University Of Adelaide Research Articles

New model set to revolutionise the design and development of reinforced-concrete structures

A new mechanics-based model developed in Australia looks set to have a major effect on reinforced-concrete design and development. Deric Oehlers and Phillip Visintin of University of Adelaide, who won this year's Telford Premium for their work, report.

Learning in Facebook: First year tertiary student reflections from 2008 to 2011

<p>This paper reflects on the use of Facebook as an online learning environment for first year design students from 2008 to 2011. Between 2008 and 2010 three student cohorts from the University of Adelaide engaged with their peers through forums hosted by Facebook, submitting work-in-progress imagery and critiquing peers' submissions. In 2011 the study expanded to include national and international collaborators with first year cohorts from Swinburne University in Australia, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore also participating, allowing students to interact with their global peers. The online forum facilitated increased peer interaction, particularly between local and international students, and improved academic performance as a result of consistent feedback from a range of sources. At the end of 2011 students from the four participating cohorts between 2008 and 2011 were invited to take part in a survey reflecting on and evaluating the learning experiences in Facebook. The results highlighted many positive outcomes regarding the online forum, and have led to the establishment of a series of recommendations for the future use of Facebook as a learning tool, outlined at the conclusion of this paper.</p><p> </p>

Advances in ambient intelligence technologies

This special issue contains selected papers from the 3rd International Conference on Ambient Systems, Networks and Technologies (ANT 2012), which was held at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, August 27–29, 2012. The conference attracted a large number of scientific papers that contributed to the state-of-the-art in the areas of pervasive and ambient information systems. All the papers selected for this special issue have undergone two rounds of rigorous review process. Based on the reviewers’ feedback, seven papers were selected for publication from eight best papers invited from ANT 2012. The accepted papers cover interesting works on new developments in ambient intelligence such as adaptable intelligence systems, smart environments, body area networks, and network security. The first paper by Zhang, Khedri, and Jaskolka, ‘‘An Aspect-Oriented Language for Feature Modeling’’, proposes a new language called AO-PFA for developing ambient systems. Built on top of Product Family Algebra (PFA) and by using the aspect-oriented technology, AOPFA offers capabilities in dealing with unpredictable changes in ambient applications. The paper by Hoelzl, Kurz, and Ferscha, ‘‘Goal Oriented Recognition of Composed Activities for Reliable and Adaptable Intelligence Systems’’, focuses on activity and context recognition, an important research topic for adaptable ambient intelligence systems. The paper proposes a goal oriented approach to dynamically create and instantiate models to recognize high level composed activities in an opportunistic way. The paper by Li, He, and Arora, ‘‘ThermoNet: FineGrain Assessment of Building Comfort and Efficiency’’, describes ThermoNet, a hybrid wireless sensor network solution for monitoring and optimizing energy consumption of the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems in large buildings. The paper reports some interesting findings based on the data collected from a realworld environment. The paper by Menon, Jayaraman, and Govindaraju, ‘‘Probabilistic Spatio-Temporal Retrieval in Smart Spaces’’, deals with uncertainties of object tracking in smart spaces. The paper proposes a data model that supports computation of probabilities of spatio-temporal queries giving the uncertainty of the location of an occupant. The paper by Knapen et al., ‘‘Exploiting GraphTheoretic Tools for Matching in Carpooling Applications’’, studies carpooling for commuting and proposes a Global CarPooling Matching Service (GCPMS) that provides advice on how to combine commuting trips by carpooling. In order to evaluate the matching performance of the GCPMS, a multi-agent system is also developed and some initial experimental results are reported. The paper by Khan et al. ‘‘A New Patient Monitoring Framework and Energy-Aware Peering Routing Protocol (EPR) for Body Area Network Communication’’, proposes a new architecture of Body Area Networks for indoor hospital environments. The paper presents an EPR for reducing the traffic load and energy consumption while increasing the number of packets successfully delivered to the destinations. The final paper by Beitollahi and Deconinck, ‘‘ConnectionScore: A Statistical Technique to Resist Application-Layer DDoS Attacks’’, describes a Q. Z. Sheng J. Ma School of Computer Science, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia e-mail: qsheng@cs.adelaide.edu.au

