First results of a major study on safety at Queensland roadworks

The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) is conducting a 3-year program of research, titled Integrating Technological and Organisational Approaches to Enhance the Safety of Roadworkers. The program is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), with support from industry partners Leighton Contractors, GHD, Queensland Transport and Main Roads (TMR), and the Australian Workers Union (AWU). This multidisciplinary project involves working together to enhance roadworker safety by: • Investigating the real and perceived dangers at roadworks. • Strengthening organisational policies and practices for roadworker safety. • Testing innovative initiatives to improve driver behaviour at roadworks. • Developing safety management models spanning different regulatory frameworks. The project outcomes will include the following benefits: • Practical and theoretical contributions at industry and academic levels for developing effective interventions/strategies to improve safety in road construction. • Development of new measures to evaluate effectiveness of policy and organisational interventions to produce behavioural change among organisations involved in roadworks. • Improved safety and productivity in urban and rural areas of Australia as a result of facilitating the delivery of road improvements. This paper presents an overview of the research conducted to date as part of the overall program. The paper concentrates on issues relevant to moving vehicles, although the research recognises the importance of other hazards and risks associated with roadworks and construction projects generally.

The use of correspondence analysis to compare major and trace elements for provenance studies of iron-age pottery from the Mngeni river area, South Africa

Provenance studies of iron-age pottery specimens originating from the Mngeni river area in South Africa was carried out by applying XRF spectrometry. A total of sixteen major and trace elements were analysed in a batch of 107 potsherds, excavated from four different archaeological sites in the aforementioned area. A multivariate statistical programme Correspondence Analysis was used in this study to obtain the relevant clustering patterns according to the similarity of the elemental distributions. Differences and similarities in the clusters obtained for the majors and trace elements are discussed.

Clinical outcomes, not clinical utility, should be the major consideration for saxagliptin with or without metformin

A recent review by Panagoulias and Doupis, published in Patient Preference and Adherence, concerned the saxagliptin/metformin fixed combination (SAXA/MET FDC), and was titled "Clinical utility in the treatment of type 2 diabetes with the saxagliptin/metformin fixed combination."1 This review concluded that "The SAXA/MET FDC is a patient-friendly, dosage-flexible, and hypoglycemia-safe regimen with very few adverse events and a neutral or even favorable effect on body weight. It achieves significant glycosylated hemoglobin A1c reduction helping the patient to achieve his/her individual glycemic goals."1

The implications of educational and methodological background for the career success of Nobel Laureates : an investigation of major awards

Nobel laureates have achieved the highest recognition in academia, reaching the boundaries of human knowledge and understanding. Owing to past research, we have a good understanding of the career patterns behind their performance. Yet, we have only limited understanding of the factors driving their recognition with respect to major institutionalized scientific honours. We therefore look at the award life cycle achievements of the 1901–2000 Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine. The results show that Nobelists with a theoretical orientation achieved more awards than laureates with an empirical orientation. Moreover, it seems their educational background shapes their future recognition. Researchers educated in Great Britain and the US tend to attract more awards than other Nobelists, although there are career pattern differences. Among those, laureates educated at Cambridge or Harvard are more successful in Chemistry, those from Columbia and Cambridge excel in Physics, while Columbia educated laureates dominate in Physiology or Medicine.

The contribution of major depression to the global burden of ischemic heart disease : a comparative risk assessment

