Malnutrition and chemotherapy : implications for nursing practice

Background: Malnutrition before and during chemotherapy is associated with poor treatment outcomes. The risk of cancer-related malnutrition is exacerbated by common nutrition impact symptoms during chemotherapy, such as nausea, diarrhoea and mucositis. Aim of presentation: To describe the prevalence of malnutrition/ malnutrition risk in two samples of patients treated in a quaternary-level chemotherapy unit. Research design: Cross sectional survey. Sample 1: Patients ≥ 65 years prior to chemotherapy treatment (n=175). Instrument: Nurse-administered Malnutrition Screening Tool to screen for malnutrition risk and body mass index (BMI). Sample 2: Patients ≥ 18 years receiving chemotherapy (n=121). Instrument: Dietitian-administered Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment to assess malnutrition, malnutrition risk and BMI. Findings Sample 1: 93/175 (53%) of older patients were at risk of malnutrition prior to chemotherapy. 27 (15%) were underweight (BMI <21.9); 84 (48%) were overweight (BMI >27). Findings Sample 2: 31/121 patients (26%) were malnourished; 12 (10%) had intake-limiting nausea or vomiting; 22 (20%) reported significant weight loss; and 20 (18%) required improved nutritional symptom management during treatment. 13 participants with malnutrition/nutrition impact symptoms (35%) had no dietitian contact; the majority of these participants were overweight. Implications for nursing: Patients with, or at risk of, malnutrition before and during chemotherapy can be overlooked, particularly if they are overweight. Older patients seem particularly at risk. Nurses can easily and quickly identify risk with the regular use of the Malnutrition Screening Tool, and refer patients to expert dietetic support, to ensure optimal treatment outcomes.

Incongruence between self-reported and observed senior physical education teaching styles : an analysis using Mosston and Ashworth’s spectrum

Pedagogical styles, methods, models, practices or strategies are valued for what they claim they can achieve. In recent times curriculum documents and governments have called for a range of teaching approaches to meet the variety of learner differences and allow students to make more independent decision making in physical education (Hardy and Mawer, 1999). One well known system of categorizing teaching styles is the Mosston and Ashworth’s Spectrum of Teaching Styles (2002). In Queensland, prior to 2005, no research had been conducted on the teaching styles used by teachers of Physical Education. However, many teachers self-reported that they employed a variety of teaching styles depending on the aims and content of the material to be taught (Cothran, et al., 2005). This research, for the first time, collected teacher’s self-reported use of teaching styles and through observations verify the styles that were being used to teach Senior Physical Education in Queensland. More specifically the aims of the research were to determine: a) What teaching styles teachers of Senior Physical Education in Queensland believe they use? i) Were they using a range of teaching styles? ii) Were teachers of Senior Physical Education in Queensland using teaching styles that the Queensland Senior Physical Education Syllabus (2004) required? b) If Mosston and Ashworth’s (2002) Spectrum of Teaching Styles were used to categorise styles observed during the teaching of Senior Physical Education did the styles being used provide opportunities for evaluating as described by the Queensland Senior Physical Education Syllabus (2004)? The research was conducted in two phases. Part A involved use of a questionnaire to determine the teaching styles Queensland teachers of Senior Physical Education reported using and how often they reported using them. The questionnaire was administered to 110 teachers throughout Queensland. The sample was determined from 346 schools teaching Senior Physical Education (in 2006) across the state of Queensland, Australia. 286 questionnaires were sent to 77 non-randomised schools. There were 66 male and 44 female respondents in the sample. A wide range of teaching styles were reportedly used by teachers of Senior Physical Education with Practice Style-Style B, Command Style-Style A and Divergent Discovery Style-Style H, the most reportedly used. The Self-Teaching Style-Style K was reportedly used the least by teachers involved in this study. From the respondents a group of teachers were identified to form the participants for Part B. Part B of the study involved observation of a group of volunteer participants (from those who had completed the questionnaire) who displayed many of the ‘typical’ characteristics, and a cross-section of backgrounds, of teachers of Senior Physical Education in Queensland. In the case of this study, the criteria used to select the group of teachers to be observed teaching were, teaching experience (number of years: 0-4, 5-10 and 11 years and over), gender, geographical location of schools (focused on Brisbane and near area for travel/access purposes), profile of the students at schools (girls, boys or co-educational), nature of school (Government or Private) and the physical activities being taught in a school (activities to reflect all the areas of physical activity outlined within the syllabus). A total of 27 questionnaire respondents from Part A indicated that they were willing to be observed teaching practical lessons. The respondents who volunteered to be involved in Part B of the study came from different regions across the state of Queensland and was not confined to the Brisbane metropolitan area or large cities. From the group of people who volunteered for Part B four came from outside Brisbane and 23 from the Brisbane area. The final observation group of nine participants included eight teachers from the Brisbane area and one from a rural area. The characteristics of the final group included three females and six males from private and public schools with a range of teaching experience in years and a range of physical activities. Four year 12 and five year 11 teachers and their classes were videoed on three occasions as they progressed through an eight – nine week unit of work. This resulted in 24 hours 48 minutes and 20 seconds (or 4465 observations) of video teaching data which was subsequently coded by several researchers (99% interobserver reliability) to determine the teaching styles employed by the participants. This research indicated that, based on Mosston and Ashworth’s (2002) Spectrum of Teaching Styles, teachers of Senior Physical Education in Queensland used predominantly one style to teach 27 observed lessons. This is in sharp contrast to the variety of styles 110 teachers self- reportedly used and in spite of the Queensland Senior Physical Education Syllabus (2004) suggesting a range of specific styles be used. These results are discussed in the context of the Queensland Senior Physical Education Syllabus (2004), teacher knowledge of teaching styles and high-stakes curriculum and external pressures such as national testing and the publication of data from schools in tabloid newspapers. The data and findings in this research provide a rationale for improving teacher knowledge regarding teaching styles and the need for a clear definition of terminology in syllabus documents. Careful examination of the effects that the publishing of school data may have on teaching styles is advised. This research not only collected teacher’s perceptions of the teaching styles they believed they used it also verified these claims through direct observations of the teachers while teaching. These findings are relevant to syllabus writers, teacher educators, policy makers within education and teachers.

