Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Diet And Toenail Arsenic Concentrations In A New Hampshire Population With Arsenic-Containing Water, Kathryn L. Cottingham, Roxanne Karimi, Joann F. Gruber, M Scot Zens, Vicki Sayarath, Carol L. Folt, Tracy Punshon, J. Steven Morris, Margaret R. Karagas

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Limited data exist on the contribution of dietary sources of arsenic to an individual's total exposure, particularly in populations with exposure via drinking water. Here, the association between diet and toenail arsenic concentrations (a long-term biomarker of exposure) was evaluated for individuals with measured household tap water arsenic. Foods known to be high in arsenic, including rice and seafood, were of particular interest.

Methods: Associations between toenail arsenic and consumption of 120 individual diet items were quantified using general linear models that also accounted for household tap water arsenic and potentially confounding factors (e.g., age, caloric intake, sex, smoking) …

Comparison Of Polar Metabolites In Australian Deep-Sea Sponges Using Hplc-Esi-Hrms In Combination With Multivariate Analysis, L Wei, D Skropeta

Danielle Skropeta

Abstract of paper that presented at 8th Joint Meeting of AFERP, ASP, GA, PSE and SIF, New York City, July 28 - August 1, 2012.

Perceptions And Practices Of Adults With Asthma: A Social Cognitive Analysis, Kelly L. Andrews, Sandra C. Jones, Judy Mullan

Judy Mullan

This article describes a qualitative study that investigated the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of adults with asthma regarding self-managing their disease. Focus groups were conducted with 22 adults living in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Key findings were that the perceived stigma of asthma, the need for social support, and the need for "asthma-friendly general practitioners" concerned participants more than formal self-management procedures such as written Asthma Action Plans and medication regimes. Social cognitive theory was used to explain the fluid relationship between persons with asthma, their environment, and their behavior in relation to self-management strategies and in …

'If My Arms And Legs Aren't Dropping Off I'Ll Wait To See My Usual Gp!' An Analysis Of Older Patients' Attitudes To Registrars Informed By Agency Theory, Andrew D. Bonney, Sandra C. Jones, Donald C. Iverson, Christopher A. Magee

Sandra Jones

Continuity of care and trust are important in older patient-doctor relationships which impacts older patient willingess to consult registrars for chronic disease management.

Newspaper Coverage Of Drug Policy: An Analysis Of Pre-Election Reporting Of The Greens' Drug Policy In Australia, Danika Hall, Sandra C. Jones, Fiona Cowlin

Sandra Jones

Introduction and Aims. With the headline 'Ecstasy Over The Counter' in a popular daily newspaper, the debate on drug policy officially entered the arena of the 2003 New South Wales (Australia) State Election. The debate resurfaced in the lead-up to the 2004 Australian Federal Election. This paper analyses the pre-election coverage of drug policy issues in four Australian newspapers. Design and Methods. Four high-circulation daily newspapers were monitored for a one-month period prior to both elections and analysed for their coverage of drug policy, particularly with respect to the policy of the Greens. Results. The newspapers took different perspectives on …

Perceptions And Practices Of Adults With Asthma: A Social Cognitive Analysis, Kelly L. Andrews, Sandra C. Jones, Judy Mullan

Sandra Jones

This article describes a qualitative study that investigated the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of adults with asthma regarding self-managing their disease. Focus groups were conducted with 22 adults living in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Key findings were that the perceived stigma of asthma, the need for social support, and the need for "asthma-friendly general practitioners" concerned participants more than formal self-management procedures such as written Asthma Action Plans and medication regimes. Social cognitive theory was used to explain the fluid relationship between persons with asthma, their environment, and their behavior in relation to self-management strategies and in …

Disease Awareness Advertisements In Australian Magazines: An Analysis Of Content And Compliance, Danika Hall, Sandra C. Jones, Donald C. Iverson

Sandra Jones

In Australia, Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of prescription medicine is prohibited; however pharmaceutical companies can communicate directly with consumers via Disease Awareness Advertising (DAA). DAA can contain information about a disease including treatment information, but cannot mention the name of a particular product or brand. DAA is currently regulated by the industry body Medicines Australia (MA). In the current study, content analysis methodology was used to determine the extent and nature of DAA in popular Australian women’s magazines which were monitored for 12 months. Findings relating to the use of visual appeals in the imagery and rational appeals in …

Dietary Consequences Of Recommending Reduced-Fat Dairy Products In The Weight-Loss Context: A Secondary Analysis With Practical Implications For Registered Dietitians, Deborah Nolan-Clark, Elizabeth Mathers, Yasmine Probst, Karen Charlton, Marijka Batterham, Linda Tapsell

