Australian Research Council Grant Research Articles

Clinical and genetic keys to cerebellar ataxia due to FGF14 GAA expansions

SCA27B caused by FGF14 intronic heterozygous GAA expansions with at least 250 repeats accounts for 10-60% of cases with unresolved cerebellar ataxia. We aimed to assess the size and frequency of FGF14 expanded alleles in individuals with cerebellar ataxia as compared with controls and to characterize genetic and clinical variability. We sized this repeat in 1876 individuals from France sampled for research purposes in this cross-sectional study: 845 index cases with cerebellar ataxia and 324 affected relatives, 475 controls, as well as 119 cases with spastic paraplegia, and 113 with familial essential tremor. A higher frequency of expanded allele carriers in index cases with ataxia was significant only above 300 GAA repeats (10.1%, n=85) compared with controls (1.1%, n=5) (p<0.0001) whereas GAA250-299 alleles were detected in 1.7% of both groups. Eight of 14 index cases with GAA250-299 repeats had other causal pathogenic variants (4/14) and/or discordance of co-segregation (5/14), arguing against GAA causality. We compared the clinical signs in 127 GAA≥300 carriers to cases with non-expanded GAA ataxia resulting in defining a key phenotype triad: onset after 45 years, downbeat nystagmus, episodic ataxic features including diplopia; and a frequent absence of dysarthria. All maternally transmitted alleles above 100 GAA were unstable with a median expansion of+18 repeats per generation (r2=0.44; p<0.0001). In comparison, paternally transmitted alleles above 100 GAA mostly decreased in size (-15 GAA (r2=0.63; p<0.0001)), resulting in the transmission bias observed in SCA27B pedigrees. SCA27B diagnosis must consider both the phenotype and GAA expansion size. In carriers of GAA250-299 repeats, the absence of documented familial transmission and a presentation deviating from the key SCA27B phenotype, should prompt the search for an alternative cause. Affected fathers have a reduced risk of having affected children, which has potential implications for genetic counseling. This work was supported by the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, grant number 13338 to JLM, the Association Connaître les Syndrome Cérébelleux - France (to GS) and by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 779257 ("SOLVE-RD" to GS). DP holds a Fellowship award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). SK received a grant (01GM1905C) from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, through the TreatHSP network. This work was supported by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council grants (GNT2001513 and MRFF2007677) to MB and PJL.

Forecasting seizure likelihood from cycles of self-reported events and heart rate: a prospective pilot study.

Seizure risk forecasting could reduce injuries and even deaths in people with epilepsy. There is great interest in using non-invasive wearable devices to generate forecasts of seizure risk. Forecasts based on cycles of epileptic activity, seizure times or heart rate have provided promising forecasting results. This study validates a forecasting method using multimodal cycles recorded from wearable devices. Seizure and heart rate cycles were extracted from 13 participants. The mean period of heart rate data from a smartwatch was 562 days, with a mean of 125 self-reported seizures from a smartphone app. The relationship between seizure onset time and phases of seizure and heart rate cycles was investigated. An additive regression model was used to project heart rate cycles. The results of forecasts using seizure cycles, heart rate cycles, and a combination of both were compared. Forecasting performance was evaluated in 6 of 13 participants in a prospective setting, using long-term data collected after algorithms were developed. The results showed that the best forecasts achieved a mean area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.73 for 9/13 participants showing performance above chance during retrospective validation. Subject-specific forecasts evaluated with prospective data showed a mean AUC of 0.77 with 4/6 participants showing performance above chance. The results of this study demonstrate that cycles detected from multimodal data can be combined within a single, scalable seizure risk forecasting algorithm to provide robust performance. The presented forecasting method enabled seizure risk to be estimated for an arbitrary future period and could be generalised across a range of data types. In contrast to earlier work, the current study evaluated forecasts prospectively, in subjects blinded to their seizure risk outputs, representing a critical step towards clinical applications. This study was funded by an Australian Government National Health & Medical Research Council and BioMedTech Horizons grant. The study also received support from the Epilepsy Foundation of America's 'My Seizure Gauge' grant.

