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Objectives: Synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone or tetracosactide is routinely used in the diagnosis of hypoadrenocorticism and frequently in the diagnosis and treatment of hyperadrenocorticism. There have been repeated shortages of tetracosactide in recent years in Australia. This study investigated the agreement of serum cortisol after a compounded tetracosactide (Bova Aus), compared to commercial tetracosactide (Synacthen®) in healthy dogs. Methods: Prospective crossover study using 20 dogs. Ten dogs received 5 μg/kg Synacthen® on day 1 and 5 μg/kg compounded tetracosactide on Day 2. The other 10 dogs received the reverse order. Cortisol concentrations in each dog 1 h after injection were compared for agreement, which was defined as the limits of agreement of the Bland–Altman ratio to be within a range of 0.8–1.25. Passing‐Bablok regression analysis examined for constant and proportional biases. Results: Three dogs were excluded with post‐stimulation serum cortisol concentrations markedly outside reference interval. For the remaining 17 dogs, Bland–Altman ratio analysis of cortisol concentration (tetracosactide/Synacthen®) at 1 h found virtually no constant bias (mean of ratios 1.01;95% CI 0.97–1.05) and 95% limits of agreement were 0.88 (95% CI 0.78–0.90) and 1.17 (95% CI 1.13–1.25). This met our criteria for agreement between cortisol concentrations. Bias of the Bland–Altman difference was 2.8 nmol/L (95% CI −7.2 to 12.8); 95% limits of agreement −35.2 nmol/L (95% CI −57.0 to −26.1) and 40.8 nmol/L (95% CI 31.7–62.6). Passing‐Bablok regression analysis did not identify bias. Conclusion: In healthy dogs, cortisol concentrations were in agreement after compounded tetracosactide compared to commercial tetracosactide, Synacthen®. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the mathematical formulation and modelling issues of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a 375 MW utility furnace. This tangentially-fired furnace is fuelled by high moisture content brown coal from coal mines at Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia. The influences of different turbulence models, particle dispersion, and radiation models on the CFD prediction are investigated. Two turbulence models, standard k-ε model and Shear-Stress Transport (SST) model, provide similar predictions that are in good agreement with the plant data. The effect of particle dispersion on the prediction is found to be insignificant for this high-volatile brown coal. The predicted wall incident radiation flux based on two radiation models, namely, discrete transfer (DT) model and P-1 model are compared against power plant measurements. The comparison reveals that the DT model provides good prediction of the radiation profiles, while the P-1 model considerably underpredicts the wall incident radiation flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In a typical coal-fired power station boiler the ignition and the combustion of the fuel is largely controlled by burner aerodynamics. An experimental and numerical study of the rectangular slot-burners widely used on power stations in Victoria, Australia has been conducted to improve understanding of jet development within the boiler. The 1:15 scale model burner consisted of a central (primary) rectangular fuel nozzle with two (secondary) rectangular air jets positioned above and below it. The burner jets entered the measurement vessel at an angle of 60° to the wall. A cross-flow jet was attached to the wall of the vessel to simulate the recirculation prevalent in power station boilers. Experiments were conducted using a primary to cross-flow jet velocity ratio (φ) of 1.0 and secondary to primary jet velocity ratios (ϕ) of 1.0 and 3.0. Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) was used to measure mean and turbulent velocity components in the near field and downstream regions of the jets. Cross-flow significantly influenced the near field flow development from the slot-burner by deviating both primary and secondary jets from their geometric axes towards the wall. The degree of deviation was greater for ϕ =1.0 since the higher velocity secondary jets increased the overall momentum of the primary jet for ϕ =3.0. A numerical investigation of the rectangular slot-burner was also performed. First, the numerical results were validated against the experimental results and then visualization of the developing flow field was used to reveal the finer details of the cross-flow/burner jet interaction. Agreement between numerical and experimental jet features was good, although the numerical results predicted a primary jet that was marginally too narrow. Also the predicted downstream behaviour for ϕ =3.0 deviated more significantly from experimental observation. Using the SST turbulence model, the numerical results suggested that a twin vortex was generated behind the initial region of the primary jet and this would aid in mixing of gas and fuel between primary and secondary jets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC) has increased globally in recent decades. We examined early-onset CRC incidence trends worldwide for potential cohort effects, defined as changes associated with time of birth (eg, early-life exposure to carcinogens), and period effects, defined as changes associated with calendar periods (eg, screening programs)., Methods: We obtained long-term incidence data for early-onset CRC diagnosed