Simulated cataract and low contrast stimuli impair cognitive performance in older adults : implications for neuropsychological assessment and everyday function

Objective: To investigate how age-related declines in vision (particularly contrast sensitivity), simulated using cataract-goggles and low-contrast stimuli, influence the accuracy and speed of cognitive test performance in older adults. An additional aim was to investigate whether declines in vision differentially affect secondary more than primary memory. Method: Using a fully within-subjects design, 50 older drivers aged 66-87 years completed two tests of cognitive performance - letter matching (perceptual speed) and symbol recall (short-term memory) - under different viewing conditions that degraded visual input (low-contrast stimuli, cataract-goggles, and low-contrast stimuli combined with cataract-goggles, compared with normal viewing). However, presentation time was also manipulated for letter matching. Visual function, as measured using standard charts, was taken into account in statistical analyses. Results: Accuracy and speed for cognitive tasks were significantly impaired when visual input was degraded. Furthermore, cognitive performance was positively associated with contrast sensitivity. Presentation time did not influence cognitive performance, and visual gradation did not differentially influence primary and secondary memory. Conclusion: Age-related declines in visual function can impact on the accuracy and speed of cognitive performance, and therefore the cognitive abilities of older adults may be underestimated in neuropsychological testing. It is thus critical that visual function be assessed prior to testing, and that stimuli be adapted to older adults' sensory capabilities (e.g., by maximising stimuli contrast).

Predicting the consumption of foods low in saturated fats among people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The role of planning in the theory of planned behaviour

The present study tested the utility of an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour that included a measure of planning, in the prediction of eating foods low in saturated fats among adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. Participants (N = 184) completed questionnaires assessing standard theory of planned behaviour measures (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control) and the additional volitional variable of planning in relation to eating foods low in saturated fats. Self-report consumption of foods low insaturated fats was assessed 1 month later. In partial support of the theory of planned behaviour, results indicated that attitude and subjective norm predicted intentions to eat foods low in saturated fats and intentions and perceived behavioural control predicted the consumption of foods low in saturated fats. As an additional variable, planning predicted the consumption of foods low in saturated fats directly and also mediated the intention–behaviour and perceived behavioural control–behaviour relationships, suggesting an important role for planning as a post-intentional construct determining healthy eating choices. Suggestions are offered for interventions designed to improve adherence to healthy eating recommendations for people diagnosed with these chronic conditions with a specific emphasis on the steps and activities that are required to promote a healthier lifestyle.

Public regulatory reform and management earnings forecasts in a low private litigation environment

We examine the impact of continuous disclosure regulatory reform on the likelihood, frequency and qualitative characteristics of management earnings forecasts issued in New Zealand’s low private litigation environment. Using a sample of 720 earnings forecasts issued by 94 firms listed on the New Zealand Exchange before and after the reform (1999–2005), we provide strong evidence of significant changes in forecasting behaviour in the post-reform period. Specifically, firms were more likely to issue earnings forecasts to pre-empt earnings announcements and, in contrast to findings in other legal settings, those earnings forecasts exhibited higher frequency and improved qualitative characteristics (better precision and accuracy). An important implication of our findings is that public regulatory reforms may have a greater benefit in a low private litigation environment and thus add to the global debate about the effectiveness of alternative public regulatory reforms of corporate requirements.

Low intensity CBT by mail

Introduction: There are many low intensity (LI) cognitive behavoural therapy (CBT) solutions to the problem of limited service access. In this chapter, we aim to discuss a relatively low-technology approach to access using standard postal services-CBT by mail, or M-CBT. Bibliotherapies including M-CBT teach key concepts and self-management techniques, together with screening tools and forms to structure home practice. M-CBT differs from other bibliotherapies by segmenting interventions and mailing them at regular intervals. Most involve participants returning copies of monitoring forms or completed handouts. Therapist feedback is provided, often in personal letters that accompany the printed materials. Participants may also be given access to telephone or email support. ----- ----- M-CBT clearly fulfills criteria for an LI CBT (see Bennett-Levy et al., Chapter 1, for a definition of LI interventions). Once written, they involve little therapist time and rely heavily on self-management. However, content and overall treatment duration need not be compromised. Long-term interventions with multiple components can be delivered via this method, provided their content can be communicated in letters and engagement is maintained.

