The role for police in addressing alcohol-related harm inside and outside licensed premises

Alcohol consumption is enmeshed with Australian culture (Palk, 2008) and the use and misuse of alcohol contributes to considerable health and social harms (Barbor et al., 2010; English et al., 1995; Gutjahr, Gmel, & Rehm, 2001; Palk, 2008; Steenkamp, Harrison, & Allsop, 2002). Despite shifts in the way that alcohol is consumed and how it is used, it has been reported that one-third of all alcohol consumed is done so within licensed premises (Lang, Stockwell, Rydon, & Gamble, 1992). Consequently, licensed premises are over-represented as settings in which alcohol-related harms occur. These harms, particularly those related to violence, are associated with particular licensed premises operating in the night-time economy (Briscoe & Donnelly, 2001b; Chikritzhs, Stockwell, & Masters, 1997; Homel, Tomsen, & Thommeny, 1991; Stockwell, 1997). Police have a role in not only responding to the manifestation of harms, such as crime, injuries, assaults, domestic violence, stealing and sexual offences, but they also have a role in preventing problems, and thereby reducing alcohol and other drug-related harms (Doherty & Roche, 2003). Given the extent of alcohol consumption within licensed premises and the nature and extent of the harms, as well as the lack of opportunity to influence outcomes in other settings (e.g. the home), licensed premises offer police and other stakeholders a significant opportunity to influence positively the reduction of alcoholrelated harm. This research focuses specifically on the police role in policing licensed premises. Primarily, this research aims to investigate the factors which are relevant to why and how police officers respond to alcohol-related incidents inside and outside licensed premises. It examines the attitudes and beliefs of police and assesses their knowledge, capacity and ability to effectively police licensed premises. The research methodology uses three distinct surveys. Each contributes to understanding the motivations and practice of police officers in this important area of harm reduction. Study One involved a survey of police officers within a police district (Brisbane Central District) in Queensland, Australia and used a comprehensive questionnaire involving both quantitative and qualitative techniques. A key research outcome of Study One was the finding that officers had low levels of knowledge of the strategies that are effective in addressing alcohol-related harm both inside and outside licensed premises. Paradoxically, these officers also reported extensive recent experience in dealing with alcohol issues in these locations. In addition, these officers reported that alcohol was a significant contextual factor in the majority of matters to which they responded. Officers surveyed reported that alcohol increased the difficulty of responding to situations and that licensed premises (e.g. nightclubs, licensed clubs and hotels) were the most difficult contexts to police. Those surveyed were asked to self-assess their knowledge of the Liquor Act (Qld), which is the primary legislative authority in Queensland for regulating licensed premises. Surprisingly, well over half of the officers (65%) reported ‘no’ to ‘fair’ knowledge of the Act, despite officers believing that their skill level to police such premises was in the ‘good to very good range’. In an important finding, officers reported greater skill level to police outside licensed premises than inside such premises, indicating that officers felt less capable, from a skill perspective, to operate within the confines of a licensed premise than in the environment immediately outside such premises. Another key finding was that officers reported greater levels of training in responding to situations outside and around licensed premises than to situations inside licensed premises. Officers were also asked to identify the frequency with which they employed specified regulatory enforcement and community-based strategies. Irrespective of the type of response, ‘taking no action’ or passive policing interventions were not favoured by officers. The findings identified that officers favoured taking a range of strategies (sending home, releasing into the custody of friends, etc.) in preference to arrest. In another key finding, officers generally reported their support for operational stakeholder partnership approaches to policing licensed premises. This was evidenced by the high number of officers (over 90%) reporting that there should be shared responsibility for enforcing the provisions of the Liquor Act. Importantly, those surveyed also identified the factors which constrain or prevent them from policing licensed premises. Study Two involved interviewing a small but comprehensive group (n=11) of senior managers from within the Queensland Police Service (QPS) who have responsibility for setting operational and strategic policy. The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes, perceptions and influence that senior officers (at the strategy and policy-setting level) had on the officers at the operational level. This qualitative study was carried out using a purposive sampling (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Guba & Lincoln, 1989), focused interview and thematic analytic approach. The interview participants were drawn from three tiers of management at district, regional as well as the