The effect of graded levels of exercise on energy intake and balance in free-living men, consuming their normal diet

Objective: To assess the effect of graded increases in exercised-induced energy expenditure (EE) on appetite, energy intake (EI), total daily EE and body weight in men living in their normal environment and consuming their usual diets. Design: Within-subject, repeated measures design. Six men (mean (s.d.) age 31.0 (5.0) y; weight 75.1 (15.96) kg; height 1.79 (0.10) m; body mass index (BMI) 23.3(2.4) kg/m2), were each studied three times during a 9 day protocol, corresponding to prescriptions of no exercise, (control) (Nex; 0 MJ/day), medium exercise level (Mex; ~1.6 MJ/day) and high exercise level (Hex; ~3.2 MJ/day). On days 1-2 subjects were given a medium fat (MF) maintenance diet (1.6 ´ resting metabolic rate (RMR)). Measurements: On days 3-9 subjects self-recorded dietary intake using a food diary and self-weighed intake. EE was assessed by continual heart rate monitoring, using the modified FLEX method. Subjects' HR (heart rate) was individually calibrated against submaximal VO2 during incremental exercise tests at the beginning and end of each 9 day study period. Respiratory exchange was measured by indirect calorimetry. Subjects completed hourly hunger ratings during waking hours to record subjective sensations of hunger and appetite. Body weight was measured daily. Results: EE amounted to 11.7, 12.9 and 16.8 MJ/day (F(2,10)=48.26; P<0.001 (s.e.d=0.55)) on the Nex, Mex and Hex treatments, respectively. The corresponding values for EI were 11.6, 11.8 and 11.8 MJ/day (F(2,10)=0.10; P=0.910 (s.e.d.=0.10)), respectively. There were no treatment effects on hunger, appetite or body weight, but there was evidence of weight loss on the Hex treatment. Conclusion: Increasing EE did not lead to compensation of EI over 7 days. However, total daily EE tended to decrease over time on the two exercise treatments. Lean men appear able to tolerate a considerable negative energy balance, induced by exercise, over 7 days without invoking compensatory increases in EI.

Development and evaluation of hydrocarbon sorbent materials with the aid of chemometrics

Hydrocarbon spills on roads are a major safety concern for the driving public and can have severe cost impacts both on pavement maintenance and to the economy through disruption to services. The time taken to clean-up spills and re-open roads in a safe driving condition is an issue of increasing concern given traffic levels on major urban arterials. Thus, the primary aim of the research was to develop a sorbent material that facilitates rapid clean-up of road spills. The methodology involved extensive research into a range of materials (organic, inorganic and synthetic sorbents), comprehensive testing in the laboratory, scale-up and field, and product design (i.e. concept to prototype). The study also applied chemometrics to provide consistent, comparative methods of sorbent evaluation and performance. In addition, sorbent materials at every stage were compared against a commercial benchmark. For the first time, the impact of diesel on asphalt pavement has been quantified and assessed in a systematic way. Contrary to conventional thinking and anecdotal observations, the study determined that the action of diesel on asphalt was quite rapid (i.e. hours rather than weeks or months). This significant finding demonstrates the need to minimise the impact of hydrocarbon spills and the potential application of the sorbent option. To better understand the adsorption phenomenon, surface characterisation techniques were applied to selected sorbent materials (i.e. sand, organo-clay and cotton fibre). Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) and thermal analysis indicated that the main adsorption mechanism for the sorbents occurred on the external surface of the material in the diffusion region (sand and organo-clay) and/or capillaries (cotton fibre). Using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), it was observed that adsorption by the interfibre capillaries contributed to the high uptake of hydrocarbons by the cotton fibre. Understanding the adsorption mechanism for these sorbents provided some guidance and scientific basis for the selection of materials. The study determined that non-woven cotton mats were ideal sorbent materials for clean-up of hydrocarbon spills. The prototype sorbent was found to perform significantly better than the commercial benchmark, displaying the following key properties: • superior hydrocarbon pick-up from the road pavement; • high hydrocarbon retention capacity under an applied load; • adequate field skid resistance post treatment; • functional and easy to use in the field (e.g. routine handling, transportation, application and recovery); • relatively inexpensive to produce due to the use of raw cotton fibre and simple production process; • environmentally friendly (e.g. renewable materials, non-toxic to environment and operators, and biodegradable); and • rapid response time (e.g. two minutes total clean-up time compared with thirty minutes for reference sorbents). The major outcomes of the research project include: a) development of a specifically designed sorbent material suitable for cleaning up hydrocarbon spills on roads; b) submission of patent application (serial number AU2005905850) for the prototype product; and c) preparation of Commercialisation Strategy to advance the sorbent product to the next phase (i.e. R&D to product commercialisation).