Cross-layer design and optimization for wireless networked control systems

Wireless networked control systems (WNCSs) have been widely used in the areas of manufacturing and industrial processing over the last few years. They provide real-time control with a unique characteristic: periodic traffic. These systems have a time-critical requirement. Due to current wireless mechanisms, the WNCS performance suffers from long time-varying delays, packet dropout, and inefficient channel utilization. Current wirelessly networked applications like WNCSs are designed upon the layered architecture basis. The features of this layered architecture constrain the performance of these demanding applications. Numerous efforts have attempted to use cross-layer design (CLD) approaches to improve the performance of various networked applications. However, the existing research rarely considers large-scale networks and congestion network conditions in WNCSs. In addition, there is a lack of discussions on how to apply CLD approaches in WNCSs. This thesis proposes a cross-layer design methodology to address the issues of periodic traffic timeliness, as well as to promote the efficiency of channel utilization in WNCSs. The design of the proposed CLD is highlighted by the measurement of the underlying network condition, the classification of the network state, and the adjustment of sampling period between sensors and controllers. This period adjustment is able to maintain the minimally allowable sampling period, and also maximize the control performance. Extensive simulations are conducted using the network simulator NS-2 to evaluate the performance of the proposed CLD. The comparative studies involve two aspects of communications, with and without using the proposed CLD, respectively. The results show that the proposed CLD is capable of fulfilling the timeliness requirement under congested network conditions, and is also able to improve the channel utilization efficiency and the proportion of effective data in WNCSs.

The Levels of Job Satisfaction, Stress and Burnout In Australian and New Zealand Haemodialysis Nurses

Background: Job dissatisfaction, stress and burnout is linked to high rates of nurses leaving the profession, poor morale, poor patient outcomes and increased financial expenditure. Haemodialysis nurses find their work satisfying although it can be stressful. Little is known, however, about job satisfaction, stress or burnout levels of haemodialysis nurses in Australia and New Zealand. Aims: To assess the current levels of job satisfaction, stress, burnout and nurses’ perception of the haemodialysis work environment. Methods: An observational study involved a cross-sectional sample of 417 registered or enrolled nurses working in Australian or New Zealand haemodialysis units. Data was collected using an on-line questionnaire containing demographic and work characteristics as well as validated measures of job satisfaction, stress, burnout and the work environment Results: 74% of respondents were aged over 40 and 75% had more than six years of haemodialysis nursing experience. Job satisfaction levels were comparable to studies in other practice areas with higher satisfaction derived from professional status and interactions with colleagues. Despite nurses viewing their work environment favourably, moderate levels of burnout were noted with frequent stressors related to workload and patient death and dying. Interestingly there were no differences found between the type or location of dialysis unit. Conclusion: Despite acceptable levels of job satisfaction and burnout, stress with workloads and facets of patient care were found. Understanding the factors that contribute to job satisfaction, stress and burnout can impact the healthcare system through decreased costs by retaining valued staff and through improved patient care.

