Trends in chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing and positivity in Western Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women 2001-2013: a population based cohort study

Aims: To examine trends in chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing and positivity in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women of reproductive age. Methods: A cohort of 318002 women, born between 1974-1995, residing in Western Australia (WA) was determined from birth registrations and the 2014 electoral roll. This cohort was then probabilistically linked to all records of chlamydia and gonorrhoea nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) conducted between 1st January 2001 and 31st December 2013 by two large WA pathology laboratories. Trends in chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing and positivity were investigated over time and stratified by Aboriginality and age group. Results: The proportion of women tested annually for chlamydia increased significantly between 2001 and 2013 from 24% to 37% in Aboriginal and 4.0% to 8.5% in non-Aboriginal women (both p-values80%) and so patterns of gonorrhoea testing were similar. Chlamydia and gonorrhoea positivity were substantially higher in Aboriginal compared to non-Aboriginal women; age-, region- and year-adjusted Incidence Rate Ratio’s 1.52(95%CI 1.50-1.69, p Conclusion: Between 2001 and 2013 in WA chlamydia and gonorrhoea positivity remained highest in young Aboriginal women despite chlamydia positivity increasing among young non-Aboriginal women. More effective prevention strategies, particularly in young Aboriginal women are needed to addres these disparitie

Distribution of Irrawaddy dolphins, Orcaella brevirostris, in Australian waters

Records from strandings, museum specimens, sighting databases and unpublished sightings of aerial surveys were compiled and used to review the distribution and population status of Irrawaddy dolphins, Orcaella brevirostris, in Australian waters. Stranding and museum specimen records indicate that Irrawaddy dolphins occur only in the northern half of Australia, from approximately the Brisbane River (27degrees 32'S, 152degrees 49'E) on the east coast to Broome (17degrees 57'S, 122degrees 14'E) on the west coast. Aerial surveys demonstrate that Irrawaddy dolphins occur mainly in protected, shallow, coastal waters, close to river and creek mouths, which appear to be an important habitat for the species. Irrawaddy dolphins tend to form relatively small groups of 1-10 animals with occasional aggregations of up to 14 animals. The status of Irrawaddy dolphins in Australian waters is difficult to assess, because most data have been collected opportunistically. However, the low number of sightings during aerial surveys, in comparison with observations of other sympatric marine mammals, such as Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis), suggest that Irrawaddy dolphins are relatively uncommon in Australian waters, or possibly are inadequately sampled on aerial surveys

Design mining interacting wind turbines

© 2016 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An initial study has recently been presented of surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithms used to design vertical-axis wind turbines wherein candidate prototypes are evaluated under fan-generated wind conditions after being physically instantiated by a 3D printer. Unlike other approaches, such as computational fluid dynamics simulations, no mathematical formulations were used and no model assumptions weremade. This paper extends that work by exploring alternative surrogate modelling and evolutionary techniques. The accuracy of various modelling algorithms used to estimate the fitness of evaluated individuals from the initial experiments is compared. The effect of temporally windowing surrogate model training samples is explored. A surrogateassisted approach based on an enhanced local search is introduced; and alternative coevolution collaboration schemes are examined

Earlier age of dementia onset and shorter survival times in dementia patients with diabetes

Diabetes is a risk factor for dementia, but relatively little is known about the epidemiology of the association. A retrospective population study using Western Australian hospital inpatient, mental health outpatient, and death records was used to compare the age at index dementia record (proxy for onset age) and survival outcomes in dementia patients with and without preexisting diabetes (n = 25,006; diabetes, 17.3%). Inpatient records from 1970 determined diabetes history in this study population with incident dementia in years 1990–2005. Dementia onset and death occurred an average 2.2 years and 2.6 years earlier, respectively, in diabetic compared with nondiabetic patients. Age-specific mortality rates were increased in patients with diabetes. In an adjusted proportional hazard model, the death rate was increased with long-duration diabetes, particularly with early age onset dementia. In dementia diagnosed before age 65 years, those with a ≥15-year history of diabetes died almost twice as fast as those without diabetes (hazard ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.3, 2.9). These results suggest that, in patients with diabetes, dementia onset occurs on average 2 years early and survival outcomes are generally poorer. The effect of diabetes on onset, survival, and mortality is greatest when diabetes develops before middle age and after 15 years’ diabetes duration. The impact of diabetes on dementia becomes progressively attenuated in older age groups

A brief history of learning classifier systems: from CS-1 to XCS and its variants

© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The direction set by Wilson’s XCS is that modern Learning Classifier Systems can be characterized by their use of rule accuracy as the utility metric for the search algorithm(s) discovering useful rules. Such searching typically takes place within the restricted space of co-active rules for efficiency. This paper gives an overview of the evolution of Learning Classifier Systems up to XCS, and then of some of the subsequent developments of Wilson’s algorithm to different types of learning

A Cognitive Architecture Based on a Learning Classifier System with Spiking Classifiers

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Learning classifier systems (LCS) are population-based reinforcement learners that were originally designed to model various cognitive phenomena. This paper presents an explicitly cognitive LCS by using spiking neural networks as classifiers, providing each classifier with a measure of temporal dynamism. We employ a constructivist model of growth of both neurons and synaptic connections, which permits a genetic algorithm to automatically evolve sufficiently-complex neural structures. The spiking classifiers are coupled with a temporally-sensitive reinforcement learning algorithm, which allows the system to perform temporal state decomposition by appropriately rewarding “macro-actions”, created by chaining together multiple atomic actions. The combination of temporal reinforcement learning and neural information processing is shown to outperform benchmark neural classifier systems, and successfully solve a robotic navigation task

Cancer Survival and Excess Mortality Estimates among Adolescents and Young Adults in Western Australia, 1982-2004: A Population-Based Study

Background: Data are limited on cancer outcomes in adolescents and young adults. Methods: Based on data from the Western Australian Data Linkage System, this study modelled survival and excess mortality in all adolescents and young adults aged 15-39 years in Western Australia who had a diagnosis of cancer in the period 1982-2004. Relative survival and excess all-cause mortality for all cancers combined and for principal tumour subgroups were estimated, using the Ederer II method and generalised linear Poisson modelling, respectively. Results: A cancer diagnosis in adolescents and young adults conferred substantial survival decrement. However, overall outcomes improved over calendar period (excess mortality hazard ratio [HR], latest versus earliest diagnostic period: 0.52, trend <0.0001). Case fatality varied according to age group (HR, oldest versus youngest: 1.38, trend <0.0001), sex (HR, female versus male: 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.62-0.71), ethnicity (HR, Aboriginal versus others: 1.47, CI 1.23-1.76), geographical area (HR, rural/remote versus urban: 1.13, CI 1.04-1.23) and residential socioeconomic status (HR, lowest versus highest quartile: 1.14, trend <0.05). Tumour subgroups differed substantially in frequency according to age group and sex, and were critical outcome determinants. Conclusions: Marked progressive calendar-time improvement in overall outcomes was evident. Further research is required to disentangle the contributions of tumour biology and health service factors to outcome disparities between ethno-demographic, geographic and socioeconomic subgroups of adolescents and young adults with cancer. © 2013 Haggar et al

Dietary Supplements and Sports Performance: Metabolites, Constituents, and Extracts

This is the fifth in a series of six articles to discuss the major classes of dietary supplements (vitamins; minerals; amino acids; herbs or botanicals; and metabolites/constituents/extracts). The major focus is on efficacy of such dietary supplements to enhance exercise or sports performance

Hospital Mental Health Admissions in Women after Unsuccessful Infertility Treatment and In Vitro Fertilization: An Australian Population-Based Cohort Study

Objective - To examine the association between in vitro fertilization (IVF) and later admission to hospital with a mental health diagnosis in women who remained childless after infertility treatment. Methods - This was a population-based cohort study using linked administrative hospital and registry data. The study population included all women commencing hospital treatment for infertility in Western Australia between the years 1982 and 2002 aged 20–44 years at treatment commencement who did not have a recorded birth by the end of follow-up (15 August 2010) and did not have a hospital mental health admission prior to the first infertility admission (n=6,567). Of these, 2,623 women had IVF and 3,944 did not. We used multivariate Cox regression modeling of mental health admissions and compared women undergoing IVF treatment with women having infertility treatment but not IVF. Results - Over an average of 17 years of follow-up, 411 women in the cohort were admitted to hospital with a mental health diagnosis; 93 who had IVF and 318 who did not. The unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for a hospital mental health admission comparing women who had IVF with those receiving other infertility treatment was 0.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.40–0.63). After adjustment for age, calendar year and socio-economic status the HR was 0.56 (95% CI 0.44–0.71). Conclusions - IVF treatment is associated with a reduced risk of hospital mental health admissions in women after unsuccessful infertility treatment. This may be explained by the healthy cohort effect