The human squamous epithelial cell envelope: the structural model by Peter M Steinert

The human squamous epithelial cell envelope: the structural model by Peter M Steinert

Scientific writing: the process and the pitfalls

The recent release of updated journal impact factors has shown that Forensic Science Medicine and Pathology has risen from its first entry of 0.698 in 2010, to 1.44 in 2011, and now to a respectable 2.438 in 2012. This is a very gratifying trend and is a tribute to the high quality submissions from our authors and the excellent work of our reviewers, editorial staff, and colleagues at Springer publishers. However, impact factors can also decline and so it is essential that the quality and progress of our journal is maintained so that this level of excellence will only further increase in subsequent years. For this reason it is timely to examine aspects of scientific writing and the problems that authors may encounter. Unfortunately research may have diminished significance if the results of studies and observations are not reported to the wider professional community within a reasonable time. Prompt dissemination enables data to be evaluated and further developed. Much of the success of this process depends upon researchers and pathologists being able to write about their work clearly, in a manner that is suitable for publication, and that is accessible to their colleagues. Writing well is not always as easy as it sounds, and although researchers may be highly skilled at generating and collecting data, the ability to put together a wellcrafted paper may be less well developed. A major problem in submissions which either require significant revision or are rejected outright is a lack of critical examination and explanation of results [1]. The most disappointing papers are those where it appears that a considerable amount of work has been expended by researchers who have then failed to formulate credible or logical conclusions. Often there appears to be a lack of understanding of the precise focus of the paper; specifically, the hypothesis being tested, and how the results either support or refute it. A good way of approaching a study is to encapsulate the aim within the title and to keep coming back to this; i.e., to not stray from the essential path of the paper. In-house peer review by colleagues prior to submission may also be helpful to authors, but this must involve a genuine assessment of the paper and not just a cursory overview—something that will take time to do if it is undertaken properly. The discipline imposed by some journals of limiting the word count for Abstracts provides an example of how writing within certain constraints forces an author to focus on the most significant aspects of his or her research. Other journals may have boxes that contain what is known about the topic and what this paper adds to the literature. As another example of this process, Forensic Science Medicine and Pathology encourages this by requiring four to five ‘‘Key Points’’ that clearly and succinctly summarize the major features of each paper. It is, however, disappointing to see how many authors do not provide this information on their first submission. Cultural differences in expression and the use of the vernacular, combined with problems in translation, can often seriously reduce the impact of a paper. For authors whose first language is not that of the journal, the use of language service companies may be one way of getting appropriate editing so that potentially confusing idiosyncratic expressions and grammatical errors will be removed from the text prior to submission. English language services are available for Forensic Medicine Science and R. W. Byard (&) Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Level 3 Medical School North Building, Frome Road, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia e-mail: roger.byard@sa.gov.au

The Soria Moria approach to pediatric forensic issues

Pediatric forensic pathology has been a controversial and evolving area in recent years [1, 2]. High profile court cases in many countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, have focused both professional and public attention on deficiencies in diagnoses and approaches to cases, sometimes with resultant highly unfortunate miscarriages of justice [3, 4]. Examples of irresponsible testimony in court by physicians in cases of child maltreatment and neglect, as well as the medicolegal consequences caused by a medical examiner’s inadequate expertise and experience in pediatric pathology, have been described [5, 6]. Attempts to redress this situation have included the involvement of professional organizations and courts in reviewing cases and in establishing protocols and guidelines. A special issue of Forensic Science Medicine and Pathology was published in 2010 in which a number of issues were reviewed and analyzed including terminology and classifications for unexpected deaths in infancy and the place of parents at infant death scenes [7–9]. Additional problems in the field include declining numbers of trainee pathologists who are interested in pediatric forensic issues and adult practitioners who sometimes make the mistake of extrapolating from adult cases back to children. One way of addressing these problems is to hold meetings that specifically focus on pediatric forensic issues. This has not, however, been a common occurrence. An exception to this is the annual meeting convened in Norway by the Department of Forensic Pathology and Clinical Forensic Medicine of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health at the Soria Moria Convention Center, outside the main city of Oslo. The meeting has been held on an annual basis since 1993; it is an international meeting with English as the official language, although often with a Norwegian meeting held on the preceding day. The meeting lasts for two and a half days and covers a wide range of topics focusing particularly on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and on sudden and unexpected infant and childhood death. The meeting is quite small limited to between 40 and 60 participants, who come from a variety of forensic, clinical, and research backgrounds. To give an insight into the types of presentations that occur, the program for this year (2013) will be reviewed. On the first morning, a session was held on the epidemiology of SIDS and sudden death in infants and children. This included overviews of changing patterns in mortality and trends in classifications, the relationship of SIDS rates to immunizations, death scene investigations in Norway, and discussion on parental responses to death scene examinations and bereavement issues. The morning concluded with a session where participants were able to have short presentations of submitted difficult cases that had raised particular diagnostic or legal problems. Topics included concealed births, second impact syndrome, accidents with bicycle helmets, positional asphyxia, and dehydration. The remainder of the day was devoted to R. W. Byard (&) Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology, The University of Adelaide, Level 3 Medical School North Building, Frome Road, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia e-mail: roger.byard@sa.gov.au

