Design, modelling and analysis of a six component force balance for hypervelocity wind tunnel testing

A combination of modelling and analysis techniques was used to design a six component force balance. The balance was designed specifically for the measurement of impulsive aerodynamic forces and moments characteristic of hypervelocity shock tunnel testing using the stress wave force measurement technique. Aerodynamic modelling was used to estimate the magnitude and distribution of forces and finite element modelling to determine the mechanical response of proposed balance designs. Simulation of balance performance was based on aerodynamic loads and mechanical responses using convolution techniques. Deconvolution was then used to assess balance performance and to guide further design modifications leading to the final balance design. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictors of non-response to a questionnaire survey of a volunteer twin panel: Findings from the Australian 1989 twin cohort

Questionnaire surveys, while more economical, typically achieve poorer response rates than interview surveys. We used data from a national volunteer cohort of young adult twins, who were scheduled for assessment by questionnaire in 1989 and by interview in 1996-2000, to identify predictors of questionnaire non-response. Out of a total of 8536 twins, 5058 completed the questionnaire survey (59% response rate), and 6255 completed a telephone interview survey conducted a decade later (73% response rate). Multinomial logit models were fitted to the interview data to identify socioeconomic, psychiatric and health behavior correlates of non-response in the earlier questionnaire survey. Male gender, education below University level, and being a dizygotic rather than monozygotic twin, all predicted reduced likelihood of participating in the questionnaire survey. Associations between questionnaire response status and psychiatric history and health behavior variables were modest, with history of alcohol dependence and childhood conduct disorder predicting decreased probability of returning a questionnaire, and history of smoking and heavy drinking more weakly associated with non-response. Body-mass index showed no association with questionnaire non-response. Despite a poor response rate to the self-report questionnaire survey, we found only limited sampling biases for most variables. While not appropriate for studies where socioeconomic variables are critical, it appears that survey by questionnaire, with questionnaire administration by telephone to non-responders, will represent a viable strategy for gene-mapping studies requiring that large numbers of relatives be screened.

Life on the ocean wave: Testing some intergroup hypotheses in a naturalistic setting

A survey (N= 352) was conducted among British passengers of a cross-channel ferry. The survey aimed to test hypotheses drawn from Realistic Group Conflict, Social Identity and Contact theories using mainly a correlational design. However, an intervention by members of the outgroup (French fishermen blockading a port) also allowed a quasi-experimental test of the effects of a direct experience of intergroup conflict. Results supported the hypotheses since conflict and national identification were associated with more negative and with less positive attitudes toward the outgroup, while contact had the reverse effects. In addition, the salience of group membership in the contact relationship weakly moderated the effect of contact.

Contrasting Epstein-Barr virus-specific cytotoxic T cell responses to HLA A2-restricted epitopes in humans and HLA transgenic mice: implications for vaccine design

This study investigates the hierarchy of cytotoxic T cell (CTL) responses to twelve HLA A2-restricted epitopes from the latent, lytic and structural proteins of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in acute infectious mononucleosis and in healthy seropositive donors and the relative immunogenecity of these epitopes in transgenic mice. Responses to the lytic epitope were uniformly strong in all healthy seropositive individuals and acute infectious mononucleosis donors while moderate or low responses were observed to the latent and structural epitopes, respectively in both groups studied. In contrast, when HLA A2/Kb transgenic mice were immunised with these peptide epitopes, CTL responses were observed to all epitopes with a maximal response to the epitopes within the structural proteins and low to moderate responses to the latent epitopes. This hierarchy of CTL responses in mice was also reflected in an MHC stabilisation analysis. These contrasting CTL responses in humans following natural infection compared to the immunogenicity of these epitopes and their ability to stabilise MHC may need to be considered when designing an EBV vaccine.

Irrational schematic beliefs and psychological distress in caregivers of people with traumatic brain injury

Objective: To investigate the relation between irrational schematic beliefs and psychological distress in caregivers of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Cross-sectional mail survey. Participants: One hundred sixteen caregivers of persons with TBI living in the Australian states of Victoria and Queensland who were members of community support groups and brain injury associations. Measures: The Irrational Beliefs Inventory, Brief Symptom Inventory, income satisfaction, degree of personality and behavior change in the TBI individual, and injury severity. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that after controlling for the effects of characteristics of the caregiving situation and the individual with TBI, greater adherence to irrational beliefs was related to higher levels of global psychological distress. Specifically, irrational beliefs related to Worrying were associated with all areas of psychological distress. Conclusion: Results support the cognitive theory proposal that irrational beliefs play an important role in the adaptation to TBI caregiving. Findings suggest the inclusion of cognitive therapy strategies in interventions for caregivers.

Review of treatment of pterygium in Queensland: 10 years after a primary survey

Purpose: To assess the practices in pterygium removal as a follow-up study to a similar project 10 years ago, in order to compare the current trends with those noted a decade ago. Methods: A survey was sent to all practising ophthalmologists in Queensland (100). Results: Eighty-seven of the 100 ophthalmologists undertook pterygium surgery with no change in indications for removal, grading or anaesthesia compared to 10 years ago. Nearly half of the ophthalmologists varied their surgical technique from eight commonly used methods according to the individual patient. More than half the respondents used a swinging conjunctival flap and 29% used simple excision leaving the area bare for primary pterygia, although nearly one-quarter of the ophthalmologists added adjunctive therapies such as beta irradiation or mitomycin. For recurrent pterygia, one-third of ophthalmologists preferred adjunctive therapies, and 57% used an autoconjunctival transplant. Conclusion: There has been no consistent trend in surgical removal of pterygia with a significant number of primary pterygia still removed using bare scleral closure.

