Beating the blues after cancer : randomised control trial of a tele-based psychological intervention for high distress patients and carers

Background : The diagnosis and treatment of cancer is a major life stress such that approximately 35% of patients experience persistent clinically significant distress and carers often experience even higher distress than patients. This paper presents the design of a two arm randomised controlled trial with patients and carers who have elevated psychological distress comparing minimal contact self management vs. an individualised tele-based cognitive behavioural intervention.

Methods/design : 140 patients and 140 carers per condition (560 participants in total) will been recruited after being identified as high distress through caller screening at two community-based cancer helplines and randomised to 1) a single 30-minute telephone support and education session with a nurse counsellor with self management materials 2) a tele-based psychologist delivered five session individualised cognitive behavioural intervention. Session components will include stress reduction, problem-solving, cognitive challenging and enhancing relationship support and will be delivered weekly. Participants will be assessed at baseline and 3, 6 and 12 months after recruitment. Outcome measures include: anxiety and depression, cancer specific distress, unmet psychological supportive care needs, positive adjustment, overall Quality of life.

Discussion : The study will provide recommendations about the efficacy and potential economic value of minimal contact self management vs. tele-based psychologist delivered cognitive behavioural intervention to facilitate better psychosocial adjustment and mental health for people with cancer and their carers.

Volunteering and its relationship with personal and neighborhood well-being

Although a relationship between volunteering and well-being has been demonstrated in numerous studies, well-being has generally been poorly operationalized and often defined by the relative absence of pathology. In this study, the authors take a positive approach to defining well-being and investigate the relationship between volunteering and personal and neighborhood well-being. The theoretical approach incorporates elements of the homeostatic model of well-being. A sample of 1,289 adults across Australia completed a questionnaire that assessed personal and neighborhood wellbeing, personality factors, and the psychosocial resources implicated in the homeostatic model of well-being. Analyses reveal that volunteers had higher personal and neighborhood well-being than nonvolunteers and that volunteering contributed additional variance in well-being even after psychosocial and personality factors were accounted for. The findings are discussed in terms of previous research and the homeostatic model of well-being, and it is argued that the relationship between volunteering and well-being is robust.

Firms as adaptive organizations : the case of Australian trading banks

The conventional accounting notion of ‘going concern’ — that a firm will continue its business operations in the same manner indefinitely — has underpinned accounting practice for over one hundred years. This idea has provided a rationale for spreading costs over accounting periods and for deferring costs as assets in balance sheets. An alternative idea that is widely regarded as reliable in the literatures of economics and deliberate action is that firms continually adapt to changes in market and economic conditions. That is economic behaviour. The implications of that view of a firm for accounting have been systematically explored by Chambers (1966). While not examining those particular implications, many other accounting theorists have been critical of the conventional accounting idea of 'going concern' and of its impact on accounting practice. The two notions of ‘going concern’ - as static or adaptive enterprises - are examined by referring to the business operations of the four major Australian trading banks over the period 1983-1991. Banks were selected because they are commonly thought to be particularly ‘conservative’ organizations. The period 1983—1991 was chosen because it covers the era of deregulation of the Australian financial system. The evidence adduced by this study indicates that the Australian trading banks have continually adapted their organizational structures and business operations in the light of changes in technology, markets for financial services, government policies and domestic and global economic conditions. Illustrations of adaptive behaviour by banks ate drawn from their normal operating procedures such as the provision of products and services, loan services, acquisitions, sale of property, non-core banking operations and international banking. It is argued on analytical grounds that the cost basis of accounting does not yield financial statements that provide factual and up-to-date information about the financial capacity of firms to pay their debts and to continue trading generally; that is, to be going concerns. At any time, those financial capacities are determined by the amount of money commanded by a firm, including the money's worth of its assets, and by its level of debt. It is concluded on empirical grounds that the Australian trading banks, at least, are adaptive entities.

