Knowing a donor and identifying as one : determinants of people's willingness for related and anonymous living donation in Australia

While LRD (living donation to a genetically/emotionally related recipient) is well established in Australia, LAD (living anonymous donation to a stranger) is rare. Given the increasing use of LAD overseas, Australia may likely follow suit. Understanding the determinants of people’s willingness for LAD is essential but infrequently studied in Australia. Consequently, we compared the determinants of people’s LRD and LAD willingness, and assessed whether these determinants differed according to type of living donation. We surveyed 487 health students about their LRD and LAD willingness, attitudes, identity, prior experience with blood and organ donation, deceased donation preference, and demographics. We used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to identify the determinants of willingness for LRD and LAD and paired sample t-tests to examine differences in LRD and LAD attitudes, identity, and willingness. Mean differences in willingness (LRD 5.93, LAD 3.92), attitudes (LRD 6.43, LAD 5.53), and identity (LRD 5.69, LAD 3.58) were statistically significant. Revised SEM models provided a good fit to the data (LRD: x2 (41) = 67.67, p = 0.005, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.04; LAD: x2 (40) = 79.64, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.05) and explained 45% and 54% of the variation in LRD and LAD willingness, respectively. Four common determinants of LRD and LAD willingness emerged: identity, attitude, past blood donation, and knowing a deceased donor. Religious affiliation and deceased donation preference predicted LAD willingness also. Identifying similarities and differences in these determinants can inform future efforts aimed at understanding people’s LRD and LAD willingness and the evaluation of potential living donor motives. Notably, this study highlights the importance of people’s identification as a living donor as a motive underlying their willingness to donate their organs while living.

An investigation of differences in crash characteristics between males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event

There is consensus among community and road safety agencies that driver fatigue is a major road safety issue and it is well known that excessive fatigue is linked with an increased risk of a motor vehicle crash. Previous research has implicated a wide variety of factors involved in fatigue-related crashes and the effects of these various factors in regard to crash risk can be interpreted as causal (i.e. alcohol and/or drugs may induce fatigue states) or additive (e.g. where a lack of sleep is combined with alcohol). As such, the purpose of this investigation was to examine self-report data to determine whether there are any differences in the prevalence, crash characteristics, and travel patterns of males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event. Such research is important to understand how fatigue related incidents occur within the typical driving patterns of men and women and it provides a starting point in order to explore if males and females experience and understand the risk of diving when tired in the same way. A representative sample of (N = 1,600) residents living in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were surveyed regarding their experience of fatigue and their involvement in fatigue-related crashes and close call incidents. Results revealed that over 35% of participants reported having had a close call or crash due to driving when tired in the five years prior to the study being conducted. In addition, the results obtained revealed a number of interesting characteristics that provide preliminary evidence that gender differences do exist when examining the prevalence, crash characteristics, and travel patterns of males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event. It is argued that the results obtained can provide particularly useful information for the refinement and further development of appropriate countermeasures that better target this complex issue.

Interventions for co-occurring addictive and other mental disorders (AMDs)

While research on the management of co-occurring addictive and mental disorders (AMDs) has grown substantially in recent years, we still have little guidance on specific strategies. Consideration of epidemiological research and ethical principles can supplement existing clinical trials in providing a way forward. High frequencies of co-occurring disorders, equity of access for affected individuals and potential clashes between services in priorities and procedures, suggest that a stepped model of care by a single service may often be required. Typically, problems are multiple rather than dual, with potential for mutual influence, suggesting a need for interventions that are sensitive to and encompass complex co-occurring problems. Motivational problems are endemic, initial gains are often partial and unstable, and relapses potentially have serious consequences, suggesting a need for long-term, assertive follow-up. Principles such as these provide a solid framework for designing both services and interventions. However, there is a continuing need for controlled trials that unpack effective components of interventions, and increase their impact.

