Juvenile justice and truancy legislation : The move towards parental responsibilisation in Queensland

Much current Queensland media rhetoric, government policy and legislation on truancy and youth justice appears to be based on ideas of responsibilisation – of sheeting responsibility for children’s behaviour back onto their parents. This article examines the evidence of parental responsibility provisions in juvenile justice and truancy legislation in Queensland and the drivers behind this approach. It considers recent legislative initiatives as part of an international trend toward making parents ‘responsible’ for the wrongs of their children. It identifies the parental responsibility rhetoric appearing in recent ministerial statements and associated media reports. It then asks the questions – are these legislative provisions being enforced? And if so, are they successful? Are they simply adding to the administrative burdens placed on teachers and schools, and the socioeconomic burdens placed on already disadvantaged parents? Parental responsibility provisions have been discussed at length in the context of juvenile offending and research suggests that punishing parents for the acts of their children does not decrease delinquency. The paper asks how, as a society, we intend to evaluate these punitive measures against parents?

Hormones down under: Hormone therapy use after the Women's Health Initiative

Aims:  The primary objective was to describe the usage pattern of hormone therapy (HT) in a sample of urban Australian women in 2001 and to assess the characteristics of users vs. non-users. The second objective was to determine whether there had been any change in usage since the publication of the results of the combined oestrogen plus progestagen arm of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002. Methods:  A cohort of 374 postmenopausal women aged 50–80 years participated in this substudy of the LAW (Longitudinal Assessment of Ageing in Women) project: a 5-year multidisciplinary, observational study. Participants completed an annual medical assessment including details of the use of HT and the reasons for use, as well as demographic and psychosocial data. Results:  In December 2001, 30.8% of the participants were using HT, whereas 55.4% were ever users. The management of vasomotor symptoms and mood disturbance were the primary reasons for use. Of those who had been using HT in December 2001 (24.4%) women ceased using HT in the 3 months following publication of the WHI results. The percentage of women using HT in December 2003 (13.9%) was less than half of that of December 2001. Conclusion:  The rate of HT use and the reasons for use, in 2001 in Brisbane was similar to that of other Australian regions. Usage of HT decreased since the publication of the WHI results in 2002 which may reflect changing attitudes by patients and practitioners regarding HT.

The Punitive Turn in Juvenile Justice: Cultures of Control and Rights of Compliance in Western Europe and the USA

Separate systems of justice for children and young people have always been beset by issues of contradiction and compromise. There is compelling evidence that such ambiguity is currently being `resolved' by a greater governmental resort to neo-conservative punitive and correctional interventions and a neo-liberal responsibilizing mentality in which the protection historically afforded to children is rapidly dissolving. This resurgent authoritarianism appears all the more anachronistic when it is set against the widely held commitment to act within the guidelines established by various children's rights conventions. Of note is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, frequently described as the most ratified human rights convention in the world, but lamentably also the most violated. Based on international research on juvenile custody rates and children's rights compliance in the USA and Western Europe, this article examines why and to what extent `American exceptionalism' might be permeating European nation states.

Growth-hormone-stimulated dentinogenesis in Lewis dwarf rat molars

In dentinogenesis, certain growth factors, matrix proteoglycans, and proteins are directly or indirectly dependent on growth hormone. The hypothesis that growth hormone up-regulates the expression of enzymes, sialoproteins, and other extracellular matrix proteins implicated in the formation and mineralization of tooth and bone matrices was tested by the treatment of Lewis dwarf rats with growth hormone over 5 days. The molar teeth were processed for immunohistochemical demonstration of bone-alkaline phosphatase, bone morphogenetic proteins-2 and -4, osteocalcin, osteopontin, bone sialoprotein, and E11 protein. Odontoblasts responded to growth hormone by more cells expressing bone morphogenetic protein, alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, and osteopontin. No changes were found in bone sialoprotein or E11 protein expression. Thus, growth hormone may stimulate odontoblasts to express several growth factors and matrix proteins associated with dentin matrix biosynthesis in mature rat molars.

