Digital Commons Network^™

The Application Of Habitat Suitability Modelling To Mapping Vme Distribution In The Deep Sea To Inform Spatial Management, Kyran Graves

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

As the development of new technologies continues, so do industrial activities. As a result, such industries can extract natural resources and use the marine environment at deeper and deeper depths, for example, fisheries, oil and gas, submarine cabling, and – the latest emergence – deep-sea mining. Despite these developments, the majority of the deep ocean, including national waters and the High Seas, remains unmapped. The absence of data across large swathes of the deep sea means that conducting adequate environmental impact assessments when new activities are proposed is difficult, and what data is available is often sparse. Predictive habitat models …

Labouring Together: Women's Experiences Of “Getting The Care That I Want And Need” In Maternity Care, Vanessa Watkins, Cate Nagle, Bridie Kent, Maryann Street, Alison M. Hutchinson

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Poor interprofessional collaboration and lack of decision-making with women have been identified as being detrimental to the quality, safety, and experience of maternity care. The aim of the Labouring Together study was to explore childbearing women's preferences for and experiences of collaboration and control over decision-making in maternity care. Design A sequential, mixed-method, multi-site case study approach was used to explore the perceptions and experiences of childbearing women regarding collaboration and decision-making. Women's preferred role for decision-making compared to the actual experiences, and the influences upon their preferences and experiences of collaboration were explored using semi-structured interviews. An inductive approach …

Mesoscale Eddies And The Impact Of Coastal Iron Supply On Primary Production In The South Pacific Subtropical Front, Stephen M. Chiswell, Philip W. Boyd, Sylvia G. Sander, Michael J. Ellwood, Angela Milne

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Different Durations Of Using A Standing Frame On The Rate Of Hip Migration In Children With Moderate To Severe Cerebral Palsy: A Feasibility Study For A Randomised Controlled Trial, R. Rapson, T. King, C. Morris, R. Jeffery, J. Mellhuish, C. Stephens, J. Marsden

School of Health Professions

Aim To assess the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effect of different doses of standing time on hip migration rate in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Method Children aged 1–12 years with CP GMFCS levels III–V were recruited and randomised to either doubling or continuing with their usual time in their standing frame. Caregivers kept a standing time diary. The primary outcome measure was Reimers hip migration percentage, measured at baseline, 12 and 24 months. A blinded assessor measured secondary clinical outcomes at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Feasibility results are reported following CONSORT guidelines. …

Community Campus As Threshold: A Space Of Dialogue For Academia And The Community, R Brown, P Warwick, Zoe Latham, Rachel Manning, Sebastian Stevens

School of Art, Design and Architecture

This paper explores an argument for community-situated spaces of encounter – acting as thresholds – between community and academia, through which: learning can be enhanced; a greater sense of identity and efficacy can be fostered; and a defined agency can be enabled. This proposition prioritises a dialogic relationship in a shared ground of agency and discourse, whose potential is reinforced through a rediscovery of the local arising from the Covid pandemic. The rediscovery of the local has pushed civic-minded universities pre-existing interrogation of their community-based learning practice in the context of marginalised communities; a key challenge is how to foster …

‘A Platform For Goodness, Not For Badness’: The Heuristics Of Hope In Patients' Evaluations Of Online Health Information, Alan Petersen, Allegra Schermuly, Alison Anderson

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Patient advocates and activists are increasingly relying on online health information that can assist them to manage their health condition. Yet once online, they will confront diverse information whose veracity and utility are difficult to determine. This article offers a sociological analysis of the practical methods, or heuristics, that patient advocates and activists use when making judgements about the credibility and utility of online information. Drawing on the findings from interviews with fifty Australian patient advocates and activists, it is argued that these individuals' use of these heuristics reflects their hopes that information can help them manage their condition which …

Brief Opportunistic Interventions By General Practitioners To Promote Smoking Cessation: A Conversation Analytic Study, H. Wheat, R. K. Barnes, P. Aveyard, F. Stevenson, R. Begh

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

Consumer Engagement At The Uea: Deliverable 5.1, Ian Bailey, Gina Kallis, Phedeas Stephanides, Konstantinos Chalvatis

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Experiences Of Paediatric End-Of-Life Simulation In Undergraduate Children’S Nursing Students: A Qualitative Study, Nicola Fielding, Jos M. Latour, Janet Kelsey

School of Nursing and Midwifery

No abstract provided.