Physico-chemical/biological properties of tripolyphosphate cross-linked chitosan based

In this study, chitosan-PEO blend, prepared in a 15 M acetic acid, was electrospun into nanofibers (~ 78 nm diameter) with bead free morphology. While investigating physico-chemical parameters of blend solutions, effect of yield stress on chitosan based nanofiber fabrication was clearly evidenced. Architectural stability of nanofiber mat in aqueous medium was achieved by ionotropic cross-linking of chitosan by tripolyphosphate (TPP) ions. The TPP cross-linked nanofiber mat showed swelling up to ~ 300 % in 1h and ~ 40 % degradation during 30 d study period. 3T3 fibroblast cells showed good attachment, proliferation and viability on TPP treated chitosan based nanofiber mats. The results indicate non-toxic nature of TPP cross-linked chitosan based nanofibers and their potential to be explored as a tissue engineering matrix.

Nutritional status of Ugandan women living with HIV/AIDS : anthropometry and body composition assessment

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDs) reduces immune function, resulting in opportunistic infections and later death. Use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) increases chances of survival, however, with some concerns regarding fat re-distribution (lipodystrophy) which may encompass subcutaneous fat loss (lipoatrophy) and/or fat accumulation (lipohypertrophy), in the same individual. This problem has been linked to Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), majorly, in the class of protease inhibitors (PIs), in addition to older age and being female. An additional concern is that the problem exists together with the metabolic syndrome, even when nutritional status/ body composition, and lipodystrophy/metabolic syndrome are unclear in Uganda where the use of ARVs is on the increase. In line with the literature, the overall aim of the study was to assess physical characteristics of HIV-infected patients using a comprehensive anthropometric protocol and to predict body composition based on these measurements and other standardised techniques. The other aim was to establish the existence of lipodystrophy, the metabolic syndrome, andassociated risk factors. Thus, three studies were conducted on 211 (88 ART-naïve) HIV-infected, 15-49 year-old women, using a cross-sectional approach, together with a qualitative study of secondary information on patient HIV and medication status. In addition, face-to-face interviews were used to extract information concerning morphological experiences and life style. The study revealed that participants were on average 34.1±7.65 years old, had lived 4.63±4.78 years with HIV infection and had spent 2.8±1.9 years receiving ARVs. Only 8.1% of participants were receiving PIs and 26% of those receiving ART had ever changed drug regimen, 15.5% of whom changed drugs due to lipodystrophy. Study 1 hypothesised that the mean nutritional status and predicted percent body fat values of study participants was within acceptable ranges; different for participants receiving ARVs and the HIV-infected ART-naïve participants and that percent body fat estimated by anthropometric measures (BMI and skinfold thickness) and the BIA technique was not different from that predicted by the deuterium oxide dilution technique. Using the Body Mass Index (BMI), 7.1% of patients were underweight (<18.5 kg/m2) and 46.4% were overweight/obese (≥25.0 kg/m2). Based on waist circumference (WC), approximately 40% of the cohort was characterized as centrally obese. Moreover, the deuterium dilution technique showed that there was no between-group difference in the total body water (TBW), fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM). However, the technique was the only approach to predict a between-group difference in percent body fat (p = .045), but, with a very small effect (0.021). Older age (β = 0.430, se = 0.089, p = .000), time spent receiving ARVs (β = 0.972, se = 0.089, p = .006), time with the infection (β = 0.551, se = 0.089, p = .000) and receiving ARVs (β = 2.940, se = 1.441, p = .043) were independently associated with percent body fat. Older age was the greatest single predictor of body fat. Furthermore, BMI gave better information than weight alone could; in that, mean percentage body fat per unit BMI (N = 192) was significantly higher in patients receiving treatment (1.11±0.31) vs. the exposed group (0.99±0.38, p = .025). For the assessment of obesity, percent fat measures did not greatly alter the accuracy of BMI as a measure for classifying individuals into the broad categories of underweight, normal and overweight. Briefly, Study 1 revealed that there were more overweight/obese participants than in the general Ugandan population, the problem was associated with ART status and that BMI broader classification categories were maintained when compared with the gold standard technique. Study 2 hypothesized that the presence of lipodystrophy in participants receiving ARVs was not different from that of HIV-infected ART-naïve participants. Results showed that 112 (53.1%) patients had experienced at least one morphological alteration including lipohypertrophy (7.6%), lipoatrophy (10.9%), and mixed alterations (34.6%). The majority of these subjects (90%) were receiving ARVs; in fact, all patients receiving