Acute Pancreatitis in Western Sydney

Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) has a mortality of 30% in severe cases. Major causes worldwide are gallstones and alcohol misuse. The first aim was to characterise the aetiology, epidemiology and outcomes for patients with AP in Western Sydney (WS). The second aim was to explore pathogenesis of AP and identify potential biomarkers of severe AP using RNA sequencing. Methods: 1) A retrospective cohort analysis of 932 patients with AP presenting to 4 tertiary hospitals in WS was performed. Data from medical records was analysed using SPSS software 2) A RNA sequencing study was performed in a separate cohort of 84 patients with AP (mild=55, moderately severe=19, severe=10) from 2 tertiary hospitals in WS. RNA sequencing was performed on peripheral venous blood collected within 24h of presentation to hospital and data analysis conducted using DESeq2 and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software. Results: The majority of patients had gallstone AP (40%). 11.1% had severe AP and mortality was 1%. Females were less likely to develop severe AP. There was a failure to comply with guidelines for early management of AP. RNA sequencing identified 1914 differentially expressed genes (DEG) in severe AP compared to moderately severe and mild AP. Lipocalin 2, IL10 and olfactomedin 4 are potential biomarkers for severe AP and pathways dysregulated in severe AP had immunological and mitochondrial functions. There were 1468 DEG between females and males with AP and pathways unique to females were involved in B cell function. There were no DEG between the different aetiological groups. Conclusion: The majority of patients have mild AP with a low risk of mortality. T cell suppression and mitochondrial dysfunction are important pathways in severe AP. We demonstrated clear differences in the pathophysiology of AP between genders, with women demonstrating up-regulation of B cell functions. The differences in clinical outcomes between genders in AP may be due to underlying immune system differences

VISUALIZING EMPLACEMENT: YOUTH DISPLACEMENT, ADVOCACY, AND PARTICIPATORY FILMMAKING IN IRAN

329 pagesOver the past two decades, ethnic minority youth across Iran and Afghanistan have been increasingly displaced from villages and rural settings by environmental degradation, protracted militarism, U.S.-imposed economic sanctions, and exclusionary political forces in late capitalism. Rights activists and scholars of migration studies advocate for displaced groups by bringing them into refugee rights frameworks, mobilizing discourses of humanitarian crisis. However, this refugee rights model of advocacy actually further marginalizes displaced youth through forms of representation that “other” youth and exceptionalize their movement. Working with Afghan refugee youth and Iranian Kurdish youth, this dissertation traces representations and humanitarian interventions for displaced youth and offers participatory media production as alternative, collaborative tools for youth self-representation. This project is based on fifteen months of fieldwork in Iran working with three differently situated groups: social documentary filmmakers (filmhaye ejtehmai) seeking NGO alliances to develop film projects about displaced youth, children’s rights advocates volunteering their time and skills to create NGO youth programs, and displaced youth seeking basic support and services from NGO service providers. I utilize feminist and visual anthropological methods to explore how the identities of displaced ethnic minority youth, which are as multifaceted and porous as the borders they cross, become fixed through state practices and local and international humanitarianisms. This project argues that Afghan and Kurdish youth are racialized and classified as refugees through what I call “documentary regimes,” which includes forms of governmental classification as well as social documentary films about displaced youth. I demonstrate how these “documentary regimes” reinforce fictions of the nation, reduce youth identities, and ultimately restrict displaced youth’s access to resources through affective humanitarian representations. Additionally, through collaborative, participatory work with the Shahrzad Digital Storytelling Group, I demonstrate how youth produce alternative senses of their own “emplacement” within Tehran. These affective youth-produced images deepen a sense of belonging among youth in ways that emplace them within the very places where they have been told that they do not belong. Ultimately, this project upends humanitarian framings such as “crisis” and “irregular migration” to argue that migration is in fact regular, and the crisis is one of the nation state’s own unsustainability.2023-09-1

Modification of MnO₂-based cathode materials for rechargeable alkaline batteries

Aqueous batteries like the alkaline battery, which utilizes the MnO₂/Zn chemistry, are recently receiving renewed attention due to an urgent desire to develop advanced batteries for storage of energy. MnO₂/Zn batteries offer high energy density, lower cost, and excellent shelf life. The cycleability of such batteries is, however, challenging due to the poor performance of the MnO₂ cathode. Therefore, various phases of MnO₂ materials were synthesized to investigate their cycling performance. A series of electrolytic MnO₂ (EMD) samples were synthesized using different concentrations of sulfuric acid-based electrolysis baths. EMD samples synthesized at a relatively high acidic concentration (2M H₂SO₄), had a 30% higher energy efficiency over a cycling period of 100 cycles and 35% higher capacity at the end of the cycling period. The better cycling performance is attributed to higher surface area, higher structural water content (essential for proton diffusion), and a larger fraction of ramsdellite phase in the 2M EMD structure. Pure ramsdellite MnO₂ was also synthesized and tested. It displayed an improved energy delivery and efficiency over all the EMD samples and its final specific capacity was very comparable to the 2M EMD sample. An alternative electrolyte solution (zinc sulfate) was examined for the cycling performance MnO₂ versus a zinc electrode. Addition of manganese sulfate to the electrolyte, which is reported to inhibit manganese dissolution during cycling, was also studied. This led to a discovery that the manganese sulfate additive leads to deposition of additional MnO₂ on the cathode substrate during the charge step of the cycling regime. Based on this observation, a novel method of producing EMD was designed in the zinc sulfate electrolyte that provides a milder environment for producing the material. This form of EMD, named “neutral” EMD or NEMD, exhibits a specific capacity 3x higher than that of commercial EMD when cycled in the zinc sulfate electrolyte. Furthermore, it was possible to retain at least 67-80% of its capacity after 100 cycles. Although MnO₂ cycled in zinc sulfate can only be utilized with low gravimetric loading of the material, this thesis exhibits a possible method of improving this factor.Applied Science, Faculty ofGraduat

