Dental set-vice provision in private general practice for an insured population in New South Wales, Australia

Objective To determine patterns of dental set-vices provided to a cohort of the insured population 18 years and over, in private general practice in New South Wales, Australia. Basic research design A cohort study using the person-years method and Poisson regression for analysis. Setting Data were derived from claims records submitted by members of a health insurance fund (Government Employees Health Fund-GEHF) for rebates during the study period 1 January 1992-31 December 1995. Participants There were 133,467 members aged 18 years and over from New South Wales. Main outcome measures To determine, by age group, for those members who used private general practice and made a claim (referred to as 'patients') the annual number of visits, total number of services received per year and number of services received at a visit, Results The mean number of visits per patient was 2.4 per year with patients under 45 years making fewer visits than the 45-54 age group reference category. Mean number of services utilised per patient-year was 5.9, with services provided increasing from 3.5 for the 18-24-year-old group, reaching a plateau of approximately 6.2 for those aged 45 years or more. The number of services received per visit was 2.4 and there were no differences by age. Service mix was dominated by restorative (35%), diagnostic (27%), and preventive services (18%); with age specific variations observed. Conclusions Age was found to be an important determinant in the use of dental services, independent of membership duration and gender.

Discorhabdin R: A new antibacterial Pyrroloiminoquinone from two latrunculiid marine sponges, Latrunculia sp and Negombata sp.

Two sponge's belonging to the family Latrunculiidae (Negombata and Latrunculia sp.) collected during scientific trawling operations in Prydz Bay, Antarctica, and by scuba off Port Campbell, Victoria, have yielded a new antibacterial pyrroloiminoquinone, discorhabdin R (2). The structure was assigned as 2 on the basis of detailed, spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the known co-metabolite discorhabdin B (3).

A new blood-fluke, Cardicola Forsteri, (Digenea : Sanguinicolidae) of southern blue-fin tuna (Thunnus Maccoyii) in aquaculture

Cardicola forsteri sp. nov. (Digenea: Sanguinicolidae) is described from the heart of captive southern blue-fin tuna, Thunnus maccoyii (Scombridae), from South Australia. The new species is distinguished from other species of Cardicola by its very extensive testis, the length of its oesophagus, the length of its gut caeca and the form of its ovary. Cardicola smithi appears to be associated with heart and gill lesions(1).

Lorneamides A and B: Two new aromatic amides from a southern Australian marine actinomycete

A marine actinomycete (MST-MA190) isolated from a sample of beach sand collected near Lorne on the southwest coast of Victoria, Australia, has yielded two new aromatic amides, lorneamide A (1) and lorneamide B (2). The lorneamides belong to a novel class of tri-alkyl-substituted benzenes, and their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods.

Parasites of recruiting coral reef fish larvae in New Caledonia

Recruiting coral reef fish larvae from 38 species and 19 families from New Caledonia were examined for parasites. We found 13 parasite species (Platyhelminthes: Monogenea, Cestoda and Trematoda) but no acanthocephalan, crustacean or nematode parasites. Over 23% of individual fish were infected. Didymozoid metacercariae were the most abundant parasites. We conclude that most of the parasites are pelagic species that become 'lost' once the fish larvae have recruited to the reef. Larval coral reef fish probably contribute little to the dispersal of the parasites of the adult fish so that parasite dispersal is more difficult than that of the fish themselves. (C) 2000 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Finite element modeling of fluid-rock interaction problems in pore-fluid saturated hydrothermal/sedimentary basins

In order to use the finite element method for solving fluid-rock interaction problems in pore-fluid saturated hydrothermal/sedimentary basins effectively and efficiently, we have presented, in this paper, the new concept and numerical algorithms to deal with the fundamental issues associated with the fluid-rock interaction problems. These fundamental issues are often overlooked by some purely numerical modelers. (1) Since the fluid-rock interaction problem involves heterogeneous chemical reactions between reactive aqueous chemical species in the pore-fluid and solid minerals in the rock masses, it is necessary to develop the new concept of the generalized concentration of a solid mineral, so that two types of reactive mass transport equations, namely, the conventional mass transport equation for the aqueous chemical species in the pore-fluid and the degenerated mass transport equation for the solid minerals in the rock mass, can be solved simultaneously in computation. (2) Since the reaction area between the pore-fluid and mineral surfaces is basically a function of the generalized concentration of the solid mineral, there is a definite need to appropriately consider the dependence of the dissolution rate of a dissolving mineral on its generalized concentration in the numerical analysis. (3) Considering the direct consequence of the porosity evolution with time in the transient analysis of fluid-rock interaction problems; we have proposed the term splitting algorithm and the concept of the equivalent source/sink terms in mass transport equations so that the problem of variable mesh Peclet number and Courant number has been successfully converted into the problem of constant mesh Peclet and Courant numbers. The numerical results from an application example have demonstrated the usefulness of the proposed concepts and the robustness of the proposed numerical algorithms in dealing with fluid-rock interaction problems in pore-fluid saturated hydrothermal/sedimentary basins. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Onnamide F: A new nematocide from a southern Australian marine sponge, Trachycladus laevispirulifer

A southern Australian marine sponge, Trachycladus laevispirulifer, has yielded a potent new nematocide with antifungal activity which has been identified as onnamide F (1). The structure for 1 was assigned by detailed spectroscopic analysis and chemical conversion to the methyl ester 2. Onnamide F contains a common structural motif previously described in a number of natural products exhibiting interesting pharmacological activities, including the insect chemical defense agent pederin (3), and the sponge metabolites the onnamides, mycalamides, and theopederins.

