Simon and others during Aldermaston Peace march, Ipswich to Brisbane 1964

Simon and others during Aldermaston Peace march, Sunday April 5, 1964. The march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Simon and other participants during Aldermaston Peace march, Ipswich to Brisbane 1964

Simon and other participants during Aldermaston Peace march, Sunday April 5, 1964. The march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Women with umbrellas during Peace march on Sunday April 5th 1964, Brisbane.

Two women with umbrellas outside a cemetery during Peace march, Sunday April 5th Brisbane, Australia, 1964.

Young parents with children during Aldermaston Peace march in 1964

Young parents with children during Aldermaston Peace march, Sunday, April 5th 1964. The Aldermaston march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Participants with Ipswich to Brisbane banners during Aldermaston Peace march in 1964

Participants with Ipswich to Brisbane banners during Aldermaston Peace march, Sunday, April 5th 1964. The Aldermaston march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Holden bearing banner Northern Suburbs for Peace during Aldermaston Peace march in 1964

Holden bearing banner Northern Suburbs for Peace during Aldermaston Peace march, Sunday, April 5th 1964. The Aldermaston march covered the distance between Ipswich and Brisbane, Australia, walked in relays covering approximately two miles each. Most relay sections were sponsored by one or more individual organisations.

Members of the Union of Australian Women with banner during Hiroshima Day 1964, Brisbane

Members of the Union of Australian Women with banner during Hiroshima Day 1964, Brisbane, Australia. The Union of Australian Women is a national organisation that was formed in 1950. Its aim is to work for the status and wellbeing of women across the world. It has been involved in a wide variety of campaigns that concern women. The Union of Australian Women networks with other women's community and union groups on such issues.

BWIU float with banner End War in Vietnam during Mayday march Brisbane 1965

BWIU with float End war in Vietnam during Mayday procession Brisbane, Australia, May 1965.

Contraction of the human diaphragm during rapid postural adjustments

1. The response of the diaphragm to the postural perturbation produced by rapid flexion of the shoulder to a visual stimulus was evaluated in standing subjects. Gastric, oesophageal and transdiaphragmatic pressures were measured together with intramuscular and oesophageal recordings of electromyographic activity (EMG) in the diaphragm. To assess the mechanics of contraction of the diaphragm, dynamic changes in the length of the diaphragm were measured with ultrasonography. 2. With rapid flexion of the shoulder in response to a visual stimulus, EMG-activity in the costal and crural diaphragm occurred about 20 ms prior to the onset of deltoid EMG. This anticipatory contraction occurred irrespective of the phase of respiration in which arm movement began. The onset of diaphragm EMG-coincided with that of transversus abdominis. 3. Gastric and transdiaphragmatic pressures increased in association with the rapid arm flexion by 13.8 +/- 1.9 (mean +/- S.E.M.) and 13.5 +/- 1.8 cmH(2)O, respectively. The increases occurred 49 +/- 4 ms after the onset of diaphragm EMG, but preceded the onset of movement of the limb by 63 +/- 7 ms. 4. Ultrasonographic measurements revealed that the costal diaphragm shortened and then lengthened progressively during the increase in transdiaphragmatic pressure. 5. This study provides definitive evidence that the human diaphragm is involved in the control of postural stability during sudden voluntary movement of the limbs.

Delayed postural contraction of transversus abdominis in low back pain associated with movement of the lower limb

The temporal parameters of the response of the trunk muscles associated with movement of the lower limb were investigated in people with and without low back pain (LBP). The weight shift component of the task was completed voluntarily prior to a stimulus to move to allow investigation of the movement component of the response. In the control subjects the onset of electromyographic (EMG) activity of all trunk muscles preceded that of the muscle responsible for limb movement, thus contributing to the feed forward postural response. The EMG onset of transversus abdominis was delayed in the LBP subjects with movement in each direction, while the EMG onsets of rectus abdominis, erector spinae, and oblique abdominal muscles were delayed with specific movement directions. This result provides evidence of a change in the postural control of the trunk in people with LBP.

Bimanual co-ordination in Parkinson's disease

The basal ganglia may be involved in bimanual co-ordination. Parkinson's disease (which impairs basal ganglia output) is clinically reported to cause difficulties in the performance of co-ordinated bimanual movements. Nevertheless, any bimanual co-ordination difficulties may be task specific, as experimental observations are equivocal. To infer the role of the basal ganglia in co-ordinating the two arms, this study investigated the bimanual co-ordination of patients with Parkinson's disease. Sixteen Parkinson's disease patients and matched control subjects performed a bimanual cranking task, at different speeds (1 and 2 Hz) and phase relationships. All subjects performed the required bimanual in-phase movement on a pair of cranks, at fast (2 Hz) and slow (1 Hz) speeds. However the Parkinson's disease patients were unable to perform the asymmetrical anti-phase movement, in which rotation of the cranks differed by 180 degrees, at either speed; but instead reverted to the in-phase symmetrical movement. For Parkinson's disease patients, performance of the in-phase movement was more accurate and stable when an external timing cue was used; however for anti-phase movement, the external cue accentuated the tendency for patients to revert to more symmetrical, in-phase movements.