PIs reported lipodystrophy. Period spent receiving ARVs (t209 = 6.739, p = .000), being on ART (χ2 = 94.482, p = .000), receiving PIs (Fisher’s exact χ2 = 113.591, p = .000), recent T4 count (CD4 counts) (t207 = 3.694, p = .000), time with HIV (t125 = 1.915, p = .045), as well as older age (t209 = 2.013, p = .045) were independently associated with lipodystrophy. Receiving ARVs was the greatest predictor of lipodystrophy (p = .000). In other analysis, aside from skinfolds at the subscapular (p = .004), there were no differences with the rest of the skinfold sites and the circumferences between participants with lipodystrophy and those without the problem. Similarly, there was no difference in Waist: Hip ratio (WHR) (p = .186) and Waist: Height ratio (WHtR) (p = .257) among participants with lipodystrophy and those without the problem. Further examination showed that none of the 4.1% patients receiving stavudine (d4T) did experience lipoatrophy. However, 17.9% of patients receiving EFV, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) had lipoatrophy. Study 2 findings showed that presence of lipodystrophy in participants receiving ARVs was in fact far higher than that of HIV-infected ART-naïve participants. A final hypothesis was that the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in participants receiving ARVs was not different from that of HIV-infected ART-naïve participants. Moreover, data showed that many patients (69.2%) lived with at least one feature of the metabolic syndrome based on International Diabetic Federation (IDF, 2006) definition. However, there was no single anthropometric predictor of components of the syndrome, thus, the best anthropometric predictor varied as the component varied. The metabolic syndrome was diagnosed in 15.2% of the subjects, lower than commonly reported in this population, and was similar between the medicated and the exposed groups (χ 21 = 0.018, p = .893). Moreover, the syndrome was associated with older age (p = .031) and percent body fat (p = .012). In addition, participants with the syndrome were heavier according to BMI (p = .000), larger at the waist (p = .000) and abdomen (p = .000), and were at central obesity risk even when hip circumference (p = .000) and height (p = .000) were accounted for. In spite of those associations, results showed that the period with disease (p = .13), CD4 counts (p = .836), receiving ART (p = .442) or PIs (p = .678) were not associated with the metabolic syndrome. While the prevalence of the syndrome was highest amongst the older, larger and fatter participants, WC was the best predictor of the metabolic syndrome (p = .001). Another novel finding was that participants with the metabolic syndrome had greater arm muscle circumference (AMC) (p = .000) and arm muscle area (AMA) (p = .000), but the former was most influential. Accordingly, the easiest and cheapest indicator to assess risk in this study sample was WC should routine laboratory services not be feasible. In addition, the final study illustrated that the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in participants receiving ARVs was not different from that of HIV-infected ART-naïve participants.

Differences in the symptom experience of older versus younger oncology outpatients : a cross-sectional study

Background: Mortality rates for cancer are decreasing in patients under 60 and increasing in those over 60 years of age. The reasons for these differences in mortality rates remain poorly understood. One explanation may be that older patients received substandard treatment because of concerns about adverse effects. Given the paucity of research on the multiple dimensions of the symptom experience in older oncology patients, the purpose of this study was to evaluate for differences in ratings of symptom occurrence, severity, frequency, and distress between younger (< 60 years) and older ( ≥ 60 years) adults undergoing cancer treatment. We hypothesized that older patients would have significantly lower ratings on four symptom dimensions. Methods: Data from two studies in the United States and one study in Australia were combined to conduct this analysis. All three studies used the MSAS to evaluate the occurrence, severity, frequency, and distress of 32 symptoms. Results: Data from 593 oncology outpatients receiving active treatment for their cancer (i.e., 44.4% were < 60 years and 55.6% were ≥ 60 years of age) were evaluated. Of the 32 MSAS symptoms, after controlling for significant covariates, older patients reported significantly lower occurrence rates for 15 (46.9%) symptoms, lower severity ratings for 6 (18.9%) symptoms, lower frequency ratings for 4 (12.5%) symptoms, and lower distress ratings for 14 (43.8%) symptoms. Conclusions: This study is the first to evaluate for differences in multiple dimensions of symptom experience in older oncology patients. For almost 50% of the MSAS symptoms, older patients reported significantly lower occurrence rates. While fewer age-related differences were found in ratings of symptom severity, frequency, and distress, a similar pattern was found across all three dimensions. Future research needs to focus on a detailed evaluation of patient and clinical characteristics (i.e., type and dose of treatment) that explain the differences in symptom experience identified in this study.

