Interactions between pedestrians and cyclists in the city centre

The city centre represents a complex environment for cycling with large volumes of pedestrians and motorised vehicles and frequent signalised intersections. Much of the previous literature has focused on cyclist-motor vehicle interactions because of the safety implications for cyclists, but there is increasing concern from pedestrians about the threats they perceive from cyclists. In the absence of objective data, this has the potential to lead to restrictions on cyclist access and behaviour. This presentation reports the development of a method to study the extent of cycling in the city centre and the frequency and nature of interactions between cyclists and pedestrians. Queensland is one of the few Australian jurisdictions that permits adults to cycle on the footpath and this was also of interest. 1992 cyclists were observed at six locations in the Brisbane city centre, during 7-9am, 9-11am, 2-4pm and 4-6pm on four weekdays in October 2010. The majority (85.5%) of cyclists were male, and 21.8% rode on the footpath. Females were more likely to travel on the footpath than males. One or more pedestrians were within 1m for 18.1% of observed cyclists, and one or more pedestrians were within 5m for 39.1% of observed cyclists. There were few conflicts, defined as an occasion where if no one took evasive action a collision would occur, between cyclists and pedestrians or vehicles (1.1% and 0.6% respectively) but they were more common for adolescents and riders not wearing (or not fastening) helmets.

Why do people ride on the footpath?

Recent increases in cycling have led to concerns about interactions between cyclists and pedestrians on footpaths and off-road paths. Much of the cycling research suggests that riding on the footpath is more dangerous than on the road. In most Australian jurisdictions, adults are only permitted to cycle on footpaths when accompanying a child. However, this rule does not apply in Queensland. This paper examines the predictors of footpath riding by adults in Queensland

Characteristics of new Queensland cyclists

Various state and local government initiatives have been implemented to encourage Australians to ride bicycles. Decreasing the number of trips taken by motor vehicle has benefits for the both the individual and the community, including health, congestion and environmental benefits. This research examined who the new cyclists are, how much and where they ride.

The relative importance of factors influencing bicycling crash risk

Government promotion of active transport has renewed interest in cycling safety. Research has shown that bicyclists are up to 20 times more likely to be involved in serious injury crashes than drivers. On-road cycling injuries are under-reported in police data, and many non-serious injuries are not recorded in any official database. This study aims to explore the relationships between rider characteristics and environmental factors that influence per kilometre risk of bicycle-related crash and non-crash injuries.

Methods used in cross-cultural comparisons of vasomotor symptoms and their determinants

Methodological differences among studies of vasomotor symptoms limit rigorous comparison or systematic review. Vasomotor symptoms generally include hot flushes and night sweats although other associated symptoms exist. Prevalence rates vary between and within populations, but different studies collect data on frequency, bothersomeness, and/or severity using different outcome measures and scales, making comparisons difficult. We reviewed only cross-cultural studies of menopausal symptoms that explicitly examined symptoms in general populations of women in different countries or different ethnic groups in the same country. This resulted in the inclusion of nine studies: Australian/Japanese Midlife Women's Health Study (AJMWHS), Decisions At Menopause Study (DAMeS), Four Major Ethnic Groups (FMEG), Hilo Women's Health Survey (HWHS), Mid-Aged Health in Women from the Indian Subcontinent (MAHWIS), Penn Ovarian Aging Study (POAS), Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), Women's Health in Midlife National Study (WHiMNS), and Women's International Study of Health and Sexuality (WISHeS). These studies highlight the methodological challenges involved in conducting multi-population studies, particularly when languages differ, but also highlight the importance of performing multivariate and factor analyses. Significant cultural differences in one or more vasomotor symptoms were observed in 8 of 9 studies, and symptoms were influenced by the following determinants: menopausal status, hormones (and variance), age (or actually, the square of age, age2), BMI, depression, anxiety, poor physical health, perceived stress, lifestyle factors (hormone therapy use, smoking and exposure to passive smoke), and acculturation (in immigrant populations). Recommendations are made to improve methodological rigor and facilitate comparisons in future cross-cultural menopause studies.

Overview of methods used in cross-cultural comparisons of menopausal symptoms and their determinants : Guidelines for Strengthening the Reporting of Menopause and Aging (STROMA) studies

This paper reviews the methods used in cross-cultural studies of menopausal symptoms with the goal of formulating recommendations to facilitate comparisons of menopausal symptoms across cultures. It provides an overview of existing approaches and serves to introduce four separate reviews of vasomotor, psychological, somatic, and sexual symptoms at midlife. Building on an earlier review of cross-cultural studies of menopause covering time periods until 2004, these reviews are based on searches of Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Google Scholar for English-language articles published from 2004 to 2010 using the terms “cross cultural comparison” and “menopause.” Two major criteria were used: a study had to include more than one culture, country, or ethnic group and to have asked about actual menopausal symptom experience. We found considerable variation across studies in age ranges, symptom lists, reference period for symptom recall, variables included in multivariate analyses, and the measurement of factors (e.g., menopausal status and hormonal factors, demographic, anthropometric, mental/physical health, and lifestyle measures) that influence vasomotor, psychological, somatic and sexual symptoms. Based on these reviews, we make recommendations for future research regarding age range, symptom lists, reference/recall periods, and measurement of menopausal status. Recommendations specific to the cross-cultural study of vasomotor, psychological, somatic, and sexual symptoms are found in the four reviews that follow this introduction.