Maternal age and paternal age are associated with distinct childhood behavioural outcomes in a general population birth cohort

Abstract Background Recent studies show that advanced paternal age (APA) is associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. A body of evidence also suggests that individuals who develop schizophrenia show subtle deviations in a range of behavioural domains during their childhood. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between paternal and maternal ages and selected behavioural measures in children using a large birth cohort. Method Participants were singleton children (n = 21,753) drawn from the US Collaborative Perinatal Project. The outcome measures were assessed at 7 years. The main analyses examined the relationship between parental age and behavioural measures when adjusted for a range of potentially confounding variables, including age of the other parent, maternal race, socio-economic measures, sex, gestation length, maternal marital status, parental mental illness, and child's age-at-testing. Results Advanced paternal age was associated with a significantly increased risk of adverse ‘externalizing’ behaviours at age seven years. For every five year increase in paternal age, the odds of higher ‘externalizing’ behaviours was increased by 12% (OR = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.03, 1.21, p < 0.0001). The relationship persisted after adjusting for potential confounding factors. ‘Internalizing’ behavioural outcome was not associated with advanced paternal age. In contrast, advanced maternal age was significantly protective against adverse ‘externalizing’ behavioural outcomes, but associated with an increased risk of adverse ‘internalizing’ behavioural outcomes. Discussion The offspring of older fathers show a distinctly different pattern of behaviours compared to the offspring of older mothers. The diverse socio-cultural and biologically-mediated factors that underpin these findings remain to be clarified. In light of secular trends related to delayed parenthood, the mechanisms underlying these findings warrant closer scrutiny.

Beating the urge : implications of research into substance-related desires

Despite the advent of improved pharmacological treatments to alleviate substance-related desires, psychological approaches will continue to be required. However, the current psychological treatment that most specifically focuses on desires and their management—cue exposure (CE)—has not lived up to its original promise. This paper argues that current psychological approaches to desire do not adequately incorporate our knowledge about the factors that trigger, maintain, and terminate episodes of desire. It asserts that the instigation and maintenance of desires involve both associative and elaborative processes. Understanding the processes triggering the initiation of intrusive thoughts may assist in preventing some episodes, but occasional intrusions will be inevitable. A demonstration of the ineffectiveness of thought suppression may discourage its use as a coping strategy for desire-related intrusions, and mindfulness meditation plus cognitive therapy may help in accepting their occurrence and letting them go. Competing tasks may be used to reduce elaboration of desires, and competing sensory images may have particular utility. The application of these procedures during episodes that are elicited in the clinic may allow the acquisition of more effective strategies to address desires in the natural environment.

Levelling expectations across different years in an undergraduate degree to support work-related learning : evidence for a multi-pronged approach.

One of the ways in which university departments and faculties can enhance the quality of learning and assessment is to develop a ‘well thought out criterion‐referenced assessment system’ (Biggs, 2003, p. 271). In designing undergraduate degrees (courses) this entails making decisions about the levelling of expectations across different years through devising objectives and their corresponding criteria and standards: a process of alignment analogous to what happens in unit (subject) design. These decisions about levelling have important repercussions in terms of supporting students’ work‐related learning, especially in relation to their ability to cope with the increasing cognitive and skill demands made on them as they progress through their studies. They also affect the accountability of teacher judgments of students’ responses to assessment tasks, achievement of unit objectives and, ultimately, whether students are awarded their degrees and are sufficiently prepared for the world of work. Research reveals that this decision‐making process is rarely underpinned by an explicit educational rationale (Morgan et al, 2002). The decision to implement criterion referenced assessment in an undergraduate microbiology degree was the impetus for developing such a rationale because of the implications for alignment, and therefore ‘levelling’ of expectations across different years of the degree. This paper provides supporting evidence for a multi‐pronged approach to levelling, through backward mapping of two revised units (foundation and exit year). This approach adheres to the principles of alignment while combining a work‐related approach (via industry input) with the blended disciplinary and learner‐centred approaches proposed by Morgan et al. (2002). It is suggested that this multi‐pronged approach has the potential for making expectations, especially work‐related ones across different year levels of degrees, more explicit to students and future employers.

