Readiness to meet demand for skills: a study of five growth industries

Overview: This study considers issues pertinent to ensuring the Australian education and training system can respond to emerging skills demand in the following industries: food and agriculture; biotechnology and pharmaceuticals; advanced manufacturing; mining equipment, technology and services; and oil and gas. The report finds a widening gap between education and skills demand and highlights the crucial role of employees in developing a skilled workforce, as well as calling for a shift in thinking about the way skills are generated

Colorectal Cancer in Patients Under Age 50: Staging and Mortality at a Single Institution

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare stage and mortality in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients above and below age 50. We hypothesize that patients under age 50 will be diagnosed at a higher stage and have a lower mortality rate. Reports show an increase in CRC diagnoses in younger patients, however, data on this patient population is limited and further investigation is required. Methods: A 20-year review of electronic medical records was completed from 1997 to 2017 of all patients diagnosed with CRC. This data was aggregated and univariate analysis was performed. Results: Of the 3188 patients diagnosed with CRC, 245 (7.7%) were below age 50 and 2943 (92.3%) were above age 50. Younger patients were more likely to be diagnosed at stage two or higher, 71.4% (165/231) compared to 56.5% (1589/2810) of those above age 50 (p Discussion: We reject our null hypothesis. Younger patients under age 50 were diagnosed at higher stages, however, their 5 year mortality was lower than those diagnosed with CRC above age 50. Our data would support updated guidelines to initiate screening colonoscopies at age 45 instead of 50. Further investigations are required in this understudied population

Changes in ponderal index and body mass index across childhood and their associations with fat mass and cardiovascular risk factors at age 15

Background: Little is known about whether associations between childhood adiposity and later adverse cardiovascular health outcomes are driven by tracking of overweight from childhood to adulthood and/or by vascular and metabolic changes from childhood overweight that persist into adulthood. Our objective is to characterise associations between trajectories of adiposity across childhood and a wide range of cardiovascular risk factors measured in adolescence, and explore the extent to which these are mediated by fat mass at age 15. Methods and Findings: Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, we estimated individual trajectories of ponderal index (PI) from 0-2 years and BMI from 2-10 years using random-effects linear spline models (N = 4601). We explored associations between PI/BMI trajectories and DXA-determined total-body fat-mass and cardiovascular risk factors at 15 years (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting LDL-and HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, glucose, insulin) with and without adjustment for confounders. Changes in PI/BMI during all periods of infancy and childhood were associated with greater DXA-determined fat-mass at age 15. BMI changes in childhood, but not PI changes from 0-2 years, were associated with most cardiovascular risk factors in adolescence; associations tended to be strongest for BMI changes in later childhood (ages 8.5-10), and were largely mediated by fat mass at age 15. Conclusion: Changes in PI/BMI from 0-10 years were associated with greater fat-mass at age 15. Greater increases in BMI from age 8.5-10 years are most strongly associated with cardiovascular risk factors at age 15, with much of these associations mediated by fat-mass at this age. We found little evidence supporting previous reports that rapid PI changes in infancy are associated with future cardiovascular risk. This study suggests that associations between early overweight and subsequent adverse cardiovascular health are largely due to overweight children tending to remain overweight

p21-activated kinase 1: PAK'ed with potential

The p21-activated kinases (PAKs) are central players in growth factor signaling networks and morphogenetic processes that control proliferation, cell polarity, invasion and actin cytoskeleton organization. This raises the possibility that interfering with PAK activity may produce significant anti-tumor activity. In this perspective, we summarize recent data concerning the contribution of the PAK family member, PAK1, in growth factor signaling and tumorigenesis. We further discuss mechanisms by which inhibition of PAK1 can arrest tumor growth and promote cell apoptosis, and the types of cancers in which PAK1 inhibition may hold promise

Can resin coatings improve the flexural properties of highly viscous glass ionomer cements?

This study examined the effect of self-adhesive resin coatings on the flexural properties of three highly viscous glass ionomer cements (HVGICs), specifically Shofu Zirconomer (ZR), GC Equia Forte (EQ), and SDI Riva Self Cure (RV). Custom-made Telfon molds were used to produce 60 beam-shaped specimens (12 × 2 × 2 mm) for each material. The specimens were finished, measured, and randomly divided into three groups of 20. Ten specimens in each group were left uncoated, while the remaining ten were coated with their respective manufacturers’ resin coats. All specimens were immersed in distilled water, artificial saliva or citric acid at 37 °C for seven days and subjected to flexural testing with a 5 KN load at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min till fracture occurred. Flexural data were analysed using one-way ANOVA/Tukey’s post-hoc test and independent sample T-test (α=0.05). Mean flexural modulus ranged from 0.72±0.13 to 13.19±1.00 GPa while mean flexural strength ranged from 4.32±0.84 to 45.83±4.82 MPa after immersing in the different mediums. The flexural modulus/strength of uncoated ZR and RV were generally comparable or greater than when coated. However, EQ was mostly improved when coated regardless of immersion mediums. RV and EQ generally offered the best flexural performance when uncoated and coated respectively

DNA barcoding cannot discriminate between Sardinella tawilis and S. hualiensis (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae)

Sardinella tawilis, the only known freshwater sardinella in the world, is endemic to Taal Lake, Philippines. Previous studies found the Taiwan sardinella, S. hualiensis, to be morphologically very similar to S. tawilis and identified it as the marine sister species of S. tawilis. In this study, DNA barcoding using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene was carried out to analyze species demarcation in the Sardinella genus, focusing primarily on the relationship between S. tawilis and S. hualiensis. The neighbour-joining (NJ) tree that was constructed using Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model showed a single clade for the two species with 100% bootstrap support. K2P interspecific genetic divergence ranged from 0% to 0.522%, which is clearly below the suggested 3–3.5% cutoff for species discrimination. Recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1), mitochondrial control region (CR), cytochrome b, 16S rRNA, and S7 markers were used to further validate the results. Sardinella tawilis and S. hualiensis clustered together with a bootstrap support of 99–100% in each of the NJ trees. Low interspecific genetic distances between S. tawilis and S. hualiensis for all the markers except CR could be attributed to incipient allopatric speciation