Obstacle-free range determination for rail track maintenance vehicles

Maintenance trains travel in convoy. In Australia, only the first train of the convoy pays attention to the track sig- nalization (the other convoy vehicles simply follow the preceding vehicle). Because of human errors, collisions can happen between the maintenance vehicles. Although an anti-collision system based on a laser distance meter is already in operation, the existing system has a limited range due to the curvature of the tracks. In this paper, we introduce an anti-collision system based on vision. The two main ideas are, (1) to warp the camera image into an image where the rails are parallel through a projective transform, and (2) to track the two rail curves simultaneously by evaluating small parallel segments. The performance of the system is demonstrated on an image dataset.

The concentric all-polyethylene Exeter acetabular component in primary total hip replacement

We report the long term outcome of the flangeless, cemented all polyethylene Exeter cup at a mean of 14.6 years (range 10-17) after operation. Of the 263 hips in 243 patients, 122 hips are still in situ, 112 patients (119 hips) have died, eighteen hips were revised, and three patients (four hips) had moved abroad and were lost to follow-up (1.5%). Radiographs demonstrated two sockets had migrated and six more had radiolucent lines in all three zones. The Kaplan Meier survivorship at 15 years with endpoint revision for all causes is 89.9% (95% CI 84.6 to 95.2%) and for aseptic cup loosening or lysis 91.7% (CI 86.6 to 96.8%). In 210 hips with a diagnosis of primary osteoarthritis survivorship for all causes is 93.2% (95% CI 88.1 to 98.3%), and for aseptic cup loosening 95.0% (CI 90.3 to 99.7%). The cemented all polyethylene Exeter cup has an excellent long-term survivorship.

Quality of life after total laparoscopic hysterectomy versus total abdominal hysterectomy for stage I endometrial cancer (LACE) : a randomised trial

Background: The two-stage Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy (TLH) versus Total Abdominal Hysterectomy (TAH) for stage I endometrial cancer (LACE) randomised controlled trial was initiated in 2005. The primary objective of stage 1 was to assess whether TLH results in equivalent or improved QoL up to 6 months after surgery compared to TAH. The primary objective of stage 2 was to test the hypothesis that disease-free survival at 4.5 years is equivalent for TLH and TAH. Results addressing the primary objective of stage 1 of the LACE trial are presented here. Methods: The first 361 LACE participants (TAH n= 142, TLH n=190) were enrolled in the QoL substudy at 19 centres across Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, and 332 completed the QoL analysis. Randomisation was performed centrally and independently from other study procedures via a computer generated, web-based system (providing concealment of the next assigned treatment) using stratified permuted blocks of 3 and 6, and assigned patients with histologically confirmed stage 1 endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma and ECOG performance status <2 to TLH or TAH stratified by histological grade and study centre. No blinding of patients or study personnel was attempted. QoL was measured at baseline, 1 and 4 weeks (early), and 3 and 6 months (late) after surgery using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) questionnaire. The primary endpoint was the difference between the groups in QoL change from baseline at early and late time points (a 5% difference was considered clinically significant). Analysis was performed according to the intention-to-treat principle using generalized estimating equations on differences from baseline for the early and late QoL recovery. The LACE trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00096408) and the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (CTRN12606000261516). Patients for both stages of the trial have now been recruited and are being followed up for disease-specific outcomes. Findings: The proportion of missing values at the 5%, 10% 15% and 20% differences in the FACT-G scale was 6% (12/190) in the TLH and 14% (20/142) in the TAH group. There were 8/332 conversions (2.4%, 7 of which were from TLH to TAH). In the early phase of recovery, patients undergoing TLH reported significantly greater improvement of QoL from baseline compared to TAH in all subscales except the emotional and social well-being subscales. Improvements in QoL up to 6 months post-surgery continued to favour TLH except for the emotional and social well-being of the FACT and the visual analogue scale of the EuroQoL five dimensions (EuroQoL-VAS). Length of operating time was significantly longer in the TLH group (138±43 mins), than in the TAH group at (109±34 mins; p=0.001). While the proportion of intraoperative adverse events was similar between the treatment groups (TAH 8/142, 5.6%; TLH 14/190, 7.4%; p=0.55), postoperatively, twice as many patients in the TAH group experienced adverse events of CTC grade 3+ than in the TLH group (33/142, 23.2% and 22/190, 11.6%, respectively; p=0.004). Postoperative serious adverse events occurred more frequently in patients who had a TAH (27/142, 19.0%) than a TLH (15/190, 7.9%) (p=0.002). Interpretation: QoL improvements from baseline during early and later phases of recovery, and the adverse event profile significantly favour TLH compared to TAH for patients treated for Stage I endometrial cancer.