in patients aged 20 to 49 years through the year 2012 for 35 countries in the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents database. We used a smoothing method to help compare cohort and period trends of early-onset CRC and used an age-period-cohort model to estimate cohort and period effects., Results: Cohort effects had a more dominant role than period effects in the early-onset CRC incidence in Shanghai (China), the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Osaka (Japan). The smoothed trends show the specific birth cohorts when early-onset CRC began to increase: the 1940s-1950s birth cohorts in the United States; the 1950s-1960s birth cohorts in other Western countries; the 1960s birth cohorts in Osaka; and the 1970s-1980s birth cohorts in Shanghai. Such increases occurred earlier for early-onset cancers of the rectum than of the colon. For the other countries, the results were less clear., Conclusions: Recent birth cohorts may have been exposed to risk factors different from earlier cohorts, contributing to increased early-onset CRC incidence in several developed countries or regions in the West and Asia. Such increases began in earlier birth cohorts in Western countries than in developed regions of Asia., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Introduction The global prevalence of diabetes is a pressing public health concern. Over 400 million individuals live with the effects of the disease, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), over 300 000 people have diabetes, resulting in a population rate of 43.1 per 1000. Enabling nurses to prescribe diabetes medications enhances accessibility and improves health outcomes for large sections of the population. Aim This rapid review was undertaken to investigate the influence of nurse prescribing on health care delivery for individuals with diabetes in NZ, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, countries sharing comparable health care systems and multicultural backgrounds. Methods The review protocol was published on PROSPERO. In November 2022, a search was conducted across multiple databases to locate relevant literature and resources constrained to the last decade (from January 2012 to November 2022). Utilising the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses framework, data extraction was systematically structured, while rigorous appraisal processes upheld selection quality. Results Fifteen publications were identified as meeting predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review of these articles revealed four main themes: the impact of nurse prescribing on clinical outcomes, levels of patient satisfaction, implications for health care service provisions, and identification of barriers and facilitators associated with nurse prescribing. Discussion This report identifies outcomes of nurse prescribing, concluding it provides a potential avenue for enhancing access to and alleviating the burden on health care systems.

Introduction: Safety is one of the critical and persistent challenges in the construction industry. Measuring safety performance could allow decision-makers to check safety production processes and enhance the health and safety environment., Method: This study developed a total-factor framework based on the global Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure safety performance. The performance trend and influencing factors of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were separately investigated. The safety performance of construction employees in Australia was measured as a case study., Results: The results demonstrate that the safety performance in the Australian construction industry has been evidently enhanced, which is mainly promoted by the progress of pure technical elements. The scale factors did not play a positive and important role in driving the performance., Conclusions: The increasing regional differences in safety performance could be reduced by learning the practices from the benchmark construction industry, such as a young worker program, small business safety program, workplace mental health program, and advanced construction technologies., Practical Applications: The method can be utilized to measure safety performance and investigate the pathways to enhance performance without influencing production inputs and outcomes. The model and experiences of how to promote safety performance on the policymakers and employers were recognized., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Macadamia is a high value nut crop that is recently domesticated, ideal for testing the effect of artificial selection. Here, we sequence the genome of Hawaiian cultivar 'Kau' and assemble into 794 Mb in 14 pseudo-chromosomes with 37,728 genes. Genome analysis reveals a whole-genome duplication event, occurred 46.8 million years ago. Gene expansions occurred in gene families involves in fatty acid biosynthesis. Gene duplication of MADS-Box transcription factors in proanthocyanidin biosynthesis are relevant for seed coat development. Genome re-sequencing of 112 accessions reveals the origin of Hawaiian cultivars from Mount Bauple in southeast Queensland in Australia. Selective sweeps are detected in macadamia cultivars, including genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, seed coat development, and heat stress response. Such strong effects of artificial selection in few generations reveals the genomic basis for 'one-step operation' for clonal crop