Digital Commons Network^™

Experiences Of Western Australian Rural Nursing Graduates: A Mixed Method Analysis, Amanda C. Graf, Barbara Nattabi, Elisabeth Jacob, Diane Twigg

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Aims and objectives:

To determine whether the current rural graduate programmes in Western Australia adequately support new graduate nurses transitioning into practice.

Background:

Graduate nurse's transition to employment is a time of significant change and challenge, often resulting in periods of transition shock. These challenges are magnified in rural areas where graduates have to relocate to commence their career with limited rural nursing experience. Graduate programmes were developed to smooth the transition for university trained bachelor's degree registered nurses into the workforce. Supportive graduate nursing programmes are essential for enabling transition to practice and reduce attrition rates.

Design:

Longitudinal convergent …

Examining Tourist Gaze In A Highly Controlled Destination: A Study Of Chinese Tourists To North Korea, Ganghua Chen, Huimin Shi, Zhenghuan Li, Songshan (Sam) Huang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Extant literature has rarely examined the temporal characteristics of tourist gaze in the context of a highly controlled destination. Guided by the gaze theory and studying Chinese tourists' gaze upon North Korea, this study aims to reveal the process of how tourists' gaze upon a highly controlled destination is organized and developed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and interview data was coded and analyzed. It is found that Chinese tourists' gaze represents a temporal process composed of three stages, each of which has the same structure of ‘gaze object-gaze strategy-gaze consequence.’ In a highly controlled destination, tourists respond with ‘obedience’ or …

It Cannot Happen, Never: A Qualitative Study Exploring Youth Views On Disclosure Of Hiv Diagnosis To Their Sexual Partners In Southern Malawi, Maggie Zgambo, Diana Arabiat, Deborah M. Ireson Dr

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

With the availability of antiretroviral therapy, more children living with HIV live longer than before and grow into young adulthood. This study examined the concerns of youth about disclosure of an HIV diagnosis to their sexual partners and attempted to gain an understanding of their HIV status disclosure experiences, views, and plans. A focused ethnography was undertaken. Using semi-structured interviews, data were collected from 20 youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years who were attending an HIV clinic. The findings highlight that youth generally struggled to disclose their HIV status to their sexual partners. The most frequent reasons …

Does Androgen Deprivation Impact Associations Between Cognition And Strength, Fitness And Function In Community-Dwelling Men With Prostate Cancer? A Cross-Sectional Study, Niamh L. Mundell, Patrick J. Owen, Jack Dalla Via, Helen Macpherson, Robin M. Daly, Steve F. Fraser

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objectives:

We investigated whether there were differences in associations between cognition with muscle strength, fitness and function in men with prostate cancer (PCa) treated with, and without androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and non-PCa controls. A secondary aim was to compare differences in the prevalence of cognitive impairment.

Design:

This cross-sectional study compared 70 ADT-treated men with PCa aged 50-85 years to non-ADT-treated men (n=52) and non-PCa controls (n=70).

Setting:

University clinical exercise laboratory.

Interventions:

Nil.

Primary and secondary outcome measures:

Standardised assessments were conducted for cognition (learning, memory, attention, processing speed and executive function), muscle strength (grip strength and leg …

Concurrent Achilles Tendon Vibration And Tibial Nerve Stimulation To Estimate Persistent Inward Current Strength In Motoneurons, Denis César Leite Vieira, Amilton Vieira, Matheus Avelino Dos Santos, Rafael Rodrigues Da Cunha, Victor Lage, Anthony J. Blazevich, Martim Bottaro

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Vibratory (Tvib) and sustained (Tsust) torque responses to concurrent Achilles tendon vibration and neuromuscular electrical stimulation applied over the muscle belly (vib+stim) are used as indicators of motoneuron facilitation and, theoretically, persistent inward current strength. However, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) applied to the nerve trunk may potentiate motoneuronal excitability more than muscle belly NMES, yet it remains unclear whether NMES applied over the nerve evokes robust Tvib and Tsust responses when used during the vib+stim protocol. This study tested whether a nerve-targeted vib+stim protocol elicits Tvib and Tsust responses in the ankle plantar flexors with acceptable intra- and inter-session reliability. …

The Impact Of Critical Incidents On Nurses And Midwives: A Systematic Review, Melanie Buhlmann, Beverley Ewens, Amineh Rashidi

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Aims:

To synthesise the existing literature, which focuses on the impact of critical incidents on nurses and midwives, and to explore their experiences related to the support they received in the current healthcare environment to move on from the event.

