Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Cost Effectiveness Of A Multi-Component School-Based Physical Activity Intervention Targeting Adolescents: The 'Physical Activity 4 Everyone' Cluster Randomized Trial, Rachel Sutherland, Penny Reeves, Elizabeth Campbell, David R. Lubans, Philip J. Morgan, Nicole Nathan, Luke Wolfenden, Anthony D. Okely, Karen Gillham, Lynda Davies, John Wiggers

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background Few school-based interventions have been successful in reducing physical activity decline and preventing overweight and obesity in adolescent populations. As a result, few cost effectiveness analyses have been reported. The aim of this paper is to report the cost and cost effectiveness of the Physical Activity 4 Everyone (PA4E1) intervention which was a multi-component intervention implemented in secondary schools located in low-income communities. Cost effectiveness was assessed using both the physical activity and weight status trial outcomes.

Methods Intervention and Study Design: The PA4E1 cluster randomised controlled trial was implemented in 10 Australian secondary schools (5 intervention: 5 …

Striatal Morphology Correlates With Frontostriatal Electrophysiological Motor Processing In Huntington's Disease: An Image-Hd Study, Lauren Turner, David D. Jakabek, Fiona A. Wilkes, Rodney J. Croft, Andrew Churchyard, Mark Walterfang, Dennis Velakoulis, Jeffrey C. L Looi, Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis, Deborah M. Apthorp

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) causes progressive atrophy to the striatum, a critical node in frontostriatal circuitry. Maintenance of motor function is dependent on functional connectivity of these premotor, motor, and dorsolateral frontostriatal circuits, and structural integrity of the striatum itself. We aimed to investigate whether size and shape of the striatum as a measure of frontostriatal circuit structural integrity was correlated with functional frontostriatal electrophysiological neural premotor processing (contingent negative variation, CNV), to better understand motoric structure-function relationships in early HD.

Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and electrophysiological (EEG) measures of premotor processing were obtained from a …

Isoaspartic Acid Is Present At Specific Sites In Myelin Basic Protein From Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Could This Represent A Trigger For Disease Onset?, Michael G. Friedrich, Sarah Hancock, Mark Raftery, Roger J. W Truscott

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with breakdown of the myelin sheath that coats neurons in the central nervous system. The cause of MS is not known, although the pathogenesis involves destruction of myelin by the immune system. It was the aim of this study to examine the abundant myelin protein, myelin basic protein (MBP), to determine if there are sites of modification that may be characteristic for MS. MBP from the cerebellum was examined from controls and MS patients across the age range using mass spectrometry and amino acid analysis. Amino acid racemization data indicated that myelin basic protein is …

Innervation Of Cochlear Hair Cells By Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons In Vitro, Niliksha Gunewardene, Duncan E. Crombie, Mirella Dottori, Bryony A. Nayagam

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may serve as an autologous source of replacement neurons in the injured cochlea, if they can be successfully differentiated and reconnected with residual elements in the damaged auditory system. Here, we explored the potential of hiPSC-derived neurons to innervate early postnatal hair cells, using established in vitro assays. We compared two hiPSC lines against a well-characterized hESC line. After ten days' coculture in vitro, hiPSC-derived neural processes contacted inner and outer hair cells in whole cochlear explant cultures. Neural processes from hiPSC-derived neurons also made contact with hair cells in denervated sensory epithelia explants and …

Enteric Neural Cells From Hirschsprung Disease Patients Form Ganglia In Autologous Aneuronal Colon, Benjamin N. Rollo, Dongcheng Zhang, Lincon A. Stamp, Trevelyan R. Menheniott, Lefteris Stathopoulos, Mark Denham, Mirella Dottori, Sebastian K. King, John M. Hutson, Donald F. Newgreen

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background & Aims: Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is caused by failure of cells derived from the neural crest (NC) to colonize the distal bowel in early embryogenesis, resulting in absence of the enteric nervous system (ENS) and failure of intestinal transit postnatally. Treatment is by distal bowel resection, but neural cell replacement may be an alternative. We tested whether aneuronal (aganglionic) colon tissue from patients may be colonized by autologous ENS-derived cells.

Methods: Cells were obtained and cryopreserved from 31 HSCR patients from the proximal resection margin of colon, and ENS cells were isolated using flow cytometry for the …

Molecular Evidence Of Synaptic Pathology In The Ca1 Region In Schizophrenia, Natalie Matosin, Francesca Fernandez-Enright, Jeremy Lum, Martin Engel, Jessica L. Andrews, Nils C. Gassen, Klaus V. Wagner, Mathias V. Schmidt, Kelly A. Newell

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Alterations of postsynaptic density (PSD)95-complex proteins in schizophrenia ostensibly induce deficits in synaptic plasticity, the molecular process underlying cognitive functions. Although some PSD95-complex proteins have been previously examined in the hippocampus in schizophrenia, the status of other equally important molecules is unclear. This is especially true in the cornu ammonis (CA)1 hippocampal subfield, a region that is critically involved in the pathophysiology of the illness. We thus performed a quantitative immunoblot experiment to examine PSD95 and several of its associated proteins in the CA1 region, using post mortem brain samples derived from schizophrenia subjects with age-, sex-, and post mortem …