Exercise in obese pregnant women: positive impacts and current perceptions

Overweight and obesity have significant implications during pregnancy and childbirth. The objective of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the effect of physical activity on pregnancy outcomes, the change of physical activity during pregnancy, and women’s perception of being physically active during pregnancy, with a particular focus on women who are overweight or obese. Many studies have investigated the beneficial effect of exercise during pregnancy, including reduced risk of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and operative birth, in addition to improved cardiovascular function, overall fitness, psychological well-being, and mood stability. Benefits for the infant include reduced risks of prematurity and improved fetal growth, although there is more limited information about longer-term health benefits for both women and infants. The existing literature examining physical activity patterns during pregnancy has generally focused on women of all body mass index categories, consistently indicating a reduction in activity over the course of pregnancy. However, the available literature evaluating physical activity during pregnancy among women who are overweight or obese is more limited and contradictory. A number of studies identified barriers preventing women from being active during pregnancy, including pregnancy symptoms, lack of time, access to child care, and concerns about their safety and that of their unborn baby. Conversely, significant enablers included positive psychological feelings, family influence, and receiving advice from health professionals. Very few studies have provided insights about perceptions of being active during pregnancy in the overweight and obese population. There is a need for a detailed description of physical activity patterns during pregnancy in women who are overweight or obese, and more randomized trials evaluating exercise interventions for women who are overweight or obese, with a focus on clinical outcomes.

Rainfall and temperature variation does not explain arid species diversity in outback Australia

Rainfall and temperature variation does not explain arid species diversity in outback Australia Lochran W Traill,1 Thomas C Wanger,2,3,4 Siobhan C de Little,1 Barry W Brook11Environment Institute and School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia; 2Center for Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Stanford University, CA, USA; 3Ecosystem Functions, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany; 4Agroecology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, GermanyAbstract: Steps toward conserving biodiversity should start at understanding the components across spatial scales and a determination of the drivers of these. Here we determine additive species diversity for arid South Australia, based on over 50 years of survey data. Elevation and soil data were sourced through the Australian Government, and climate data from the WorldClim database. Alternative hypotheses relating the effect of climatic and environmental parameters to diversity were tested using generalized linear models and ranked according to information-theoretic statistics. Total species richness for the region was 1824, similar to all arid regions. α-diversity values were low, relative to the contributions made by β-diversity toward total γ-diversity, similar to additive diversity indices for nonarid biomes. There was a lack of statistical support for our hypothesis that regional spatial variation in arid region diversity can be explained by climate topography. Arid South Australian species diversity appears to be largely driven by environmental parameters at the localized scale – beyond the resolution of available survey data. Heterogeneity in habitat, provided by mountainous regions, likely contributes toward the high β-diversity values. Our research is the first application of the additive (not multiplicative) approach toward understanding diversity within arid Australia.Keywords: additive diversity, arid biome, South Australia, generalized linear models, global climate models, species richness

