Sesamin modulation of lipid class and fatty acid profile in early juvenile teleost, Lates calcarifer, fed different dietary oils

Sesamin, a major sesame seed lignan, has diverse biological functions including the modulation of molecular actions in lipid metabolic pathways and reducing cholesterol levels. Vertebrates have different capacities to biosynthesize long-chain PUFA from dietary precursors and sesamin can enhance the biosynthesis of ALA to EPA and DHA in marine teleost. Early juvenile barramundi, Lates calcarifer, were fed for two weeks on diets rich in ALA or SDA derived from linseed or Echium plantagineum, respectively. Both diets contained phytosterols and less cholesterol compared with a standard fish oil-based diet. The growth rates were reduced in the animals receiving sesamin regardless of the dietary oil. However, the relative levels of n-3 LC-PUFA in total lipid, but not the phospholipid, increased in the whole body by up to 25% in animals fed on sesamin with ALA or SDA. Sesamin reduced the relative levels of triacylglycerols and increased polar lipid, and did not affect the relative composition of phospholipid subclasses or sterols. Sesamin is a potent modulator for LC-PUFA biosynthesis in animals, but probably will have more effective impact at advanced ages. By modulating certain lipid metabolic pathways, sesamin has probably disrupted the body growth and development of organs and tissues in early juvenile barramundi.

Cohort profile : The resilience for eating and activity despite inequality (READI) study

The Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality (READI) cohort was established to address the following two key aims: to investigate the pathways (personal, social and structural) by which socio-economic disadvantage influences lifestyle choices associated with obesity risk (physical inactivity, poor dietary choices) and to explore mechanisms underlying ‘resilience’ to obesity risk in socio-economically disadvantaged women and children. A total of 4349 women aged 18–46 years and 685 children aged 5–12 years were recruited from 80 socio-economically disadvantaged urban and rural neighbourhoods of Victoria, Australia, and provided baseline (T1: 2007–08) measures of adiposity, physical activity, sedentary and dietary behaviours; socio-economic and demographic factors; and psychological, social and perceived environmental factors that might impact on obesity risk. Audits of the 80 neighbourhoods were undertaken at baseline to provide objective neighbourhood environmental data. Three-year follow-up data (2010–11) have recently been collected from 1912 women and 382 children. Investigators welcome enquiries regarding data access and collaboration.

Profile information and business outcomes of providers in electronic service marketplaces : an empirical investigation

Electronic service marketplaces (ESMs) have become major exchange platforms for the online outsourcing of different services – especially software development – to providers. Provider profiles on ESMs encompass extensive information regarding the activities and transactions of providers and they are a main source of information for customers. Such profile information significantly facilitates the relationship development between customers and providers. The existing literature has focused on the impact of the ratings of providers, but so far has not investigated the impact of the other available profile information. Building on the integrated information response model, this study investigates how information presented by providers as well as information provided by the ESM influences the business outcomes of the providers. Based on data collected from one of the major ESMs, we found that profile information indeed has a significant impact on the business outcomes of providers.

Passing the banner : the Australian media’s coverage of high profile court cases about women

An examination of the historical narrative patterns of gendered justice in Australian media representations of high profile court cases. Includes discussion of the Chamberlain Case, the Dianne Brimble cruise ship death case, and the Jill Meagher rape and murder

Discriminant validity of the sensory profile in Australian children with autism spectrum disorder

Objective. The discriminant validity of the Sensory Profile was evaluated by comparing the sensory processing scores of Australian children, 5 to 8 years of age, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to a control group of children with typical development matched for age and gender. Method. Twenty-six parents of children with ASD and 26 parents of typically developing children without ASD completed the Sensory Profile. Sensory Profile category, factor, and quadrant scores were compared using multivariate analysis to investigate if there were differences between the two groups. Results. The results indicated that the children with ASD had significantly lower sensory processing scores on all fourteen categories, eight out of nine factors, and all four quadrants of the Sensory Profile. Conclusion. The results also provide evidence of discriminant validity of Sensory Profile scores between children with ASD and children with typical development. In addition, the study findings indicate that the Sensory Profile can be used with confidence in cross-cultural contexts, such as Australia.

Quantifying the profile and progression of impairments, activity, participation, and quality of life in people with Parkinson disease : protocol for a prospective cohort study

Background Despite the finding that Parkinson disease (PD) occurs in more than one in every 1000 people older than 60 years, there have been few attempts to quantify how deficits in impairments, activity, participation, and quality of life progress in this debilitating condition. It is unclear which tools are most appropriate for measuring change over time in PD.
Methods and design This protocol describes a prospective analysis of changes in impairments, activity, participation, and quality of life over a 12 month period together with an economic analysis of costs associated with PD. One-hundred participants will be included, provided they have idiopathic PD rated I-IV on the modified Hoehn & Yahr (1967) scale and fulfil the inclusion criteria. The study aims to determine which clinical and economic measures best quantify the natural history and progression of PD in a sample of people receiving services from the Victorian Comprehensive Parkinson's Program, Australia. When the data become available, the results will be expressed as baseline scores and changes over 3 months and 12 months for impairment, activity, participation, and quality of life together with a cost analysis.
Discussion This study has the potential to identify baseline characteristics of PD for different Hoehn & Yahr stages, to determine the influence of disease duration on performance, and to calculate the costs associated with idiopathic PD. Valid clinical and economic measures for quantifying the natural history and progression of PD will also be identified.

Latent patient profile modelling and applications with mixed-variate restricted Boltzmann machine

Efficient management of chronic diseases is critical in modern health care. We consider diabetes mellitus, and our ongoing goal is to examine how machine learning can deliver information for clinical efficiency. The challenge is to aggregate highly heterogeneous sources including demographics, diagnoses, pathologies and treatments, and extract similar groups so that care plans can be designed. To this end, we extend our recent model, the mixed-variate restricted Boltzmann machine (MV.RBM), as it seamlessly integrates multiple data types for each patient aggregated over time and outputs a homogeneous representation called "latent profile" that can be used for patient clustering, visualisation, disease correlation analysis and prediction. We demonstrate that the method outperforms all baselines on these tasks - the primary characteristics of patients in the same groups are able to be identified and the good result can be achieved for the diagnosis codes prediction.