Renewing Australia's mental health strategy

The Second National Mental Health Plan, endorsed by Commonwealth, State and Territory governments on 30 July 1998, will pursue three key themes: (1) Promoting mental health, plus prevention of and early intervention in mental disorders, with a specific focus on depression; (2) continuing structural reform of mental health services, including better integration with general practice and the private psychiatric sector; and (3) implementing quality and outcome measures in mental health services, including evidence-based practice.

Mucosal immunisation with papillomavirus virus-like particles elicits systemic and mucosal immunity in mice

It has been shown previously that recombinant virus-like particles (VLPs) of papillomavirus can induce VLP-specific humoral and cellular immune responses following parenteral administration. To test whether mucosal administration of bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV1) VLPs could produce mucosal as well as systemic immune responses to VLPs, 50 mu g chimeric BPV1 VLPs containing an HPV16 E7 CTL epitope (BPVL1/E7 VLP) was administered intranasally to mice. After two immunisations, L1-specific serum IgG and IgA were observed. L1-specific IgG and IgA were also found in respiratory and vaginal secretions. Both serum and mucosal antibody inhibited papillomavirus VLP-induced agglutination of RBC, indicating that the antibody induced by mucosal immunisation may recognize conformational determinants associated with virus neutralisation. For comparison, VLPs were given intramuscularly, and systemic and mucosal immune responses were generally comparable following systemic or mucosal delivery. However, intranasal administration of VLP induced significantly higher local IgA response in lung, suggesting that mucosally delivered HPV VLP may be more effective for mediating local mucosal immune responses. Intranasal immunisation with HPV6b L1 VLP produced VLP-specific T proliferative responses in splenocytes, and immunisation with BPVL1 VLP containing an HPV16 E7 CTL epitope induced E7-specific CTL responses. We conclude that immunisation with papillomavirus VLPs via mucosal and intramuscular routes, without adjuvant, can elicit specific antibody at mucosal surfaces and also systemic VLP epitope specific T cell responses. These findings suggest that mucosally delivered VLPs may offer an alternative HPV VLP vaccine strategy for inducing protective humoral immunity to anogenital HPV infection, together with cell-mediated immune responses to eliminate any cells which become infected. (C) 1998 Academic Press.

A bleach program for inmates in NSW: an HIV prevention strategy

Syringe cleaning guidelines for injecting drug users (IDUs) were revised in 1993. This paper examines efforts by IDUs in NSW prisons to adopt the revised guidelines in 1994. Consecutive inmates (229) nearing release were visited and asked to call a toll free number for an interview once released. Respondents (102) did not differ from non-respondents (127). Many respondents (64%) reported ever injecting and many of these reported injecting (58%), sharing (48%) and syringe cleaning (46%) when last in prison. Some (23%) respondents reported adopting the revised syringe cleaning guidelines. Tattooing (38%) was reported more often than sexual activity in prison (4%). A new methodology for prison research was found to be feasible in this study. The potential for HIV to spread in prison still poses major public health challenges.

Protein sequence threading, the alignment problem, and a two-step strategy

Conventionally, protein structure prediction via threading relies on some nonoptimal method to align a protein sequence to each member of a library of known structures. We show how a score function (force field) can be modified so as to allow the direct application of a dynamic programming algorithm to the problem. This involves an approximation whose damage can be minimized by an optimization process during score function parameter determination. The method is compared to sequence to structure alignments using a more conventional pair-wise score function and the frozen approximation. The new method produces results comparable to the frozen approximation, but is faster and has fewer adjustable parameters. It is also free of memory of the template's original amino acid sequence, and does not suffer from a problem of nonconvergence, which can be shown to occur with the frozen approximation. Alignments generated by the simplified score function can then be ranked using a second score function with the approximations removed. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Australian import managers' purchasing decision behaviour: An empirical study

Reports a pilot study of the relative importance of import decision variables as rated by Australian managers. A systematic sample qi 104 Australian managers representing different companies participated in the study. Australian importers rated product quality as the most important variable when importing products from overseas followed by long-term suppliers' dependability, product style/feature, price, and timely delivery. Australian managers who import consumer products find the domestic import duties and tariffs to be more important than did those who import industrial products. Larger volume importers regard the product brand name reputation to be more important than did those who import smaller volumes.

