Visual arts, technology and education : how can teaching and learning in high school visual arts classrooms be enriched by the use of computer technology?

Whilst a variety of studies has appeared over the last decade addressing the gap between the potential promised by computers and the reality experienced in the classroom by teachers and students, few have specifically addressed the situation as it pertains to the visual arts classroom. The aim of this study was to explore the reality of the classroom use of computers for three visual arts highschool teachers and determine how computer technology might enrich visual arts teaching and learning. An action research approach was employed to enable the researcher to understand the situation from the teachers' points of view while contributing to their professional practice. The wider social context surrounding this study is characterised by an increase in visual communications brought about by rapid advances in computer technology. The powerful combination of visual imagery and computer technology is illustrated by continuing developments in the print, film and television industries. In particular, the recent growth of interactive multimedia epitomises this combination and is significant to this study as it represents a new form of publishing of great interest to educators and artists alike. In this social context, visual arts education has a significant role to play. By cultivating a critical awareness of the implications of technology use and promoting a creative approach to the application of computer technology within the visual arts, visual arts education is in a position to provide an essential service to students who will leave high school to participate in a visual information age as both consumers and producers.

Androgen-regulated genes differentially modulated by the androgen receptor coactivator L-dopa decarboxylase in human prostate cancer cells

Background The androgen receptor is a ligand-induced transcriptional factor, which plays an important role in normal development of the prostate as well as in the progression of prostate cancer to a hormone refractory state. We previously reported the identification of a novel AR coactivator protein, L-dopa decarboxylase (DDC), which can act at the cytoplasmic level to enhance AR activity. We have also shown that DDC is a neuroendocrine (NE) marker of prostate cancer and that its expression is increased after hormone-ablation therapy and progression to androgen independence. In the present study, we generated tetracycline-inducible LNCaP-DDC prostate cancer stable cells to identify DDC downstream target genes by oligonucleotide microarray analysis. Results Comparison of induced DDC overexpressing cells versus non-induced control cell lines revealed a number of changes in the expression of androgen-regulated transcripts encoding proteins with a variety of molecular functions, including signal transduction, binding and catalytic activities. There were a total of 35 differentially expressed genes, 25 up-regulated and 10 down-regulated, in the DDC overexpressing cell line. In particular, we found a well-known androgen induced gene, TMEPAI, which wasup-regulated in DDC overexpressing cells, supporting its known co-activation function. In addition, DDC also further augmented the transcriptional repression function of AR for a subset of androgen-repressed genes. Changes in cellular gene transcription detected by microarray analysis were confirmed for selected genes by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Conclusion Taken together, our results provide evidence for linking DDC action with AR signaling, which may be important for orchestrating molecular changes responsible for prostate cancer progression.

Disruption of androgen regulation in the prostate by the environmental contaminant hexachlorobenzene

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) is a persistent environmental contaminant that has the potential to interfere with steroid hormone regulation. The prostate requires precise control by androgens to regulate its growth and function. To determine if HCB impacts androgen action in the prostate, we used a number of methods. Our in vitro cell-culture-based assay used a firefly luciferase reporter gene driven by an androgen-responsive promoter. In the presence of dihydrotestosterone, low concentrations (0.5-5 nM) of HCB increased the androgen-responsive production of firefly luciferase and high concentrations of HCB (> 10 microM) suppressed this transcriptional activity. Results from a binding assay showed no evidence of affinity between HCB and the androgen receptor. We also tested HCB for in vivo effects using transgenic mice in which the transgene was a prostate-specific, androgen-responsive promoter upstream of a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) reporter gene. In 4-week-old mice, the proportion of dilated prostate acini, a marker of sexual maturity, increased in the low HCB dose group and decreased in the high HCB dose mice. In the 8-week-old mice, there was a significant decrease in both CAT activity and prostate weight upon exposure to 20 mg/kg/day HCB. Therefore, in vitro and in vivo data suggest that HCB weakly agonizes androgen action, and consequently, low levels of HCB enhanced androgen action but high levels of HCB interfered. Environmental contaminants have been implicated in the rising incidence of prostate cancer, and insight into the mechanisms of endocrine disruption will help to clarify their role.

