The hypertoric intersection cohomology ring

We present a functorial computation of the equivariant intersection cohomology of a hypertoric variety, and endow it with a natural ring structure. When the hyperplane arrangement associated with the hypertoric variety is unimodular, we show that this ring structure is induced by a ring structure on the equivariant intersection cohomology sheaf in the equivariant derived category. The computation is given in terms of a localization functor which takes equivariant sheaves on a sufficiently nice stratified space to sheaves on a poset.Comment: Significant revisions in Section 5, with several corrected proof

Uptake of spirometry training by GPs

Please see first page of PDF for this item. Copyright © 2006 Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.Justin Beilby, Clare Harper, Christine Holton, Judy Proudfoot, Mark Harri

The design and relevance of a computerised therapy program for indigenous Māori adolescents.

Background: Depression is a major health issue among Māori indigenous adolescents, yet there has been little investigation into the relevance or effectiveness of psychological treatments for them. Further, consumer views are critical for engagement and adherence to therapy. However, there is little research regarding indigenous communities’ opinions about psychological interventions for depression. Objective: The objective of this study was to conduct semistructured interviews with Māori (indigenous New Zealand) young people (taitamariki) and their families to find out their opinions of a prototype computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) program called Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts (SPARX), a free online computer game intended to help young persons with mild to moderate depression, feeling down, stress or anxiety. The program will teach them how to resolve their issues on their own using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as psychotherapeutic approach. Methods: There were seven focus groups on the subject of the design and cultural relevance of SPARX that were held, with a total of 26 participants (19 taitamarki, 7 parents/caregivers, all Māori). There were five of the groups that were with whānau (family groups) (n=14), one group was with Māori teenage mothers (n=4), and one group was with taitamariki (n=8). The general inductive approach was used to analyze focus group data. Results: SPARX computerized therapy has good face validity and is seen as potentially effective and appealing for Māori people. Cultural relevance was viewed as being important for the engagement of Māori young people with SPARX. Whānau are important for young peoples’ well-being. Participants generated ideas for improving SPARX for Māori and for the inclusion of whānau in its delivery. Conclusions: SPARX computerized therapy had good face validity for indigenous young people and families. In general, Māori participants were positive about the SPARX prototype and considered it both appealing and applicable to them. The results of this study were used to refine SPARX prior to it being delivered to taitamariki and non-Māori young people

Leukocyte adhesion: reconceptualizing chemokine presentation by glycosaminoglycans

Recruitment of immune cells from the vasculature relies on the presentation of glycosaminoglycan-bound chemokines on the luminal side of vascular endothelial cells. However, the current model of chemokine–glycosaminoglycan interactions, and its implications for receptor interactions, remains poorly developed. We propose a refined ‘Chemokine Cloud’ model, arguing that chemokines are not presented to leukocytes bound to glycosaminoglycans, but rather, in solution while sequestered within the hydrated glycocalyx. We posit that glycosaminoglycans provide an immobilized chemokine depot maintaining a ‘cloud’ of ‘solution-phase’ chemokines within the glycocalyx, and that it is this soluble form of any given chemokine that interacts with leukocyte-bound receptors. Our proposition clarifies certain anomalies associated with the current model of chemokine–glycosaminoglycan interactions, with implications for the design of blockers of chemokine function

Genome-wide analysis of poly(A) site selection in schizosaccharomyces pombe,

Polyadenylation of pre-mRNAs, a critical step in eukaryotic gene expression, is mediated by cis elements collectively called the polyadenylation signal. Genome-wide analysis of such polyadenylation signals was missing in fission yeast, even though it is an important model organism. We demonstrate that the canonical AATAAA motif is the most frequent and functional polyadenylation signal in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Using analysis of RNA-Seq data sets from cells grown under various physiological conditions, we identify 3′ UTRs for nearly 90% of the yeast genes. Heterogeneity of cleavage sites is common, as is alternative polyadenylation within and between conditions. We validated the computationally identified sequence elements likely to promote polyadenylation by functional assays, including qRT-PCR and 3′RACE analysis. The biological importance of the AATAAA motif is underlined by functional analysis of the genes containing it. Furthermore, it has been shown that convergent genes require trans elements, like cohesin for efficient transcription termination. Here we show that convergent genes lacking cohesin (on chromosome 2) are generally associated with longer overlapping mRNA transcripts. Our bioinformatic and experimental genome-wide results are summarized and can be accessed and customized in a user-friendly database Pomb(A)

