Macquarie University

About: Macquarie University is a education organization based out in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 14075 authors who have published 47673 publications receiving 1416184 citations. The organization is also known as: Macquarie uni.

The Management, Measurement and Reporting of Intellectual Capital

Abstract: The rise of the “new economy”, one principally driven by information and knowledge, international competitiveness and changing patterns of interpersonal activities is attributed to the increased prominence of intellectual capital (IC) as a management and research topic. There is indeed much to support the assertion that IC in the new century will be instrumental in the determination of enterprise value and national economic performance. Stemming from this awareness of the value of know‐how is a drive to establish new metrics that can be used to record and report the value attributable to knowledge within an organisation. The task has been given impetus by the fact that early work appearing in the accounting financial reports of Swedish companies involves the application of non‐financial metrics and focuses on intangible assets. This represents a significant departure from traditional financial and management accounting orthodoxy.

The brain–gut pathway in functional gastrointestinal disorders is bidirectional: a 12-year prospective population-based study

Abstract: Objective Psychological factors are known to be associated with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia (FD). No prospective studies have evaluated whether it is the brain (eg, via anxiety) that drives gut symptoms, or whether gut dysfunction precipitates the central nervous system features such as anxiety. In a 12-year longitudinal, prospective, population-based study, we aimed to determine the directionality of the brain–gut mechanism in FGIDs. Design Participants (n=1775) were a random population sample from Australia who responded to a survey on FGIDs in 1997 and agreed to be contacted for future research; 1002 completed the 12-year follow-up survey (response rate =60%), with 217, 82 and 45 people meeting Rome II for new onset FGIDs, IBS and FD, respectively. Anxiety and depression were measured using the Delusions Symptom States Inventory at baseline and follow-up. Results Among people free of a FGID at baseline, higher levels of anxiety (OR 1.11; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.19, p=0.006) but not depression at baseline was a significant independent predictor of developing new onset FGIDs 12 years later. Among people who did not have elevated levels of anxiety and depression at baseline, those with a FGID at baseline had significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression at follow-up (mean difference coefficient 0.76, p Conclusions The central nervous system and gut interact bidirectionally in FGIDs.

Recent Advances in Nanogenerator-Driven Self-Powered Implantable Biomedical Devices

Abstract: Implantable medical devices (IMDs) have experienced a rapid progress in recent years to the advancement of state-of-the-art medical practices. However, the majority of this equipment requires external power sources like batteries to operate, which may restrict their application for in vivo situations. Furthermore, these external batteries of the IMDs need to be changed at times by surgical processes once expired, causing bodily and psychological annoyance to patients and rising healthcare financial burdens. Currently, harvesting biomechanical energy in vivo is considered as one of the most crucial energy-based technologies to ensure sustainable operation of implanted medical devices. This review aims to highlight recent improvements in implantable triboelectric nanogenerators (iTENG) and implantable piezoelectric nanogenerators (iPENG) to drive self-powered, wireless healthcare systems. Furthermore, their potential applications in cardiac monitoring, pacemaker energizing, nerve-cell stimulating, orthodontic treatment and real-time biomedical monitoring by scavenging the biomechanical power within the human body, such as heart beating, blood flowing, breathing, muscle stretching and continuous vibration of the lung are summarized and presented. Finally, a few crucial problems which significantly affect the output performance of iTENGs and iPENGs under in vivo environments are addressed.

Cell surface protein glycosylation in cancer.

Abstract: Glycosylation of proteins is one of the most important PTMs, with more than half of all human proteins estimated to be glycosylated. It is widely known that aberrant glycosylation has been implicated in many different diseases due to changes associated with biological function and protein folding. In cancer, there is increasing evidence pertaining to the role of glycosylation in tumour formation and metastasis. Alterations in cell surface glycosylation, particularly terminal motifs, can promote invasive behaviour of tumour cells that ultimately lead to the progression of cancer. While a majority of studies have investigated protein glycosylation changes in cancer cell lines and tumour tissue for individual cancers, the review presented here represents a comprehensive, in-depth overview of literature on the structural changes of glycosylation and their associated synthetic enzymes in five different cancer types originating from the breast, colon, liver, skin and ovary. More importantly, this review focuses on key similarities and differences between these cancers that reflect the importance of structural changes of cell surface N- and O-glycans, such as sialylation, fucosylation, degree of branching and the expression of specific glycosyltransferases for each cancer. It is envisioned that the understanding of these biologically relevant glycan alterations on cellular proteins will facilitate the discovery of novel glycan-based biomarkers which could potentially serve as diagnostic and prognostic indicators of cancer.