Design:

Systematic review and qualitative synthesis.

Data sources:

The electronic databases CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Embase and Nursing and Allied Health (ProQuest) were systematically searched from 2013–2018, and core authors and journals identified in the literature were manually investigated.

Review methods:

Qualitative studies of all research design types written in English were included according to the PRISMA reporting guidelines. The …

Questioning The Inclusivity Of Events: The Queer Perspective, Faith Ong, Clifford Lewis, Oscar Vorobjovas-Pinta

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Event programmes are typically designed with a target audience in mind, and such design can inherently signal inclusion or exclusion of marginalised segments. This is particularly the case for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) individuals, whose sexual and gender identities position them as an invisible minority on the periphery of society. Given the role of events in building community spirit, it is essential to ensure all members of a community feel able to participate in order to create a sense of belonging, fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals of inclusivity in community. Through the lens of Social Dominance Theory …

Reflecting On Experiences Of Care: An Exploratory Qualitative Descriptive Study Of The Perspectives Of Stroke Survivors, Families And Staff, Caroline Bulsara, Rosemary Saunders, Laura Emery, Christopher Etherton-Beer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objective:

The aim of this study was to identify barriers and enablers from the perspectives of stroke survivors, carers and staff to understand the experiences of care.

Design:

The study used a qualitative descriptive methodology and employed semistructured interview technique.

Setting:

A metropolitan stroke rehabilitation unit in Western Australia providing rehabilitation services for inpatients and outpatients.

Participants:

Overall, 10 participants (four staff, four stroke survivors and two primary carers) were interviewed. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results:

Experiences of care focused on lack of time, urgency to regain mobility, postshock recovery, uncertainty about the future and the importance of …

Design And Development Of A Mobile Health (Mhealth) Platform For Dementia Prevention In The Prevention Of Dementia By Mobile Phone Applications (Prodemos) Project, Melanie Hafdi, Esmé Eggink, Marieke P. Hoevenaar-Blom, M. Patrick Witvliet, Sandrine Andrieu, Linda Barnes, Carol Brayne, Rachael Brooks, Nicola Coley, Jean Georges, Abraham Van Der Groep, Harm Van Marwijk, Mark Van Der Meijden, Libin Song, Manshu Song, Youxin Wang, Wenzhi Wang, Wei Wang, Anders Wimo, Xiaoyan Ye, Eric P. Moll Van Charante, Edo Richard, Prodemos Consortium

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

Mobile health (mHealth) has the potential to bring preventive healthcare within reach of populations with limited access to preventive services, by delivering personalized support at low cost. Although numerous mHealth interventions are available, very few have been developed following an evidence-based rationale or have been tested for efficacy. This article describes the systematic development of a coach-supported mHealth application to improve healthy lifestyles for the prevention of dementia and cardiovascular disease in the United Kingdom (UK) and China.

Methods:

Development of the Prevention of Dementia by Mobile Phone applications (PRODEMOS) platform built upon the experiences with the Healthy Aging …

Electroshock Treatment Dependent Microstructural Evolution And Mechanical Properties Of Near-Β Titanium Alloy Manufactured By Directed Energy Deposition, Haojie Guo, Pu Liu, Xunpeng Qin, Yanli Song, Dongsheng Qian, Lechun Xie, Liqiang Wang, Lai-Chang Zhang, Lin Hua

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Effects of electroshock treatment (EST) on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of near-β titanium alloy (Ti-55531) formed by directed energy deposition (DED) was studied in this work. With the increase in EST time, the average hardness of specimen decreased from 426 HV to 316 HV, and the fracture strain increased significantly, which was attributed to the uniform dispersion of α phase along grain boundaries and inside the β grains. After EST, the texture intensity decreased in terms of the orientation distribution function (ODF), which was ascribed to the redistribution of α phase. Moreover, more atomic vacancies and lattice distortion …

