Using viewer’s facial expression and heart rate for sports video highlights detection

Viewer interests, evoked by video content, can potentially identify the highlights of the video. This paper explores the use of facial expressions (FE) and heart rate (HR) of viewers captured using camera and non-strapped sensor for identifying interesting video segments. The data from ten subjects with three videos showed that these signals are viewer dependent and not synchronized with the video contents. To address this issue, new algorithms are proposed to effectively combine FE and HR signals for identifying the time when viewer interest is potentially high. The results show that, compared with subjective annotation and match report highlights, ‘non-neutral’ FE and ‘relatively higher and faster’ HR is able to capture 60%-80% of goal, foul, and shot-on-goal soccer video events. FE is found to be more indicative than HR of viewer’s interests, but the fusion of these two modalities outperforms each of them.

Biomechanical analyses of the performance of Paralympians: From foundation to elite level

Biomechanical analysis of sport performance provides an objective method of determining performance of a particular sporting technique. In particular, it aims to add to the understanding of the mechanisms influencing performance, characterization of athletes, and provide insights into injury predisposition. Whilst the performance in sport of able-bodied athletes is well recognised in the literature, less information and understanding is known on the complexity, constraints and demands placed on the body of an individual with a disability. This paper provides a dialogue that outlines scientific issues of performance analysis of multi-level athletes with a disability, including Paralympians. Four integrated themes are explored the first of which focuses on how biomechanics can contribute to the understanding of sport performance in athletes with a disability and how it may be used as an evidence-based tool. This latter point questions the potential for a possible cultural shift led by emergence of user-friendly instruments. The second theme briefly discusses the role of reliability of sport performance and addresses the debate of two-dimensional and three-dimensional analysis. The third theme address key biomechanical parameters and provides guidance to clinicians, and coaches on the approaches adopted using biomechanical/sport performance analysis for an athlete with a disability starting out, to the emerging and elite Paralympian. For completeness of this discourse, the final theme is based on the controversial issues on the role of assisted devices and the inclusion of Paralympians into able-bodied sport is also presented. All combined, this dialogue highlights the intricate relationship between biomechanics and training of individuals with a disability. Furthermore, it illustrates the complexity of modern training of athletes which can only lead to a better appreciation of the performances to be delivered in the London 2012 Paralympic Games

A new approach to measure tactical voting: evidence from the British elections

Although tactical voting attracts a great deal of attention, it is very hard to measure as it requires knowledge of both individuals’ voting choices as well as their unobserved preferences. In this article, we present a simple empirical strategy to nonparametrically identify tactical voting patterns directly from balloting results. This approach allows us to study the magnitude and direction of strategic voting as well as to verify which information voters and parties take into account to determine marginal constituencies. We show that tactical voting played a significant role in the 2010 election, mainly for Liberal–Democratic voters supporting Labour. Moreover, our results suggest that voters seem to form their expectations based on a national swing in vote shares rather than newspaper guides published in the main media outlets or previous election outcomes. We also present some evidence that suggests that campaign spending is not driving tactical voting.

B-adrenoceptor determinants of contractility in the human heart: The role of phosphodiesterase enzymes

This thesis investigated how enzymes called phosphodiesterases control changes in contractility mediated by noradrenaline and adrenaline through activation of β1- and β2-adrenoceptors in live human heart tissue from patients with advanced heart failure undergoing transplantation. The study compared patients who had been administered β-blocker medicines metoprolol or carvedilol or no β-blocker treatment. This work helped to further elucidate the complex roles of target receptors and enzymes that are integral to the progression of heart failure, to compare the mechanisms of action of β-blockers currently used to manage heart failure and to identify new drug targets for heart failure treatment.

Randomized clinical trial of the timing it right stroke family support program: Research protocol

