Monash University, Australia

The collision of India and Eurasia has resulted in a broad range of structures, from the Himalayan chain to the Tibetan Plateau. The convergence history is characterised by velocities of > 10 cm/yr at collision to current velocities of ~5 cm/yr, of which ~2cm/yr are accommodated at the orogens' front. Our thermomechanical model simulates the collision of India and Eurasia to assess the role of the decrease in velocity, highlighting 4...

Metabolic plasticity in response to different environmental conditions is widespread across taxa. It is reasonable to expect that such plasticity should be adaptive, but only few studies have determined the adaptive significance of metabolic plasticity by formally estimating selection on metabolic rate under different environmental conditions. We used a model marine colonial invertebrate, Bugula neritina to examine selection on metabolic rate in a harsh and a benign environment in the field, then tested whether these...

Multiple visual pigments, prerequisites for color vision, are found in arthropods, but the evolutionary origin of their diversity remains obscure. In this study, we explore the opsin genes in five distantly related species of Onychophora, using deep transcriptome sequencing and screening approaches. Surprisingly, our data reveal the presence of only one opsin gene (onychopsin) in each onychophoran species, and our behavioral experiments indicate a maximum sensitivity of onychopsin to blue–green light. In our phylogenetic analyses,...

Mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs) are hosted by the Early Cretaceous granitic plutons from the Jiaodong Peninsula and are crucial for constraining the petrogenesis of these plutons and understanding the lithospheric evolution in the eastern North China Craton (NCC). This paper presents new geochronological, bulk-rock geochemistry, and Sr-Nd-Hf isotope data for Yashan granodiorite and its MMEs in an effort to build an integrated model of the geodynamic setting during the Early Cretaceous. Zircon U–Pb dating indicates...

This study aimed to characterise recovery from pain and mental health symptoms, and identify whether treatment use facilitates recovery. Victorian State Trauma Registry and Victorian Orthopaedic Trauma Outcomes Registry participants without neurotrauma who had transport injury claims with the Transport Accident Commission from 2007 to 2014 were included (n = 5908). Latent transition analysis of pain Numeric Rating Scale, SF-12, and EQ-5D-3L pain and mental health items from 6 to 12 months, and 12 to...

There is limited qualitative research exploring challenges experienced following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). We investigated challenges to recovery identified by individuals who sustained severe TBI three years earlier or their close others (COs), as well as suggestions for managing these challenges. Nine participants with TBI and 16 COs completed semi-structured interviews. Using reflexive thematic analysis, challenges were identified across several timeframes (i.e., at the injury, acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, and at home/other...

Facultative sexual organisms must allocate resources to both asexual and sexual reproduction. Optimal patterns of investment in sex depend on the relative costs and benefits of each reproductive mode, and may consequently be context- and condition-dependent. Two proposed explanations for the observed variation in investment in sex among facultative sexual lineages invoke alternative condition-dependent scenarios. Under the ‘fitness-associated sex’ hypothesis, sex is predicted when individuals are in poor condition or experience stressful environments. Under the...

Sludge-recycling enhanced flocculation (SEF) is an effective method for enhancing flocculation. In the conventional SEF process, the settled sludge is recirculated into the flocculation process without any further treatment. However, studies have shown that the efficacy of the SEF process could be improved by pre-treating the sludge. In this work, the acid activation of sludge was performed using a range of pH values (1.0 – 6.0) and charge states, with and without long-chain bridging. The...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory joint disorder that inflicts damage to the joints of the hands and wrist. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of β-Arrestin-2 (βArr2) on RA in vivo and in vitro. The βArr2 adenovirus (βArr2-Ad) or the control (Con-Ad) was injected into the ankle joint cavity of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice. According to the results, an improvement was shown in the symptoms and pathological injury...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory joint disorder that inflicts damage to the joints of the hands and wrist. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of β-Arrestin-2 (βArr2) on RA in vivo and in vitro. The βArr2 adenovirus (βArr2-Ad) or the control (Con-Ad) was injected into the ankle joint cavity of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice. According to the results, an improvement was shown in the symptoms and pathological injury...

To characterise the assessments and treatments that comprise “usual care” for stroke patients with somatosensory loss, and whether usual care has changed over time. Comparison of cross-sectional, observational data from (1) Stroke Foundation National Audit of Acute (2007–2019) and Rehabilitation (2010–2018) Stroke Services and (2) the SENSe Implement multi-site knowledge translation study with occupational therapists and physiotherapists (n = 115). Descriptive statistics, random effects logistic regression, and content analysis were used. Acute hospitals (n =...

Biotic and abiotic factors interact with dominant plants —the locally most frequent or with the largest coverage— and non-dominant plants differently, partially because dominant plants modify the environment where non-dominant plants grow. For instance, if dominant plants compete strongly, they will deplete most resources, forcing non-dominant plants into a narrower niche space. Conversely, if dominant plants are constrained by the environment, they might not exhaust available resources but instead may ameliorate environmental stressors that usually...

The high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) at Glu-D1 have a larger contribution to the processing property of wheat flours than those at the Glu-A1 and Glu-B1 loci and are always expressed in nature. Wheat lines missing one subunit at Glu-D1, either x or y, attract great interest for their potential quality value. Major quality parameters including SDS-sedimentation value, gluten-related indices, and other dough strength parameters such as development time, stability time, degree of softening, and farinograph...

