Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Social Progression Of Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder: Post Vietnam And September 11th Attacks, Ellie Mcdonald

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Social Progression of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-Vietnam and September 11^th Attacks is an examination on the infrastructure of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’and of the Department of Defense’s lack of clarity and misinformation of the challenges and effects of mental illness within military ranks. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) made the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) after Vietnam. Since then, PTSD has been reevaluate numerous times, to properly define it. This research is a comparative analysis of the misconceptions of PTSD as experienced by Vietnam veterans and the first responders of the September 11^th tragedy. My research charts …

The Chronostratigraphy Of The Haua Fteah Cave (Cyrenaica, Northeast Libya) - Optical Dating Of Early Human Occupation During Marine Isotope Stages 4, 5 And 6, Zenobia Jacobs, Bo Li, Lucy Farr, Evan Hill, C Hunt, Sacha C. Jones, Ryan J. Rabett, Tim Reynolds, Richard G. Roberts, David Simpson, Graeme Barker

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

The paper presents the results of optical dating of potassium-rich feldspar grains obtained from the Haua Fteah cave in Cyrenaica, northeast Libya, focussing on the chronology of the Deep Sounding excavated by Charles McBurney in the 1950s and re-excavated recently. Samples were also collected from a 1.25 m-deep trench (Trench S) excavated during the present project below the basal level of the Deep Sounding. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) data sets for multi-grain, single aliquots of quartz for samples from the Middle Trench were previously published. Re-analyses of these OSL data confirm significant variation in the dose saturation levels of the …

Changes In Diet Quality During A 12 Month Weight Loss Randomised Controlled Trial, Cinthya Wibisono, Yasmine Probst, Elizabeth Neale, Linda C. Tapsell

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

Background: Reductions in energy intake are seen in weight loss trials, but whether this occurs with improvements to diet quality (DQ) is less established. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in diet quality in a sample of volunteers in a weight loss trial. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of dietary data from a lifestyle intervention trial (the HealthTrack study) which advised on dietary guidelines. The trial ran for 12 months with three treatment groups: control (general advice C), intervention (individualised advice, I), and intervention plus a supplement of walnuts (IW). Both the published a priori diet …

Intraocular Pressure And Cerebral Oxygenation During Prolonged Headward Acceleration, Ola Eiken, Michail E. Keramidas, Nigel A.S. Taylor, Mikael Gronkvist

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

Purpose Supra-tolerance head-to-foot directed gravitoinertial load (+Gz) typically induces a sequence of symptoms/ signs, including loss of: peripheral vision—central vision— consciousness. The risk of unconsciousness is greater when anti-G-garment failure occurs after prolonged rather than brief exposures, presumably because, in the former condition, mental signs are not consistently preceded by impaired vision. The aims were to investigate if prolonged exposure to moderately elevated +Gz reduces intraocular pressure (IOP; i.e., improves provisions for retinal perfusion), or the cerebral anoxia reserve. Methods Subjects were exposed to 4-min +Gz plateaux either at 2 and 3 G (n = 10), or at 4 and …

Epidemiology News, Georgia Southern University

Epidemiology News (2012-2018)

• Georgia Southern Examines Social Media Use During Disasters

Intake Of 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone During Juvenile And Adolescent Stages Prevents Onset Of Psychosis In Adult Offspring After Maternal Immune Activation, Mei Han, Ji-Chun Zhang, Wei Yao, Chun Yang, Tamaki Ishima, Qian Ren, Min Ma, Chao Dong, Xu-Feng Huang, Kenji Hashimoto

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Prenatal infection and subsequent abnormal neurodevelopment of offspring is involved in the etiology of schizophrenia. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its high affinity receptor, tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) signaling plays a key role in the neurodevelopment. Pregnant mice exposed to polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid [poly(I:C)] causes schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities in their offspring at adulthood. Here we found that the juvenile offspring of poly(I:C)-treated mice showed cognitive deficits, as well as reduced BDNF-TrkB signaling in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Furthermore, the adult offspring of poly(I:C)-treated mice showed cognitive deficits, prepulse inhibition (PPI) deficits, reduced BDNF-TrkB signaling, immunoreactivity of parvalbumin (PV) and peroxisome …

Learned Social Hopelessness: The Role Of Explanatory Style In Predicting Social Support During Adolescence, Patrick Heaven, Joseph Ciarrochi

joseph Ciarrochi

No abstract provided.