Alternative schooling programs for at risk youth : three case studies

This thesis develops a critical realist explanatory critique of alternative schooling programs for youth at risk taking place at three case study sites. Throughout the thesis the author pursues the question, \Are alternative provisions of schooling working academically and socially for youth at risk?. The academic lens targets literacy learning and associated pedagogies. Social outcomes are posited as positive social behaviours and continued engagement in learning. A four phased analysis, drawing on critical realism, interpretive and subject specific theories is used to elicit explanations for the research question. An overall framework is a critical realist methodology as set out by Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen and Karlsson (2002, p. 129). Consequently phase one describes the phenomena of alternative schooling programs taking place at three case study sites. This is reported first as staff narratives that are resolved into imaginable historical causal components of \generative events., \prior schooling structures., \models of alternative schooling., \purpose., \individual agency., and \relations with linked community organisations.. Then transcendental questions are posed about each component using retroduction to uncover structures, underlying mechanisms and powers, and individual agency. In the second phase the researcher uses modified grounded theory methodology to theoretically redescribe causal categories related to a \needed different teaching and administrative approach. that emerged from the previous critique. A transcendental question is then applied to this redescription. The research phenomena are again theoretically redescribed in the third phase, this time using three theoretically based constructs associated with literacy and literacy pedagogies; the NRS, the 4 Resources Model, and Productive Pedagogies. This redescription is again questioned in terms of its core or \necessary. components. The fourth phase makes an explanatory critique by comparing and critiquing all previous explanations, recontextualising them in a wider macro reality of alternative schooling. Through this critical realist explanatory critiquing process, a response emerges not only to whether alternative provisions of schooling are working, but also how they are working, and how they are not working, with realistically based implications for future improvement.

Enhancing road safety for young drivers : how Graduate Driver Licensing initiatives can complement "anti-hooning" legislation

Street racing and associated (hooning) behaviours have attracted increasing concern in recent years. While New Zealand and all Australian jurisdictions have introduced “antihooning” legislation and allocated significant police resources to managing the problem, there is limited evidence of the road safety implications of hooning. However, international and Australian data suggests that drivers charged with a hooning offence tend to be young males who are accompanied by one or more peers, and hooning-related crashes tend to occur at night. In this regard, there is considerable evidence that drivers under the age of 25 are over-represented in crash statistics, and are particularly vulnerable soon after obtaining a Provisional licence, when driving at night, and when carrying peer-aged passengers. The similarity between the nature of hooning offenders, offences and crashes, and road safety risks for young drivers in general, suggests that hooning is an issue that may be viewed as part of the broader young driver problem. Many jurisdictions have recently implemented a range of evidence-based strategies to address young driver road safety, and this paper will present Queensland crash and offence data to highlight the potential benefit of Graduated Driver Licensing initiatives, such as night driving restrictions and peer-aged passenger restrictions, to related road safety issues, including hooning. An understanding of potential flow-on effects is important for evaluations of anti-hooning legislation and Graduated Driver Licensing programs, and may have implications for future law enforcement resource allocation and policy development.

Strains as Mediators between Job Characteristics and Work-Related Outcomes in Police Officers

The relationship between job characteristics (e.g., job demands, social support) and work-related outcomes (e.g., turnover intentions, job performance) is assumed to be mediated by strains (e.g., work-related well-being, psychological strain). However, evidence suggests this association will be stronger for work-related strains than broader measures of overall psychological well-being. The primary aim of this study was to identify whether work and non-work related strains differ significantly in their ability to mediate between job characteristics and work-related outcomes. Perceptions of job characteristics, strain, turnover intentions and job performance were collected via a self-report survey from 2,588 Australian police officers. All job characteristics (job demands, job control, supervisor support and colleague support) were significant predictors of both job performance and turnover intentions, with the exception of job demands, which was not a significant predictor of turnover intentions. Both work and non-work related strains were significant predictors of turnover intentions and job performance. Strains were collectively significant in mediating between job characteristics and work-related outcomes, except in the case of job demands and job performance. The indirect effects of job characteristics on work-related outcomes were primarily through officers’ work-related enthusiasm. The relative importance of work-related enthusiasm in mediating between job characteristics and work-related outcomes offers some support for previous research suggesting stronger associations between work-related constructs. Future research should examine whether there are substantial differences in the explanatory power of work-related enthusiasm and a popular related construct, work engagement.