Implementing low intensity CBT in case management of clients with severe mental illness

In a previous chapter (Dean and Kavanagh, Chapter 37), the authors made a case for applying low intensity (LI) cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to people with serious mental illness (SMI). As in other populations, LI CBT interventions typically deal with circumscribed problems or behaviours. LI CBT retains an emphasis on self-management, has restricted content and segment length, and does not necessarily require extensive CBT training. In applying these interventions to SMI, adjustments may be needed to address cognitive and symptomatic difficulties often faced by these groups. What may take a single session in a less affected population may require several sessions or a thematic application of the strategy within case management. In some cases, the LI CBT may begin to appear more like a high-intensity (HI) intervention, albeit simple and with many LI CBT characteristics still retained. So, if goal setting were introduced in one or two sessions, it could clearly be seen as an LI intervention. When applied to several different situations and across many sessions, it may be indistinguishable from a simple HI treatment, even if it retains the same format and is effectively applied by a practitioner with limited CBT training. ----- ----- In some ways, LI CBT should be well suited to case management of patients with SMI. treating staff typically have heavy workloads, and find it difficult to apply time-consuming treatments (Singh et al. 2003). LI CBT may allow provision of support to greater numbers of service users, and allow staff to spend more time on those who need intensive and sustained support. However, the introduction of any change in practice has to address significant challenges, and LI CBT is no exception. ----- ----- Many of the issues that we face in applying LI CBT to routine case management in a mnetal health service and their potential solutions are essentially the same as in a range of other problem domains (Turner and Sanders 2006)- and, indeed, are similar to those in any adoption of innovation (Rogers 2003). Over the last 20 years, several commentators have described barriers to implementing evidence-based innovations in mental health services (Corrigan et al. 1992; Deane et al. 2006; Kavanagh et al. 1993). The aim of the current chapter is to present a cognitive behavioural conceptualisation of problems and potential solutions for dissemination of LI CBT.

Adapting low intensity CBT interventions for clients with severe mental illness

Many people with severe mental illness (SMI) such as schizophrenia, whose psychotic symptoms are effectively managed, continue to experience significant functional problems. This chapter argues that low intensity (LI) cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT; e.g. for depression, anxiety, or other issues) is applicable to these clients, and that LI CBT can be consistent with long-term case management. However, adjustments to LI CBT strategies are often necessary and boundaries between LI CBT and high intensity (HI) CBT (with more extensive practitioner contact and complexity) may become blurred. Our focus is on LI CBT's self-management emphasis, its restricted content and segment length, and potential use after limited training. In addition to exploring these issues, it draws on the authors' Collaborative Recovery (CR; Oades et al. 2005) and 'Start Over and Survive' programs (Kavanagh et al. 2004) as examples. ----- ----- Evidence for the effectiveness of LI CBT with severe mental illness is often embedded within multicomponent programs. For example, goal setting and therapeutic homework are common components of such programs, but they can also be used as discrete LI CBT interventions. A review of 40 randomised controlled trials involving recipients with schizophrenia or other sever mental illnesses has identified key components of illness management programs (Mueser et al. 2002). However, it is relatively rare for specific components of these complex interventions to be assessed in isolation. Given these constraints, the evidence for specific LI CBT interventions with severe mental ilnness is relatively limited.

The low-affinity site of the β1-adrenoceptor and its relevance to cardiovascular pharmacology

β-Adrenoceptor blocking agents (β-blockers) that at low concentrations antagonize cardiostimulant effects of catecholamines, but at high concentrations also cause cardiostimulation, have been appearing since the late 1960s. These cardiostimulant β-blockers, coined non-conventional partial agonists, antagonize the effects of catecholamines through a high-affinity site (β1HAR), but cause cardiostimulation mainly through a low-affinity site (β1LAR) of the myocardial β1-adrenoceptor. The experimental non-conventional partial agonist (−)-CGP12177 increases cardiac L-type Ca2+ current density and Ca2+ transients, shortens action potential duration but augments action potential plateau, increases heart rate and force, as well as causes arrhythmic Ca2+ transients and arrhythmic cardiocyte contractions. Other β-blockers, which do not cause cardiostimulation, consistently have lower affinity for β1LAR than β1HAR. These sites were verified and the cardiac pharmacology of non-conventional partial agonists confirmed on recombinant β1-adrenoceptors and on β1-adrenoceptors overexpressed into the heart. A targeted mutation of Asp138 to Glu138 virtually abolished the pharmacology of β1HAR but left intact the pharmacology of β1LAR. Non-conventional partial agonists may be beneficial for the treatment of peripheral autonomic neuropathy but probably due to their arrhythmic propensities, may be harmful for the treatment of chronic heart failure.

