The Effect Of Stress And Hypercortisolaemia On Limbic Epileptogenesis & Affective Disorder.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,714.00
Summary
This project has the potential to provide novel insights about the causal connections between stress, psychiatric illness (specifically anxiety and depression) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) - the most common form of medical refractory epilepsy in the community. Up to 50% of patients with TLE suffer from anxiety and-or depression. Until relatively recently it had been widely assumed that this was a consequence of the chronic epileptic condition. However, recent evidence suggests that there is ....This project has the potential to provide novel insights about the causal connections between stress, psychiatric illness (specifically anxiety and depression) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) - the most common form of medical refractory epilepsy in the community. Up to 50% of patients with TLE suffer from anxiety and-or depression. Until relatively recently it had been widely assumed that this was a consequence of the chronic epileptic condition. However, recent evidence suggests that there is a bi-directional relationship, with the psychiatric conditions and stress also acting to aggravate the seizures and even predispose to the development of the epilepsy itself. Apart from gaining insights into causes of TLE, anxiety and depression, this framework has potential public health relevance suggesting approaches to the eventual primary and secondary prevention of both MTLE and its associated psychiatric co-morbidities, a neglected area at present. The use of an animal model allows investigation of aetiological processes that extend over the lifetime, which is exceptionally difficult to achieve in humans. Retrospective studies, such as case-control studies, although an indispensable research methods, are subject to bias and imprecision when it comes to measuring remote past exposures to stress, abuse, and deprivation. If the results of these experiments are consistent with our hypotheses, a very strong case would exist for exploring this relationship in human studies. The data would also provide a strong rationale for more aggressive detection and treatment of these psychiatric co-morbidities in TLE patients, in order to potentially modify the progression of the disorder as well as improve the quality of life of sufferers. The results of intervention studies in animal models may suggest specific mode of treatment to achieve this.Read moreRead less
Why Does Early Life Stress Aggravate Limbic Epileptogenesis?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$540,116.00
Summary
High rates of anxiety and depression occur in individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the most common form of focal epilepsy in adults. Rats that have experienced early life stress show increased anxiety, decreased seizure thresholds and accelerated epilepsy as adults. We have important leads to mechanisms. The proposed study will better understand the mechanisms connecting early life stress and psychiatric disease to adult TLE, and to test interventions that may counteract these effects.
Closing the Gap: Fundamental Capacity Limits for Interfering Wireless Networks and Practical Methods to Get There. Enhancing communication networks to achieve broadband data rates is now a national priority. Wireless communications is hugely important, with mobile phones, wireless computers, and wireless Internet access to homes, all rapidly growing areas. This project addresses the fundamental bottleneck of interference between links in wireless networks. Wireless unplugs the user and allows hi ....Closing the Gap: Fundamental Capacity Limits for Interfering Wireless Networks and Practical Methods to Get There. Enhancing communication networks to achieve broadband data rates is now a national priority. Wireless communications is hugely important, with mobile phones, wireless computers, and wireless Internet access to homes, all rapidly growing areas. This project addresses the fundamental bottleneck of interference between links in wireless networks. Wireless unplugs the user and allows him/her to roam, and to set up ad-hoc networks with other users. This research will thus contribute to Australia's increased productivity. Just as importantly, this project addresses fundamental research; it will increase Australia's knowledge base and provide training for students and researchers in how to think about communications problems.Read moreRead less
Information Capacity of High Data Rate Wireless Networks. Future wireless networks must support huge data rates in order to meet
the escalating demands of emerging Internet applications. Required
capacities far exceed those which can be provided by existing wireless
systems. Space-time coding is one very promising new technique which
may provide a solution. In spite of the potentials of this technique,
there are many important practical issues that affect the realizable
capacities. We a ....Information Capacity of High Data Rate Wireless Networks. Future wireless networks must support huge data rates in order to meet
the escalating demands of emerging Internet applications. Required
capacities far exceed those which can be provided by existing wireless
systems. Space-time coding is one very promising new technique which
may provide a solution. In spite of the potentials of this technique,
there are many important practical issues that affect the realizable
capacities. We aim to investigate two such issues: the impact of
channel uncertainty at the receiver, and the impact of multiple access
interference. This research will provide new directions for the design
of wireless data networks.