Researching with the Aboriginal Community, MPH2057- Aboriginal Health Course (Monash University), delivered by the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) & The Burnet Institute at The Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, 29 September 2010

A copy of the slide presentation titled 'Researching with the Aboriginal Community'. It was presented by Bronwyn Fredericks for the Master of Public Health Program (MPH2057- Aboriginal Health Course) at Monash University. The Monash University Aboriginal Health Course (MPH2057) is delivered in partnership by the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) & The Burnet Institute. The 2010 Aboriginal Health Course was run on Level 3 of The Burnet Institute, 89 Commercial Road, Prahan, Melbourne, Victoria, 29 September 2010.

Deriving grassland management factors for a carbon accounting method developed by the intergovernmental panel on climate change

Grassland management affects soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and can be used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. However, for a country to assess emission reductions due to grassland management, there must be an inventory method for estimating the change in SOC storage. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has developed a simple carbon accounting approach for this purpose, and here we derive new grassland management factors that represent the effect of changing management on carbon storage for this method. Our literature search identified 49 studies dealing with effects of management practices that either degraded or improved conditions relative to nominally managed grasslands. On average, degradation reduced SOC storage to 95% +/- 0.06 and 97% +/- 0.05 of carbon stored under nominal conditions in temperate and tropical regions, respectively. In contrast, improving grasslands with a single management activity enhanced SOC storage by 14% 0.06 and 17% +/- 0.05 in temperate and tropical regions, respectively, and with an additional improvement(s), storage increased by another 11% +/- 0.04. We applied the newly derived factor coefficients to analyze C sequestration potential for managed grasslands in the U.S., and found that over a 20-year period changing management could sequester from 5 to 142 Tg C yr(-1) or 0.1 to 0.9 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1), depending on the level of change. This analysis provides revised factor coefficients for the IPCC method that can be used to estimate impacts of management; it also provides a methodological framework for countries to derive factor coefficients specific to conditions in their region.

Money laundering and FATF compliance by the international community

This paper examines the anti-money laundering systems of Australia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), the extent to which they have implemented the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, and how compliance with these recommendations is affected by local cultural and economic factors. The paper makes use of FATF evaluation reports to compare the countries’ compliance; it examines some of the underlying cultural considerations and culture-specific ethical issues that affect the extent of compliance, and how cultural and ethical considerations may affect good governance. The findings indicate that the UK and the USA are the most advanced with regards to their compliance with the FATF recommendations and Australia and the UAE less so. The UAE is in particular found to be least compliant. We relate this finding to previous work on how a country’s legal and financial systems develop in line with its religion, culture and socio-economic situation, and examine how such local factors have affected the UAE’s financial and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) systems. This research will be of interest to policy-makers and government agencies involved in addressing money laundering and its successful detection and prosecution.

Can hybridization cause local extinction : the case for demographic swamping of the Australian native, Senecio pinnatifolius, by the invasive, S. madagascariensis?

The outcome of interspecific hybridization between native and invasive species depends on the relative frequencies of parental taxa and viability of hybrid progeny. We investigated individual and population level consequences of hybridization between the Australian native, Senecio pinnatifolius, and the exotic S. madagascariensis, with AFLP markers and used this information to simulate the expected outcome of hybridization.A high frequency (range 8.3-75.6 %) of hybrids was detected in open pollinated seeds of both species, but mature hybrids were absent from sympatric populations indicating that sympatric populations represent tension zones. A hybridization advantage was observed for S. madagascariensis,where significantly more progeny than expected were sired based on proportional representation of the two species in sympatric populations. Simulations indicated S. pinnatifolius could be replaced in sympatric populations if hybridization was density dependent.For this native-exotic pair, prezygotic isolating barriers are weak, but low hybrid viability maintains a strong postzygotic barrier to introgression. Due to asymmetric hybridization, S. pinnatifolius appears under threat from demographic swamping, and local extinction is possible where it occurs in sympatry with S. madagascariensis.