Response (re-)programming in aging: A kinematic analysis

Background. Age-related motor slowing may reflect either motor programming deficits, poorer movement execution, or mere strategic preferences for online guidance of movement. We controlled such preferences, limiting the extent to which movements could be programmed. Methods. Twenty-four young and 24 older adults performed a line drawing task that allowed movements to he prepared in advance in one case (i.e., cue initially available indicating target location) and not in another (i.e., no cue initially available as to target location). Participants connected large or small targets illuminated by light-emitting diodes upon a graphics tablet that sampled pen tip position at 200 Hz. Results. Older adults had a disproportionate difficulty initiating movement when prevented from programming in advance. Older adults produced slower, less efficient movements, particularly when prevented from programming under greater precision requirements. Conclusions. The slower movements of older adults do not simply reflect a preference for online control, as older adults have less efficient movements when forced to reprogram their movements. Age-related motor slowing kinematically resembles that seen in patients with cerebellar dysfunction.

The Australian mortality decline: cause-specific mortality 1907-1990

This review describes the changes in composition of mortality by major attributed cause during the Australian mortality decline this century. The principal categories employed were: infectious diseases, nonrheumatic cardiovascular disease, external causes, cancer,'other' causes and ill-defined conditions. The data were age-adjusted. Besides registration problems (which also affect all-cause mortality) artefacts due to changes in diagnostic designation and coding-are evident. The most obvious trends over the period are the decline in infectious disease mortality (half the decline 1907-1990 occurs before 1949), and the epidemic of circulatory disease mortality which appears to commence around 1930, peaks during the 1950s and 1960s, and declines from 1970 to 1990 (to a rate half that at the peak). Mortality for cancer remains static for females after 1907, but increases steadily for males, reaching a plateau in the mid-1980s (owing to trends in lung cancer); trends in cancers of individual sites are diverse. External cause mortality declines after 1970. The decline in total mortality to 1930 is associated with decline in infection and 'other' causes, Stagnation of mortality decline in 1930-1940 and 1946-1970 for males is a consequence of contemporaneous movements in opposite directions of infection mortality (decrease) and circulatory disease and cancer mortality (increase). In females, declines in infections and 'other' causes of death exceed the increase in circulatory disease mortality until 1960, then stability in all major causes of death to 1970. The overall mortality decline since 1970 is a consequence of a reduction in circulatory disease,'other' cause, external cause and infection mortality, despite the increase in cancer mortality (for males).

The influence of joint position on the dynamics of perception-action coupling

Six right-handed subjects performed rhythmic flexion and extension movements of the index finger in time with an auditory metronome. On each block of trials, the wrist of the response hand was placed in a extended, neutral or flexed position. In the flex-on-the-beat condition, subjects were instructed to coordinate maximum excursion in the direction of finger flexion with each beat of the metronome. In the extend-on-the-beat condition, subjects were instructed to coordinate maximum excursion in the direction of finger extension with each beat of the metronome. The frequency of the metronome was increased from 2.00 Hz to 3.75 Hz in 8 steps (8 s epochs) of 0.25 Hz. During trials prepared in the extend-on-the-beat pattern, all subjects exhibited transitions to either a flex-on-the-beat pattern or to phase wandering as the frequency of pacing was increased. The time at which these transitions occurred was reliably influenced by the position of the wrist. Four subjects exhibited qualitative departures from the flex-on-the-beat pattern at pacing frequencies that were greater than those at which the extend-on-the-beat pattern could be maintained. The lime at which these departures occurred was not influenced by the position of the wrist. These results are discussed with reference to the constraints imposed on the coordination dynamics by the intrinsic properties of the neuromuscular-skeletal system.

Sequence heterogeneity in Parkinsonian speech

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder primarily due to basal ganglia dysfunction. While much research has been conducted on Parkinsonian deficits in the traditional arena of musculoskeletal limb movement, research in other functional motor tasks is lacking. The present study examined articulation in PD with increasingly complex sequences of articulatory movement. Of interest was whether dysfunction would affect articulation in the same manner as in limb-movement impairment. In particular, since very Similar (homogeneous) articulatory sequences (the tongue twister effect) are more difficult for healthy individuals to achieve than dissimilar (heterogeneous) gestures, while the reverse may apply for skeletal movements in PD, we asked which factor would dominate when PD patients articulated various grades of artificial tongue twisters: the influence of disease or a possible difference between the two motor systems. Execution was especially impaired when articulation involved a sequence of motor program heterogeneous in terms of place of articulation. The results are suggestive of a hypokinesic tendency in complex sequential articulatory movement as in limb movement. It appears that PD patients do show abnormalities in articulatory movement which are similar to those of the musculoskeletal system. The present study suggests that an underlying disease effect modulates movement impairment across different functional motor systems. (C) 1998 Academic Press.