The Historical Evolution of Academic Surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Surgical teaching and research at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has evolved substantially since the hospital was opened in 1882. Economic constraints, World Wars, developments in technology, changes to healthcare policy and society's expectations have all presented opportunities and obstacles, and ultimately shaped the current practice of academic surgery at the Hospital. This article aims to trace the historical evolution of academic surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) and discuss the internal and external factors which drove these changes.

Video-based interventions promoting social behavioural skills for autistic children and young people: An evidence and gap map.

Background: Video-based interventions (VBIs) are an approach that can be used to promote social behavioural skills for autistic children and young people. Despite an abundance of literature in this area, previous evidence syntheses are limited by their exclusive search strategies and eligibility criteria. Therefore, there is a lack of comprehensive evidence syntheses to provide insight on whether these interventions work, for whom, and in what circumstances.

Royle's sympathectomy for spastic paralysis: Sorry saga or scientific awakening?

On October 20, 1924, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, two medical graduates of the University of Sydney delivered the John B. Murphy Oration to the American College of Surgeons on the topic of sympathetic ramisection for the treatment of spastic paralysis. The surgery was regarded as a triumph.

'So near and yet so far': the early women of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians - the first 20 female MRACP 1938-1947.

At the time of the inauguration of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1938, there were 232 Foundation Fellows, but only five were women. Those who wished to gain a postgraduate qualification for internal medicine or related specialties then sat for Membership of the new College. In the first decade (1938-1947), 250 gained Membership, but only 20 were women.

Green synthesis of mesoporous and biodegradable iron silicide nanoparticles for photothermal cancer therapy.

Photothermal nanomaterials have shown great potential for photothermal therapy. In this study, we developed a simple green method of magnesiothermic co-reduction for the synthesis of mesoporous, magnetic and biodegradable iron silicide nanoparticles (FeSi NPs) as applied to photothermal therapy (PTT). Starting from biogenic tabasheer extracted from bamboo and FeO, the resultant FeSi NPs with a much lower band gap exhibited excellent optical absorption with a photothermal conversion efficiency of 76.

Taming non-radiative recombination in Si nanocrystals interlinked in a porous network.

A range of the distinctive physical properties, comprising high surface-to-volume ratio, possibility to achieve mechanical and chemical stability after a tailored treatment, controlled quantum confinement and the room-temperature photoluminescence, combined with mass production capabilities offer porous silicon unmatched capabilities required for the development of electro-optical devices. Yet, the mechanism of the charge carrier dynamics remains poorly controlled and understood. In particular, non-radiative recombination, often the main process of the excited carrier's decay, has not been adequately comprehended to this day.

Then there were 12: The illustrated cranial nerves from Vesalius to Soemmerring.

In the second century ce, Galen described seven pairs of cerebral nerves. He did not name the nerves, nor did he illustrate his work. Galen's descriptive texts survived until the mid-sixteenth century, when anatomists, influenced by the artistic and scientific revolution of the Renaissance, began a reformation in anatomical research.

Gold nanoplasmonic particles in tunable porous silicon 3D scaffolds for ultra-low concentration detection by SERS.

A composite material of plasmonic nanoparticles embedded in a scaffold of nano-porous silicon offers unmatched capabilities for use as a SERS substrate. The marriage of these components presents an exclusive combination of tightly focused amplification of Localised Surface Plasmon (LSP) fields inside the material with an extremely high surface-to-volume ratio. This provides favourable conditions for a single molecule or extremely low concentration detection by SERS.

Model Teachers or Model Students? A Comparison of Video Modelling Interventions for Improving Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Children with Autism.

Video modelling (VM) interventions have been used to improve the fluency of individuals with learning disabilities and reading difficulties; this study aimed to replicate these findings with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) students. Four children with ASD (aged between 8 and 15) experienced two VM interventions, across 10 sessions, during an alternating treatments design: VM using a teacher model, and feedforward video self-modelling (FFVSM) where the student acted as the model. For two participants, FFVSM was found to be an effective intervention but overall, results for both interventions were inconsistent with previous research.

PROTOCOL: Video-based interventions for promoting positive social behaviour in children with autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This is the protocol for a Campbell review. The primary objective for this review is summarising the effectiveness of video-based interventions (VBI) in promoting prosocial behaviours in a population of young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The research questions employed to fulfil this objective include: (1) Do VBI improve prosocial behaviours in children with ASD? (2) Which social skills and interactive behaviours are most successful? (3) Do VBI generally have successful rates of skill generalisation and response maintenance? (4) Do demographic characteristics (age, gender) of participants influence the effectiveness of VBI's?

The effects of drying technique and surface pre-treatment on the cytotoxicity and dissolution rate of luminescent porous silicon quantum dots in model fluids and living cells.

Tailoring of the biodegradation of photoluminescent silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) is important for their future applications in diagnostics and therapy. Here, the effect of drying and surface pretreatment on the dissolution rate of Si QDs in model liquids and living cells was studied in vitro using a combination of photoluminescence and Raman micro-spectroscopy. Porous silicon particles were obtained by mechanical milling of electrochemically etched mesoporous silicon films, and consist of interlinked silicon nanocrystals (QDs) and pores.

The promotion of phrenology in New South Wales, 1830-1850, at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts.

Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, began as a penal colony in 1788. British phrenologists would later show an intense interest in this new settlement, aroused by questions raised by convict transportation and indigenous assimilation into European culture. A more sinister engagement involved the scientific trafficking of Aboriginal skulls.

Acquiring surgical skills: the history of surgical teaching at the University of Sydney 1883-2014.

There have been at least 10 major revisions of the medical curriculum since the inauguration of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney in 1883. This study traced the evolution of the teaching of surgery at our institution by examination of the set curriculum of each period; the expectations of student knowledge in the final examination as well as examining some of the insights provided by past students of their surgical experience through their writings. In the early years, medical graduates were qualified to perform operative surgery without any further training, whereas the modern postgraduate medical curriculum provides students with the basis for further surgical training.

Social deprivation and primary hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: To investigate the potential relationship between social status or deprivation and the prevalence of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT).

Methods: We retrospectively identified a cohort of patients diagnosed as having PHPT between 1981 and 2007 from the Scottish Morbidity Records database. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006 quintiles were derived for these patients by using the postal codes.

Chapter 48: history of neurology in Australia and New Zealand.

In comparison with most Western countries, neurology as a recognized medical specialty has a relatively brief history in Australia: the national body for neurologists, the Australian (since 2006: and New Zealand) Association of Neurologists, was founded only in 1950. The development of neurology in both countries was heavily influenced by British neurology, and until recently a period in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London was regarded as essential to specialist training in neurology. Nevertheless, Australians have made significant contributions to international neurology since the early 20th century, commencing with the neuroanatomical research of the colorful expatriate Grafton Elliot Smith (1871-1937).

Chapter 27: a history of cerebrovascular disease.

Stroke is central to the history of cerebrovascular disease. References to this condition already appear in the Hippocratic corpus, referred to as apoplexy, which was defined by the clinical presentation: a sudden collapse, a loss of consciousness, a lack of movement, and included a variety of pathologies. A humoral imbalance was seen as the causation.

National survey of management of transient ischaemic attack in Australia: take immediate action.

Objective: To understand the current organisation of services for people with transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and the processes of assessment and management across Australian hospitals.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional survey in 2008 of 134 Australian hospitals, mostly urban centres that treat large numbers of stroke patients.

Main Outcome Measures: Survey questions covered assessment, early management and follow-up practices, as well as organisation of services for TIA.