Detouring to Grafton : the Sydney Botanic Gardens and the making of an Australian urban aesthetic

For the last seventy-five years Grafton has celebrated the Jacaranda Festival in late October. The festival commences in the town square with the crowning of the Jacaranda Queen and ends a week later with a parade through the town. The event is now a major regional tourist attraction that aims to bring locals and visitors together to celebrate everything purple. During this week one can attend the jacaranda children's party, the jacaranda maypole dancing, the jacaranda choral service or the jacaranda organ recital. Local businesses are encouraged to compete in the decorated window displays competition and everyone can join in the procession. The festival pays homage to the extraordinary display of beautiful jacaranda blooms which carpet the city during this time. The festival was inaugurated in 1935 when the slow growing jacarandas planted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were coming to maturity...

An audit of first-aid treatment of pediatric burns patients and their clinical outcome

This study describes the first aid used and clinical outcomes of all patients who presented to the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia in 2005 with an acute burn injury. A retrospective audit was performed with the charts of 459 patients and information concerning burn injury, first-aid treatment, and clinical outcomes was collected. First aid was used on 86.1% of patients, with 8.7% receiving no first aid and unknown treatment in 5.2% of cases. A majority of patients had cold water as first aid (80.2%), however, only 12.1% applied the cold water for the recommended 20 minutes or longer. Recommended first aid (cold water for >or=20 minutes) was associated with significantly reduced reepithelialization time for children with contact injuries (P=.011). Superficial depth burns were significantly more likely to be associated with the use of recommended first aid (P=.03). Suboptimal treatment was more common for children younger than 3.5 years (P<.001) and for children with friction burns. This report is one of the few publications to relate first-aid treatment to clinical outcomes. Some positive clinical outcomes were associated with recommended first-aid use; however, wound outcomes were more strongly associated with burn depth and mechanism of injury. There is also a need for more public awareness of recommended first-aid treatment.

Calibration and comparison of accelerometer cut points in preschool children

Objective The present study aimed to develop accelerometer cut points to classify physical activities (PA) by intensity in preschoolers and to investigate discrepancies in PA levels when applying various accelerometer cut points. Methods To calibrate the accelerometer, 18 preschoolers (5.8 +/- 0.4 years) performed eleven structured activities and one free play session while wearing a GT1M ActiGraph accelerometer using 15 s epochs. The structured activities were chosen based on the direct observation system Children's Activity Rating Scale (CARS) while the criterion measure of PA intensity during free play was provided using a second-by-second observation protocol (modified CARS). Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to determine the accelerometer cut points. To examine the classification differences, accelerometer data of four consecutive days from 114 preschoolers (5.5 +/- 0.3 years) were classified by intensity according to previously published and the newly developed accelerometer cut points. Differences in predicted PA levels were evaluated using repeated measures ANOVA and Chi Square test. Results Cut points were identified at 373 counts/15 s for light (sensitivity: 86%; specificity: 91%; Area under ROC curve: 0.95), 585 counts/15 s for moderate (87%; 82%; 0.91) and 881 counts/15 s for vigorous PA (88%; 91%; 0.94). Further, applying various accelerometer cut points to the same data resulted in statistically and biologically significant differences in PA. Conclusions Accelerometer cut points were developed with good discriminatory power for differentiating between PA levels in preschoolers and the choice of accelerometer cut points can result in large discrepancies.