Representation of female offender types within the pathways model of assault

Research into the heterogeneity of female violent offending is sparse, even though females constitute a growing part of the prisoner population. There is evidence that the majority of female violent offenders display over-controlled traits related to uncharacteristic offending. This hypothesis was explored through a multivariate model, the Pathways Model of Assault, with interview data from 17 female assault offenders. Five different offence types were displayed, reflecting the same offence styles as male offenders. However, only two participants displayed an over-controlled offence type. Qualitative differences within the data suggested that offender rehabilitation should be tailored specifically for different gender needs in addition to the needs suggested by the different offence types.

The Pathways model of assault : a qualitative analysis of the assault offender and offence

Research on offending behavior rehabilitation suggests that offenders would gain the maximum benefit from programs that reflect the individual needs of different types of offender. Multivariate theories of offending behavior are thus required to inform individualized rehabilitation. The aim of the current study was to construct a multivariate model for the prolific offense of assault. Qualitative methodology was used to construct a descriptive model of assault for 25 adult assault offenders. The model incorporated the development of violent behavior, types of anger, violence motivation, and the assault offense. The model consisted of 14 categories, 10 of which allowed for individual differences in behavior. A total of 35 participant transcripts were then coded through the model where the individual differences occurred. Five main offense types were found. The characteristics of the types of assault offense gave indications for how rehabilitation may be targeted for each group.

Design of a compact microfludic device for controllable cell distribution

A compact microfluidic device with 96 microchambers allocated within four circular units was designed and examined for cell distribution. In each unit, cells were distributed to the surrounding chambers radially from the center. The circular arrangement of the chambers makes the design simple and compact. A controllable and quantitative cell distribution is achievable in this device. This design is significant to the microfluidic applications where controllable distribution of cells in multipule microchambers is demanded.

Temporal and spatial variability of breeding in Australian birds and the potential implications of climate change

Climate change has profound implications for biodiversity worldwide. To understand its effects on Australia's avifauna, we need to evaluate the effects of annual climatic variability and geographical climate gradients. Here, we use national datasets to examine variation in breeding of 16 species of common and widespread Australian landbirds, in relation to four variables: altitude, latitude, year and the Southern Oscillation Index. Analysis of 30 years of nesting records confirmed that breeding was generally later in colder altitudes and latitudes (geographic variation), but was not consistently related to year or the Southern Oscillation Index (temporal variation). However, power to detect expected temporal effects was low. The timing of breeding became significantly earlier with year only in south-eastern Australia. In contrast, an index of breeding activity (the proportion of atlas records for a species for which breeding was reported) increased with increasing winter values of the Southern Oscillation Index (generally wetter conditions) for all 16 species across Australia. This suggests that annual fluctuations in rainfall can have dramatic and immediate effects on breeding, even for largely sedentary, seasonally breeding species. If, as expected, climate change creates drier conditions over much of Australia, we predict a marked negative effect on bird breeding.

Segmentation of intentional human gestures for sports video annotation

We present results on the recognition of intentional human gestures for video annotation and retrieval. We define a gesture as a particular, repeatable, human movement having a predefined meaning. An obvious application of the work is in sports video annotation where umpire gestures indicate specific events. Our approach is to augment video with data obtained from accelerometers worn as wrist bands by one or more officials. We present the recognition performance using a Hidden Markov Model approach for gesture modeling with both isolated gestures and gestures segmented from a stream.

Hierarchical recognition of intentional human gestures for sports video annotation

We present a novel technique for the recognition of complex human gestures for video annotation using accelerometers and the hidden Markov model. Our extension to the standard hidden Markov model allows us to consider gestures at different levels of abstraction through a hierarchy of hidden states. Accelerometers in the form of wrist bands are attached to humans performing intentional gestures, such as umpires in sports. Video annotation is then performed by populating the video with time stamps indicating significant events, where a particular gesture occurs. The novelty of the technique lies in the development of a probabilistic hierarchical framework for complex gesture recognition and the use of accelerometers to extract gestures and significant events for video annotation.

