A noninvasive monitoring device for anesthetics in fish

A noninvasive device capable of recording both gill and lateral fin movements was assembled and used to analyze initial and post-treatment activity frequency (Hz) in fish exposed to anesthetics. Exposure of platy fish (Xiphosphorus maculatus) to saponins from quillaja bark (0.185 mM and 0.555 mM) initially caused hyperactivity, but within five minutes all activity ceased and the fish failed to recover. In contrast, clove oil (67 μg/L) added to water at 22oC reduced activity by 22.8% ± 8.9% (P = 0.038) after 125 ± 19 sec, a sedative effect that was totally reversible. Cinnamon oil compared with clove oil had a significantly longer time to sedation (125 ± 19 versus 235 ± 24 sec, P = 0.02), although no significant difference in the decline in activity was noted.DMP acknowledges the support of an STMS exchange grant funded in the context of COST 925 action

33rd Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education

Open Educational Resources (OER) have continued to gain significant global traction over the last decade, with research claiming the transformative power of these resources for broadening access and participation in Higher Education and driving new pedagogical approaches. In 2015, the University of Southern Queensland funded four open textbook grants as a pilot project that aimed to not only provide students with free and open learning materials, but also purposefully support staff as open practitioners. As part of an institutional commitment to open education, this project actively sought recommendations and strategies from the grant participants to mainstream the creation, use, and reuse of openly-licenced resources within holistic course design to support critical 21st century literacies. A community of inquiry model was used as the mechanism to support a discovery approach to the creation of open materials and qualitative participant data was gathered at key milestones during the grant through semi-structured interviews

What is the (Dark) Matter with Dwarf Galaxies?

We present cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of the formation of dwarf galaxies in a representative sample of haloes extracted from the Millennium-II Simulation. Our six haloes have a z = 0 mass of ~10^10 solar masses and show different mass assembly histories which are reflected in different star formation histories. We find final stellar masses in the range 5 x 10^7 - 10^8 solar masses, consistent with other published simulations of galaxy formation in similar mass haloes. Our final objects have structures and stellar populations consistent with dwarf elliptical and dwarf irregular galaxies. However, in a Lambda CDM universe, 10^10 solar mass haloes must typically contain galaxies with much lower stellar mass than our simulated objects if they are to match observed galaxy abundances. The dwarf galaxies formed in our own and all other current hydrodynamical simulations are more than an order of magnitude more luminous than expected for haloes of this mass. We discuss the significance and possible implications of this result.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS accepte

Different atmospheric moisture divergence responses to extreme and moderate El Niños

On seasonal and inter-annual time scales, vertically integrated moisture divergence provides a useful measure of the tropical atmospheric hydrological cycle. It reflects the combined dynamical and thermodynamical effects, and is not subject to the limitations that afflict observations of evaporation minus precipitation. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of the tropical Pacific moisture divergence fields calculated from the ERA-Interim reanalysis reveals the dominant effects of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on inter-annual time scales. Two EOFs are necessary to capture the ENSO signature, and regression relationships between their Principal Components and indices of equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) demonstrate that the transition from strong La Niña through to extreme El Niño events is not a linear one. The largest deviation from linearity is for the strongest El Niños, and we interpret that this arises at least partly because the EOF analysis cannot easily separate different patterns of responses that are not orthogonal to each other. To overcome the orthogonality constraints, a self-organizing map (SOM) analysis of the same moisture divergence fields was performed. The SOM analysis captures the range of responses to ENSO, including the distinction between the moderate and strong El Niños identified by the EOF analysis. The work demonstrates the potential for the application of SOM to large scale climatic analysis, by virtue of its easier interpretation, relaxation of orthogonality constraints and its versatility for serving as an alternative classification method. Both the EOF and SOM analyses suggest a classification of “moderate” and “extreme” El Niños by their differences in the magnitudes of the hydrological cycle responses, spatial patterns and evolutionary paths. Classification from the moisture divergence point of view shows consistency with results based on other physical variables such as SST

Elicitation of contexts for discovering clinical trials and related health data:An interview study

In this project, we investigated the range of contexts of data discovery faced by clinical trialsresearchers, to better understand crucial factors that influence data discoverability and leadto data reuse. Our findings connect ways researchers both initiate personal data journeysand follow highly managed processes of data selection criteria. The project demonstratesthe need for a holistic view in understanding data discovery approaches by clinical trialsresearchers.Our findings suggest the significance of prioritising user information needs for selecting andusing datasets. As using a dataset involves a complex process of conducting secondarydata analysis within a research project, it is important for data repositories to focus onmeeting the objectives of system design at this level, which go beyond the scope oftraditional information retrieval systems such as online databases and search engines. Datarepositories need to consider ways to specify their objectives of system design for the datadiscovery systems and services