User-centric ambient information systems and applications

This theme issue looks at new developments in pervasive and ambient systems such as localization, interaction interfaces, context-aware services, smart environments, and personal task scheduling. It is based on selected and rereviewed papers from the 3rd International Conference on Ambient Systems, Networks and Technologies (ANT 2012), which was held at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, August 27–29, 2012. The conference attracted a large number of scientific papers that contributed to the state-ofthe-art in the areas of pervasive and ambient information systems. All the papers selected for this special issue have undergone two rounds of rigorous review process. Based on the reviewers’ feedback, seven papers were selected for publication from ten best papers invited from ANT 2012. The first paper by Adnan, Datta, and MacLean, ‘‘Efficient and Accurate Sensor Network Localization’’, focuses on localization, a key research challenge in wireless sensor networks, and proposes a generic, distributed algorithm that outperforms a typical range-free algorithm Weighted Monte Carlo Localization (WMCL). The paper by Zhou et al. ‘‘Innovative Wearable Interfaces: An Exploratory Analysis of Paper-based Interfaces with Camera-Glasses Device Unit’’ considers ubiquitous interaction approaches and conducts some interesting research by developing a MobilePaperAccess system. This system enables mobile interactions by exploiting a wearable camera-glasses device with a paper-based interface. Context awareness is a critical feature in user-centric ambient environments in the sense that more personalized services can be offered to users. The following three papers focus on context-awareness and offer some recent developments and advancement. The paper by Ouksel and Lundquist, ‘‘A Context-Aware Cross-Layer (CACL) Broadcast Model for Ad Hoc Networks’’, concerns poor performance of 802.11 medium access control (MAC) and proposes a CACL broadcast model, which offers superior single-hop transmission rates than MAC. Some further extension to CACL is also discussed in the paper. The paper by Yuan and Herbert, ‘‘Context-Aware Hybrid Reasoning Framework for Pervasive Healthcare’’, presents a personalized, flexible, and extensible hybrid reasoning framework for developing context-aware healthcare applications to assist activity of daily living of the elderly. The framework particularly supports context-aware sensor data fusion and anomaly detection by exploiting the hierarchical fuzzy rule-based reasoning (FRBR). The paper by Gronli, Ghinea, and Younas, ‘‘Context-Aware and Automatic Configuration of Mobile Devices in Cloud-Enabled Ubiquitous Computing’’, reports a prototype system on crosssource integration of cloud-based, context aware information in ubiquitous computing. The paper by Mathew et al., ‘‘Building Sustainable Parking Lots with the Web of Things (WoT)’’, describes a scalable parking-lot infrastructure based on the emerging WoT. With this infrastructure, it is possible to perform mashups of physical things for creating a smart parking spot (SPS) that can be interacted by drivers from the Web. The initial evaluation reveals some promising results such as 40 % of saving in both time and air pollution. The final Q. Z. Sheng J. Ma School of Computer Science, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia e-mail: qsheng@cs.adelaide.edu.au

Transluminal Attenuation Gradient on 320-Detector Row CT (TAG320) Compared to Contrast Opacification Mean Difference (CO-Mean-Difference) for Detection of Functionally Significant Stenosis Assessed by Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR)

D. Wong1,3,5,∗, B. Ko2, J. Cameron2, N. Nerlekar 2, M. Leung2, Y. Malaiapan2, M. Crossett 6, D. Leong3,4, S. Worthley3,5, J. Troupis 6, I. Meredith2, S. Seneviratne2 1MonashHeart, Australia 2 Monash Cardiovascular Research Centre, Department of Medicine (MMC),MonashUniversity, andMonashHeart,Melbourne, Australia 3 University of Adelaide, Australia 4 Flinders University, Australia 5 Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia 6 Diagnostic Imaging, Monash Medical Centre, Australia

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

The urgent need for an effective biomarker for cytotoxic therapy-induced adverse effects

Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Correspondence to Dr Rachel Gibson PhD, School of Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. Tel: +61 8 83131023; e-mail: [email protected]

A simple mechanism for mid-crustal shear zones to record surface-derived fluid signatures

