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Aims/Introduction: Autoantibodies to pancreatic islet antigens identify young children at high risk of type 1 diabetes. On a background of genetic susceptibility, islet autoimmunity is thought to be driven by environmental factors, of which enteric viruses are prime candidates. We sought evidence for enteric pathology in children genetically at‐risk for type 1 diabetes followed from birth who had developed islet autoantibodies ("seroconverted"), by measuring mucosa‐associated cytokines in their sera. Materials and Methods: Sera were collected 3 monthly from birth from children with a first‐degree type 1 diabetes relative, in the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) study. Children who seroconverted were matched for sex, age, and sample availability with seronegative children. Luminex xMap technology was used to measure serum cytokines. Results: Of eight children who seroconverted, for whom serum samples were available at least 6 months before and after seroconversion, the serum concentrations of mucosa‐associated cytokines IL‐21, IL‐22, IL‐25, and IL‐10, the Th17‐related cytokines IL‐17F and IL‐23, as well as IL‐33, IFN‐γ, and IL‐4, peaked from a low baseline in seven around the time of seroconversion and in one preceding seroconversion. These changes were not detected in eight sex‐ and age‐matched seronegative controls, or in a separate cohort of 11 unmatched seronegative children. Conclusions: In a cohort of children at risk for type 1 diabetes followed from birth, a transient, systemic increase in mucosa‐associated cytokines around the time of seroconversion lends support to the view that mucosal infection, e.g., by an enteric virus, may drive the development of islet autoimmunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Heightened behavioral impulsivity has been advocated as a preexisting risk factor for the development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Nonetheless, studies investigating impulsivity in adolescent/young adult at‐risk drinkers—who are at increased risk of developing AUD—report mixed findings. This may be due to methodological limitations related to definitions of at‐risk drinking, the retrospective assessment of alcohol intake, and/or the relatively modest sample size of some studies. Methods: Healthy individuals (N = 814, Mage = 22.50) completed online surveys and a measure of choice impulsivity. Of these, a number of participants also undertook an online measure of response inhibition (n = 627, Mage = 22.66), and a further subgroup submitted real‐time alcohol consumption information for a period of 21 days using an app (n = 543, Mage = 22.96). Differences in behavioral impulsivity were assessed as a function of various at‐risk alcohol intake categories. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to determine whether impulsivity predicted alcohol use in the form of a continuous index comprising variables related to intake and consequences of use. Results: Significantly greater impulsivity was not evident in heavy, standard binge, high binge, harmful, or hazardous alcohol drinkers as compared to controls, regardless of the criteria employed to categorize these at‐risk drinkers. Neither choice impulsivity nor reduced response inhibition significantly predicted the alcohol use index. Conclusions: While results could be attributed to the online nature of this research, it is possible that more sensitive measures of behavioral impulsivity are required when assessing nondependent drinkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undertreatment of cardiovascular risk factors in the type 1 diabetes exchange clinic network (United States) and the prospective diabetes follow-up (Germany/Austria) registries. Thresholds for abnormal lipid profile were LDL cholesterol of more than 3.4 mmol/L, and/or total cholesterol of more than 5.2 mmol/L, and/or HDL cholesterol of less than 0.9 mmol/L on at least one occasion. Treatment of an abnormal lipid profile: 1588/4728 (33.6%) participants who were aged 11 years or older at their last visit and who had lipid assessments during follow-up met the criteria for an abnormal lipid profile (Table 1). Keywords: cardiovascular disease; cohort study; type 1 diabetes EN cardiovascular disease cohort study type 1 diabetes 354 361 8 01/11/22 20220201 NES 220201 INTRODUCTION Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of increased morbidity and reduced longevity in type 1 diabetes (TID).1,2 Children who develop T1D before the age of 10 years are particularly at risk of cardiovascular disease in adult life.3 Monitoring of cardiovascular risk factors during childhood and adolescence is recognized as an essential part of care. [Extracted from the article]

Containers such as Docker provide a lightweight virtualization technology. They have gained popularity in developing, deploying and managing applications in and across Cloud platforms. Container management and orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes run application containers in virtual clusters that abstract the overheads in managing the underlying infrastructures to simplify the deployment of container solutions. These platforms are well suited for modern web applications that can give rise to geographic fluctuations in use based on the location of users. Such fluctuations often require dynamic global deployment solutions. A key issue is to decide how to adapt the number and placement of clusters to maintain performance, whilst incurring minimum operating and adaptation costs. Manual decisions are naive and can give rise to: over‐provisioning and hence cost issues; improper placement and performance issues, and/or unnecessary relocations resulting in adaptation issues. Elastic deployment solutions are essential to support automated and intelligent adaptation of container clusters in geographically distributed Clouds. In this article, we propose an approach that continuously makes elastic deployment plans aimed at optimizing