Learning by design workshop

The Learning by Design Workshop Program 2010, a part of the Queensland Government Unlimited: Designing for the Asia Pacific Event Program, was a one-day professional development design thinking workshop run on October 9, 2011 at The Edge, State Library of Queensland for self-selected public and private secondary school teachers from the subject areas of Visual Art, Graphics and Industrial Technology and Design. Participants were drawn from a database of Brisbane and regional Queensland schools from the goDesign and Living City Workshop Programs. It aimed to generate leadership within schools for design-led education and creative thinking and give teachers a rare opportunity to work with professional designers to generate future strategies for design-based learning. Teachers were introduced to the concept of design thinking in education by international keynote speakers CJ Lim (Studio 8 Architects) and Jeb Brugmann (The Next Practice), national speaker Oliver Freeman (NevilleFreeman Agency) and three Queensland speakers, Alexander Loterztain, David Williams and Keith Holledge. Inspired by the Unlimited showcase exhibition Make Change: Design Thinking in Action and ‘Idea Starters’/teaching resources provided, teachers worked with a professional designer (from a discipline of architecture, interior design, industrial design, urban design, graphic design or landscape architecture) in ten random teams, to generate optimistic ideas for the Ideal City of tomorrow, each considering a theme – Food, Water, Transport, Ageing, Growth, Employment, Shelter, Health, Education and Energy. They then discussed how this process could be best activated and expanded on to build interest and knowledge in design thinking in the classroom. Assisted by illustrators, the teams prepared a visual presentation of their ideas and process from art materials provided. The workshop culminated in a video-taped interactive design charette to the larger group, which is intended to be utilised as a toolkit and praxis for teachers as part of the State Library of Queensland Design Minds Website Project.

Generation workshop 2010

The Generation Workshop Program 2010, a part of the Queensland Government Unlimited: Designing for the Asia Pacific Event Program, consisted of two one-day intensive design thinking workshops run on October 7-8, 2011 at The Edge, State Library of Queensland, for 100 senior secondary students and 20 secondary teachers self-selected from the subject areas of Visual Art, Graphics and Industrial Technology and Design. Participants were drawn from a database of Brisbane and regional Queensland private and public schools from the goDesign and Living City Workshop Programs. The workshop aimed to facilitate awareness in young people of the role of design in society and the value of design thinking skills in solving complex problems facing the Asia Pacific Region, and to inspire the generation of strategies for our future cities. It also aimed to encourage the collaboration of professional designers with secondary schools to inspire post-secondary pathways and idea generation for education. Inspired by international and national speakers Bunker Roy (Barefoot College) and Hael Kobayashi (Associate Producer on "Happy Feet" film for Australia's Animal Logic), the Unlimited showcase exhibition Make Change: Design Thinking in Action and ‘Idea Starters’/teaching resources provided, students worked with a teacher in ten random teams, to generate optimistic strategies for the Ideal City of tomorrow, each considering a theme – Food, Water, Transport, Ageing, Growth, Employment, Shelter, Health, Education and Energy. Each team of 6 was led by a professional designer (from the discipline of architecture, interior design, industrial design, urban design, graphic design or landscape architecture) who was a catalyst for driving the student creative thinking process. Assisted by illustrators, the teams prepared a visual presentation of their idea from art materials provided. The workshop culminated in a video-taped interactive design chatter to the larger group, which will be utilised as a toolkit and praxis for teachers as part of the State Library of Queensland Design Minds Project. Photos of student design work were published on the Unlimited website.

