clinical Global Impression Scale of Improvement (CGI-I). Predictors of outcome …

Sexual Communication Patterns Of Heterosexual-Identified Men Who Have Sex With Men, Travis R. Scheadler, Megan W. Rowe, Salem Rao, Oliver W.J. Beer, Tyrone J. Curtis, Sandra Kwan, Shih Ju Claire Lung, Adam Busch, Daniel Vandervoort, Paul A. Shuper, Andrew D. Eaton

School of Health Professions

The sexual communication patterns that comprise how heterosexual men with concordance between identity and behavior navigate their sexual encounters with women are well-established. Some heterosexual men experience discordance between their sexual identities and behaviors and may have unique practices of sexual communication, but this has not been studied. Knowledge of their sexual communication practices is an important step toward understanding and improving their sexual experiences. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men to learn more about their sexual communication strategies. Three themes were identified through interpretative phenomenological analysis: meeting sex partners, clear communication …

Effects Of Cognitive Rehabilitation And Exercise On Brain Structure In Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Results From The Cogex Trial, Cogex Research Team, Francesco Romanò, Maria A. Rocca, Elisabetta Pagani, Maria Pia Amato, Giampaolo Brichetto, Jeremy Chataway, Nancy D. Chiaravalloti, Gary Cutter, Ulrik Dalgas, John Deluca, Rachel Farrell, Peter Feys, Jennifer Freeman, Matilde Inglese, Emilio Cipriano, Cecilia Meza, Robert W. Motl, Amber Salter, Brian M. Sandroff, Anthony Feinstein, Massimo Filippi

School of Health Professions

Background: We previously showed increased cortical grey matter (GM) volume in CogEx trial participants who performed cognitive rehabilitation (CR). Here, we explore combined CR and aerobic exercise (EX) effects on regional changes in brain volumes and white matter (WM) integrity. Methods: Seventy-three patients were randomized into four groups receiving a combination of CR and EX or their sham versions: CR + EX, CR + EX-sham, EX + CR-sham, and CR-sham + EX-sham. A diagnosis of progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) and impaired information processing speed were required for inclusion. Participants attended a 12-week intervention twice/week. Assessments were performed at baseline, week-12 …

The State Of Local Anaesthetic Systemic Toxicity In 2025: The Emergence Of Lidocaine As Our Next Challenge, Eric Schwenk, J Robert Sneyd, Christopher Wu

More Faculty of Health Research

Local anaesthetics are an integral part of surgical and medical practice, but their systemic uptake can result in local anaesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST). A recent study by Fettiplace and colleagues examined the US Food and Drug administration’s Adverse Events Reporting System between 1968 and 2023. Although the reporting of death from longacting local anaesthetics decreased after the publication of relevant practice advisories, Fettiplace and colleagues also found that deaths from lidocaine remained essentially unchanged. The emergence of lidocaine as the leading reported cause of deaths attributable to LAST was unexpected, and the reasons behind the relatively higher number of deaths …

Multi-Modal Framework For Autism Severity Assessment Using Spatio-Temporal Graph Transformers, Kush Gupta, Amir Aly, Emmanuel Ifeachor

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) remains challenging, as it often relies on subjective evaluations and traditional methods using fMRI data. This paper proposes an innovative multi-modal framework that leverages spatiotemporal graph transformers to assess ASD severity using skeletal and optical flow data from the MMASD dataset. Our approach captures movement synchronization between children with ASD and therapists during play therapy interventions. The framework integrates a spatial encoder, a temporal transformer, and an I3D network for comprehensive motion analysis. Through this multi-modal approach, we aim to deliver reliable ASD severity scores, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and offering a scalable, robust alternative to …

Mortality Prediction After Major Surgery In A Mixed Population Through Machine Learning: A Multi-Objective Symbolic Regression Approach, Pietro Arina, Davide Ferrari, Nicholas Tetlow, Amy Dewar, Robert Stephens, Daniel Martin, Ramani Moonesinghe, Vasa Curcin, Mervyn Singer, John Whittle, Evangelos B Mazomenos

Peninsula Medical School

INTRODUCTION: Understanding 1-year mortality following major surgery offers valuable insights into patient outcomes and the quality of peri-operative care. Few models exist that predict 1-year mortality accurately. This study aimed to develop a predictive model for 1-year mortality in patients undergoing complex non-cardiac surgery using a novel machine-learning technique called multi-objective symbolic regression.