cost and performance, even during adaptation processes, to meet service level objectives (SLOs) at lower costs. Meta‐heuristics are used for cluster placement and adjustment. We conduct experiments on the Australia‐wide National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources Research Cloud using Docker and Kubernetes. Results show that with only a 0.5 ms sacrifice in SLO for the 95th percentile of response times we are able to achieve up to 44.44% improvement (reduction) in cost compared to a naive over‐provisioning deployment approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: BetterBrains is a prospective, blinded endpoint, 24‐month randomised controlled trial (RCT). It aims to test the effectiveness of an online, person‐centred, modifiable risk factor (RF) management program in delaying cognitive decline in middle‐aged adults (aged 40‐70) with a family history of dementia. This study aims to describe blinded baseline characteristics of the randomised sample and provide trial engagement statistics. Method: Participants enrolled in BetterBrains (betterbrains.org.au) complete all assessments on an online platform. RF assessment related to vascular health, sleep, mood, and social/cognitive engagement was conducted and participants with ≥1 RF were eligible. Participants complete assessments of cognition, general health, medical history, and lifestyle habits at baseline, 12, and 24‐months post‐randomisation. Primary outcome is absence of decline on at‐least one out of four cognitive tests at 24‐months. Participants randomised to the intervention arm receive a minimum of 6 person‐centred telehealth consultations over 12‐months with an allied health clinician trained in motivational interviewing. All participants receive monthly educational blogposts. Result: Since August 2021, 1518 participants have enrolled and 856 (56%) were randomised (Figure 1). Blinded baseline analyses reveal that randomised participants are mostly female (84%), white (93%), live in metropolitan areas (73%), and all report a first‐degree dementia family history. Mean age is 60 years (±6.7) and participants have 15.4 years of education (±3.9) on average. Mean number of reported RFs is 5 out of a possible 19. Readiness to change lifestyle behaviours to reduce dementia risk was high, with 71% of participants indicating implementation of at‐least some lifestyle changes prior to trial entry. Only 3% of randomised participants have withdrawn. Of participants who have reached 12‐months post‐randomisation (N = 349), 74% have completed follow‐up cognitive testing. Conclusion: Low attrition and high follow‐up rates suggest high acceptability and feasibility of the online BetterBrains methodology. The sample is likely at increased risk of dementia, due to high prevalence of first‐degree dementia family history, female gender, and co‐occurrence of multi‐domain modifiable dementia RFs. Presentation of findings will include a detailed breakdown of study methodology, baseline demographic/risk characteristics, and trial progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: We aimed to monitor pancreatic exocrine function longitudinally in relation to the development of islet autoimmunity (IA) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) in at‐risk children with a first‐degree relative with T1D, who were followed prospectively in the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity (ENDIA) study. Methods: Fecal elastase‐1 (FE‐1) concentration was measured longitudinally in 85 ENDIA children from median age 1.0 (IQR 0.7,1.3) year. Twenty‐eight of 85 children (progressors) developed persistent islet autoantibodies at median age of 1.5 (IQR 1.1,2.5) years, of whom 11 went on to develop clinical diabetes. The other 57 islet autoantibody‐negative children (non‐progressors) followed similarly were age and gender‐matched with the progressors. An adjusted linear mixed model compared FE‐1 concentrations in progressors and non‐progressors. Results: Baseline FE‐1 did not differ between progressors and non‐progressors, or by HLA DR type or proband status. FE‐1 decreased over time in progressors in comparison to non‐progressors (Wald statistic 5.46, P =.02); in some progressors the fall in FE‐1 preceded the onset of IA. Conclusions: Pancreatic exocrine function decreases in the majority of young at‐risk children who progress to IA and T1D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The alcohol consumption patterns of young adults are of concern. Critically, tertiary students consume greater quantities of alcohol, are at increased risk of injury/harm, and have higher rates of alcohol use disorders as compared to their nonuniversity enrolled peers. The Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (BYAACQ) is one of several tools utilized to explore adverse alcohol‐related outcomes among tertiary students. Alcohol intake behavior, assessed via retrospective summary measures, has been linked to BYAACQ score. It is unclear, however, how drinking assessed in real time, in conjunction with variables such as age of drinking onset, might predict severity of adverse alcohol consequences as captured by the BYAACQ. Methods: The psychometric properties of the BYAACQ were explored using a large Australian sample of tertiary students (N = 893). A subsample (n = 504) provided alcohol intake information in real time (21 days; event and notification contingent) via a smartphone app (CNLab‐A) plus details related to age of drinking onset, drug use, parental alcohol/drug use, and anxiety/depression symptomology. Results: Average BYAACQ score was 7.53 (SD = 5.37). Classical and item response theory analyses revealed inconsistencies related to dimensionality, progressive item severity, and male/female differential item functioning. Current drinking—namely, frequency of intake and quantity per drinking occasion—plus age of drinking onset predicted BYAACQ score after controlling for age, other drug use, and depression symptomology. Conclusions: The BYAACQ is a sound tool