Research Article| June 01, 2013 A simple mechanism for mid-crustal shear zones to record surface-derived fluid signatures Tom Raimondo; Tom Raimondo * 1School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia2School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia *E-mail: tom.raimondo@unisa.edu.au. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Chris Clark; Chris Clark 3Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Martin Hand; Martin Hand 2School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar John Cliff; John Cliff 4Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Robert Anczkiewicz Robert Anczkiewicz 5Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków Research Centre, Senacka 1, PL 31002 Kraków, Poland Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2013) 41 (6): 711–714. https://doi.org/10.1130/G34043.1 Article history received: 14 Sep 2012 rev-recd: 29 Jan 2013 accepted: 30 Jan 2013 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Tom Raimondo, Chris Clark, Martin Hand, John Cliff, Robert Anczkiewicz; A simple mechanism for mid-crustal shear zones to record surface-derived fluid signatures. Geology 2013;; 41 (6): 711–714. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G34043.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Ion microprobe analyses of garnet porphyroblasts from three separate splays of the mid-crustal Walter-Outalpa shear zone, Curnamona Province, South Australia, indicate homogeneous δ18O values of <3‰. Integrated Lu-Hf geochronology and electron microprobe compositional mapping demonstrate that closed-system growth of these isotopically light garnets initiated as early as 531 Ma, prior to peak metamorphism and deformation during the Delamerian Orogeny (514–490 Ma). We attribute this to the prograde burial and dehydration of altered fault panels under thick sedimentary sequences during pre-orogenic basin formation. Contrary to established fluid transport models, surficial fluid signatures were not imposed at depth by large fluxes of downward-penetrating fluids, but rather by the exposure and meteoric alteration of fault rocks that were subsequently buried and reactivated as ductile shear zones. The existence of low δ18O values in deeply exhumed shear zones may therefore be indicative of fault structures that have a prior history of surface exposure, weathering, burial and re-exposure. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Reorientating dental curricula to reflect a minimally invasive dentistry approach for patient‐centred management

Minimally invasive dentistry (MID), together with patient-centred care (PCC), can be considered central to patient management. These approaches have been incorporated in the structure of various dental curricula and indeed formally assessed. However, there is limited evidence that students have an integrated skill-set and are able to apply these skills when providing direct patient care within the clinical setting. Assessment of students' application of core clinical skills has identified numerous deficiencies that need to be addressed. The revised Bachelor of Dental Surgery curriculum at the School of Dentistry, The University of Adelaide, provides an example of how MID, underpinned by PCC, can be presented throughout a dental curriculum. Essentially, MID and PCC are not considered as separate subjects but as a patient management approach that is 'woven into the whole fabric' of the curriculum. The programme relies on the development of empathic communication skills that enable students to obtain key patient information, including their patients' values, beliefs, needs, preferences and expectations, thereby allowing management to be tailor-made. As a result, patients are empowered to be a part of the oral health care team. The Adelaide undergraduate dental curriculum consists of one clinical stream called Dental Science and Practice (DSP), that promotes the application of student knowledge, skills and behaviours in the clinical setting. Vertical and horizontal integration, aligned with an integrated approach to assessment, drives the learning throughout the programme. Clearly-defined outcomes are introduced by Integrated Learning Activities (ILAs) that provide a focus for associated learning activities (e.g. class meetings, tutorials, simulation laboratories, etc). The aim of this approach to learning and teaching is to ensure the required learning outcomes are achieved. It also requires coordinated teaching teams including trained external tutors who clearly understand all aspects of MID and PCC within the curriculum structure.

Guest Editorial

It is very fitting that the Australian Dental Journal should publish this excellent and comprehensive special issue on minimum intervention dentistry, as this treatment approach can now be viewed as achieving its ‘majority’. The term ‘minimum intervention dentistry’ was first coined1 by the Adelaide University team of Tony Dawson and the late Owen Makinson in 1992,2, 3 following Adelaide author Graham Mount's 1991 paper4 on ‘minimal treatment’ of caries. As is evident, these early papers focused on the management of caries, but over the last 21 years the concept has been extended to other areas of dentistry, notably periodontics, oral pathology and oral surgery. Minimum intervention dentistry (MID) is now becoming a universally and widely practised treatment modality, especially in caries management.5-9 Kerrod Hallett and Ian Meyers, the editors of this special issue, have assembled a team of recognized experts in their various fields, with an emphasis on caries management. Andrew Brostek (Perth) and Laurie Walsh (Brisbane) write about the principles and practice of MID, Kerrod Hallett (Melbourne) discusses one of the most important elements of MID, that of caries risk assessment, and David Manton (Melbourne) discusses diagnosis of the early carious lesion. Dentistry is becoming increasingly dependent on technology transfer from other disciplines, and French author Herve Tassery describes the use of new MID technologies in caries management. Effective implementation of MID depends on the perspectives of other stakeholders in the delivery of dental care, and these are discussed by Hanny Calache (Melbourne; public health), John Kaidonis (Adelaide; academia), Ian Meyers (Brisbane; general practice, especially the management of tooth wear) and Stephen Haynes (Sydney; dental industry). This last perspective is critical, as manufacturers have a vital role in developing products which are appropriate to MID. Ivan Darby (Melbourne) writes on MID and periodontal disease risk assessment and Camile Farah (Brisbane) writes on MID and oral pathology risk assessment. I commend this special issue to all those involved in the delivery of dental care.