Low frequency of CHEK2 1100delC allele in Australian multiple-case breast cancer families : functional analysis in heterozygous individuals

A protein-truncating variant of CHEK2, 1100delC, is associated with a moderate increase in breast cancer risk. We have determined the prevalence of this allele in index cases from 300 Australian multiple-case breast cancer families, 95% of which had been found to be negative for mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. Only two (0.6%) index cases heterozygous for the CHEK2 mutation were identified. All available relatives in these two families were genotyped, but there was no evidence of co-segregation between the CHEK2 variant and breast cancer. Lymphoblastoid cell lines established from a heterozygous carrier contained approximately 20% of the CHEK2 1100delC mRNA relative to wild-type CHEK2 transcript. However, no truncated CHK2 protein was detectable. Analyses of expression and phosphorylation of wild-type CHK2 suggest that the variant is likely to act by haploinsufficiency. Analysis of CDC25A degradation, a downstream target of CHK2, suggests that some compensation occurs to allow normal degradation of CDC25A. Such compensation of the 1100delC defect in CHEK2 might explain the rather low breast cancer risk associated with the CHEK2 variant, compared to that associated with truncating mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2.

Pedagogy and participation : literacy education for low-literate refugee students of African origin in a western school system

For ESL teachers working with low-literate adolescents the challenge is to provide instruction in basic literacy capabilities while also realising the benefits of interactive and dialogic pedagogies advocated for the students. In this article we look at literacy pedagogy for refugees of African origin in Australian classrooms. We report on an interview study conducted in an intensive English language school for new arrival adolescents and in three regular secondary schools. Brian Street’s ideological model is used. From this perspective, literacy entails not only technical skills, but also social and cultural ways of making meaning that are embedded within relations of power. The findings showed that teachers were strengthening control of instruction to enable mastery of technical capabilities in basic literacy and genre analysis. We suggest that this approach should be supplemented by a critical approach transforming relations of linguistic power that exclude, marginalise and humiliate the study students in the classroom.

The high road or the low road? Alternatives for Australia's future

The OECD suggests that countries now have a choice. They can focus on development based on either:  competition via investment in technology and innovation - which is important in high knowledge industries and high innovation economies, or  competition via exchange rates and wages - which is important in industries producing standardised, lower-tech goods and services. The first route will maximise higher-skilled, higher-paid employment growth and living standards. Given the lack of control over the exchange rate, the second route requires competition based on wages. It is essential to understand that markets themselves won’t shift a country from one path to the other. These conclusions arise from the OECD’s recognition that technical progress - the creation of new products or the adoption of more efficient methods of production - is the main source of economic growth and enhanced quality of life. Technological change is, the OECD suggests, ...also the engine for job creation as higher wages and profits resulting from technology-induced productivity gains and lower prices lead to increased demand for new products from existing as well as new industries (1997: 4).Further, Competitiveness in high-technology industries is mainly driven by technology factors and much less by wage and exchange rate movements, while the reverse is true in low-technology industries (OECD 1996e: 12). The OECD has shown that sound macroeconomic conditions, such as the low inflation and reduced public sector debt visible in almost all member countries in the 1990s, are not enough to deal with high levels of unemployment and the need to increase levels of income: If economic performance is to improve, additional structural reform, which can increase innovation and the diffusion of technologies within and among national economies, seems necessary (OECD 1997: 4 Emphasis added).

Summary report : the high road or the low road? Alternatives for Australia's future

This document is a summary of the findings of the inaugural study commissioned by the Australian Business Foundation Limited. It was conducted by Professor Jane Marceau, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur, Dr Karen Manley, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur and Mr Derek Sicklen, Managing Director of Australian Economic Analysis Pty Limited. The full report is available from the Australian Business Foundation. The Australian Business Foundation Limited is a recently formed independent economic and industry policy think-tank. It has been established and sponsored by Australian Business Limited, a pre-eminent and long-standing industry association and business services network. The report is in three parts. The first reviews the key findings of contemporary international economic and innovation-oriented analyses of the characteristics of high growth economies. The second assesses the shape, structure and dynamics of Australian industry as these compare with the characteristics for successful economic development suggested in the literature. Finally, the report indicates the nature of urgently required policy directions.