domestication. The knowledge gained could accelerate domestication of new crops from wild species., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Accurately assessing clinical progression from subjective cognitive decline (SCD) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is crucial for early intervention of pathological cognitive decline. Multi-modal neuroimaging data such as T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), help provide objective and supplementary disease biomarkers for computer-aided diagnosis of MCI. However, there are few studies dedicated to SCD progression prediction since subjects usually lack one or more imaging modalities. Besides, one usually has a limited number (e.g., tens) of SCD subjects, negatively affecting model robustness. To this end, we propose a Joint neuroimage Synthesis and Representation Learning (JSRL) framework for SCD conversion prediction using incomplete multi-modal neuroimages. The JSRL contains two components: 1) a generative adversarial network to synthesize missing images and generate multi-modal features, and 2) a classification network to fuse multi-modal features for SCD conversion prediction. The two components are incorporated into a joint learning framework by sharing the same features, encouraging effective fusion of multi-modal features for accurate prediction. A transfer learning strategy is employed in the proposed framework by leveraging model trained on the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) with MRI and fluorodeoxyglucose PET from 863 subjects to both the Chinese Longitudinal Aging Study (CLAS) with only MRI from 76 SCD subjects and the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) with MRI from 235 subjects. Experimental results suggest that the proposed JSRL yields superior performance in SCD and MCI conversion prediction and cross-database neuroimage synthesis, compared with several state-of-the-art methods., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are the primary vectors of dengue virus, and their geographic distributions are predicted to expand further with economic development, and in response to climate change. We aimed to estimate the impact of future climate change on dengue transmission through the development of a Suitable Conditions Index (SCI), based on climatic variables known to support vectorial capacity. We calculated the SCI based on various climate change scenarios for six countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, China, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam)., Methods: Monthly raster climate data (temperature and precipitation) were collected for the period January 2005 to December 2018 along with projected climate estimates for the years 2030, 2050 and 2070 using Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4·5, 6·0 and 8·5 emissions scenarios. We defined suitable temperature ranges for dengue transmission of between 17·05-34·61 °C for Ae. aegypti and 15·84-31·51 °C for Ae. albopictus and then developed a historical and predicted SCI based on weather variability to measure the expected geographic limits of dengue vectorial capacity. Historical and projected SCI values were compared through difference maps for the six countries., Findings: Comparing different emission scenarios across all countries, we found that most South East Asian countries showed either a stable pattern of high suitability, or a potential decline in suitability for both vectors from 2030 to 2070, with a declining pattern particularly evident for Ae. albopictus. Temperate areas of both China and Australia showed a less stable pattern, with both moderate increases and decreases in suitability for each vector in different regions between 2030 and 2070., Interpretation: The SCI will be a useful index for forecasting potential dengue risk distributions in response to climate change, and independently of the effects of human activity. When considered alongside additional correlates of infection such as human population density and socioeconomic development indicators, the SCI could be used to develop an early warning system for dengue transmission., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: In patients with diabetes mellitus presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) the degree to which cardiac death rates may be attributed to an increased burden of coronary artery disease is not clear., Methods: This prospective observational study examines rates of cardiac death between those with and without diabetes at long term follow up, stratified by presence of multivessel disease (MVD), in consecutive STEMI patients from 5 Australian hospitals., Results: Amongst 2083 patients, 393 patients had diabetes (18.8%), and 810 (38.8%) had MVD. Patients with diabetes were more likely to have MVD 48.6% (191/393) than patients without diabetes 36.6% (619/1690; p < .001). At final follow up (median 3.6 years [IQR 2.4-5.4]) cardiac death occurred in 37/393 diabetic patients and 92/1690 nondiabetic patients (adjusted HR1.67, 95% CI 1.10-2.52). In those with MVD cardiac death occurred in 27/191 diabetic patients, and 54/619 non-diabetic patients (adjusted HR 1.94; 95% CI 1.17-3.23). In single vessel disease (SVD) cardiac death occurred in 10/202 diabetic patients, and 38/1071 non-diabetic patients (adjusted HR 1.37; 95% CI 0.65-2.89). Both diabetes and MVD were independently associated with cardiac death., Conclusions: STEMI patients with diabetes are more likely to have MVD, with an absolute