How much does what you eat matter? The potential role of meal size, fat content, and gender on ratings of desirability

This study examined how the amount and type of food that a person eats affects perceptions of their personal desirability, femininity/masculinity, and body size while accounting for any assumed similarity biases. Female students (18 to 59years old) were recruited through the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide. Participants (n=191) rated the characteristics of a fictional person based on information in a personal profile. Profiles were identical aside from experimental manipulations of gender (male/female), meal size (small/large) and meal type (regular fat/high fat) with meal manipulations calculated using nutrient recommendations. Ratings of desirability and body size were affected primarily by meal type with targets described as eating a regular fat meal seen as more desirable (M=5.40, SD=0.56) and thinner (M=3.93, SD=1.05) than those having a high fat meal (M=5.09, SD=0.66; M=4.29, SD=1.04) (p=.001). Meal size manipulations affected only ratings of body size with larger meals (M=4.25, SD=0.88) resulting in higher ratings relative to smaller meals (M=3.96, SD=1.20) (p=.036). Despite a suggestion of interactions between target gender and both meal characteristics for ratings of femininity/masculinity in our results, post-hoc analyses largely failed to reveal any pairwise differences. Perceived similarity to the target did relate to levels of desirability (p=.006), and self-esteem positively associated with ratings of target body size (p=.010). Even though men's perceptions of eating behaviours were not reported in this paper, these findings have implications for a better understanding of social pressures faced not only by women, but also for men, as potentially both genders may be affected by eating norms regarding the healthiness of a meal.

Surgically-assisted rapid maxillary expansion of narrowed maxillae: a case-cohort study

Abstract Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate a consecutive cohort of surgically-assisted rapid maxillary expansion cases to determine the indications, results and relapse associated with the procedure. Methods: The records of 21 cases of SARME treated by the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Orthodontic units at the University of Adelaide were examined. Overall expansion and subsequent relapse were compared on study models and postero-anterior cephalometric radiographs against the variables of age, gender, surgeon, surgical technique, final occlusion and the retention period. Statistical analysis was performed on paired variables. Results: Maximum expansion was gained across the intermolar width and the most relapse identified across the canines. Male patients showed statistically greater stability across the intercanine width. There were otherwise no significant relationships between the treatment variables, stability or relapse. Conclusions: SARME is a safe surgical technique for narrowed maxillae requiring intermolar expansion of 6 mm or more. Overexpansion of up to 60% is required to compensate for relapse.

Implementation and outcomes of online self and peer assessment on group based honours research projects

Honours research projects in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Adelaide are run with small groups of students working with an academic supervisor in a chosen area for one year. The research project is mainly self-directed study, which makes it very difficult to fairly assess the contribution of individual students to a group-based research project. Until recently, a paper-based method of self and peer assessment (SPA) for the honours research projects was used to assess the projects. This was unsatisfactory for both students and academic staff, who found that the same mark was often awarded by the peers to each student without feedback. In 2010, therefore, an online SPA tool, SPARK, together with a set of newly developed assessment criteria, were used for SPA by the honours students. The new SPA criteria are based on teamwork and research skills, and the new rating scales reflect standard academic grades. Surveys of the students confirmed that they found the criteria and scales much more suitable for the assessment of group work and design projects.