METHODS: A single-institution database of patients undergoing major elective surgery with previous cardiopulmonary exercise testing was divided into three datasets: pre-operative clinical data; cardiorespiratory and physiological data; and combined. A multi-objective symbolic regression model was developed and compared against existing models. Model performance was evaluated using the …

Serious Games For Constipation Management For People With Intellectual Disabilities: A Scoping Review And Narrative Synthesis, Serena Daniel, Ruth Bishop, Ellie Killner, Alison Whight, Sarah Lennard, Stephen Howard, Richard Laugharne, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Introduction: People with intellectual disability (PwID) are 2% of the UK population. Constipation and bowel movement (BM) problems (diarrhoea/faecal incontinence etc.) affects over a third of PwID and is a serious cause of morbidity and mortality. Pw ID rely heavily on outside support (family/professional carers/healthcare professionals), many of whom are ignorant to bowel related harms. There is significant stigma to discuss BM particularly constipation. Serious Games (SG) are increasingly used for education of health needs. This review examines if game-based technology can assist improving knowledge and reducing stigma of BM problems particularly constipation. Objective: To identify and gain evidence of …

New Ethereum-Based Distributed Pki With A Reward-And-Punishment Mechanism, Chong Gee Koa, Swee Huay Heng, Ji Jian Chin

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This paper explores the critical role of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in ensuring the security of electronic transactions, particularly in validating the authenticity of websites in online environments. Traditional Centralised PKIs (CPKIs) relying on Certificate Authorities (CAs) face a significant drawback due to their susceptibility to a single point of failure. To address this concern, Decentralised PKIs (DPKIs) have emerged as an alternative. However, both centralised and decentralised approaches encounter specific challenges. Researchers have made several attempts using blockchain-based PKI, which implements a reward and punishment mechanism to enhance the security of traditional PKI. Most of the attempts are focused …

From Attention To Action: Advancing Inclusivity In The Landscape Of Anatomy Education, Siobhan M. Moyes, Lily Evans, Katie Snow, Aiden Jayanth

Peninsula Medical School

Conversations about inclusivity in anatomy education are at a critical juncture. While the need for a more equitable discipline is widely recognised, significant challenges remain. As this project aimed to reimagine what a truly inclusive learning experience could like and how it might be best achieved, an inclusive approach to research methodology was essential to ensure robust and representative results. Due to the paucity in anatomical literature on this topic, the authors applied concepts from sociological research methodology and innovative methods of demographic data collection to their own discipline.

The study utilised questionnaires and focus groups to collect diverse data …

State Space Model Of Airflow In The Human Vocal Apparatus, Ian Howard

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

To simulate both airflow and air pressure required for speech production, we developed a nonlinear state-space model of airflow in the human speech apparatus. We modeled the lungs as a mechanical, force-driven piston pump venting into a simplified larynx model, represented as a valve with time-varying resistance to airflow. The pump incorporates the effects of elasticity, viscosity, friction, and inertia, as well as differential air pressure. To maintain a constant target airflow through the larynx, a proportional-derivative (PD) controller applies force and regulates the piston. The model was implemented in MATLAB. Simulation results demonstrate that the model can maintain a …

Speech-Aided Facial Video Super Resolution With Accurate Lip Motion And Enhanced Frequency Details, Shailza Sharma, Vivek Singh, Abhinav Dhall, Vinay Kumar