Revised Semiempirical Approach To Predict The Occurrence Of Twinning In Titanium Alloys, Chirag Dhirajlal Rabadia, Syed Faraz Jawed, Jincheng Wang, Milind Siddhpura, Arti Siddhpura

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A revised semiempirical approach, considering the average values of the valence electron to atom ratio (e/a̅) and a difference in atomic radii of alloying element/s and the base element (Δr¯), is proposed to predict the twin formation in titanium alloys. The revised e/ā versus Δr¯ diagram is plotted, considering the reported results of 90 titanium alloys fabricated using various processing methods. A new twin/slip boundary has been plotted and recommended based on the revised e/ā versus Δr¯ diagram. The conventional maximum limit reported for the twinning in titanium alloys is e/ā = 4.20; however, it has been found that twinning …

Lipocalin-2 Variants And Their Relationship With Cardio-Renal Risk Factors, Dahui Li, Haoyun Li, Carlie Bauer, Yue Hu, Joshua R. Lewis, Aimin Xu, Itamar Levinger, Yu Wang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objectives:

To investigate the serum, plasma and urine levels of lipocalin-2 (LCN2) variants in healthy humans and their associations with risk factors for cardiometabolic (CMD) and chronic kidney (CKD) diseases.

Methods:

Fifty-nine males and 41 females participated in the study. Blood and urine were collected following an overnight fasting. LCN2 variants were analyzed using validated in-house ELISA kits. Heart rate, blood pressure, lipids profile, glucose, adiponectin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), creatinine, cystatin C, and biomarkers for kidney function were assessed.

Results:

The levels of hLcn2, C87A and R81E in serum and urine, but not plasma, were significantly higher in men …

Uncoupled Seasonal Variability Of Transparent Exopolymer And Coomassie Stainable Particles In Coastal Mediterranean Waters: Insights Into Sources And Driving Mechanisms, Marina Zamanillo, Eva Ortega-Retuerta, Carolina Cisternas-Novoa, Cèlia Marrasé, Carles Pelejero, Josep Pascual, Josep M. Gasol, Anja Engel, Rafel Simó

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) and Coomassie stainable particles (CSP) are gel-like particles, ubiquitous in the ocean, that affect important biogeochemical processes including organic carbon cycling by planktonic food webs. Despite much research on both groups of particles (especially TEP) over many years, whether they exist as distinctly stainable fractions of the same particles or as independent particles, each with different driving factors, remains unclear. To address this question, we examined the temporal dynamics of TEP and CSP over 2 complete seasonal cycles at 2 coastal sites in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, the Blanes Bay Microbial Observatory (BBMO) and the L’Estartit …

How Community Participation In Water And Sanitation Interventions Impacts Human Health, Wash Infrastructure And Service Longevity In Low-Income And Middle-Income Countries: A Realist Review, Sarah Nelson, Dorothy Drabarek, Aaron Jenkins, Joel Negin, Seye Abimbola

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objective:

To understand how, and under what circumstances community participation in water and sanitation interventions impacts the availability of safe water and sanitation, a change in health status or behaviour and the longevity of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) resources and services.

Design:

Realist review.

Data sources:

PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were used to identify papers from low-income and middle-income countries from 2010 to 2020.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies:

Criteria were developed for papers to be included. The contribution of each paper was assessed based on its relevance and rigour (eg, can it contribute to context, …

Higher Habitual Flavonoid Intakes Are Associated With A Lower Risk Of Peripheral Artery Disease Hospitalizations, Nicola P. Bondonno, Kevin Murray, Aedin Cassidy, Catherine P. Bondonno, Joshua Lewis, Kevin D. Croft, Cecilie Kyro, Gunnar Gislason, Christian Torp-Pedersen, Augustin Scalbert, Anne Tjonneland, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Frederik Dalgaard

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background

The role of nutrition in the primary prevention of peripheral artery disease (PAD), the third leading cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, is undetermined. Flavonoids may attenuate atherosclerosis and therefore persons who consume flavonoid-rich foods may have a lower risk of developing PAD.

Objectives

We aimed to examine the association between flavonoid intake and PAD hospitalizations and investigate if the association differs according to established risk factors for PAD.