“What Works” Registries Of Interventions To Improve Child And Youth Psychosocial Outcomes: A Critical Appraisal, Nick Axford, Louise Morpeth, Gretchen Bjornstad, Tim Hobbs, Vashti Berry

Peninsula Medical School

The last decade or more has seen a proliferation of online registries of evidence-based interventions designed to improve child and youth psychosocial outcomes. The purpose of these resources is typically to help decision-makers make sense of the evidence and thereby inform their decision-making about investment in interventions. Most registries are underpinned by standards of evidence, which are used to guide the rating of programs by a panel of experts. While supporters extol the influence of these initiatives in terms of making commissioners more discriminating about what they invest in, detractors contend that they stifle innovation and embody an unduly narrow …

First, Do No Harm: Time For A Systems Approach To Address The Problem Of Health-Care-Derived Pharmaceutical Pollution, Kelly Thornber, Fiona Adshead, Angeliki Balayannis, Richard Brazier, Ross Brown, Sean Comber, Caroline Court, Iain Davidson, Michael Depledge, Caroline Farmer, Stuart Gibb, Richard Hixson, Claas Kirchhelle, Keith Moore, Marco Motta, Lydia Niemi, Stewart Owen, David Pencheon, Sharon Pfleger, Emma Pitchforth, Neil Powell, Wiebke Schmidt, Richard Smith, Georgina Sowman, Wendy Tyler-Batt, Helen Wilkinson, Edward Cf Wilson, Lora Fleming, William Gaze, Charles Tyler

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Chemical pollution is considered one of the nine planetary boundaries, and increasing evidence suggests that we are already operating outside of this, risking irreversible environmental change. Pharmaceutical chemicals are vital components of modern health care, but their contamination of global waterways is threatening environmental and human health, contributing to biodiversity loss, driving antimicrobial resistance, and jeopardising progress towards the sustainable development goals. With the global pharmaceutical market now worth more than US$1·25 trillion and continuing to grow as populations age and suffer from more chronic, non-communicable diseases, there is an urgent need to integrate pharmaceutical pollution into sustainable health-care strategies, …

Three-Dimensional (3d) Anatomic Location, Extension, And Timing Of Severe Osteoradionecrosis Of The Mandible, Lucas G Sapienza, Justin J Thomas, Weiyuan Mai, Alexander N Hanania, Sandeep Hunjan, Vlad C Sandulache, Albert C Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to describe the topography, extension (volume), and timing of severe osteoradionecrosis (ORN) that required mandible resection in patients previously treated for head and neck cancer at a high-volume Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The records from a reference hyperbaric oxygen clinic were retrospectively analyzed (n = 50, 2018-2021). Inclusion criteria were: I) severe ORN defined as progressive ORN that required resection; II) pathologic confirmation of ORN; and III) availability of pre-operative CT-imaging. Using a radiotherapy (RT) imaging software, we performed a detailed volumetric (3D) analysis of the bone involvement by ORN. …

Integrated Microtia And Aural Atresia Management, Mai Thy Truong, Yi-Chun Carol Liu, Jocelyn Kohn, Sivakumar Chinnadurai, David A Zopf, Melissa Tribble, Paul B Tanner, Kathleen Sie, Kay W Chang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVES: To present recommendations for the coordinated evaluation and management of the hearing and reconstructive needs of patients with microtia and aural atresia.

METHODS: A national working group of 9 experts on microtia and atresia evaluated a working document on the evaluation and treatment of patients. Treatment options for auricular reconstruction and hearing habilitation were reviewed and integrated into a coordinated care timeline.

RESULTS: Recommendations were created for children with microtia and atresia, including diagnostic considerations, surgical and non-surgical options for hearing management and auricular reconstruction, and the treatment timeline for each option. These recommendations are based on the collective …

Screening For Balance In Children And Adults In A Community Science Education Setting: Normative Data, Influence Of Age, Sex, And Body Mass Index, And Feasibility, Phyllis Friello, Nathan Silver, Haleh Sangi-Haghpeykar, Helen S Cohen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Screening standing and walking balance is useful for people suspected of having vestibular disorders, a variety of neurologic and musculoskeletal disorders, and for screening astronauts returning after exposure to microgravity. Visitors to a community science education center children and adults, aged 4 to 85, were tested on tandem walking with eyes closed and the modified Romberg test on compliant foam. They were then asked about their experience participating in research, many people for the first time.