Cognitive Ability And Health-Related Behaviors During Adolescence: A Prospective Study Across Five Years, Joseph Ciarrochi, Patrick Heaven, Timothy Skinner

joseph Ciarrochi

Longitudinal research on the links between intelligence and health behaviors among adolescents is rare. We report longitudinal data in which we assessed the relationships between intelligence as assessed in Grade 7 and consequential health outcomes in Grade 11. The mean age of respondents (N=420; 188 males, 232 females) was 12.30 years (SD=0.49) in Grade 7and 16.17 years (SD=0.45) in Grade 11. They completed standardized verbal and numerical ability tests and a measure of conscientiousness in Grade 7 and health related questions in Grade 11. Results indicated that higher intelligence was associated with a number of healthy behaviors including delay in …

Muscles Within Muscles: Coordination Of 19 Muscle Segments Within Three Shoulder Muscles During Isometric Motor Tasks, Darryl Mcandrew, Xu-Feng Huang, James Wickham, Mark Brown

Darryl J McAndrew

No abstract provided.

Bra-Breast Forces Generated In Women With Large Breasts While Standing And During Treadmill Running: Implications For Sports Bra Design, Deirdre Mcghee, Julie Steele, William Zealey, George Takacs

George Takacs

This study aimed to determine the bra–breast forces generated in women with large breasts while these women wore different levels of breast support during both upright standing and treadmill running. The mean bilateral vertical component of the bra–breast force in standing was 11.7 ± 4.6 N, whereas during treadmill running the mean unilateral bra–breast force was 8.7 ± 6.4 N and 14.7 ± 10.3 N in the high and low support conditions, respectively. Furthermore, breast mass was significantly correlated with vertical breast displacement (R2 = 0.62) in the high support condition. The wide range of breast masses of women with …

Coping Skill Acquisition During Computer-Based Cbt For Co-Occurring Substance Dependence And Depression, A Mitchell, Peter Kelly, Frank Deane, Frances Kay-Lambkin, A Baker

Peter Kelly

No abstract provided.

Inter-Subject Variability During Combined Strength And Endurance Training, John Sampson, Laura Holland

John Sampson

No abstract provided.

Australian Adolescents' Compliance With Sun Protection Behaviours During Summer: The Importance Of The School Context, Melinda Williams, Sandra C. Jones, Peter Caputi, Donald Iverson

Sandra Jones

Adolescents exhibit significantly lower sun protection behaviours than adults in Australia. While many studies have assessed the sun protection behaviours of adolescents during summer, few studies have explored the differences in sun protection behaviours of adolescents across key contexts relevant to adolescents during summer—notably school time, weekends and school holidays. Greater understanding of differences in behaviours across these contexts provides more detailed explanations of the nature of adolescent ultraviolet exposure and thereby facilitates improved targeting of interventions for this segment whose behaviour is considered hard to change. In this study, we explore the differences in self-reported, habitual, sun protection behaviours …

What Influences Australian Women To Not Drink During Pregnancy?, Sandra C. Jones, Joanne Telenta

Sandra Jones

There is a strong social norm against consuming alcohol during pregnancy. However, many women do not realise they are pregnant until the sixth week and are not provided with information about the risks of consuming alcohol until they visit a health professional in the second trimester. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 midwives and 12 pregnant women from two regions inNSWin 2008–09 to explore attitudes towards alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and the factors that may encourage or inhibit women from following the recommendation to abstain from drinking while pregnant. Both groups noted the social issues around pregnant women consuming alcohol …

Poor Knowledge And Practices Related To Iodine Nutrition During Pregnancy And Lactation In Australian Women: Pre-And Post-Iodine Fortification, Karen Charlton, Heather Yeatman, Catherine Lucas, Samantha Axford, Luke Gemming, Fiona Houweling, Alison Goodfellow, Gary Ma

Karen E. Charlton

A before-after review was undertaken to assess whether knowledge and practices related to iodine nutrition, supplementation and fortification has improved in Australian women since the introduction of mandatory iodine fortification in 2009. Surveys of pregnant (n = 139) and non-pregnant (n = 75) women in 2007-2008 are compared with surveys of pregnant (n = 147) and lactating women (n = 60) one to two years post-fortification in a regional area of New South Wales, Australia. A self-administered questionnaire was completed and dietary intake of iodine was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. A generally poor knowledge about the role …

Food And Nutrition Knowledge During Pregnancy - Absence And Opportunity, Heather Yeatman, Dolly Bondarianzadeh, Karen Charlton, Deanne Condon-Paoloni, Luke Gemming, Danka Sinikovic, Barbara Meyer

Karen E. Charlton

No abstract provided.

