Local government's roles in community health and wellbeing in Australia: Insights from Tasmania.

Issue Addressed: Local governments are well-placed to respond to communities' health and wellbeing needs. However, in the Australian state of Tasmania, the sector's roles in that respect are unclear.

Methods: We interviewed 10 municipal personnel in Tasmania to understand their views on local governments' community health and wellbeing functions.

The Utility of Novel Urinary Biomarkers in Mice for Drug Development Studies.

Novel urinary protein biomarkers have recently been identified and qualified in rats for the early detection of renal injury in drug development studies. However, there are few reports on the utility of these renal biomarkers in mice, another important and widely used preclinical animal species for drug development studies. The purpose of this study was to assess the value of these recently qualified biomarkers for the early detection of drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI) in different strains of mice using multiple assay panels.

Drainage, irrigation and fibrinolytic therapy (DRIFT) for posthaemorrhagic ventricular dilatation: 10-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Progressive ventricular dilatation after intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) in preterm infants has a very high risk of severe disability and death. Drainage, irrigation and fibrinolytic therapy (DRIFT), in a randomised controlled trial (RCT), reduced severe cognitive impairment at 2 years.

Objective: To assess if the cognitive advantage of DRIFT seen at 2 years persisted until school age.

Ten-year follow-up of a randomised trial of drainage, irrigation and fibrinolytic therapy (DRIFT) in infants with post-haemorrhagic ventricular dilatation.

Background: The drainage, irrigation and fibrinolytic therapy (DRIFT) trial, conducted in 2003-6, showed a reduced rate of death or severe disability at 2 years in the DRIFT compared with the standard treatment group, among preterm infants with intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) and post-haemorrhagic ventricular dilatation.

Objectives: To compare cognitive function, visual and sensorimotor ability, emotional well-being, use of specialist health/rehabilitative and educational services, neuroimaging, and economic costs and benefits at school age.

Design: Ten-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial.

Cross sectional, qualitative thematic analysis of patient perspectives of disease impact in juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis.

Background: Chronic health conditions in children can have a significant impact on their quality of life. The aim of this study was to explore the subjective experience of children and young people being treated for chronic, non-infectious uveitis associated with a systemic disease such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Methods: A semi-structured interview was conducted with 10 children and young people aged between 6 and 18 years of age and their parents.

Testing fine motor coordination via telehealth: Effects of video characteristics on reliability and validity.

Background There is limited research about the effects of video quality on the accuracy of assessments of physical function. Methods A repeated measures study design was used to assess reliability and validity of the finger-nose test (FNT) and the finger-tapping test (FTT) carried out with 50 veterans who had impairment in gross and/or fine motor coordination. Videos were scored by expert raters under eight differing conditions, including in-person, high definition video with slow motion review and standard speed videos with varying bit rates and frame rates.

Preoperative Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation for Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Preliminary Results of a Prospective, Phase 2 Trial.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of utilizing 3-dimensional conformal accelerated partial-breast irradiation (APBI) in the preoperative setting followed by standard breast-conserving therapy.

Patients And Methods: This was a prospective trial testing the feasibility of preoperative APBI followed by lumpectomy for patients with early-stage invasive ductal breast cancer. Eligible patients had T1-T2 (<3 cm), N0 tumors.

Tele-Assessment of the Berg Balance Scale: Effects of Transmission Characteristics.

Objective: To compare Berg Balance Scale (BBS) rating using videos with differing transmission characteristics with direct in-person rating.

Design: Repeated-measures study for the assessment of the BBS in 8 configurations: in person, high-definition video with slow motion review, standard-definition videos with varying bandwidths and frame rates (768 kilobytes per second [kbps] videos at 8, 15, and 30 frames per second [fps], 30 fps videos at 128, 384, and 768 kbps).

Setting: Medical center.

Benefits and Challenges of Delivering Tele-rehabilitation Services to Rural Veterans.

Veterans residing in underserved rural areas face many barriers to accessing high-quality rehabilitation services. This article describes the benefits and challenges of using technology for delivery of rehabilitation services to rural Veterans using TeleHOME, an innovative tele-rehabilitation program. TeleHOME enables rehabilitation providers to remotely assess the Veteran's functional abilities and needs in his or her own home where these tasks must be performed.

Multiple Mechanisms Contribute To Telomere Maintenance.

The unlimited growth potential of tumors depends on telomere maintenance and typically depends on telomerase, an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, which reverse transcribes the telomerase RNA template, synthesizing telomere repeats at the ends of chromosomes. Studies in various model organisms genetically deleted for telomerase indicate that several recombination-based mechanisms also contribute to telomere maintenance. Understanding the molecular basis of these mechanisms is critical since some human tumors form without telomerase, yet the sequence is maintained at the telomeres.

One size does not fit all-mobility device type affects speed, collisions, fatigue, and pain.

Objective: To determine whether differences could be detected in mobility outcomes during community mobility and home mobility tasks according to type of mobility assistive device.

Design: Randomized, repeated measures.

Setting: Community mobility task: traversing 341.

