Worrying and anxiety are some of the biggest mental health problems facing children today

People often assume children have no worries or nothing to be stressed about. However, children, like adults, do worry about a range of things. There may be times during periods of stress or change when children worry more intensely about things than usual.

Is the two hour recommended maximum driving time appropriate for both healthy older and treated obstructive sleep apnoea drivers?

Objectives The UK Department for Transport recommends taking a break from driving every 2 h. This study investigated: (i) if a 2 h drive time on a monotonous road is appropriate for OSA patients treated with CPAP, compared with healthy age matched controls, (ii) the impact of a night’s sleep restriction (with CPAP) and (iii) what happens if these patients miss one nights’ CPAP treatment. Methods About 19 healthy men aged 52–74 y (m = 66.2 y) and 19 OSA participants aged 50–75 y (m = 64.4 y) drove an interactive car simulator under monotonous motorway conditions for 2 h on two afternoons, in a counterbalanced design; (1) following a normal night’s sleep (8 h). (2) following a restricted night’s sleep (5 h), with normal CPAP use (3) following a night without CPAP treatment. (n = 11) Lane drifting incidents, indicative of falling asleep, were recorded for up to 2 h depending on competence to continue driving. Results Normal sleep: Controls drove for an average of 95.9 min (s.d. 37 min) and treated OSA drivers for 89.6 min (s.d. 29 min) without incident. 63.2% of controls and 42.1% of OSA drivers successfully completed the drive without an incident. Sleep restriction: 47.4% of controls and 26.3% OSA drivers finished without incident. Overall: controls drove for an average of 89.5 min (s.d. 39 min) and treated OSA drivers 65 min (s.d. 42 min) without incident. The effect of condition was significant [F(1.36) = 9.237, P < 0.05, eta2 = 0.204]. Stopping CPAP: 18.2% of drivers successfully completed the drive. Overall, participants drove for an average of 50.1 min (s.d. 38 min) without incident. The effect of condition was significant [F(2) = 8.8, P < 0.05, eta2 = 0.468]. Conclusion 52.6% of all drivers were able to complete a 2 hour drive under monotonous conditions after a full night’s sleep. Sleep restriction significantly affected both control and OSA drivers. We find evidence that treated OSA drivers are more impaired by sleep restriction than healthy control, as they were less able to sustain safely the 2 h drive without incidents. OSA drivers should be aware that non-compliance with CPAP can significantly impair driving performance. It may be appropriate to recommend older drivers take a break from driving every 90 min especially when undertaking a monotonous drive, as was the case here.

Sex-specific compromised bone healing in female rats might be associated with a decrease in mesenchymal stem cell quantity

Introduction The clinically known importance of patient sex as a major risk factor for compromised bone healing is poorly reflected in animal models. Consequently, the underlying cellular mechanisms remain elusive. Because mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are postulated to regulate tissue regeneration and give rise to essential differentiated cell types, they may contribute to sex-specific differences in bone healing outcomes. Methods We investigated sex-specific variations in bone healing and associated differences in MSC populations. A 1.5 mm osteotomy gap in the femora of 8 male and 8 female 12-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats was stabilized by an external fixator. Healing was analyzed in terms of biomechanical testing, bridging and callus size over time (radiography at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after surgery), and callus volume and geometry by μCT at final follow-up. MSCs were obtained from bone marrow samples of an age-matched group of 12 animals (6 per gender) and analyzed for numbers of colony-forming units (CFUs) and their capacity to differentiate and proliferate. The proportion of senescent cells was determined by β-galactosidase staining. Results Sex-specific differences were indicated by a compromised mechanical competence of the callus in females compared with males (maximum torque at failure, p = 0.028). Throughout the follow-up, the cross-sectional area of callus relative to bone was reduced in females (p ≤ 0.01), and the bridging of callus was delayed (p 2weeks = 0.041). μCT revealed a reduced callus size (p = 0.003), mineralization (p = 0.003) and polar moment of inertia (p = 0.003) in female animals. The female bone marrow contained significantly fewer MSCs, represented by low CFU numbers in both femora and tibiae (p femur = 0.017, p tibia = 0.010). Functional characteristics of male and female MSCs were similar. Conclusion Biomechanically compromised and radiographically delayed bone formation were distinctive in female rats. These differences were concomitant with a reduced number of MSCs, which may be causative for the suboptimal bone healing.

Activity, motivation and games for young children

The research described in this paper examines the extent to which very young children were able to use the Stomp platform (a floor-based gaming system designed to provide new, active participatory experiences) to engage in game play. We are interested in how children's engagement in different activities within the game world influences their motivation to play games. We map activity to motivational needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness. A detailed examination of two Stomp experiences demonstrates how this type of analysis is useful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the games for this audience.

