Macquarie University

Objectives: Liposuction effectively reduces limb volume in cases of advanced fat-dominant lymphedema. This study compares surgical outcomes between men and women using Brorson's liposuction for lymphedema protocol. Methods: A total of 11 men and 11 women with unilateral limb lymphedema who underwent liposuction were matched based on preoperative volume difference (Vol Diff) and percentage volume difference (%Vol Diff) between the affected and unaffected limbs. Individuals were secondarily matched for age, body mass index, and lymphedema duration. The volume of fat aspirated was compared to preoperative Vol Diff to calculate a percentage (%) aspirate volume. The preoperative %Vol Diff and postoperative %Vol Diff at two-time intervals over 12 months were recorded. Differences between the groups were assessed for significance. Results: Preoperative male group mean %Vol Diff of 35.1% matched the female group mean %Vol Diff of 34.8% (p = 0.928). The surgical male mean %aspiration volume of 80.4% was significantly less than the female group of 119% (p = 0.004). The reduction in male mean %Vol Diff was significantly less at the two postoperative time intervals. At 3-6 months, the mean %Vol Diff for men was 20.7% and 3.8% for women (p = 0.009). At the 9-12 months, the mean %Vol Diff was 13.2% for men and 4.2% for women (p = 0.006). Conclusions: The male group matched for preoperative volume with a female group had a lower %aspiration volume and higher postoperative %Vol Diff which was most likely due to sex-based fat differences.

Plain Language Summary Subduction‐driven recycling of S plays a key role in the redox evolution of the mantle, the formation of ore deposits, and climatic impact through volcanic emission of SO2. Altered oceanic crust (AOC) is the largest contributor to the subducted S budget but the role of AOC in the deep cycling of S remains poorly constrained. Here we present high‐precision in‐situ S isotopes of sulfide inclusions in magmatic clinopyroxene megacrysts captured by Cenozoic intraplate basalts in eastern China, which were sourced from the deep mantle affected by melts derived from recycled AOC within the Pacific slab. The sulfide inclusions are not affected by magmatic differentiation or degassing and reveal the primary δ³⁴S of intraplate basalts and their mantle sources. The mid‐ocean ridge basalts (MORB)‐like δ³⁴S values in deep mantle sources indicate that AOC‐derived melts are mainly sulfide‐saturated and could not modify the δ³⁴S and redox state of the deep mantle significantly. This is in contrast to the high δ³⁴S values of mantle wedge peridotites and primary arc magmas that require the addition of sulfate from the slab or sulfur disproportionation at sub‐arc depth, suggesting that S species and isotopic composition of materials released from the subducted slab vary with subduction depth.

Objectives Patients with obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) face multiple barriers when accessing treatment and rarely receive best‐practice cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) when they seek help. Remote treatments, such as internet‐delivered CBT (ICBT), enhance access to evidence‐based treatments. To date, no known studies have examined the reasons individuals seek remote treatment over traditional in‐person treatment for OCD. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine the treatment histories of individuals who completed ICBT for OCD and their reasons for seeking ICBT. Methods One hundred and sixty‐six participants ( M age = 33.88; SD = 13.41, 71.7% female) were included in the study. Results Almost three‐quarters of the sample had previously spoken to a health professional about their OCD symptoms. General practitioners were the most frequently consulted health professionals initially (41.7%), while psychologists were the most frequently consulted overall (81.7%). Supportive counselling (74.2%) and medication (72.5%) were the most common forms of treatment ever received. Of those who had received CBT for OCD, only 20.0% (12.5% of the overall sample) likely received best‐practice CBT. The most frequently endorsed reasons for seeking ICBT over in‐person treatment related to having no access to face‐to‐face treatment in the community (25.9%) and having found previous face‐to‐face treatment unhelpful (24.1%). Group differences in reasons for seeking ICBT over face‐to‐face treatment emerged based on geographical location, OCD severity and presence of comorbid depressive symptoms. Conclusions Evidence‐based treatment for OCD is underutilized in the community highlighting the need to develop and disseminate evidence‐based remote treatments for OCD.

There has been considerable research on modern slavery in recent years. Much of this work has examined legislative developments in different jurisdictions and the subsequent legal compliance and disclosure by businesses of modern slavery in their supply chains. The primary focus to date, therefore, has been government and business actions, respectively. There is a need to also examine other actors involved in the eradication of modern slavery. This chapter considers non-government organizations (NGOs), specifically, faith-based NGOs, in the fight against the evil of modern slavery. A case study of one large, global faith-based NGO—International Justice Mission (IJM)—dedicated to fighting oppression and injustice including human and sex trafficking and modern slavery, is presented. Findings consider IJM’s contribution including their scope, methods of operation, ongoing challenges, as well as critiques of its philosophy and practices. It is argued that NGOs like IJM are important, though not unproblematic, vehicles to ameliorate modern slavery.

