Sunlight and other determinants of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in black and white participants in a nationwide U.S. study

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), a marker for vitamin D status, is associated with bone health and possibly cancers and other diseases; yet, the determinants of 25(OH)D status, particularly ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure, are poorly understood. Determinants of 25(OH)D were analyzed in a subcohort of 1,500 participants of the US Radiologic Technologists (USRT) Study that included whites (n 842), blacks (n 646), and people of other races/ethnicities (n 12). Participants were recruited monthly (20082009) across age, sex, race, and ambient UVR level groups. Questionnaires addressing UVR and other exposures were generally completed within 9 days of blood collection. The relation between potential determinants and 25(OH)D levels was examined through regression analysis in a random two-thirds sample and validated in the remaining one third. In the regression model for the full study population, age, race, body mass index, some seasons, hours outdoors being physically active, and vitamin D supplement use were associated with 25(OH)D levels. In whites, generally, the same factors were explanatory. In blacks, only age and vitamin D supplement use predicted 25(OH)D concentrations. In the full population, determinants accounted for 25 of circulating 25(OH)D variability, with similar correlations for subgroups. Despite detailed data on UVR and other factors near the time of blood collection, the ability to explain 25(OH)D was modest.

Benefiting white noise in developing feedforward active noise control systems

In many applications of active noise control (ANC), an online secondary path modelling method using a white noise as a training signal is required to ensure convergence of the system. The modelling accuracy and the convergence rate increase when a white noise with larger variance is used, however larger the variance increases the residual noise, which decreases performance of the system. The proposed algorithm uses the advantages of the white noise with larger variance to model the secondary path, but the injection is stopped at the optimum point to increase performance of the system. In this approach, instead of continuous injection of the white noise, a sudden change in secondary path during the operation makes the algorithm to reactivate injection of the white noise to adjust the secondary path estimation. Comparative simulation results shown in this paper indicate effectiveness of the proposed method.

Book Review [White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race, by MW Hughey]

Dr Kathy A. Mills provides a critical synthesis and review of the new book by Matthew W. Hughey entitle: White Bound: Nationalists, Antiractists, and the Shared Meanings of Race, published by Standford University Press in 2012. A sample of Dr Mills' review reads: "The author positions race squarely at the center to challenge the shared assumptions of white supremacist logic on both sides of the debate. The clever thesis blurs the boundaries between “good whites” and “bad whites”, rendering the white reader intellectually stimulated, but existentially unchanged – White Bound – as the author ponders: “Perhaps we have met the enemy, and he [it] is us” (p.193)...The unanswered question that remains is: How do we resist the various “shades” of white supremacy to pursue counter-hegemonic practices?"

Prolegomenon to the study of the concepts of maturity and maturity model : from Black Horse to White Knight?

This paper takes its root in a trivial observation: management approaches are unable to provide relevant guidelines to cope with uncertainty, and trust of our modern worlds. Thus, managers are looking for reducing uncertainty through information’s supported decision-making, sustained by ex-ante rationalization. They strive to achieve best possible solution, stability, predictability, and control of “future”. Hence, they turn to a plethora of “prescriptive panaceas”, and “management fads” to bring simple solutions through best practices. However, these solutions are ineffective. They address only one part of a system (e.g. an organization) instead of the whole. They miss the interactions and interdependencies with other parts leading to “suboptimization”. Further classical cause-effects investigations and researches are not very helpful to this regard. Where do we go from there? In this conversation, we want to challenge the assumptions supporting the traditional management approaches and shed some lights on the problem of management discourse fad using the concept of maturity and maturity models in the context of temporary organizations as support for reflexion. Global economy is characterized by use and development of standards and compliance to standards as a practice is said to enable better decision-making by managers in uncertainty, control complexity, and higher performance. Amongst the plethora of standards, organizational maturity and maturity models hold a specific place due to general belief in organizational performance as dependent variable of (business) processes continuous improvement, grounded on a kind of evolutionary metaphor. Our intention is neither to offer a new “evidence based management fad” for practitioners, nor to suggest research gap to scholars. Rather, we want to open an assumption-challenging conversation with regards to main stream approaches (neo-classical economics and organization theory), turning “our eyes away from the blinding light of eternal certitude towards the refracted world of turbid finitude” (Long, 2002, p. 44) generating what Bernstein has named “Cartesian Anxiety” (Bernstein, 1983, p. 18), and revisit the conceptualization of maturity and maturity models. We rely on conventions theory and a systemic-discursive perspective. These two lenses have both information & communication and self-producing systems as common threads. Furthermore the narrative approach is well suited to explore complex way of thinking about organizational phenomena as complex systems. This approach is relevant with our object of curiosity, i.e. the concept of maturity and maturity models, as maturity models (as standards) are discourses and systems of regulations. The main contribution of this conversation is that we suggest moving from a neo-classical “theory of the game” aiming at making the complex world simpler in playing the game, to a “theory of the rules of the game”, aiming at influencing and challenging the rules of the game constitutive of maturity models – conventions, governing systems – making compatible individual calculation and social context, and possible the coordination of relationships and cooperation between agents with or potentially divergent interests and values. A second contribution is the reconceptualization of maturity as structural coupling between conventions, rather than as an independent variable leading to organizational performance.