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Despite recent breakthroughs in face hallucination, video face hallucination remains a challenging task due to the issue of consistency across video frames. The temporal dimension in videos makes it difficult to learn facial motion and maintain color uniformity throughout the sequence. To address these challenges, we propose a novel audio-visual cross-modality support based video face hallucination network. The framework excels in learning fine spatiotemporal motion patterns by leveraging the correlation between movement of the facial structure and associated speech signal. Another significant challenge generic to face hallucination is blurriness around the key facial regions, such as mouth and lips. These …

Modelling The Hydrodynamic Response Of A Floating Offshore Wind Turbine – A Comparative Study, Shimin Yu, Edward Ransley, Ling Qian, Yang Zhou, Scott Brown, Deborah Greaves, Martyn Hann, Anna Holcombe, Emma Edwards, Tom Tosdevin, Sudhir Jagdale, Qian Li, Yi Zhang, Ningbo Zhang, Shiqiang Yan, Qingwei Ma, Bonaventura Tagliafierro, Salvatore Capasso, Iván Martínez-Estévez, Malin Göteman, Hans Bernhoff, Madjid Karimirad, José M. Domínguez, Corrado Altomare, Giacomo Viccione, Alejandro J.C. Crespo, Moncho Goméz-Gesteira, Claes Eskilsson, Gael Verao Fernandez, Jacob Andersen

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This paper summarises the work conducted within the 1st FOWT (Floating Offshore Wind Turbine) Comparative Study organised by the EPSRC (UK) ‘Extreme loading on FOWTs under complex environmental conditions’ and ‘Collaborative computational project on wave structure interaction (CCP-WSI)’ projects. The hydrodynamic response of a FOWT support structure is simulated with a range of numerical models based on potential theory, Morison equation, Navier-Stokes solvers and hybrid methods coupling different flow solvers. A series of load cases including the static equilibrium tests, free decay tests, operational and extreme focused wave cases are considered for the UMaine VolturnUS-S semi-submersible platform, and the results …

Global And Regional Estimation And Evaluation Of Suitable Roof Area For Solar And Green Roof Applications, Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Souran Chatterjee, Luisa F. Cabeza, Gergely Molnár

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Buildings contribute to 40% of energy consumption and 30% of CO₂ emissions in 2019 globally, therefore it is necessary to exploit different solutions to decrease the corresponding energy demand, including green and cool roofs as well as on-site energy generation. To evaluate the potential of such technologies, one major input data for models and calculations is the available roof area, yet the literature shows a huge knowledge gap in this regard. Therefore, this paper contributes to filling this gap by estimating the roof availability over the period 2022–2060, using the detailed regional projections of the BISE (Building Integrated Solar …

A Systematic Review Of Biomonitoring Microplastics In Environmental Matrices: Emphasis On Airborne Particles, Dry Deposits, And Comparative Analysis With Traditional Methods, Faezeh Jahedi, Neamatollah Jaafarzadeh Haghighi Fard, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The use of plastics continues to rise each year due to their versatility and essential role in industries like manufacturing, agriculture, and food packaging. However, plastics present a serious environmental challenge because they take over 500 years to decompose. During this time, they break down into tiny particles known as microplastics (MPs), which are now found everywhere, water, soil, and even the air we breathe. Recently, researchers have even detected MPs in clouds, making their presence in the atmosphere a growing concern for both the environment and public health. Traditional methods for sampling MPs in the air, such as active …

Care‐Ful Encounters: A Case For Empathetic Youthful Encounters With Coastal Environments, Mark Holton

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This paper extends discourse of environmental stewardship and coastal management by examining the intersecting and overlapping relationships between notions of care and encounter in generating and maintaining forms of environmental empathy among young people at various socio-spatial scales. Exploring ‘care-ful encounters’ matters in terms of developing new ways of understanding how the choreographies of care and self-care shape, and are shaped by, encounters with human and non-human others, and prompts critical engagement and reflection with care as felt and experienced, that could otherwise be considered as distanced and ‘over there‘. Two key contributions emerge – first, that the combined role …

