University of Sydney

About: University of Sydney is a education organization based out in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 61532 authors who have published 187345 publications receiving 6114218 citations. The organization is also known as: Sydney University & USyd.

Intestinal FXR agonism promotes adipose tissue browning and reduces obesity and insulin resistance

Abstract: The systemic expression of the bile acid (BA) sensor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) has led to promising new therapies targeting cholesterol metabolism, triglyceride production, hepatic steatosis and biliary cholestasis. In contrast to systemic therapy, bile acid release during a meal selectively activates intestinal FXR. By mimicking this tissue-selective effect, the gut-restricted FXR agonist fexaramine (Fex) robustly induces enteric fibroblast growth factor 15 (FGF15), leading to alterations in BA composition, but does so without activating FXR target genes in the liver. However, unlike systemic agonism, we find that Fex reduces diet-induced weight gain, body-wide inflammation and hepatic glucose production, while enhancing thermogenesis and browning of white adipose tissue (WAT). These pronounced metabolic improvements suggest tissue-restricted FXR activation as a new approach in the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Adjuvant ovarian suppression in premenopausal breast cancer

Abstract: We randomly assigned 3066 premenopausal women, stratified according to prior receipt or nonreceipt of chemotherapy, to receive 5 years of tamoxifen, tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression, or exemestane plus ovarian suppression. The primary analysis tested the hypothesis that tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression would improve disease-free survival, as compared with tamoxifen alone. In the primary analysis, 46.7% of the patients had not received chemotherapy previously, and 53.3% had received chemotherapy and remained premenopausal. RESULTS After a median follow-up of 67 months, the estimated disease-free survival rate at 5 years was 86.6% in the tamoxifen–ovarian suppression group and 84.7% in the tamoxifen group (hazard ratio for disease recurrence, second invasive cancer, or death, 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66 to 1.04; P = 0.10). Multivariable allowance for prognostic factors suggested a greater treatment effect with tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression than with tamoxifen alone (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.98). Most recurrences occurred in patients who had received prior chemotherapy, among whom the rate of freedom from breast cancer at 5 years was 82.5% in the tamoxifen–ovarian suppression group and 78.0% in the tamoxifen group (hazard ratio for recurrence, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.02). At 5 years, the rate of freedom from breast cancer was 85.7% in the exemestane–ovarian suppression group (hazard ratio for recurrence vs. tamoxifen, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.87). CONCLUSIONS Adding ovarian suppression to tamoxifen did not provide a significant benefit in the overall study population. However, for women who were at sufficient risk for recurrence to warrant adjuvant chemotherapy and who remained premenopausal, the addition of ovarian suppression improved disease outcomes. Further improvement was seen with the use of exemestane plus ovarian suppression. (Funded by Pfizer and others; SOFT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00066690.)

Second Asia-Pacific Consensus Guidelines for Helicobacter Pylori Infection

Abstract: The Asia-Pacific Consensus Conference was convened to review and synthesize the most current information on Helicobacter pylori management so as to update the previously published regional guidelines. The group recognized that in addition to long-established indications, such as peptic ulcer disease, early mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type lymphoma and family history of gastric cancer, H. pylori eradication was also indicated for H. pylori infected patients with functional dyspepsia, in those receiving long-term maintenance proton pump inhibitor (PPI) for gastroesophageal reflux disease, and in cases of unexplained iron deficiency anemia or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. In addition, a population 'test and treat' strategy for H. pylori infection in communities with high incidence of gastric cancer was considered to be an effective strategy for gastric cancer prevention. It was recommended that H. pylori infection should be tested for and eradicated prior to long-term aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy in patients at high risk for ulcers and ulcer-related complications. In Asia, the currently recommended first-line therapy for H. pylori infection is PPI-based triple therapy with amoxicillin/metronidazole and clarithromycin for 7 days, while bismuth-based quadruple therapy is an effective alternative. There appears to be an increasing rate of resistance to clarithromycin and metronidazole in parts of Asia, leading to reduced efficacy of PPI-based triple therapy. There are insufficient data to recommend sequential therapy as an alternative first-line therapy in Asia. Salvage therapies that can be used include: (i) standard triple therapy that has not been previously used; (ii) bismuth-based quadruple therapy; (iii) levofloxacin-based triple therapy; and (iv) rifabutin-based triple therapy. Both CYP2C19 genetic polymorphisms and cigarette smoking can influence future H. pylori eradication rates.

Biochar Application to Soil: Agronomic and Environmental Benefits and Unintended Consequences

Abstract: Biochar is increasingly being recognized by scientists and policy makers for its potential role in carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, waste mitigation, and as a soil amendment. The published reviews on biochar application to soil have so far focused mainly on the agronomic benefits, and have paid little attention to the potential unintended effects. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a balanced perspective on the agronomic and environmental impacts of biochar amendment to soil. The chapter highlights the physical and chemical characteristics of biochar, which can impact on the sorption, hence efficacy and biodegradation, of pesticides. As a consequence, weed control in biochar-amended soils may prove more difficult as preemergent herbicides may be less effective. Since biochars are often prepared from a variety of feedstocks (including waste materials), the potential introduction of contaminants needs to be considered before land application. Metal contaminants, in particular, have been shown to impact on plant growth, and soil microbial and faunal communities. Biochar has also been shown to influence a range of soil chemical properties, and rapid changes to nutrient availability, pH, and electrical conductivity need to be carefully considered to avoid unintended consequences for productivity. This chapter highlights some key areas of research which need to be completed to ensure a safe and sustainable use of biochar. In particular, understanding characteristics of biochars to avoid ecotoxicological impacts, understanding the effects of biochar on nutrient and contaminant behavior and transport, the effects of aging and the influence of feedstock and pyrolysis conditions on key properties are some of the areas that require attention.

Energy efficient utilization of resources in cloud computing systems

Abstract: The energy consumption of under-utilized resources, particularly in a cloud environment, accounts for a substantial amount of the actual energy use. Inherently, a resource allocation strategy that takes into account resource utilization would lead to a better energy efficiency; this, in clouds, extends further with virtualization technologies in that tasks can be easily consolidated. Task consolidation is an effective method to increase resource utilization and in turn reduces energy consumption. Recent studies identified that server energy consumption scales linearly with (processor) resource utilization. This encouraging fact further highlights the significant contribution of task consolidation to the reduction in energy consumption. However, task consolidation can also lead to the freeing up of resources that can sit idling yet still drawing power. There have been some notable efforts to reduce idle power draw, typically by putting computer resources into some form of sleep/power-saving mode. In this paper, we present two energy-conscious task consolidation heuristics, which aim to maximize resource utilization and explicitly take into account both active and idle energy consumption. Our heuristics assign each task to the resource on which the energy consumption for executing the task is explicitly or implicitly minimized without the performance degradation of that task. Based on our experimental results, our heuristics demonstrate their promising energy-saving capability.