Underinvestment in nutrition research for at-risk populations: An analysis of research funding awarded in Australia from 2014 to 2021.

AimTo determine the proportion of research projects funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council research funding from 2014 to 2021 that aimed to understand or improve dietary behaviours for at‐risk populations in Australia and estimate the proportion of total funding allocated during this period.MethodsRetrospective analysis of the publicly available National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council funding grants over the 8 years from 2014 to 2021 (n = 18 098). At‐risk dietary populations included people living in rural and remote Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or people living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. Descriptive analysis was undertaken.ResultsIn total, 144 out of 18 098 (0.8%) individual grants totalling $96.8 million were identified relating to nutrition research from 2014 to 2021. Out of the 144, only 21 ($19.6 million; 0.1%) of all National Health and Medical Research Council grants were identified for nutritionally at‐risk populations, with the majority focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (15/21). The National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council grants that aimed to improve human dietary behaviours increased by 0.66% and 0.58%, respectively, from 2014 to 2021. However, the National Health and Medical Research Council grants aiming to improve nutritional behaviours in at‐risk populations decreased by 0.04% over the 8 years.ConclusionsDespite slight increases in the proportions of funding to improve dietary behaviours over the past decade, nutrition research specifically targeting at‐risk groups is scarce and appears to have decreased over time. Insufficient investment in research for these groups presents a risk for widening health disparities now and into the future. As such, they must be further supported and considered in the design of future funding schemes.

Population-wide contribution of medically assisted reproductive technologies to overall births in Australia: temporal trends and parental characteristics.

Population-wide contribution of medically assisted reproductive technologies to overall births in Australia: temporal trends and parental characteristics.

Factors Explaining Inequalities in Colon Cancer Survival—Reply

We thank Dr. Vicendese for his interest in our article investigating the underlying reasons for socioeconomic inequalities in survival from colon cancer using causal mediation analysis (1). We acknowledge that surgical volume is not a perfect measure for quality of a hospital; therefore, we might have missed an (indirect) effect of quality on the observed socioeconomic differences in colon cancer survival due to measurement error. Dichotomizing surgical volume at the median (due to limitations of the current methods) might have also further limited our ability to detect this potential indirect effect. We did not have data on hospital characteristics such as whether they had multidisciplinary teams, specialized or high-volume surgeons, and specialist technology-based services, and the method of analysis Dr. Vicendese has proposed to overcome confounding by hospital characteristics cannot be incorporated into a causal mediation analysis; therefore, it would not address our research question.See the original Letter to the Editor, p. 296N. Afshar reports grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Council during the conduct of the study. R.L. Milne reports grants from NHMRC during the conduct of the study. D.R. English reports grants from Australian National Health and Medical Research Council during the conduct of the study.This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (grant number 1150012).

Transforming Research Tasks to Avoid Plagiarism

In 2006-2007, Scotch College, along with 3 other schools was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant to undertake research into how students use information – “Generating knowledge and avoiding plagiarism: Smart information use by secondary students”The research involved collaboration between teachers and teacher librarians to develop models of teaching in various subject areas which encourage students to generate new knowledge and avoid plagiarism.This paper will outline steps towards building a culture of collaboration and team work; strategies employed by teacher librarians to reduce plagiarism; and reflections from teachers, teacher librarians and students.

