Early signaling responses to divergent exercise stimuli in skeletal muscle from well-trained humans

Skeletal muscle from strength- and endurance-trained individuals represents diverse adaptive states. In this regard, AMPK-PGC-1α signaling mediates several adaptations to endurance training, while up-regulation of the Akt-TSC2-mTOR pathway may underlie increased protein synthesis after resistance exercise. We determined the effect of prior training history on signaling responses in seven strength-trained and six endurance-trained males who undertook 1 h cycling at 70% VO2peak or eight sets of five maximal repetitions of isokinetic leg extensions. Muscle biopsies were taken at rest, immediately and 3 h postexercise. AMPK phosphorylation increased after cycling in strength-trained (54%; P<0.05) but not endurance-trained subjects. Conversely, AMPK was elevated after resistance exercise in endurance- (114%; P<0.05), but not strengthtrained subjects. Akt phosphorylation increased in endurance- (50%; P<0.05), but not strengthtrained subjects after cycling but was unchanged in either group after resistance exercise. TSC2 phosphorylation was decreased (47%; P<0.05) in endurance-trained subjects following resistance exercise, but cycling had little effect on the phosphorylation state of this protein in either group. p70S6K phosphorylation increased in endurance- (118%; P<0.05), but not strength-trained subjects after resistance exercise, but was similar to rest in both groups after cycling. Similarly, phosphorylation of S6 protein, a substrate for p70 S6K, was increased immediately following resistance exercise in endurance- (129%; P<0.05), but not strength-trained subjects. In conclusion, a degree of “response plasticity” is conserved at opposite ends of the endurancehypertrophic adaptation continuum. Moreover, prior training attenuates the exercise specific signaling responses involved in single mode adaptations to training.

A social marketing approach to value creation in a Well-Women’s health service

Understanding consumer value is imperative in health care as the receipt of value drives the demand for health care services. While there is increasing research into health-care that adopts an economic approach to value, this paper investigates a non-financial exchange context and uses an experiential approach to value, guided by a social marketing approach to behaviour change. An experiential approach is deemed more appropriate for government health-care services that are free and for preventative rather than treatment purposes. Thus instead of using an illness-paradigm to view health services outcomes, we adopt a wellness paradigm. Using qualitative data gathered during 25 depth interviews the authors demonstrate how social marketing thinking has guided the identification of six themes that represent four dimensions of value (functional, emotional, social and altruistic) evident during the health care consumption process of a free government service.

That's what governments do : exploring fundamental barriers to public–philanthropic interaction : the example of indigenous well-being

Decades of intervention have made variable impact on the inequality between indigenous and non-indigenous well-being across the world. Unacceptable differences in life expectancy alone mark indigenous need as an area where greater understanding of public and private funding approaches and their interaction may deliver real benefits. Both the public and the third sector have been active in trying to address the disadvantage experienced by Australia’s indigenous people. The interaction between the indigenous cause philanthropy system and the wider geopolitical landscape in Australia is revealing barriers and insights that may apply in other challenging policy terrain. The research reported here draws upon two empirical studies aimed at understanding the issues facing philanthropy in Australia,including the impact of government agency both independently and as it contrasts with philanthropy. The two different cultures are evident and two levers (greater system flexibility and closer engagement) are suggested as important in moving forward the philanthropy/government relationship in this area.

The health of women and girls determines the health and well-being of our modern world : a white paper from the International Council on Women's Health Issues

The International Council on Women's Health Issues (ICOWHI) is an international nonprofit association dedicated to the goal of promoting health, health care, and well-being of women and girls throughout the world through participation, empowerment, advocacy, education, and research. We are a multidisciplinary network of women's health providers, planners, and advocates from all over the globe. We constitute an international professional and lay network of those committed to improving women and girl's health and quality of life. This document provides a description of our organization mission, vision, and commitment to improving the health and well-being of women and girls globally.

Obtaining peak performance in the transition to Higher Education: Support for the worried well, acutely anxious and seriously sluggish student

Research suggests that students in their late teens and early twenties have not reached "identity formation" (James Marcia, 1969, 1980). The heightened anxiety and uncertainty about themselves and their future contribute to sometimes crippling fears emanating as anxiety, clinical depression and other mood disorders. This paper will explore some issues and suggest healthy ways of helping young people safely through these chaotic years and into a fulfilling career.