Apoptosis is induced in Chlamydia trachomatis infected HEp-2 cells by the addition of a combination innate immune activation compounds and the inhibitor wedelolactone

Problem: Innate immune activation of human cells, for some intracellular pathogens, is advantageous for vacuole morphology and pathogenic viability. It is unknown whether innate immune activation is advantageous to Chlamydia trachomatis viability. ----- ----- Method of study: Innate immune activation of HEp-2 cells during Chlamydia infection was conducted using lipopolysaccharide (LPS), polyI:C, and wedelolactone (innate immune inhibitor) to investigate the impact of these conditions on viability of Chlamydia. ----- ----- Results: The addition of LPS and polyI:C to stimulate activation of the two distinct innate immune pathways (nuclear factor kappa beta and interferon regulatory factor) had no impact on the viability of Chlamydia. However, when compounds targeting either pathway were added in combination with the specific innate immune inhibitor (wedelolactone) a major impact on Chlamydia viability was observed. This impact was found to be due to the induction of apoptosis of the HEp-2 cells under these conditions. ----- ----- Conclusion: This is the first time that induction of apoptosis has been reported in C. trachomatis-infected cells when treated with a combination of innate immune activators and wedelolactone.

Substrate recognition and catalysis by the Holliday junction resolving enzyme Hje

Two archaeal Holliday junction resolving enzymes, Holliday junction cleavage (Hjc) and Holliday junction endonuclease (Hje), have been characterized. Both are members of a nuclease superfamily that includes the type II restriction enzymes, although their DNA cleaving activity is highly specific for four-way junction structure and not nucleic acid sequence. Despite 28% sequence identity, Hje and Hjc cleave junctions with distinct cutting patterns—they cut different strands of a four-way junction, at different distances from the junction centre. We report the high-resolution crystal structure of Hje from Sulfolobus solfataricus. The structure provides a basis to explain the differences in substrate specificity of Hje and Hjc, which result from changes in dimer organization, and suggests a viral origin for the Hje gene. Structural and biochemical data support the modelling of an Hje:DNA junction complex, highlighting a flexible loop that interacts intimately with the junction centre. A highly conserved serine residue on this loop is shown to be essential for the enzyme's activity, suggesting a novel variation of the nuclease active site. The loop may act as a conformational switch, ensuring that the active site is completed only on binding a four-way junction, thus explaining the exquisite specificity of these enzymes.

Conformational flexibility revealed by the crystal structure of a crenarchaeal RadA

Homologous recombinational repair is an essential mechanism for repair of double-strand breaks in DNA. Recombinases of the RecA-fold family play a crucial role in this process, forming filaments that utilize ATP to mediate their interactions with singleand double-stranded DNA. The recombinase molecules present in the archaea (RadA) and eukaryota (Rad51) are more closely related to each other than to their bacterial counterpart (RecA) and, as a result, RadA makes a suitable model for the eukaryotic system. The crystal structure of Sulfolobus solfataricus RadA has been solved to a resolution of 3.2 A° in the absence of nucleotide analogues or DNA, revealing a narrow filamentous assembly with three molecules per helical turn. As observed in other RecA-family recombinases, each RadA molecule in the filament is linked to its neighbour via interactions of a short b-strand with the neighbouring ATPase domain. However, despite apparent flexibility between domains, comparison with other structures indicates conservation of a number of key interactions that introduce rigidity to the system, allowing allosteric control of the filament by interaction with ATP. Additional analysis reveals that the interaction specificity of the five human Rad51 paralogues can be predicted using a simple model based on the RadA structure.

The course of bone healing is influenced by the initial shear fixation stability

Fracture healing is influenced by fixation stability and experimental evidence suggests that the initial mechanical conditions may determine the healing outcome. We hypothesised that mechanical conditions influence not only the healing outcome, but also the early phase of fracture healing. Additionally, it was hypothesised that decreased fixation stability characterised by an increased shear interfragmentary movement results in a delay in healing. Sixty-four sheep underwent a mid-shaft tibial osteotomy which was treated with either a rigid or a semi-rigid external fixator. Animals were sacrificed at 2, 3, 6 and 9 weeks postoperatively and the fracture callus was analysed using radiological, biomechanical and histological techniques. The tibia treated with semi-rigid fixation showed inferior callus stiffness and quality after 6 weeks. At 9 weeks, the calluses were no longer distinguishable in their mechanical competence. The calluses at 9 weeks produced under rigid fixation were smaller and consisted of a reduced fibrous tissue component. These results demonstrate that the callus formation over the course of healing differed both morphologically and in the rate of development. In this study, we provide evidence that the course of healing is influenced by the initial fixation stability. The semi-rigid fixator did not result in delayed healing, but a less optimal healing path was taken. An upper limit of stability required for successful healing remains unknown, however a limit by which healing is less optimal has been determined.