The impact on clinical practice of a postgraduate clinical pharmacy programme, incorporating competency-based performance evaluation

Background A goal of the postgraduate clinical pharmacy programme (PGCPP) at the University of Queensland is to enhance clinical practice. Aims To evaluate student perceptions of the impact of the PGCPP on practice and the inclusion of a competency-based performance evaluation as a formative component of the curriculum. Method In 2010, students completed a questionnaire to evaluate the impact of the PGCPP. In 2011, formative competency-based performance evaluations were conducted as a component of the course and the questionnaire was repeated. Responses, competency ratings and evaluation feedback were collated. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results 51/57 (89%) of students completed the questionnaire in 2010 and 2011. Over 90% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the PGCPP enhanced practice, knowledge, confidence and contribution to patient care. Responses were similarly positive after the inclusion of the performance evaluation. Conclusion This study demonstrated that the PGCPP is achieving the goal of enhancing the practice of pharmacists.

Ethics in Research with Children

Widespread scholarly interest in ethics in research with children, as an extant field of inquiry and practice, is a relatively new phenomenon. The discipline of ethics can be traced back to the Hippocratic school, but its contemporary applications in the everyday worlds of children and those around them are gaining greater attention from theorists, practitioners, and those involved in policy. Heightened international awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1979) gave significant impetus to increasing international awareness of children’s rights to provision, protection, and participation in everyday contexts, including those in which research occurs. Understandings of research ethics and of children’s involvement in research relate to broader understandings of children and childhood drawn from developmental science, sociology, human geography, health sciences, and children’s human rights to participation and protection. Key understandings pertain to children’s competence to participate in research, to operate as reliable informants with respect to their own lives, to provide voluntary informed consent and dissent in research, and to make meaningful decisions about the nature and extent of their participation. The field is international and interdisciplinary, although bounded by legislative, policy, and jurisdictional requirements governing research—its conduct and dissemination. So, too, the burgeoning work of ethics committees, whether in relation to health research or social research, is evidence of a sharpened focus on governance of child research. Oxford Bibliographies offers a suite of perspectives, resources, and strategies to guide the researcher, practitioner, and policymaker and serves to challenge readers to interrogate conceptual understandings, methodologies, and dissemination of research with and about children. Exploration of the suite opens up new possibilities for considering children’s rights to participation in matters that affect their lives and for children to be seen and heard in research.

Educating for sustainability in virtual worlds : does the virtual have value?

Two key elements of education for sustainability (EfS) are action-competence, and the importance of place and experiencing the natural world. These elements emphasise and depend on the relationship between learners and their real world contexts, and have been incorporated to some extent into the sustainability cross-curricular perspective of the new Australian curriculum. Given the importance of real-world experiential learning in EfS, what is to be made of the use of multi-user virtual worlds in EfS? We went with our preservice secondary science teachers to the very appealing virtual world Quest Atlantis, which we are using in this paper as an example to explore the value of virtual worlds in EfS. In assessing the virtual world of Quest Atlantis against Australia’s Sustainability Curriculum Framework, many areas of coherence are evident relating to world viewing, systems thinking and futures thinking, knowledge of ecological and human systems, and implementing and reflecting on the consequences of actions. The power and appeal of these virtual experiences in developing these knowledges is undeniable. However there is some incoherence between the elements of EfS as expressed in the Sustainability Curriculum Framework and the experience of QA where learners are not acting in their real world, or developing connection with real place. This analysis highlights both the value and some limitations of virtual worlds as a venue for EfS.

Comparative susceptibility of mosquito populations in North Queensland, Australia to oral infection with dengue virus

Dengue is the most prevalent arthropod-borne virus, with at least 40% of the world’s population at risk of infection each year. In Australia, dengue is not endemic, but viremic travelers trigger outbreaks involving hundreds of cases. We compared the susceptibility of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from two geographically isolated populations with two strains of dengue virus serotype 2. We found, interestingly, that mosquitoes from a city with no history of dengue were more susceptible to virus than mosquitoes from an outbreak-prone region, particularly with respect to one dengue strain. These findings suggest recent evolution of population-based differences in vector competence or different historical origins. Future genomic comparisons of these populations could reveal the genetic basis of vector competence and the relative role of selection and stochastic processes in shaping their differences. Lastly, we show the novel finding of a correlation between midgut dengue titer and titer in tissues colonized after dissemination.