A pilot study on delirium in the intensive care unit: a creative inquiry project with undergraduate nursing students.

Introduction: Delirium continues to be a major issue in intensive care units (ICUs). Sedation and lack of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep could be important factors in the development of delirium. Improper sedation may interfere with a patient's sleep pattern, specifically time spent in REM sleep, and could be a contributor to the development of delirium.

Targeting of Acyl-CoA synthetase 5 decreases jejunal fatty acid activation with no effect on dietary long-chain fatty acid absorption.

Background: The absorption of dietary long chain fatty acids (LCFA) largely occurs in the jejunum. LCFA are activated via conjugation with Coenzyme A (CoA), a reaction catalyzed by Acyl-CoA synthetases (ACS). Acyl-CoA sythesis is critical for dietary LCFA absorption; yet, the jejunal ACS enzymes that catalyze the reaction are largely unknown.

A quality assurance study on the accuracy of measuring physical function under current conditions for use of clinical video telehealth.

Objective: To determine whether conditions for use of clinical video telehealth technology might affect the accuracy of measures of physical function.

Design: Repeated measures.

Setting: Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Binge alcohol exposure modulates rodent expression of biomarkers of the immunoinflammatory response to orthopaedic trauma.

Background: Alcohol is a known modulator of the immune system and host-defense response. Alcohol abuse is common in trauma patients, although the influence of alcohol intoxication on the inflammatory response following major orthopaedic injury remains unknown. The aim of this investigation was to examine the influence of binge alcohol exposure on biomarkers of the systemic inflammatory response following bilateral traumatic femoral fracture in a rodent model.

The effect of radiation quality on genomic DNA methylation profiles in irradiated human cell lines.

It has been acknowledged for many years that radiation exposure induces delayed, non-targeted effects in the progeny of the irradiated cell. Evidence is beginning to demonstrate that among these delayed effects of radiation are epigenetic aberrations, including altered DNA methylation. To test the hypothesis that differences in radiation quality affect radiation-induced DNA methylation profiles, normal AG01522 and RKO colon carcinoma cells were exposed to low-LET X rays and protons or high-LET iron ions.

Decreased pulmonary inflammation after ethanol exposure and burn injury in intercellular adhesion molecule-1 knockout mice.

Clinical and laboratory evidence suggests that alcohol consumption dysregulates immune function. Burn patients who consume alcohol before their injuries demonstrate higher rates of morbidity and mortality, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, than patients without alcohol at the time of injury. Our laboratory observed higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines and leukocyte infiltration in the lungs of mice after ethanol exposure and burn injury than with either insult alone.

Gas-phase chemistry in inductively coupled plasmas for NO removal from mixed gas systems.

Inductively coupled rf plasmas were used to investigate the removal of NO from a variety of gas mixtures. Laser-induced fluorescence and optical emission spectroscopy were employed to measure the relative gas-phase density of NO as a function of the applied rf power, gas mixture, and catalytic substrate type. In general, the overall density of NO decreases as a function of applied rf power in both NO and N(2)/O(2) plasmas, but the addition of gases such as H(2)O vapor and CH(4), as well as the presence of Au-coated substrates, significantly affects the behavior of NO in these systems.

Ethanol potentiates the acute fatty infiltration of liver caused by burn injury: prevention by insulin treatment.

Burn injury is a significant and severe representation of critical illness. Nearly, 50% of patients admitted to hospitals for burn injuries have detectable levels of ethanol in their circulations and these patients have poorer clinical outcomes than burned individuals without measurable circulating ethanol. We report here data on a clinically relevant form of hepatic injury, the development of microvesicular steatosis, in a murine model wherein animals were either given ethanol or saline, and were subjected to burn or sham injury.

Patient-reported outcomes for open versus laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy.

Background: Rates of living kidney donation have increased dramatically in recent years, in large part because of improved surgical techniques such as laparoscopic nephrectomy.

Objective: To compare patient-reported outcomes of laparoscopic nephrectomy versus open donor nephrectomy in 84 adult live kidney donors.

Outcome Measures: Outcomes included perceptions of pain and surgical scarring, number of surgical/medical complications, hospital length of stay, physical health problems related to donation, return to work, financial impact, health-related quality of life, and satisfaction with the donation experience.

Mechanism of cardiac output gain from cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with coronary artery disease or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

The mechanisms underlying cardiac resynchronization therapy have consistently been studied at rest and remain ill defined. Peak stress total isovolumic time (t-IVT) is a major determinant of cardiac output (CO) in chronic heart failure. In this study, pharmacologic stress was used to assess the effects of atrioventricular (AV) delay shortening and ventricular resynchronization elements of cardiac resynchronization therapy.

What's it all about? Investigating reading comprehension strategies in young adults with down syndrome.

The purpose of reading is for the reader to construct meaning from the text. For many young adults with Down syndrome, knowing what the text is all about is difficult, and so for them the activity of reading becomes simply the practice of word calling. It is suggested in the literature that for those individuals with Down syndrome, learning can continue into adolescence and that this may be the optimal time for learning to occur.