whole-of-organisational level. The first key theme emerging from the study related to role, in terms of both the QPS broader organisational role, and the individual officer role with respect to the policing of licensed premises. For the QPS organisational role, participants at all three strategic levels had a high degree of congruity as to the organisations service role; that is, to enhance public safety. With respect to participants’ beliefs as to whether police officers have knowledge and understanding of their individual roles concerning licensed premises (as opposed to the QPS role), participants reported most commonly that officers had a reasonable to clear understanding of their role. Participant comments also were supportive of the view that officers operating in the research area, Brisbane Central District (BCD), had a clearer understanding of their role than police operating in other locations. The second key theme to emerge identified a disparity between the knowledge and capability of specialist police, compared with general duties police, to police licensed premises. In fact, a number of the responses to a variety of questions differentiated specialist and general police in a range of domains. One such example related to the clarity of understanding of officer role. Participants agreed that specialist police (Liquor Enforcement & Proactive Strategies [LEAPS] officers) had more clarity of understanding in terms of their role than generalist police. Participants also were strongly of the opinion that specialist police had higher skill levels to deal with issues both inside and outside licensed premises. Some participants expressed the view that general duty police undertook purely response-related activities, or alternatively, dealt with lower order matters. Conversely, it was viewed that specialist police undertook more complex tasks because of their higher levels of knowledge and skill. The third key theme to emerge concerned the identification of barriers that serve to restrict or prevent police officers from policing licensed premises. Participant responses strongly indicated that there was a diversity of resourcing barriers that restrict police from undertaking their roles in licensed premises. Examples of such barriers were the lack of police and the low ratio of police to patrons, available officer time, and lack of organisational investment in skills and knowledge acquisition. However, some participants indicated that police resourcing in the BCD was appropriate and officers were equipped with sufficient powers (policy and legislation). Again, the issue of specialist police was raised by one participant who argued that increasing the numbers of specialist police would ameliorate the difficulties for police officers policing licensed premises. The fourth and last key theme to emerge from Study Two related to the perception of senior officers regarding the opportunity and capability of officers to leverage off external partnerships to reduce harms inside and outside licensed premises. Police working in partnership in BCD was seen as an effective harm reduction strategy and strongly supported by the participants. All participants demonstrated a high degree of knowledge as to who these partners were and could identify those government, non-government and community groups precisely. Furthermore, the majority of participants also held strong views that the partnerships were reasonably effective and worked to varying degrees depending on the nature of the partnership and issues such as resourcing. These senior officers identified better communication and coordination as factors that could potentially strengthen these partnerships. This research finding is particularly important for senior officers who have the capacity to shape the policy and strategic direction of the police service, not only in Queensland but throughout Australasia. Study Three examined the perceptions of those with links to the broader liquor industry (government, non-government and community but exclusive of police) concerning their understanding of the police role and the capacity of police to reduce alcohol-related harm inside and outside licensed premises, and their attitudes towards police. Participants (n=26) surveyed represented a range of areas including the liquor industry, business represenatives and government representatives from Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, Queensland Ambulance Service, Brisbane City Council and Queensland Health. The first key theme to emerge from Study Three related to participant understanding of the QPS organisational role, and importantly, individual officer role in policing licensed premises. In terms of participant understanding of the QPS role there was a clear understanding by the majority of participants that the police role was to act in ways consistent with the law and to otherwise engage in a range of enforcement-related activities. Participants saw such activities falling into two categories. The first category related to reactive policing, which included actions around responding to trouble in licensed premises, monitoring crowd controllers and removing trouble-makers. In the second category, proactive approaches, participants identified the following activities as consistent with that approach: early intervention with offenders, support of licensed premises operators and high visibility policing. When participants were asked about their