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(2007)Book ChapterBandyopadhyay, S., *Bhowmick, AK., Samudrala, SK. & Gupta, SK.
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(2013)Journal ArticleBackground and Objectives: Thought-action fusion (TAF), or maladaptive cognitions regarding the relationship between mental events and behaviours, has been implicated in the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As some religions promote TAF-like appraisals, it has been proposed that religiosity may play a role in the transformation of normally occurring intrusive thoughts into clinically distressing obsessions. No research, however, has experimentally investigated the mediating role of TAF on the relationship between religiosity and OC symptoms. Methods: 85 Christian, Jewish, and Atheist/Agnostic participants were exposed to an experimental thought-induction protocol and reported on their associated levels of distress, guilt, feelings of responsibility, and urge to suppress target intrusions experienced during a 5-minute monitoring period. Participants also completed measures of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, TAF beliefs, and general psychopathology. Results: Using PROCESS and bootstrapping analyses, a test of the conditional indirect effects of religiosity on obsessive-compulsive symptoms revealed that Christianity moderated the effects of religiosity on moral TAF beliefs, which in turn mediated the relationship between religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Furthermore, in the Christian group, moral TAF beliefs mediated the relationship between religiosity and ratings of guilt and responsibility following the experimental protocol. Limitations: The use of university students with moderate levels of religiosity. Conclusions: Collectively the results suggest that obsessional thinking is not attributable to religion per se, but that teachings underlying certain religious doctrines may fuel TAF beliefs that are implicated in the maintenance of OCD.
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(2012)Journal ArticleThe CACCC-box binding protein erythroid Krüppel-like factor (EKLF/KLF1) is a master regulator that directs the expression of many important erythroid genes. We have previously shown that EKLF drives transcription of the gene for a second KLF, basic Krüppel-like factor, or KLF3. We have now tested the in vivo role of KLF3 in erythroid cells by examining Klf3 knockout mice. KLF3-deficient adults exhibit a mild compensated anemia, including enlarged spleens, increased red pulp, and a higher percentage of erythroid progenitors, together with elevated reticulocytes and abnormal erythrocytes in the peripheral blood. Impaired erythroid maturation is also observed in the fetal liver. We have found that KLF3 levels rise as erythroid cells mature to become TER119(+). Consistent with this, microarray analysis of both TER119(-) and TER119(+) erythroid populations revealed that KLF3 is most critical at the later stages of erythroid maturation and is indeed primarily a transcriptional repressor. Notably, many of the genes repressed by KLF3 are also known to be activated by EKLF. However, the majority of these are not currently recognized as erythroid-cell-specific genes. These results reveal the molecular and physiological function of KLF3, defining it as a feedback repressor that counters the activity of EKLF at selected target genes to achieve normal erythropoiesis.
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(2014)Journal ArticleClimate extremes, such as heat waves and heavy precipitation events, have large impacts on ecosystems and societies. Climate models provide useful tools for studying underlying processes and amplifying effects associated with extremes. The Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) has recently been coupled to the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) model. We examine how this model represents climate extremes derived by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) and compare them to observational data sets using the AMIP framework. We find that the patterns of extreme indices are generally well represented. Indices based on percentiles are particularly well represented and capture the trends over the last 60 years shown by the observations remarkably well. The diurnal temperature range is underestimated, minimum temperatures (T-MIN) during nights are generally too warm and daily maximum temperatures (T-MAX) too low in the model. The number of consecutive wet days is overestimated, while consecutive dry days are underestimated. The maximum consecutive 1-day precipitation amount is underestimated on the global scale. Biases in T-MIN correlate well with biases in incoming longwave radiation, suggesting a relationship with biases in cloud cover. Biases in T-MAX depend on biases in net shortwave radiation as well as evapotranspiration. The regions and season where the bias in evapotranspiration plays a role for the T-MAX bias correspond to regions and seasons where soil moisture availability is limited. Our analysis provides the foundation for future experiments that will examine how land-surface processes contribute to these systematic biases in the ACCESS modelling system.
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(2013)Journal ArticleThe last interglaciation (similar to 130 to 116 ka) is a time period with a strong astronomically induced seasonal forcing of insolation compared to the present. Proxy records indicate a significantly different climate to that of the modern, in particular Arctic summer warming and higher eustatic sea level. Because the forcings are relatively well constrained, it provides an opportunity to test numerical models which are used for future climate prediction. In this paper we compile a set of climate model simulations of the early last interglaciation (130 to 125 ka), encompassing a range of model complexities. We compare the simulations to each other and to a recently published compilation of last interglacial temperature estimates. We show that the annual mean response of the models is rather small, with no clear signal in many regions. However, the seasonal response is more robust, and there is significant agreement amongst models as to the regions of warming vs cooling. However, the quantitative agreement of the model simulations with data is poor, with the models in general underestimating the magnitude of response seen in the proxies. Taking possible seasonal biases in the proxies into account improves the agreement, but only marginally. However, a lack of uncertainty estimates in the data does not allow us to draw firm conclusions. Instead, this paper points to several ways in which both modelling and data could be improved, to allow a more robust model-data comparison.
