The application of passive sampler (DGT) technology for improved understanding of metal behaviour at a marine disposal site

Metal behaviour and availability at a contaminated dredge material disposal site within UK waters has been investigated using Diffusive Gradient in Thin films (DGT) passive sampling technology. Three stations representing contrasting history and presence of maintenance dredge disposal, including a control station outside the disposal site, have been studied and depth profiles of fluxes of different metals (Fe, Mn, Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr, Ni, Zn) to the binding gel (Chelex 100) have been derived. Higher flux rates and shallower mobilisation of metals (Mn and Fe) to the binding gel were observed at the disposal stations compared to the control station. Here we describe metal mobilization at different depths, linking the remobilization of Fe2+ and Mn2+ to the sediment (re)supply of other heavy metals of interest with a focus on Cd, Ni and Pb and as they are on the Water Framework Directive (WFD) list of priority substances and OSPAR list of priority pollutants. Results showed that Cd, Pb and Ni exhibited signs of resupply at the sediment-water interface (SWI). There was a potential increased mobilisation and source to the water column of Pb and Ni at the disposal site stations, but there was no Cd source, despite higher total loadings. This information has the potential to improve our current understanding of metal cycles at disposal sites. This work can be used as an indication of likely metal bioavailability and also assist in determining whether the sites act as sources or sinks of heavy metals. This information could assist disposal site monitoring and dredge material licensing

Dirichlet process mixture models for unsupervised clustering of symptoms in Parkinson's disease

In this paper, the goal of identifying disease subgroups based on differences in observed symptom profile is considered. Commonly referred to as phenotype identification, solutions to this task often involve the application of unsupervised clustering techniques. In this paper, we investigate the application of a Dirichlet Process mixture (DPM) model for this task. This model is defined by the placement of the Dirichlet Process (DP) on the unknown components of a mixture model, allowing for the expression of uncertainty about the partitioning of observed data into homogeneous subgroups. To exemplify this approach, an application to phenotype identification in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is considered, with symptom profiles collected using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Clustering, Dirichlet Process mixture, Parkinson’s disease, UPDRS

Imposed faster and slower walking speeds influence gait stability differently in Parkinson fallers

Objective To evaluate the effect of imposed faster and slower walking speeds on postural stability in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Design Cross-sectional cohort study. Setting General community. Participants Patients with PD (n=84; 51 with a falls history; 33 without) and age-matched controls (n=82) were invited to participate via neurology clinics and preexisting databases. Of those contacted, 99 did not respond (PD=36; controls=63) and 27 were not interested (PD=18; controls=9). After screening, a further 10 patients were excluded; 5 had deep brain stimulation surgery and 5 could not accommodate to the treadmill. The remaining patients (N=30) completed all assessments and were subdivided into PD fallers (n=10), PD nonfallers (n=10), and age-matched controls (n=10) based on falls history. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Three-dimensional accelerometers assessed head and trunk accelerations and allowed calculation of harmonic ratios and root mean square (RMS) accelerations to assess segment control and movement amplitude. Results Symptom severity, balance confidence, and medical history were established before participants walked on a treadmill at 70%, 100%, and 130% of their preferred speed. Head and trunk control was lower for PD fallers than PD nonfallers and older adults. Significant interactions indicated head and trunk control increased with speed for PD nonfallers and older adults, but did not improve at faster speeds for PD fallers. Vertical head and trunk accelerations increased with walking speed for PD nonfallers and older adults, while the PD fallers demonstrated greater anteroposterior RMS accelerations compared with both other groups. Conclusions The results suggest that improved gait dynamics do not necessarily represent improved walking stability, and this must be respected when rehabilitating gait in patients with PD

Adolescent dietary patterns are associated with lifestyle family psycho-social factors

Background/ Objectives: Dietary intake during adolescence contributes to lifelong eating habits and the development of early risk factors for disease in adulthood. Few studies have examined the dietary patterns of adolescents and the social and environmental factors that may affect them during this life stage. The present study describes dietary patterns in a cohort of adolescents and examines their associations with socioeconomic factors, as well as parental and adolescent risk factor behaviours. Design: A semi quantitative FFQ was used to assess study adolescents’ usual dietary intake over the previous year. Information was collected on family functioning and various socio economic and risk factor variables via questionnaire. Adolescents visited the clinic for anthropometric measurements. Setting: The Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study (Raine Study), Perth, Western Australia. Subjects: Adolescents (n 1631) aged 14 years from a pregnancy cohort study. Results: Factor analysis identified two distinct dietary patterns that differed predominantly in fat and sugar intakes. The ‘Western’ pattern consisted of high intakes of take away foods, soft drinks, confectionery, French fries, refined grains, full fat dairy products and processed meats. The ‘Healthy’’ pattern included high intakes of whole grains, fruit, vegetables, legumes and fish. ANOVA showed that the ‘Western’ dietary pattern was positively associated with greater television viewing and having a parent that smoked, and was inversely associated with family income. The ‘Healthy’’ pattern was positively associated with female gender, greater maternal education, better family functioning and being in a two parent family, and was inversely associated with television viewing. Conclusions: This study suggests that both lifestyle factors and family psycho social environment are related to eating patterns in Australian adolescents