understanding of individual officer roles in the policing of licensed premises, a range of responses were received but the consistent message that emerged was that there is a different role to be played by general duty (uniformed) police compared to specialist (LEAPS Unit) police, which reflects differences in knowledge, skill and capability. The second key theme that emerged from the data related to the external participants’ views of the knowledge and capability of specialist police, compared with general duty police, to police licensed premises. As noted in the first key theme, participants were universally of the view that the knowledge, skill and capability of police in specialist units (LEAPS Unit) was at a higher level than that of general duty police. Participants observed that these specialist officers were better trained than their colleagues in generalist areas and were therefore better able to intervene knowledgeably and authoritatively to deal with problems and issues as they emerged. Participants also reported that officers working within BCD generally had a positive attitude to their duties and had important local knowledge that they could use in the resolution of alcohol-related issues. Participants also commented on the importance of sound and effective QPS leadership, as well as the quality of the leadership in BCD. On both these measures, there was general consensus from participants, who reported positively on the importance and effectiveness of such leadership in BCD. The third key theme to emerge from Study Three concerned the identification of barriers that serve to restrict or prevent police officers from policing licensed premises. Overwhelmingly, external participants reported the lack of human resources (i.e. police officers) as the key barrier. Other resourcing limitations, such as available officer time, police computer systems, and the time taken to charge offenders, were identified as barriers. Some participants identified barriers in the liquor industry such as ‘dodgy operators’ and negative media attention as limitations. Other constraints to emerge related to government and policy barriers. These were reflected in comments about the collection by government of fees from licensees and better ‘powers’ for police to deal with offenders. The fourth and final key theme that emerged from Study Three related to the opportunities for and capability of police to leverage off external partnerships to reduce harms inside and outside licensed premises. Not surprisingly, participants had a comprehensive knowledge of a broad range of stakeholders, from a diversity of contexts, influential in addressing issues in licensed premises. Many participants reported their relationships with the police and other stakeholders as effective, productive and consistent with the objectives of partnering to reduce alcohol-related harm. On the other hand, there were those who were concerned with their relationship with other stakeholders, particularly those with a compliance function (e.g. Office of Liquor & Gaming Regulation [OLGR]). The resourcing limitations of partners and stakeholders were also raised as an important constraining factor in fulfilling the optimum relationship. Again, political issues were mentioned in terms of the impact on partnerships, with participants stating that there is at times political interference and that politicians complicate the relationships of stakeholders. There are some significant strengths with respect to the methodology of this research. The research is distinguished from previous work in that it examines these critical issues from three distinct perspectives (i.e. police officer, senior manager and external stakeholder). Other strengths relate to the strong theoretical framework that guides and informs the research. There are also some identified limitations, including the subjective nature of self-report data as well as the potential for bias by the author, which was controlled for using a range of initiatives. A further limitation concerns the potential for transferability and generalisability of the findings to other locations given the distinctive nature of the BCD. These limitations and issues of transferability are dealt with at length in the thesis. Despite a growing body of literature about contextual harms associated with alcohol, and specific research concerning police intervention in such contextual harms, there is still much to learn. While research on the subject of police engaging in alcohol-related incidents has focused on police behaviours and strategies in response to such issues, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the knowledge and understanding of officers engaged in such behaviours and practices. Given the scarcity of research dealing with the knowledge, skills and attitudes of police officers responding to harms inside and outside licensed premises, this research contributes significantly to what is a recent and growing body of research and literature in the field. The research makes a practical contribution to police agencies’ understanding of officer knowledge and police practice in ways that have the potential to shape education and training agendas, policy approaches around generalist versus specialist policing, strategic and operational strategy, as well as partnership engagements. The research also makes a theoretical contribution given that the research design is informed by the Three Circle

