Expectations of the effects of drinking on couple relationship functioning: An assessment of women in distressed relationships who consume alcohol at harmful levels

Based on a cognitive-social learning model of alcohol use, it was hypothesised that women with both alcohol and relationship problems would endorse more positive expectations of the effects of alcohol consumption on their relationship and would report lower relational efficacy than women without relationship or alcohol problems. Measures of relationship-referent alcohol expectancies and relational efficacy were completed by 174 married women with both alcohol and relationship problems (n = 20), alcohol problems alone (it = 26), relationship problems alone (n = 30), or neither problem (n = 98). Women without either alcohol or relationship problems strongly rejected expectations of enhanced relationship functioning (e.g., enhanced intimacy, increased emotional expression) following alcohol consumption, whereas women with both alcohol and relationship problems were ambivalent about these positive expectations. Women with both problems also reported lower relational efficacy than the other groups of women. Negative expectations about the effect of alcohol consumption on relationships in women with low relational efficacy may inhibit harmful drinking. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Group A streptococcal vaccine delivery by immunization with a self-adjuvanting M protein-based lipid core peptide construct

Background & objectives: To develop a broad strain coverage GAS vaccine, several strategies have been investigated which included multi-epitope approaches as well as targeting the M protein conserved C-region. These approaches, however, have relied on the use of adjuvants that are toxic for human application. The development of safe and effective adjuvants for human use is a key issue in the development of effective vaccines. In this study, we investigated the lipid polylysine core peptide (LCP) system as a self-adjuvanting GAS vaccine delivery approach. Methods: An LCP-GAS construct was synthesised incorporating multiple copies of a protective peptide epitope (J8) from the conserved carboxy terminal C-repeat region of the M protein. B10.BR mice were immunized parenterally with the LCP-J8 construct, with or without conventional adjuvant, prior to the assessment of immunogenicity and the induction of serum opsonic antibodies. Results: Our data demonstrated immunogenicity of LCP-J8 when coadministered in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), or administered in the absence of conventional adjuvant. In both cases, immunization led to the induction of high-titre J8 peptide-specific serum IgG antibody responses, and the induction of heterologous opsonic antibodies that did not cross-react with human heart tissue proteins. Interpretation & conclusion: These data indicated the potential of a novel self-adjuvanting LCP vaccine delivery system incorporating a synthetic GAS M protein C-region peptide immunogen in the induction of broadly protective immune responses, and pointed to the potential application of this system in human vaccine development against infectious diseases.

Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia: An example of the co-existence of significant marine mammal populations and large-scale coastal development

Recent analyses assert that large marine vertebrates such as marine mammals are now 'functionally or entirely extinct in most coastal ecosystems'. Moreton Bay is a large diverse marine ecosystem bordering the fastest growing area in Australia. The human population is over 1.6 million and increasing yearly by between 10% and 13% with resultant impacts upon the adjoining marine environment. Nonetheless, significant populations of three species of marine mammals are resident within Moreton Bay and a further 14 species are seasonal or occasional visitors. This paper reviews the current and historical distributions and abundance of these species in the context of the current management regime and suggests initiatives to increase the resilience of marine mammal populations to the changes wrought by the burgeoning human population in coastal environments. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The relationship between extra-role behaviours and job burnout for primary school teachers: A preliminary model and development of an organisational citizenship behaviour scale

Recent research on teacher stress in primary schools (e.g. Leonard, Bourke & Schofield, 1999) has shown that higher levels of teacher exhaustion are associated with higher levels of student satisfaction. This paper seeks to explain this surprising finding by considering a construct discussed widely in the organisational literature known as extra-role or organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Teacher OCB may include extra efforts to make lessons enjoyable and interesting, organising extra-curricular activities and spending personal time talking with students. The proposed model of analysis also draws on literature relating to job burnout (Maslach, 1982), which generally suggests that the three components of chronic occupational stress - exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced accomplishment - occur together. However, this paper proposes that although teachers who engage in more OCB experience more exhaustion, they may simultaneously increase their feelings of personal accomplishment and work identification, which may in turn help to avert burnout. It is argued that only with this particular set of job attitudes are the effects of exhaustion caused by high levels of OCB sufficiently buffered to avoid job burnout, and thus positively affect students' quality of school life. The development and piloting of an instrument to measure teachers' OCB will be discussed. The preliminary findings reported herein are part of a larger ongoing study investigating the consequences of stress and OCB in primary school teachers.

