Interpreting changes in heroin supply in melbourne: droughts, gluts or cycles?

In this Harm Reduction Digest Paul Dietze and John Fitzgerald provide another possible way of understanding what has come to be referred to as Australia's heroin 'drought'. They examine evidence from Melbourne, Victoria and suggest that the apparent downturn in heroin availability in 2000 may, in part, be the result of an end of a heroin 'glut' and that perceptions of this phenomenon may be coloured by the development of more sophisticated indicators of the heroin market. They conclude with claims that the reasons for the reduction in drug consumption and adverse health outcomes, such as those attributed to interdiction, are thus premature.

Estimating the economic value of Mount Buffalo National Park with the travel cost and contingent valuation models

The Mount Buffalo National Park is the oldest national park in Victoria, Australia. There has been a rapid increase in the number of visitors to the park during the last decade and park management has been a concern, especially in the light of declining budgetary allocations and potential damage due to the increased visitor numbers. Policy options to increase park revenue remain unclear because of a lack of information on demand parameters and user costs. This study estimates the economic value of the park using the travel cost method (TCM) and the contingent valuation method (CVM). The TCM gives higher consumer surplus (CS) than the CVM. The CS shows that the economic value of the park is high and that there are opportunities to introduce innovative fee schemes to enhance its revenue. Present entry fee systems do not capture the economic value of the park.

Covalent immobilization of naringinase for the transformation of a flavonoid

Naringinase (EC 3.2.1.40) from Penicillium sp was immobilized by covalent binding to woodchips to improve its catalytic activity. The immobilization of naringinase on glutaraldehyde-coated woodchips (600 mg woodchips, 10 U naringinase, 45 °C, pH 4.0 and 12h) through 1% glutaraldehyde cross-linking was optimized. The pH-activity curve of the immobilized enzyme shifted toward a lower pH compared with that of the soluble enzyme. The immobilization caused a marked increase in thermal stability of the enzyme. The immobilized naringinase was stable during storage at 4 °C. No loss of activity was observed when the immobilized enzyme was used for seven consecutive cycles of operations. The efficiency of immobilization was 120%, while soluble naringinase afforded 82% efficacy for the hydrolysis of standard naringin under optimal conditions. Its applicability for debittering kinnow mandarin juice afforded 76% debittering efficiency. 

Amoebiasis vaccine development: a snapshot on E. histolytica with emphasis on perspectives of Gal/GalNAc lectin

Amoebiasis/amebiasis is a gastrointestinal infection caused by an enteric dwelling protozoan, Entamoeba histolytica. The disease is endemic in the developing world and is transmitted mainly via the faecal-oral route (e.g., in water or food) and may or may not be symptomatic. This disease of socio-economic importance worldwide involves parasite adherence and cytolysis of human cells followed by invasion that is mediated by galactose-binding (Gal/GalNAc) surface lectin. Disruption of the mucus layer leads to invasive intestinal and extraintestinal infection. Gal-lectin based vaccinations have conferred protection in various animal models against E. histolytica infections. Keeping in view the pivotal role of Gal/GalNAc lectin in amoebiasis vaccine development, its regulation, genomic view of the parasite involving gene conversion in lectin gene families, current knowledge about involvement of Gal/GalNAc lectin in adherence, pathogenicity, signalling, encystment, generating host immune response, and in turn protozoa escape strategies, and finally its role as effective vaccine candidate has been described. This review will help researchers to explore pathogenesis mechanism along with genomic studies and will also provide a framework for future amoebiasis vaccine development studies.