Interaction of water with the fluorine-covered anatase TiO2(001) surface

The interaction of water with the fluorine-covered (001) surface of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been studied within the framework of density functional theory (DFT). Our results show that water dissociation is unfavorable due to repulsive interactions between surface fluorine and oxygen. We also found that the reaction of hydrofluoric acid with a surface hydroxyl group to form a surface Ti–F bond is exothermic, while the removal of fluorine from the surface needs additional energy of about half an eV. Therefore, water molecules are predicted to remain intact at the interface with the F-terminated anatase (001).

Memory : (Re)imagining the past through children's literature

There has been a renewal of interest in memory studies in recent years, particularly in the Western world. This chapter considers aspects of personal memory followed by the concept of cultural memory. It then examines how the Australian cultural memory of the Anzac Legend is represented in a number of recent picture books.

Predicting depressive and anxiety disorders with the YASR internalising scales (empirical and DSM-oriented)

Background The Achenbach problem behaviour scales (CBCL/YSR) are widely used. The DSM-oriented anxiety and depression scales have been created to improve concordance between Achenbach’s internalising scales and DSM-IV depression and anxiety. To date no study has examined the concurrent utility of the young adult (YASR) internalising scales, either the empirical or newly developed DSM-oriented depressive or anxiety scales. Methods A sample of 2,551 young adults, aged 18–23 years, from an Australian cohort study. The association between the empirical and DSM-oriented anxiety and depression scales were individually assessed against DSMIV depression and anxiety diagnoses derived from structured interview. Odds ratios, ROC analyses and diagnostic efficiency tests (sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values) were used to report findings. Results YASR empirical internalising scale predicted DSM-IV mood disorders (depression OR = 6.9, 95% CI 5.0–9.5; anxiety OR = 5.1, 95% CI 3.8–6.7) in the previous 12 months. DSM-oriented depressive or anxiety scales did not appear to improve the concordance with DSM-IV diagnosed depression or anxiety. The internalising scales were much more effective at identifying those with comorbid depression and anxiety, with Ors between 10.1 and 21.7 depending on the internalising scale used. Conclusion DSM-oriented scales perform no better than the standard internalising in identifying young adults with DSM-IV mood or anxiety disorder.

Climatic records over the past 30 ka from temperate Australia – a synthesis from the Oz-INTIMATE workgroup

Temperate Australia sits between the heat engine of the tropics and the cold Southern Ocean, encompassing a range of rainfall regimes and falling under the influence of different climatic drivers. Despite this heterogeneity, broad-scale trends in climatic and environmental change are evident over the past 30 ka. During the early glacial period (∼30–22 ka) and the Last Glacial Maximum (∼22–18 ka), climate was relatively cool across the entire temperate zone and there was an expansion of grasslands and increased fluvial activity in regionally important Murray–Darling Basin. The temperate region at this time appears to be dominated by expanded sea ice in the Southern Ocean forcing a northerly shift in the position of the oceanic fronts and a concomitant influx of cold water along the southeast (including Tasmania) and southwest Australian coasts. The deglacial period (∼18–12 ka) was characterised by glacial recession and eventual disappearance resulting from an increase in temperature deduced from terrestrial records, while there is some evidence for climatic reversals (e.g. the Antarctic Cold Reversal) in high resolution marine sediment cores through this period. The high spatial density of Holocene terrestrial records reveals an overall expansion of sclerophyll woodland and rainforest taxa across the temperate region after ∼12 ka, presumably in response to increasing temperature, while hydrological records reveal spatially heterogeneous hydro-climatic trends. Patterns after ∼6 ka suggest higher frequency climatic variability that possibly reflects the onset of large scale climate variability caused by the El Niño/Southern Oscillation.

Confucius Institutes and the rise of China: How the People's Republic of China uses its cultural institutions abroad to communicate with the world

This thesis examines the role of Confucius Institutes in China's cultural diplomacy. It analyses Confucius Institutes in Australia and Germany and explains the differences between Confucius Institutes and their international counterparts such as the British Council or the Goethe Institute. China's unique approach to establish these institutes as joint ventures has multiple implications not only for individual institutes and their partners involved, but more generally for the Chinese understanding of cultural diplomacy. The case of Confucius Institutes shows China's willingness to cooperate with foreigners in the context of cultural diplomacy, which, as with all such diplomatic endeavours, eventually serves national interests.