Automatic labeling of sports video using umpire gesture recognition

We present results on an extension to our approach for automatic sports video annotation. Sports video is augmented with accelerometer data from wrist bands worn by umpires in the game. We solve the problem of automatic segmentation and robust gesture classification using a hierarchical hidden Markov model in conjunction with a filler model. The hierarchical model allows us to consider gestures at different levels of abstraction and the filler model allows us to handle extraneous umpire movements. Results are presented for labeling video for a game of Cricket.

Living with prostate cancer: randomised controlled trial of a multimodal supportive care intervention for men with prostate cancer

Background: Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in developed countries and diagnosis and treatment carries with it substantial morbidity and related unmet supportive care needs. These difficulties may be amplified by physical inactivity and obesity. We propose to apply a multimodal intervention approach that targets both unmet supportive care needs and physical activity.

Methods/design: A two arm randomised controlled trial will compare usual care to a multimodal supportive care intervention “Living with Prostate Cancer” that will combine self-management with tele-based group peer support. A series of previously validated and reliable self-report measures will be administered to men at four time points: baseline/recruitment (when men are approximately 3-6 months post-diagnosis) and at 3, 6, and 12 months after recruitment and intervention commencement. Social constraints, social support, self-efficacy, group cohesion and therapeutic alliance will be included as potential moderators/mediators of intervention effect. Primary outcomes are unmet supportive care needs and physical activity levels. Secondary outcomes are domain-specific and healthrelated quality of life (QoL); psychological distress; benefit finding; body mass index and waist circumference. Disease variables (e.g. cancer grade, stage) will be assessed through medical and cancer registry records. An economic evaluation will be conducted alongside the randomised trial.

Discussion: This study will address a critical but as yet unanswered research question: to identify a populationbased way to reduce unmet supportive care needs; promote regular physical activity; and improve disease-specific and health-related QoL for prostate cancer survivors. The study will also determine the cost-effectiveness of the intervention.

Accuracy of national mortality codes in identifying adjudicated cardiovascular deaths

Objective: This study investigated the sensitivity and specificity of the national mortality codes in identifying cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths and documents methods of verification.

Methods: A 12-year retrospective case ascertainment of all ICD-coded CVD deaths was performed for deaths between 1990 and 2002 in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, comprising 41,528 subjects. Categories of non-CVD codes were also examined. Stratified samples of 750 deaths were adjudicated from a total of 2,230 deaths. Expert panels of cardiologists and neurologists adjudicated deaths.

Results: Of the 750 deaths adjudicated, 582 were verified as CVD [392 coronary heart disease (CHD) and 92 stroke] and 168 non-CVD. Estimated sensitivity and specificity of national mortality codes for identifying specific causes of death were: CHD 74.2% (95% CI: 69.8–78.5%) and 97.6% (96.0–99.2%), respectively; myocardial infarction 59.9% (50.9–69.0%) and 94.2% (92.4–96.0%), respectively; haemorrhagic stroke 58.9% (46.0–71.7%) and 99.8% (99.4–100.0%), respectively and; ischaemic stroke 38.7% (20.5–56.9%) and 99.9% (99.6–100.0%), respectively. Misclassification was most common for deaths with primary ICD codes for endocrine-metabolic and genito-urinary diseases.

Conclusions: National mortality coding under-estimated the true proportion of CHD and stroke deaths in the cohort by 13.6% and 50.8%, respectively.

Fungi associated with Asphondylia (Diptera : Cecidomyiidae) galls on Sarcocornia quinqueflora and Tecticornia arbuscula (Chenopodiaceae)

Galls induced by the gall-forming midges Asphondylia floriformis and A. sarcocorniae on Sarcocornia quinqueflora, and A. tecticorniae and A. peelei on Tecticornia arbuscula, were collected from two sites nearMelbourne, Victoria. Microfungi belonging to a broad range of families were found to be associated with external surfaces of galls and Journal Articles of Sarcocornia quinqueflora. However, only Botryosphaeria dothidea was isolated from the fungal mycelium lining gall-midge larval chambers of all four Asphondylia species, on both host plants