Age-related development of a refractive index plateau in the human lens : evidence for a distinct nucleus

The human lens comprises two distinct regions in which the refractive index changes at different rates. The periphery contains a rapidly increasing refractive index gradient, which becomes steeper with age. The inner region contains a shallow gradient, which flattens with age, due to formation of a central plateau, of RI = 1.418, which reaches a maximum size of 7.0 × 3.05 mm around age 60 years. Formation of the plateau can be attributed to compression of fibre cells generated in prenatal life. Present in prenatal but not in postnatal fibre cells, γ-crystallin may play a role in limiting nuclear cell compression.

Ghrelin gene-related peptides : multifunctional endocrine/autocrine modulators in health and disease

Ghrelin is a multi-functional peptide hormone which affects various processes including growth hormone and insulin release, appetite regulation, gut motility, metabolism and cancer cell proliferation. Ghrelin is produced in the stomach and in other normal and pathological cell types. It may act as an endocrine or autocrine/paracrine factor. The ghrelin gene encodes a precursor protein, preproghrelin, from which ghrelin and other potentially active peptides are derived by alternative mRNA splicing and/or proteolytic processing. The metabolic role of the peptide obestatin, derived from the preproghrelin C-terminal region, is controversial. However, it has direct effects on cancer cell proliferation. The regulation of ghrelin expression and the mechanisms through which the peptide products arise are unclear. We have recently re-examined the organisation of the ghrelin gene and identified several novel exons and transcripts. One transcript, which lacks the ghrelin-coding region of preproghrelin, contains the coding sequence of obestatin. Furthermore, we have identified an overlapping gene on the antisense strand of ghrelin, GHRLOS, which generates transcripts that may function as non-coding regulatory RNAs or code for novel, short bioactive peptides. The identification of these novel ghrelin-gene related transcripts and peptides raises critical questions regarding their physiological function and their role in obesity, diabetes and cancer.

Event-related potential (ERP) correlates of impaired visuospatial memory in schizophrenia

Previous studies have reported that patients with schizophrenia demonstrate impaired performance during working memory (WM) tasks. The current study aimed to determine whether WM impairments in schizophrenia are accompanied by reduced slow wave (SW) activity during on-line maintenance of mnemonic information. Event-related potentials were obtained from patients with schizophrenia and well controls as they performed a visuospatial delayed response task. On 50% of trials, a distractor stimulus was introduced during the delay. Compared with controls, patients with schizophrenia produced less SW memory negativity, particularly over the right hemisphere, together with reduced frontal enhancement of SW memory negativity in response to distraction. The results indicate that patients with schizophrenia generate less maintenance phase neuronal activity during WM performance, especially under conditions of distraction.

The manipulation of apoptosis-related genes to generate resistance to Fusarium wilt and water stress in banana