Percutaneous patent foramen ovale closure : outcomes with the Premere and Amplatzer devices

BACKGROUND: Transcatheter closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) has rapidly evolved as the preferred management strategy for the prevention of recurrent cerebrovascular events in patients with cryptogenic stroke and presumed paradoxical embolus. There is limited outcome data in patients treated with this therapy particularly for the newer devices. METHODS: Data from medical records, catheter, and echocardiography databases on 70 PFO procedures performed was collected prospectively. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 70 patients (mean age 43.6 years, range 19 to 77 years), of whom 51% were male. The indications for closure were cryptogenic cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in 64 (91%) and peripheral emboli in two (2.8%) patients and cryptogenic ST-elevation myocardial infarction in one (1.4%), refractory migraine in one (1.4%), decompression sickness in one (1.4%), and orthodeoxia in one (1.4%) patient, respectively. All patients had demonstrated right-to-left shunting on bubble study. The procedures were guided by intracardiac echocardiography in 53%, transesophageal echocardiography in 39%, and the remainder by transthoracic echo alone. Devices used were the Amplatzer PFO Occluder (AGA Medical) (sizes 18-35 mm) in 49 (70%) and the Premere device (St. Jude Medical) in 21 (30%). In-hospital complications consisted of one significant groin hematoma with skin infection. Echocardiographic follow-up at 6 months revealed that most patients had no or trivial residual shunt (98.6%), while one patient (1.4%) had a mild residual shunt. At a median of 11 months' follow-up (range 1 month to 4.3 years), no patients (0%) experienced further CVA/TIAs or paradoxical embolic events during follow-up. CONCLUSION: PFO causing presumed paradoxical embolism can be closed percutaneously with a low rate of significant residual shunting and very few complications. Recurrent index events are uncommon at medium-term (up to 4 years) follow-up.

Frequency in hypertensives of alleles for a RFLP associated with the renin gene

The genetic basis of primary hypertension is not known. Renin is important in blood pressure and volume control and a HindIII restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) is present within the human renin gene locus. To examine whether there is a relationship between this RFLP and primary hypertension, DNA and renin analyses were performed on leukocytes and plasma from hypertensive and normotensive individuals. In hypertensives the frequencies of alleles for the HindIII RFLP were found to be 0.55 and 0.45, compared with 0.60 and 0.40 in the total population of 231 subjects examined, a difference that was not statistically significant. There also appeared to be no significant difference in renin activity in plasma for hypertensive patients of each genotype, nor in their pre- or post-treatment blood pressures. We thus conclude that, within the limits of the present study, the suspected genetic abnormalities associated with primary hypertension in man do not appear to be related to a HindIII RFLP in the renin gene.

Characterisation of two distinctly different processes associated with the electrocrystallization of microcrystals of phase I CuTCNQ (TCNQ= 7, 7, 8, 8-tetracyanoquinodimethane)

Semi-conducting phase I CuTCNQ (TCNQ = 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane), which is of considerable interest as a switching device for memory storage materials, can be electrocrystallized from CH3CN via two distinctly different pathways when TCNQ is reduced to TCNQ˙− in the presence of [Cu(MeCN)4]+. The first pathway, identified in earlier studies, occurs at potentials where TCNQ is reduced to TCNQ˙− and involves a nucleation–growth mechanism at preferred sites on the electrode to produce arrays of well separated large branched needle-shaped phase I CuTCNQ crystals. The second pathway, now identified at more negative potentials, generates much smaller needle-shaped phase I CuTCNQ crystals. These electrocrystallize on parts of the surface not occupied in the initial process and give rise to film-like characteristics. This process is attributed to the reduction of Cu+[(TCNQ˙−)(TCNQ)] or a stabilised film of TCNQ via a solid–solid conversion process, which also involves ingress of Cu+via a nucleation–growth mechanism. The CuTCNQ surface area coverage is extensive since it occurs at all areas of the electrode and not just at defect sites that dominate the crystal formation sites for the first pathway. Infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction, surface plasmon resonance, quartz crystal microbalance, scanning electron microscopy and optical image data all confirm that two distinctly different pathways are available to produce the kinetically-favoured and more highly conducting phase I CuTCNQ solid, rather than the phase II material.

