The current status of heart failure diagnostic biomarkers

Heart failure (HF) affects approximately 23 million individuals worldwide and this number is increasing, due to an aging and growing population. Early detection of HF is crucial in the management of this debilitating disease. Current diagnostic methods for HF rely heavily on clinical imaging techniques and blood analysis, which makes them less than ideal for population-based screening purposes. Studies focusing on developing novel biomarkers for HF have utilized various techniques and biological fluids, including urine and saliva. Promising results from these studies imply that these body fluids can be used in evaluating the clinical manifestation of HF and will one day be integrated into a clinical workflow and facilitate HF management.

Current understanding of streptococcal urinary tract infection

Group B streptococcus (GBS), also known as Streptococcus agalactiae is a Gram-positive, β-hemolytic, chain-forming bacterium and a commensal within the genital tract flora in approximately 25% of healthy adult women (Campbell et al., 2000). The organism is a leading cause of serious infection in newborns, pregnant women, and older persons with chronic medical illness (Baker et al., Edwards&Baker, 2005). In neonates GBS infection most commonly causes pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. In addition to maternal cervicovaginal colonization and neonatal infection that can result from vertical transmission of GBS from mothers to their infants, the bacterium can also cause urinary tract infection (UTI). The spectrum of GBS UTI includes asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU), cystitis, pyelonephritis, urethritis, and urosepsis (Bronsema et al., 1993, Edwards&Baker, 2005, Farley et al., 1993, Lefevre et al., 1991, McKenna et al., 2003, Munoz et al., 1992, Ulett et al., 2009). GBS ABU is particularly common among pregnant women, although those most at risk for cystitis due to GBS appear to be elderly individuals (Edwards&Baker, 2005, Falagas et al., 2006, Muller et al., 2006). In addition to acute and asymptomatic UTI other invasive diseases caused by GBS infection include skin infections, bacteraemia, pneumonia, arthritis, and endocarditis (Liston et al., 1979, Patil & Martin, 2010, Tissi et al., 1997, Trivalle et al., 1998). Thus, GBS is considered unique in terms of its ability to cause a spectrum of diseases in newborns and adult humans and its ability to colonize the genital tract of healthy women in a commensal-type manner...

Flaws in the current method for calculating methane emissions during dairy manure management in New Zealand

New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Inventory (the NZ Inventory) currently estimates methane (CH4) emissions from anaerobic dairy effluent ponds by: (1) determining the total pond volume across New Zealand; (2) dividing this volume by depth to obtain the total pond surface area; and (3) multiplying this area by an observational average CH4 flux. Unfortunately, a mathematically erroneous determination of pond volume has led to an imbalanced equation and a geometry error was made when scaling-up the observational CH4 flux. Furthermore, even if these errors are corrected, the nationwide estimate still hinges on field data from a study that used a debatable method to measure pond CH4 emissions at a single site, as well as a potentially inaccurate estimation of the amount of organic waste anaerobically treated. The development of a new methodology is therefore critically needed.

Biological control of prickly acacia: Current research and future prospects

Prickly acacia, Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica (syn. Acacia nilotica subsp. indica) (Fabaceae), a major weed in the natural grasslands of western Queensland, has been a target of biological control since the 1980s with limited success to date. Surveys in India, based on genetic and climate matching, identified five insects and two rust pathogens as potential agents. Host-specificity tests were conducted for the insects in India and under quarantine conditions in Australia, and for the rust pathogens under quarantine conditions at CABI in the UK. In no-choice tests, the brown leaf-webber, Phycita sp. A, (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) completed development on 17 non-target plant species. Though the moth showed a clear preference for prickly acacia in oviposition choice trials screening of additional test-plant species was terminated in view of the potential non-target risk. The scale insect Anomalococcus indicus (Hemiptera: Lecanodiaspididae) developed into mature gravid females on 13 out of 58 non-target plant species tested. In the majority of cases very few female scales matured but development was comparable to that on prickly acacia on four of the non-target species. In multiple choice tests, the scale insect showed a significant preference for the target weed over non-target species tested. In a paired-choice trial under field conditions in India, crawler establishment occurred only on prickly acacia and not on the non-target species tested. Further choice trials are to be conducted under natural field conditions in India. A colony of the green leaf-webber Phycita sp. B has been established in quarantine facilities in Australia and host-specificity testing has commenced. The gall-rust Ravenelia acaciae-arabicae and the leaf-rust Ravenelia evansii (Puccineales: Raveneliaceae) both infected and produced viable urediniospores on Vachellia sutherlandii (Fabaceae), a non-target Australian native plant species. Hence, no further testing with the two rust species was pursued. Inoculation trials using the gall mite Aceria liopeltus (Acari: Eriophyidae) from V. nilotica subsp. kraussiana in South Africa resulted in no gall induction on V. nilotica subsp. indica. Future research will focus on the leaf-weevil Dereodus denticollis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and the leaf-beetle Pachnephorus sp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) under quarantine conditions in Australia. Native range surveys for additional potential biological control agents will also be pursued in northern and western Africa.