Associations of childhood adiposity with menstrual irregularity and polycystic ovary syndrome in adulthood: the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study and the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Is high adiposity in childhood associated with menstrual irregularity and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in later life? Overall, greater childhood BMI was associated with menstrual irregularity, and greater childhood BMI and waist/height ratio (WHtR) in white but not black participants were associated with PCOS in adulthood. Increased childhood BMI has been associated with irregular menstrual cycles and PCOS symptoms in adulthood in two longitudinal population-based studies, but no study has reported on associations with childhood abdominal obesity. Few studies have investigated whether there are racial differences in the associations of adiposity with PCOS though there has been some suggestion that associations with high BMI may be stronger in white girls than in black girls. The study included 1516 participants (aged 26-41years) from the Australian Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study (CDAH) and 1247 participants (aged 26-57years) from the biracial USA Babies substudy of the Bogalusa Heart Study (BBS) who were aged 7-15years at baseline. At follow-up, questions were asked about menstruation (current for CDAH or before age 40years for BBS), ever having had a diagnosis of PCOS and symptoms of PCOS. In CDAH, a single childhood visit was conducted in 1985. In BBS, multiple childhood visits occurred from 1973 to 2000 and race was reported (59% white; 41% black). In childhood, overweight and obesity were defined by international age-sex-specific standards for BMI and WHtR was considered as an indicator of abdominal obesity. Multilevel mixed-effects Poisson regression estimated relative risks (RRs) adjusting for childhood age, highest parental and own education and age at menarche. The prevalence of childhood obesity was 1.1% in CDAH and 7.5% in BBS. At follow-up, menstrual irregularity was reported by 16.7% of CDAH and 24.5% of BBS participants. The prevalence of PCOS was 7.4% in CDAH and 8.0% in BBS participants. In CDAH, childhood obesity was associated with menstrual irregularity (RR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.63-4.96) and PCOS (RR = 4.05, 95% CI: 1.10-14.83) in adulthood. With each 0.01 unit increase in childhood WHtR there was a 6% (95% CI: 1-11%) greater likelihood of PCOS. Overall, in BBS, childhood obesity was associated with increased risk of menstrual irregularity (RR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.08-1.92) in adulthood. Significant interaction effects between race and childhood adiposity were detected in associations with PCOS. In BBS white participants, childhood obesity was associated with PCOS (RR = 2.93, 95% CI: 1.65-5.22) and a 0.01 unit increase in childhood WHtR was associated with an 11% (95% CI: 5-17%) greater likelihood of PCOS in adulthood. In BBS black participants, no statistically significant associations of childhood adiposity measures with PCOS were observed. The classification of menstrual irregularity and PCOS was based on self-report by questionnaire, which may have led to misclassification of these outcomes. However, despite the limitations of the study, the prevalence of menstrual irregularity and PCOS in the two cohorts was consistent with the literature. While the study samples at baseline were population-based, loss to follow-up means the generalizability of the findings is uncertain. Greater childhood adiposity indicates a higher risk of menstrual irregularity and PCOS in adulthood. Whether this is causal or an early indicator of underlying hormonal or metabolic disorders needs clarification. The stronger associations of adiposity with PCOS in white than black participants suggest that there are racial differences in childhood adiposity predisposing to the development of PCOS and other environmental or genetic factors are also important. The CDAH study was supported by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (grants 211316, 544923 and 1128373). The Bogalusa Heart Study is supported by US National Institutes of Health grants R01HD069587, AG16592, HL121230, HD032194 and P50HL015103. No competing interests existed.

Twin enzymes, divergent control: The cholesterogenic enzymes DHCR14 and LBR are differentially regulated transcriptionally and post‐translationally

Cholesterol synthesis is a tightly regulated process, both transcriptionally and post‐translationally. Transcriptional control of cholesterol synthesis is relatively well understood. However, post‐translational regulation has only been examined for a few of the ~20 enzymes in cholesterol biosynthesis. Two of the four sterol reductases, DHCR14 and LBR, share evolutionary ties with a high level of sequence homology, and they uniquely share the same delta‐14 reductase activity in cholesterol biosynthesis. However, the post‐translational regulation of these twin enzymes is poorly understood. Using CHO‐7 cells stably expressing epitope tagged DHCR14 or LBR, we investigated the post‐translational regulation of these enzymes. We found that DHCR14 and LBR undergo differential post translational regulation, with DHCR14 being rapidly turned over, triggered by cholesterol and other sterol intermediates while LBR remained stable. DHCR14 is degraded via the ubiquitin‐proteasome system and via mass‐spectrometry we identified several E3 ligases that modulate basal DHCR14 levels. Significantly, we found that gene expression across an array of human tissues showed an inverse relationship between the C14‐sterol reductases; one enzyme or the other tends to be predominantly expressed in each tissue. Overall, our findings indicate that while LBR tends to be the constitutively active delta‐14 reductase, DHCR14 levels are tuneable, responding to the local cellular demands for cholesterol.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by Australian Research Council Grant DP170101178. PhD Candidates were funded by the Research Training Program from the Australian Government Department of Education.