Heparin and cAMP modulators interact during pre-in vitro maturation to affect mouse and human oocyte meiosis and developmental competence

Does heparin ablate the advantageous effects of cyclic adenosine mono-phosphate (cAMP) modulators during pre-in vitro maturation (IVM) and have a deleterious effect in standard oocyte IVM? Heparin interrupts energy metabolism and meiotic progression and adversely affects subsequent development of oocytes under conditions of elevated cAMP levels in cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) after pre-IVM treatment with forskolin. In animal IVM studies, artificial regulation of meiotic resumption by cAMP-elevating agents improves subsequent oocyte developmental competence. Heparin has no effect on spontaneous, FSH- or epidermal growth factor (EGF)-stimulated meiotic maturation. An in vitro cross-sectional study was conducted using immature mouse and human COCs. Depending on individual experimental design, COCs were treated during pre-IVM with or without heparin, in the presence or absence of forskolin and/or 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), and then COC function was assessed by various means. Forty-two women with polycystic ovaries (PCOs) or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) donated COCs after oocyte retrieval in a non-hCG-triggered IVM cycle. COCs were collected in pre-IVM treatments and then cultured for 40 h and meiotic progression was assessed. COCs from 21- to 24-day-old female CBA F1 mice were collected 46 h after stimulation with equine chorionic gonadotrophin. Following treatments, COCs were checked for meiotic progression. Effects on mouse oocyte metabolism were measured by assessing oocyte mitochondrial membrane potential using JC-1 staining and oocyte ATP content. Post-IVM mouse oocyte developmental competence was assessed by in vitro fertilization and embryo production. Blastocyst quality was evaluated by differential staining of inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) layers. In the absence of heparin in pre-IVM culture, the addition of cAMP modulators did not affect human oocyte MII competence after 40 h. In standard IVM, heparin supplementation in pre-IVM did not affect MII competence; however, when heparin was combined with cAMP modulators, MII competence was significantly reduced from 65 to 15% (P < 0.05). In mouse experiments, heparin alone in pre-IVM significantly delayed germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) so that fewer GVBDs were observed at 0 and 1 h of IVM (P < 0.05), but not by 2 or 3 h of IVM. Combined treatment with IBMX and forskolin in the pre-IVM medium produced a large delay in GVBD such that no COCs exhibited GVBD in the first 1 h of IVM, and the addition of heparin in pre-IVM further significantly delayed the progression of GVBD (P < 0.05), in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.01). Combined IBMX and forskolin treatment of mouse COCs during pre-IVM significantly increased mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production in the oocyte at the end of pre-IVM (P < 0.05), and significantly improved fertilization, embryo development and quality (P < 0.05). However, heparin abolished the IBMX + forskolin-stimulated increase in mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production (P < 0.05), and adversely affected embryonic cleavage, development rates and embryo quality (P < 0.05). This latter adverse combinational effect was negated when mouse COCs were collected in heparin and IBMX for 15 min, washed and then cultured for 45 min in IBMX and forskolin without heparin. Experiments in mice found that heparin ablation of the advantageous effects of cAMP modulators during pre-IVM was associated with altered oocyte metabolism, but the mechanism by which heparin affects metabolism remains unclear. This study has revealed a novel and unexpected interaction between heparin and cAMP modulators in pre-IVM in immature mouse and human oocytes, and established a means to collect oocytes using heparin while modulating oocyte cAMP to improve developmental potential.

Teaching secular trends of human anatomy in a novel medical school module

Human anatomical structures show a wide range of variability. Also, secular trends of human anatomy (and pathology) have been frequently reported and are of foremost interest (e.g. for surgeons). However, the variability of human morphology is often neglected in traditional medical curricula. Recently, we presented our novel full semester medical school course on Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Adelaide. This elective course addressed the degree and impact of such secular trends. Evolutionary Medicine which addressees specifically the ongoing interactions of humans and the environment such as pathogens and climate, is a field of research and teaching of growing interest. Based on our own original data of recent temporal changes in human body structures – e.g. the prevalence of additional arteries or of spina bifida occulta ‐ such topics were addressed both in a classical lecture format, as well as, part of interactive seminars run by students. Students evaluated this course highly (median response 6 out of possible 7). Thus it is planned to also teach this course at other Medical Schools. Teaching secular trends of human anatomy is not only an important part of the novel field of Evolutionary Medicine but of upmost importance for the understanding of the human body for both, medical students and clinicians.Grant Funding Source: N/A