Metal Contamination In Sediments Of An Estuary Impacted By Discharges Of Antifouling Waste (Yealm, Southwest England), Oliver Bradley, Gillian A. Glegg, Geoffrey E. Millward, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Yealm is a small, protected estuary in southwest England. A paint-testing laboratory on the estuary operated from the 1920s until 2011 but sometime in 2015 or 2016, an unauthorised discharge of antifouling waste occurred. In this study, concentrations of metals and forms thereof associated with contemporary and historical antifouling formulations (As, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sn, Zn, organic Hg, organic Sn), along with other elements of geochemical or anthropogenic interest, were measured in fractionated (<180 μm) surface sediments at different distances from the discharge. Close to the discharge, concentrations of organic-Sn, representative of tributyltin, exceeded a level that requires material disposal in landfill; here and upestuary, concentrations of Cu and Hg exceeded respective predicted effect levels for estuarine sediments. Analysis of paint flakes isolated from sediments outside the laboratory revealed similar chemical signatures (high concentrations of Cu in most flakes and high levels of Hg and Sn in several cases), consistent with antifouling paint being the cause of contamination. Concentrations of Cu, Hg and organic Sn in sections of a dated core sampled close to the discharge exhibited enrichment since the opening of the laboratory nearly 100 years ago, with distinctive peaks for Hg and organic Sn coincident with periods shortly after these biocidal metals began to be phased out or restricted. These observations suggest that historical waste discharges may have been important and that any remediation measures will be challenging. The general observations might also be applicable to other facilities where contemporary and legacy antifouling waste is commonly discharged to sediments (e.g., boatyards).

Conservation Planning For Promoting Ecosystem Service Provisioning Outside Protected Area Networks, Florence Godfrey Tarimo, Francis Moyo, Claire Kelly, Linus Kasian Munishi

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Among factors that contribute to global biodiversity loss, habitat loss through unsustainable land use and land cover changes has gained prominence, with impacts being exacerbated by increasing human populations. Establishing protected area networks (PANs) is strongly advocated by national and international mechanisms, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as a primary strategy to guide biodiversity conservation and management; however, this can undermine conservation efforts outside protected areas. Understanding how people and biodiversity overlap and interact outside protected area networks (OPAN areas) is essential for setting realistic, sustainable targets to guide biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision beyond PAN. …

Arctic Fjord Ecosystem Adaptation To Cryosphere Meltdown Over The Past 14,000 Years, Jochen Knies, Youngkyu Ahn, Berenice Ebner, Lukas Smik, Kwangchul Jang, Seung Il Nam, Simon T. Belt, Carsten J. Schubert

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Arctic cryosphere is the epicentre of acute global change impact, with abrupt warming and amplification driving rapid sea ice decline and irreversible glacial ice loss. A key challenge is understanding how the cryosphere meltdown will impact Arctic marine carbon cycles and ecosystems. Here, we use organic geochemical biomarkers to trace the contribution of different planktonic groups to organic carbon in Arctic fjord sediments (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard) during past warmer and colder (than present) climate states. We show that phytoplankton community structures changed abruptly with variable sea ice cover and glacial ice loss. Our results imply that future deglaciation of Svalbard …

Tetrazole-Containing Naphthalene Bis-Sulfonamide Keap1-Nrf2 Interaction Inhibitors With Unexpected Binding Modes, Nikolaos D Georgakopoulos, Sandeep K Talapatra, Sharadha Dayalan Naidu, Dina Dikovskaya, Maureen Higgins, Jemma Gatliff, Roxani Nikoloudaki, Marjolein Schaap, Jasmine M Walker, Christopher Wardby, Albena T Dinkova-Kostova, Sarah Harris, Frank Kozielski, Geoff Wells

Peninsula Medical School

Naphthalene bis-sulfonamides are amongst the most studied inhibitors of the interaction between Kelch-like ECH-associated protein-1 (Keap1), a ubiquitination facilitator protein and the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a transcription factor associated with diverse cytoprotective responses. The compounds bind to the C-terminal Kelch domain of Keap1 and occupy the Nrf2 binding pocket, causing Nrf2 to accumulate and increase the expression of a battery of antioxidant response element genes. The binding modes of the compounds have been characterised through a series of X-ray crystallography and binding assay studies. In this work we have evaluated a series of symmetric and asymmetric …

