Renal and gastrointestinal amyloidosis in an HIV-infected injection drug user

A 30-year-old HIV-infected intravenous drug user presented with sepsis, acute renal failure, oedema, proteinuria and iron deficiency anaemia. After extensive investigation, a diagnosis of reactive systemic AA (amyloid, serum amyloid A protein) amyloidosis was made on the basis of renal, gastric and duodenal biopsies.

The nature and severity of urinary incontinence in post-natal women

This study investigated the frequency, nature and experience of urinary incontinence in post-natal women. Surveys were completed by 224 women, 50% of whom indicated that they had experienced accidental urine loss. The majority of women who had experienced any symptoms were moderately to greatly bothered by them. A variety of strategies were used to manage the problem; however, 42% of the women who experienced accidental urine loss had taken no action to ease the problem. Women received information about urinary incontinence and pelvic floor exercises from a variety health care professionals, but this was not consistently provided. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The education needs of caregivers of stroke survivors in acute and community settings

Stroke is a major cause of chronic illness in Australia, where it is estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 people live with disabilities due to stroke. Given stroke's effect on survivors and the accompanying burden on caregivers, attention should be given to addressing the needs of caregivers of stroke survivors because they are central to supporting survivors living in the community. Research has shown that the information needs of caregivers are not being met across healthcare settings. Thus, some attention must be given to the development of educational materials that address caregiver needs. In this study we interviewed caregivers to determine their perspectives on support and educational needs at two different stages in the recovery of the stroke survivor: the acute hospital and the community. Despite a high level of uncertainty among caregivers in the acute and community settings, limited information was provided to assist them in their new role. A multifaceted approach would involve the development and implementation of specifically designed educational materials for caregivers, the use of a tool such as a patient-held record to assist in and improve the continuity and communication of care, and the provision of ongoing support from a stroke nurse practitioner who would follow stroke survivors from the acute setting to the community. This approach should be evaluated so that the important issue of addressing caregiver needs is given its due attention.

A preliminary investigation of the relationship between parental empathy and social anxiety and children's social anxiety

This study investigated the association between parents' social anxiety and empathy, and their children's social anxiety, Twenty-one mothers, 12 fathers and 24 children aged between 7 and 12 years were recruited from state primary schools in the eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne, Australia. Parents completed self-report questionnaires assessing their parental empathy and level of social anxiety. Children completed a modified version of the social anxiety questionnaire. All parent variables, except for maternal anxiety, were related to children's social anxiety. Overall, parental empathy was found to have a considerable association with child social anxiety, which is consistent with arguments that micro-level family mechanisms are important influences on child social anxiety. Future studies of parental empathy with clinical populations and data collection from multiple sources are recommended.

Turbulence and stratification in priest pot, a productive pond in a sheltered environment

Priest Pot is an example of the abundant ponds that, collectively, contribute crucially to species diversity. Despite extensive biological study, little has been reported about the physical framework that supports its ecological richness. This article elucidates the physical character of Priest Pot’s water column and thus that of similar water bodies. Vertical thermal microstructure profiles were recorded during summer 2003 and analyzed alongside concurrent meteorological data. During summer stratification, the thermal structure appeared to be dominated by surface heat fluxes. Surface wind stress, limited by sheltering vegetation, caused turbulent overturns once a surface mixed layer was present but appeared to contribute little to setting up the thermal structure. Variations in full-depth mean stratification occurred predominantly over seasonal and ∼5-day time scales, the passage of atmospheric pressure systems being posited as the cause of the latter. In the uppermost ∼0.5 m, where the stratification varied at subdaily time scales, turbulence was active (sensu Ivey and Imberger 1991) when this layer was mixed, with dissipation values ε ∼ 10⁻⁸ m² s⁻³ and vertical diffusivity K_Z = 10^₋₄ — 10_⁻⁶ m^₂ s⁻¹. Where the water column was stratified, turbulence was strongly damped by both buoyancy and viscosity, and K_Z was an order of magnitude smaller. Vertical transport in the mixed layer occurred via many small overturns (Thorpe scale r.m.s. and maximum values were typically 0.02 m and 0.10 m, respectively), and seston were fully mixed through the water column.