Karen E. Charlton

Replacing full-fat dairy products with reduced-fat varieties is a dietetic strategy for reducing energy intake while maintaining nutritional adequacy. This study aimed to explore the dietary outcomes of this recommendation in the context of weight loss. This study involved a secondary analysis of diet-history data for 86 adults (23 males and 63 females; body mass index=31.1±3.4) who had completed 3 months of a weight-loss trial in 2009, including advice to consume reduced-fat dairy products. Dairy food intake was categorized using the Australian 1995 National Nutrition Survey food hierarchy. Paired t tests and Wilcoxon signed rank tests determined dairy product consumption …

Scanning In Situ Spectroscopy Pplatform For Imaging Surgical Breast Tissue Specimens, Venkataramanan Krishnaswamy, Ashley M. Laughney, Wendy A. Wells, Keith D. Paulsen, Brian W. Pogue

Dartmouth Scholarship

A non-contact localized spectroscopic imaging platform has been developed and optimized to scan 1 x 1 cm² square regions of surgically resected breast tissue specimens with ~150-micron resolution. A color corrected, image-space telecentric scanning design maintained a consistent sampling geometry and uniform spot size across the entire imaging field. Theoretical modeling in ZEMAX allowed estimation of the spot size, which is equal at both the center and extreme positions of the field with ~5% variation across the designed waveband, indicating excellent color correction. The spot sizes at the center and an extreme field position were also measured experimentally using the …

Analysis Of The Psychological Impact Of A Vascular Risk Factor Intervention: Results From A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial In Australian General Practice, Suzanne Helen Mckenzie, Upali W. Jayasinghe, Mahnaz Fanaian, Megan Passey, Mark Fort Harris

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background Screening for vascular disease, risk assessment and management are encouraged in general practice however there is limited evidence about the emotional impact on patients. The Health Improvement and Prevention Study evaluated the impact of a general practice-based vascular risk factor intervention on behavioural and physiological risk factors in 30 Australian practices. The primary aim of this analysis is to investigate the psychological impact of participating in the intervention arm of the trial. The secondary aim is to identify the mediating effects of changes in behavioural risk factors or BMI. Methods This study is an analysis of a secondary outcome …

Surface Analysis Of Lipids By Mass Spectrometry: More Than Just Imaging, Shane R. Ellis, Simon H. Brown, Marc In Het Panhuis, Stephen J. Blanksby, Todd W. Mitchell

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Mass spectrometry is now an indispensable tool for lipid analysis and is arguably the driving force in the renaissance of lipid research. In its various forms, mass spectrometry is uniquely capable of resolving the extensive compositional and structural diversity of lipids in biological systems. Furthermore, it provides the ability to accurately quantify molecular-level changes in lipid populations associated with changes in metabolism and environment; bringing lipid science to the "omics" age. The recent explosion of mass spectrometry-based surface analysis techniques is fuelling further expansion of the lipidomics field. This is evidenced by the numerous papers published on the subject of …

Food Groups And Fatty Acids Associated With Self-Reported Depression: An Analysis From The Australian National Nutrition And Health Surveys, Barbara J. Meyer, Nithin Kolanu, David A. Griffiths, Ben Grounds, Peter R. C Howe, Irene A. Kreis

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Objective The aim of this study was to explore the associations between incidence of depression and dietary intakes of foods and fatty acids in adult Australians. Methods Data from the 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey (NNS), the 1995 Australian National Health Survey (NHS) and an updated fatty acid database were merged and the 24-h fatty acid intakes were calculated for the 10 986 adult participants ages 18 to 79 y in the 1995 NNS. The merged data set was used to run a logistic regression with depression as the response variable and the food groups and calculated fatty acid values, …

Stop Thumbing Around: A Quantitative Analysis Of The Structure And Architecture Of The Transverse And Oblique Heads Of The Adductor Pollicis Muscle, A Stamenkovic, B J. Munro, G E. Peoples

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Abstract of paper that has been presented at 2012 Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists, University of New South Wales, Australia, 9-11 December, 2012.

An Extraction Of The Violacein Sequence From Pjp101 For Expression And Analysis In Phsg398, Julian Harrison, John Ronczka

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Violacein is a pigment found in Chromobacterium violaceum, it has a number of properties, such as; anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-protozoa, anti-tumoral. Violacein is produced by a series of genes named vioA, vioB, vioC, vioD and vioE. A violacein sequence is 8 kilo-bases (kb) in size. The goal of this study was to isolate the smallest possible fragment of 'Deoxyribonucleic acid' (DNA) that would produce violacein from pJP101 and making a connection to DNA biological logic gates.