Background Cardiovascular disease and mental health both hold enormous public health importance, both ranking highly in results of the recent Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010). For the first time, the GBD 2010 has systematically and quantitatively assessed major depression as an independent risk factor for the development of ischemic heart disease (IHD) using comparative risk assessment methodology. Methods A pooled relative risk (RR) was calculated from studies identified through a systematic review with strict inclusion criteria designed to provide evidence of independent risk factor status. Accepted case definitions of depression include diagnosis by a clinician or by non-clinician raters adhering to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or International Classification of Diseases (ICD) classifications. We therefore refer to the exposure in this paper as major depression as opposed to the DSM-IV category of major depressive disorder (MDD). The population attributable fraction (PAF) was calculated using the pooled RR estimate. Attributable burden was calculated by multiplying the PAF by the underlying burden of IHD estimated as part of GBD 2010. Results The pooled relative risk of developing IHD in those with major depression was 1.56 (95% CI 1.30 to 1.87). Globally there were almost 4 million estimated IHD disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which can be attributed to major depression in 2010; 3.5 million years of life lost and 250,000 years of life lived with a disability. These findings highlight a previously underestimated mortality component of the burden of major depression. As a proportion of overall IHD burden, 2.95% (95% CI 1.48 to 4.46%) of IHD DALYs were estimated to be attributable to MDD in 2010. Eastern Europe and North Africa/Middle East demonstrate the highest proportion with Asia Pacific, high income representing the lowest. Conclusions The present work comprises the most robust systematic review of its kind to date. The key finding that major depression may be responsible for approximately 3% of global IHD DALYs warrants assessment for depression in patients at high risk of developing IHD or at risk of a repeat IHD event.

The epidemiological modelling of major depressive disorder : application for the global burden of disease study 2010

Background Although the detrimental impact of major depressive disorder (MDD) at the individual level has been described, its global epidemiology remains unclear given limitations in the data. Here we present the modelled epidemiological profile of MDD dealing with heterogeneity in the data, enforcing internal consistency between epidemiological parameters and making estimates for world regions with no empirical data. These estimates were used to quantify the burden of MDD for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010). Method Analyses drew on data from our existing literature review of the epidemiology of MDD. DisMod-MR, the latest version of the generic disease modelling system redesigned as a Bayesian meta-regression tool, derived prevalence by age, year and sex for 21 regions. Prior epidemiological knowledge, study- and country-level covariates adjusted sub-optimal raw data. Results There were over 298 million cases of MDD globally at any point in time in 2010, with the highest proportion of cases occurring between 25 and 34 years. Global point prevalence was very similar across time (4.4% (95% uncertainty: 4.2–4.7%) in 1990, 4.4% (4.1–4.7%) in 2005 and 2010), but higher in females (5.5% (5.0–6.0%) compared to males (3.2% (3.0–3.6%) in 2010. Regions in conflict had higher prevalence than those with no conflict. The annual incidence of an episode of MDD followed a similar age and regional pattern to prevalence but was about one and a half times higher, consistent with an average duration of 37.7 weeks. Conclusion We were able to integrate available data, including those from high quality surveys and sub-optimal studies, into a model adjusting for known methodological sources of heterogeneity. We were also able to estimate the epidemiology of MDD in regions with no available data. This informed GBD 2010 and the public health field, with a clearer understanding of the global distribution of MDD.

Global variation in the prevalence and incidence of major depressive disorder : a systematic review of the epidemiological literature

Background Summarizing the epidemiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) at a global level is complicated by significant heterogeneity in the data. The aim of this study is to present a global summary of the prevalence and incidence of MDD, accounting for sources of bias, and dealing with heterogeneity. Findings are informing MDD burden quantification in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 Study. Method A systematic review of prevalence and incidence of MDD was undertaken. Electronic databases Medline, PsycINFO and EMBASE were searched. Community-representative studies adhering to suitable diagnostic nomenclature were included. A meta-regression was conducted to explore sources of heterogeneity in prevalence and guide the stratification of data in a meta-analysis. Results The literature search identified 116 prevalence and four incidence studies. Prevalence period, sex, year of study, depression subtype, survey instrument, age and region were significant determinants of prevalence, explaining 57.7% of the variability between studies. The global point prevalence of MDD, adjusting for methodological differences, was 4.7% (4.4–5.0%). The pooled annual incidence was 3.0% (2.4–3.8%), clearly at odds with the pooled prevalence estimates and the previously reported average duration of 30 weeks for an episode of MDD. Conclusions Our findings provide a comprehensive and up-to-date profile of the prevalence of MDD globally. Region and study methodology influenced the prevalence of MDD. This needs to be considered in the GBD 2010 study and in investigations into the ecological determinants of MDD. Good-quality estimates from low-/middle-income countries were sparse. More accurate data on incidence are also required.