Childhood poisoning in Queensland: An analysis of presentation and admission rates

Objective: To determine the presentation rates for paediatric poisoning by ingestion and the determinants of hospital admission. Methodology: Cross-sectional survey using an injury surveillance database from emergency departments in South Brisbane, Mackay and Mt Isa, Queensland, from January 1998 to December 1999. There were 1516 children aged 0-14 years who presented following ingestional poisoning. Results: The presentation rates for poisoning were 690, 40 and 67 per 100 000 population aged 0-4, 5-9 and 10-14 years, respectively. The admission rates to hospital for poisoning were 144, 14 and 22 per 100 000 population aged 0-4, 5-9 and 10-14 years, respectively. Although presentation rates for poisoning were higher in the rural centres the admission rates were disproportionately high for the 0-4 years age group. The agents most frequently ingested were paracetamol, Dimetapp(R), rodenticides and essential oils. Conclusion: There is a need to design and implement interventions aimed at reducing poison exposures and unnecessary hospital admissions in the 0-4 years age group.

The cystine knot motif in toxins and implications for drug design

The cystine knot structural motif is present in peptides and proteins from a variety of species, including fungi, plants, marine molluscs. insects and spiders. It comprises an embedded ring formed by two disulfide bonds and their connecting backbone segments which is threaded by a third disulfide bond. It is invariably associated with nearby beta-sheet structure and appears to be a highly efficient motif for structure stabilization. Because of this stability it makes an ideal framework for molecular engineering applications. In this review we summarize the main structural features of the cystine knot motif, focussing on toxin molecules containing either the inhibitor cystine knot or the cyclic cystine knot. Peptides containing these motifs are 26-48 residues long and include ion channel blockers, haemolytic agents, as well as molecules having antiviral and antibacterial activities. The stability of peptide toxins containing the cystine knot motif, their range of bioactivities and their unique structural scaffold can be harnessed for molecular engineering applications and in drug design. Applications of cystine knot molecules for the treatment of pain. and their potential use in antiviral and antibacterial applications are described. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design of clinical pharmacology trials

1. There are a variety of methods that could be used to increase the efficiency of the design of experiments. However, it is only recently that such methods have been considered in the design of clinical pharmacology trials. 2. Two such methods, termed data-dependent (e.g. simulation) and data-independent (e.g. analytical evaluation of the information in a particular design), are becoming increasingly used as efficient methods for designing clinical trials. These two design methods have tended to be viewed as competitive, although a complementary role in design is proposed here. 3. The impetus for the use of these two methods has been the need for a more fully integrated approach to the drug development process that specifically allows for sequential development (i.e. where the results of early phase studies influence later-phase studies). 4. The present article briefly presents the background and theory that underpins both the data-dependent and -independent methods with the use of illustrative examples from the literature. In addition, the potential advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed.

A survey of Australian consumers' attitudes towards UHT milk

A telephone survey was conducted in Melbourne and Brisbane to obtain a profile of milk consumption in Australia and determine consumers' attitudes regarding UHT milk. It was anticipated that this survey would reveal the reasons for the low level of UHT milk consumption in Australia. Pasteurised milk was the main milk type used by more than 80% of respondents. For UHT milk this figure was much lower (approximately 10%), even though two thirds of respondents had tried UHT milk. Factors that were found to influence UHT milk consumption included existing milk consumption habits, consumer perception, flavour and price. The majority of non-users of UHT milk stated habit of using other milk type as their main reason for not using UHT milk. Other reasons included poor nutritional value, poor flavour and not real/pure milk, indicating a negative consumer perception of the product. The flavour of UHT milk was identified as a problem, with nearly half of UHT milk users considering it to be worse than the flavour of pasteurised milk. However, a small proportion of UHT milk users preferred the flavour of UHT milk, with the majority of them stating that it was creamier, richer and/or stronger than the flavour of pasteurised milk. Prior to post-farmgate deregulation, price was shown to discourage consumers from using UHT milk. At the time of the survey, post-farmgate prices in Victoria were deregulated resulting in UHT milk being priced below that of pasteurised milk in some instances. This was believed to contribute to a significantly higher market share of the product in Melbourne than in Brisbane.

Larval hosts of Australian Drosophilidae (Diptera): A field survey in subtropical and tropical Australia

The drosophilid fauna in Australia offers an important study system for evolutionary studies. Larval hosts are unknown for most species, however, and this imposes serious limits to understanding their ecological context. The present paper reports the first systematic, large-scale field survey of potential larval hosts to be conducted, in order to obtain an overview of the host utilisation patterns of Australian drosophilids. Potential hosts (mostly fruit and fungi) were collected from different vegetation types in northern and eastern Australia. Host data were obtained for 81 drosophilid species from 17 genera (or 28% of the known Fauna). Most genera were restricted to either fruit or fungi, although Scaptodrosophila spp. and Drosophila spp. were recorded from fruit, fungi, flowers and compost, and Drosophila spp. also emerged from the parasitic plant Balanophora fungosa. There was no evidence that use of either fruit or fungi was correlated to host phylogeny. Drosophilids emerged from hosts collected from all sampled vegetation types (rainforest, open forest, heath and domestic environments). Vegetation type influenced drosophilid diversity, both by affecting host availability and because some drosophilid species apparently restricted their search for hosts to particular vegetation types.