Publications by authors named "Newell F"

Background: Lung cancer is a heterogeneous disease and the primary cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Somatic mutations, including large structural variants, are important biomarkers in lung cancer for selecting targeted therapy. Genomic studies in lung cancer have been conducted using short-read sequencing.

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Although the integration of information across multiple senses can enhance object representations in memory, how multisensory information affects the formation of categories is uncertain. In particular, it is unclear to what extent categories formed from multisensory information benefit object recognition over unisensory inputs. Two experiments investigated the categorisation of novel auditory and visual objects, with categories defined by spatial similarity, and tested generalisation to novel exemplars.

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Background: Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is a highly heterogeneous cancer with poor survival. Standard curative treatment is chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy followed by oesophagectomy. Genomic heterogeneity is a feature of OAC and has been linked to treatment resistance.

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  • A study reanalyzed data from Hernández et al. (2019) regarding how age and sex affect temporal audio-visual integration in older adults, specifically focusing on the sound induced flash illusion (SIFI).
  • The analysis included 3,479 older adults and found that while older females were typically more susceptible to SIFI at longer stimulus intervals, younger females (ages 50-64) showed increased susceptibility compared to their male counterparts.
  • The results suggest that both age and sex play significant roles in how older adults integrate sensory information, contributing to the understanding of multisensory processing in aging populations.
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Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is often the only source of tumor tissue from patients with advanced, inoperable lung cancer. EBUS-TBNA aspirates are used for the diagnosis, staging, and genomic testing to inform therapy options. Here we extracted DNA and RNA from 220 EBUS-TBNA aspirates to evaluate their suitability for whole genome (WGS), whole exome (WES), and comprehensive panel sequencing.

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Diet can influence cognitive functioning in older adults and is a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline. However, it is unknown if an association exists between diet and lower-level processes in the brain underpinning cognition, such as multisensory integration. We investigated whether temporal multisensory integration is associated with daily intake of fruit and vegetables (FV) or products high in fat/sugar/salt (FSS) in a large sample (N = 2,693) of older adults (mean age = 64.

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Geometrical knowledge is typically taught to children through a combination of vision and repetitive drawing (i.e. haptics), yet our understanding of how different spatial senses contribute to geometric perception during childhood is poor.

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We investigated participants' ability to differentiate between random and organized two-dimensional tactile tiles with embossed dots and examined how this ability varies with size and participant age. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of these variations on participants' capacity to utilize touch in identifying which of two stimuli exhibited greater randomness. Participants were instructed to explore embossed tiles using both hands.

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  • Cancer immunogenomics combines the study of genes and the immune system to learn more about cancer.
  • New technologies allow scientists to look at cancer cells closely and find important changes that could help treat patients.
  • The review talks about different computer methods used to analyze cancer data and how to choose the right tool to help doctors improve cancer treatments for patients.
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It is well established that physical activity leads to numerous health, cognitive, and psychological benefits. However, to date, very few studies have investigated the impact of physical activity on multisensory perception, that is, the brain's capacity to integrate information across sensory modalities. Furthermore, it is unknown what level of long-term physical activity is associated with multisensory integration in adults.

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  • Many families show unusual cancer clusters but don't fit into known hereditary cancer syndrome categories; they may still carry harmful genetic variants that increase cancer risk.* -
  • In a study of 195 participants with suspected hereditary cancer syndromes, whole-genome sequencing identified pathogenic variants in 5.1% and additional variants with potential health implications in 9.7% of participants.* -
  • The study suggests that using whole-genome sequencing up front is more cost-effective than traditional testing, but broader implementation will hinge on funding decisions and financial perspectives of healthcare payers.*
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There is evidence that cardiovascular function can influence sensory processing and cognition, which are known to change with age. However, whether the precision of unisensory and multisensory temporal perception is influenced by cardiovascular activity in older adults is uncertain. We examined whether seated resting heart rate (RHR) was associated with unimodal visual and auditory temporal discrimination as well as susceptibility to the audio-visual Sound Induced Flash Illusion (SIFI) in a large sample of older adults (N = 3232; mean age = 64.

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  • Multisensory integration allows the brain to process information from different senses, which is essential for responding to the environment, and this ability changes as people age.
  • The study examined how allostatic load (AL), linked to chronic stress and aging, affects multisensory perception in 1,358 adults over 50, using the Sound Induced Flash Illusion (SIFI) task.
  • Results indicated that participants with higher AL showed lower accuracy in integrating multisensory information, suggesting that chronic stress negatively impacts sensory processing in older adults.
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Although object categorization is a fundamental cognitive ability, it is also a complex process going beyond the perception and organization of sensory stimulation. Here we review existing evidence about how the human brain acquires and organizes multisensory inputs into object representations that may lead to conceptual knowledge in memory. We first focus on evidence for two processes on object perception, multisensory integration of redundant information (e.