Methane in Australian agriculture: current emissions, sources and sinks, and potential mitigation strategies

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential ∼28 times that of carbon dioxide. Consequently, sources and sinks that influence the concentration of methane in the atmosphere are of great interest. In Australia, agriculture is the primary source of anthropogenic methane emissions (60.4% of national emissions, or 3260kt-1methaneyear-1, between 1990 and 2011), and cropping and grazing soils represent Australia's largest potential terrestrial methane sink. As of 2011, the expansion of agricultural soils, which are ∼70% less efficient at consuming methane than undisturbed soils, to 59% of Australia's land mass (456Mha) and increasing livestock densities in northern Australia suggest negative implications for national methane flux. Plant biomass burning does not appear to have long-term negative effects on methane flux unless soils are converted for agricultural purposes. Rice cultivation contributes marginally to national methane emissions and this fluctuates depending on water availability. Significant available research into biological, geochemical and agronomic factors has been pertinent for developing effective methane mitigation strategies. We discuss methane-flux feedback mechanisms in relation to climate change drivers such as temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, precipitation and extreme weather events. Future research should focus on quantifying the role of Australian cropping and grazing soils as methane sinks in the national methane budget, linking biodiversity and activity of methane-cycling microbes to environmental factors, and quantifying how a combination of climate change drivers will affect total methane flux in these systems.

Nonequilibrium charge transport in an interacting open system: Two-particle resonance and current asymmetry

We use the Lippman-Schwinger scattering theory to study nonequilibrium electron transport through an interacting open quantum dot. The two-particle current is evaluated exactly while we use perturbation theory to calculate the current when the leads are Fermi liquids at different chemical potentials. We find an interesting two-particle resonance induced by the interaction and obtain criteria to observe it when a small bias is applied across the dot. Finally, for a system without spatial inversion symmetry, we find that the two-particle current is quite different depending on whether the electrons are incident from the left or the right lead.

The context of enterprise education: Insights into current practices

This paper presents the results of an investigation into contextual differences in the development and delivery of enterprise education in higher education globally. Using information gathered from an online survey distributed to enterprise educators, distinct differences in the provision of enterprise education are identified, as are differences of opinion among enterprise educators. The findings demonstrate that although enterprise education is highly diversified in terms of presentation, content and style, there are clear commonalities with regard to expected student outcomes. The respondents reported low levels of business start-up activity among students during enterprise education and/or within one year of graduation. Over 75% of the educators surveyed had personal start-up experience, and there was limited reliance on academic literature, with a preference for referencing broader stakeholder perspectives. With regard to the practical implications of this research, the international metric of enterprise education appears to be a broad set of enterprising skills that equip and enable students to recognize and exploit opportunities in order to navigate future unknowns. The commonly employed metric of business start-up appears less valid in light of this investigation.

Axisymmetric deformation of a short magneto-strictive current-carrying cylinder

The title-problem has been reduced to that of solving a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. One end of the cylinder is assumed to be fixed, while the cylinder is deformed by an axial current. The vertical displacement on the upper flat end of the cylinder has been determined from an iterative solution of the Fredholm equation valid for large values of the length. The radial displacement of the curved boundary has also been determined at the middle of the cylinder, by using the iterative solution.

New lads or ladettes? A critique of current theoretical explanations for young women’s violence proliferated over social media

Current theoretical explanations for young women’s violence examine physical violence as a masculine behaviour. This means that young women are constructed as rejecting elements of their femininity in favour of masculine behaviours in order to perform violence in an acceptable way, which results in them being constructed as violent femmes, new lads or ladettes. Alternatively, theoretical explanations construct young women as adhering to a feminine gender performance when avoiding physical violence, or engaging what are traditionally considered to be feminine characteristics of aggression. This paper critiques existing theoretical approaches applied to young women’s violence, by drawing on empirical research that examined young women’s physical altercations proliferated through social media. Preliminary research findings illustrate how continuing to construct young women’s violence through a gendered paradigm offers inadequate explanations for what young women’s violence actually entails. It concludes by suggesting how young women’s violence may be more adequately explained using a theoretical framework of embodying gender that moves away from gender dichotomies and constructs violence as a series of bodily practices.

