Deletion of 8p: a report of a child with normal intelligence

The case is presented of a female infant with a distal deletion of 8p (8p23.1 --> pter) whose development was monitored over a 5-year period from 12 months of age. Although previous literature has suggested that 8p deletion is associated with mild to moderate intellectual disability, the child reported here has normal intelligence. Despite initial delays in gross motor and language skills, cognitive development (assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development) and intellectual ability (measured on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale) were within average range. It is argued that the small number of previous case reports may have created a misleading impression of intellectual development in individuals with distal deletions of 8p.

Scoring occupational categories for social research: A review of current practice, with Australian examples

The scoring of occupational categories has along history. After reviewing the historical background, we develop and discuss the properties of two new Australian scales based on current theorising in stratification research. The first is based on the operation of the labour market and scores occupations to reflect their central role in converting educational credentials into market income. The second is based on patterns of social interaction and scores occupations to reflect the choices that people make in marriage markets. While these two scales are not theoretically or empirically equivalent, they are closely related and provide equally valid, but alternative, ways of measuring the underlying stratification order of modern societies.

Optimal input states and feedback for interferometric phase estimation

We derive optimal N-photon two-mode input states for interferometric phase measurements. Under canonical measurements the phase variance scales as N-2 for these states, as compared to N-1 or N-1/2 for states considered bq previous authors. We prove, that it is not possible to realize the canonical measurement by counting photons in the outputs of the interferometer, even if an adjustable auxiliary phase shift is allowed in the interferometer. However. we introduce a feedback algorithm based on Bayesian inference to control this auxiliary phase shift. This makes the measurement close to a canonical one, with a phase variance scaling slightly above N-2. With no feedback, the best result (given that the phase to be measured is completely unknown) is a scaling of N-1. For optimal input states having up to four photons, our feedback scheme is the best possible one, but for higher photon numbers more complicated schemes perform marginally better.

Psychometric evaluation of the Early/Late Preferences Scale

This paper examines the psychometric quality of the Early/Late Preferences Scale (PS) relative to that of the Composite Morningness Scale (CS). Questionnaires were completed by 670 undergraduate students aged 16-37 years (mean 22.5), of whom 64% were female. Both scales displayed satisfactory inter-item correlations and similar total mean scores to those reported previously, although the CS had higher variability. Principal axis factor analysis produced single-factor solutions for both scales, although loadings for Items 7 and 9 on the PS were low. Internal consistencies for both scales were good (PS=0.86, CS=0.90) with only a small improvement achieved by deleting Items 7 and 9 from the PS. Test-retest reliability over 11 weeks was good for both scales (PS=0.92, CS=0.89). Differences between morning, evening and intermediate groups in self-rated alertness at different times of day, and significant correlations with other indices of morning-evening orientation, provided evidence of validity for both scales. These results indicate that PS is psychometrically comparable with CS. In view of its simpler format and lower cultural specificity, PS may be considered a preferable measure for most applications.

Helping the female partners of men abusing alcohol: a comparison of three treatments

Aim. To evaluate the effectiveness of three approaches to assisting the female partners of male problem drinkers with the stress imposed by the male's drinking. Design. Participants were assigned randomly via random number tables to one of three treatment conditions: supportive counselling, stress management or alcohol-focused couples therapy. Setting. The intervention took place at the Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre (BRTC), The University of Queensland. This research and training centre offers outpatient psychology services to the community. Participants. Sixty-one married women whose husbands drank heavily. Participants reported protracted alcohol problems, severe impact of alcohol on social functioning and severe marital distress. Measurement. The women's stress, alcohol consumption by the male, and relationship functioning were assessed at pre- and post-treatment and at 6-month follow-up. Interventions. All three treatments involved 15 1-hour sessions with the woman. In the alcohol-focused couple therapy, attempts were made to engage the man in these sessions. Results. Contrary to our predictions, there were few differences between the treatments. All three treatments were associated with reductions in the women's reported stress, with trends for somewhat greater reduction in the women's stress in the stress management and alcohol-focused couples therapy conditions than for supportive counselling. None of the treatments produced clinically significant reductions in men's drinking or relationship distress. Conclusion. The treatments ease stresses and burden but do not improve drinking or relationships. Limited power in the design restricted the capacity to detect differential treatment effects.