Towards the adoption of low-cost rail level crossing warning devices in regional areas of Australia : a review of current technologies and reliability issues

This paper discusses major obstacles for the adoption of low cost level crossing warning devices (LCLCWDs) in Australia and reviews those trialed in Australia and internationally. The argument for the use of LCLCWDs is that for a given investment, more passive level crossings can be treated, therefore increasing safety benefits across the rail network. This approach, in theory, reduces risk across the network by utilizing a combination of low-cost and conventional level crossing interventions, similar to what is done in the road environment. This paper concludes that in order to determine if this approach can produce better safety outcomes than the current approach, involving the incremental upgrade of level crossings with conventional interventions, it is necessary to perform rigorous risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses of LCLCWDs. Further research is also needed to determine how best to differentiate less reliable LCCLWDs from conventional warning devices through the use of different warning signs and signals. This paper presents a strategy for progressing research and development of LCLCWDs and details how the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Rail Innovation is fulfilling this strategy through the current and future affordable level crossing projects.

Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide alters atherosclerotic-related gene expression in oxidized low-density-lipoprotein-induced macrophages and foam cells

The molecular mechanism between atherosclerosis formation and periodontal pathogens is not clear although positive correlation between periodontal infections and cardiovascular diseases has been reported. Objective: To determine if atherosclerosis related genes were affected in foam cells during and after its formation by P. gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. Methods: Macrophages from human THP-1 monocytes were treated with oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) to induce the formation of foam cells. P. gingivalis LPS was added to cultures of either oxLDL-induced macrophages or foam cells. The expression of atherosclerosis related genes was assayed by quantitative real time PCR and the protein production of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor（GM-CSF）, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), IL-1β, IL-10 and IL-12 was determined by ELISA. Nuclear translocation of NF-κB P65 was detected by immunocytochemistry and western blot was used to evaluate IKB-α degradation to confirm the NF-κB pathway activation. Results: P. gingivalis LPS stimulated atherosclerosis related gene expression in foam cells and increased oxLDL induced expression of chemokines, adhesion molecules, growth factors, apoptotic genes, and nuclear receptors in macrophages. Transcription of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-12 was elevated in response to LPS in both macrophages and foam cells, whereas the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was not affected. Increased NF-κB pathway activation was also observed in LPS and oxLDL co-stimulated macrophages. Conclusion: P. gingivalis LPS appears to be an important factor in the development of atherosclerosis by stimulation of atherosclerosis related gene expression in both macrophages and foam cells via activation of the NF-κB pathway.

Towards low emissions in the electricity generation sector : creating a coherent legal model for Australia

Australia’s efforts to transition to a low-emissions economy have stagnated following the successive defeats of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. This failure should not, however, be regarded as the end of Australia’s efforts to make this transition. In fact, the opportunity now exists for Australia to refine its existing arrangements to enable this transition to occur more effectively. The starting point for this analysis is the legal arrangements applying to the electricity generation sector, which is the largest sectoral emitter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Without an effective strategy to mitigate this sector’s contribution to anthropogenic climate change, it is unlikely that Australia will be able to transition towards a low-emissions economy. It is on this basis that this article assesses the dominant national legal arrangement – the Renewable Energy Target – underpinning the electricity generation sector's efforts to become a low-emissions sector.

Critical literacy finds a "Place": Writing and social action in a low-income Australian grade 2/3 classroom

In a study of socioeconomically disadvantaged children's acquisition of school literacies, a university research team investigated how a group of teachers negotiated critical literacies and explored notions of social power with elementary children in a suburban school located in an area of high poverty. Here we focus on a grade 2/3 classroom where the teacher and children became involved in a local urban renewal project and on how in the process the children wrote about place and power. Using the students' concerns about their neighborhood, the teacher engaged her class in a critical literacy project that not only involved a complex set of literate practices but also taught the children about power and the possibilities for local civic action. In particular, we discuss examples of children's drawing and writing about their neighborhoods and their lives. We explore how children's writing and drawing might be key elements in developing "critical literacies" in elementary school settings. We consider how such classroom writing can be a mediator of emotions, intellectual and academic learning, social practice, and political activism.