Background Family caregivers provide invaluable support to stroke survivors during their recovery, rehabilitation, and community re-integration. Unfortunately, it is not standard clinical practice to prepare and support caregivers in this role and, as a result, many experience stress and poor health that can compromise stroke survivor recovery and threaten the sustainability of keeping the stroke survivor at home. We developed the Timing it Right Stroke Family Support Program (TIRSFSP) to guide the timing of delivering specific types of education and support to meet caregivers' evolving needs. The objective of this multi-site randomized controlled trial is to determine if delivering the TIRSFSP across the stroke care continuum improves caregivers' sense of being supported and emotional well-being. Methods/design Our multi-site single-blinded randomized controlled trial will recruit 300 family caregivers of stroke survivors from urban and rural acute care hospitals. After completing a baseline assessment, participants will be randomly allocated to one of three groups: 1) TIRSFSP guided by a stroke support person (health care professional with stroke care experience), delivered in-person during acute care and by telephone for approximately the first six to 12 months post-stroke; 2) caregiver self-directed TIRSFSP with an initial introduction to the program by a stroke support person, or; 3) standard care receiving the educational resource "Let's Talk about Stroke" prepared by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Participants will complete three follow-up quantitative assessments 3, 6, and 12-months post-stroke. These include assessments of depression, social support, psychological well-being, stroke knowledge, mastery (sense of control over life), caregiving assistance provided, caregiving impact on everyday life, and indicators of stroke severity and disability. Qualitative methods will also be used to obtain information about caregivers' experiences with the education and support received and the impact on caregivers' perception of being supported and emotional well-being. Discussion This research will determine if the TIRSFSP benefits family caregivers by improving their perception of being supported and emotional well-being. If proven effective, it could be recommended as a model of stroke family education and support that meets the Canadian Stroke Best Practice Guideline recommendation for providing timely education and support to families through transitions.

Patent-busting: The public patent foundation, gene patents and the Seed Wars

This chapter considers the Public Patent Foundation as a novel institution in the patent framework. It contends that such a model can play a productive role in challenging the validity of high-profile patents; working as an amicus curiae in significant court cases; and also promoting patent law reform. However, there are limits to the ‘patent-busting’ of the Foundation. The not-for-profit legal services organization has only had the time and resources to challenge a number of noteworthy patents. Other jurisdictions – such as Australia – lack such public-spirited "patent-busting" entities. This chapter considers a number of key disputes involving the Public Patent Foundation. Part I examines the role of the Public Patent Foundation in the landmark dispute over Myriad Genetics’ patents in respect of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Part II considers the role of the Public Patent Foundation in litigation between organic farmers and Monsanto. Part III examines the role of the Public Patent Foundation in larger debates about patent law reform in the United States – particularly looking at the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act 2011 (US). The conclusion contends that the patent-busting model of the Public Patent Foundation should be emulated in respect of other technological fields, and other jurisdictions – such as Australia. The initiative could also be productively applied to other forms of intellectual property – such as trade mark law, designs law, plant breeders’ rights, plant breeders’ rights, and access to genetic resources.

Can the Gates Foundation be convinced to dump fossil fuels?

This week, The Guardian newspaper has campaigned for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to divest its fossil fuel investments – which the newspaper claims are worth US$1.4 billion. The foundation can and should address the climate crisis, particularly given the threat it poses to food security, public health, human rights, and the development agenda.

The relationship between appetite and food preferences in British and Australian children

Background: Appetitive traits and food preferences are key determinants of children’s eating patterns but it is unclear how these behaviours relate to one another. This study explores relationships between appetitive traits and preferences for fruits and vegetables, and energy dense, nutrient poor (noncore) foods in two distinct samples of Australian and British preschool children. Methods: This study reports secondary analyses of data from families participating in the British GEMINI cohort study (n=1044) and the control arm of the Australian NOURISH RCT (n=167). Food preferences were assessed by parent-completed questionnaire when children were aged 3-4 years and grouped into three categories; vegetables, fruits and noncore foods. Appetitive traits; enjoyment of food, food responsiveness, satiety responsiveness, slowness in eating, and food fussiness were measured using the Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire when children were 16 months (GEMINI) or 3-4 years (NOURISH). Relationships between appetitive traits and food preferences were explored using adjusted linear regression analyses that controlled for demographic and anthropometric covariates. Results: Vegetable liking was positively associated with enjoyment of food (GEMINI; β=0.20 ± 0.03, p<0.001, NOURISH; β=0.43 ± 0.07, p<0.001) and negatively related to satiety responsiveness (GEMINI; β=-0.19 ± 0.03, p<0.001, NOURISH; β=-0.34 ± 0.08, p<0.001), slowness in eating (GEMINI; β=-0.10 ± 0.03, p=0.002, NOURISH; β=-0.30 ± 0.08, p<0.001) and food fussiness (GEMINI; β=-0.30 ± 0.03, p<0.001, NOURISH; β=-0.60 ± 0.06, p<0.001). Fruit liking was positively associated with enjoyment of food (GEMINI; β=0.18 ± 0.03, p<0.001, NOURISH; β=0.36 ± 0.08, p<0.001), and negatively associated with satiety responsiveness (GEMINI; β=-0.13 ± 0.03, p<0.001, NOURISH; β=-0.24 ± 0.08, p=0.003), food fussiness (GEMINI; β=-0.26 ± 0.03, p<0.001, NOURISH; β=-0.51 ± 0.07, p<0.001) and slowness in eating (GEMINI only; β=-0.09 ± 0.03, p=0.005). Food responsiveness was unrelated to liking for fruits or vegetables in either sample but was positively associated with noncore food preference (GEMINI; β=0.10 ± 0.03, p=0.001, NOURISH; β=0.21 ± 0.08, p=0.010). Conclusion: Appetitive traits linked with lower obesity risk were related to lower liking for fruits and vegetables, while food responsiveness, a trait linked with greater risk of overweight, was uniquely associated with higher liking for noncore foods.