The past eighteen months have revealed long-term labour market trends and highlighted the impact they have on young people. This paper explores the fault lines that run through the relationship between education and work, such as the contested impact of digital disruption on young people, the rhetoric of soft skills, and challenges to the notion of careers and the idea of a linear pathway to a traditional occupation.

Hepatoblastoma is a kind of extreme malignancy frequently diagnosed in children. Although surgical resection is considered as the first-line treatment for hepatoblastoma, a relatively large population of patients have lost the preferred opportunity for surgery. Administration of locoregional ablation enables local tumor control but with the deficiency of insufficient ablation, residual tumor, and rapid progression. In this study, we integrated 219 hepatoblastoma and 121 non-cancer liver tissues to evaluate the expression of NR2F6, from which...

To integrate the evidence of gait aid prescription for improving spatiotemporal gait parameters, balance, safety, adherence to gait aid use, and reducing falls in community-dwelling older people. Seven health databases were searched to June 2021. Experimental studies investigating gait aid prescription (provision and instruction for use) for older people, reporting gait parameters, balance, falls, and safety of or adherence to gait aid use was included. Mean differences with 95% confidence intervals of gait and balance...

Adaptive radiations have proven important for understanding the mechanisms and processes underlying biological diversity. The convergence of form and function, as well as admixture and adaptive introgression, are common in adaptive radiations. However, distinguishing between these two scenarios remains a challenge for evolutionary research. The Midas cichlid species complex (Amphilophus spp.) is a prime example of adaptive radiation, with phenotypic diversification occurring at various stages of genetic differentiation. One species, A. labiatus, has large fleshy...

Nickel (ii) (Ni2+) is considered as one of the necessary trace elements in the process of Anammox culture, but it may have toxic effects at high concentration. This study explored the long-term influence of Ni2+ on the denitrification efficiency of Anammox bioreactors. The results showed that when the concentration of Ni2+ was 0.5 mg/L, the bioreactor had the highest denitrification efficiency, while the removal efficiency of ammonia nitrogen and nitrite nitrogen gradually decreased at concentrations...

Nurse plants modify the environment to facilitate the recruitment of propagules, and are potentially valuable tools for ecological restoration. Yet empirical tests, particularly in polluted environments, remain rare. The few studies that have examined nurse-effects in polluted environments report exclusively positive effects, but most tests have focused on pollution-tolerant species in metal contaminated environments. Biotic interactions are highly context-dependent, however, such that extrapolations to other suites of species and pollutant types appear premature. We examined...

Objective: To compare the clinical effectiveness of high- and low-efficacy treatments in patients with recently active and inactive secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) after accounting for therapeutic lag. Methods: Patients treated with high- (natalizumab, alemtuzumab, mitoxantrone, ocrelizumab, rituximab, cladribine, fingolimod) or low-efficacy (interferon β, glatiramer acetate, teriflunomide) therapies after SPMS onset were selected from MSBase and OFSEP, two large observational cohorts. Therapeutic lag was estimated for each patient based on their demographic and clinical characteristics....

Arthropod predation of vertebrates structures trophic dynamics in island ecosystems On isolated islands, large arthropods can play an important functional role in ecosystem dynamics. On the Norfolk Islands group, South Pacific, we monitored the diet and foraging activity of an endemic chilopod, the Phillip Island centipede (Cormocephalus coynei), and used a stable isotope mixing model to estimate dietary proportions. Phillip Island centipede diet is represented by vertebrate animals (48%) and invertebrates (52%), with 30.5% consisting...

The Neotropics harbor the most species-rich freshwater fish fauna on the planet, but the timing of that exceptional diversification remains unclear. Did the Neotropics accumulate species steadily throughout their long history, or attain their remarkable diversity recently? Biologists have long debated the relative support for these museum and cradle hypotheses, but few phylogenies of megadiverse tropical clades have included sufficient taxa to distinguish between them. We used 1288 ultraconserved element loci spanning 293 species, 211...

Nickel (ii) (Ni2+) is considered as one of the necessary trace elements in the process of Anammox culture, but it may have toxic effects at high concentration. This study explored the long-term influence of Ni2+ on the denitrification efficiency of Anammox bioreactors. The results showed that when the concentration of Ni2+ was 0.5 mg/L, the bioreactor had the highest denitrification efficiency, while the removal efficiency of ammonia nitrogen and nitrite nitrogen gradually decreased at concentrations...

Nickel (ii) (Ni2+) is considered as one of the necessary trace elements in the process of Anammox culture, but it may have toxic effects at high concentration. This study explored the long-term influence of Ni2+ on the denitrification efficiency of Anammox bioreactors. The results showed that when the concentration of Ni2+ was 0.5 mg/L, the bioreactor had the highest denitrification efficiency, while the removal efficiency of ammonia nitrogen and nitrite nitrogen gradually decreased at concentrations...

Clearly, the quality of a truly path-breaking work – like Weber’s legacy – is that it makes others, and literally thousands of others, think and develop new ideas. Weber asked the right questions. Whether one agrees with his answers or not, he paved the way for many fields of research that became distinct disciplines.