Exploration of Associations Between Deliberate Self-Poisoning and Psychiatric Disorders in Rural Sri Lanka: A Case Control Study

Background: Psychiatric disorders are important predictors of self-harm behaviour. The present study was carried out to determine associations between DSM-IV TR Axis- I & II disorders and deliberate self poisoning (DSP) in a Sri Lankan rural agricultural district. Methods: Patients who had attempted DSP, who resided within the district were selected randomly for the study. Both the cases and age, sex and residential area matched controls were assessed for DSM-IV TR Axis- I & II disorders based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I and II Disorders (SCID I & II) conducted by a specialist psychiatrist. Findings: Cases consisted of 207 (47.3%) males and 231 (52.7%) females. TR axis-I and/or TR axis-II psychiatric diagnoses was found in 89 (25.6%) of cases and 14 (3.2%) controls. Cases with a TR axis-I diagnosis were older (32 and 19 years), p =30 years and having an alcohol use disorder carried a 21 time excess risk for DSP. A fivefold excess risk for DSP was found among 10-19 years old females with borderline personality traits. Interpretations: Depressive disorder and alcohol related disorders were significantly associated with older participants who had attempted DSP. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among DSP in rural Sri Lanka is significantly lower than reported rates in western countries. Health and research priorities to reduce self-harm in Sri Lanka will also need to address non-psychiatric issues. Trial Registration: (Sri Lanka Clinical Trial Registry No. SLCTR/2010/008). Funding Statement: The study was supported by two Australian National Health and Medical Research Council grants: NHMRC 630650 and NHMRC Fellowship 1059542 (https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approval for “A clustered RCT of educational interventions on treatment of patients with acute poisoning in rural Asian hospitals” was obtained from Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. Ethical approval for the sub study was obtained from the human ethics review committee of the Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.

Measurement of the integrated luminosity of the Phase 2 data of the Belle II experiment * * This work was supported by the following funding sources: Science Committee of the Republic of Armenia Grant No. 18T-1C180; Australian Research Council and research grant Nos. DP180102629, DP170102389, DP170102204, DP150103061, FT130100303, and FT130100018; Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, and Austrian

From April to July 2018, a data sample at the peak energy of the resonance was collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider. This is the first data sample of the Belle II experiment. Using Bhabha and digamma events, we measure the integrated luminosity of the data sample to be ( , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This work provides a basis for future luminosity measurements at Belle II.

Identification of Susceptibility Variants to BECTS in Chinese Han Population

Benign Childhood Epilepsy with Centro-temporal Spikes (BECTS) is the most common form of idiopathic epilepsy in children. To explore the genetic susceptibility loci in children with BECTS, we conducted 2stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) in over 1,800 Chinese Han patients with BECTS, and 7,090 healthy controls. We combined the datasets of the two stages by meta-analysis to identify the SNPs associated to BECTS. Significant common variant heritability of BECTS was observed. Heritability in the combined phase 1 and 2 datasets was > 10% even for assumed prevalence as low as 0.00025 on the liability scale. Twelve loci achieved suggestive evidence of association (5x10-8 < P < 10-5). In addition, the intersection between the GWAS findings and gene expression in brain tissue was analyzed by Summary-data-based Mendelian Randomization (SMR). We found association of t3603436 transcripts in CHRNA5 gene with SNP rs1948, which is suggestively associated with BECTS (Peqtl = 2.10x10-12, Psmr = 7.9x10-5), suggesting that rs1948 is significantly associated with BECTS through effects on expression of CHRNA5 in brain tissue. These findings suggest involvements of KALRN and CHRNA5-A3-B4 cluster in BECTS, give new directions to biological understanding of pediatric epilepsy, and opens avenues for investigation of prognostic factors and possible prevention of epilepsy in children. Funding: The study was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFC1000707), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81771389 and No. 81471329), and China Ministry of Science and technology (973 Program of China 2014CB541800). The study was also funded by Australian Research Council grant LPl10200926, and by the Queensland Premier’s Fellowship for Science (awarded to MAB, 2013). MAB was funded by Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3384897 a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Principal Research Fellowship (APP1024879). Declaration of Interest: The authors have no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval: Written informed consent was obtained from all the parents or guardians, and the study was approved by the relevant ethics committees of the hospitals and institutions involved.