Methods

Baseline data from 55,647 participants of the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study without PAD, recruited from 1993 to 1997, were cross-linked with Danish nationwide registries. Flavonoid intake was calculated …

Running Performance Of Male Versus Female Players In Australian Football Matches: A Systematic Review, Christopher Wing, Nicolas H. Hart, Callum Mccaskie, Petar Djanis, Fadi Ma’Ayah, Kazunori Nosaka

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

Australian Football is a fast paced, intermittent sport, played by both male and female populations. The aim of this systematic review was to compare male and female Australian Football players, competing at elite and sub-elite levels, for running performance during Australian Football matches based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).

Methods:

Medline, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science searches, using search terms inclusive of Australian Football, movement demands and microsensor technology, returned 2535 potential manuscripts, of which 33 were included in the final analyses.

Results:

Results indicated that male athletes performed approximately twice the total …

Abnormal Synergistic Gait Mitigation In Acute Stroke Using An Innovative Ankle–Knee–Hip Interlimb Humanoid Robot: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial, Chanhee Park, Mooyeon Oh-Park, Amy Bialek, Kathleen Friel, Dylan Edwards, Joshua Sung H. You

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Abnormal spasticity and associated synergistic patterns are the most common neuromuscular impairments affecting ankle–knee–hip interlimb coordinated gait kinematics and kinetics in patients with hemiparetic stroke. Although patients with hemiparetic stroke undergo various treatments to improve gait and movement, it remains unknown how spasticity and associated synergistic patterns change after robot-assisted and conventional treatment. We developed an innovative ankle–knee–hip interlimb coordinated humanoid robot (ICT) to mitigate abnormal spasticity and synergistic patterns. The objective of the preliminary clinical trial was to compare the effects of ICT combined with conventional physical therapy (ICT-C) and conventional physical therapy and gait training (CPT-G) on abnormal …

A Case Report Of Covid-19 Monitoring In The Austrian Professional Football League, Antje Van Der Zee-Neuen, Dagmar Schaffler-Schaden, Jürgen Herfert, James O´Brien, Tim Johansson, Patrick Kutschar, Alexander Seymer, Stephan Ludwig, Thomas Stöggl, David Keeley, Herbert Resch, Jürgen Osterbrink, Maria Flamm

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Since the beginning of the COVID -19 pandemic, many contact sport teams are facing major challenges to safely continue training and competition. We present the design and implementation of a structured monitoring concept for the Austrian national football league. 146 professional players from five clubs of the professional Austrian football league were monitored for a period of 12 weeks. Subjective health parameters, PCR- test results and data obtained from a geo-tracking app were collected. Simulations modelling the consequences of a COVID-19 case with increasing reproduction number were computed. No COVID -19 infection occurred during the observation period in the players. …

A Multifaceted Approach Increased Staff Confidence To Develop Outside Of School Hours Care As A Health Promoting Setting, Karen Forde, Leesa Costello, Amanda Devine, Ros Sambell, Ruth Wallace

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

Outside-of-school-hours-care (OSHC) services are well positioned to influence the health behaviours of 489, 800 Australian children, and are an important setting for health promotion given the current rates of childhood overweight and obesity and associated health risks. OSHC Professionals are ideally placed to become positive influencers in this setting, although they may require training and support to confidently perform this role. This study piloted a multifaceted intervention strategy to increase OSHC Professional’s confidence and competencies, to support a health promoting OSHC environment with a nutrition and physical activity focus.

Methods:

A mixed methods approach was used. Nineteen OSHC Professionals …

Nurses’ Perceptions Of Factors Influencing Treatment Engagement Among Patients With Cardiovascular Diseases: A Systematic Review, Amineh Rashidi, Lisa Whitehead, Prachi Kaistha

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

Nurses are key to the success of patient engagement, yet we know little about nurses’ perceptions on treatment engagement and how they can contribute to treatment engagement. Qualitative evidence to identify factors that influence treatment engagement among patients with CVD from nurse’s perspective is limited.

