Populist voting demographics in Australia and New Zealand : an aggregate level analysis

Do populist supporters in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) share commonalities or does each country possess its own unique form of populist supporter? To consider this question this study uses aggregate level data to create a quantitative analysis of populist support in ANZ and is divided into five sections. Section 1 establishes what populism is in a theoretical context and Section 2 addresses the factors that cause and sustain populism. Section 3 applies these principles to four political parties deemed to be populist in ANZ; Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, United Australia Party, Association of Consumers and Taxpayers and New Zealand First. Section 4 uses simple linear regression to compare vote share from the 2019 Australian Federal election and the 2020 New Zealand General election to the most recent census data in each country determining demographic support. Multiple regression models then present the strongest demographic variables supporting each party. Section 5 discusses two significant findings. First, there is no single variable determining populist support across ANZ but there are commonalities within the variable categories of education and employment type. Second, two distinct types of populism are present in New Zealand compared to a single competing populist presence in Australia

Quantification and correction of distortion in diffusion-weighted MRI at 1.5 and 3 T in a muscle-invasive bladder cancer phantom for radiotherapy planning

OBJECTIVE: Limited visibility of post-resection muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) on CT hinders radiotherapy dose escalation of the residual tumour. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) visualises areas of high tumour burden and is increasingly used within diagnosis and as a biomarker for cancer. DW-MRI could, therefore, facilitate dose escalation, potentially via dose-painting and/or accommodating response. However, the distortion inherent in DW-MRI could limit geometric accuracy. Therefore, this study aims to quantify DW-MRI distortion via imaging of a bladder phantom. METHODS: A phantom was designed to mimic MIBC and imaged using CT, DW-MRI and T2W-MRI. Fiducial marker locations were compared across modalities and publicly available software was assessed for correction of magnetic susceptibility-related distortion. RESULTS: Fiducial marker locations on CT and T2W-MRI agreed within 1.2 mm at 3 T and 1.8 mm at 1.5 T. The greatest discrepancy between CT and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps was 6.3 mm at 3 T, reducing to 1.8 mm when corrected for distortion. At 1.5 T, these values were 3.9 mm and 1.7 mm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Geometric distortion in DW-MRI of a model bladder was initially >6 mm at 3 T and >3 mm at 1.5 T; however, established correction methods reduced this to <2 mm in both cases. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: A phantom designed to mimic MIBC has been produced and used to show distortion in DW-MRI can be sufficiently mitigated for incorporation into the radiotherapy pathway. Further investigation is therefore warranted to enable individually adaptive image-guided radiotherapy of MIBC based upon DW-MRI

A Very Sensitive 21cm Survey for Galactic High-Velocity HI

Very sensitive HI 21cm observations have been made in 860 directions at dec >= -43deg in search of weak, Galactic, high-velocity HI emission lines at moderate and high Galactic latitudes. One-third of the observations were made toward extragalactic objects. The median 4-sigma detection level is NHI = 8x10^{17} cm^-2 over the 21' telescope beam. High-velocity HI emission is detected in 37% of the directions; about half of the lines could not have been seen in previous surveys. The median FWHM of detected lines is 30.3 km/s. High- velocity HI lines are seen down to the sensitivity limit of the survey implying that there are likely lines at still lower values of NHI. The weakest lines have a kinematics and distribution on the sky similar to that of the strong lines, and thus do not appear to be a new population. Most of the emission originates from objects which are extended over several degrees; few appear to be compact sources. At least 75%, and possibly as many as 90%, of the lines are associated with one of the major high-velocity complexes. The Magellanic Stream extends at least 10 deg to higher Galactic latitude than previously thought and is more extended in longitude as well. Although there are many lines with low column density, their numbers do not increase as rapidly as NHI^-1, so most of the HI mass in the high-velocity cloud phenomenon likely resides in the more prominent clouds. The bright HI features may be mere clumps within larger structures, and not independent objects.Comment: 88 pages includes 22 figures Accepted for Publication in ApJ Suppl. June 200

Experience in implementing harvest strategies in Australia's south-eastern fisheries

The Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) is a complex multi-species fishery, with 34 stock units under quota management, for which a harvest strategy framework was developed in 2005. The framework involves the application of a set of tier-based harvest control rules (HCR) designed to provide a precautionary approach to management. The harvest strategy framework has been applied from 2005 to 2007, resulting in substantial reductions in quotas across the fishery. The experience in implementing the framework, both positive and negative, is described, and general lessons are drawn. Key lessons include the importance of formally testing such strategies using management strategy evaluation, the impact of external management drivers on implementation of the approach, the need to define strategies for setting "bycatch quotas" in multi-species fisheries, and the need for flexibility and pragmatism in the early stages of implementing such an approach

Genomic catastrophes frequently arise in esophageal adenocarcinoma and drive tumorigenesis

Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) incidence is rapidly increasing in Western countries. A better understanding of EAC underpins efforts to improve early detection and treatment outcomes. While large EAC exome sequencing efforts to date have found recurrent loss-offunction mutations, oncogenic driving events have been underrepresented. Here we use a combination of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and single-nucleotide polymorphism-array profiling to show that genomic catastrophes are frequent in EAC, with almost a third (32%, n¼40/123) undergoing chromothriptic events. WGS of 22 EAC cases show that catastrophes may lead to oncogene amplification through chromothripsis-derived double-minute chromosome formation (MYC and MDM2) or breakage-fusion-bridge (KRAS, MDM2 and RFC3). Telomere shortening is more prominent in EACs bearing localized complex rearrangements. Mutational signature analysis also confirms that extreme genomic instability in EAC can be driven by somatic BRCA2 mutations. These findings suggest that genomic catastrophes have a significant role in the malignant transformation of EAC

Changes in lumbar muscle diffusion tensor indices with age

© 2024 The Authors. Published by OUP. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjro/tzae002Objective To investigate differences in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) in the spinal muscles of younger and older adult males. Methods Twelve younger (19-30 years) and 12 older (61-81years) healthy, physically active male participants underwent T1W, T2W, Dixon and DTI of the lumbar spine. The eigenvalues (λ1, λ2, and λ3), fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity (MD) from the DTI together with the PDFF were determined in the multifidus, medial and lateral erector spinae (ESmed, ESlat), and quadratus lumborum (QL) muscles. A two-way ANOVA was used to investigate differences with age and muscle and t-tests for differences in individual muscles with age. Results The ANOVA gave significant differences with age for all DTI parameters and the PDFF (P < .01) and with muscle (P < .01) for all DTI parameters except for λ1 and for the PDFF. The mean of the eigenvalues and MD were lower and the FA higher in the older age group with differences reaching statistical significance for all DTI measures for ESlat and QL (P < .01) but only in ESmed for λ3 and MD (P < .05). Conclusions Differences in DTI parameters of muscle with age result from changes in both in the intra- and extra-cellular space and cannot be uniquely explained in terms of fibre length and diameter. Advances in knowledge Previous studies looking at age have used small groups with uneven age spacing. Our study uses two well defined and separated age groups.Published versio

Age-related degeneration of lumbar muscle morphology in healthy younger versus older men

This is an author's accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Aging Male, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13685538.2021.1878130 The accepted manuscript may differ from the final published version.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate age-related changes in lumbar paravertebral muscle (LPM) morphology in healthy younger and older adult men. Methods: T2-weighted axial MRI of the lumbar spine were obtained for 12 healthy older (67.3 ± 6.0 years) and younger (24.7 ± 3.1 years) men. Normalised muscle volume (NMV) and muscle fat infiltrate (MFI) were determined bilaterally for the psoas (PS), quadratus lumborum (QL), erector spinae (ES) and multifidus (MF). MANOVA was used to compare NMV and MFI between age groups. Follow-up ANOVA compared NMV and MFI for each muscle between age groups, with physical activity (PA) as a covariate. Stepwise regression was used to explore the association between muscle morphology. Results: NMV of the ES and QL were significantly lower in the older group (OG) (p = 0.040 and p < 0.001, respectively). MFI across all muscles was significantly greater in the OG (p < 0.001). PA did not moderate the relationship between aging and muscle degeneration. Non-dominant handgrip strength was associated with NMV (p = 0.003). Conclusions: Age-related atrophy is muscle specific in the lumbar spine; changes in lumbar musculature is independent of PA, handgrip strength may reflect morphological changes in the postural muscles with age. This study supports establishing effective targeted exercise interventions in the lumbar musculature.This publication presents independent research funded by Coventry University/University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and carried out with the support of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Research Facility.Published versio

Tiny-Scale Molecular Structures in the Magellanic Clouds (Part 1)

We report on the {\small FUSE} detections of the HD and CO molecules {\bf on the lines of sight towards three Large Magellanic stars}: Sk $-$67D05, Sk $-$68D135, and Sk $-$69D246. HD is also detected for the first time {\bf on the lines of sight towards two Small Magellanic Cloud stars}: AV 95 and Sk 159. While the HD and CO abundances are expected to be lower in the Large Magellanic Cloud where molecular fractions are a third of the Galactic value and where the photodissociation flux is up to thousands times larger, we report an average HD/H$_2$ ratio of 1.4$\pm$0.5 ppm and CO/H$_2$ ratio ranging from 0.8 to 2.7 ppm similar to the Galactic ones. We tentatively identify a deuterium reservoir (hereafter D--reservoir) towards the Small Magellanic Cloud, along the light path to AV 95. We derive a D/H ratio ranging from 1. 10$^{-6}$ to 1.1 10$^{-5}$.Comment: 34 pages, 10 tables, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&