Survival analysis of time-to-event data in respiratory health research studies

This article provides a review of techniques for the analysis of survival data arising from respiratory health studies. Popular techniques such as the Kaplan–Meier survival plot and the Cox proportional hazards model are presented and illustrated using data from a lung cancer study. Advanced issues are also discussed, including parametric proportional hazards models, accelerated failure time models, time-varying explanatory variables, simultaneous analysis of multiple types of outcome events and the restricted mean survival time, a novel measure of the effect of treatment.

The A622 gene in Nicotiana glauca (tree tobacco): evidence for a functional role in pyridine alkaloid synthesis

Nicotiana glauca (Argentinean tree tobacco) is atypical within the genus Nicotiana, accumulating predominantly anabasine rather than nicotine and/or nornicotine as the main component of its leaf pyridine alkaloid fraction. The current study examines the role of the A622 gene from N. glauca (NgA622) in alkaloid production and utilises an RNAi approach to down-regulate gene expression and diminish levels of A622 protein in transgenic tissues. Results indicate that RNAi-mediated reduction in A622 transcript levels markedly reduces the capacity of N. glauca to produce anabasine resulting in plants with scarcely any pyridine alkaloids in leaf tissues, even after damage to apical tissues. In addition, analysis of hairy roots containing the NgA622-RNAi construct shows a substantial reduction in both anabasine and nicotine levels within these tissues, even if stimulated with methyl jasmonate, indicating a role for the A622 enzyme in the synthesis of both alkaloids in roots of N. glauca. Feeding of Nicotinic Acid (NA) to hairy roots of N. glauca containing the NgA622-RNAi construct did not restore capacity for synthesis of anabasine or nicotine. Moreover, treatment of these hairy root lines with NA did not lead to an increase in anatabine levels, unlike controls. Together, these results strongly suggest that A622 is an integral component of the final enzyme complex responsible for biosynthesis of all three pyridine alkaloids in Nicotiana.

Once upon a time: children's literature and mathematics

What was your favourite book as a child? Remember the joy of reading it over and over again until the pages were worn and the corners curled. Have you thought about introducing your favourite book into a mathematics classroom? Utilising books in mathematics can engage and benefit every child in your class. Building on children’s wonder of literature can enhance their experience in mathematics. Building on children’s wonder of mathematics can enhance their experience of literature. In this paper we present the joy and value of employing children’s literature in the middle to upper primary mathematics classroom supported with engaging tasks that will have your students noticing maths in every story they read.

Fostering intercultural understanding through secondary school experiences of cultural immersion

In parallel with many nations’ education policies, national education policies in Australia seek to foster students’ intercultural understanding. Due to Australia’s location in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian government has focused on students becoming “Asia literate” to support Australia’s economic and cultural engagement with Asian countries. Drawing on Allport’s optimal contact principles and key factors supporting intercultural understanding, this study examines two “sister school” cultural immersion trips in Indonesia and East Timor to explore ways in which their different approaches supported positive intergroup contact and helped foster intercultural understanding among students. Focus groups and interviews with school project teams and analysis of both researcher and teacher project field notes and documents suggested that these schools’ programmes could be mapped onto Allport’s contact principles in different ways. The paper concludes with promising approaches that can help to inform sister school programmes.

‘You are not born being racist, are you?’ Discussing racism with primary aged-children

Ethnic-racial socialisation is broadly described as processes by which both minority and majority children and young people learn about and negotiate racial, ethnic and cultural diversity. This paper extends the existing ethnic-racial socialisation literature in three significant ways: it (1) explores ways children make sense of racial and ethnic diversity in relation to their experiences of racial and ethnic diversity and racism; (2) considers ways children identify racism and make distinctions between racism and racialisation; and (3) examines teacher and parent ethnic-racial socialisation messages about race, ethnicity and racism with children. This research is based on classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with teachers, parents and students aged 8-12 years attending four Australian metropolitan primary schools. The findings reveal that both teachers and parents tended to discuss racism reactively rather than proactively. The extent to which racism was discussed in classroom settings depended on: teachers’ personal and professional capability; awareness of racism and its perceived relevance based on student and community experiences; and whether they felt supported in the broader school and community context. For parents, key drivers for talking about racism were their children’s experiences and racial issues reported in the media. For both parents and teachers, a key issue in these discussions was determining whether something constituted either racism or racialisation. Strategies on how ethnic-racial socialisation within the school system can be improved are discussed.