The Alcohol Helplessness Scale and its prediction of depression among problem drinkers

Event-specific scales commonly have greater power than generalized scales in prediction of specific disorders and in testing mediator models for predicting such disorders. Therefore, in a preliminary study, a 6-item Alcohol Helplessness Scale was constructed and found to be reliable for a sample of 98 problem drinkers. Hierarchical multiple regression and its derivative path analysis were used to test whether helplessness and self-efficacy moderate or mediate the link between alcohol dependence and depression, A test of a moderation model was not supported, whereas a test of a mediation model was supported. Helplessness and self-efficacy both significantly and independently mediated between alcohol dependence and depression. Nevertheless, a significant direct effect of alcohol dependence on depression also remained, (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Advances in application of climate prediction in agriculture

Agricultural ecosystems and their associated business and government systems are diverse and varied. They range from farms, to input supply businesses, to marketing and government policy systems, among others. These systems are dynamic and responsive to fluctuations in climate. Skill in climate prediction offers considerable opportunities to managers via its potential to realise system improvements (i.e. increased food production and profit and/or reduced risks). Realising these opportunities, however, is not straightforward as the forecasting skill is imperfect and approaches to applying the existing skill to management issues have not been developed and tested extensively. While there has been much written about impacts of climate variability, there has been relatively little done in relation to applying knowledge of climate predictions to modify actions ahead of likely impacts. However, a considerable body of effort in various parts of the world is now being focused on this issue of applying climate predictions to improve agricultural systems. In this paper, we outline the basis for climate prediction, with emphasis on the El Nino-Southern Oscillation phenomenon, and catalogue experiences at field, national and global scales in applying climate predictions to agriculture. These diverse experiences are synthesised to derive general lessons about approaches to applying climate prediction in agriculture. The case studies have been selected to represent a diversity of agricultural systems and scales of operation. They also represent the on-going activities of some of the key research and development groups in this field around the world. The case studies include applications at field/farm scale to dryland cropping systems in Australia, Zimbabwe, and Argentina. This spectrum covers resource-rich and resource-poor farming with motivations ranging from profit to food security. At national and global scale we consider possible applications of climate prediction in commodity forecasting (wheat in Australia) and examine implications on global wheat trade and price associated with global consequences of climate prediction. In cataloguing these experiences we note some general lessons. Foremost is the value of an interdisciplinary systems approach in connecting disciplinary Knowledge in a manner most suited to decision-makers. This approach often includes scenario analysis based oil simulation with credible models as a key aspect of the learning process. Interaction among researchers, analysts and decision-makers is vital in the development of effective applications all of the players learn. Issues associated with balance between information demand and supply as well as appreciation of awareness limitations of decision-makers, analysts, and scientists are highlighted. It is argued that understanding and communicating decision risks is one of the keys to successful applications of climate prediction. We consider that advances of the future will be made by better connecting agricultural scientists and practitioners with the science of climate prediction. Professions involved in decision making must take a proactive role in the development of climate forecasts if the design and use of climate predictions are to reach their full potential. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hyaline tissue of thermally unaltered conodont elements and the enamel of vertebrates

Comparison of the ultrastructure of the hyaline tissue of conodont elements and the enamel of vertebrates provides little support for a close phylogenetic relationship between conodonts and vertebrates. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy shows that the mineralised component of the hyaline tissue of Panderodus and of Cordylodus elements consists of large, flat, oblong crystals, arranged in layers that run parallel to the long axis of the conodont. Enamel in the dentition of a living vertebrate, the lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri, has crystals of calcium hydroxyapatite, arranged in layers, and extending in groups from the dentine-enamel junction; the crystals are slender, elongate spicules perpendicular to the surface of the tooth plate, Similar crystal arrangements to those of lungfish are found in other vertebrates, but none resembles the organisation of the hyaline tissue of conodont elements, The crystals of hydroxyapatite in conodont hyaline tissue are exceptionally large, perpendicular or parallel to the surface of the element, with no trace of prisms, unlike the protoprismatic radial crystallite enamel of fish teeth and scales, or the highly organised prismatic enamel of mammals.

