Housing Sydney

Housing processes and products provide an invaluable contribution to understanding the city. The form, location and condition of its dwellings are a key feature of Sydney, reflecting its historical development, household and social structure, economic conditions and response to climate. Four aspects of Sydney’s housing - type, tenure, cost and location - provide indispensable insights into the city’s social makeup, its economic foundations and cultural identity. Unfortunately, as in most large cities around the world, a proportion of Sydney’s residents are unable to secure housing of any kind

Hemobilia due to cystic artery pseudoaneurysm: A rare late complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy

We discuss a patient with late presentation of hemobilia following cholecystectomy, which is unusual because pseudoaneurysm caused by vascular injury during surgery typically presents soon after surgery. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography revealed a large blood clot arising from the biliary orifice with subsequent computed tomography angiography diagnosing a large pseudoaneurysm in the region of the cystic artery adjacent to the cholecystectomy clips. Embolization was performed via direct percutaneous puncture of the pseudoaneurysm

The Historical Construction of 'The Public Housing Problem' and Deconstruction Policies

Reprinted from 'the historical construction of 'the public housing problem' and deconcentration policies', in Rae Dufty-Jones and Dallas Rogers ed. Housing in 21st-Century Australia: people, Practices and Policies (Ashgate, 2015), pp. 173-186. Copyright © 2015. Published version uploaded in accordance with the publisher's policy

Allantoin Crystal Formation in Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) Females.

Bagrada hilaris is a polyphagous herbivore reported as an invasive pest in the United States. During the course of dissecting Burmeister hilaris unique crystals were observed in both the midgut and oviducts. Crystals were identified using X-ray diffraction techniques. Both acicular (i.e., needle-like, slender, and/or tapered) and cubic (i.e., cube shaped) crystals were observed in six of 75 individuals examined (8.0%). The crystals were mainly observed in females (6.7%), followed by males (1.3%) with no crystals observed in the minimal number of nymphs examined (0%). Crystals of both types were detected in the midgut and lateral oviducts of the females and midgut in males. The acicular crystals often appeared as distinct bundles when present in the midgut and oviducts. Crystals varied in size with the acicular crystals ranging from 0.12 mm to 0.5 mm in length although the cubic crystals ranged in length from 0.25 mm to over 1.0 mm with widths of ∼0.25 mm. The cubic crystals were identified as allantoin although the acicular crystals were most likely dl-allantoin in combination with halite. While allantoin in a soluble form is often found in insect tissues and excreta; being present as a crystal, especially in such a large form, is curious and raises some interesting questions. More research is warranted to further understand mechanisms associated with such crystal formation in B. hilaris and can lead to a better understanding of the excretory process in this species and the role allantoin plays in the elimination of excess nitrogen

North American practice-based recommendations for transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts in portal hypertension

Complications of portal hypertension, including ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic hydrothorax, and hepatic encephalopathy, are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite few high-quality randomized controlled trials to guide therapeutic decisions, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation has emerged as a crucial therapeutic option to treat complications of portal hypertension. In North America, the decision to perform TIPS involves gastroenterologists, hepatologists, and interventional radiologists, but TIPS creation is performed by interventional radiologists. This is in contrast to other parts of the world where TIPS creation is performed primarily by hepatologists. Thus, the successful use of TIPS in North America is dependent on a multidisciplinary approach and technical expertise, so as to optimize outcomes. Recently, new procedural techniques, TIPS stent technology, and indications for TIPS have emerged. As a result, practices and outcomes vary greatly across institutions and significant knowledge gaps exist. In this consensus statement, the Advancing Liver Therapeutic Approaches group critically reviews the application of TIPS in the management of portal hypertension. Advancing Liver Therapeutic Approaches convened a multidisciplinary group of North American experts from hepatology, interventional radiology, transplant surgery, nephrology, cardiology, pulmonology, and hematology to critically review existing literature and develop practice-based recommendations for the use of TIPS in patients with any cause of portal hypertension in terms of candidate selection, procedural best practices and, post-TIPS management; and to develop areas of consensus for TIPS indications and the prevention of complications. Finally, future research directions are identified related to TIPS for the management of portal hypertension

Nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios: a scoping review.

A significant body of work has linked high nurse or midwife workload to negative patient outcomes. Anecdotal reports suggest that mandated ratio models enhance patient care and improve nurse job satisfaction. However, there is limited focused research. To identify key outcomes, implementation processes, and research needs regarding nurse/midwife-to-patient ratios in the Australian healthcare context. Data sources were CINAHL, Open Dissertations, Medline, and Scopus. 289 articles screened, and 53 full text documents independently assessed against criteria by two reviewers and conflicts resolved by a third reviewer, using Covidence™. Three studies were included in this review. Studies focused on nurse (job satisfaction, burnout), patient (mortality, readmission, length of stay) and system (costs) outcomes with limited information on implementation processes and no midwifery research. Ratios provide benefits for patients, nurses, and hospitals although there is limited research in Australia. Implementation was poorly reported

Reliable and Elastic Propagation of Cortical Seizures In Vivo

Mapping the fine-scale neural activity that underlies epilepsy is key to identifying potential control targets of this frequently intractable disease. Yet, the detailed in vivo dynamics of seizure progression in cortical microcircuits remain poorly understood. We combine fast (30-Hz) two-photon calcium imaging with local field potential (LFP) recordings to map, cell by cell, the spread of locally induced (4-AP or picrotoxin) seizures in anesthetized and awake mice. Using single-layer and microprism-assisted multilayer imaging in different cortical areas, we uncover reliable recruitment of local neural populations within and across cortical layers, and we find layer-specific temporal delays, suggesting an initial supra-granular invasion followed by deep-layer recruitment during lateral seizure spread. Intriguingly, despite consistent progression pathways, successive seizures show pronounced temporal variability that critically depends on GABAergic inhibition. We propose an epilepsy circuit model resembling an elastic meshwork, wherein ictal progression faithfully follows preexistent pathways but varies flexibly in time, depending on the local inhibitory restraint

Voice Conversion with Conditional SampleRNN

Here we present a novel approach to conditioning the SampleRNN generative model for voice conversion (VC). Conventional methods for VC modify the perceived speaker identity by converting between source and target acoustic features. Our approach focuses on preserving voice content and depends on the generative network to learn voice style. We first train a multi-speaker SampleRNN model conditioned on linguistic features, pitch contour, and speaker identity using a multi-speaker speech corpus. Voice-converted speech is generated using linguistic features and pitch contour extracted from the source speaker, and the target speaker identity. We demonstrate that our system is capable of many-to-many voice conversion without requiring parallel data, enabling broad applications. Subjective evaluation demonstrates that our approach outperforms conventional VC methods.Comment: Accepted at Interspeech 2018, Hyderabad, India. This version matches the final version submitted to the conferenc