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Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility of a deep learning-based vascular segmentation tool for UWFA and evaluate its ability to automatically identify quality-optimized phase-specific images. Methods: Cumulative retinal vessel areas (RVA) were extracted from all available UWFA frames. Cubic splines were fitted for serial vascular assessment throughout the angiographic phases of eyes with diabetic retinopathy (DR), sickle cell retinopathy (SCR), or normal retinal vasculature. The image with maximum RVA was selected as the optimum early phase. A late phase frame was selected at a minimum of 4 min that most closely mirrored the RVA from the selected early image. Trained image analysts evaluated the selected pairs. Results: A total of 13,980 UWFA sequences from 462 sessions were used to evaluate the performance and 1578 UWFA sequences from 66 sessions were used to create cubic splines. Maximum RVA was detected at a mean of 41 ± 15, 47 ± 27, 38 ± 8 s for DR, SCR, and normals respectively. In 85.2% of the sessions, appropriate images for both phases were successfully identified. The individual success rate was 90.7% for early and 94.6% for late frames. Conclusions: Retinal vascular characteristics are highly phased and field-of-view sensitive. Vascular parameters extracted by deep learning algorithms can be used for quality assessment of angiographic images and quality optimized phase selection. Clinical applications of a deep learning-based vascular segmentation and phase selection system might significantly improve the speed, consistency, and objectivity of UWFA evaluation.

Video game based and other computerized cognitive interventions are generally efficacious in bolstering cognition in adults over the age of 60, though specific efficacy varies widely by intervention methodology. Furthermore, there is reason to suspect that the process of learning complex tasks like video games is a major factor underpinning training-related transfer to cognition. The current study examined the neurocognitive predictors of learning of video games, and how those predictors may differentially relate to games of different genres. Learning rates from two different types of games, one action and another strategy, were calculated for 32 older adults (mean age = 66.29 years, 65 % Female). An extensive cognitive battery as well as structural measures of regional gray matter volumes were examined to identify the cognitive and the brain structure contributors to the learning rates for each type of game. A broad leftlateralized gray matter volume construct, as well as cognitive constructs of processing speed, episodic memory and reasoning, were found to predict learning of the Strategy game, but not the Action game. Additionally, this gray matter construct was found to entirely mediate the relationships between the Strategy game learning and cognition, esp. episodic memory and reasoning. The contributions of age-sensitive cognitive skills as well as related brain volumes of lateral fronto-parietal regions to Strategy video games implicate the examined game as a potential game training tool in normal aging.

ABSTRACTObjective:Mental health clinicians have struggled to recognise the need to understand an Aboriginal worldview and how human interactions are shaped by social relationshipsin kin-based societies. This paper considers the findings of Looking Forward Project, a participatory action research study aimed at investigating the serious disconnection between mental health and drug and alcohol service providers and Aboriginal families living in Perth, Western Australia.Method:Our research methods and knowledge exchange were premised on the shared storytellingbetween Aboriginal Elders, researchers, senior management and clinicians. Study participants included eighteen local Elders and approximately seventy staff across eleven mental health and drug and alcohol organisations, over four years. Elders have been the primary drivers of the research design. This paper is shaped by the storying process.Results:The study revealed the lack of trust between service providers and Aboriginal families is predominantly due to the lack of understanding by service providers of the critical difference in social relationships.The lack of trust creates a barrier to accessing services and compromises the quality of response by services. Humility, inquisitiveness and openness are essential qualities for meaningful engagement and sustainable relationships.Discussion:The rebuilding of trust requires the development of meaningful relationships in order to break down the barriers so as to increase access and develop culturally secure responses by services. When clinicians adopt these essential qualities they will develop a reflective practice that enables them to be more adaptable in their work with Aboriginal clients and their families.

Thank you for printing Doris Cipolla's 'Her obituary outed our partnership' (NCR, March 17). I wept as I read it because it told the truth--that two 'intrinsically disordered' (or so [...]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to topics discussed in previous issues including Australia's long history of innovation, heart syndrome and politics.

Responses of Neotropical small-mammal populations to seasonal and yearly variations in climate, plant phenology, and habitat conditions were examined. Populations of rodent and marsupial species were studied for 2 years in premontane forest (11 species) and llanos (plains; seven species) habitats in northern Venezuela. Although rainfall at both habitats was seasonal, wet-dry seasonality and seasonal changes in habitat conditions were more pronounced in the llanos habitat. Populations of all small-mammal species fluctuated in response to seasonal and yearly variations. The timing and magnitude of these fluctuations were related to population traits and ecology of each species. Within each habitat some species were resident, whereas others were transient. Although rodent species from both habitats bred year-round, most exhibited a reproductive peak in the wet season. The marsupial species, in contrast, reproduced only in the wet season. Seasonal flooding and mosaic habitat structure of the llanos placed certain constraints on the population dynamics of the small mammals from this habitat. All terrestrial species of the llanos exhibited population traits of colonizing species. This was not the case for the terrestrial species in the premontane forest habitat.

In large regions of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, harvest of forests has converted old-growth coniferous forests into a mosaic of young patches (<90 years old) of differing size and age. We examined the consequences of these changes on the roosting habits of the silver-haired bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans, which preferentially uses older forests in other parts of its range in the Pacific Northwest. Bats were captured using mist nets and harp traps at streams, ponds, and road sites in 1992 and 1993. L. noctivagans was captured only over water. Fifteen of 30 L. noctivagans captured were equipped with radio-transmitters. A total of 15 roost sites used by 13 individuals was found. All roosts were <3.5 km from the initial capture site and were in dead or dying trees with exfoliating bark, extensive vertical cracks, or cavities. Fourteen roosts were in trees with diameter at breast height >30 cm. Height of roost trees ranged from 6.9 to 61.5 m, and estimated height of roosts of bats ranged from 6.1 to 15.2 m. Roost trees were significantly taller than neighboring trees, which may facilitate the location of roosts by bats. Analysis of a 15-m radius plot around each roost tree revealed that roost sites had significantly less closure of over-story canopy, less understory, and shorter understory vegetation than comparable random plots. Reduced overstory canopy and understory vegetation provide a less-cluttered environment for flight of bats, which may be particularly important for newly volant young. Recruitment and retention of snags and the maintenance of structural complexity in forest patches in upland as well as riparian areas are important for the conservation of species of bats in managed forests.