A multimarker approach to diagnose and stratify heart failure

Background We have previously demonstrated that circulating NT-proBNP is truncated at the N and C termini. Aims of this study are three-fold: firstly to determine whether the NT-proBNP levels correlate with NYHA functional classes when measuring with different antibody pairs; secondly to evaluate the diagnostic potential of ProBNP and; thirdly to investigate whether combining NT-proBNP assays with or without ProBNP would lead to better diagnostic accuracies. Methods Plasma samples were collected from healthy controls (n = 52) and HF patients (n = 46). Customized AlphaLISA® immunoassays were developed and validated to measure the concentrations of proBNP and NT-proBNP (with antibodies targeting 13–45, 13–76, 28–76). The diagnostic performance and predictive value of proBNP and NT-proBNP assays and their combinations were evaluated. Results Plasma proBNP assay showed acceptable diagnostic performance. NT-proBNP13–76 assay is useful in diagnosing and stratifying HF patients. The diagnostic performance of NT-proBNP13–76 demonstrated improvement over commercial NT-proBNP tests. The combination of NT-proBNP13–76 with NT-proBNP28–76 assays gave the best diagnostic assay performance. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that while there is major heterogeneity in circulating NT-proBNP, specific epitopes of the peptides are extraordinarily stable, providing ideal targets for clinically useful diagnostic assays. Future new clinical diagnostic clinical trials should include a multimarker approach rather than using a single marker to diagnose HF.

Effects of PTPN22 C1858T polymorphism on susceptibility and clinical characteristics of British Caucasian rheumatoid arthritis patients

Objectives. To confirm the association of a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), C1858T (rs2476601), in the PTPN22 gene of British Caucasian rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to evaluate its influence on the RA phenotype. Methods. A total of 686 RA patients and 566 healthy volunteers, all of British Caucasian origin, were genotyped for C1858T polymorphism by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Data were analysed using SPSS software and the χ 2 test as applicable. Results. The PTPN22 1858T risk allele was more prevalent in the RA patients (13.9%) compared with the healthy controls (10.3%) (P = 0.008, odds ratio 1.4, 95% confidence interval 1.09-1.79). The association of the T allele was restricted to those with rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive disease (n = 524, 76.4%) (P = 0.004, odds ratio 1.5, 95% confidence interval 1.1-1.9). We found no association between PTPN22 and the presence of the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope or clinical characteristics. Conclusions. We confirmed the previously reported association of PTPN22 with RF-positive RA, which was independent from the HLA-DRB1 genotype.

Polymorphism in codon 17 of the CTLA-4 gene (+49 A/G) is not associated with susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis in British Caucasians

The role of the CTLA-4 antigen in the development of autoimmune diseases is well documented, with several autoimmune disorders showing association or linkage with the CTLA-4 locus. Its role in the aetiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) however, remains unclear, as the functional studies of the B7-CTLA-4 pathway in mouse models of RA and genetic studies in humans have given contrasting results. We have studied the single nucleotide polymorphism at position +49 (A/G) of the CTLA-4 gene, in a cohort of 421 RA cases and 452 healthy controls from the UK. Despite the high statistical power to detect even a weak susceptibility effect, no significant association was found. We also analysed the distribution of the allele and genotype frequencies with respect to the presence of the shared epitope (a known RA susceptibility factor) and found no statistically significant differences. We conclude that, although the importance of the B7-CTLA-4 interaction in the development of RA can not be excluded, the CTLA-4 gene is unlikely to be a predisposing factor to this disease.

