Anastasia's Journeys: Two Voices in a Limited Space

Anastasia’s Journeys was a temporary exhibition in the Australian History Museum, Macquarie University, Australia. Developed from the oral history of a post-World War Two Russian immigrant who survived Stalin’s policies of forced collectivisation and engineered famine, the display communicated primarily through audio tracks, supported by text panels and objects. This article articulates the creative tensions between theory and practice of public history which were encountered when planning the target audience, content, and design of the exhibition. It describes the process by which the oral history was placed at the centre of the presentation while objects were used both to illustrate changing social situations and introduce an opposing interpretation. The attributes of the oral history which made it suitable for an audio presentation are then discussed

Controlled polymerisation and industrial application of poly(2-chloro-1,3-butadiene)

Poly(2-chloro-1,3-butadiene) (PCB, polychloroprene) has wide-ranging applications as neoprene rubber. Favourable chemical and physical properties in the material are attributed to a three-dimensional network of polymer chains, which is realised through cross-linking. Ethylene thiourea (ETU) and zinc oxide (ZnO) are the standard reagents which facilitate this in industrial processes. However, ETU is a suspected carcinogen and its usage is due tobecome severely restricted, so much so that the future production of neoprene rubber is at risk. Hence, an alternative, non-toxic cross-linking agent is required which can cross-linkPCB in the same fashion. The way in which the ETU/ZnO system functions must first beunderstood before a replacement can be proposed. Thus, mechanistic studies were initially undertaken with PCB oligomers in order to elucidate the reaction. To this end, a synthetic protocol was established for 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene (CB) and the monomer was subsequently adopted in numerous polymerisation reactions. Investigations into the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerisation of CBproceeded to predefine low molecular weight PCB. A successful procedure was realised, employing 2-cyano-2-propylbenzodithioate (CPD) CTA and conditions which were able to furnish <1000 g/mol to 50,000 g/mol, low dispersity PCB in a controlled manner. This invention was novel in that PCB has historically been synthesised via conventional(uncontrolled) free radical techniques. PCB oligomers were adopted in cross-linking reactions with ETU and various model compounds, alone, and with ZnO, to aid the interpretation of the ETU/ZnO mechanism. Spectroscopic analyses and the observation of by-products revealed that three disparate reactions occur; ETU and ZnO were found to act both synergistically and independently of each other. A newly-proposed mechanism describes activation of the polymer chain by ZnOand subsequent reaction through sulfur. As a result of this discovery, alternative compounds have been tested and found capable of cross-linking PCB. In a second industrial study, the eradication of allergy-causing cross-linking additives for PCBlatex (gloves) was investigated. PCB latex films were generated under various conditions and the materials physically tested. A novel amine-dithiocarbamate complex, combined with a xanthogen polysulfide, afforded comparable properties in PCB latex and as such is apotential replacement system

Evolution of spatial planning strategies at Australian university campuses 1945-2017

The design of the university campus is often seen as a microcosm of broader city planning trends. The university is now a global institution but this paper specifically explores trends in Australian university campus planning across several decades of political, institutional, economic, social and environmental change since the late 1940s. At mid-twentieth century campuses were legacy sites embodying design fashions from the past and awaited the exponential growth in demand for tertiary education which came in the post-war period when completely new campuses were also developed. A benchmark paradigm in campus and city planning from the late 1940s was master planning, denoting comprehensive, all-of-a-piece integrated blueprints. While the idea of holistic spatial strategies has not completely lapsed, campus planning processes have become more fluid, targeted and opportunistic, just as city planning generally has become more creative and flexible in dealing with faster rates of economic, social, technological, environmental and educational change. Our brief survey covers the major phase of post-war university development, a parallel and intersecting set of design epochs, and identification of some of the leading designers of the boom period through and on either side of the 1960s

Design, synthesis and RAFT polymerisation of a quinoline-based monomer for use in metal-binding composite microfibres

Metal-binding polymer fibres have attracted major attention for diverse applications in membranes for metal sequestration from waste waters, non-woven wound dressings, matrices for photocatalysis, and many more. This paper reports the design and synthesis of an 8-hydroxyquinoline-based zinc-binding styrenic monomer, QuiBoc. Its subsequent polymerisation by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) yielded well-defined polymers, PQuiBoc, of controllable molar masses (6 and 12 kg mol−1) with low dispersities (Đ, Mw/Mn < 1.3). Protected (PQuiBoc) and deprotected (PQuiOH) derivatives of the polymer exhibited a high zinc-binding capacity, as determined by semi-quantitative SEM/EDXA analyses, allowing the electrospinning of microfibres from a PQuiBoc/polystyrene (PS) blend without the need for removal of the protecting group. Simple “dip-coating” of the fibrous mats into ZnO suspensions showed that PQuiBoc/PS microfibres with only 20% PQuiBoc content had almost three-fold higher loadings of ZnO (29%) in comparison to neat PS microfibres (11%)

Significant benefits of AIP testing and clinical screening in familial isolated and young-onset pituitary tumors