Methods:

This systematic review of qualitative research was based on the PRISMA reporting guidelines. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to assess quality by two reviewers independently. Data were collected from Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Embase- Non-Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library, were systematically searched from 2001 to …

Analysis Of Circulating Tumour Cells In Early-Stage Uveal Melanoma: Evaluation Of Tumour Marker Expression To Increase Capture, Aaron B. Beasley, Timothy W. Isaacs, Tersia Vermeulen, James Freeman, Jean-Louis De Sousa, Riyaz Bhikoo, Doireann Hennessy, Anna Reid, Fred K. Chen, Jacqueline Bentel, Daniel Mckay, R. Max Conway, Michelle R. Pereira, Bob Mirzai, Leslie Calapre, Wendy N. Erber, Melanie R. Ziman, Elin S. Gray

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

The stratification of uveal melanoma (UM) patients into prognostic groups is critical for patient management and for directing patients towards clinical trials. Current classification is based on clinicopathological and molecular features of the tumour. Analysis of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) has been proposed as a tool to avoid invasive biopsy of the primary tumour. However, the clinical utility of such liquid biopsy depends on the detection rate of CTCs.

Methods:

The expression of melanoma, melanocyte, and stem cell markers was tested in a primary tissue microarray (TMA) and UM cell lines. Markers found to be highly expressed in primary …

Multi-Marker Immunofluorescent Staining And Pd-L1 Detection On Circulating Tumour Cells From Ovarian Cancer Patients, Du-Bois Asante, Michael Morici, Ganendra R. K. A. Mohan, Emmanuel Acheampong, Isaac Spencer, Weitao Lin, Paula Van Miert, Samantha Gibson, Aaron B. Beasley, Melanie Ziman, Leslie Calapre, Tarek M. Meniawy, Elin S. Gray

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Detection of ovarian cancer (OC) circulating tumour cells (CTCs) is primarily based on targeting epithelial markers, thus failing to detect mesenchymal tumour cells. More importantly, the immune checkpoint inhibitor marker PD-L1 has not been demonstrated on CTCs from OC patients. An antibody staining protocol was developed and tested using SKOV-3 and OVCA432 OC cell lines. We targeted epithelial (cytokeratin (CK) and EpCAM), mesenchymal (vimentin), and OC-specific (PAX8) markers for detection of CTCs, and CD45/16 and CD31 were used for the exclusion of white blood and vascular endothelial cells, respectively. PD-L1 was used for CTC characterisation. CTCs were enriched using the …

Host Defence Peptides In Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Patients With Periodontal Disease. A Systematic Review, Muhammad Saad Shaikh, Muhammad Sohail Zafar, Farhan Saleem, Ahmad Alnazzawi, Mohid Abrar Lone, Syed Jawad Ali Bukhari, Zohaib Khurshid

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The aim of the study was to critically assess and review the latest evidence relating the associations between host defence peptides (HDPs), periodontal diseases (PD) and diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2). To explore studies on HDPs, periodontal disease, and DM2, researchers utilised specific key phrases to search the electronic databases PubMed (National Library of Medicine), Embase (Ovid), Medline (EBSCO), and Dentistry and Oral Sciences (EBSCO). Quality assessment was conducted by means of the Newcastle Ottawa scale and the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) tool. Following a thorough screening process, a total of 12 papers (4 case‐control, 6 …

“Coronavirus Changed The Rules On Everything”: Parent Perspectives On How The Covid‐19 Pandemic Influenced Family Routines, Relationships And Technology Use In Families With Infants, Rebecca Hood, Juliana Zabatiero, Desiree Silva, Stephen R. Zubrick, Leon Straker

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study explores how the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic influenced family routines, relationships and technology use (smartphones and tablet computers) among families with infants. Infancy is known to be an important period for attachment security and future child development, and a time of being susceptible to changes within and outside of the family unit. A qualitative design using convenience sampling was employed. A total of 30 mothers in Perth, Western Australia participated in semi‐structured interviews by audio or video call. All mothers were parents of infants aged 9 to 15 months old. Interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed, and …

Nano-Grating Assisted Light Absorption Enhancement For Msm-Pds Performance Improvement: An Updated Review, Narottam Das, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Alif Islam, Ain Zulaikha Maslihan Ain