The null allele of GSTM1 does not affect susceptibility to solar keratoses in the Australian white population

Solar keratoses (SKs) are induced by exposure to UV radiation and are capable of undergoing transformation to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).1 The two main factors influencing the occurrence of SK are the sensitivity of the skin to sunlight and the total duration of solar exposure. These factors are responsible for the high incidence of SK in Australia. Although the influence of genetic factors is not defined, there is evidence that the gene encoding the enzyme, glutathione S-transferase, may be implicated in cancer predisposition and therefore SK. Glutathione S-transferase Mu-1 (GSTM1) is an isoenzyme involved in the detoxification of carcinogens. The GSTM1 protein is completely absent in approximately 50% of white persons. This absence is caused by a homozygous gene deletion on chromosome 1p resulting in a null genotype.2 Katoh3 showed that the frequency of the GSTM1 null genotype was significantly higher in 85 patients with urothelial cancer (61.2%; p < 0.05), suggesting that the null genotype may increase cancer susceptibility. This finding was supported by Lafuente et al.4 who found evidence that persons who lack the GSTM1 gene have approximately twice the chance of experiencing malignant melanoma. Further research in the United Kingdom found that patients with two or more skin tumors of different types, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and SCC, had a significantly higher frequency of GSTM1 null genotypes than controls (71%; p = 0.033). However the GSTM1 genotype in patients with only SCC was not excessive in this population.5 Persons residing in northern Australia have the highest incidence of nonmelanoma skin cancer (SCC and BCC) in the world6 and receive far greater solar exposure than persons residing in the United Kingdom. It is possible that the GSTM1 null genotype may affect susceptibility to SK, which may act as SCC precursors, in Australians exposed to these high levels of solar radiation.

White teachers at a discursive crossroad

This study explored the way white teachers speak about Indigenous students and communities. The accounts of teachers working in eight schools across Australia were analysed using Foucauldian discourse analysis. The research found that deficit and colour-blind discourses dominate the ways that white teachers "know" Indigenous students and families. The data indicates that colour-blind and compensatory pedagogies are employed heavily by teachers working with Indigenous students, and highlights the complexities and tensions that exist in schools. Although there is evidence of some disruption to dominant discourses, teachers' discursive resources are limited in terms of imagining and enacting more equitable pedagogies.

The complete nucleotide sequence of subterranean clover mottle virus

The complete nucleotide sequence of Subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) genomic RNA has been determined. The SCMoV genome is 4,258 nucleotides in length. It shares most nucleotide and amino acid sequence identity with the genome of Lucerne transient streak virus (LTSV). SCMoV RNA encodes four overlapping open reading frames and has a genome organisation similar to that of Cocksfoot mottle virus (CfMV). ORF1 and ORF4 are predicted to encode single proteins. ORF2 is predicted to encode two proteins that are derived from a -1 translational frameshift between two overlapping reading frames (ORF2a and ORF2b). A search of amino acid databases did not find a significant match for ORF1 and the function of this protein remains unclear. ORF2a contains a motif typical of chymotrypsin-like serine proteases and ORF2b has motifs characteristically present in positive-stranded RNA-dependent RNA polymerases. ORF4 is likely to be expressed from a subgenomic RNA and encodes the viral coat protein. The ORF2a/ORF2b overlapping gene expression strategy used by SCMoV and CfMV is similar to that of the poleroviruses and differ from that of other published sobemoviruses. These results suggest that the sobemoviruses could now be divided into two distinct subgroups based on those that express the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from a single, in-frame polyprotein, and those that express it via a -1 translational frameshifting mechanism.