Poisson-de Rham homology of hypertoric varieties and nilpotent cones

We prove a conjecture of Etingof and the second author for hypertoric varieties, that the Poisson-de Rham homology of a unimodular hypertoric cone is isomorphic to the de Rham cohomology of its hypertoric resolution. More generally, we prove that this conjecture holds for an arbitrary conical variety admitting a symplectic resolution if and only if it holds in degree zero for all normal slices to symplectic leaves. The Poisson-de Rham homology of a Poisson cone inherits a second grading. In the hypertoric case, we compute the resulting 2-variable Poisson-de Rham-Poincare polynomial, and prove that it is equal to a specialization of an enrichment of the Tutte polynomial of a matroid that was introduced by Denham. We also compute this polynomial for S3-varieties of type A in terms of Kostka polynomials, modulo a previous conjecture of the first author, and we give a conjectural answer for nilpotent cones in arbitrary type, which we prove in rank less than or equal to 2.Comment: 25 page

Providing healthcare for people with chronic illness: the views of Australian GPs

The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia (26 April 2007). An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.OBJECTIVES: To explore general practitioners' views on chronic-disease care: the difficulties and rewards, the needs of patients, the impact of government incentive payments, and the changes needed to improve chronic-disease management. DESIGN: Qualitative study, involving semi-structured questions administered to 10 focus groups of GPs, conducted from April to October 2002. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 54 GPs from both urban and rural practices in New South Wales and South Australia. RESULTS: Consistent themes emerged about the complex nature of chronic-disease management, the tension between patients' and GPs' goals for care, the time-consuming aspects of care (exacerbated by federal government requirements), and the conflicting pressures that prevent GPs engaging in structured multidisciplinary care (ie, team-based care involving systems for patient monitoring, recall, and care planning). CONCLUSIONS: Structured multidisciplinary care for people with chronic conditions can be difficult to provide. Barriers include the lack of fit between systems oriented towards acute care and the requirements of chronic-disease care, and between bureaucratic, inflexible structures and the complex, dynamic nature of GP–patient relationships. These problems are exacerbated by administrative pressures associated with federal government initiatives to improve chronic-illness management. Changes are needed in both policies and attitudes to enable GPs to move from episodic care to providing structured long-term care as part of a multidisciplinary team.John Oldroyd, Judith Proudfoot, Fernando A Infante, Gawaine Powell Davies, Tanya Bubner, Chris Holton, Justin J Beilby and Mark F Harri

Topological Order in Projected Wave Functions and Effective Theories of Quantum Antiferromagnets

We study the topological order in RVB state derived from Gutzwiller projection of BCS-like mean field state. We propose to construct the topological excitation on the projected RVB state through Gutzwiller projection of mean field state with inserted $Z_{2}$ flux tube. We prove that all projected RVB states derived from bipartite effective theories, no matter the gauge structure in the mean field ansatz, are positive definite in the sense of the Marshall sign rule, which provides a universal origin for the absence of topological order in such RVB state.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

Quality improvement activities associated with organisational capacity in general practice

Copyright © 2007 Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.BACKGROUND Clinical audit is recognised worldwide as a useful tool for quality improvement. METHODS A feedback report profiling capacity for chronic disease care was sent to 97 general practices. These practices were invited to complete a clinical audit activity based on that feedback. Data were analysed quantitatively and case studies were developed based on the free text responses. RESULTS Eighty-two (33%) of 247 general practitioners participated in the clinical audit process, representing 57 (59%) of 97 general practices. From the data in their feedback report, 37 (65%) of the 57 practices recognised the area most in need of improvement. This was most likely where the need related to clinical practice or teamwork, and least likely where the need related to linkages with other services, and business and finance. Only 25 practices (46%) developed an action plan related to their recognised area for improvement, and 22 (39%) practices implemented their chosen activity. Participating GPs judged that change activity focused on teamwork was most successful. DISCUSSION The clinical audit process offered participating GPs and practices an opportunity to reflect on their performance across a number of key areas and to implement change to enhance the practice’s capacity for quality chronic disease care. The relationship between need and action was weak, suggesting a need for greater support to overcome barriers.Cheryl Amoroso, Judy Proudfoot, Tanya Bubner, Edward Swan, Paola Espinel, Christopher Barton, Justin Beilby and Mark Harri

A New Scintillator Tile/Fiber Preshower Detector for the CDF Central Calorimeter

A detector designed to measure early particle showers has been installed in front of the central CDF calorimeter at the Tevatron. This new preshower detector is based on scintillator tiles coupled to wavelength-shifting fibers read out by multi-anode photomultipliers and has a total of 3,072 readout channels. The replacement of the old gas detector was required due to an expected increase in instantaneous luminosity of the Tevatron collider in the next few years. Calorimeter coverage, jet energy resolution, and electron and photon identification are among the expected improvements. The final detector design, together with the R&D studies that led to the choice of scintillator and fiber, mechanical assembly, and quality control are presented. The detector was installed in the fall 2004 Tevatron shutdown and started collecting colliding beam data by the end of the same year. First measurements indicate a light yield of 12 photoelectrons/MIP, a more than two-fold increase over the design goals.Comment: 5 pages, 10 figures (changes are minor; this is the final version published in IEEE-Trans.Nucl.Sci.