Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Misattribution Of Sensory Input Reflected In Dysfunctional Target: Non-Target Erps In Schizophrenia, K. Brown, E. Gordon, L. Williams, H. Bahramali, A. Harris, J. Gray, C. J. Gonsalvez, R. Meares

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background. While numerous studies have found disturbances in the Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) of patients with schizophrenia linked to task relevant target stimuli (most notably a reduction in P300 amplitude), few have examined ERPs to task irrelevant non-targets. We hypothesize, from current models of dysfunction in information processing in schizophrenia, that there will be less difference between ERPs to targets and non-targets in patients with schizophrenia than in controls.

Methods. EEGs were recorded for 40 subjects with schizophrenia and 40 age and sex matched controls during an auditory oddball reaction time task. ERPs to the targets and non-targets immediately preceding the …

The Decline Of Ethics Or The Failure Of Self-Regulation? The Case Of Alcohol Advertising, Sandra C. Jones

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Restrictions on alcohol advertising have increasingly become an issue for debate around the world. Some countries rely on governmental regulation; whereas others, including Australia, utilise a system of industry selfregulation. This study calls into question the effectiveness of the alcohol beverage industry’s self-regulation of advertising. Between May 1998 and April 1999, 11 alcohol advertising complaints (relating to nine separate advertisements) were lodged with the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) by members of the general public. In the present study, five expert judges were selected to review these complaints, without knowing the ASB’s rulings, and to judge whether the advertisement(s) breached any …

Evaluation Of The Helping Hands Volunteer Program For People With Mental Illness, Judy A. Pickard, Frank P. Deane

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Volunteer programs have been used to alter attitudes, provide long-term knowledge towards mental illness and increase the quality of life of consumers receiving volunteer services. Sixteen volunteers completed an 18-hour training program and in pairs worked with 11 consumers over 4 months. Sixteen volunteers completed training measures of knowledge and attitudes scales. Pre and post program quality of life and behavioural functioning measures were taken on 5 consumers. Volunteers maintained their knowledge of mental illness over 6 months and had significant increases in their comfort in interactions with people who have mental illness. Case managers, consumers and volunteers all reported …

Single Nucleotide Primer Extension (Snupe) Analysis Of The G6pd Gene In Somatic Cells And Oocytes Of A Kangaroo (Macropus Robustus), Debbie Watson, Anita S. Jacombs, David A. Loebel, Edward S. Robinson, Peter G. Johnston

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

cDNA sequence analysis of the X-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) gene has shown a base difference between two subspecies of the kangaroo, Macropus robustus robustus (wallaroo) and M. r. erubescens (euro). A thymine residue in the wallaroo at position 358 in exon 5 has been replaced by a cytosine residue in the euro, which accounts for the previously reported electrophoretic difference between the two subspecies. This base difference allowed use of the Single Nucleotide Primer Extension (SNuPE) technique to study allele-specific expression of G6PD at the transcriptional level. We began by examining G6PD expression in somatic cells and observed complete paternal …

Vertical Profiles Of Nitrous Oxide Isotopomer Fractionation Measured In The Stratosphere, D W. T Griffith, Geoffrey Toon, Bhaswar Sen, Jean-Francois Blavier, Robert A. Toth

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

We have measured the vertical profiles of several isotopomers of nitrous oxide, N₂O, in the stratosphere by balloon-borne infrared remote sensing between 15 and 35 km. In particular we distinguish the individual profiles and relative enrichments of the positional isotopomers ¹⁵N¹⁴N¹⁶O and ¹⁴N¹⁵N¹⁶O for the first time. We find a distinct and reproducible relative enrichment of the isotopomers which is in general agreement with measured photolysis rates in the laboratory and theoretical predictions. The results confirm photolysis as the dominant stratospheric loss process for N₂O and …

Role Of Phosphoglucomutase Of Bordetella Bronchiseptica In Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis And Virulence, Nicholas P. West, Heidrun Jungnitz, John Fitter, Jason D. Mcarthur, Carlos Guzman, Mark J. Walker