An evaluation framework for cross-lingual link discovery

Cross-Lingual Link Discovery (CLLD) is a new problem in Information Retrieval. The aim is to automatically identify meaningful and relevant hypertext links between documents in different languages. This is particularly helpful in knowledge discovery if a multi-lingual knowledge base is sparse in one language or another, or the topical coverage in each language is different; such is the case with Wikipedia. Techniques for identifying new and topically relevant cross-lingual links are a current topic of interest at NTCIR where the CrossLink task has been running since the 2011 NTCIR-9. This paper presents the evaluation framework for benchmarking algorithms for cross-lingual link discovery evaluated in the context of NTCIR-9. This framework includes topics, document collections, assessments, metrics, and a toolkit for pooling, assessment, and evaluation. The assessments are further divided into two separate sets: manual assessments performed by human assessors; and automatic assessments based on links extracted from Wikipedia itself. Using this framework we show that manual assessment is more robust than automatic assessment in the context of cross-lingual link discovery.

Growing existing aboriginal designs to guide a cross-cultural design project

Designing across cultures requires considerable attention to inter-relational design methods that facilitate mutual exploration, learning and trust. Many Western design practices have been borne of a different model, utilizing approaches for the design team to rapidly gain insight into “users” in order to deliver concepts and prototypes, with little attention paid to different cultural understandings about being, knowledge, participation and life beyond the design project. This paper describes a project that intends to create and grow a sustainable set of technology assisted communication practices for the Warnindilyakwa people of Groote Eylandt in the form of digital noticeboards. Rather than academic practices of workshops, interviews, probes or theoretical discourses that emphasize an outside-in perspective, we emphasize building upon the local designs and practices. Our team combines bilingual members from the local Land Council in collaboration with academics from a remote urban university two thousand kilometers away. We contribute an approach of growing existing local practices and materials digitally in order to explore viable, innovative and sustainable technical solutions from this perspective.

Overview of the NTCIR-10 cross-lingual link discovery task

This paper presents an overview of NTCIR-10 Cross-lingual Link Discovery (CrossLink-2) task. For the task, we continued using the evaluation framework developed for the NTCIR-9 CrossLink-1 task. Overall, recommended links were evaluated at two levels (file-to-file and anchor-to-file); and system performance was evaluated with metrics: LMAP, R-Prec and P@N.

Very sensitive fiber Bragg grating accelerometer using transverse forces with an easy over-range protection and low cross axial sensitivity

The first fiber Bragg grating (FBG) accelerometer using direct transverse forces is demonstrated by fixing the FBG by its two ends and placing a transversely moving inertial object at its middle. It is very sensitive because a lightly stretched FBG is more sensitive to transverse forces than axial forces. Its resonant frequency and static sensitivity are analyzed by the classic spring-mass theory, assuming the axial force changes little. The experiments show that the theory can be modified for cases where the assumption does not hold. The resonant frequency can be modified by a linear relationship experimentally achieved, and the static sensitivity by an alternative method proposed. The principles of the over-range protection and low cross axial sensitivity are achieved by limiting the movement of the FBG and were validated experimentally. The sensitivities 1.333 and 0.634 nm/g were experimentally achieved by 5.29 and 2.83 gram inertial objects at 10 Hz from 0.1 to 0.4 g (g = 9.8 m/s 2), respectively, and their resonant frequencies were around 25 Hz. Their theoretical static sensitivities and resonant frequencies found by the modifications are 1.188 nm/g and 26.81 Hz for the 5.29 gram one and 0.784 nm/g and 29.04 Hz for the 2.83 gram one, respectively.