METHODS: Subjects performed 10 steps of tandem walking with eyes closed, and three trials of the modified Romberg, or Clinical Test of Sensory …

Targeting The Pro-Survival Protein Bcl-2 To Prevent Breast Cancer, Adelaide Young, Wen Bu, Weiyu Jiang, Amy Ku, Jyoti Kapali, Sagar Dhamne, Lan Qin, Susan G Hilsenbeck, Yi-Chieh Nancy Du, Yi Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Current chemopreventive strategies require 3-5 years of continuous treatment and have the concerns of significant side effects; therefore, new chemopreventive agents that require shorter and safer treatments are urgently needed. In this study, we developed a new murine model of breast cancer that mimics human breast cancer initiation and is ideal for testing the efficacy of chemopreventive therapeutics. In this model, introduction of lentivirus carrying a PIK3CA gene mutant commonly found in breast cancers infects a small number of the mammary cells, leading to atypia first and then to ductal carcinomas that are positive for both estrogen receptor and progesterone …

Decidualization Of Human Endometrial Stromal Cells Requires Steroid Receptor Coactivator-3, Vineet K Maurya, Maria M Szwarc, David M Lonard, William E Gibbons, San-Pin Wu, Bert W O'Malley, Francesco J Demayo, John P Lydon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3; also known as NCOA3 or AIB1) is a member of the multifunctional p160/SRC family of coactivators, which also includes SRC-1 and SRC-2. Clinical and cell-based studies as well as investigations on mice have demonstrated pivotal roles for each SRC in numerous physiological and pathophysiological contexts, underscoring their functional pleiotropy. We previously demonstrated the critical involvement of SRC-2 in murine embryo implantation as well as in human endometrial stromal cell (HESC) decidualization, a cellular transformation process required for trophoblast invasion and ultimately placentation. We show here that, like SRC-2, SRC-3 is expressed in the epithelial and stromal …

A Global Model-Agnostic Xai Method For The Automatic Formation Of An Abstract Argumentation Framework And Its Objective Evaluation, Giulia Vilone, Luca Longo

Conference papers

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) aims to train data-driven, machine learning (ML) models possessing both high predictive accuracy and a high degree of explainability for humans. Comprehending and explaining the inferences of a model can be seen as a defeasible reasoning process which is expected to be non-monotonic meaning that a conclusion, linked to a set of premises, can be withdrawn when new information becomes available. Computational argumentation, a paradigm within Artificial Intelligence (AI), focuses on modeling defeasible reasoning. This research study explored a new way for the automatic formation of an argument-based representation of the inference process of a data-driven …

Machine Learning For Accessible Web Navigation, Tlamelo W. Makati

Conference papers

This research looks at the application of Machine Learning to Web Accessibility. It considers how Machine Learning (ML) can be used to help make the processes of Web Navigation more accessible in line with Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.4 Navigable, which demands that ways be provided "to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are." ML techniques such as reinforcement learning have been applied to website navigation in diverse ways. These include goal-directed search to answer questions and task-oriented problems such as booking a flight. Related work includes Web Automation and Testing. These techniques typically involve a …

Factors Impacting Vaccine Uptake During Pregnancy: A Retrospective Analysis, Maame Aba Coleman, Deepa Dongarwar, Jessica Ramirez, Mei-Li Laracuente, Chelsea Livingston, Julliet Ogu, Racquel Lyn, Arabella Hall, Sylvia Adu-Gyamfi, Hamisu M Salihu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Vaccine uptake rates during pregnancy remain below target goals due to a convergence of factors. In particular, women of lower socioeconomic means and racial minorities typically have reduced rates of vaccine acceptance. This study aims to identify additional factors contributing to vaccine acceptance within a sample population of women receiving prenatal care in Houston, Texas, United States of America.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of 11,500 pregnant women covered by Medicaid or ChipPerinate who received prenatal care during 2013-2021, assessing influenza (flu) and combined Tetanus, Diphtheria, Acellular Pertussis (TDAP) vaccine acceptance in the patient population. …