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

The phosphoglucomutase (PGM)-encoding gene of Bordetella bronchiseptica is required for lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthesis. An insertion mutant of the wild-type B. bronchiseptica strain BB7865 which disrupted LPS biosynthesis was created and characterized (BB7865pgm). Genetic analysis of the mutated gene showed it shares high identity with PGM genes of various bacterial species and forms part of an operon which also encompasses the gene encoding phosphoglucose isomerase. Functional assays for PGM revealed that enzyme activity is expressed in bothbvg-positive and bvg-negative strains ofB. bronchiseptica and is substantially reduced in BB7865pgm. Complementation of the mutated PGM …

Conference Report: Dietary Guidelines For A New Millennium, Peter R.C Howe, Paul Nestel

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

The US dietary guidelines are being updated, new dietary guidelines for older Australians were released last year, and Australia and New Zealand are jointly reviewing recommendations for nutrient intakes. Who needs them? Are they merely bureaucratic exercises or should we be taking them seriously? If so, how should they be managed for maximum benefit?

Positionally Dependent 15n Fractionation Factors In The Uv Photolysis Of N2o Determined By High Resolution Ftir Spectroscopy, Fred Turatti, D W. T Griffith, Stephen Wilson, Michael Esler, T Rahn, H Zang, G A. Blake

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

Positionally dependent fractionation factors for the photolysis of isotopomers of N₂O in natural abundance have been determined by high resolution FTIR spectroscopy at three photolysis wavelengths. Fractionation factors show clear ¹⁵N position and photolysis wavelength dependence and are in qualitative agreement with theoretical models but are twice as large. The fractionation factors increase with photolysis wavelength from 193 to 211 nm, with the fractionation factors at 207.6 nm for ¹⁴N¹⁵N¹⁶O, ¹⁵N¹⁴N¹⁶O and ¹⁴N¹⁴N¹⁸O equal to −66.5±5‰,−27.1±6‰ and −49±10‰, respectively.

Use Of Self-Report To Monitor Overweight And Obesity In Populations: Some Issues For Consideration, Victoria M. Flood, Karen Webb, Ross Lazarus, Glen Pang

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To examine the validity of self reported height and weight data reported over the telephone in the 1997 NSW Health Survey, and to determine its accuracy to monitor overweight and obesity in population surveys. Method: Self-reported and measured heights and weights were collected from 227 people living in Western Sydney, who had participated in the NSW Health Survey 1997. Results: Self-reported (SR) weights and heights led to misclassification of relative weight status. BMI, based on measured weights and heights, classified 62% of males and 47% of females as overweight or obese, compared with 39% and 32%, respectively, from self-report. …

Book Review: The Nation's Diet: The Social Science Of Food Choice, Linda C. Tapsell

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

A New Early Devonian Operculate Tetracoral Genus From Eastern Australia, Anthony J. Wright

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

Chakeola, a solitary latest Lochkovian to late Emsian (Early Devonian) new genus of the operculate tetracoral family Calceolidae, is characterised by: opercular septa that are present from adjacent to the median septum to the lateral extremities of the operculum; a lack of rootlets on the counter face of the corallite; a weak counter opercular face in mature specimens; and eccentric growth increments on the external opercular surface. The type species, C. johnsoni new species, is described from latest Lochkovian pesavis Zone), early Pragian (suleatus Zone) and late Pragian (pireneae Zone) strata of the Garra Formation, Wellington, NSW. C. whitehollsei new …

Sweating In Extreme Environments: Heat Loss, Heat Adaptation, Body-Fluid Distribution And Thermal Strain, Nigel Taylor

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

Evaporation is an extremely powerful cooling process. When totally evaporated from the skin surface, sweat can remove body heat at a rate of 2.43 kJ«g"\ Humans therefore control sweat secretion to maintain thermal homeostasis. Since humans are capable of extended sweat rates approximating 30 g'min"1, it is possible to remove heat at rates -73 kJ-min"1. Assuming a 20% efficiency, such heat loss will support a normothermic total energy use of 1520W. This equates with an external work rate of 304W, eliciting an oxygen consumption >3.5 /«min"1. However, while man has a great capacity to both work and dissipate metabolically-derived heat, …

Thermal Sweating Following Spinal Cord Injury, Bradley Wilsmore, J D. Cotter, Andrea Macdonald, A. Zeyl, Guy M. Bashford, Nigel Taylor