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Index coding for multimedia content distribution networks. The project aims to develop new bandwidth-efficient index coding schemes to reduce network congestion. A large portion of the increasing internet traffic is due to video content browsing and distribution. This creates serious strains on the current network infrastructure, which is designed to support conventional data. It is crucial to explore new avenues to reduce the network congestion due to large file downloads. The project aims to t ....Index coding for multimedia content distribution networks. The project aims to develop new bandwidth-efficient index coding schemes to reduce network congestion. A large portion of the increasing internet traffic is due to video content browsing and distribution. This creates serious strains on the current network infrastructure, which is designed to support conventional data. It is crucial to explore new avenues to reduce the network congestion due to large file downloads. The project aims to tackle this problem by exploring new index coding techniques that are robust to failures in wireless and wired network links. Using advanced mathematical tools from algebraic number theory and module theory, the project aims to design optimally bandwidth-efficient index coding schemes that enable timely and reliable content distribution to end users.Read moreRead less
Analysis and classification of malicious code. Malicious software such as viruses and worms directly attacks the security, privacy and integrity of Australian e-commerce, large databases and communication channels. The recent uptake of malicious software by organised crime has made finding effective countermeasures more urgent. Around 80% of the malicious code in circulation is disguised in some way. This significantly increases the difficulty of automated detection and delays analysis. Automate ....Analysis and classification of malicious code. Malicious software such as viruses and worms directly attacks the security, privacy and integrity of Australian e-commerce, large databases and communication channels. The recent uptake of malicious software by organised crime has made finding effective countermeasures more urgent. Around 80% of the malicious code in circulation is disguised in some way. This significantly increases the difficulty of automated detection and delays analysis. Automated classification and de-obfuscation technologies are a precondition to applying more sophisticated detection heuristics. The project will be instrumental in safeguarding Australia by protecting critical infrastructure and defending us from online organised crime and information warfare.Read moreRead less
Smart coding for improved performance of complexity constrained devices. The technical innovations of this project have the potential to have an immediate impact on compression technology. The overall expected outcome of the project consists of new compression algorithms for the australian telecommunications industry. The novel outcomes of the project lead to better quality images in video mobile communications applications. As such, the project operates at the forefront of innovative next gener ....Smart coding for improved performance of complexity constrained devices. The technical innovations of this project have the potential to have an immediate impact on compression technology. The overall expected outcome of the project consists of new compression algorithms for the australian telecommunications industry. The novel outcomes of the project lead to better quality images in video mobile communications applications. As such, the project operates at the forefront of innovative next generation mobile video telephony.Read moreRead less
Information theoretic approaches to optimise genome wide association studies with application to continuous and discrete traits. This project aims to develop new mathematical methods to find genetic associations from new genome-wide studies of colorectal cancer and breast cancer risk factors. If successful, this will result in improved use of expensive genetic data to better predict and understand diseases, conditions and other characteristics for humans, animals and plants.
New modulation techniques for future high-mobility wireless communications. Future wireless networks will support huge amounts of mobile data traffic and numbers of terminals. To provide satisfactory service to emerging mass transportation systems such as self-driving cars, high-speed trains, and drones, it will be critical to incorporate the ability for wireless networks to function in high-mobility environments. The project aims to devise novel modulation techniques to support high-mobility co ....New modulation techniques for future high-mobility wireless communications. Future wireless networks will support huge amounts of mobile data traffic and numbers of terminals. To provide satisfactory service to emerging mass transportation systems such as self-driving cars, high-speed trains, and drones, it will be critical to incorporate the ability for wireless networks to function in high-mobility environments. The project aims to devise novel modulation techniques to support high-mobility communications with superior performance. The theoretical advances will be demonstrated using software-defined radios. These outcomes will provide fundamental scientific basis for deployment of future air interfaces. The project will benefit Australia in gaining a leading position in global telecommunications development.Read moreRead less
Gigabit Wireless: Setting the Standard for Tomorrow's Broadband. This project will strengthen a long-term alliance between researchers at the University of Melbourne and NEC Australia, one of the few multinational research laboratories with significant R & D presence in Australia. Researchers at the University of Melbourne with expertise in communication theory fundamentals will collaborate with experienced research and design engineers at NEC, to produce fundamental research, and the resulting ....Gigabit Wireless: Setting the Standard for Tomorrow's Broadband. This project will strengthen a long-term alliance between researchers at the University of Melbourne and NEC Australia, one of the few multinational research laboratories with significant R & D presence in Australia. Researchers at the University of Melbourne with expertise in communication theory fundamentals will collaborate with experienced research and design engineers at NEC, to produce fundamental research, and the resulting design tools and intellectual property that will provide a new direction for wireless broadband access. The project will provide high-quality postgraduate and postdoctoral training in an area of great relevance to the Australian telecommunications industry.Read moreRead less