Mirabilin G: A new alkaloid from a southern Australian marine sponge, Clathria species

A Clathria sp. collected during scientific trawling operations in the Great Australian Bight, Australia, has yielded the new alkaloid mirabilin G (1). A structure was secured for 1 by detailed spectroscopic analysis and comparison to known marine alkaloids.

Two new species of Neolebouria Gibson, 1976 (Digenea : Opecoelidae) from temperate marine fishes of Australia

Neolebouria moretonensis n. sp. is described from Gerres subfasciatus (Gerreidae) from Moreton Bay, south-east Queensland and N. lineatus n. sp. is described from Centroberyx lineatus (Berycidae) from off Rottnest Island, south-west Western Australia. C. lineatus represents a new host family and order (Beryciformes) for the genus. The two new species are distinguished within the genus by their entire, tandem to oblique testes and cirrus-sacs that do not extend into the hind-body, by being less than 1 mm in length, and by the position of the genital pore and the relative size of the forebody and post-testicular region. N. lineatus and N. moretonensis are very similar but are distinguished by their caeca which extend further posteriorly in N. moretonensis. There is no apparent pattern in the host-specificity of this genus.

Race and sex effects on the association between muscle strength, soft tissue, and bone mineral density in healthy elders: The Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study

Two factors generally reported to influence bone density are body composition and muscle strength. However, it is unclear if these relationships are consistent across race and sex, especially in older persons. If differences do exist by race and/or sex, then strategies to maintain bone mass or minimize bone loss in older adults may need to be modified accordingly. Therefore, we examined the independent effects of bone mineral-free lean mass (LM), fat mass (FM), and muscle strength on regional and whole body bone mineral density (BMD) in a cohort of 2619 well-functioning older adults participating in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study with complete measures. Participants included 738 white women, 599 black women, 827 white men, and 455 black men aged 70-79 years. BMD (g/cm(2)) of the femoral neck, whole body, upper and lower limb, and whole body and upper limb bone mineral-free LM and FM was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Handgrip strength and knee extensor torque were determined by dynamometry. In analyses stratified by race and sex and adjusted for a number of confounders, LM was a significant (p < 0.001) determinant of BMD, except in white women for the lower limb and whole body. In women, FM also was an independent contributor to BMD at the femoral neck, and both PM and muscle strength contributed to limb BMD. The following were the respective Beta-weights (regression coefficients for standardized data, Std beta) and percent difference in BMD per unit (7.5 kg) LM: femoral neck, 0.202-0.386 and 4.7-6.9 %; lower limb,.0.209-0.357 and 2.9-3.5%; whole body, 0.239-0.484 and 3.0-4.7 %; and upper limb (unit = 0.5 kg), 0.231-0.407 and 3.1-3.4%. Adjusting for bone size (bone mineral apparent density [BMAD]) or body size BMD/height) diminished the importance of LM, and the contributory effect of FM became more pronounced. These results indicate that LM and FM were associated with bone mineral depending on the bone site and bone index used. Where differences did occur, they were primarily by sex not race. To preserve BMD, maintaining or increasing LM in the elderly would appear to be an appropriate strategy, regardless of race or sex.

A new formation model for M32: a threshed early-type spiral galaxy?

The origin of M32, the closest compact elliptical galaxy (cE), is a long-standing puzzle of galaxy fort-nation in the Local Group. Our N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations suggest a new scenario in which the strong tidal field of M31 can transform a spiral galaxy into a compact elliptical galaxy. As a low-luminosity spiral galaxy plunges into the central region of M31, most of the outer stellar and gaseous components of its disk are dramatically stripped as a result of M31's tidal field. The central bulge component, on the other hand, is just weakly influenced by the tidal field, owing to its compact configuration, and retains its morphology. M31's strong tidal field also induces rapid gas transfer to the central region, triggers a nuclear starburst, and consequently forms the central high-density and more metal-rich stellar populations with relatively young ages. Thus, in this scenario, M32 was previously the bulge of a spiral galaxy tidally interacting with M31 several gigayears ago. Furthermore, we suggest that cE's like M32 are rare, the result of both the rather narrow parameter space for tidal interactions that morphologically transform spiral galaxies into cE's and the very short timescale (less than a few times 10(9) yr) for cE's to be swallowed by their giant host galaxies (via dynamical friction) after their formation.