Muscle Synergies Of Feed-Forward Postural Adjustments During Reaching To Multi-Directional Targets In Standing, J Leonard, S Chvatal, L Ting, P Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

Standing balance can be controlled using feedback (FB) or feedforward (FF) mechanisms, depending on the nature of a postural disturbance. Unexpected disturbances of balance elicit automatic postural responses (APR) to restore body position (Horak and Macpherson 1996). Studies of APR have shown that the CNS recruits a small number of muscle synergies to simplify complex task-level goals (e.g. CoM stabilization) to produce the appropriate muscle activation patterns (Ting & McKay, 2007). Successful execution of goal-directed voluntary movements while standing requires FF programming of postural adjustments that serve to initiate movement of the body towards the target (preparatory postural adjustment, pPA) …

Decoupling Of Stretch Reflex And Background Muscle Activity During Anticipatory Postural Adjustments In Humans, Siddharth Vedula, Robert Kearney, Ross Wagner, Paul Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

We studied the evolution of stretch reXexes in relation to background electromyographic (EMG) activity in the soleus muscle preceding the onset of voluntary arm raise movements. Our objective was to investigate if changes in reXex EMG and muscle activity occur simultaneously and are similarly scaled in amplitude. Ten human subjects stood with each foot on pedals able to exert short dorsiXexor pulses during stance. Subjects were asked to product consistent voluntary arm raise movements to a target upon a visual cue. In ¼ of trials, no pulse perturbations were given, but in the remaining ¾’s of all trials pulses were …

Postural Responses To Multidirectional Perturbations To The Hand During Stance, Ali Forghani, Sheida Rabipour, Theodore E. Milner, Paul J. Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

Humans are easily able to maintain their balance while applying force with their hands to move or stabilize objects. Based on Newton's laws, the applied force must be counteracted by ground reaction force (GRF) to maintain balance. However, because the GRF is partitioned between the two legs there is no unique solution. Furthermore, central nervous system (CNS) can employ an infinite number of muscle activation patterns to achieve ground reaction force (GRF) vectors needed to satisfy both the task-level goal and balance. This study examines the postural response when hand position must remain stable as an external force is applied …

Postural Responses To Unexpected Perturbations Of Balance During Reaching, Hari Trivedi, Julia Leonard, Lena Ting, Paul Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

To study the interaction between feedforward and feedback modes of postural control, we investigated postural responses during unexpected perturbations of the support surface that occurred during forward reaching in a standing position. We examined postural responses in lower limb muscles of nine human subjects. Baseline measures were obtained when subjects executed reaching movements to a target placed in front of them (R condition) and during postural responses to forward and backward support-surface perturbations (no reaching, P condition) during quiet stance. Perturbations were also given at different delays after the onset of reaching movements (RP conditions) as well as with the …

Bilateral Vestibular Loss In Cats Leads To Active Destabilization Of Balance During Pitch And Roll Rotations Of The Support Surface, Jane Macpherson, Dirk Everaert, Paul Stapley, Lena Ting

Dr Paul J Stapley

Although the balance difficulties accompanying vestibular loss are well known, the underlying cause remains unclear. We examined the role of vestibular inputs in the automatic postural response (APR) to pitch and roll rotations of the support surface in freely standing cats before and in the first week after bilateral labyrinthectomy. Support surface rotations accelerate the body center of mass toward the downhill side. The normal APR consists of inhibition in the extensors of the uphill limbs and excitation in the downhill limbs to decelerate the body and maintain the alignment of the limbs with respect to earth-vertical. After vestibular lesion, …

Bilateral Vestibular Loss Leads To Active Destabilization Of Balance During Voluntary Head Turns In The Standing Cat, Paul Stapley, Lena Ting, Chen Kuifu, Dirk Everaert, Jane Macpherson

Dr Paul J Stapley

The purpose of this study was to determine the source of postural instability in labyrinthectomized cats during lateral head turns. Cats were trained to maintain the head in a forward orientation and then perform a rapid, large-amplitude head turn to left or right in yaw, while standing freely on a force platform. Head turns were biomechanically complex with the primary movement in the yaw plane accompanied by an ipsilateral ear-down roll and nose-down pitch. Cats used a strategy of pushing off by activating extensors of the contralateral forelimb while using all four limbs to produce a rotational moment of force …