The Australian Nutrition Foundation - Improving the health of school canteens

School canteens represent Australia's largest take-away food outlet. With changes in lifestyles and family roles, canteens are used increasingly as a source of food for students. The nutritional quality of foods offered can have a significant impact on the nutritional status of students both now, and in the future. The Australian Nutrition Foundation has been developing its work in the field of school canteens over the past six years. Perhaps its most significant contribution to improving the health of canteens has been the development of the "Food Selection Guidelines for Children and Adolescents". These Guidelines are used to assess foods most suitable for sale in school canteens and for purchasing food in boarding schools. Products meeting the Guidelines are added to the ANF Registered Product List which school canteens and kitchens use as a type of "buying guide". This project has been successfully piloted in Queensland and this year has been expanded to a national campaign.

Coronary calcium scoring: Calcium location needs to be integrated!

Coronary calcium scoring (CCS) has been a topic of great interest lately. In a large population-based study comprising 6,722 patients, Detrano et al. (1) have effectively shown that CCS can be a strong predictor of incident coronary heart disease among different racial groups. Henneman et al. (2) have, however, reported that CCS does not reliably exclude the presence of (significant) atherosclerosis. This topic is quite controversial as there is significant evidence from Detrano's work that higher CCS is associated with an increased risk of acute coronary events. We think that the location of calcium within the coronary arteries should also be considered. Li et al. (3,4) have shown that the position of the calcium in the plaque is a better determinant of plaque vulnerability than the total calcium load. Using a biomechanical model, predicted maximum stress was found to increase by 47.5% when calcium deposits were located in the thin fibrous cap. The presence of calcium deposits in the lipid core or remote from the fibrous cap resulted in no increase in maximum stress. It was also noted that the presence of calcification within the lipid core may even stabilize the plaque. Integration of calcium location in CCS will, therefore, enable better assessment of severity of atherosclerosis and prediction of future cardiovascular events.

Characterisation of carotid atheroma in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients using high resolution MRI

Background and purpose: To prospectively evaluate differences in carotid plaque characteristics in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients using high resolution MRI. Methods: 20 symptomatic and 20 asymptomatic patients, with at least 50% carotid stenosis as determined by Doppler ultrasound, underwent preoperative in vivo multispectral MRI of the carotid arteries. Studies were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively in a randomised manner by two experienced readers in consensus, blinded to clinical status, and plaques were classified according to the modified American Heart Association (AHA) criteria. Results: After exclusion of poor quality images, 109 MRI sections in 18 symptomatic and 19 asymptomatic patients were available for analysis. There were no significant differences in mean luminal stenosis severity (72.9% vs 67.6%; p = 0.09) or plaque burden (median plaque areas 50 mm2 vs 50 mm 2; p = 0.858) between the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. However, symptomatic lesions had a higher incidence of ruptured fibrous caps (36.5% vs 8.7%; p = 0.004), haemorrhage or thrombus (46.5% vs 14.0%; p<0.001), large necrotic lipid cores (63.8% vs 28.0%; p = 0.002) and complicated type VI AHA lesions (61.5% vs 28.1%; p = 0.001) compared with asymptomatic lesions. The MRI findings of plaque haemorrhage or thrombus had an odds ratio of 5.25 (95% CI 2.08 to 13.24) while thin or ruptured fibrous cap (as opposed to a thick fibrous cap) had an odds ratio of 7.94 (95% CI 2.93 to 21.51) for prediction of symptomatic clinical status. Conclusions: There are significant differences in plaque characteristics between symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid atheroma and these can be detected in vivo by high resolution MRI.

The impact of wall shear stress and pressure drop on the stability of the atherosclerotic plaque

Rupture of vulnerable atheromatous plaque in the carotid and coronary arteries often leads to stroke and heart attack respectively. The mechanism of blood flow and plaque rupture in stenotic arteries is still not fully understood. A three dimensional rigid wall model was solved under steady state conditions and unsteady conditions by assuming a time-varying inlet velocity profile to investigate the relative importance of axial forces and pressure drops in arteries with asymmetric stenosis. Flow-structure interactions were investigated for the same geometry and the results were compared with those retrieved with the corresponding 2D cross-section structural models. The Navier-Stokes equations were used as the governing equations for the fluid. The tube wall was assumed hyperelastic, homogeneous, isotropic and incompressible. The analysis showed that the three dimensional behavior of velocity, pressure and wall shear stress is in general very different from that predicted by cross-section models. Pressure drop across the stenosis was found to be much higher than shear stress. Therefore, pressure may be the more important mechanical trigger for plaque rupture other than shear stress, although shear stress is closely related to plaque formation and progression.