Non-square-well potential profile and suppression of blinking in compositionally graded Cd1−xZnxSe/CdxZn1−xSe nanocrystals

Random blinking is a major problem on the way to successful applications of semiconducting nanocrystals in optoelectronics and photonics, which until recently had neither a practical solution nor a theoretical interpretation. An experimental breakthrough has recently been made by fabricating non-blinking Cd1-xZnxSe/ZnSe graded nanocrystals [Wang et al., Nature, 2009, 459, 686]. Here, we (1) report an unequivocal and detailed theoretical investigation to understand the properties (e.g., profile) of the potential-well and the distribution of Zn content with respect to the nanocrystal radius and (2) develop a strategy to find the relationship between the photoluminescence (PL) energy peaks and the potential-well due to Zn distribution in nanocrystals. It is demonstrated that the non-square-well potential can be varied in such a way that one can indeed control the PL intensity and the energy-level difference (PL energy peaks) accurately. This implies that one can either suppress the blinking altogether, or alternatively, manipulate the PL energy peaks and intensities systematically to achieve a controlled non-random intermittent luminescence. The approach developed here is based on the ionization energy approximation and as such is generic and can be applied to any non-free-electron nanocrystals.

The validity and reliability of the Parent Fever Management Scale: A study from Palestine

Background Parental fever phobia and overuse of antipyretics to control fever is increasing. Little is known about childhood fever management among Arab parents. No scales to measure parents’ fever management practices in Palestine are available. Aims The aims of this study were to translate and examine the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Parent Fever Management Scale (PFMS). Methods A standard “forward–backward” procedure was used to translate PFMS into Arabic language. It was then validated on a convenience sample of 402 parents between July and October 2012. Descriptive statistics were used, and instrument reliability was assessed for internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Validity was confirmed using convergent and known group validation. Results Applying the recommended scoring method, the median (interquartile range) score of the PFMS was 26 (23-30). Acceptable internal consistency was found (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.733) and the test–retest reliability value was 0.92 (P < 0.001). The chi-squared (χ2) test showed a significant relationship between PFMS groups and frequent daily administration of antipyretic groups (χ2 = 52.86; P < 0.001). The PFMS sensitivity and specificity were 77.67% and 57.75%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 67.89% and 32.11%, respectively. Conclusions The findings of this validation study indicate that the Arabic version of the PFMS is a reliable and valid measure which can be used as a useful tool for health professionals to identify parents’ fever management practices and thus provide targeted education to reduce the unnecessary burden of care they place on themselves when concerned for a febrile child.

Minimizing the effects of overfitting and collinearity in construction cost estimation : a new hybird approach

Research problem: Overfitting and collinearity problems commonly exist in current construction cost estimation applications and obstruct researchers and practitioners in achieving better modelling results. Research objective and method: A hybrid approach of Akaike information criterion (AIC) stepwise regression and principal component regression (PCR) is proposed to help solve overfitting and collinearity problems. Utilization of this approach in linear regression is validated by comparing it with other commonly used approaches. The mean square error obtained by leave-one-out cross validation (MSELOOCV) is used in model selection in deciding predictive variables.

Fast and accurate business process drift detection

Business processes are prone to continuous and unexpected changes. Process workers may start executing a process differently in order to adjust to changes in workload, season, guidelines or regulations for example. Early detection of business process changes based on their event logs – also known as business process drift detection – enables analysts to identify and act upon changes that may otherwise affect process performance. Previous methods for business process drift detection are based on an exploration of a potentially large feature space and in some cases they require users to manually identify the specific features that characterize the drift. Depending on the explored feature set, these methods may miss certain types of changes. This paper proposes a fully automated and statistically grounded method for detecting process drift. The core idea is to perform statistical tests over the distributions of runs observed in two consecutive time windows. By adaptively sizing the window, the method strikes a trade-off between classification accuracy and drift detection delay. A validation on synthetic and real-life logs shows that the method accurately detects typical change patterns and scales up to the extent it is applicable for online drift detection.