Bananas are susceptible to a diverse range of biotic and abiotic stresses, many of which cause serious production constraints worldwide. One of the most destructive banana diseases is Fusarium wilt caused by the soil-borne fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). No effective control strategy currently exists for this disease which threatens global banana production. Although disease resistance exists in some wild bananas, attempts to introduce resistance into commercially acceptable bananas by conventional breeding have been hampered by low fertility, long generation times and association of poor agronomical traits with resistance genes. With the advent of reliable banana transformation protocols, molecular breeding is now regarded as a viable alternative strategy to generate disease-resistant banana plants. Recently, a novel strategy involving the expression of anti-apoptosis genes in plants was shown to result in resistance against several necrotrophic fungi. Further, the transgenic plants showed increased resistance to a range of abiotic stresses. In this thesis, the use of anti-apoptosis genes to generate transgenic banana plants with resistance to Fusarium wilt was investigated. Since water stress is an important abiotic constraint to banana production, the resistance of the transgenic plants to water stress was also examined. Embryogenic cell suspensions (ECS) of two commercially important banana cultivars, Grand Naine (GN) and Lady Finger (LF), were transformed using Agrobacterium with the anti-apoptosis genes, Bcl-xL, Bcl-xL G138A, Ced-9 and Bcl- 2 3’ UTR. An interesting, and potentially important, outcome was that the use of anti-apoptosis genes resulted in up to a 50-fold increase in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation efficiency of both LF and GN cells over vector controls. Regenerated plants were subjected to a complete molecular characterisation in order to detect the presence of the transgene (PCR), transcript (RT-PCR) and gene product (Western blot) and to determine the gene copy number (Southern blot). A total of 36 independently-transformed GN lines (8 x Bcl-xL, 5 x Bcl-xL G138A, 15 x Ced-9 and 8 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR) and 41 independently-transformed LF lines (8 x Bcl-xL, 7 x BclxL G138A, 13 x Ced-9 and 13 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR) were identified. The 41 transgenic LF lines were multiplied and clones from each line were acclimatised and grown under glasshouse conditions for 8 weeks to allow monitoring for phenotypic abnormalities. Plants derived from 3 x Bcl-xL, 2 x Ced-9 and 5 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR lines displayed a variety of aberrant phenotypes. However, all but one of these abnormalities were off-types commonly observed in tissue-cultured, non-transgenic banana plants and were therefore unlikely to be transgene-related. Prior to determining the resistance of the transgenic plants to Foc race 1, the apoptotic effects of the fungus on both wild-type and Bcl-2 3’ UTR-transgenic LF banana cells were investigated using rapid in vitro root assays. The results from these assays showed that apoptotic-like cell death was elicited in wild-type banana root cells as early as 6 hours post-exposure to fungal spores. In contrast, these effects were attenuated in the root cells of Bcl-2 3’ UTR-transgenic lines that were exposed to fungal spores. Thirty eight of the 41 transgenic LF lines were subsequently assessed for resistance to Foc race 1 in small-plant glasshouse bioassays. To overcome inconsistencies in rating the internal (vascular discolouration) disease symptoms, a MatLab-based computer program was developed to accurately and reliably assess the level of vascular discolouration in banana corms. Of the transgenic LF banana lines challenged with Foc race 1, 2 x Bcl-xL, 3 x Ced-9, 2 x Bcl-2 3’ UTR and 1 x Bcl-xL G138A-transgenic line were found to show significantly less external and internal symptoms than wild-type LF banana plants used as susceptible controls at 12 weeks post-inoculation. Of these lines, Bcl-2 3’ UTR-transgenic line #6 appeared most resistant, displaying very mild symptoms similar to the wild-type Cavendish banana plants that were included as resistant controls. This line remained resistant for up to 23 weeks post-inoculation. Since anti-apoptosis genes have been shown to confer resistance to various abiotic stresses in other crops, the ability of these genes to confer resistance against water stress in banana was also investigated. Clonal plants derived from each of the 38 transgenic LF banana plants were subjected to water stress for a total of 32 days. Several different lines of transgenic plants transformed with either Bcl-xL, Bcl-xL G138A, Ced-9 or Bcl-2 3’ UTR showed a delay in visual water stress symptoms compared with the wild-type control plants. These plants all began producing new growth from the pseudostem following daily rewatering for one month. In an attempt to determine whether the protective effect of anti-apoptosis genes in transgenic banana plants was linked with reactive oxygen species (ROS)-associated programmed cell death (PCD), the effect of the chloroplast-targeting, ROS-inducing herbicide, Paraquat, on wild-type and transgenic LF was investigated. When leaf discs from wild-type LF banana plants were exposed to 10 ìM Paraquat, complete decolourisation occurred after 48 hours which was confirmed to be associated with cell death and ROS production by trypan blue and 3,3-diaminobenzidine (DAB) staining, respectively. When leaf discs from the transgenic lines were exposed to Paraquat, those derived from some lines showed a delay in decolourisation, suggesting only a weak protective effect from the transgenes. Finally, the protective effect of anti-apoptosis genes against juglone, a ROS-inducing phytotoxin produced by the causal agent of black Sigatoka, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, was investigated. When leaf discs from wild-type LF banana plants were exposed to 25 ppm juglone, complete decolourisation occurred after 48 hours which was again confirmed to be associated with cell death and ROS production by trypan blue and DAB staining, respectively. Further, TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assays on these discs suggested that the cell death was apoptotic. When leaf discs from the transgenic lines were exposed to juglone, discs from some lines showed a clear delay in decolourisation, suggesting a protective effect. Whether these plants are resistant to black Sigatoka is unknown and will require future glasshouse and field trials. The work presented in this thesis provides the first report of the use of anti-apoptosis genes as a strategy to confer resistance to Fusarium wilt and water stress in a nongraminaceous monocot, banana. Such a strategy may be exploited to generate resistance to necrotrophic pathogens and abiotic stresses in other economically important crop plants.