The Fornax spectroscopic survey I. Survey strategy and preliminary results on the redshift distribution of a complete sample of stars and galaxies

The Fornax Spectroscopic Survey will use the Two degree Field spectrograph (2dF) of the Angle-Australian Telescope to obtain spectra for a complete sample of all 14000 objects with 16.5 less than or equal to b(j) less than or equal to 19.7 in a 12 square degree area centred on the Fornax Cluster. The aims of this project include the study of dwarf galaxies in the cluster (both known low surface brightness objects and putative normal surface brightness dwarfs) and a comparison sample of background field galaxies. We will also measure quasars and other active galaxies, any previously unrecognised compact galaxies and a large sample of Galactic stars. By selecting all objects-both stars and galaxies-independent of morphology, we cover a much larger range of surface brightness and scale size than previous surveys. In this paper we first describe the design of the survey. Our targets are selected from UK Schmidt Telescope sky survey plates digitised by the Automated Plate Measuring (APM) facility. We then describe the photometric and astrometric calibration of these data and show that the APM astrometry is accurate enough for use with the 2dF. We also describe a general approach to object identification using cross-correlations which allows us to identify and classify both stellar and galaxy spectra. We present results from the first 2dF field. Redshift distributions and velocity structures are shown for all observed objects in the direction of Fornax, including Galactic stars? galaxies in and around the Fornax Cluster, and for the background galaxy population. The velocity data for the stars show the contributions from the different Galactic components, plus a small tail to high velocities. We find no galaxies in the foreground to the cluster in our 2dF field. The Fornax Cluster is clearly defined kinematically. The mean velocity from the 26 cluster members having reliable redshifts is 1560 +/- 80 km s(-1). They show a velocity dispersion of 380 +/- 50 km s(-1). Large-scale structure can be traced behind the cluster to a redshift beyond z = 0.3. Background compact galaxies and low surface brightness galaxies are found to follow the general galaxy distribution.

Immune responses induced by BCG recombinant for human papillomavirus L1 and E7 proteins

Recombinant bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) based vaccine delivery systems could potentially share the safety and effectiveness of BCG. We therefore prepared recombinant BCG vaccines which expressed the L1 late protein of the human papillomavirus (HPV) 6b or the E7 early protein of the HPV 16. The two recombinants were evaluated as immunogens in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice, and compared with a conventional protein/adjuvant system using E7 or L1 mixed with Quil-A adjuvant. rBCG6bL1 and rBCG16E7 primed specific immune responses, represented by DTH, T-proliferation and antibody, and rBCG16E7 induced cytotoxic immune response to E7 protein. The magnitude of the observed responses were less than those elicited by protein/adjuvant vaccine. As recombinant BCG vaccines expressing HPV6bL1 or HPV16E7 persist at low levels in the immunised host, they may be beneficial to prime or retain memory responses to antigens, but are unlikely to be useful as a single component vaccine strategy. (C) 2000 Elsevier science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Papillomavirus virus-like particles for the delivery of multiple cytotoxic T cell epitopes

Chimeric papillomavirus (PV) virus-like particles (VLPs) based on the bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) L1 protein were constructed by replacing the 23-carboxyl-terminal amino acids of the BPV1 major protein L1 with an artificial polytope minigene, containing known CTL epitopes of human PV16 E7 protein, HIV IIIB gp120 P18, Nef, and reverse transcriptase (RT) proteins, and an HPV16 E7 linear B epitope. The CTL epitopes were restricted by three different MHC class 1 alleles (H-2(b), H-2(d), HLA-A*0201). The chimeric L1 protein assembled into VLPs when expressed in SF-9 cells by recombinant baculovirus. After immunization of mice with polytope VLPs in the absence of adjuvant, serum antibodies were detected which reacted with both polytope VLPs and wild-type BPV1L1 VLPs, in addition to the HPV16E7 linear B cell epitope. CTL precursors specific for the HPV16 E7, HIV P18, and RT CTL epitopes were also detected in the spleen of immunized mice. Polytope VLPs can thus deliver multiple B and T epitopes as immunogens to the MHC class I and class II pathways, extending the utility of VLPs as self-adjuvanting immunogen delivery systems. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