Hormone-dependent bacterial growth persistence and biofilm formation - A pilot study investigating human follicular fluid collected during IVF cycles

Human follicular fluid, considered sterile, is aspirated as part of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. However, it is easily contaminated by the trans-vaginal collection route and little information exists in its potential to support the growth of microorganisms. The objectives of this study were to determine whether human follicular fluid can support bacterial growth over time, whether the steroid hormones estradiol and progesterone (present at high levels within follicular fluid) contribute to the in vitro growth of bacterial species, and whether species isolated from follicular fluid form biofilms. We found that bacteria in follicular fluid could persist for at least 28 weeks in vitro and that the steroid hormones stimulated the growth of some bacterial species, specifically Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp. Streptococcus spp. and E. coli. Several species, Lactobacillus spp., Propionibacterium spp., and Streptococcus spp., formed biofilms when incubated in native follicular fluids in vitro (18/24, 75%). We conclude that bacteria aspirated along with follicular fluid during IVF cycles demonstrate a persistent pattern of growth. This discovery is important since it can offer a new avenue for investigation in infertile couples.

Signal transduction mechanisms underlying growth hormone receptor action

Our understanding of the mechanisms of action of GH and its receptor, the GHR, has advanced significantly in the last decade and has provided some important surprises. It is now clear that the GH-GHR axis activates a number of inter-related signalling pathways, not all of which are dependent on the intracellular tyrosine kinase, JAK2 as originally postulated. JAK2-independent pathways, mediated via the Src family kinases, together with a number of negative regulators of GH signalling and emerging cross-talk mechanisms with other growth factor receptors, provide a complex array of mechanisms that are capable of fine-tuning responses to GH in a cell context dependent manner. Additionally, it is also now clear that GH and the GHR can translocate to the nucleus of target cells and initiate, as yet not well defined, nuclear responses. Continued emphasis on elucidation of these complex mechanisms is critical to provide further insights into the diverse physiological and pathophysiological effects of GH.

Selective cleavage of human sex hormone-binding globulin by kallikrein-related peptidases and effects on androgen action in LNCaP prostate cancer cells

Stimulation of the androgen receptor via bioavailable androgens, including testosterone and testosterone metabolites, is a key driver of prostate development and the early stages of prostate cancer. Androgens are hydrophobic and as such require carrier proteins, including sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), to enable efficient distribution from sites of biosynthesis to target tissues. The similarly hydrophobic corticosteroids also require a carrier protein whose affinity for steroid is modulated by proteolysis. However, proteolytic mechanisms regulating the SHBG/androgen complex have not been reported. Here, we show that the cancer-associated serine proteases, kallikrein-related peptidase (KLK)4 and KLK14, bind strongly to SHBG in glutathione S-transferase interaction analyses. Further, we demonstrate that active KLK4 and KLK14 cleave human SHBG at unique sites and in an androgen-dependent manner. KLK4 separated androgen-free SHBG into its two laminin G-like (LG) domains that were subsequently proteolytically stable even after prolonged digestion, whereas a catalytically equivalent amount of KLK14 reduced SHBG to small peptide fragments over the same period. Conversely, proteolysis of 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-bound SHBG was similar for both KLKs and left the steroid binding LG4 domain intact. Characterization of this proteolysis fragment by [(3)H]-labeled DHT binding assays revealed that it retained identical affinity for androgen compared with full-length SHBG (dissociation constant = 1.92 nM). Consistent with this, both full-length SHBG and SHBG-LG4 significantly increased DHT-mediated transcriptional activity of the androgen receptor compared with DHT delivered without carrier protein. Collectively, these data provide the first evidence that SHBG is a target for proteolysis and demonstrate that a stable fragment derived from proteolysis of steroid-bound SHBG retains binding function in vitro.

Submission to the Queensland Department of Communities Review of the Juvenile Justices Act 1992 Issues Paper 2007

This submission addresses the Queensland Government’s Department of Communities Issues Paper regarding the Review of the Juvenile Justice Act 1992 (August 2007). The Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Law has a Criminal Justice Program within the Law and Justice Research Centre. The members of this Program wish to participate in the debate on these issues which are critically important to the Queensland community at large but especially to our young people.