Dewatering of microalgal cultures : a major bottleneck to algae-based fuels

Microalgae dewatering is a major obstruction to industrial-scale processing of microalgae for biofuel prodn. The dil. nature of harvested microalgal cultures creates a huge operational cost during dewatering, thereby, rendering algae-based fuels less economically attractive. Currently there is no superior method of dewatering microalgae. A technique that may result in a greater algal biomass may have drawbacks such as a high capital cost or high energy consumption. The choice of which harvesting technique to apply will depend on the species of microalgae and the final product desired. Algal properties such as a large cell size and the capability of the microalgae to autoflocculate can simplify the dewatering process. This article reviews and addresses the various technologies currently used for dewatering microalgal cultures along with a comparative study of the performances of the different technologies.

Major changes to property law in Queensland

From 1 December 2014 a number of major changes were made to property law in Queensland with the simultaneous commencement of the Land Sales and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2014 (Qld) and the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld). This article examines these changes, their rationale and their implications for practice.

Charged particles and cluster ions produced during cooking activities

Previous studies showed that a significant number of the particles present in indoor air are generated by cooking activities, and measured particle concentrations and exposures have been used to estimate the related human dose. The dose evaluation can be affected by the particle charge level which is usually not considered in particle deposition models. To this purpose, in this paper we show, for the very first time, the electric charge of particles generated during cooking activities and thus extending the interest on particle charging characterization to indoor micro-environments, so far essentially focused on outdoors. Particle number, together with positive and negative cluster ion concentrations, was monitored using a condensation particle counter and two air ion counters, respectively, during different cooking events. Positively-charged particle distribution fractions during gas combustion, bacon grilling, and eggplant grilling events were measured by two Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer spectrometers, used with and without a neutralizer. Finally, a Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer was used to measure the charge specific particle distributions of bacon and eggplant grilling experiments, selecting particles of 30, 50, 80 and 100 nm in mobility diameter. The total fraction of positively-charged particles was 4.0%, 7.9%, and 5.6% for gas combustion, bacon grilling, and eggplant grilling events, respectively, then lower than other typical outdoor combustion-generated particles.

Suppression of cluster ions during rapidly increasing particle number concentration events in the environment

We show that the cluster ion concentration (CIC) in the atmosphere is significantly suppressed during events that involve rapid increases in particle number concentration (PNC). Using a neutral cluster and air ion spectrometer, we investigated changes in CIC during three types of particle enhancement processes – new particle formation, a bushfire episode and an intense pyrotechnic display. In all three cases, the total CIC decreased with increasing PNC, with the rate of decrease being greater for negative CIC than positive. We attribute this to the greater mobility, and hence the higher attachment coefficient, of negative ions over positive ions in the air. During the pyrotechnic display, the rapid increase in PNC was sufficient to reduce the CIC of both polarities to zero. At the height of the display, the negative CIC stayed at zero for a full 10 min. Although the PNCs were not significantly different, the CIC during new particle formation did not decrease as much as during the bushfire episode and the pyrotechnic display. We suggest that the rate of increase of PNC, together with particle size, also play important roles in suppressing CIC in the atmosphere.

Focus group discussions exploring major social influences on young driver safety in Oman. Report to the Research Council of Oman, Muscat.

This report documents the findings of in-depth focus groups conducted with 17 young drivers. The main aim of these focus groups was to explore key themes related to the risky behaviour of young drivers (17-25 years) in Oman. Specifically the interviews explored the influence of parents and peers, who may serve as a source of imitation, reward and punishment. Additionally, the interviews explored the influence of policing and licensing on young driver behaviour.