Returning to work: exploring the experiences of women with acute coronary syndromes

Aims: The aim of this study was to explore the transition experiences of Australian women in resuming paid employment after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event. Background: Until recently cardiovascular research has focused predominantly on men but this is changing and research exploring women’s experiences of ACS has increased. Despite knowing that many women do not resume paid employment following an ACS event, little is known about the experience of those women who do, even though it is understood that returning to the previous level of employment after an ACS event is a positive outcome. Design: An exploratory qualitative approach underpinned by naturalistic inquiry was undertaken. Methods: A purposive sample of seven women who had experienced their first ACS event 12 months ago was selected. Each woman was interviewed using a semi–structured format and their interviews were transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of the transcript set and conceptual mapping were employed to formulate key themes. Findings: All women (mean age 52.6 years) resumed paid employment at various stages during their recovery, but reported similar transition processes. Three key themes representing this process were identified: primary motivation; influence through guidance and support; and resuming paid employment. Conclusions: Study findings revealed that these women required substantial support from family, friends and employers, with ongoing guidance from health professionals to return to paid work. The time frames for their return varied and some modified their roles within the workforce to enable them to return to paid work. However, formal cardiac rehabilitation did not appear to have a significant impact on these participants' decisions to return to work. They felt that more information about this decision may have been helpful if given at the time of cardiac rehabilitation.

The dancer, the choreographer and modern dance scholarship: a critical reading

This paper undertakes a critical re-examination of the ways in which dance-making relationships between the dancer and the choreographer in American modern dance have been conceptualised in dance discourses. The essay proposes that a defining aspect of modern dance practices (from the moment that, after Duncan and Fuller, it became a group as well as a solo form) was the dancing together of the choreographer and the dancer(s) as the central mode of dance creation and transmission. In dance discourses, however, this dancing relationship is frequently not acknowledged. Texts by dance scholars Susan Leigh Foster, Amy Koritz and Randy Martin which draw on theoretical frameworks from outside dance are analysed in terms of the ways the theoretical frameworks that underpin them both make it possible to raise the question of the nature of the dance-making relationship while at the same time can also make the dancer's and the choreographer's dancing together invisible or unrepresentable. The analysis shows how scholarly discourses and the theoretical frameworks upon which they are built are already invested in regimes of intelligibility and visibility which have consequences for the representation of modern dance. This analysis forms the basis for proposing the need for a non-individualised, inter-subjective and intercorporeal understanding of the dancer and the choreographer and their relationship in modern dance.

Optimal stimulation duration of tens in the management of osteoarthritic knee pain

Objective: This study examined the optimal stimulation duration of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for relieving osteoarthritic knee pain and the duration (as measured by half-life) of post-stimulation analgesia. Subjects: Thirty-eight patients received either: (i) 20 minutes (TENS20); (ii) 40 minutes (TENS40); (iii) 60 minutes (TENS60) of TENS; or (iv) 60 minutes of placebo TENS (TENSPL) 5 days a week for 2 weeks. Methods: A visual analogue scale recorded the magnitude and pain relief period for up to 10 hours after stimulation. Results: By Day10, a significantly greater cumulative reduction in the visual analogue scale scores was found in the TENS40 (83.40%) and TENS60 (68.37%) groups than in the TENS20 (54.59%) and TENSPL (6.14%) groups (p 3 0.000), such a group difference was maintained in the 2-week followup session (p 3 0.000). In terms of the duration of post-stimulation analgesia period, the duration for the TENS40 (256 minutes) and TENS60 (258 minutes) groups was more prolonged than in the other 2 groups (TENS20 = 168 minutes, TENSPL = 35 minutes) by Day10 (p 3 0.000). However, the TENS40 group produced the longest pain relief period by the follow-up session. Conclusion: 40 minutes is the optimal treatment duration of TENS, in terms of both the magnitude (VAS scores) of pain reduction and the duration of post-stimulation analgesia for knee osetoarthritis.