Developing standardized methods to assess cost of healthy and unhealthy (current) diets in Australia

Unhealthy diets contribute at least 14% to Australia's disease burden and are driven by ‘obesogenic’ food environments. Compliance with dietary recommendations is particularly poor amongst disadvantaged populations including low socioeconomic groups, those living in rural/remote areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The perception that healthy foods are expensive is a key barrier to healthy choices and a major determinant of diet-related health inequities. Available state/regional/local data (limited and non-comparable) suggests that, despite basic healthy foods not incurring GST, the cost of healthy food is higher and has increased more rapidly than unhealthy food over the last 15 years in Australia. However, there were no nationally standardised tools or protocols to benchmark, compare or monitor food prices and affordability in Australia. Globally, we are leading work to develop and test approaches to assess the price differential of healthy and less-healthy (current) diets under the food price module of the International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases (NCDs) Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS). This presentation describes contextualization of the INFORMAS approach to develop standardised Australian tools, survey protocols and data collection and analysis systems. The ‘healthy diet basket’ was based on the Australian Foundation Diet, 1 The ‘current diet basket’ and specific items included in each basket, were based on recent national dietary survey data.2 Data collection methods were piloted. The final tools and protocols were then applied to measure the price and affordability of healthy and less healthy (current) diets of different household groups in diverse communities across the nation. We have compared results for different geographical locations/population subgroups in Australia and assessed these against international INFORMAS benchmarks. The results inform the development of policy and practice, including those relevant to mooted changes to the GST base, to promote nutrition and healthy weight and prevent chronic disease in Australia.

A novel method of current efficiency determination

A simple and rapid method, based on the open-circuit decay of potential, is described for the determination of the current efficiency with which metals are electrodeposited. The advantages and disadvantages of the method are discussed.

Low-voltage and high-current delay characteristics of a simple triggered vacuum gap

Low-voltage and high-current switching delay characteristics of a simple triggered vacuum gap (TVG) are described using lead zirconate titanate as the dielectric material in the auxiliary gap. This TVG has superior performance at high currents (up to 14 kA was studied) with regard to delay, reliable firing and extended life as compared to the one using either supramica or silicon carbide. The total delay consists of three intervals: to break down the auxiliary gap, to propagate the trigger plasma and to break down the main gap. The data on the influence of the various parameters like the trigger voltage, current, energy and the main circuit energy are given. It has been found that the delay due to the first two intervals is small compared to the third.

Can current force fields reproduce ring puckering in 2-O-sulfo-α-l-iduronic acid? A molecular dynamics simulation study

The monosaccharide 2-O-sulfo-α-l-iduronic acid (IdoA2S) is one of the major components of glycosaminoglycans. The ability of molecular mechanics force fields to reproduce ring-puckering conformational equilibrium is important for the successful prediction of the free energies of interaction of these carbohydrates with proteins. Here we report unconstrained molecular dynamics simulations of IdoA2S monosaccharide that were carried out to investigate the ability of commonly used force fields to reproduce its ring conformational flexibility in aqueous solution. In particular, the distribution of ring conformer populations of IdoA2S was determined. The GROMOS96 force field with the SPC/E water potential can predict successfully the dominant skew-boat to chair conformational transition of the IdoA2S monosaccharide in aqueous solution. On the other hand, the GLYCAM06 force field with the TIP3P water potential sampled transitional conformations between the boat and chair forms. Simulations using the GROMOS96 force field showed no pseudorotational equilibrium fluctuations and hence no inter-conversion between the boat and twist boat ring conformers. Calculations of theoretical proton NMR coupling constants showed that the GROMOS96 force field can predict the skew-boat to chair conformational ratio in good agreement with the experiment, whereas GLYCAM06 shows worse agreement. The omega rotamer distribution about the C5–C6 bond was predicted by both force fields to have torsions around 10°, 190°, and 360°.

A Control Strategy for Reference Wave Adaptive Current Generation

Speed control of ac motors requires variable frequency, variable current, or variable voltage supply. Variable frequency supply can be obtained directly from a fixed frequency supply by using a frequency converter or from a dc source using inverters. In this paper a control technique for reference wave adaptive-current generation by modulating the inverter voltage is explained. Extension of this technique for three-phase induction-motor speed control is briefly explained. The oscillograms of the current waveforms obtained from the experimental setup are also shown.