Analysis of Australian Research Council Grants Awarded for Social Work Projects 2008–2017

ABSTRACTThe quantity and quality of social work research is central to creating knowledge for the profession and maintaining social work’s presence and status in universities. This study examines Australian Research Council grants awarded for social work projects for the 10-year period 2008–2107. It investigates the quantum of grants and the topics addressed, and compares social work to related social sciences. The field of social work was awarded 84 research grants over the 10-year period, a total of $23 million and an average of 8.4 grants per year. However, this did not match the grant successes of the two comparator fields of criminology and social policy and administration. Having a clear picture of research achievements, including grants, is necessary to enable the discipline to plot a strategic way forward, addressing gaps and deficits, and building on strengths.IMPLICATIONSIncreasing research grant success is vital to the ongoing development of the social work knowledge base, and bolsters the standing of social work in universities.Maximising the use of social work Field of Research codes will increase the visibility of social work research, especially in multidisciplinary projects.Social work researchers should publicise competitive grant successes

The magneto-thermoelectric effect of graphene with intra-valley scattering**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11274013 and 11774006), the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB921300), and the Australian Research Council Grant (Grant No. DP160101474).

We present a qualitative and quantitative study of the magneto-thermoelectric effect of graphene. In the limit of impurity scattering length being much longer than the lattice constant, the intra-valley scattering dominates the charge and thermal transport. The self-energy and the Green’s functions are calculated in the self-consistent Born approximation. It is found that the longitudinal thermal conductivity splits into double peaks at high Landau levels and exhibits oscillations which are out of phase with the electric conductivity. The chemical potential-dependent electrical resistivity, the thermal conductivities, the Seebeck coefficient, and the Nernst coefficient are obtained. The results are in good agreement with the experimental observations.

Agreement between diagnoses of otitis media by audiologists and otolaryngologists in Aboriginal Australian children.

To determine the degree of agreement of diagnoses by audiologists and otolaryngologists of otitis media (OM) in Aboriginal children. Cross-sectional study of agreement between diagnoses. Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH), a prospective cohort study of Aboriginal children attending four Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in New South Wales (three metropolitan, one regional) during 2008-2012. 1310 of 1669 SEARCH participants (78.5%; mean age, 7.0 years; SD, 4.4 years) were assessed and received a diagnosis from one of five experienced audiologists. Test results (but not case histories) were forwarded to one of three otolaryngologists for blinded independent assessment. Agreement of OM diagnoses by audiologists and otolaryngologists at ear and child levels; correctness of audiologist diagnoses (otolaryngologist diagnosis as reference). Paired diagnoses by audiologists and otolaryngologists were available for 863 children at the child level and 1775 ears (989 children) at the ear level. Otolaryngologists diagnosed OM in 251 children (29.1%), including 11 (1.3%) with tympanic membrane perforation, and in 396 ears (22.3%), including 12 (0.7%) with perforation. Agreement between audiologists and otolaryngologists for OM at the ear level was 92.2% (κ = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.74-0.82), and at the child level 91.7% (κ = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.77-0.85). No otolaryngologist-diagnosed perforation was missed by audiologists. Among 1000 children triaged by an audiologist, there would be 45 false positives and 30 false negatives when compared with assessments by an otolaryngologist, with no missed perforations. There was substantial agreement between audiologists' and otolaryngologists' diagnoses of OM in a high prevalence population of Aboriginal children. In settings with limited access to otolaryngologists, audiologists may appropriately triage children and select those requiring specialist review.