difference in MVD rates of 12%, and higher rates of cardiac death. Randomized trials studying these high risk patients are needed to reduce cardiac mortality in patients with diabetes, MVD and STEMI., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No relevant relationships with industry, other entities, or conflicts of interest exist., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We aimed to compare the association of hypertriglyceridemic-waist (HTGW), with glycaemia, liver and renal function between a Chinese and an Australian population using 3 HTGW definitions., Methods: 1454 Australian and 5824 Chinese adults, from randomly selected households provided clinical history, glucose, lipids, anthropometric, and blood pressure measurements. Liver and renal functions were assessed using alanine aminotransferase and estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate respectively. The impact of interaction between HTGW and glucose on the liver and renal functions were measured by General Linear Model. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between this interaction and abnormal liver and renal function., Results: HTGW was associated with abnormal liver and renal function in both Chinese and Australian populations using all 3 HTGW definitions. The highest sensitivity (93 (95% confidence interval: 87, 97) %) and specificity (81 (80, 84) %) were observed for abnormal renal function in the Australian population. The probability of having abnormal liver or renal function increased with glucose in the presence of HTGW phenotype only in the Australian population. Similar findings were revealed in people without type 2 diabetes., Conclusions: In both Chinese and Australian populations, HTGW is associated with abnormal liver and renal function using any of the 3 definitions. HTGW is a potential tool to identify high-risk individuals with impaired renal function especially in the Australian population. HTGW interacted with the fasting glucose in its association with impaired liver and renal function only in the Australian population, suggesting different underlying interactions between environmental and genetic backgrounds., (Copyright © 2018 Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the population structure and linkage disequilibrium (LD) is a prerequisite for association mapping of complex traits in a target population. In this study, we assessed the genetic diversity, population structure and the extent of LD in a panel of 192 inbred lines of Brassica napus from all over the world using 451 single-locus microsatellite markers. The inbred lines could be divided into P1 and P2 groups by a model-based population structure analysis. Out of the 142 inbred lines in the P1 group, 126 lines were from China and Japan, and the remaining 16 lines were from Europe, Canada and Australia. In the P2 group, 33 out of the 50 lines were from Europe, Canada, and Australia, and the remaining 17 lines were from China. Structure analysis further divided each group into two subgroups. AMOVA, pairwise F (ST) and neutrality analyses confirmed the differentiation between groups and subgroups. More than 80 % of the pairwise kinship estimates between inbred lines were <0.05, indicating that relative kinship is weak in our panel. Only 6 % linked marker pairs showed LD, suggesting the low level of LD in this association panel. The LD decayed within 0.5-1 cM at the genome level, and varied considerably across each group and subgroup, due to the population size, genetic background and genetic drift. The characterization of the population structure and LD patterns would be useful for performing association studies for complex agronomic traits in rapeseed.

Objective: To assess whether the addition of a Chinese herbal medicine formula to acupuncture affects the severity of symptoms and quality-of-life scores among patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis., Design: Randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial., Setting: University teaching and research clinic, Australia., Participants: Sixty-five patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis, who were recruited through public media., Intervention: Between July and December 1999, patients received acupuncture twice a week for 8 weeks plus either a Chinese herbal drug formula (n=33) or placebo (n=32) at a dosage of four capsules, three times daily., Main Outcome Measures: The severity of nasal and non-nasal symptoms on a five-point scale, as assessed by both patients and an ear, nose, and throat specialist, and quality-of-life scores as measured by the Rhinoconjunctivitis and Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire., Results: Sixty-one patients completed the study (31 in the intervention group and 30 in the control group). After 8 weeks, no significant difference was found between the two groups in the severity of nasal and non-nasal symptoms and in the Rhinoconjunctivitis and Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire scores. Intention-to-treat analysis of categorical variables showed moderate-to-marked improvement rates of 72.7% and 81.2% for intervention and control groups, respectively. Six patients reported mild adverse events-three from each of the study groups., Conclusion: The Chinese herbal formulation under investigation did not provide additional symptomatic relief or improvement in quality-of-life scores among patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis who were receiving acupuncture.