Online fine line : using social media to predict the Big Brother eviction

Reality television, alongside shows such as Q&A – which may be Reality TV in all but name – frequently drives social media conversations about the Australian television industry. Big Brother, currently screening on Channel 9, is consistently among the shows with the highest levels of chatter in that regard. The precise Facebook data is hard to quantify but the Official Big Brother page boasts 805,400 likes and more than 59,000 comments since the start of the series, suggesting it has established a firm presence on that platform too...

Pathological excretion patterns of urinary proteins in miners highly exposed to dinitrotoluene

A cohort of 161 underground miners who had been highly exposed to dinitrotoluene (DNT) in the copper-mining industry of the former German Democratic Republic was reinvestigated for signs of subclinical renal damage. The study included a screening of urinary proteins excreted by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and quantitations of the specific urinary proteins α 1-microglobulin and glutathione-S-transferase α (GST α) as biomarkers for damage of the proximal tubule and glutathione-S-transferase π (GST π) for damage of the distal tubule. The exposures were categorized semiquantitatively (low, medium, high, and very high), according to the type and duration of professional contact with DNT. A straight dose-dependence of pathological protein excretion patterns with the semiquantitative ranking of DNT exposure was seen. Most of the previously reported cancer cases of the urinary tract, especially those in the higher exposed groups, were confined to pathological urinary protein excretion patterns. The damage from DNT was directed toward the tubular system. In many cases, the appearance of Tamm-Horsfall protein, a 105-kD protein marker, was noted. Data on the biomarkers α 1-microglobulin, GST α, and GST π consistently demonstrated a dose-dependent increase in tubular damage, which confirmed the results of screening by SDS-PAGE and clearly indicated a nephrotoxic effect of DNT under the given conditions of exposure. Within the cluster of cancer patients observed among the DNT-exposed workers, only in exceptional cases were normal biomarker excretions found.

Investigating the link between transit oriented development and sustainable travel behavior in Brisbane : a case-control study

The purpose of this research is to empirically test the prevailing view that transit oriented development enhances the use of more sustainable modes of transport using Brisbane, Australia as a case. Transit oriented development has been adopted as a new policy tool to reduce car-based travel worldwide. Despite being a billion dollar investment, the impacts of transit oriented development on promoting sustainable travel behavior is not conclusive. The research uses a case-control approach to empirically investigate this relationship based on travel behavior data collected from 88 individuals living in two contrasting neighborhoods in Brisbane: Kelvin Grove Urban Village – a transit oriented development, and Annerley – a traditional suburb (non-transit oriented development). A comparative investigation of travel behavior was subsequently conducted using distance travelled by modes and purposes between the neighborhoods. Results show that the availability of opportunity and services located within the transit oriented development reduces the car use by 5% and increases the use of active transport by 4%. The findings in this research support the implementation of TOD policies in Brisbane.

The healthy immigrant effect: Patterns and evidence from four countries

The existence of a healthy immigrant effect—where immigrants are on average healthier than the native born—is a widely cited phenomenon across a multitude of literatures including epidemiology and the social sciences. There are many competing explanations. The goals of this paper are twofold: first, to provide further evidence on the presence of the healthy immigrant effect across source and destination country using a set of consistently defined measures of health; and second, to evaluate the role of selectivity as a potential explanation for the existence of the phenomenon. Utilizing data from four major immigrant recipient countries, USA, Canada, UK, and Australia allows us to compare the health of migrants from each with the respective native born who choose not to migrate. This represents a much more appropriate counterfactual than the native born of the immigrant recipient country and yields new insights into the importance of observable selection effects. The analysis finds strong support for the healthy immigrant effect across all four destination countries and that selectivity plays an important role in the observed better health of migrants vis a vis those who stay behind in their country of origin.