The resourceful adolescent project : a universal approach to preventing adolescent depression through promoting resilience and family well-being in Australia

This chapter contains sections titled: -Adolescent Depression and the Australian National Mental Health Strategies -Preventive Interventions and Adolescent Depression -The Rationale and Content of the Interventions -Evaluations of the Resourceful Adolescent Programs

Designing well : sustain-able interaction design and vegetarianism

Designing Well: Vegetarianism Sustainability and Interaction Design, focuses on the field of Interaction Design and is an exploration of how design can be reconsidered by employing a different critical lens – that of vegetarianism. By extending the eating analogy to design, other aspects of practice can be reframed and reviewed. This is done through a survey of different ways designers and artists have approached the problems of electricity use. This survey begins by looking at a number of functional products that are currently on the market, and then turns to consider a range of alternate approaches taken in research, art and critical design. The second half of the paper can be considered as a form of contextual review, as a survey of different approaches artists and designers employ to address a specific issue in and through practice. This ranges from pragmatic design to critical and radical interventions.

Mothers of young children with special health care needs : maternal well-being and engagement in work

This thesis reports research focused on the well-being and employment experiences of mothers who have a child with special health care needs. Data are drawn from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). This is a public access database. The thesis uses the social ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner (1984) and the work of Zubrick et al. (2000) on human and social capital to inform the conceptual framework developed for the research. Four studies are reported. LSAC has a nationally representative sample of Australian children and their families. The study is tracking the development of 10,000 children, with data collected every two years, from 2004 to 2018. This thesis uses data from the Kindergarten Cohort of LSAC. The 4,983 children in the Kindergarten Cohort were aged 4 years at recruitment into the study in 2004. The analyses in this thesis use child and family data from Wave 1 (2004) and Wave 2 (2006) for a subsample of the children who are identified as having special health needs. This identification is based on a short screening questionnaire included in the Parent 1 Interview at each wave of the data collection. It is the children who are identified as having special health care needs which can be broadly defined as chronic health conditions or developmental difficulties. However, it is the well-being and employment experiences of the mothers of these children that are the primary focus in three of the four studies reported in this thesis.

A novel method for the synthesis of monodisperse gold-coated silica nanoparticles

Monodisperse silica nanoparticles were synthesised by the well-known Stober protocol, then dispersed in acetonitrile (ACN) and subsequently added to a bisacetonitrile gold(I) coordination complex ([Au(MeCN)2]?) in ACN. The silica hydroxyl groups were deprotonated in the presence of ACN, generating a formal negative charge on the siloxy groups. This allowed the [Au(MeCN)2]? complex to undergo ligand exchange with the silica nanoparticles and form a surface coordination complex with reduction to metallic gold (Au0) proceeding by an inner sphere mechanism. The residual [Au(MeCN)2]? complex was allowed to react with water, disproportionating into Au0 and Au(III), respectively, with the Au0 adding to the reduced gold already bound on the silica surface. The so-formed metallic gold seed surface was found to be suitable for the conventional reduction of Au(III) to Au0 by ascorbic acid (ASC). This process generated a thin and uniform gold coating on the silica nanoparticles. The silica NPs batches synthesised were in a size range from 45 to 460 nm. Of these silica NP batches, the size range from 400 to 480 nm were used for the gold-coating experiments.

Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness : promoting law student well-being through a first year law subject

Australian law teachers are increasingly recognising that psychological distress is an issue for our students. This article describes how the Queensland University of Technology Law School is reforming its curriculum to promote student psychological well-being. Part I of the article examines the literature on law student psychological distress in Australia. It is suggested that cross-sectional and longitudinal studies undertaken in Australia provide us with different, but equally important, information with respect to law student psychological well-being. Part II describes a subject in the QUT Law School - Lawyering and Dispute Resolution – which has been specifically designed as one response to declines in law student psychological well-being. Part III then considers two key elements of the design of the subject: introducing students to the idea of a positive professional identity, and introducing students to non-adversarial lawyering and the positive role of lawyers in society as dispute resolvers. These two areas of focus specifically promote law student psychological well-being by encouraging students to engage with elements of positive psychology – in particular, hope and optimism.

If it’s sick, how can we well? : Four criteria for evaluating the health of journalism

This paper seeks to address the highly pervasive discourse that journalism is ‘in crisis’ by outlining four criteria by which we might evaluate the ‘health’ of the practice (measures of both quantity and quality of output). It offers an extremely brief meta-level analysis of existing research, and posits that when judged according to these four criteria, journalism might actually in reasonable health,and that we ought to be far more optimistic about its future. This assessment therefore challenges the ‘business-centric’ evaluation which often dominates discussions (in the media as well as academia) about the profession’s supposedly dire future.