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(2009)Journal ArticleBACKGROUND: Circumcision status was examined as an independent risk factor for sexually transmissible infections (STIs) in the Health in Men cohort of homosexual men in Sydney. METHODS: From 2001 through 2004, 1427 initially human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative men were enrolled and followed up until mid-2007. All participants were offered annual STI testing. The history of STIs was collected at baseline, and information on sexual risk behaviors was collected every 6 months. At annual face-to-face visits, participants reported STI diagnoses received during the previous year. RESULTS: Circumcision was not associated with prevalent or incident herpes simplex virus 1, herpes simplex virus 2, or self-reported genital warts. There was also no independent association of circumcision with incident urethral gonorrhea or chlamydia. Being circumcised was associated with a significantly reduced risk of incident (hazard ratio, 0.35 [95% confidence interval, 0.15-0.84]) but not prevalent (odds ratio, 0.71 [95% confidence interval, 0.35-1.44]) syphilis. The association was somewhat stronger among men who reported predominantly insertive unprotected anal intercourse (hazard ratio, 0.10 [95% confidence interval, 0.01-0.82]). CONCLUSIONS: These are the first prospective data obtained from homosexual men to assess circumcision status as a risk factor for STIs. Circumcised men were at reduced risk of incident syphilis but no other prevalent or incident STIs. Circumcision is unlikely to have a substantial public health impact in reducing acquisition of most STIs in homosexual men.
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(2006)Conference PaperThe erosion of hearth refractories typically governs the asset life of a blast furnace. Since operating conditions within the hearth make it practically impossible for direct measurement and visualisation, physical and mathematical models play an important role in understanding and assessing the cause-effect phenomena between the liquid iron, coke bed and refractories. A numerical model has been developed to predict the iron flow and temperature distribution within the packed bed and refractories. A number of case studies have been investigated for Port Kembla's No. 5 blast furnace, which is entering the 15th year of its current campaign. These case studies considered the effects of coke free layers (floating/sitting deadman), hearth deposits, coke bed fouling and localised refractory erosion. The refractory temperature distributions predicted by the model compare well with the blast furnace thermocouple measurements and as a result, the model has become a valuable predictive tool for hearth design and control.
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(2019)ThesisThis PhD thesis describes the discovery of synthetic strategies to target novel heterocycles and fused ring systems. The primary aim of the research was to develop novel heterocycles as analogous systems to the antimalarial natural product dependensin as well as to explore the chemistry of these previously unreported classes of compounds. The secondary aim of this PhD project was to explore the chemistry and develop efficient synthetic routes to novel fused heterocyclic systems containing the benzazepine moiety. Previously, extensive research had been conducted on new antimalarial compounds, focusing on the flavonoid systems closely related to dependensin. However, analogous systems in which the heterocyclic oxygen atoms of dependensin are replaced by other heterocyclic atoms, generating the 5,6- dihydrodibenzo[b,h][1,6]naphthyridine, chromeno[4,3-b]quinoline and thiochromeno[4,3-b]quinoline derivatives, had been relatively unexplored. This thesis describes the efficient synthesis of a range of dihydrodibenzo[b,h][1,6]naphthyridine, chromeno[4,3-b]quinoline thiochromeno[4,3-b]quinoline derivatives using an inexpensive and versatile Friedlaender coupling methodology which allows for the generation of diverse analogues, related to the dependensin natural product. Additionally, a robust and simple synthetic pathway was developed to access novel fused heterocyclic ring systems via an initial addition-oxidation-ring cleavage cascade reaction under basic conditions in the presence of NaOH in DMSO to give a versatile 1,4-diketone intermediate. Subsequent cyclisation reactions gave the azepine moiety fused with either quinoline or indole ring systems with high levels of substitution possible. The synthesis of two novel classes of heterocycles, namely the dihydrobenzo[6,7]azepino[3,2-c]quinolinones and 11-phenylbenzo[6,7]azepino[3,2- b]indolones was achieved. This work considerably expands the number of examples of structures incorporating the dihydrobenzazepine scaffold. The range and diversity of the developed fused heterocyclic systems have resulted in four publications to date.