Interaural time differences are often considered a weak cue for stream segregation. We investigated this claim with headphone-presented pure tones differing in a related form of interaural configuration—interaural phase differences (ΔIPD)—or/and in frequency (ΔF). In experiment 1, sequences comprised 5 × ABA– repetitions (A and B = 80-ms tones, “–” = 160-ms silence), and listeners reported whether integration or segregation was heard. Envelope shape was varied but remained constant across all tones within a trial. Envelopes were either quasi-trapezoidal or had a fast attack and slow release (FA-SR) or vice versa (SA-FR). The FA-SR envelope caused more segregation than SA-FR in a task where only ΔIPD cues were present, but not in a corresponding ΔF-only task. In experiment 2, interstimulus interval (ISI) was varied (0–60 ms) between FA-SR tones. ΔF-based segregation decreased with increasing ISI, whereas ΔIPD-based segregation increased. This suggests that binaural temporal integration may limit segregation at short ISIs. In another task, ΔF and ΔIPD cues were presented alone or in combination. Here, ΔIPD-based segregation was greatly reduced, suggesting ΔIPD-based segregation is highly sensitive to experimental context. Experiments 1–2 demonstrate that ΔIPD can promote segregation in optimized stimuli/tasks. Experiment 3 employed a task requiring integration for good performance. Listeners detected a delay on the final four B tones of an 8 × ABA– sequence. Although performance worsened with increasing ΔF, increasing ΔIPD had only a marginal impact. This suggests that, even in stimuli optimized for ΔIPD-based segregation, listeners remained mostly able to disregard ΔIPD when segregation was detrimental to performance.

Caching content at the edge network is a popular and effective technique widely deployed to alleviate the burden of network backhaul, shorten service delay and improve service quality. However, there has been some controversy over privacy violations in caching content at the edge network. On the one hand, the multi-access open edge network provides an ideal entrance or interface for external attackers to obtain private data from edge caches by extracting sensitive information. On the other hand, privacy can be infringed on by curious edge caching providers through caching trace analysis targeting the achievement of better caching performance or higher profits. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of privacy issues in edge caching networks is vital and indispensable for creating a privacy-preserving caching service at the edge network. In this article, we are among the first to fill this gap by examining privacy-preserving techniques for caching content at the edge network. Firstly, we provide an introduction to the background of privacy-preserving edge caching (PPEC). Next, we summarize the key privacy issues and present a taxonomy for caching at the edge network from the perspective of private information. Additionally, we conduct a retrospective review of the state-of-the-art countermeasures against privacy leakage from content caching at the edge network. Finally, we conclude the survey and envision challenges for future research.

Parents and carers play a critical role in supporting their children while in hospital. Multiple qualitative studies have explored parental involvement in the care of hospitalised children. Administration of medication to young children can be difficult and cause anxiety and stress for children. Parents are often willing and able to assist, yet little is known about how often parents are given responsibility for medication administration in hospital. We analysed data from a prospective direct observational study of nurses administering medication at a major paediatric referral hospital in Australia. Data from observations of 298 nurses preparing and administering 5137 medication doses to children on nine medical and surgical wards between 07:00 and 22:00 were analysed. Details of drugs administered, whether medications were left for parents/carers to administer, and if nurses observed the administration by parents, were recorded. Parents were at their child’s bedside during 89.7% (n=4610) of observed medication administrations. Parents gave 20.3% (n=1045) of medications. In 14.3% (n=733), medications were left with parents to administer without a nurse present. In 6.1% (n=312) of doses, medications were given to parents, but the administration was observed by a nurse. Parents were most likely to be given medications to administer to young children (1–5 years), and the medications most frequently administered were analgesics and anti-epileptics. Parents/carers are integrally involved in the administration of many medications to children in hospital. The extent of parents’ role and the impact on medication administration efficiency has been largely absent from the healthcare literature. Given that one in five medication doses is administered by parents, hospitals should recognise this contribution and consider if any additional support for parents is required.