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The primary focus of this review article mainly emphasizes the light absorption enhancement for various nanostructured gratings assisted metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSM-PDs) that are so far proposed and developed for the improvement of light capturing performance. The MSM-PDs are considered as one of the key elements in the optical and high-speed communication systems for applications such as faster optical fiber communication systems, sensor networks, high-speed chip-to-chip interconnects, and high-speed sampling. The light absorption enhancement makes the MSM-PDs an ideal candidate due to their excellent performances in detection, especially in satisfying the high-speed or high-performance device requirements. The nano-grating assisted MSM-PDs are …

An Enabling Environment For Asset Management Through Public Policy: The Benefits Of Standardization And Application To The Water Sector, Tiffany Batac, Kerry Brown, Rita Salgado Brito, Iain Cranston, Tetsuya Mizutani

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Water services—including urban water supply, wastewater, and stormwater services—are essential to society and critical for protecting human health and the well-being of communities. Goal 6 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognizes this importance and aims to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Despite progress, the UN reports billions of people still lack water and sanitation services. Many governments around the world face the challenge of balancing between investment in new assets, programs, and services and providing the required funding for repair and replacement of existing water assets. This paper argues infrastructure …

The Use Of Singlebeam Echo-Sounder Depth Data To Produce Demersal Fish Distribution Models That Are Comparable To Models Produced Using Multibeam Echo-Sounder Depth, Marcela Montserrat Landero Figueroa, Miles J. G. Parsons, Benjamin J. Saunders, Ben Radford, Chandra Salgado-Kent, Iain M. Parnum

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Seafloor characteristics can help in the prediction of fish distribution, which is required for fisheries and conservation management. Despite this, only 5%–10% of the world's seafloor has been mapped at high resolution, as it is a time-consuming and expensive process. Multibeam echo-sounders (MBES) can produce high-resolution bathymetry and a broad swath coverage of the seafloor, but require greater financial and technical resources for operation and data analysis than singlebeam echo-sounders (SBES). In contrast, SBES provide comparatively limited spatial coverage, as only a single measurement is made from directly under the vessel. Thus, producing a continuous map requires interpolation to fill …

Using Imputation To Provide Harmonized Longitudinal Measures Of Cognition Across Aibl And Adni, Rosita Shishegar, Timothy Cox, David Rolls, Pierrick Bourgeat, Vincent Doré, Fiona Lamb, Joanne Robertson, Simon M. Laws, Tenielle Porter, Jurgen Fripp, Duygu Tosun, Paul Maruff, Greg Savage, Christopher C. Rowe, Colin L. Masters, Michael W. Weiner, Victor L. Villemagne, Samantha C. Burnham

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

To improve understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, large observational studies are needed to increase power for more nuanced analyses. Combining data across existing observational studies represents one solution. However, the disparity of such datasets makes this a non-trivial task. Here, a machine learning approach was applied to impute longitudinal neuropsychological test scores across two observational studies, namely the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study (AIBL) and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) providing an overall harmonised dataset. MissForest, a machine learning algorithm, capitalises on the underlying structure and relationships of data to impute test scores not measured in one study aligning …

Eccentric-Only Versus Concentric-Only Resistance Training Effects On Biochemical And Physiological Parameters In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes, Christine Kudiarasu, Wafina Rohadhia, Yoshihiro Katsura, Tomoko Koeda, Favil Singh, Kazunori Nosaka

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

The benefits of resistance training for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are well documented; however, the effects of exercise with different muscle contraction types such as eccentric versus concentric contractions on physiological outcomes for this population are not clear. This study compared eccentric-only (ECC) and concentric-only resistance training (CON) to test the hypothesis that ECC would be superior to CON to improve insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, body composition, muscle strength and physical function of patients with T2D.

Methods:

Adults with T2D (50–79 years) were allocated to the ECC (n = 9) or CON group (n = 9). Resistance …

Duty To Address Climate Change Litigation Risks For Australian Energy Companies—Policy And Governance Issues, Prafula Pearce

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy requires cooperation from all, including corporations, shareholders, and institutional investors. The purpose of this paper is to explore climate change litigation risks for Australian energy companies and investors from a policy and governance perspective. Companies are increasingly reporting their climate policies to satisfy their shareholders and investor demands. In addition, the government and judiciary are making laws and decisions to support the Paris Agreement. This paper explores whether company directors can and, in some cases, should be considering the impact of climate change litigation risks on their business, or else risk breaching …