Customer-engineer relationship management for converged ICT service companies

Thanks to the advent of converged communications services (often referred to as ‘triple play’), the next generation Service Engineer will need radically different skills, processes and tools from today’s counterpart. Why? in order to meet the challenges of installing and maintaining services based on multi-vendor software and hardware components in an IP-based network environment. The converged services environment is likely to be ‘smart’ and support flexible and dynamic interoperability between appliances and computing devices. These radical changes in the working environment will inevitably force managers to rethink the role of Service Engineers in relation to customer relationship management. This paper aims to identify requirements for an information system to support converged communications service engineers with regard to customer-engineer relationship management. Furthermore, an architecture for such a system is proposed and how it meets these requirements is discussed

Efficacy of infant simulator programmes to prevent teenage pregnancy: a school-based cluster randomised trial in Western Australia

Background: Infant simulator-based programmes seek to prevent teenage pregnancy. They are utilised in western and developing countries but, despite growing popularity, there is no published evidence of their long-term impact. The aim of this trial was to investigate the effect of such a programme, the Virtual Infant Parenting (VIP) Programme, on the pregnancy outcomes of birth and induced abortion. Methods: Fifty-seven of 66 eligible schools (86%) in Perth, Western Australia enrolled in the pragmatic clustered (by school) randomised trial (ISRCTN24952438) with even randomisation to the intervention and control groups. Between 2003 and 2006, the VIP programme was administered to 1,267 girls in the intervention schools, while 1,567 girls in the control schools received the standard health education curriculum. Participants were aged 13-15 years and were followed until age 20 via data linkage to hospital medical and abortion clinic records. Log binomial and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to test for differences in pregnancy rates between study groups. Findings: Compared to girls Findings: Compared to girls in the control group, a higher proportion of girls in the intervention group recorded at least one birth (7.6%, n=97; 4·3%, n=67) or at least one abortion as the first pregnancy event (8.9%, n=113; 6.4%, n=101). After adjustment for potential confounding, the intervention group had a higher overall pregnancy risk (RR = 1·36, 95% CI 1.10–1·67, p=0.003) compared to the control group. Similar results were obtained using proportional hazard models (HR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.10–1·67, p=0·016). Interpretation: The infant-simulator based VIP Programme did not achieve its aim of reducing teenage pregnancy. Girls in the intervention group were more likely to experience a birth or an induced abortion than those in the control group before turning 20 years of age. Funding: The Health Promotion Research Foundation of Western Australia (Healthway), Lotteries WA, the Western Australian Department of Education and Training and the Western Australian Department of Health

Early risk factors for adolescent antisocial behaviour: an Australian longitudinal study

Objective: This investigation utilizes data from an Australian longitudinal study to identify early risk factors for adolescent antisocial behaviour. Method: Analyses are based on data from the Mater University Study of Pregnancy, an on-going longitudinal investigation of women’s and children’s health and development involving over 8000 participants. Five types of risk factors (child characteristics, perinatal factors, maternal/familial characteristics, maternal pre- and post-natal substance use and parenting practices) were included in analyses and were based on maternal reports, child assessments and medical records. Adolescent antisocial behaviour was measured when children were 14 years old, using the delinquency subscale of the Child Behaviour Checklist. Results: Based on a series of logistic regression models, significant risk factors for adolescent antisocial behaviour included children’s prior problem behaviour (i.e. aggression and attention/restlessness problems at age 5 years) and marital instability, which doubled or tripled the odds of antisocial behaviour. Perinatal factors, maternal substance use, and parenting practices were relatively poor predictors of antisocial behaviour. Conclusions: Few studies have assessed early predictors of antisocial behaviour in Australia and the current results can be used to inform prevention programs that target risk factors likely to lead to problem outcomes for Australian youth

Disease-specific, neurosphere-derived cells as models for brain disorders

There is a pressing need for patient-derived cell models of brain diseases that are relevant and robust enough to produce the large quantities of cells required for molecular and functional analyses. We describe here a new cell model based on patient-derived cells from the human olfactory mucosa, the organ of smell, which regenerates throughout life from neural stem cells. Olfactory mucosa biopsies were obtained from healthy controls and patients with either schizophrenia, a neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder, or Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease. Biopsies were dissociated and grown as neurospheres in defined medium. Neurosphere-derived cell lines were grown in serum-containing medium as adherent monolayers and stored frozen. By comparing 42 patient and control cell lines we demonstrated significant disease-specific alterations in gene expression, protein expression and cell function, including dysregulated neurodevelopmental pathways in schizophrenia and dysregulated mitochondrial function, oxidative stress and xenobiotic metabolism in Parkinson's disease. The study has identified new candidate genes and cell pathways for future investigation. Fibroblasts from schizophrenia patients did not show these differences. Olfactory neurosphere-derived cells have many advantages over embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells as models for brain diseases. They do not require genetic reprogramming and they can be obtained from adults with complex genetic diseases. They will be useful for understanding disease aetiology, for diagnostics and for drug discovery