University of Adelaide

About: University of Adelaide is a education organization based out in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 27251 authors who have published 79167 publications receiving 2671128 citations. The organization is also known as: The University of Adelaide & Adelaide University.

The nature, time course and severity of methamphetamine withdrawal.

Abstract: Aims To characterize the natural history of methamphetamine withdrawal during the first 3 weeks of abstinence. Design Cross-sectional study with comparison group. Setting A substance use treatment facility in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. Participants The sample comprised 21 in-patients undergoing treatment for methamphetamine dependence. Nine age- and sex-matched non-dependent individuals provided comparison data. Measurements Instruments including: the Amphetamine Withdrawal Ques- tionnaire, a modified version of the Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment, Clin- ical Global Impression scale and the St Mary's Hospital Sleep Questionnaire were completed daily for the first 3 weeks of abstinence. Findings Methamphetamine withdrawal severity declined from a high initial peak within 24 hours of the last use of amphetamines reducing to near control levels by the end of the first week of abstinence (the acute phase). The acute phase of amphetamine withdrawal was characterized by increased sleeping and eating, a cluster of depression-related symptoms and less severely, anxiety and craving-related symptoms. Following the acute withdrawal phase most with- drawal symptoms remained stable and at low levels for the remaining 2 weeks of abstinence. Conclusions This study has provided evidence of a methamphetamine with- drawal syndrome that can be categorized into two phases, the acute phase last- ing 7-10 days during which overall symptom severity declined in a linear pattern from a high initial peak, and a subacute phase lasting at least a further 2 weeks.

X-linked protocadherin 19 mutations cause female-limited epilepsy and cognitive impairment.

Abstract: Epilepsy and mental retardation limited to females (EFMR) is a disorder with an X-linked mode of inheritance and an unusual expression pattern. Disorders arising from mutations on the X chromosome are typically characterized by affected males and unaffected carrier females. In contrast, EFMR spares transmitting males and affects only carrier females. Aided by systematic resequencing of 737 X chromosome genes, we identified different protocadherin 19 (PCDH19) gene mutations in seven families with EFMR. Five mutations resulted in the introduction of a premature termination codon. Study of two of these demonstrated nonsense-mediated decay of PCDH19 mRNA. The two missense mutations were predicted to affect adhesiveness of PCDH19 through impaired calcium binding. PCDH19 is expressed in developing brains of human and mouse and is the first member of the cadherin superfamily to be directly implicated in epilepsy or mental retardation.

Fuzzy Sampled-Data Control for Uncertain Vehicle Suspension Systems

Abstract: This paper investigates the problem of sampled-data $H_{\infty}$ control of uncertain active suspension systems via fuzzy control approach. Our work focuses on designing state-feedback and output-feedback sampled-data controllers to guarantee the resulting closed-loop dynamical systems to be asymptotically stable and satisfy $H_{\infty}$ disturbance attenuation level and suspension performance constraints. Using Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model control method, T-S fuzzy models are established for uncertain vehicle active suspension systems considering the desired suspension performances. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, the existence conditions of state-feedback and output-feedback sampled-data controllers are obtained by solving an optimization problem. Simulation results for active vehicle suspension systems with uncertainty are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.