Newcastle University At The Forefront Of New Concussion Guidelines In Sport

BY IAN CROUCH

A Newcastle University neuropsychologist has helped develop new state-wide guidelines for managing concussion in sport.

Under the new guidelines, children who suffer a concussion while playing junior sport will be forced to take two days off school to recover.

The university's Dr Andrew Gardner has told the Telegraph 48 hours is a critical period of time to be limiting cognitive processing, so children who've suffered a head injury should be resting as much as possible.

Dr Gardner will be hosting a series of workshops on the issue starting next week.

Dr Andrew Gardner Picture: hmri.org.au

Hemp Breakthrough For Williamtown Contamination Crisis

BY IAN CROUCH and JESSICA ROUSE

The humble hemp seed could hold the key to solving the Williamtown contamination crisis.

Researchers at the University of Newcastle say they've discovered a breakthrough which could resolve the ongoing situation at Williamtown using hemp seeds to remove the firefighting chemicals responsible for the contamination from the water.

Dr Brett Turner from the University's Centre Of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering made the discovery after being intrigued by news stories about residents of Williamtown having their blood tested for PFOS and PFOA contaminants.

"There's at least one protein in the human blood responsible for transporting around the body and this particular protein seems to have fairly strong analogies with the protein in hemp so we acquired some to test on the ground water from Williamtown and we were absolutely astounded at the results," said Dr Brett.

The Centre has received a grant of $600,000 from the state government to investigate the ability to treat large volumes of contaminated water. The university has also contributed an extra $220,000.

"So the money is to drive the research forward a little bit more and hopefully get to a point where we can have a small scale filter system, that we can go out hopefully to Lake Cochran at Williamtown and do some larger volumetric testing," said Dr Brett.

Image Newcastle Herald

The researchers also want to look into how fast the reaction occurs on the larger scale, what the optimum dose is needed to remove the contaminants and find a solution to destroying the contaminants once they're removed from the water.

Dr Turner says although the research is in its early stages, he is very confident this could be the start of something big.

"We're very confident and very hopeful. The initial results have removed the PFOA levels to below the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines in one part and we've had very very good removal, over 99.2 per cent removal of the PFOS as well,"

"The initial results were absolutely astounding and we hope to move forward so we can do something productive and useful for the people n the red zone and other people that are affected around the world."

New research into long-term effects of domestic violence

BY SARAH BARONOWSKI

Researchers at the University of Newcastle have found women who experience domestic violence often face long-term physical and mental health problems.

Their study examined three generations of women over 16 years and found the health of women who had lived with a violent partner was significantly worse than those who hadn't.

Professor of Public Health, Deborah Loxton says treatment for the health impacts of domestic violence often focuses on the initial stages of recovery.

"But implicit in that is once the violence has ended after a period of time, women will be doing ok so they will have recovered. What our data is showing is over a 16 year period there's still a deficit in physical and mental health for women who've ever lived with a violent partner," she said.

She says she hopes this research will help raise awareness among health providers about long-term health care.

"So that they may be able to see that some women have long-term health problems may actually have experienced abuse in the past and perhaps some mental health and stress that comes along with that is still impacting their health and wellbeing.

"So in terms of services, it would be very helpful to work out what would be helpful for these women who've experienced violence."

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, you can ring the domestic violence hotline on 1800 656 463.

University funding cuts to hit Newcastle hard.

BY RACHEL STORER

Education Minister Simon Birmingham's recent announcement to cut $2.8 billion in university funding has been met with grave concerns from Labor.

The changes to higher education funding were announced on Monday night and include lowering the HECS-loan repayment threshold from $55,000 to a substantially lower $42,000 and increasing student fees by 8%.

Senator Kim Carr, the Shadow Minister for Innovation and Industry said that the University of Newcastle could be one of the "hardest hit" by these proposed changes.

"The university has 31 percent of its population coming from low socio-economic groups ... it's the 8th highest number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the country," he said.

"The government's imposition of additional costs will make it more difficult for people to go to university and more difficult for the university to serve the community."

Senator Carr says that the University of Newcastle plays an instrumental role in science and engineering in the Hunter region.

"Industry in the region looks to the university to assist in developing new ideas, new technologies and new ways of thinking... and the government has said nothing about helping universities deal with the research [funding] problem," he said.

He believes that the government is completely overlooking the high cost of running a university and that this will seriously impact the Hunter community and the industrial needs of the region.

Senator Kim Carr. Image: senatorkimcarr.com

University of Newcastle welcomes Pro Vice Chancellor for Industry Engagement and Innovation

BY SARAH JAMES

Heralding Newcastle's entrance into the innovation age, the University of Newcastle has established the inaugural Pro Vice Chancellor for Industry Engagement and Innovation.

Stepping up to the role is Dr Sarah Pearson; an established leader in the global innovation community.

Part of Dr Pearson's role is nurturing Newcastle's potential to become a global hotspot for innovation. She will be responsible for establishing industry partnerships, encouraging entrepreneurship in the area and leading innovation hubs.
 Dr Pearson believes Newcastle's location, affordability and lifestyle will make the area attractive for future investment.

With 75% of high growth jobs being in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) industries, it is imperative that Newcastle adapt to this employment trend.

Dr Sarah Pearson

Hunter unemployment predicted to rise

A recent study has revealed large parts of the Hunter will likely see an increase in unemployment throughout this year.

The study released by the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the end of last year named 14 Hunter and Central Coast suburbs as high risk localities for unemployment rises.

The suburbs included; Muswellbrook, Singleton, Belmont South and Maitland West.

CofFEE Director, Professor Bill Mitchell said the study is the second of its kind for the area.

The reason for higher unemployment was contributed to a high rate of causal work and lower education levels among residents.

 “Regions that have a high percentage of casual or part time work can tend to face more job loss that regions that have strong full time employment,” Professor Mitchell said.

The areas at risk also had a high concentration of “sensitive” industries.

“We know that some industries like manufacturing, construction, retail trade, hospitality, these sorts of sectors are more sensitive to economic slowdown than other industries. So if a local area has a high proportion of the more sensitive industries it’s likely that they’ll experience greater job loss,” Professor Mitchell said.

The national unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent as of December and is expected to rise above 6 per cent this year.