A simulated annealing algorithm for finding consensus sequences

Motivation: A consensus sequence for a family of related sequences is, as the name suggests, a sequence that captures the features common to most members of the family. Consensus sequences are important in various DNA sequencing applications and are a convenient way to characterize a family of molecules. Results: This paper describes a new algorithm for finding a consensus sequence, using the popular optimization method known as simulated annealing. Unlike the conventional approach of finding a consensus sequence by first forming a multiple sequence alignment, this algorithm searches for a sequence that minimises the sum of pairwise distances to each of the input sequences. The resulting consensus sequence can then be used to induce a multiple sequence alignment. The time required by the algorithm scales linearly with the number of input sequences and quadratically with the length of the consensus sequence. We present results demonstrating the high quality of the consensus sequences and alignments produced by the new algorithm. For comparison, we also present similar results obtained using ClustalW. The new algorithm outperforms ClustalW in many cases.

Treatment outcome in individuals with chronic pain: is the Pain Stages of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ) a useful tool? Jenny StrongCorresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, a, Kym Westburya, Glen Smithb, Ian McKenziec and William Ryan

The efficacy of psychological treatments emphasising a self-management approach to chronic pain has been demonstrated by substantial empirical research. Nevertheless, high drop-out and relapse rates and low or unsuccessful engagement in self-management pain rehabilitation programs have prompted the suggestion that people vary in their readiness to adopt a self-management approach to their pain. The Pain Stages of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ) was developed to assess a patient's readiness to adopt a self-management approach to their chronic pain. Preliminary evidence has supported the PSOCQ's psychometric properties. The current study was designed to further examine the psychometric properties of the PSOCQ, including its reliability, factorial structure and predictive validity. A total of 107 patients with an average age of 36.2 years (SD = 10.63) attending a multi-disciplinary pain management program completed the PSOCQ, the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) and the West Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI) pre-admission and at discharge from the program. Initial data analysis found inadequate internal consistencies of the precontemplation and action scales of the PSOCQ and a high correlation (r = 0.66, P < 0.01) between the action and maintenance scales. Principal component analysis supported a two-factor structure: 'Contemplation' and 'Engagement'. Subsequent analyses revealed that the PSEQ was a better predictor of treatment outcome than the PSOCQ scales. Discussion centres upon the utility of the PSOCQ in a clinical pain setting in light of the above findings, and a need for further research. (C) 2002 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Patterns and levels of endemism in the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest: evidence from flightless insects

This study examines the level and pattern of endemism among 274 flightless rainforest insects found in the Wet Tropics region of Australia. Endemism is measured at two nested scales: (1) those confined to the Wet Tropics, termed 'regional endemics'; and (2) the subset of those species confined to a single subregion of the Wet Tropics, termed 'subregional endemics'. Fifty per cent of the regional endemic flightless insects are also subregional endemics compared with 15% of the known regional endemic vertebrates. The four subregions with the most endemic flightless insect species are the uplands of Mt Finnigan, Carbine, Bellenden-Ker/Bartle Frere and Atherton. Multiple regression suggests that the combination of rainforest area and shape explain the most variance (R-2 = 0.603) in the numbers of species of regional endemic insects. However, subregional endemism is not closely correlated with the size or shape of the subregions in which they occur, or a combination of these factors. Candidate refugial and recolonised subregions are identified, and are consistent with data from palaeoclimatic models and refugia identified using other taxa. We group upland subregions into larger areas of endemism using parsimony analysis of endemism. These groupings are consistent with our understanding of the history of the Wet Tropics rainforests.