Behavioural Inhibition System response to conflicting advertisement cues: Road safety messages vs. motor vehicle promotional advertisements

This study assessed the revised Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), as conceptualised by Gray and McNaughton’s (2000) revised RST, by exposing participants to a loss-framed road safety message (emphasising the negative consequences of speeding behaviour) and a high performance motor vehicle promotional advertisement. Licensed young drivers (N = 40, aged 17–25 years) were randomly allocated to view either the message or both the message and advertisement. Participants then completed a computerised lexical decision task prior to completing three personality measures: Corr-Cooper RST-PQ, CARROT and Q-Task. It was predicted that those with a stronger BIS would demonstrate greater processing of these mixed message cues compared to weaker BIS individuals, and that this BIS effect would only be observed in the mixed cues condition (due to simultaneous activation of the incentive and punishment systems). Preliminary findings will be discussed in the context of the influence of personality traits on health message processing.

Processing biases towards gain-framed messages may lead reward sensitive individuals to adopt safer driving behaviours

Using Gray and McNaughton’s revised RST, this study investigated the extent to which the Behavioural Approach System (BAS) and the Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS) influence the processing of gain-framed and loss-framed road safety messages and subsequent message acceptance. It was predicted that stronger BAS sensitivity and FFFS sensitivity would be associated with greater processing and acceptance of the gain-framed messages and loss-framed messages, respectively. Young drivers (N = 80, aged 17–25 years) viewed one of four road safety messages and completed a lexical decision task to assess message processing. Both self-report (e.g., Corr-Cooper RST-PQ) and behavioural measures (i.e., CARROT and Q-Task) were used to assess BAS and FFFS traits. Message acceptance was measured via self-report ratings of message effectiveness, behavioural intentions, attitudes and subsequent driving behaviour. The results are discussed in the context of the effect that differences in reward and punishment sensitivities may have on message processing and message acceptance.

Current trends and issues in geographical education

In this introductory chapter to Schmeinck, D. and Lidstone, J. (2014) “Current trends and issues in geographical education” in Schmeinck, D. and Lidstone, J. (2014) Eds) Standards and Research in Geographical Education: Current Trends and International Issues. Berlin. Mensch und Buch Verlag. Pp. 5 - 16. , the authors review and analyse eleven papers originally presented to the Congress of the International Geographical Union held in Cologne in 2012. Taking the collection of papers as a single corpus representing the “state of the art” of geography education, they applied lexical and bibliometric analyses in an innovative attempt to identify the nature of geographical education as represented by this anthology of peer reviewed chapters presented at the start of the second decade of the Twenty-first century?

Automatic de-identification of electronic health records : an Australian perspective

We present an approach to automatically de-identify health records. In our approach, personal health information is identified using a Conditional Random Fields machine learning classifier, a large set of linguistic and lexical features, and pattern matching techniques. Identified personal information is then removed from the reports. The de-identification of personal health information is fundamental for the sharing and secondary use of electronic health records, for example for data mining and disease monitoring. The effectiveness of our approach is first evaluated on the 2007 i2b2 Shared Task dataset, a widely adopted dataset for evaluating de-identification techniques. Subsequently, we investigate the robustness of the approach to limited training data; we study its effectiveness on different type and quality of data by evaluating the approach on scanned pathology reports from an Australian institution. This data contains optical character recognition errors, as well as linguistic conventions that differ from those contained in the i2b2 dataset, for example different date formats. The findings suggest that our approach compares to the best approach from the 2007 i2b2 Shared Task; in addition, the approach is found to be robust to variations of training size, data type and quality in presence of sufficient training data.

Promoting Statistical Literacy Through Data Modelling in the Early School Years

This chapter addresses data modelling as a means of promoting statistical literacy in the early grades. Consideration is first given to the importance of increasing young children’s exposure to statistical reasoning experiences and how data modelling can be a rich means of doing so. Selected components of data modelling are then reviewed, followed by a report on some findings from the third-year of a three-year longitudinal study across grades one through three.

Primary schools and the delivery of relationships and sexuality education : the experience of Queensland teachers

Primary school provides an appropriate opportunity for children to commence comprehensive relationships and sexuality education (RSE), yet many primary school teachers avoid teaching this subject area. In the absence of teacher confidence and competence, schools have often relied on health promotion professionals, external agencies and/or one-off issue related presentations rather than cohesive, systematic and meaningful health education. This study examines the implementation of a ten-lesson pilot RSE unit of work and accompanying assessment task in two primary schools in South-East Queensland, Australia. Drawing predominantly from qualitative data, this research explores the experiences of primary school teachers as they engage with RSE curriculum resources and content delivery. The results show that the provision of a high quality RSE curriculum resource grounded in contemporary educational principles and practices enables teachers to feel more confident to deliver RSE and minimises potential barriers such as parental objections and fear of mishandling sensitive content.