The effects of the Cannabis Expiation Notice System on the prevalence of cannabis use in South Australia: evidence from the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys 1985-95

This study sought to examine the impact of the Cannabis Expiation Notice (CEN) scheme on the prevalence of lifetime and weekly cannabis use in South Australia. Data from five National Drug Strategy Household Surveys between 1985 and 1995 were examined to test for differences in trends in self-reported: (1) lifetime cannabis use; and (2) current weekly cannabis use, after controlling for age and gender, between South Australia and the other states and territories. Between 1985 and 1995, rates of lifetime cannabis use increased in SA from 26% to 36%. There were also significant increases in Victoria (from 26% to 32%), Tasmania (from 21% to 33%) and New South Wales (from 26% to 33%). The increase in South Australia was significantly greater than the average increase throughout the rest of Australia, but the other Australian states differed in their rates of change. Victoria and Tasmania had similar rates of increase to South Australia; New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia showed lower rates of increase; and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory had high rates that did not change during the period. There was no statistically significant difference between SA and the rest of Australia in the rate of increase in weekly cannabis use. While there was a greater increase in self- reported lifetime cannabis use in South Australia between 1985 and 1995 than in the average of the other Australian jurisdictions it is unlikely that this increase is due to the CEN system, because similar increases occurred in Tasmania and Victoria (where there was no change in the legal status of cannabis use), and there was no increase in the rate of weekly cannabis use in South Australia over the same period.

The potential for a selective screening strategy for abdominal aortic aneurysm

Objectives-To investigate the feasibility of selective screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) based on identification of a target group of manageable size defined by risk factors for AAA. Setting-Male residents of Perth, Western Australia, aged 65-83 years, who participated in a randomised controlled trial of ultrasound screening for AAA. Methods-Eligible men were identified from the electoral roll and invited to attend a screening clinic. Those who attended completed a questionnaire, had a limited physical examination, and underwent an ultrasound examination to identify the maximum diameter of the infrarenal aorta. Data on risk factors collected from the first 8995 men seen were used to calculate a multivariate risk score for the remaining 2755 men who were screened. Gentiles of the risk score were used to define potential target groups for screening and the sensitivity and specificity of each of these selective screening strategies were calculated. We repeated the calculation separately for AAAs of at least 30 mm, 40 mm, and 50 mm in diameter. Results-We found that screening half of the male population aged 65-83 years would find approximately 75% of AAAs, regardless of their size, whereas screening only current smokers in this population would find approximately 20% of AAAs. Conclusions-Selective screening for AAA using easily recognisable risk factors is feasible but is not worthwhile as approximately 25% of clinically significant cases would be missed.

Effect of an attentional strategy on movement-related potentials recorded from subjects with Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease patients perform automatic movements in a bradykinetic manner, somewhat similar to patients with Parkinson's disease. Cortical activity relating to the preparation of movement in Parkinson's disease is significantly improved when a cognitive strategy is used. It is unknown whether patients with Huntington's disease can utilise an attentional strategy, and what effect this strategy would have on the premovement cortical activity. Movement-related potentials were recorded from 12 Huntington's disease patients and controls performing externally cued finger tapping movement, allowing an examination of cortical activity related to movement performance and bradykinesia in this disease. All subjects were tested in two conditions, which differed only by the presence or absence of the cognitive strategy. The Huntington's disease group, unlike controls, did not produce a rising premovement potential in the absence of the strategy. The Huntington's disease group did produce a rising premovement potential for the strategy condition, but the early slope of the potential was significantly reduced compared with the control group's early slope. These results are similar to those found previously with Parkinson's disease patients. The strategy may have put the task, which previously might have been under deficient automatic control, under attentional control. (C) 2002 Movement Disorder Society.