Case-control study of ADARB1 and ADARB2 gene variants in migraine

Background: Migraine causes crippling attacks of severe head pain along with associated nausea, vomiting, photophobia and/or phonophobia. The aim of this study was to investigate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the adenosine deaminase, RNA-specific, B1 (ADARB1)and adenosine deaminase, RNA specific, B2 (ADARB2) genes in an Australian case-control Caucasian population for association with migraine. Both candidate genes are highly expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) and fit criteria for migraine neuropathology. SNPs in the ADARB2 gene were previously found to be positively associated with migraine in a pedigree-based GWAS using the genetic isolate of Norfolk Island, Australia. The ADARB1 gene was also chosen for investigation due to its important function in editing neurotransmitter receptor transcripts. Methods: Four SNPs in ADARB1 and nine in ADARB2 were selected by inspecting blocks of LD in Haploview for genotyping using either TaqMan or Sequenom assays. These SNPs were genotyped in two-hundred and ninety one patients who satisfied the International Classification of Headache Disorders, ICHD-II 2004 diagnostic criteria for migraine and three-hundred and fourteen controls and PLINK was used for association testing. Results: Chi-square (χ2) analysis found no significant association between any of the SNPs tested in the ADARB1 and ADARB2 genes in this study and the occurrence of migraine. Conclusions: In contrast to findings that SNPs in the ADARB2 gene were positively associated with migraine in the Norfolk Island population, we find no evidence to support the involvement of RNA editing genes in migraine susceptibility in an Australian Caucasian population.

Analysis of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor genes in ankylosing spondylitis

Objectives: To assess the possible association of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes, specifically KIR3DL1, KIR3DS1 and KIR3DL2, with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods: 14 KIR genes were genotyped in 200 UK patients with AS and 405 healthy controls using multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes were used to subtype 368 cases with AS and 366 controls for 12 KIR3DL2 alleles. Differences in KIR genotypes and KIR3DL2 allele frequencies were assessed using the χp2p test. Results: KIR3DL1 and KIR3DS1 gene frequencies were very similar in cases with AS and controls (odds ratio = 1.5, 95% confidence interval 0.8 to 3.0, and odds ratio = 1.02, 95% confidence interval 0.2 to 5.3, respectively). KIR3DL2 allele frequencies were not significantly different between cases with AS and controls. Conclusions: Neither the KIR gene content of particular KIR haplotypes nor KIR3DL2 polymorphisms contribute to AS.

Comparison of visual status of Iranian military and commercial drivers

Background There is no legal requirement for Iranian military truck drivers to undergo regular visual checkups as compared to commercial truck drivers. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the impact of drivers’ visual checkups by comparing the visual function of Iranian military and commercial truck drivers. Patients and Methods In this comparative cross-sectional study, two hundred military and 200 commercial truck drivers were recruited and their Visual Acuity (VA), Visual Field (VF), color vision and Contrast Sensitivity (CS) were assessed and compared using the Snellen chart, confrontation screening method, D15 test and Pelli-Robson letter chart, respectively. A questionnaire regarding driving exposure and history of motor-vehicle crashes (MVCs) was also filled by drivers. Results were analyzed using an independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA (assessing difference in number of MVCs across different age groups), chi-square test and Pearson correlation at statistical significance level of P < 0.05. Results Mean age was 41.6 ± 9.2 for the military truck drivers and 43.4 ± 10.9 for commercial truck drivers (P > 0.05). No significant difference between military and commercial drivers was found in terms of driving experience, number of MVCs, binocular VA, frequency of color vision defects and CS scores. In contrast, the last ocular examination was significantly earlier in military drivers than commercial drivers (P < 0.001). In addition, 4% of military drivers did not meet the national standards to drive as opposed to 2% of commercial drivers. There was a significant but weak correlation between binocular VA and age (r = 0.175, P < 0.001). However, CS showed a significantly moderate correlation with age (r = -0.488, P < 0.001). Conclusions The absence of legal requirement for regular eye examination in military drivers caused the incompetent drivers to be missed in contrast to commercial drivers. The need for scientific revision of VA standard for Iranian drivers is also discussed. The CS measurement in visual checkups of older drivers deserves to be investigated more thoroughly.