Capture cross sections for the synthesis of new heavy nuclei using radioactive beams

This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics under Grant No. DE-SC0014380 (OSU), Australian Research Council Grants No. FL110100098, No. FT120100760, No. DP140101337, No. DP160101254, and No. DP170102318 (ANU) and the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. PHY-110251(MSU). We gratefully acknowledge NCRIS for support of operations of the ANU Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility. One of us (K.S.) wishes to acknowledge support from the U.S. DOE NNSA through the Nuclear Science and Security consortium under Grant No. DE-NA0003180.

Provenance of late Paleozoic strata in the Yili Basin: Implications for tectonic evolution of the South Tianshan orogenic belt

This research was supported by the 973 Program under grant no. 2015CB453000, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41502109), the Cultivating Program of Middle-Aged Key Teachers of Chengdu University of Technology (KYGG201718), Innovation Team of Sedimentary Geology of Chengdu University of Technology (KYTD201703), and by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015M582528). Cawood acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council grant FL160100168.

N-cadherin identifies human endometrial epithelial progenitor cells by in vitro stem cell assays

Is there a specific surface marker that identifies human endometrial epithelial progenitor cells with adult stem cell activity using in vitro assays? N-cadherin isolates clonogenic, self-renewing human endometrial epithelial progenitor cells with high proliferative potential that differentiate into cytokeratin+ gland-like structures in vitro and identifies their location in some cells of gland profiles predominantly in basalis endometrium adjacent to the myometrium. Human endometrium contains a small population of clonogenic, self-renewing epithelial cells with high proliferative potential that differentiate into large gland-like structures, but their identity and location is unknown. Stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1) distinguishes the epithelium of basalis from functionalis and is a marker of human post-menopausal (Post-M) endometrial epithelium. Prospective observational study of endometrial epithelial cells obtained from hysterectomy samples taken from 50 pre-menopausal (Pre-M) and 24 Post-M women, of which 4 were from women who had taken daily estradiol valerate 2 mg/day for 8 weeks prior. Gene profiling was used to identify differentially expressed surface markers between fresh EpCAM (Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule)-magnetic bead-selected basalis-like epithelial cells from Post-M endometrium compared with predominantly functionalis epithelial cells from Pre-M endometrium and validated by qRT-PCR. In vitro clonogenicity and self-renewal assays were used to assess the stem/progenitor cell properties of magnetic bead-sorted N-cadherin+ and N-cadherin- epithelial cells. The cellular identity, location and phenotype of N-cadherin+ cells was assessed by dual colour immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy for cytokeratin, proliferative status (Ki-67), ERα, SSEA-1, SOX9 and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers on full thickness human endometrium. CDH2 (N-cadherin gene) was one of 11 surface molecules highly expressed in Post-M compared to Pre-M endometrial epithelial cells. N-cadherin+ cells comprise a median 16.7% (n = 8) and 20.2% (n = 5) of Pre-M endometrial epithelial cells by flow cytometry and magnetic bead sorting, respectively. N-cadherin+ epithelial cells from Pre-M endometrium were more clonogenic than N-cadherin- cells (n = 12, P = 0.003), underwent more population doublings (n = 7), showed greater capacity for serial cloning (n = 7) and differentiated into cytokeratin+ gland-like organoids. N-cadherin immunolocalised to the lateral and apical membrane of epithelial cells in the bases of glands in the basalis of Pre-M endometrium and Post-M gland profiles, co-expressing cytokeratin, ERα but not SSEA-1 or SOX9, which localized on gland profiles proximal to N-cadherin+ cells. N-cadherin+ cells were quiescent (Ki-67-) in the basalis and in Post-M endometrial glands and co-localized with EMT markers vimentin and E-cadherin. The raw and processed data files from the gene microarray have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus data set with accession number GSE35221. This is a descriptive study in human endometrium only using in vitro stem cell assays. The differential ability of N-cadherin+ and N-cadherin-cells to generate endometrial glands in vivo was not determined. A small number of uterine tissues analysed contained adenomyosis for which N-cadherin has been implicated in epithelial-EMT. A new marker enriching for human endometrial epithelial progenitor cells identifies a different and potentially more primitive cell population than SSEA-1, suggesting a potential hierarchy of epithelial differentiation in the basalis. Using N-cadherin as a marker, the molecular and cellular characteristics of epithelial progenitor cells and their role in endometrial proliferative disorders including endometriosis, adenomyosis and thin dysfunctional endometrium can be investigated. This research was supported by Cancer Council Victoria grant 491079 (C.E.G.) and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council grants 1021127 (C.E.G.), 1085435 (C.E.G., J.A.D.), 145780 and 288713 (C.N.S.), RD Wright Career Development Award 465121 (C.E.G.), Senior Research Fellowship 1042298 (C.E.G.), the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support and an Australian Postgraduate Award (HPTN), and China Council Scholarship (L.X.). The authors have nothing to declare.