"There's no way in hell I would pull up" : Deterrent and other effects of vehicle impoundment laws for hooning

Traffic law enforcement is based on deterrence principles, whereby drivers control their behaviour in order to avoid an undesirable sanction. For “hooning”-related driving behaviours in Queensland, the driver’s vehicle can be impounded for 48 hours, 3 months, or permanently depending on the number of previous hooning offences. It is assumed that the threat of losing something of value, their vehicle, will discourage drivers from hooning. While official data shows that the rate of repeat offending is low, an in-depth understanding of the deterrent effects of these laws should involve qualitative research with targeted drivers. A sample of 22 drivers who reported engaging in hooning behaviours participated in focus group discussions about the vehicle impoundment laws as applied to hooning offences in Queensland. The findings suggested that deterrence theory alone cannot fully explain hooning behaviour, as participants reported hooning frequently, and intended to continue doing so, despite reporting that it is likely that they will be caught, and perceiving the vehicle impoundment laws to be extremely severe. The punishment avoidance aspect of deterrence theory appears important, as well as factors over and above legal issues, particularly social influences. A concerning finding was drivers’ willingness to flee from police in order to avoid losing their vehicle permanently for a third offence, despite acknowledging risks to their own safety and that of others. This paper discusses the study findings in terms of the implications for future research directions, enforcement practices and policy development for hooning and other traffic offences for which vehicle impoundment is applied.

A Numerical Solution Using an Adaptively Preconditioned Lanczos Method for a Class of Linear Systems Related with the Fractional Poisson Equation

This study considers the solution of a class of linear systems related with the fractional Poisson equation (FPE) (−∇2)α/2φ=g(x,y) with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions on a bounded domain. A numerical approximation to FPE is derived using a matrix representation of the Laplacian to generate a linear system of equations with its matrix A raised to the fractional power α/2. The solution of the linear system then requires the action of the matrix function f(A)=A−α/2 on a vector b. For large, sparse, and symmetric positive definite matrices, the Lanczos approximation generates f(A)b≈β0Vmf(Tm)e1. This method works well when both the analytic grade of A with respect to b and the residual for the linear system are sufficiently small. Memory constraints often require restarting the Lanczos decomposition; however this is not straightforward in the context of matrix function approximation. In this paper, we use the idea of thick-restart and adaptive preconditioning for solving linear systems to improve convergence of the Lanczos approximation. We give an error bound for the new method and illustrate its role in solving FPE. Numerical results are provided to gauge the performance of the proposed method relative to exact analytic solutions.