Clinical assessment of HIV-associated lipodystrophy syndrome: bioelectrical impedance analysis, anthropometry and clinical scores

Background Diagnosis of the HIV-associated lipodystrophy syndrome is based on clinical assessment, in lack of a consensus about case definition and reference methods. Three bedside methods were compared in their diagnostic value for lipodystrophy. Patients and Methods. Consecutive HIV-infected outpatients (n = 278) were investigated, 128 of which also had data from 1997 available. Segmental bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and waist, hip and thigh circumferences were performed. Changes in seven body regions were rated by physicians and patients using linear analogue scale assessment (LASA). Diagnostic cut-off values were searched by receiver operator characteristics. Results. Lipodystrophy was diagnosed in 85 patients (31%). BIA demonstrated higher fat-free mass in patients with lipodystrophy but not after controlling for body mass index and sex. Segmental BIA was not superior to whole body BIA in detecting lipodystrophy. Fat-free mass increased from 1997 to 1999 independent from lipodystrophy. Waist-hip and waist-thigh ratios were higher in patients with lipodystrophy. BIA, anthropometry and LASA did not provide sufficient diagnostic cut-off values for lipodystrophy. Agreement between methods, and between patient and physician rating, was poor. Conclusion: These methods do not fulfil the urgent need for quantitative diagnostic tools for lipodystrophy. BIA estimates of fat free mass may be biased by lipodystrophy, indicating a need for re-calibration in HIV infected populations. (C) 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

Parasite distribution on client reef fish determines cleaner fish foraging patterns

Recent evidence suggests that cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus effectively control parasite densities on client reef fish that actively visit them to have parasites and dead or infected tissue removed. These findings support the hypothesis that clients benefit from cleaning, However, they do not show how cleaners reduce the parasite load of their clients. Cleaners could selectively feed on parasites or parasite removal could be a side product of cleaners foraging indifferently on the client surface, resulting in the removal of healthy mucus and scales also. To investigate cleaner fish foraging behaviour, we infected individuals of the surgeon fish Ctenochaetus striatus, with parasitic monogeneans on one body side, while the other body side was parasite free. We then allowed these clients to interact with L, dimidiatus. We found that the duration of interactions depended on parasite load, and that cleaners spent both more time and took more bites per time unit on the infected than on the uninfected side, Our data thus support the idea that parasite abundance determines food patch quality for cleaners. The overall outcome of cleaning interactions is thus likely to benefit the clients.

Mapping intertidal habitats and an evaluation of their conservation status in Queensland, Australia

The goal of biodiversity conservation has been described as the conservation of diversity at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Developing a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) is considered an effective way to achieve this goal in the marine environment. In the absence of detailed information relating to biological distributions there has been increasing use of biodiversity surrogates to determine MPA priorities at regional levels. The development of biodiversity surrogates at fine scales (i.e. habitats) will have an increasingly important role in the identification of sites that will contribute to a representative system of MPAs. This is because it will increase the likelihood that the system will adequately achieve biodiversity objectives by ensuring protection of a greater range of habitats and species. This article provides an explanation of an intertidal shoreline habitat surrogate used to describe 24,216km of Queensland's coastline. The protective status of intertidal habitats was evaluated to assist with designing a representative system of intertidal MPAs. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptive multiscale principal components analysis for online monitoring of wastewater treatment

Fault detection and isolation (FDI) are important steps in the monitoring and supervision of industrial processes. Biological wastewater treatment (WWT) plants are difficult to model, and hence to monitor, because of the complexity of the biological reactions and because plant influent and disturbances are highly variable and/or unmeasured. Multivariate statistical models have been developed for a wide variety of situations over the past few decades, proving successful in many applications. In this paper we develop a new monitoring algorithm based on Principal Components Analysis (PCA). It can be seen equivalently as making Multiscale PCA (MSPCA) adaptive, or as a multiscale decomposition of adaptive PCA. Adaptive Multiscale PCA (AdMSPCA) exploits the changing multivariate relationships between variables at different time-scales. Adaptation of scale PCA models over time permits them to follow the evolution of the process, inputs or disturbances. Performance of AdMSPCA and adaptive PCA on a real WWT data set is compared and contrasted. The most significant difference observed was the ability of AdMSPCA to adapt to a much wider range of changes. This was mainly due to the flexibility afforded by allowing each scale model to adapt whenever it did not signal an abnormal event at that scale. Relative detection speeds were examined only summarily, but seemed to depend on the characteristics of the faults/disturbances. The results of the algorithms were similar for sudden changes, but AdMSPCA appeared more sensitive to slower changes.