Acute Pancreatitis in Western Sydney

Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) has a mortality of 30% in severe cases. Major causes worldwide are gallstones and alcohol misuse. The first aim was to characterise the aetiology, epidemiology and outcomes for patients with AP in Western Sydney (WS). The second aim was to explore pathogenesis of AP and identify potential biomarkers of severe AP using RNA sequencing. Methods: 1) A retrospective cohort analysis of 932 patients with AP presenting to 4 tertiary hospitals in WS was performed. Data from medical records was analysed using SPSS software 2) A RNA sequencing study was performed in a separate cohort of 84 patients with AP (mild=55, moderately severe=19, severe=10) from 2 tertiary hospitals in WS. RNA sequencing was performed on peripheral venous blood collected within 24h of presentation to hospital and data analysis conducted using DESeq2 and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software. Results: The majority of patients had gallstone AP (40%). 11.1% had severe AP and mortality was 1%. Females were less likely to develop severe AP. There was a failure to comply with guidelines for early management of AP. RNA sequencing identified 1914 differentially expressed genes (DEG) in severe AP compared to moderately severe and mild AP. Lipocalin 2, IL10 and olfactomedin 4 are potential biomarkers for severe AP and pathways dysregulated in severe AP had immunological and mitochondrial functions. There were 1468 DEG between females and males with AP and pathways unique to females were involved in B cell function. There were no DEG between the different aetiological groups. Conclusion: The majority of patients have mild AP with a low risk of mortality. T cell suppression and mitochondrial dysfunction are important pathways in severe AP. We demonstrated clear differences in the pathophysiology of AP between genders, with women demonstrating up-regulation of B cell functions. The differences in clinical outcomes between genders in AP may be due to underlying immune system differences

Iran's youth: agents of change

Tara Nesvaderani; Omid Memaria

The Combinator [electric guitar effects combiner]

For a professional guitarist or burgeoning amateur trying to make it, the best kinds of effects to use are the stompboxes effects. Why? They are easy to use, a lot of variation, sounds amazing, and cheap. And since the stompboxes comes in many different types (distortions, flanger, pitch shifting, etc) it is very common for a guitarist to possess more than 6 stompboxes pedals. This becomes a problem in live performances. Especially if you have to turn on multiple stompbox effects in combination to get a certain tone.  To alleviate this issue, Musictronics presents The Combinator, a device that can combine the stompboxes using digital signal switching. We are going to implement the switching mechanism in FPGA board and thus the whole system will be digital and operating close to real time. The device would also have the ability to combine multiple stompbox effect in a single step, eliminating the need for guitarist to multitask during live performances

Synthesis and biochemical characterisation of fluorinated analogues of pepstatin A and grassystatin A

© 2017 Pepstatin A and grassystatin A are natural, statine-containing peptides that act as inhibitors of aspartic protease enzymes. In this work, stereoselective fluorination is investigated as a strategy for enhancing the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of these lead compounds. Fluorination is found to modestly affect the protease inhibitory potency, leading to the identification of two highly active new inhibitors of the cancer-associated protease, cathepsin D. However, no dramatic changes are observed in terms of target selectivity, lipophilicity, membrane permeability or metabolic stability

Enabling a High-Throughput Characterization of Microscale Interfaces within Coated Cathode Particles

Lithium ion batteries represent an emerging field. The development of battery materials could benefit from quick techniques that enable atomic-level diagnostics. High performance cathodes, such as high-voltage spinel, often require coatings to protect against the destructive electrochemical environments at the particle-to-electrolyte interface. The preparations of these coating are still in the early phases of development, and their analytical inspection by high resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy (HR-S/TEM) techniques presents a significant challenge due to the microscale dimensions of cathode particles. In this work, a high throughput ultramicrotome technique was assessed for the characterization of the particle to coating interface. The ultramicrotome technique enabled the rapid preparation of cross-sections with a thickness of 126 ± 66 nm as determined by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurements. Cathode particles composed of high-voltage spinel, LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO), coated with lithium niobate (LiNbO3) were synthesized and cross-sections were inspected using HR-S/TEM techniques. These ultra-thin cross-sections enabled the ability to obtain nanoscale information regarding the composition and crystallinity of the particle-to-coating interface over lateral areas of >1 µm. Accessible correlations between the electrochemical performance of the LiNbO3 coated LNMO particles and the HR-S/TEM results were enabled by the high-throughput method. Discharge capacity measurements were acquired over a series of 100 electrochemical cycles for both the LiNbO3 coated and the as-prepared LNMO particles. The limitations of the ultramicrotome technique are also discussed herein with respect to the coating morphology and the procedure for guidance toward technique optimization. The rapid preparation of ultra-thin cross-sections can assist the advancement of protective coatings on the surfaces of cathode particles for an efficient characterization of bulk-to-surface interfaces

ECOmonitor [environmental monitoring system]

The ECOmonitor entails the construction of a sensor network that gathers data on certain environmental characteristics and communicates with a base station via a signal „hopping‟ scheme. The data will be collected at each monitoring station and will be wirelessly relayed to the next monitoring station that is closest to the base station. Finally the data is sent back to the base station at which point the data will be analyzed and placed online