Adult total wellness: group differences based on sitting time and physical activity level

Background An increasing body of evidence associates a high level of sitting time with poor health outcomes. The benefits of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activities to various aspects of health are now well documented; however, individuals may engage in moderate-intensity physical activity for at least 30 minutes on five or more days of the week and still exhibit a high level of sitting time. This purpose of this study was to examine differences in total wellness among adults relative to high/low levels of sitting time combined with insufficient/sufficient physical activity (PA). The construct of total wellness incorporates a holistic approach to the body, mind and spirit components of life, an approach which may be more encompassing than some definitions of health. Methods Data were obtained from 226 adult respondents (27 ± 6 years), including 116 (51%) males and 110 (49%) females. Total PA and total sitting time were assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) (short-version). The Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle Inventory was used to assess total wellness. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was utilised to assess the effects of the sitting time/physical activity group on total wellness. A covariate was included to partial out the effects of age, sex and work status (student or employed). Cross-tabulations were used to show associations between the IPAQ derived high/low levels of sitting time with insufficient/sufficient PA and the three total wellness groups (i.e. high level of wellness, moderate wellness and wellness development needed). Results The majority of the participants were located in the high total sitting time and sufficient PA group. There were statistical differences among the IPAQ groups for total wellness [F (2,220) = 32.5 (p <0.001)]. A Chi-square test revealed a significant difference in the distribution of the IPAQ categories within the classification of wellness [χ2 (N = 226) = 54.5, p < .001]. One-hundred percent (100%) of participants who self-rated as high total sitting time/insufficient PA were found in the wellness development needed group. In contrast, 72% of participants who were located in the low total sitting time/sufficient PA group were situated in the moderate wellness group. Conclusion Many participants who meet the physical activity guidelines, in this sample, sit for longer periods of time than the median Australian sitting time. An understanding of the effects of the enhanced PA and reduced sitting time on total wellness can add to the development of public health initiatives. Keywords: IPAQ; The Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle (WEL); Sedentary lifestyle

HLA-DR/DQ haplotype in rheumatoid arthritis: Novel allelic associations in UK Caucasians

Objective. To elucidate the relative importance of the HLA-DR and HLA-DQ loci in conferring genetic predisposition to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles were typed in a set of 685 patients with RA using sequence-specific polymerase chain reaction. Allele and phenotype frequencies were compared with those in 2 large sets of historical, ethnically matched healthy controls, using the relative predispositional effect method. Results. Positive association was confirmed with the shared epitope positive HLA-DRB1 alleles associated with RA in Caucasians. A significant susceptibility effect was observed with HLA-DRB1*09, described in other ethnically diverse populations but not in Caucasians. A significant underrepresentation of the HLA-DRB1*0103 variant was noted among the RA cases, supporting the proposed protective role of the DERAA motif at residues 70-74 of the DRβ molecule. No HLA-DRB1 independent association of the HLA-DQB1 alleles, implicated in predisposing to RA, was evident. Conclusion. These data corroborate the shared epitope hypothesis of susceptibility to RA and provide strong evidence for the DRB1 locus as the primary RA susceptibility factor in the HLA region.

Estimating the parameters of stochastic volatility models using option price data

This article describes a maximum likelihood method for estimating the parameters of the standard square-root stochastic volatility model and a variant of the model that includes jumps in equity prices. The model is fitted to data on the S&P 500 Index and the prices of vanilla options written on the index, for the period 1990 to 2011. The method is able to estimate both the parameters of the physical measure (associated with the index) and the parameters of the risk-neutral measure (associated with the options), including the volatility and jump risk premia. The estimation is implemented using a particle filter whose efficacy is demonstrated under simulation. The computational load of this estimation method, which previously has been prohibitive, is managed by the effective use of parallel computing using graphics processing units (GPUs). The empirical results indicate that the parameters of the models are reliably estimated and consistent with values reported in previous work. In particular, both the volatility risk premium and the jump risk premium are found to be significant.