Productivity History Of The Central Okhotsk Sea And Northeast Russia During The Mid-Pleistocene Transition, Li Lo, Wei Zhu Chen, Julie Lattaud, Yi Hsueh Tsai, Simon T. Belt, Lukas Smik, Yuen Tung Kiki Wan

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Biological productivity, shaped by climate and environmental factors, is critical to climate feedback mechanisms and the global carbon cycle. This study investigates the measurement of six phytosterols (β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, dinosterol, epi-brassicasterol, and 24-methylene cholesterol) from core MD01-2414 in the central Okhotsk Sea, covering the past 1.5 million years (Ma). These sterols serve as proxies for terrestrial and marine productivity in the central Okhotsk Sea and northeast Siberia. Sterol concentrations reflect global glacial/interglacial cycles between 1.2 and 0.6 Ma, with higher and lower values during interglacial and glacials intervals, respectively. X-ray fluorescence (Ba/Ti) and total organic carbon/total nitrogen (TOC/TN) ratios …

“I'M Pregnant, What Do I Do?”: Exploring How People Having Abortions In Britain Find And Use Online Sources Of Information, The Sacha Study Team, Rosa Mackay, Rachel Scott, Maria Lewandowska, Rebecca Meiksin, Natasha Salaria, Patricia A. Lohr, Sharon Cameron, Melissa Palmer, Rebecca S. French, Kaye Wellings, Annette Aronsson, Paula Baraitser, Caroline Free, Louise Keogh, Clare Murphy, Wendy Norman, Jennifer Reiter, Jill Shawe, Sally Sheldon, Geoffrey Wong

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: Accurate, timely, and supportive information is important for high-quality abortion care. Limited research explores how people find and use online sources of information (OSI) during the abortion process, particularly in Britain. Understanding experiences of using OSI is important for the development of person-centered services and resources. Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of qualitative data from 41 semi-structured interviews carried out in 2021/2022 with people who had recent experience of abortion in Britain. Results: Using OSI was common amongst participants. Our analysis generated four distinct motivations for doing so. People used OSI to find information about accessing abortion services. …

The Effect Of Device Geometry On The Performance Of A Wave Energy Converter, Emma C. Edwards, Craig Whitlam, John Chapman, Jack Hughes, Bryony Redfearn, Scott Brown, Scott Draper, Alistair G.L. Borthwick, Graham Foster, Dick K.P. Yue, Martyn Hann, Deborah Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Wave energy presents an excellent opportunity to add much-needed diversification to the global renewable energy portfolio. However, a competitive levelised cost of electricity for wave energy conversion devices is yet to be proven. Here, we optimise the geometry of a wave energy device to maximise power while also minimising the power take-off reaction moments. Using theory, numerical modelling and optimisation techniques, we show that by including minimisation of reaction moments in the optimisation, instead of only maximisation of power, it is possible to substantially lower the design loads while maintaining high efficiency. Using the underlying physics of how geometry affects …

A New Cfd-Mbd Wave-Structure Interaction Model: Coupling Openfoam With Chrono, Haifei Chen, Tianyuan Wang, Deborah Greaves, Hongda Shi, Qingping Zou

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Interconnected multibody floating structures have gained popularity recently. The dynamic response of moored interconnected floating bodies to wave action, however, are complicated and challenging to model and analyze. To tackle the problem, a novel wave-structure-interaction (WSI) model is developed for the first time by coupling a finite volume CFD model, OpenFOAM, with Project Chrono, a multi-physics simulation engine for multibody dynamics (MBD) and finite element analysis, through linking pre-compiled dynamic libraries. This paper focuses on dynamic behavior of rigid structures restrained with a mooring system. To account for the floating body motion in the fluid solver, both mesh deformation and …