for use with Australian samples. Information related to current drinking, age of drinking onset, and drug use is useful for predicting severity of alcohol use consequences. These markers might enable tertiary institutions to better target students who could benefit from prevention/intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess glycaemic control, anthropometry and insulin regimens in a national sample of Australian children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.Design: Cross-sectional analysis of de-identified, prospectively collected data from the Australasian Diabetes Data Network (ADDN) registry.Setting: Five paediatric diabetes centres in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.Participants: Children and adolescents (aged 18 years or under) with type 1 diabetes of at least 12 months' duration for whom data were added to the ADDN registry during 2015.Main Outcome Measures: Glycaemic control was assessed by measuring haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels. Body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS) were calculated according to the CDC-2000 reference; overweight and obesity were defined by International Obesity Task Force guidelines. Insulin regimens were classified as twice-daily injections (BD), multiple daily injections (MDI; at least three injection times per day), or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII).Results: The mean age of the 3279 participants was 12.8 years (SD, 3.7), mean diabetes duration was 5.7 years (SD, 3.7), and mean HbA1c level 67 mmol/mol (SD, 15); only 27% achieved the national HbA1c target of less than 58 mmol/mol. The mean HbA1c level was lower in children under 6 (63 mmol/mol) than in adolescents (14-18 years; 69 mmol/mol). Mean BMI-SDS for all participants was 0.6 (SD, 0.9); 33% of the participants were overweight or obese. 44% were treated with CSII, 38% with MDI, 18% with BD.Conclusions: Most Australian children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes are not meeting the recognised HbA1c target. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high. There is an urgent need to identify barriers to achieving optimal glycaemic control in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urban growth is occurring across Australia. This has implications for planning and management of cities. Data is key to tackling this. Hitherto, an extensive range of organisations has held the data for Australian cities, crossing government, industry and academia. With the growing demand for open data and capabilities to support big data analytics, new opportunities now exist to rectify this situation. The Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) project has been funded to provide seamless, secure access to data from definitive organisations of Australia. We describe the AURIN platform; it's data, together with a representative big data case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Niemann-Pick Types A and B (NPA/B) diseases are autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorders caused by the deficient activity of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) because of the mutations in the SMPD1 gene. Here, we provide a comprehensive updated review of already reported and newly identified SMPD1 variants. Among them, 185 have been found in NPA/B patients. Disease-causing variants are equally distributed along the SMPD1 gene; most of them are missense (65.4%) or frameshift (19%) mutations. The most frequently reported mutation worldwide is the p.R610del, clearly associated with an attenuated NP disease type B phenotype. The available information about the impact of 52 SMPD1 variants on ASM mRNA and/or enzymatic activity has been collected and whenever possible, phenotype/genotype correlations were established. In addition, we created a locus-specific database easily accessible at that catalogs the 417 SMPD1 variants reported to date and provides data on their in silico predicted effects on ASM protein function or mRNA splicing. The information reviewed in this article, providing new insights into the genotype/phenotype correlation, is extremely valuable to facilitate diagnosis and genetic counseling of families affected by NPA/B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The $20m Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) project () began in July 2010. AURIN has been tasked with developing a secure, Web-based virtual environment (e-Infrastructure) offering seamless, secure access to diverse, distributed and extremely heterogeneous data sets from numerous agencies with an extensive portfolio of targeted analytical and visualization tools. This is being provisioned for Australia-wide urban and built environment researchers - itself a highly heterogeneous collection of research communities with diverse demands, through a unified urban research gateway. This paper describes these demands and how the e-Infrastructure and gateway is being designed and implemented to accommodate this diversity of requirements, both from the user/researcher perspective and from the data provider perspective. The scaling of the infrastructure is presented and the way in which it copes with the spectrum of big data challenges (volume, veracity, variability and velocity) and associated big data analytics. The utility of the e-Infrastructure is also demonstrated through a range of scenarios illustrating and reflecting the interdisciplinary urban research now possible. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To document the influences of blood sampling under supine fasting versus seated nonfasting conditions on diagnosis of phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas ( PPGL) using plasma concentrations of normetanephrine, metanephrine and methoxytyramine. Design and methods Biochemical testing for PPGL was performed on 762 patients at six centres, two of which complied with requirements for supine sampling after an overnight fast and four of which did not. Phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas were found in 129 patients (67 noncompliant, 62 compliant) and not in 633 patients (195 noncompliant, 438 compliant). Results Plasma concentrations of normetanephrine and methoxytyramine did not differ between compliant and noncompliant sampling conditions in patients with PPGL but were 49-51% higher in patients without PPGL sampled under noncompliant compared with compliant conditions. The 97·5 percentiles of distributions were also higher under noncompliant compared with compliant conditions for normetanephrine (1·29 vs 0·79 nmol/l), metanephrine (0·49 vs 0·41 nmol/l) and methoxytyramine (0·42 vs 0·18 nmol/l). Use of upper cut-offs established from seated nonfasting sampling conditions resulted in substantially decreased diagnostic sensitivity (98% vs 85%). In contrast, use of upper cut-offs established from supine fasting conditions resulted in decreased diagnostic specificity for testing under noncompliant compared with compliant conditions (71% vs 95%). Conclusions High diagnostic sensitivity of plasma normetanephrine, metanephrine and methoxytyramine for the detection of PPGL can only be guaranteed using upper cut-offs of reference intervals established with blood sampling under supine fasting conditions. With such cut-offs, sampling under seated nonfasting conditions can lead to a 5·7-fold increase in false-positive results necessitating repeat sampling under supine fasting conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on theories of integration and the integration of the European database. The purpose of this article is to examine the imperatives relating to the integration of the European database that stem from theories of political integration. It must be emphasized that this does not involve an attempt to apply the lessons of integration theory to the process of integrating the database. Given the emphasis in the theories on functional or sectoral integration, this could be a fascinating and perhaps even a fruitful exercise--inter alia, the notions of visible and invisible barriers to free movement, of spillover, of supranational versus intergovernmental models, and of subsidiarity might well throw light on the endeavor. The objectives are much more modest. They are, on the one hand, to see what might be learned about the European integration process if a fully integrated public opinion database were available and, on the other, to see what a research agenda on European integration tells about the desiderata that should be borne in mind in designing the integrated database.

This paper presents results from a study of turnout in the 1994 European Parliament elections which inserted several new questions into the post-election Eurobarometer, including some open-ended questions. It distinguishes between circumstantial and voluntary abstention and shows how each type varies depending on the institutional arrangements for the election. Using both the subjective reasons given for abstention and a range of more objective measures of attitudes, it makes the case that conventional views as to the impact of Sunday-voting and the proportionality of the electoral system and as to the non-impact of attitudes to the European Union need to be modified. It concludes by identifying some practical institutional and political measures that could encourage higher levels of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines approaches to the study of the party-policy link and argues that two generally held assumptions - the unidimensionality of party political conflict and the party as unitary actor - should be treated as matters for empirical dedermination rather than a priori assumption. Having briefly reviewed interpretations of dimensionality in the Irish party system, the article puts forward an empirical approach to both issues based on multidimensional scaling of preference data from a sample of parliamentarians. The results of the application of such an approach in the Irish case indicate at least a two dimensional policy space and considerable intra-party factionalism. This evidence is then used to interpret the party-policy link in three areas: capital taxation, abortion and divorce, and Northern Ireland policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the interpretations of the Irish party system. According to R. Kenneth Carty, the Irish party system deviates from the cleavage model, which has provided a powerful accounting of the other causes of democratic political competition in Europe. Tom Garvin on the otherhand believe that Ireland's party system is unusual among the older western democracies in being not only democratic, but in being born of violent revolution. He characterized it as a modified form of polarized pluralism.

Summary: As an essential component of cloud computing, cloud storage provides flexible data storage services for individuals and organizations. By storing multiple replicas of data in servers, cloud storage providers (CSPs) can improve availability and stability of the cloud storage service. To ensure that all data replicas of a cloud user are intact and completely stored in the CSP, many multi‐replica cloud auditing schemes have been proposed. However, such schemes are predominantly based on the public key infrastructure (PKI), which incurs complex certificate management. In addition, existing schemes do not consider support for sector‐level dynamic auditing. In this paper, we propose a fine‐grained dynamic multi‐replica data auditing scheme that has the following features: (1) it uses ID‐based cryptography to eliminate the cost of certificate management, (2) it supports efficient sector‐level dynamic operations on cloud user data, and (3) it optimizes the challenge algorithm to reduce the computational cost of the third party auditor (TPA). We show that the proposed scheme is provably secure based on a random oracle model. The performance analysis and experiments show the efficiency of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]