Children and economic development: Family size, gender preferences and human capital formation - theory and Indian cases

In the light of Gary Becker's economic theory of the family, considers how economic cost and benefit factors can influence the size of families that parents decide to have. Some support for the importance of such factors is found from results of structured interviews with wives in Kondh-dominated villages in western Orissa. These results are at variance with the hypothesis of Malthus about population growth. Factors that may alter the optimal family size as development proceeds are discussed. It is found in our sampling that, on the whole, there is a preference for daughters rather than sons although this is not as strong in the Kondh-dominated villages as in poor villages in the Santal tribal belt of West Bengal. While in the Kondh-dominated villages some discrimination in access to education in favour of boys compared to girls is present, little such or no such discrimination occurs in relation to access to food and medical attention. In the villages surveyed in the West Bengal Santal tribal belt, discrimination in favour of boys is more pronounced than in the Kondh-dominated area in Orissa. While economic considerations help to explain gender discrimination between boys and girls, we find that social and cultural factors also play a major role. Parents in a similar economic situation seem to display substantially different patterns of gender discrimination between children depending on their social and cultural content. It seems that the extent to which economic theories of the family explain family preferences and behaviour depend significantly on the social and cultural context in which they are to be applied.

Gender inequality, poverty and human development in Kenya: Main indicators, trends and limitations

Indicators of gender inequality, poverty and human development in Kenya are examined. Significant and rising incidence of absolute poverty occurs in Kenya and women are more likely to be in poverty than men. Female/male ratios in Kenyan decision-making institutions are highly skewed against women and they experience unfavourable enrolment ratios in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. The share of income earned by women is much lower than men's share. General Kenyan indicators highlight declining GDP per capita, increased poverty rates especially for women, reduced life expectancy, a narrowing of the difference in female/male life expectancy rates, increased child mortality rates and an increase in the female child mortality rates. This deterioration results in an increased socio-economic burden on women, not adequately captured in the HPI, HDI, GDI and GEM. This paper advocates the use of household level gender disaggregated data because much gender inequality occurs in and emanates from the household level where culture plays a very important role in allocation of resources and decision-making. Because most human development indicators are aggregates or averages, they can be misleading. They need to be supplemented by distributional and disaggregated data as demonstrated in the Kenyan case. The importance is emphasised of studying coping mechanisms of household/families for dealing with economic hardship and other misfortunes, such AIDS.

Characterization of mouse Frizzled-3 expression in hair follicle development and identification of the human homolog in keratinocytes

Frizzled genes encode a family of Wnt ligand receptors, which have a conserved cysteine-rich Wnt binding domain and include both transmembrane and secreted forms. Work by others has shown that experimental perturbation of Wnt signaling results in aberrant hair formation, hair growth, and hair structure. To date, however, there is no information on the contribution of individual Frizzled proteins to hair development. We now report that Frizzled-3 expression in skin is restricted to the epidermis and to the developing hair follicle. Northern analysis on total mouse skin mRNA revealed a single Frizzled-3 transcript of 3.7 kb. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization analysis revealed Frizzled-3 expression in epidermal and hair follicle keratinocytes. Frizzled-3 transcripts are first detected in discrete foci in the developing epidermis of 13 d embryos and later in the hair follicle placodes of 15 d embryos, suggesting a role for this Frizzled isoform in follicle development. In 17 d embryos and id old newborn mice Frizzled-3 expression is limited to suprabasal keratinocytes and is not seen in pelage follicles until 3 d postpartum. In 7 d old neonatal skin, Frizzled-3 is expressed throughout the epidermis and in the outer cell layers of hair follicles. We have also identified the mRNA encoding human Frizzled-3 in epidermal keratinocytes and in the HaCaT keratinocyte cell line. Human Frizzled-3 mRNA encodes a 666 amino acid protein with 97.8% identity to the mouse protein. The human Frizzled-3 gene was mapped using a radiation-hybrid cell line panel to the short arm of chromosome 8 between the markers WI-1172 and WI-8496 near the loci for the Hypotrichosis of Marie Unna and Hairless genes.