Estimating the changes in energy flux that characterize the rise in obesity prevalence

Background: The daily energy imbalance gap associated with the current population weight gain in the obesity epidemic is relatively small. However, the substantially higher body weights of populations that have accumulated over several years are associated with a substantially higher total energy expenditure (TEE) and total energy intake (TEI), or energy flux (EnFlux = TEE = TEI).
Objective: The objective was to develop an equation relating EnFlux to body weight in adults for estimating the rise in EnFlux associated with the obesity epidemic.
Design: Multicenter, cross-sectional data for TEE from doubly labeled water studies in 1399 adults aged 5.9 ± 18.8 y (mean ± SD) were analyzed in linear regression models with natural log (ln) weight as the dependent variable and ln EnFlux as the independent variable, adjusted for height, age, and sex. These equations were compared with those for children and applied to population trends in weight gain.
Results: ln EnFlux was positively related to ln weight (β = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.66, 0.76; R2 = 0.52), adjusted for height, age, and sex. This slope was significantly steeper than that previously described for children (β = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.38, 0.51).
Conclusions: This relation suggests that substantial increases in TEI have driven the increases in body weight over the past 3 decades. Adults have a higher proportional weight gain than children for the same proportional increase in energy intake, mostly because of a higher fat content of the weight being gained. The obesity epidemic will not be reversed without large reductions in energy intake, increases in physical activity, or both.

Conjugated linoleic acid suppresses myogenic gene expression in a model of human muscle cell inflammation

Proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-{alpha}, contribute to muscle wasting in inflammatory disorders, where TNF{alpha} acts to regulate myogenic genes. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has shown promise as an antiproliferative and antiinflammatory agent, leading to its potential as a therapeutic agent in muscle-wasting disorders. To evaluate the effect of CLA on myogenesis during inflammation, human primary muscle cells were grown in culture and exposed to varying concentrations of TNF{alpha} and the cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12 CLA isomers. Expression of myogenic genes (Myf5, MyoD, myogenin, and myostatin) and the functional genes creatine kinase (CK) and myosin heavy chain (MHC IIx) were measured by real-time PCR. TNF{alpha} significantly downregulated MyoD and myogenin expression, whereas it increased Myf5 expression. These changes corresponded with a decrease in both CK and MHC IIx expression. Both isomers of CLA mimicked the inhibitory effect of TNF{alpha} treatment on MyoD and myogenin expression, whereas myostatin expression was diminished in the presence of both isomers of CLA either alone or in combination with TNF{alpha}. Both isomers of CLA decreased CK and MHC IIx expression. These findings demonstrate that TNF{alpha} can have specific regulatory effects on myogenic genes in primary human muscle cells. A postulated antiinflammatory role of CLA in myogenesis appears more complex, with an indication that CLA may have a negative effect on this process.

Foot mucus is a good source for non-destructive genetic sampling in polyplacophora

A non-destructive method for collecting samples for DNA analysis from the mucus of molluscs was successfully adapted for use with the genus Ischnochiton. DNA was extracted using a Chelex-based method and the COI subunit of the mtDNA was amplified and sequenced. Sequences from the mucus were crosschecked against sequences from the foot tissue of the same animal and were found to be identical. This method provides a non-destructive way of carrying out larger studies of the genetics of rare organisms and may be of general use for genetic-based field studies of molluscs.

Examining the living with possums policy in Victoria, Australia : community knowledge, support and compliance

Studying the human dimensions of wildlife management issues is now considered to be an essential component
of wildlife research. This study examined the Living with Possums policy in Victoria, Australia, in terms of the policy’s
success in educating the community and ensuring community compliance. Postal surveys and telephone interviews
were conducted across three samples from Greater Melbourne. These samples included people who had experiences
with possums on their property (n = 340), veterinary clinics (n = 45) and the general public (n = 103). Significant
levels of non-compliance were uncovered, highlighting the need for a renewed public education campaign to take place
along with a continued interest in this issue from government agencies and councils. The study also revealed
discrepancies between the policy and public preferences for possum management, suggesting that a shift in the
recommended management technique may be warranted.