Gold coating of silica and zinc oxide nanoparticles by the surface reduction of gold(I) chloride

The possibility of a surface inner sphere electron transfer mechanism leading to the coating of gold via the surface reduction of gold(I) chloride on metal and semi-metal oxide nanoparticles was investigated. Silica and zinc oxide nanoparticles are known to have very different surface chemistry, potentially leading to a new class of gold coated nanoparticles. Monodisperse silica nanoparticles were synthesised by the well known Stöber protocol in conjunction with sonication. The nanoparticle size was regulated solely by varying the amount of ammonia solution added. The presence of surface hydroxyl groups was investigated by liquid proton NMR. The resultant nanoparticle size was directly measured by the use of TEM. The synthesised silica nanoparticles were dispersed in acetonitrile (MeCN) and added to a bis acetonitrile gold(I) co-ordination complex [Au(MeCN)2]+ in MeCN. The silica hydroxyl groups were deprotonated in the presence of MeCN generating a formal negative charge on the siloxy groups. This allowed the [Au(MeCN)2]+ complex to undergo ligand exchange with the silica nanoparticles, which formed a surface co-ordination complex with reduction to gold(0), that proceeded by a surface inner sphere electron transfer mechanism. The residual [Au(MeCN)2]+ complex was allowed to react with water, disproportionating into gold(0) and gold(III) respectively, with gold(0) being added to the reduced gold already bound on the silica surface. The so-formed metallic gold seed surface was found to be suitable for the conventional reduction of gold(III) to gold(0) by ascorbic acid. This process generated a thin and uniform gold coating on the silica nanoparticles. This process was modified to include uniformly gold coated composite zinc oxide nanoparticles (Au@ZnO NPs) using surface co-ordination chemistry. AuCl dissolved in acetonitrile (MeCN) supplied chloride ions which were adsorbed onto ZnO NPs. The co-ordinated gold(I) was reduced on the ZnO surface to gold(0) by the inner sphere electron transfer mechanism. Addition of water disproportionated the remaining gold(I) to gold(0) and gold(III). Gold(0) bonded to gold(0) on the NP surface with gold(III) was reduced to gold(0) by ascorbic acid (ASC), which completed the gold coating process. This gold coating process of Au@ZnO NPs was modified to incorporate iodide instead of chloride. ZnO NPs were synthesised by the use of sodium oxide, zinc iodide and potassium iodide in refluxing basic ethanol with iodide controlling the presence of chemisorbed oxygen. These ZnO NPs were treated by the addition of gold(I) chloride dissolved in acetonitrile leaving chloride anions co-ordinated on the ZnO NP surface. This allowed acetonitrile ligands in the added [Au(MeCN)2]+ complex to surface exchange with adsorbed chloride from the dissolved AuCl on the ZnO NP surface. Gold(I) was then reduced by the surface inner sphere electron transfer mechanism. The presence of the reduced gold on the ZnO NPs allowed adsorption of iodide to generate a uniform deposition of gold onto the ZnO NP surface without the use of additional reducing agents or heat.

Food modelling systems to assess menus in well population groups : not all black and white

Food modelling systems such as the Core Foods and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating are frequently used as nutritional assessment tools for menus in ‘well’ groups (such as boarding schools, prisons and mental health facilities), with the draft Foundation and Total Diets (FATD) the latest revision. The aim of this paper is to apply the FATD to an assessment of food provision in a long stay, ‘well’, group setting to determine its usefulness as a tool. A detailed menu review was conducted in a 1000 bed male prison, including verification of all recipes. Full diet histories were collected on 106 prisoners which included foods consumed from the menu and self funded snacks. Both the menu and diet histories were analysed according to core foods, with recipes used to assist in quantification of mixed dishes. Comparison was made of average core foods with Foundation Diet recommendations (FDR) for males. Results showed that the standard menu provided sufficient quantity for 8 of 13 FDRs, however was low in nuts, legumes, refined cereals and marginally low in fruits and orange vegetables. The average prisoner diet achieved 9 of 13 FDRs, notably with margarines and oils less than half and legumes one seventh of recommended. Overall, although the menu and prisoner diets could easily be assessed using the FDRs, it was not consistent with recommendations. In long stay settings other Nutrient Reference Values not modelled in the FATDS need consideration, in particular, Suggested Dietary Targets and professional judgement is required in interpretation.