Consensus-Based Research Priorities For Post-Collision Care In The Western Cape Province Of South Africa, Naseef Abdullah, Tim Nutbeam, Colleen J. Saunders, Craig Wylie, Nigel Lang, Willem Stassen

Peninsula Medical School

Introduction: Road traffic injuries constitute a significant global health burden, causing 1.3 million deaths and 50million injuries annually, with 92 % of fatalities occurring in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despitethis disproportionate impact, research priorities in post-collision care often reflect high-income country contexts,creating a critical misalignment between evidence generation and contextual realities in LMICs.Methods: This mixed-methods study employed a three-phase approach to identify research priorities for postcollision care in the Western Cape, South Africa. Phase 1 consisted of a comprehensive literature review toidentify preliminary thematic areas and research questions. Phase 2 involved a stakeholder engagement workshop using modified nominal group techniques …

Letter-To-The-Editor To The Study By Bartek J Et Al “Multidisciplinary Consensus-Based Statement On The Current Role Of Middle Meningeal Artery Embolization (Mmae) In Chronic Subdural Hematoma (Csdh)” – A Letter From The International Csdh Research Group Committee, Icoric, T.S.R. Jensen, J. Duerinck, D. Holl, C. Iorio-Morin, J. Soleman, E. Edlmann

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Etomidate And Its Derivatives: Time To Say Goodbye?, J Robert Sneyd, Beatrijs Valk

More Faculty of Health Research

Etomidate, an intravenous hypnotic used for anaesthesia and critical care, is known for its undesirable side effects, including pain on injection, myoclonus, and adrenocortical depression. Despite its continued clinical use due to its hemodynamic stability and rapid onset and offset, alternatives like propofol, ketamine, and remimazolam offer fewer drawbacks. Recent efforts to improve etomidate through chemical modifications, such as methoxyethyl etomidate hydrochloride (ET-26), have shown limited success, with persistent issues like involuntary muscle movements and adrenocortical suppression. We suggest that it might be time to move on from etomidate and focus on developing new anaesthetic agents.

Kelley’S Paradox And Strength Skewness In Research On Unconscious Mental Processes, Daryl Lee, Christopher Berry, David R. Shanks

School of Psychology

A widely adopted approach in research on unconscious perception and cognition involves contrasting behavioral or neural responses to stimuli that have been presented to participants (e.g., old items in a memory test) against those that have not (e.g., new items), and which participants do not discriminate in their conscious reports. We demonstrate that such contrasts do not license inferences about unconscious processing, for two reasons. One is Kelley’s Paradox, a statistical phenomenon caused by regression to the mean. In the inevitable presence of measurement error, true awareness of the contrasted stimuli is not equal. The second is a consequence, within …

Investigating The Metabolic Impact Of Metformin And Berberine In Combination With Venetoclax For Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Treatment, Samantha Robins

School of Biomedical Sciences Theses

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) stands as a significant challenge in haematological malignancies, particularly due to poor outcomes in older patients and resistance to therapy. BCL-2, an anti-apoptotic protein, is overexpressed in AML. The BCL-2 antagonist Venetoclax inhibits OXPHOS and induces apoptosis in AML cells, which is potentiated when combined with Metformin an anti-hyperglycaemic agent used to treat type 2 diabetes, which also has anti-cancer properties. This study explored the effects of Venetoclax combined with Metformin or Berberine, an herbal supplement with a similar mechanism of action to metformin, on AML cell death and metabolic changes. The combination of Metformin and …

Visual Thinking Informed By Repetition: A Practice-Based Methodology, Julia Heurling

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

This artistic research proceeds from the idea that visual thinking is thinking about images through images. It explores how ideas are instigated, developed, and articulated exclusively through visual elements from a practice-based perspective. The use of repetition as a method of thinking is rooted in my previous practice as a pattern designer. I consider this a cognitive process based on the assumption that repetition is a tool for abstraction, as it changes one’s perspective from the particular to the general. Abstraction, in this context, becomes a method for processing information (i.e. to think visually).My artistic practice is engaged in combining …