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  • The Cartesian coordinate system is essential for math and science but can be challenging to teach in primary schools, as it involves complex concepts like geometry and spatial awareness.
  • Immersive virtual reality (VR) offers an engaging teaching method, allowing children to learn the coordinate system through interactive experiences, which might be more effective than traditional classroom settings.
  • The study tested a VR game called Cartesian-Garden, where children picked flowers based on coordinates, revealing improvements in their spatial and numerical skills, with different age-related outcomes depending on the concepts assessed.
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  • Tropical montane birds are very sensitive to human activities because they only thrive in specific environments and many species are found only in certain areas.
  • Researchers studied bird communities in cloud forests in northern Peru and found that areas used for farming had significantly fewer bird species than untouched forests.
  • Protecting big forest patches and planting more trees in farm areas can help increase bird diversity and keep more species safe from harmful changes.
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The precision of temporal multisensory integration is associated with specific aspects of physical functioning in ageing, including gait speed and incidents of falling. However, it is unknown if such an association exists between multisensory integration and grip strength, an important index of frailty and brain health and predictor of disease and mortality in older adults. Here, we investigated whether temporal multisensory integration is associated with longitudinal (eight-year) grip strength trajectories in a large sample of 2,061 older adults (mean age = 64.

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Oesophageal adenocarcinoma is a poor prognosis cancer and the molecular features underpinning response to treatment remain unclear. We investigate whole genome, transcriptomic and methylation data from 115 oesophageal adenocarcinoma patients mostly from the DOCTOR phase II clinical trial (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry-ACTRN12609000665235), with exploratory analysis pre-specified in the study protocol of the trial. We report genomic features associated with poorer overall survival, such as the APOBEC mutational and RS3-like rearrangement signatures.

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Sustained integration of sensory inputs over increased temporal delays is associated with reduced cognitive and physical functioning in older adults and adverse outcomes such as falls. Here, we explored the relationship between multisensory integration and a clinically relevant measure of balance/postural control; Sit-to-Stand Time, the efficiency with which an older adult can transition between a seated and a standing posture. We investigated whether temporal multisensory integration was associated with performance on the Five-Times Sit-to-Stand Test (FTSST) in a large sample of 2556 older adults (mean age = 63.

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Sustained multisensory integration over long inter-stimulus time delays is typically found in older adults, particularly those with a history of falls. However, the extent to which the temporal precision of audio-visual integration is associated with longitudinal fall or fall risk trajectories is unknown. A large sample of older adults (N = 2319) were grouped into longitudinal trajectories of self-reported fall incidents (i.

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  • - Birds in mixed-species flocks gain advantages like improved foraging and lower predation risks, but they also face challenges from competition and the need to match activities, and these dynamics differ based on environmental factors.
  • - The study analyzed 84 flock networks in the Andes to see how factors like elevation, latitude, forest cover, and human disturbance influenced flock structure, discovering that elevation was the most significant factor affecting flock connectivity and cohesion.
  • - Overall, Andean bird flocks were found to be mostly unstructured, but variations in structure were noted, particularly with higher elevation flocks being more connected, while those in areas with denser forest cover showed less cohesion and clearer flock subtypes.
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Age-related sensory decline impacts cognitive performance and exposes individuals to a greater risk of cognitive decline. Integration across the senses also changes with age, yet the link between multisensory perception and cognitive ageing is poorly understood. We explored the relationship between multisensory integration and cognitive function in 2875 adults aged 50 + from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

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Background: Multisensory integration is the ability to appropriately merge information from different senses for the purpose of perceiving and acting in the environment. During walking, information from multiple senses must be integrated appropriately to coordinate effective movements. We tested the association between a well characterised multisensory task, the Sound-Induced Flash Illusion (SIFI), and gait speed in 3255 participants from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

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Background And Objectives: Self-reported sensory data provide important insight into an individual's perception of sensory ability. It remains unclear what factors predict longitudinal change in self-reported sensory ability across multiple modalities during healthy aging. This study examined these associations in a cohort of older adults for vision, hearing, taste, and smell.

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Anthropogenic disturbance contributes to global change by reshaping the ecological niche space available to biological communities. Quantifying the range of functional response traits required for species persistence is central towards understanding the mechanisms underlying community disassembly in disturbed landscapes. We used intensive field surveys of cloud forest bird communities across seven replicate landscapes undergoing agricultural conversion in the Peruvian Andes to examine how a suite of 16 functional response traits related to morphology, diet, foraging behaviour and environmental niche breadth predict (1) species-specific abundance changes in countryside habitats compared to forest and (2) differential changes to the ecological niche space occupied by communities.

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