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

A complete spinal cord injury prevents neural connections between distal sites and higher neural structures. While it has previously been demonstrated that an isolated spinal cord can elicit non-thermal sweating independently of the hypothalamus [1-3], the ability of the spinal cord to control sweating in response to thermal stimuli, without hypothalamic influence, is less clear. The majority of early literature indicates that thermal sweating is absent below a complete spinal cord injury (SCI) [4-7], yet several studies suggest otherwise [8-11]. However, invasive measures have failed to observe altered sympathetic activity when thermally stimulating insensate regions [12], which is inconsistent with …

Coral Microatolls From The Central Pacific Record Late Holocene El Nino, Colin Woodroffe, Michael K. Gagan

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

Microatolls are discoid corals that have grown laterally because vertical growth is constrained by exposure at lowest tides. We demonstrate that a modern reef-flat Porites microatoll from Christmas (Kiritimati) Island preserves an oxygen isotope record of substantial sea surface temperature variations related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We also show that a late Holocene fossil microatoll from the centre of the island contains interannual oxygen isotope variations over an approximate 20-year period. Three pronounced negative isotope anomalies attributed to warm El Niño events are superimposed on an annual cycle. El Niño events similar to those seen in recent decades appear …

Clusterin Protein Diversity In The Primate Eye, Paul Wong, Bruce A. Pfeffer, Steven L. Bernstein, Michelle L. Chambers, Gerald J. Chader, Zahra F. Zakeri, Yan-Q Wu, Mark Wilson, S Patricia Becerra

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

Purpose: The clusterin gene encodes a multi-functional protein that has been identified in different tissues, including a number of different eye tissues, primarily in the mouse and to a much lesser extent in humans. Clusterin has been implicated in a number of cellular processes such as lipid transport, membrane integrity, apoptosis, and neurodegeneration, all of which could be important to the biology of the eye. In the current communication, we provide data that confirms the expression of clusterin in a number of different human eye tissues and establishes the expression profile of this gene in monkey derived eye tissues. The …

Nutrition, Health And Old Age: The Case Of Urban South African Elderly, Karen E. Charlton

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

The southern African region (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) has the continent's highest percentage of older inhabitants; 6.2% of the population in 1997 was estimated to be 60 years or older. Within southern Africa, South Africa has the highest proportion of older population. The 1996 census data estimate that 2.8 million South Africans are aged 60 years and older, which constitutes 7% of the total population. This percentage is projected to increase to almost 11% of the population over the next 20 years. (Mostert W, Hofmeyr B, Oosthuizen K Demographic projections for South Africa. Pretoria: Human …

Structured, Holistic Approach For Research Planning (Sharp), Karen E. Charlton, Marjanka Schmidt

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

This paper looks at the use of the Structured, Holistic Approach for Research Planning. This method was followed by group members at the Urban Nutrition Action workshop. A report of the outcomes is presented.

Diet Composition And Insulin Action In Animal Models, Leonard H. Storlien, J Higgins, T C. Thomas, Marc A. Brown, Hong-Qin Wang, Xu-Feng Huang, Paul Else

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Global-Perspective Jitter Improves Vection In Central Vision, Stephen A. Palmisano, Barbara Gillam, Shane Blackburn

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Previous vection research has tended to minimise visual - vestibular conflict by using optic-flow patterns which simulate self-motions of constant velocity. Here, experiments are reported on the effect of adding 'global-perspective jitter' to these displays -- simulating forward motion of the observer on a platform oscillating in horizontal and/or vertical dimensions. Unlike non-jittering displays, jittering displays produced a situation of sustained visual - vestibular conflict. Contrary to the prevailing notion that visual - vestibular conflict impairs vection, jittering optic flow was found to produce shorter vection onsets and longer vection durations than non-jittering optic flow for all of jitter magnitudes …

Sharing The Spirit? Sociospatial Polarization And Expressed Enthusiasm For The Olympic Games, Gordon R. Waitt, Philippe Furrer

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

This article seeks to contribute to the literature that assesses the local outcomes of hosting hallmark events by examining the expressed levels of enthusiasm for the year 2000 Olympic Games within Sydney. We report on the results of a telephone survey of 658 Sydney residents conducted in February 1998 designed to measure enthusiasm for the 2000 Olympic Games. As of February 1998, it appeared that enthusiasm for the 2000 Olympics remained strong in Sydney, thereby providing support to the views of those who regard hallmark events as a psychological mechanism to assist residents to feel a sense of pride in …