Jill Harris

Pre-pulse inhibition and antisaccade performance indicate impaired attention modulation of cognitive inhibition in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS)

Background22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is associated with a number of physical anomalies and neuropsychological deficits including impairments in executive and sensorimotor function. It is estimated that 25% of children with 22q11DS will develop schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders later in life. Evidence of genetic transmission of information processing deficits in schizophrenia suggests performance in 22q11DS individuals will enhance understanding of the neurobiological and genetic substrates associated with information processing. In this report, we examine information processing in 22q11DS using measures of startle eyeblink modification and antisaccade inhibition to explore similarities with schizophrenia and associations with neurocognitive performance.MethodsStartle modification (passive and active tasks; 120- and 480-ms pre-pulse intervals) and antisaccade inhibition were measured in 25 individuals with genetically confirmed 22q11DS and 30 healthy control subjects.ResultsIndividuals with 22q11DS exhibited increased antisaccade error as well as some evidence (trend-level effect) of impaired sensorimotor gating during the active condition, suggesting a dysfunction in controlled attentional processing, rather than a pre-attentive dysfunction using this paradigm.ConclusionsThe findings from the present study show similarities with previous studies in clinical populations associated with 22q11DS such as schizophrenia that may indicate shared dysfunction of inhibition pathways in these groups.

RISKGATE and Australian coal operations

espanolEl principal programa de investigacion de la Asociacion de Carbon en Australia (ACARP), RISKGATE ha completado tres anos de conocimiento en la captura y el desarrollo del sistema. El cuerpo de conocimiento del manejo de riesgos de neumaticos, colisiones, incendios, aislamiento, estratos de suelo en las minas subterraneas, suelo en minas de cielo abierto, explosiones, explosivos en minas subterraneas, explosivos en minas de cielo abierto, trabajos manuales, resbalones/tropiezos/caidas fue lanzada en diciembre del 2012. Recientemente, el proyecto a adicionado al cuerpo de conocimiento temas relacionados a escapes de gas espontaneo, fallas en la extraccion de carbon, interface entre la interaccion maquina-humano, deposito de escoria, higiene ocupacional y escape de cuerpos de agua a los originales 11 topicos. En el 2014, los planes del proyecto (pendiente a la aprobacion a la fundacion de ACARP) es al enfoque en problemas relacionados con salud ocupacional. RISKGATE provee un ambiente en la captura de conocimiento y reciprocidad en un mundo de innovacion e intercambio de practicas actuales a traves de la industria en la identificacion, evaluacion y manejo de riesgo. En la captura del conocimiento operacional por medio de expertos industriales, RISKGATE provee memoria corporativa acumulativa en un momento de alta rotacion del personal en la industria del carbon. Este articulo presenta una vision en conjunto de los primeros diecisiete topicos, estructura de los topicos y contraste de relaciones internas entre los topicos. La segunda parte del articulo discute algunos primeros pasos que las companias estan tomando para integrar RISKGATE en estas operaciones; y concluye con algunos ideas en donde RISKGATE puede ir en un futuro. EnglishThe major Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) project, RISKGATE has now completed three years of knowledge capture and system development. The body of knowledge for risk management of tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives underground, explosives open cut, manual tasks and slips/trips/falls was launched in December 2012. Recently, the project added knowledge about outbursts, coal bumps and bursts, human-machine interface, tailings dams, occupational hygiene and inrush to the original 11 topics. In 2014, the project plans (pending ACARP funding approval) to focus on issues around Fitness for Work. RISKGATE provides an environment for knowledge capture and knowledge exchange to drive innovation and cross industry sharing of current practice in the identification, assessment and management of risk. By capturing operational knowledge from industry experts, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover in the coal industry. RISKGATE is the largest single ACARP Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) initiative to date. This paper presents an overview of the first seventeen topics, topic structures, and contrasts and inter-relationships between topics. The second part of the paper discusses some early steps that companies are taking to integrate RISKGATE into their operations; and conclude with some thoughts on where RISKGATE can go in the future.

Contingent capture of involuntary visual spatial attention does not differ between normally hearing children and proficient cochlear implant users

PURPOSE Evidence suggests that deafness-induced changes in visual perception, cognition and attention may compensate for a hearing loss. Such alterations, however, may also negatively influence adaptation to a cochlear implant. This study investigated whether involuntary attentional capture by salient visual stimuli is altered in children who use a cochlear implant. METHODS Thirteen experienced implant users (aged 8-16 years) and age-matched normally hearing children were presented with a rapid sequence of simultaneous visual and auditory events. Participants were tasked with detecting numbers presented in a specified color and identifying a change in the tonal frequency whilst ignoring irrelevant visual distractors. RESULTS Compared to visual distractors that did not possess the target-defining characteristic, target-colored distractors were associated with a decrement in visual performance (response time and accuracy), demonstrating a contingent capture of involuntary attention. Visual distractors did not, however, impair auditory task performance. Importantly, detection performance for the visual and auditory targets did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSION These results suggest that proficient cochlear implant users demonstrate normal capture of visuospatial attention by stimuli that match top-down control settings.

Geologists, FIFO work practices and job satisfaction

This paper presents the findings of a study into the factors linked to the job satisfaction and well-being of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers in the Australian resources sector, focusing on geologists. The findings indicate that geologists have high levels of job satisfaction and most appear to have adapted successfully to the demands of the FIFO lifestyle. While a number of studies have raised a range of concerns about the impact of FIFO work arrangements on the health and well-being of FIFO workers, this study provides a more granular examination of factors that may contribute to a greater understanding of the link between job satisfaction and physical and mental health. The main finding from the study was that job satisfaction was high among these early career professionals who are motivated by intrinsic career rewards and who have limited domestic responsibilities. The second major finding was that, although respondents reported good physical and psychological health, a small number were experiencing serious psychological distress.