Global warming is a major threat to reptiles because temperature strongly affects their development. High incubation temperatures reduce hatchling body size and physiological performance; however, its effects on brain development and learning abilities are less well understood. In particular, it remains unclear if the effects of elevated temperatures on learning are restricted to hatchlings or instead will persist later in life. To address this gap, we examined the effect of ‘current’ and ‘future’ (end-of-century, + 4 °C) incubation temperatures on hatchling and juvenile geckos Amalosia lesueurii, to test: (1) if elevated temperatures affect hatchling learning ability; (2) if the effects on learning persist in juvenile lizards, and (3) if and how elevated temperatures affect hatchling and juvenile brain anatomy and neuronal count. We found that fewer future-incubated hatchlings succeeded in the learning tasks. Nonetheless, the successful ones needed fewer trials to learn compared to current-incubated hatchlings, possibly due to a higher motivation. Reduced learning ability was still observed at the juvenile stage, but it did not differ between treatments due to a reduced cognitive performance of current-incubated juveniles. Future-incubated hatchlings had a smaller telencephalon, but this pattern was not found in juveniles. Neuron number and density in hatchlings or juveniles from both treatments were not different. Our results suggest that global warming will affect hatchling survival in the wild but it remains unclear if future-incubated lizards could compensate for the harmful effects of elevated temperatures. Further testing beyond the laboratory is required to understand whether phenotypic plasticity in lizards is sufficient to track global warming.

The evolution of complex life forms, exemplified by multicellular organisms, can be traced through a series of evolutionary transitions in individuality, beginning with the origin of life, followed by the emergence of the eukaryotic cell, and, among other transitions, culminating in the shift from unicellularity to multicellularity. Several attempts have been made to explain the origins of such transitions, many of which have been internalist (i.e., based largely on internal properties of ancestral entities). Here, we show how externalist perspectives can shed new light on questions pertaining to evolutionary transitions in individuality. We do this by presenting the ecological scaffolding framework in which properties of complex life forms arise from an external scaffold. Ultimately, we anticipate that progress will come from recognition of the importance of both the internalist and externalist modes of explanation. We illustrate this by considering an extension of the ecological scaffolding model in which cells modify the environment that later becomes the scaffold giving rise to multicellular individuality.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) disseminates genetic information between species and is a powerful mechanism of adaptation. Yet, we know little about its underlying drivers in eukaryotes. Giant Starship transposons have been implicated as agents of fungal HGT, providing an unprecedented opportunity to reveal the evolutionary parameters behind this process. Here, we characterize the ssf gene cluster, which contributes to formaldehyde resistance, and use it to demonstrate how mobile element evolution shapes fungal adaptation. We found that ssf clusters have been acquired by various distantly related Starships , which each exhibit multiple instances of horizontal transfer across fungal species (at least nine events, including between different taxonomic orders). Many ssf clusters have subsequently integrated into their host’s genome, illustrating how Starships shape the evolutionary trajectory of fungal hosts beyond any single transfer. Our results demonstrate the key role Starships play in mediating rapid and repeated adaptation via HGT, elevating the importance of mobile element evolution in eukaryotic biology.

HLA‐compatibility remains an important triage test for deceased donor kidney allocation. Low–intermediate resolution donor HLA‐typing is typically available at allocation, but its accuracy in assigning pre‐transplant donor‐specific anti‐HLA antibody (DSA) and HLA mismatches compared to 2‐field high‐resolution typing is poorly characterised. Consecutive deceased donor/recipient pairs from a single centre between 2016 and 2020 were included. Majority of donor typing at HLA‐ABDRB1 loci were performed at low–intermediate resolution, with 2‐field high‐resolution NGS typing across extended loci performed by NGS‐technique post‐transplantation. We compared the two typing methods for (1) accuracy of pre‐transplant DSA assignment; (2) misassignment of HLA‐antigen/allele mismatches and performance of each model for acute rejection and (3) proportion of recipients who developed de novo DSA (dnDSA) when matched at antigen but mismatched at allele level. Of 179 deceased donor/recipient pairs, 157 donors had low–intermediate resolution typing and 22 with high‐resolution ONT typing. Sixty‐two recipients (35%) had potential pre‐transplant DSAs, with incorrect assignment of allele‐specific Class I and II actual DSAs in 31% and 53% of cases, respectively. NGS typing identified 59 (33%) additional HLA‐DRB1 allele mismatches. ONT typing accurately assigned pre‐transplant DSAs and allele mismatches in all cases. Seven (4%) recipients with antigen/allele level discordance developed dnDSAs, majority HLA‐DQ antibodies. Two‐field high‐resolution donor HLA typing may provide a more accurate transplant immunological risk assessment and identify those at risk of developing dnDSA to matched HLA antigen.

While previous research has primarily focused on the impact of climate risk on corporate socially responsible behaviors, this study investigates how climate risk may influence corporate social irresponsibility. Using panel data from Chinese listed firms spanning from 2003 to 2020, we find that heightened exposure to climate risk correlates with an increased likelihood of fraud commission. Moreover, we observe that financial distress positively moderates the relationship between climate risk and corporate fraud, particularly within climate-vulnerable industries or financially constrained firms. Our findings further suggest that climate risk exacerbates corporate fraud by increasing pressures related to performance, debt financing, and shareholder demand. This study highlights the detrimental role of climate risk in shaping corporate ethics and amplifying the incidences of corporate fraud.