Evaluation Of The Clinical Effectiveness Of Modified Sacrospinous Ligament Fixation, Yuanyuan Lyu, Huafeng Ding, Ying Zhang, Suhua Shi, Jin Ding, Chengcheng Zhu, Xiaoming Guan, Guantai Ni, Yonghong Luo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: To describe the surgical techniques and short-term outcomes for 50 cases of modified sacrospinous ligament fixation

METHODS: 100 patients with pelvic organ prolapse (stage III or stage IV based on POP-Q staging) from January 2018 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 50 patients received modified sacrospinous ligament fixation via the anterior vaginal wall path for pelvic organ prolapse (mSSLF group), while the other 50 patients received pelvic reconstruction using T4 mesh (T4 group). Operative time, blood loss, postoperative POP-Q score, length of the hospital stay, complications, and postoperative pain were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS: The …

Lipid Dysfunction And Adrenomedullin Expression In Omental Versus Subcutaneous Adipose Tissues In Diabetic Pregnancies, Yuanlin Dong, Ancizar Betancourt, Michael A Belfort, Chandrasekhar Yallampalli

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common complications of pregnancy but the underlying mechanism remains obscure. The aims of this study are to examine if omental adipose tissue (OMAT) and subcutaneous AT (SCAT) differentially express proinflammatory and lipid metabolic adipokines, and if so, whether their regional differences have implications on lipid metabolism in GDM. Paired samples of OMAT and SCAT were excised from pregnant women in scheduled Cesarean sections with non-obese (NOBS), obese (OBS) and GDM. The results showed that the mRNA of monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, macrophage marker CD68, and cytokines IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α are …

Problems In Csf And Ophthalmic Disease Research, Ryan Machiele, Benjamin Jay Frankfort, Hanspeter Esriel Killer, David Fleischman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

There has been significant interest and progress in the understanding of cerebrospinal fluid pressure and its relationship to glaucoma and other ophthalmic diseases. However, just as every physiologic fluid pressure fluctuates, cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) is similarly dynamic. Coupling this with the difficulty in measuring the pressure, there are many obstacles in furthering this field of study. This review highlights some of the difficulties in CSFP research, including fluid compartmentalization, estimation equations, and pressure fluctuation. Keeping these limitations in mind will hopefully improve the quality and context of this burgeoning field.

Selectively Targeting Disease-Restricted Secretogranin Iii To Alleviate Choroidal Neovascularization, Liyang Ji, Prabuddha Waduge, Lili Hao, Avinash Kaur, Wencui Wan, Yan Wu, Hong Tian, Jinsong Zhang, Keith A Webster, Wei Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV), a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, is routinely treated with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors that have limited efficacy and potentially adverse side effects. An unmet clinical need is to develop novel therapies against other angiogenic factors for alternative or combination treatment to improve efficacy and safety. We recently described secretogranin III (Scg3) as a disease-selective angiogenic factor, causally linked to diabetic retinopathy and acting independently of the VEGF pathway. An important question is whether such a disease-selective Scg3 pathway contributes to other states of pathological angiogenesis beyond diabetic retinopathy. By applying a novel …

Inpatient Coding System And Opportunities For Documentation Optimization: An Interactive Session For Internal Medicine Residents, Lindsey Jordan Gay, Doris Lin, Ziba Colah, Glynda Raynaldo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: The Inpatient Prospective Payment System, the framework for categorization of admissions, is based upon physician documentation leading to International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision code generation and Medical Severity Diagnosis-Related Group (MS-DRG) assignment. In this curriculum, we introduced internal medicine residents to this inpatient coding framework and its effects on hospital quality metrics and reimbursement. We focused on educating learners about the importance of physicians being proficient in providing thorough and specific clinical documentation to produce appropriate DRG assignment.