Work environment, job satisfaction, stress and burnout among haemodialysis nurses

Aim To examine the relationships among nurse and work characteristics, job satisfaction, stress, burnout and the work environment of haemodialysis nurses. Background Haemodialysis nursing is characterised by frequent and intense contact with patients in a complex and intense environment. Method Cross-sectional online survey of 417 haemodialysis nurses that included nurse and work characteristics, the Brisbane Practice Environment Measure, Index of Work Satisfaction, Nursing Stress Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Results Haemodialysis nurses reported an acceptable level of job satisfaction and perceived their work environment positively, although high levels of burnout were found. Nurses who were older and had worked in haemodialysis the longest had higher satisfaction levels, experienced less stress and lower levels of burnout than younger nurses. The in-centre type of haemodialysis unit had greater levels of stress and burnout than home training units. Greater satisfaction with the work environment was strongly correlated with job satisfaction, lower job stress and emotional exhaustion. Conclusion Haemodialysis nurses experienced high levels of burnout even though their work environment was favourable and they had acceptable levels of job satisfaction. Implications for Nursing Management: Targeted strategies are required to retain and avoid burnout in younger and less experienced nurses in this highly specialised field of nursing.

Cross-sectional study of a microsatellite marker in the low densitity lipoprotein receptor gene in obese normotensives

1. The low density lipoprotein receptor is an important regulator of serum cholesterol which may have implications for the development of both hypertension and obesity. In this study, genotypes for a low density lipoprotein receptor gene (LDLR) dinucleotide polymorphism were determined in both lean and obese normotensive populations. 2. In previous cross-sectional association studies an ApaLI and a HincII polymorphism for LDLR were shown to be associated with obesity in essential hypertensives. However, these polymorphisms did not show an association with obesity in normotensives. 3. In contrast, this study reports that preliminary results for an LDLR microsatellite marker, located more towards the 3' end of the gene, show a significant association with obesity in the normotensive population studied. These results indicate that LDLR could play an important role in the development of obesity, which might be independent of hypertension.

A linkage and cross-sectional study of hypertension and obesity using a poly(A) Alu-repeat polymorphism at the glucagon receptor gene locus (17q25)

1. Previous glucagon receptor gene (GCGR) studies have shown a Gly40Ser mutation to be more prevalent in essential hypertension and to affect glucagon binding affinity to its receptor. An Alu-repeat poly(A) polymorphism colocalized to GCGR was used in the present study to test for association and linkage in hypertension as well as association in obesity development. 2. Using a cross-sectional approach, 85 hypertensives and 95 normotensives were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction primers flanking the Alu-repeat. Both hypertensive and normotensive populations were subdivided into lean and obese categories based on body mass index (BMI) to determine involvement of this variant in obesity. For the linkage study, 89 Australian Caucasian hypertension affected sibships (174 sibpairs) were genotyped and the results were analysed using GENE-HUNTER, Mapmaker Sibs, ERPA and SPLINK (all freely available from http://linlkage.rockefeller. edu/soft/list.html). 3. Cross-sectional results for both hypertension and obesity were analysed using Chi-squared and Monte Carlo analyses. Results did not show an association of this variant with either hypertension (χ2 = 6.9, P = 0.14; Monte Carlo χ2 = 7.0, P = 0.11; n = 5000) or obesity (χ2 = 3.3, P = 0.35; Monte Carlo χ2 = 3.26, P = 0.34; n = 5000). In addition, results from the linkage study using hypertensive sib-pairs did not indicate linkage of the poly(A) repent with hypertension. Hence, results did not indicate a role far the Alu-repeat in either hypertension or obesity. However, as the heterozygosity of this poly(A) repeat is low (35%), a larger number of hypertensive sib-pairs may be required to draw definitive conclusions.

Simulation of retrofitted unreinforced concrete masonry unit walls under blast loading

This paper describes an investigation into the effectiveness of using spray-on nano-particle reinforced polymer and aluminium foam as new types of retrofit material to prevent the breaching and collapse of unreinforced concrete masonry walls subjected to blast over a whole range of dynamic and impulsive regimes. Material models from the LSDYNA material library were used to model the behaviors of each of the materials and its interface for retrofitted and unretrofitted masonry walls. Available test data were used to validate the numerical models. Using the validated LS-DYNA numerical models, the pressure-impulse diagrams for retrofitted concrete masonry walls were constructed. The efficiency of using these retrofits to strengthen the unreinforced concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls under various pressures and impulses was investigated using pressure-impulse diagrams. Comparisons were made to find the most efficient retrofits for masonry walls against blasts.