National survey of viruses in pastures of subterranean clover. II. Statistical methodology for large scale quantitative ELISA

Statistical methodology was applied to a survey of time-course incidence of four viruses (alfalfa mosaic virus, clover yellow vein virus, subterranean clover mottle virus and subterranean clover red leaf virus) in improved pastures in southern regions of Australia. -from Authors

National survey of viruses in pastures of subterranean clover. I. Incidence of four viruses assessed by ELISA

A nationwide survey was made of the time-course incidence of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), clover yellow vein virus (CYVV), subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) and subterranean clover red leaf virus (SCRLV) in improved pastures in southern regions of Australia. Averaged over all states, the highest mean incidence recorded for samples infected with individual viruses in either winter or spring was 9.4% for AMV, 5.7% for CYVV, 10.9% for SCMoV and 7.5% for SCRLV. For AMV and SCRLV, there was an increasing trend from spring 1984 to spring 1986. A similar increasing trend for SCMoV was more evident in winter than in spring. For CYVV, no time-course pattern was evident. Results support the proposition that viruses contribute significantly to "clover-decline', a well-known problem in pastures of Trifolium subterraneum. -from Authors

Putative full-length clones of the genomic DNA segments of subterranean clover stunt virus and identification of the segment coding for the viral coat protein

Subterranean clover stunt disease is an economically important aphid-borne virus disease affecting certain pasture and grain legumes in Australia. The virus associated with the disease, subterranean clover stunt virus (SCSV), was previously found to be representative of a new type of single-stranded DNA virus. Analysis of the virion DNA and restriction mapping of double-stranded cDNA synthesized from virion DNA suggested that SCSV has a segmented genome composed of 3 or 4 different species of circular ssDNA each of about 850-880 nucleotides. To further investigate the complexity of the SCSV genome, we have isolated the replicative form DNA from infected pea and from it prepared putative full-length clones representing the SCSV genome segments. Analysis of these clones by restriction mapping indicated that clones representing at least 4 distinct genomic segments were obtained. This method is thus suitable for generating an extensive genomic library of novel ssDNA viruses containing multiple genome segments such as SCSV and banana bunchy top virus. The N-terminal amino acid sequence and amino acid composition of the coat protein of SCSV were determined. Comparison of the amino acid sequence with partial DNA sequence data, and the distinctly different restriction maps obtained for the full-length clones suggested that only one of these clones contained the coat protein gene. The results confirmed that SCSV has a functionally divided genome composed of several distinct ssDNA circles each of about 1 kb.

Purification of particles of subterranean clover red leaf virus using an industrial-grade cellulase

Particles of two isolates of subterranean clover red leaf virus were purified by a method in which infected plant tissue was digested with an industrial-grade cellulase, Celluclast® 2.0 L type X. The yields of virus particles using this enzyme were comparable with those obtained using either of two laboratory-grade cellulases, Cellulase type 1 (Sigma) and Driselase®. However, the specific infectivity or aphid transmissibility of the particles purified using Celluclast® was 10-100 times greater than those of preparations obtained using laboratory-grade cellulases or no enzyme. The main advantage of using Celluclast® is that at present in Australia its cost is only ca. 1% of laboratory-grade cellulases.

Testing second order cyclostationarity in the squared envelope spectrum of non-white vibration signals

Cyclostationary models for the diagnostic signals measured on faulty rotating machineries have proved to be successful in many laboratory tests and industrial applications. The squared envelope spectrum has been pointed out as the most efficient indicator for the assessment of second order cyclostationary symptoms of damages, which are typical, for instance, of rolling element bearing faults. In an attempt to foster the spread of rotating machinery diagnostics, the current trend in the field is to reach higher levels of automation of the condition monitoring systems. For this purpose, statistical tests for the presence of cyclostationarity have been proposed during the last years. The statistical thresholds proposed in the past for the identification of cyclostationary components have been obtained under the hypothesis of having a white noise signal when the component is healthy. This need, coupled with the non-white nature of the real signals implies the necessity of pre-whitening or filtering the signal in optimal narrow-bands, increasing the complexity of the algorithm and the risk of losing diagnostic information or introducing biases on the result. In this paper, the authors introduce an original analytical derivation of the statistical tests for cyclostationarity in the squared envelope spectrum, dropping the hypothesis of white noise from the beginning. The effect of first order and second order cyclostationary components on the distribution of the squared envelope spectrum will be quantified and the effectiveness of the newly proposed threshold verified, providing a sound theoretical basis and a practical starting point for efficient automated diagnostics of machine components such as rolling element bearings. The analytical results will be verified by means of numerical simulations and by using experimental vibration data of rolling element bearings.