METHODS: Internal medicine residents participated in a 90-minute session that introduced the basic framework of inpatient coding, discussed effects of …

An Evidence-Based, Structured, Expert Approach To Selecting Essential Indicators Of Primary Care Quality, Sylvia J Hysong, Kelley Arredondo, Ashley M Hughes, Houston F Lester, Frederick L Oswald, Laura A Petersen, Lechauncy Woodard, Edward Post, Shelly Deperalta, Daniel R Murphy, Jason Mcknight, Karin Nelson, Paul Haidet

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this article is to illustrate the application of an evidence-based, structured performance measurement methodology to identify, prioritize, and (when appropriate) generate new measures of health care quality, using primary care as a case example. Primary health care is central to the health care system and health of the American public; thus, ensuring high quality is essential. Due to its complexity, ensuring high-quality primary care requires measurement frameworks that can assess the quality of the infrastructure, workforce configurations, and processes available. This paper describes the use of the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES) to compile a …

Fluorescence Imaging Of Beta Cell Primary Cilia, Zipeng A Li, Jung Hoon Cho, Louis G Woodhams, Jing W Hughes

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Primary cilia are slender cell-surface organelles that project into the intercellular space. In pancreatic beta cells, primary cilia coordinate a variety of cell responses including GPCR signaling, calcium influx, and insulin secretion, along with likely many underappreciated roles in islet development and differentiation. To study cilia function in islet biology, direct visualization of primary cilia by microscopic methods is often a necessary first step. Ciliary abundance, distribution, and morphology are heterogeneous among islet cells and are best visualized by fluorescence microscopy, the tools for which are readily accessible to most researchers. Here we present a collection of fluorescence imaging methods …

Correlating Electroconvulsive Therapy Response To Electroencephalographic Markers: Study Protocol, Subha Subramanian, Alyssa K Labonte, Thomas Nguyen, Anhthi H Luong, Orlandrea Hyche, S Kendall Smith, R Edward Hogan, Nuri B Farber, Ben Julian A Palanca, Mohammadmehdi Kafashan, Cet-Rem Study Group

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective intervention for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Despite longstanding use, the underlying mechanisms of ECT are unknown, and there are no objective prognostic biomarkers that are routinely used for ECT response. Two electroencephalographic (EEG) markers, sleep slow waves and sleep spindles, could address these needs. Both sleep microstructure EEG markers are associated with synaptic plasticity, implicated in memory consolidation, and have reduced expression in depressed individuals. We hypothesize that ECT alleviates depression through enhanced expression of sleep slow waves and sleep spindles, thereby facilitating synaptic reconfiguration in pathologic neural circuits.

METHODS: Correlating …

Synthetic Assembly Dna Cloning Of Multiplex Hextuple Luciferase Reporter Plasmids, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Yezabel Gonzalez, Koen J T Venken

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiplex hextuple luciferase assaying allows monitoring the activity of five experimental pathways against one control at the same time. To perform multiplex hextuple luciferase assaying, six orthogonal luciferase reporter units are needed of which five are pathway-specific and one acts as a control for normalization. To ensure stoichiometric delivery of all six luciferase reporters in every transfected cell, synthetic assembly DNA cloning is used to stitch together all six luciferase reporter units into a single vector. Here, we provide a detailed three-step synthetic assembly DNA protocol to generate multiplex hextuple luciferase reporter plasmids for any five cellular signaling pathways of …

Multiplex Hextuple Luciferase Assaying, Alejandro Sarrion-Perdigones, Yezabel Gonzalez, Lyra Chang, Tatiana Gallego-Flores, Damian W Young, Koen J T Venken

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We recently expanded the commonly used dual luciferase assaying method toward multiplex hextuple luciferase assaying, allowing monitoring the activity of five experimental pathways against one control at the same time. In doing so, while our expanded assay utilizes a total of six orthogonal luciferases instead of two, this assay, conveniently, still utilizes the well-established reagents and principles of the widely used dual luciferase assay. Three quenchable D-luciferin-consuming luciferases are measured after addition of D-Luciferin substrate, followed by quenching of their bioluminescence (BL) and the measurement of three coelenterazine (CTZ)-consuming luciferases after addition of CTZ substrate, all in the same vessel. …

International Professional Skills: Interdisciplinary Project Work, Thomas Mejtoft, Helen Cripps, Christopher Blöcker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Higher education should provide learning situations that prepare students for a future profession and make them world-ready. This paper reports insights from an international interdisciplinary collaborative project aiming to create learning experiences that are close to a professional situation. The collaboration setup simulates a setting of a digital agency with a development team in Sweden and a marketing team in Australia working together to solve a task. The collaborative project has been active since 2017, completing its fifth iteration in 2021. Postcourse survey results show that the students felt that a real situation was created with a high level of …