Genetic association analysis of miRNA SNPs implicates MIR145 in breast cancer susceptibility

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression in cellular processes related to the pathogenesis of cancer. Genetic variation in miRNA genes could impact their synthesis and cellular effects and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are one example of genetic variants studied in relation to breast cancer. Studies aimed at identifying miRNA SNPs (miR-SNPs) associated with breast malignancies could lead towards further understanding of the disease and to develop clinical applications for early diagnosis and treatment. Methods We genotyped a panel of 24 miR-SNPs using multiplex PCR and chip-based matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) analysis in two Caucasian breast cancer case control populations (Primary population: 173 cases and 187 controls and secondary population: 679 cases and 301 controls). Association to breast cancer susceptibility was determined using chi-square (X 2 ) and odds ratio (OR) analysis. Results Statistical analysis showed six miR-SNPs to be non-polymorphic and twelve of our selected miR-SNPs to have no association with breast cancer risk. However, we were able to show association between rs353291 (located in MIR145) and the risk of developing breast cancer in two independent case control cohorts (p = 0.041 and p = 0.023). Conclusions Our study is the first to report an association between a miR-SNP in MIR145 and breast cancer risk in individuals of Caucasian background. This finding requires further validation through genotyping of larger cohorts or in individuals of different ethnicities to determine the potential significance of this finding as well as studies aimed to determine functional significance. Keywords: Association analysis; Breast cancer; microRNA; miR-SNPs; MIR145

Evaluation of visual stress symptoms in Age-matched Dyslexic, Meares–Irlen syndrome (MIS) and normal adults

AIM To examine the prevalence of dyslexia and Meares–Irlen syndrome (MIS) among female students and determine their level of visual stress in comparison with normal subjects. METHODS A random sample of 450 female medical students of King Saud University Riyadh (age range, 18 - 30 years) responded to a wide range of questions designed to accomplish the aims of this study. The detailed questionnaire consisted of 54 questions with twelve questions enquiring on ocular history and demography of participants while 42 questions were on visual symptoms. Items were categorized into; critical and non-critical questions (CQ and NCQ) and were rated on four point Likert scale. Based on the responses obtained, the subjects were grouped into normal (control), dyslexic with or without MIS (Group 1) and subjects with MIS only (Group 2). Responses were analysed as averages and mean scores were calculated and compared between-groups using one way analysis of variance to evaluate total (TVSS = NCQ + CQ), critical and non-critical visual stress scores. The relationship between categorical variables such as age, handedness and condition were assessed with Chi- Square test. RESULTS The completion rate was 96.8% and majority of the respondents (92%) were normal readers, 2% dyslexic and 6% had MIS. They were age-matched. More than half of the participants had visited an eye care practitioner in the last 2yrs. About 13% were recommended eye exercises and one participant experienced pattern glare. Hand preference was not associated with any condition but Group 1 subjects (3/9, 33%) were significantly more likely to be diagnosed of lazy eye than Group 2 (2/27, 7%) and control (27/414, 5%) subjects. The mean ± SD of TVSS responses were 63 ± 14 but it was 44 ± 9 for CQ and 19 ± 5 for NCQ. Responses from all three variables were normally distributed but the CQ responses were on the average more positive (82%) in Group 2 and less positive (46%) in Group 1 than control. With NCQ, the responses were equally less positive in Group 1 and 2 than control. Group 2 subjects showed significantly higher TVSS (P = 0.002), NCQ (P = 0.006) and CQ (P = 0.008) visual stress scores than control but no difference between Group 1 and control subjects, was observed for all scores (P > 0.05, for all comparisons). CONCLUSION The prevalence of dyslexia and MIS among Saudi female students was 2 and 6%, respectively. Critical questions performed best for assessing visual stress symptoms in dyslexic and MIS subjects. Generally, students with MIS were more sensitive to visual stress than normal students but dyslexics were more likely to present with a lazy eye than MIS and normal readers.