Context Germline mutations in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) gene are responsible for a subset of familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) cases and sporadic pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs). Objective To compare prospectively diagnosed AIP mutation-positive (AIPmut) PitNET patients with clinically presenting patients and to compare the clinical characteristics of AIPmut and AIPneg PitNET patients. Design 12-year prospective, observational study. Participants & Setting We studied probands and family members of FIPA kindreds and sporadic patients with disease onset ≤18 years or macroadenomas with onset ≤30 years (n = 1477). This was a collaborative study conducted at referral centers for pituitary diseases. Interventions & Outcome AIP testing and clinical screening for pituitary disease. Comparison of characteristics of prospectively diagnosed (n = 22) vs clinically presenting AIPmut PitNET patients (n = 145), and AIPmut (n = 167) vs AIPneg PitNET patients (n = 1310). Results Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut PitNET patients had smaller lesions with less suprasellar extension or cavernous sinus invasion and required fewer treatments with fewer operations and no radiotherapy compared with clinically presenting cases; there were fewer cases with active disease and hypopituitarism at last follow-up. When comparing AIPmut and AIPneg cases, AIPmut patients were more often males, younger, more often had GH excess, pituitary apoplexy, suprasellar extension, and more patients required multimodal therapy, including radiotherapy. AIPmut patients (n = 136) with GH excess were taller than AIPneg counterparts (n = 650). Conclusions Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut patients show better outcomes than clinically presenting cases, demonstrating the benefits of genetic and clinical screening. AIP-related pituitary disease has a wide spectrum ranging from aggressively growing lesions to stable or indolent disease course

Minithoracotomy vs Conventional Sternotomy for Mitral Valve Repair: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance: The safety and effectiveness of mitral valve repair via thoracoscopically-guided minithoracotomy (minithoracotomy) compared with median sternotomy (sternotomy) in patients with degenerative mitral valve regurgitation is uncertain. Objective: To compare the safety and effectiveness of minithoracotomy vs sternotomy mitral valve repair in a randomized trial. Design, Setting, and Participants: A pragmatic, multicenter, superiority, randomized clinical trial in 10 tertiary care institutions in the UK. Participants were adults with degenerative mitral regurgitation undergoing mitral valve repair surgery. Interventions: Participants were randomized 1:1 with concealed allocation to receive either minithoracotomy or sternotomy mitral valve repair performed by an expert surgeon. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was physical functioning and associated return to usual activities measured by change from baseline in the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) version 2 physical functioning scale 12 weeks after the index surgery, assessed by an independent researcher masked to the intervention. Secondary outcomes included recurrent mitral regurgitation grade, physical activity, and quality of life. The prespecified safety outcomes included death, repeat mitral valve surgery, or heart failure hospitalization up to 1 year. Results: Between November 2016 and January 2021, 330 participants were randomized (mean age, 67 years, 100 female [30%]); 166 were allocated to minithoracotomy and 164 allocated to sternotomy, of whom 309 underwent surgery and 294 reported the primary outcome. At 12 weeks, the mean between-group difference in the change in the SF-36 physical function T score was 0.68 (95% CI, −1.89 to 3.26). Valve repair rates (≈ 96%) were similar in both groups. Echocardiography demonstrated mitral regurgitation severity as none or mild for 92% of participants at 1 year with no difference between groups. The composite safety outcome occurred in 5.4% (9 of 166) of patients undergoing minithoracotomy and 6.1% (10 of 163) undergoing sternotomy at 1 year. Conclusions and relevance: Minithoracotomy is not superior to sternotomy in recovery of physical function at 12 weeks. Minithoracotomy achieves high rates and quality of valve repair and has similar safety outcomes at 1 year to sternotomy. The results provide evidence to inform shared decision-making and treatment guidelines. Trial Registration: isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN1393045

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Just a roof over their heads: temporary dwellings on Sydney's urban fringe 1945-1960

This thesis is an historical investigation of the construction and occupation of temporary dwellings in post-war suburban Sydney, a crucial early shaper of suburban development and home-ownership yet an under-researched phenomenon in Australian urban and housing history. Between 1945 and 1960, a critical housing shortage forced thousands of Australian families to live in garages, huts, sheds, tents and other makeshift homes that became a long-term feature of the outer suburban environment of most cities and towns. The largest proportion of these dwellings existed on the metropolitan fringe of Sydney, Australia’s largest city. Generally constructed by their mainly working-class owners and used as interim accommodation while they amassed the financial and material resources to construct a permanent home, typical examples used basic materials and construction techniques and provided very restricted accommodation, while a lack of public utilities and infrastructure forced the occupants to be almost fully self-reliant. The dwellings were commonly designed to be removed or repurposed as domestic outbuildings, however examples remain as material evidence of the living conditions accepted by occupants in their pursuit of housing security during a period of crisis. Using the interpretational frameworks of theories of human motivation, historical institutionalism and systemic cycles of accumulation, the thesis investigates the advent, existence, and decline of these dwellings as a viable housing form and introduces a theorized analysis of the circumstances which underpinned the presence of this transitory form of housing in one city in Australia. The historiographical approach adopted is that of the Annales school, which regards the social, political and economic aspects of historical events equally. The research methodologies of historical interpretation, case-study and oral history interviews are employed, in the form of archival investigations, site assessments and 35 interviews, to survey the scale of the phenomenon and locations of dwellings in three Sydney localities and assess the various types of buildings used for shelter, their structure, materials, and context as well as the occupants’ living conditions and methods of financing. This thesis provides a portal into a new dimension in the study of mid-twentieth century housing in Sydney, and the very human struggles for secure shelter, satisfactory living conditions, and entry into the post-war housing market

EDTA improves stability of whole blood C-peptide and insulin to over 24 hours at room temperature.

C-peptide and insulin measurements in blood provide useful information regarding endogenous insulin secretion. Conflicting evidence on sample stability and handling procedures continue to limit the widespread clinical use of these tests. We assessed the factors that altered the stability of insulin and C-peptide in blood.This article is freely available online via Open Access. Click on the 'Additional Link' above to access the full text