Gc/Gc-Ms Analysis, Isolation And Identification Of Bioactive Essential Oil Components From The Bhutanese Medicinal Plant, Pleurospermum Amabile, Phurpa Wangchuk, Paul A. Keller, Stephen G. Pyne, Malai Taweechotipatr, Sumalee Kamchonwongpaisan

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

We have hydrodistilled the essential oil (EO) from the aerial parts of the Bhutanese medicinal plant, Pleurospermum amabile using a Clevenger apparatus and evaluated this EO by GC/GC-MS and NMR analysis followed by testing for bioactivity. The GC-MS analysis identified 52 compounds with (E)-isomyristicin as a major component (32.2%). Repeated purification yielded four compounds; (E)-isomyristicin (1), (E)-isoapiol (2), methyl eugenol (3) and (E)-isoelemicin (4). Compound 2 and the mother EO showed the best antiplasmodial activity against the Plasmodium falciparum strains, TM4/8.2 (chloroquine and antifolate sensitive) and K1CB1 (multidrug resistant). They exhibited mild antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis. None of the …

Perceptions And Practices Of Adults With Asthma: A Social Cognitive Analysis, Kelly L. Andrews, Sandra C. Jones, Judy Mullan

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This article describes a qualitative study that investigated the experiences, attitudes, and opinions of adults with asthma regarding self-managing their disease. Focus groups were conducted with 22 adults living in metropolitan and regional New South Wales, Australia. Key findings were that the perceived stigma of asthma, the need for social support, and the need for "asthma-friendly general practitioners" concerned participants more than formal self-management procedures such as written Asthma Action Plans and medication regimes. Social cognitive theory was used to explain the fluid relationship between persons with asthma, their environment, and their behavior in relation to self-management strategies and in …

An Improved High-Throughput Lipid Extraction Method For The Analysis Of Human Brain Lipids, Sarah K. Abbott, Andrew M. Jenner, Todd W. Mitchell, Simon H. Brown, Glenda M. Halliday, Brett Garner

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

We have developed a protocol suitable for high-throughput lipidomic analysis of human brain samples. The traditional Folch extraction (using chloroform and glass-glass homogenization) was compared to a high-throughput method combining methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) extraction with mechanical homogenization utilizing ceramic beads. This high-throughput method significantly reduced sample handling time and increased efficiency compared to glass-glass homogenizing. Furthermore, replacing chloroform with MTBE is safer (less carcinogenic/toxic), with lipids dissolving in the upper phase, allowing for easier pipetting and the potential for automation (i.e., robotics). Both methods were applied to the analysis of human occipital cortex. Lipid species (including ceramides, sphingomyelins, choline glycerophospholipids, …

Analysis Of Subcellular [57co] Cobalamin Distribution In Sh-Sy5y Neurons And Brain Tissue, Hua Zhao, Kalani Ruberu, Hongyun Li, Brett Garner

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Cobalamin (Cbl) utilization as a cofactor for methionine synthase and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase is dependent on the transport of Cbl through lysosomes and its subsequent delivery to the cytosol and mitochondria. We speculated that neuropathological conditions that impair lysosomal function (e.g., age-related lipofuscinosis and specific neurodegenerative diseases) might impair lysosomal Cbl transport. To address this question, an appropriate method to quantify intracellular Cbl transport in neuronal cell types and brain tissue is required. Thus, we developed methods to measure [⁵⁷Co] Cbl levels in lysosomes, mitochondria and cytosol obtained from in vitro and in vivo sources. Human SH-SY5Y neurons or …

Patent Landscape Of Helminth Vaccines And Related Technologies, Jon R. Cavicchi, Stanley P. Kowalski, John Schroeder, Rayna Burke, Jillian Michaud-King

Law Faculty Scholarship

Executive Summary This report focuses on patent landscape analysis of technologies related to vaccines targeting parasitic worms, also known as helminths. These technologies include methods of formulating vaccines, methods of producing of subunits, the composition of complete vaccines, and other technologies that have the potential to aid in a global response to this pathogen. The purpose of this patent landscape study was to search, identify, and categorize patent documents that are relevant to the development of vaccines that can efficiently promote the development of protective immunity against helminths. The search strategy used keywords which the team felt would be general …