Posture Control During Online Corrections Of Arm Movements Is Predictive, Julia Leonard, Paul Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

The control of reaching to a target in standing involves the feed-forward programming of associated postural adjustments (a PAs) that decelerate the body and arm toward the target (Leonard et ai, 2009). However, little is known about the control of aPAs in situations where the final position of the target goal shifts after the reach movement has been initiated. We hypothesized that a predictive reprogramming of the aPA would occur prior to the adjustment of the arm movement to ensure correct execution of the reaching movement. Using a double step paradigm, we investigated the postural adjustments in standing humans exposed …

Independent Control Of Limb Force Underlies Stability During Voluntary Head Movements In Standing Humans, Paul Stapley, Alicia Hilderley, Julia Leonard

Dr Paul J Stapley

Postural stability during voluntary head movements is maintained through the integration of vestibular and neck afferent inputs. These inputs combine to accurately estimate trunk position in space, relative to a turning head. In animals, a loss of vestibular information leads to an active destabilization of balance as neck afferent information is interpreted as a movement of the trunk under a stable head (Stapley et al. 2006).

Laparoscopic Management Of An Adnexal Mass During The Second Trimester Of Pregnancy, C Georgiou

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Abstract of paper presented at AGES XXIII Annual Scientific Meeting, Brisbane, 2013.

Expanding Awareness Of Docosahexaenoic Acid During Pregnancy, Rebecca Emmett, Shann Akkersdyk, Heather Yeatman, Barbara J. Meyer

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

Pregnant women do not currently meet the consensus recommendation for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (≥200 mg/day). Pregnant women in Australia are not receiving information on the importance of DHA during pregnancy. DHA pregnancy education materials were developed using current scientific literature, and tested for readability and design aesthetics. The study aimed to evaluate their usefulness, the desire for pregnant women to receive these materials and whether a larger separate study (using a control group) is warranted to evaluate the influence the materials may have on increasing DHA consumption in pregnant women in Australia. Pregnant women (N = 118) were recruited at …

A Physiological Evaluation Of Shelters That Might Sustain Life During An Australian Bushfire, Benjamin J. Haberley, David J. R Hoyle, Nigel A.S Taylor

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

South-Eastern Australia experiences the most frequent and severe bushfires in the world. In 2009, bushfires in Victoria claimed 173 lives and cost more than $4 billion in structural damage. As a consequence, the establishment of building standards that might govern the construction of bushfire shelters was recommended. Since no relevant standards existed, it was suggested that if these shelters could keep the internal conditions to a maximal mean Modified Discomfort Index (MDI) of 39o for 60 min, then they could restrain the rise in core temperature to no more than 2oC. The current investigators were invited to test this hypothesis …

When To, And When Not To Drink During Exercise In The Heat, Nigel A.S. Taylor

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

No abstract provided.

Sedimentation, Elevation And Marsh Evolution In A Southeastern Australian Estuary During Changing Climatic Conditions, Kerrylee Rogers, Neil Saintilan, Alice J. Howe, José F. Rodríguez

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

Mangrove and salt marsh vertical accretion and surface elevation change was measured at Kooragang Island within the Ramsar-listed Lower Hunter estuarine wetlands in New South Wales, Australia, using surface elevation tables and marker horizons over a ten-year period. We surveyed mangrove, salt marsh and a zone of mangrove encroachment into salt marsh. The period of analysis was dominated by El Niño (drought) climatic conditions, though included a series of east coast low pressure systems and associated storms over the central coast of NSW in June 2007. The storms may have initially caused scouring of sediments in the mangrove zone, followed …

Musculoskeletal And Estrogen Changes During The Adolescent Growth Spurt In Girls, Catherine Y. Wild, Julie R. Steele, Bridget J. Munro

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Introduction: The adolescent growth spurt is associated with rapid growth and hormonal changes, thought to contribute to the increased anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in girls. However, relatively little is known about these musculoskeletal and estrogen changes during the growth spurt in girls. Purpose: To investigate the longitudinal changes in estrogen as well as anterior knee laxity and lower limb strength and flexibility throughout the adolescent growth spurt in girls. Methods: Thirty-three healthy girls, age 10-13 yr, in Tanner stage II and 4-6 months from their peak height velocity were recruited. Participants were tested up to four times during the …