Griffith University

About: Griffith University is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 13830 authors who have published 49318 publications receiving 1420865 citations.

A Systematic Review of Financial Toxicity Among Cancer Survivors: We Can't Pay the Co-Pay.

Abstract: To determine the extent of financial toxicity (FT) among cancer survivors, identify the determinants and how FT is measured A systematic review was performed in MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO, using relevant terminology and included articles published from 1 January, 2013 to 30 June, 2016 We included observational studies where the primary outcomes included FT and study samples were greater than 200 The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed From 417 citations, a total of 25 studies were included in this review Seventy outcomes of FT were reported with 47 covering monetary, objective and subjective indicators of FT A total of 28–48% of patients reported FT using monetary measures and 16–73% using subjective measures The most commonly reported factors associated with FT were: being female, younger age, low income at baseline, adjuvant therapies and more recent diagnosis Relative to non-cancer comparison groups, cancer survivors experienced significantly higher FT Most studies were cross-sectional and causal inferences between FT and determinants were not possible Measures of FT were varied and most were not validated, while monetary values of out-of-pocket expenses included different cost components across studies A substantial proportion of cancer survivors experience financial hardship irrespective of how it is measured Using standardised outcomes and longitudinal designs to measure FT would improve determination of the extent of FT Further research is recommended on reduced work participation and income losses occurring concurrently with FT and on the impacts on treatment non-adherence

Measurement of quantum weak values of photon polarization.

Abstract: We experimentally determine weak values for a single photon's polarization, obtained via a weak measurement that employs a two-photon entangling operation, and postselection. The weak values cannot be explained by a semiclassical wave theory, due to the two-photon entanglement. We observe the variation in the size of the weak value with measurement strength, obtaining an average measurement of the S1 Stokes parameter more than an order of magnitude outside of the operator's spectrum for the smallest measurement strengths.

Low beta diversity of herbivorous insects in tropical forests.

Abstract: Insects are a major force in most ecosystems, yet in studies of biodiversity they often receive less attention than birds, mammals and plants. Two papers this week redress the balance. Novotny et al. studied some 500 species of lepidopteran caterpillars, beetles and fruit flies across 75,000 km2 of rain forest in Papua New Guinea. They found that most species of herbivorous insects were widely distributed. Species richness was high, as expected in the tropics, but the species found did not alter much even over hundreds of kilometres. Dyer et al. reached rather different conclusions from their work on hundreds of thousands of host-specificity feeding records for butterfly and moth caterpillars from areas ranging from Canada to Brazil. They found that the average number of tree species on which an insect species feeds was fewer in the tropics than in temperate parts of the New World, a confirmation of the latitudinal gradient in ecological specialization much discussed by biologists since the time of Darwin and Wallace. With apparently contradictory results such as these two reports, though, the discussion may run and run. A study of about 500 species of lepidopteran caterpillars, beetles and fruit flies details that that most species of herbivorous insects are widely distributed over 75,000 km2 of contiguous lowland rain forest in Papua New Guinea. Thus, although species richness was high, the species found did not alter much even over hundreds of kilometres despite habitat discontinuities and different geological terrains. Recent advances in understanding insect communities in tropical forests1,2 have contributed little to our knowledge of large-scale patterns of insect diversity, because incomplete taxonomic knowledge of many tropical species hinders the mapping of their distribution records3. This impedes an understanding of global biodiversity patterns and explains why tropical insects are under-represented in conservation biology. Our study of approximately 500 species from three herbivorous guilds feeding on foliage (caterpillars, Lepidoptera), wood (ambrosia beetles, Coleoptera) and fruit (fruitflies, Diptera) found a low rate of change in species composition (beta diversity) across 75,000 square kilometres of contiguous lowland rainforest in Papua New Guinea, as most species were widely distributed. For caterpillars feeding on large plant genera, most species fed on multiple host species, so that even locally restricted plant species did not support endemic herbivores. Large plant genera represented a continuously distributed resource easily colonized by moths and butterflies over hundreds of kilometres. Low beta diversity was also documented in groups with differing host specificity (fruitflies and ambrosia beetles), suggesting that dispersal limitation does not have a substantial role in shaping the distribution of insect species in New Guinea lowland rainforests. Similar patterns of low beta diversity can be expected in other tropical lowland rainforests, as they are typically situated in the extensive low basins of major tropical rivers similar to the Sepik–Ramu region of New Guinea studied here.

The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia.

Abstract: The human occupation history of Southeast Asia (SEA) remains heavily debated Current evidence suggests that SEA was occupied by Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers until ~4000 years ago, when farming economies developed and expanded, restricting foraging groups to remote habitats Some argue that agricultural development was indigenous; others favor the "two-layer" hypothesis that posits a southward expansion of farmers giving rise to present-day Southeast Asian genetic diversity By sequencing 26 ancient human genomes (25 from SEA, 1 Japanese Jōmon), we show that neither interpretation fits the complexity of Southeast Asian history: Both Hoabinhian hunter-gatherers and East Asian farmers contributed to current Southeast Asian diversity, with further migrations affecting island SEA and Vietnam Our results help resolve one of the long-standing controversies in Southeast Asian prehistory