Functional results following surgical repair of post-traumatic hand tendon injuries

Introduction: The study aims to determine whether early physical therapy following hand tendon repair gives better results and to look at any possible limiting factors locally. Methods: Twenty adults were selected from those admitted to Mater Dei Hospital, with traumatic tendon injuries to the wrist and hand during the year 2014. Their medical records were reviewed and details on surgical repair and postoperative rehabilitation noted. Participants completed QuickDASH outcome measure questionnaires assessing their situation both on initial presentation to hand therapy and six months later. The range of motion in all joints of the injured digits, six months after commencement of therapy, was measured by manual hand goniometry and the Total Active Motion (TAM) score calculated. Results: A negative correlation was found between delay in starting hand therapy and both TAM score (r=-0.650, N=20, p<0.001) and QuickDASH score (r=-0.650, N=20, p<0.002). Comparison of the two outcome measures resulted in a strong negative correlation (r=-0.831, N=20, p<0.0005). Conclusion: These findings support current literature confirming that a shorter delay in starting hand therapy following tendon repair is associated with a better outcome for the patient. Better documentation and interdisciplinary handover is required, and a new operation report template is being put forward.peer-reviewe

Case of Monostotic Fibrous Dysplasia in the hand

A case of monostotic fibrous dysplasia in the proximal phalanx of an otherwise healthy, twenty-five year old is discussed. Fibrous dysplasia in the hand is rarely seen. Our patient presented with a swelling in his proximal phalanx. Xrays showed a lytic lesion. The lesion was treated with excision biopsy and cancellous bone grafting. Histological examination excluded malignancy but was diagnostically inconclusive. At recurrence, two and a half years later, a diagnosis of fibrous dysplasia was made. Intractable pain necessitated a ray amputation of the affected phalanx. The indications for surgical intervention in cases of fibrous dysplasia are discussed.peer-reviewe

Design of experiment for the pilot evaluation of an airborne runway incursion alerting system

Runway incursions pose a significant threat to the continued safety of commercial aviation. In response, the Runway Collision Avoidance Function (RCAF) was developed by the University of Malta and evaluated at Cranfield University as part of the European Programme FLYSAFE. This paper discusses the design of experiment developed in preparation of the said evaluations, addressing the objectives of the test programme and explains how these objectives were met.peer-reviewe

Effects of diabetes family history and exercise training on the expression of adiponectin and leptin and their receptors

The daughters of patients with diabetes have reduced insulin sensitivity index (ISI) scores compared with women with no family history of diabetes, but their ISI increase more in response to exercise training(1). The present study aimed to determine whether differences between these groups in exercise-induced changes in circulating adiponectin and leptin concentrations and expression of their genes and receptors in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), could explain differences in the exercise-induced changes in ISI between women with and without a family history of diabetes

Literature review of machine learning techniques to analyse flight data

This paper analyses the increasing trend of using modern machine learning technologies to analyze flight data efficiently. Flight data offers an important insight into the operations of an aircraft. This paper reviews the research undertaken so far on the use of Machine Learning techniques for the analyses of flight data by evaluating various anomaly detection algorithms and the significance of feature selection in Flight Data Monitoring. These algorithms are compared to determine the best class of algorithms for highlighting significant flight anomalies. Furthermore, these algorithms are analyzed for various flight data parameters to determine which class of algorithms is sensitive to continuous parameters and which is sensitive to discrete parameters of flight data. The paper also addresses the ability of each anomaly detection algorithm to be easily adaptable to different datasets and different phases of flight, including take-off and landing.peer-reviewe

Prolonged Antigen Presentation Is Required for Optimal CD8+ T Cell Responses against Malaria Liver Stage Parasites

Immunization with irradiated sporozoites is currently the most effective vaccination strategy against liver stages of malaria parasites, yet the mechanisms underpinning the success of this approach are unknown. Here we show that the complete development of protective CD8+ T cell responses requires prolonged antigen presentation. Using TCR transgenic cells specific for the malaria circumsporozoite protein, a leading vaccine candidate, we found that sporozoite antigen persists for over 8 weeks after immunization—a remarkable finding since irradiated sporozoites are incapable of replication and do not differentiate beyond early liver stages. Persisting antigen was detected in lymphoid organs and depends on the presence of CD11c+ cells. Prolonged antigen presentation enhanced the magnitude of the CD8+ T cell response in a number of ways. Firstly, reducing the time primed CD8+ T cells were exposed to antigen in vivo severely reduced the final size of the developing memory population. Secondly, fully developed memory cells expanded in previously immunized mice but not when transferred to naïve animals. Finally, persisting antigen was able to prime naïve cells, including recent thymic emigrants, to become functional effector cells capable of eliminating parasites in the liver. Together these data show that the optimal development of protective CD8+ T cell immunity against malaria liver stages is dependent upon the prolonged presentation of sporozoite-derived antigen

Introducing BASE: the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database

Background: Microbial inhabitants of soils are important to ecosystem and planetary functions, yet there are large gaps in our knowledge of their diversity and ecology. The 'Biomes of Australian Soil Environments' (BASE) project has generated a database of microbial diversity with associated metadata across extensive environmental gradients at continental scale. As the characterisation of microbes rapidly expands, the BASE database provides an evolving platform for interrogating and integrating microbial diversity and function. Findings: BASE currently provides amplicon sequences and associated contextual data for over 900 sites encompassing all Australian states and territories, a wide variety of bioregions, vegetation and land-use types. Amplicons target bacteria, archaea and general and fungal-specific eukaryotes. The growing database will soon include metagenomics data. Data are provided in both raw sequence (FASTQ) and analysed OTU table formats and are accessed via the project's data portal, which provides a user-friendly search tool to quickly identify samples of interest. Processed data can be visually interrogated and intersected with other Australian diversity and environmental data using tools developed by the 'Atlas of Living Australia'. Conclusions: Developed within an open data framework, the BASE project is the first Australian soil microbial diversity database. The database will grow and link to other global efforts to explore microbial, plant, animal, and marine biodiversity. Its design and open access nature ensures that BASE will evolve as a valuable tool for documenting an often overlooked component of biodiversity and the many microbe-driven processes that are essential to sustain soil function and ecosystem services

Introducing BASE: the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database

Microbial inhabitants of soils are important to ecosystem and planetary functions, yet there are large gaps in our knowledge of their diversity and ecology. The ‘Biomes of Australian Soil Environments’ (BASE) project has generated a database of microbial diversity with associated metadata across extensive environmental gradients at continental scale. As the characterisation of microbes rapidly expands, the BASE database provides an evolving platform for interrogating and integrating microbial diversity and function

A database of marine phytoplankton abundance, biomass and species composition in Australian waters

There have been many individual phytoplankton datasets collected across Australia since the mid 1900s, but most are unavailable to the research community. We have searched archives, contacted researchers, and scanned the primary and grey literature to collate 3,621,847 records of marine phytoplankton species from Australian waters from 1844 to the present. Many of these are small datasets collected for local questions, but combined they provide over 170 years of data on phytoplankton communities in Australian waters. Units and taxonomy have been standardised, obviously erroneous data removed, and all metadata included. We have lodged this dataset with the Australian Ocean Data Network (http://portal.aodn.org.au/) allowing public access. The Australian Phytoplankton Database will be invaluable for global change studies, as it allows analysis of ecological indicators of climate change and eutrophication (e.g., changes in distribution; diatom:dinoflagellate ratios). In addition, the standardised conversion of abundance records to biomass provides modellers with quantifiable data to initialise and validate ecosystem models of lower marine trophic levels