Living City 2010 Workshop

Living City 2010 was a three-day place-based urban design immersion workshop program held at Logan Road Conference Centre, Stones Corner, for 30 self-selected Year 11 Visual Art Students and 4 Teachers drawn from 11 state and private Brisbane Secondary Schools, that focused on the active Brisbane City Council redevelopment site of Stones Corner, specifically Logan Road, public spaces at Stones Corner Library and rehabilitation of the nearby creek corridor. The workshop, framed within notions of ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability, aimed to raise awareness of the layered complexity and perspectives involved in the design of shared city spaces and to encourage young people to voice their own concerns as future citizens about the shape and direction of their city. On Day 1, Brisbane City Council Public Art Officers Brendan Doherty and Genevieve Searle, local landscape architect Peter Boyle (Verge) and artists Malcolm Enright and Barbara Heath provided students with an overview of the historic and future context of the area including proposed design and public art interventions, followed by a site walk. The afternoon session, led by Natalie Wright and QUT design staff and students, focused on design tools to assist in the tackling of the redesign of the Stones Corner library precinct, where students worked on ideas. On Day 2, students were mentored by artist Liam Key to participate in a computer animation activity using the built environment as a canvas, and by artist Sebastian Moody to participate in an activity using red helium balloons as a playful catalyst for interaction to activate and create new public space. Later, students worked in teams on their ideas for redevelopment of the site in preparation for their Day 3 presentations. The workshop culminated in an exchange of planning ideas with Georgina Aitchison from Brisbane City Council's Urban Renewal Division. Students were introduced to design methodology, team thinking strategies, the scope of design practices and professions, presentation skills and post-secondary pathways, while participating teachers acquired content and design learning strategies transferable in many other contexts.

Pre-clinical evaluation of amphiphilic silicone oligomers for scar remediation

The formation of hypertrophic scars is a frequent outcome of wound repair and often requires further therapy with treatments such as silicone gel sheets (SGS; Perkins et al., 1983). Although widely used, knowledge regarding SGS and their mechanism of action on hypertrophic scars is limited. Furthermore, SGS require consistent application for at least twelve hours a day for up to twelve consecutive months, beginning as soon as wound reepithelialisation has occurred. Preliminary research at QUT has shown that some species of silicone present in SGS have the ability to permeate into collagen gel skin mimetics upon exposure. An analogue of these species, GP226, was found to decrease both collagen synthesis and the total amount of collagen present following exposure to cultures of cells derived from hypertrophic scars. This silicone of interest was a crude mixture of silicone species, which resolved into five fractions of different molecular weight. These five fractions were found to have differing effects on collagen synthesis and cell viability following exposure to fibroblasts derived from hypertrophic scars (HSF), keloid scars (KF) and normal skin (nHSF and nKF). The research performed herein continues to further assess the potential of GP226 and its fractions for scar remediation by determining in more detail its effects on HSF, KF, nHSF, nKF and human keratinocytes (HK) in terms of cell viability and proliferation at various time points. Through these studies it was revealed that Fraction IV was the most active fraction as it induced a reduction in cell viability and proliferation most similar to that observed with GP226. Cells undergoing apoptosis were also detected in HSF cultures exposed to GP226 and Fraction IV using the Tunel assay (Roche). These investigations were difficult to pursue further as the fractionation process used for GP226 was labour-intensive and time inefficient. Therefore a number of silicones with similar structure to Fraction IV were synthesised and screened for their effect following application to HSF and nHSF. PDMS7-g-PEG7, a silicone-PEG copolymer of low molecular weight and low hydrophilic-lipophilic balance factor, was found to be the most effective at reducing cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in cultures of HSF, nHSF and HK. Further studies investigated gene expression through microarray and superarray techniques and demonstrated that many genes are differentially expressed in HSF following treatment with GP226, Fraction IV and PDMS7-g-PEG7. In brief, it was demonstrated that genes for TGFβ1 and TNF are not differentially regulated while genes for AIFM2, IL8, NSMAF, SMAD7, TRAF3 and IGF2R show increased expression (>1.8 fold change) following treatment with PDMS7-g-PEG7. In addition, genes for αSMA, TRAF2, COL1A1 and COL3A1 have decreased expression (>-1.8 fold change) following treatment with GP226, Fraction IV and PDMS7-g-PEG7. The data obtained suggest that many different pathways related to apoptosis and collagen synthesis are affected in HSF following exposure to PDMS7-g-PEG7. The significance is that silicone-PEG copolymers, such as GP226, Fraction IV and PDMS7-g-PEG7, could potentially be a non-invasive substitute to apoptosis-inducing chemical agents that are currently used as scar treatments. It is anticipated that these findings will ultimately contribute to the development of a novel scar therapy with faster action and improved outcomes for patients suffering from hypertrophic scars.

Exercise for breast cancer survivors: bridging the gap between evidence and practice

Evidence supporting the benefits of exercise following the diagnosis of breast cancer is overwhelming and compelling. Exercise reduces the severity and number of treatment-related side effects, optimizes quality of life during and following treatment, and may optimize survival. Yet, exercise does not uniformly form part of the standards of care provided to women following a breast cancer diagnosis. This commentary summarizes the evidence in support of exercise as a form of adjuvant treatment and identifies and discusses potential issues preventing the formal integration of exercise into breast cancer care. Proposed within the commentary is a model of breast cancer care that incorporates exercise prescription as a key component but also integrates the need for surveillance and management for common breast cancer treatment-related morbidities, as well as education. While future research evaluating the potential cost savings through implementation of such amodel is required, a committed, collaborative approach by clinicians, allied health professionals, and researchers will be instrumental in bridging the gap between research and practice.