Elicitation of data discovery contexts:An interview study

This project was designed to elicit data discovery contexts from researchers across Australia’s research system. As Australia’s leading research data coordinating agency, Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) has identified a need for a greater understanding of the contexts around which data users approach their data discovery journey. Specifically, the study has been designed to answer the following research questions:How do researchers approach data discovery?How do researchers search for data?What data attributes matter to researchers’ data search?What criteria do researchers apply for assessing relevance and usability of datasets?What are the contexts of data reuse by researchers?This study adopted a mixed-method approach to answer the proposed research questions by using both survey and in-depth interview methods. A pre-interview survey was designed to capture participant background information, including; their research areas/topics, stage of career, job roles and their data sources in recent projects. We designed the interview protocol along each step of the data lifecycle and adopted a critical incident technique (CIT) protocol to conduct semi-structured in-depth interviews to elicit the contexts of data discovery.Through the analysis of interview data, we characterise the contexts of data discovery both within and across disciplines. Our findings suggest that there are significant technical and social aspects in the research process to enable effective data discovery. Researchers’ data discovery journeys are embedded in their information-seeking environments, such as their known data repositories, social networks and part of a consortium of collaborative research projects. However, researchers face challenges in discovering data from a single data repository - in particular when the required data for a research project have to be discovered and synthesised from multiple data repositories. Both metadata and data quality have been identified as critical for data discovery and data reuse regardless of discipline. For those with significant experience in data discovery, there was greater recognition of the need for data governance and the importance of data publication for re-use.<br/

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Thyroid dysfunction in sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax): Underlying mechanisms and effects of polychlorinated biphenyls on thyroid hormone physiology and metabolism

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professional, student, popularization, otherThe current study examines the effect of subchronic exposure to a mixture of Aroclor standards on thyroid hormone physiology and metabolism in juvenile sea bass. The contaminant mixture was formulated to reflect the persistent organic pollution to which the European sea bass population could conceivably be exposed (0.3, 0.6 and 1.0 g 7PCBs per g food pellets) and higher (10 g 7PCBs per g food pellets). After 120 days of exposure, histomorphometry of thyroid tissue, muscular thyroid hormone concentration and activity of enzymes involved in metabolism of thyroid hormones were assessed. Mean concentrations of 8, 86, 142, 214 and 2279 ng g−1 ww ( 7 ICES PCB congeners) were determined after 120 days exposure. The results show that the effects of PCB exposures on the thyroid system are dose-dependent. Exposure to environmentally relevant doses of PCB (0.3–1.0 g 7PCBs per g food pellets) induced a larger variability of the follicle diameter and stimulated hepatic T4 outer ring deiodinase. Muscular thyroid hormone levels were preserved thanks to the PCB induced changes in T4 dynamics. At 10 times higher concentrations (10 g 7PCBs per g food pellets) an important depression of T3 and T4 levels could be observed which are apparently caused by degenerative histological changes in the thyroid tissue

Influences on gum feeding in primates

This chapter reviews the factors that may affect patterns of gum feeding by primates. These are then examined for mixed-species troops of saddleback (S. fuscicollis) and mustached (S. mystax) tamarins. An important distinction is made between gums produced by tree trunks and branches as a result of damage and those produced by seed pods as part of a dispersal strategy as these may be expected to differ in their biochemistry. Feeding on fruit and Parkia seed pod exudates was more prevalent in the morning whereas other exudates were eaten in the afternoon. This itinerary may represent a deliberate strategy to retain trunk gums in the gut overnight, thus maximising the potential for microbial fermentation of their β-linked oligosaccharides. Both types of exudates were eaten more in the dry than the wet season. Consumption was linked to seasonal changes in resource availability and not the tamarins’ reproductive status pro-viding no support for the suggestion that gums are eaten as a pri-mary calcium source in the later stages of gestation and lactation. The role of availability in determining patterns of consumption is further supported by the finding that dietary overlap for the trunk gums eaten was greater between species within mixed-species troops within years than it was within species between years. These data and those for pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea) suggest that patterns of primate gummivory may reflect the interaction of prefer-ence and availability for both those able to stimulate gum production and those not