Platy Pyroxene: New Insights into Spinifex Texture

Jeremy Shaw, Andrew Mehnert, Stefano Caruso and Scott Heywood-Smith are thanked for analytical, technical and visualization assistance. Fawna Korhonen is thanked for providing help with the interpretation of alteration assemblages. Joyce Peng is thanked for drafting figures. We thank reviewers Nick Arndt, Steve Parman and a third anonymous reviewer for their comments. This paper has also benefited from helpful discussions with Bob Nesbitt, Steve Barnes, Stephen Wyche, Hugh Smithies, Paul Morris, Sandra Romano and Roman Teslyuk. Staff at the Geological Survey of Western Australia are thanked for their assistance with fieldwork and sample handling at Carlisle labs. The Geological Survey of Western Australia is thanked for substantial in-kind support. We acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, University of Western Australia, a facility funded by the University, State and Commonwealth Governments. J.R.L. conducted the research presented in this paper as part of a PhD research degree at The University of Sydney. T.J.I. publishes with the permission of the Executive Director, Geological Survey of Western Australia. This work was supported by Australian Research Council Grant LP130100722 and by the Geological Survey of Western Australia

Cooperative Localisation of a GPS-Denied UAV in 3-Dimensional Space Using Direction of Arrival Measurements * *This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the ARC grants DP-130103610 and DP-160104500, and by Data61-CSIRO (formerly NICTA).

Abstract This paper presents a novel approach for localising a GPS (Global Positioning System)-denied Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with the aid of a GPS-equipped UAV in three-dimensional space. The GPS-equipped UAV makes discrete-time broadcasts of its global coordinates. The GPS-denied UAV receives the broadcast and in doing so takes a direction of arrival (DOA) measurement towards the origin of the broadcast in its local coordinate frame (obtained via an inertial navigation system (INS)). The aim is to determine the difference between the local and global frames, described by a rotation and a translation. In the noiseless case, global coordinates are recovered exactly by solving a system of linear equations. When DOA measurements are contaminated with noise, rank relaxed semidefinite programming (SDP) and the Orthogonal Procrustes algorithm are employed. Simulations are provided and factors affecting accuracy, such as noise levels and number of measurements, are explored.

On the Analysis of the DeGroot-Friedkin Model with Dynamic Relative Interaction Matrices * *This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under the ARC grants DP-130103610 and DP-160104500, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 61375072), and by Data61-CSIRO (formerly NICTA). The work of Liu and Başar was supported in part by Office of Naval Research

Abstract This paper analyses the DeGroot-Friedkin model for evolution of the individuals’ social powers in a social network when the network topology varies dynamically (described by dynamic relative interaction matrices). The DeGroot-Friedkin model describes how individual social power (self-appraisal, self-weight) evolves as a network of individuals discuss opinions on a sequence of issues. We seek to study dynamically changing relative interactions because interactions may change depending on the issue being discussed. Specifically, we study relative interaction matrices which vary periodically with respect to the issues. This may reflect a group of individuals, e.g. a government cabinet, that meet regularly to discuss a set of issues sequentially. It is shown that individuals’ social powers admit a periodic solution. Initially, we study a social network which varies periodically between two relative interaction matrices, and then generalise to an arbitrary number of relative interaction matrices.