Development of a real-time RT-PCR assay for plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoform 1 (PMCA1) mRNA levels in a human breast epithelial cell line.

The plasma membrane Ca2+ pump is a key regulator of cytosolic free Ca2+. Recent studies have demonstrated the dynamic expression of the plasma membrane Ca2+ pump in a variety of cell types. Furthermore, alterations in plasma membrane calcium pump activity have now been implicated in human disease. In this study, the development of a technique to quantitatively assess mRNA expression of the human plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase (PMCA1) isoform of the plasma membrane Ca2+ pump, using a real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) assay in a human breast epithelial cell line (MCF-7) is described. The sequences of the PMCA1 primers and probe for real-time RT-PCR are presented. The results also indicate that PMCA1 mRNA can be normalized to both 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) and human glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (hGAPDH) in MCF-7 cells. Real-time RT-PCR will be most useful in assessing PMCA1 mRNA expression in cases where only low amounts of RNA are available and/or when numerous samples must be assessed simultaneously. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Curriculum development for professional ethics in Australian human service university programmes

Australian academics and practitioners in the human services are particularly susceptible to social, political and economic influences in respect of their relevance, viability and operations. In fact, it can be argued that the impact of these influences has placed human service practitioners and academics in a perpetual state of vulnerability. Australian universities have been challenged to make their programmes more relevant and viable to the community at large, and practitioners face increasing workloads with limited resources based on restricted fiscal allocation, and the changing relationship between government and service providers. Drawing on interview data from twenty-one (n = 21) practitioners, this article highlights their identified problems regarding the notion of professionalism in the human services with a particular focus on ethical dilemmas in human service practice. Gleaning these details will be a basis for recommending necessary professionalethics curricula content in human services programmes offered in Australian universities. Moreover, while the research data is Australian based, the authors contend that the universal theories and principles underpinning human service practice justify the significance and value of the data as an important source for international consideration in curriculum development of human service academic programmes.

Development of response-selective agonists of human C5a anaphylatoxin: Conformational, biological, and therapeutic considerations

Numerous studies on the relationship between the structure and function of peptide agonists derived from the biologically active, C-terminal region of human C5a anaphylatoxin have been reported over the past decade. These studies have been performed with the objective of parlaying this structure-function information into the design of peptide/peptidomimetic modulators of C5a receptor (C5aR)-mediated function. In this review, we describe a rational approach for the development of conformationally biased, decapeptide agonists of C5a and described how these stabilized and specific conformational features relate to the expression of specific C5a-like activities in vitro and in vivo. The therapeutic potential of such response-selective C5a agonists is discussed and underscored by the results of one such response-selective C5a agonist that was used in vivo as an effective molecular adjuvant capable of generating antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses. Finally, we describe the synthesis of a new generation of highly response-selective, conformationally biased C5a agonist and discuss the in vitro and in vivo biologic results that so indicate this biologic selectivity.

Development of preferences for the human body shape in infancy

Two studies investigated the development of infants' visual preferences for the human body shape. In Study 1, infants of 12,15 and 18 months were tested in a standard preferential looking experiment, in which they were shown paired line drawings of typical and scrambled bodies. Results indicated that the 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for the scrambled body shapes over typical body shapes, while the younger infants did not show differential responding. In Study 2, 12- and 18-month-olds were tested with the same procedure, except that the typical and scrambled body stimuli were photographic images. The results of Study 2 again indicated that only the 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for the scrambled body shapes. This finding contrasts sharply with infants' precocious preferences for human faces, suggesting that infants' learning about human faces and human bodies follow different developmental trajectories. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.