Evidence for the safety and quality issues associated with the care of patients with cognitive impairment in acute care settings : a rapid review

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care commissioned this rapid review to identify recent evidence in relation to three key questions: 1. What is the current evidence of quality and safety issues regarding the hospital experience of people with cognitive impairment (dementia/delirium)? 2. What are the existing evidence-based pathways, best practice or guidelines for cognitive impairment in hospitals? 3. What are the key components of an ideal patient journey for a person with dementia and/or delirium? The purpose of this review is to identify best practice in caring for patients with cognitive impairment (CI) in acute hospital settings. CI refers to patients with dementia and delirium but can include other conditions. For the purposes of this report, ‘Hospitals’ is defined as acute care settings and includes care provided by acute care institutions in other settings (e.g. Multipurpose Services and Hospital in the Home). It does not include residential aged care settings nor palliative care services that are not part of a service provided by an acute care institution. Method Both peer-reviewed publications and the grey literature were comprehensively searched for recent (primarily post 2010) publications, reports and guidelines that addressed the three key questions. The literature was evaluated and graded according to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) levels of criteria (see Evidence Summary – Appendix B). Results Thirty-one recent publications were retrieved in relation to quality and safety issues faced by people with CI in acute hospitals. The results indicate that CI is a common problem in hospitals (upwards of 30% - the rate increases with increasing patient age), although this is likely to be an underestimate, in part, due to numbers of patients without a formal dementia diagnosis. There is a large body of evidence showing that patients with CI have worse outcomes than patients without CI following hospitalisation including increased mortality, more complications, longer hospital stays, increased system costs as well as functional and cognitive decline. 4 To improve the care of patients with CI in hospital, best practice guidelines have been developed, of which sixteen recent guidelines/position statements/standards were identified in this review (Table 2). Four guidelines described standards or quality indicators for providing optimal care for the older person with CI in hospital, in general, while three focused on delirium diagnosis, prevention and management. The remaining guidelines/statements focused on specific issues in relation to the care of patients with CI in acute hospitals including hydration, nutrition, wandering and care in the Emergency Department (ED). A key message in several of the guidelines was that older patients should be assessed for CI at admission and this is particularly important in the case of delirium, which can indicate an emergency, in order to implement treatment. A second clear mess...

The highly abundant urinary metabolite urobilin interferes with the bicinchoninic acid assay

Estimation of total protein concentration is an essential step in any protein- or peptide-centric analysis pipeline. This study demonstrates that urobilin, a breakdown product of heme and a major constituent of urine, interferes considerably with the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay. This interference is probably due to the propensity of urobilin to reduce cupric ions (Cu2+) to cuprous ions (Cu1+), thus mimicking the reduction of copper by proteins, which the assay was designed to do. In addition, it is demonstrated that the Bradford assay is more resistant to the influence of urobilin and other small molecules. As such, urobilin has a strong confounding effect on the estimate of total protein concentrations obtained by BCA assay and thus this assay should not be used for urinary protein quantification. It is recommended that the Bradford assay be used instead.

Talking Fish : Making Connections with the Rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

"The ongoing review of the NFS highlighted that engagement with recreational fishers and the Indigenous community, in particular, could be enhanced. This was the impetus for the Talking Fish project which acknowledged the important relationship people have with their local rivers and fish within the Murray-Darling Basin. Within these relationships a wealth of historical information about rivers and fish was held and it was recognised that this needed to be captured..."--publisher website.

Namoi : Talking fish - making connections with the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

The Namoi River winds its way through 42 000 square kilometres of blacksoil plain in the north east of New South Wales. Fed by the rivers of the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, it contributes about one quarter of the Darling River’s flow. The river, its floodplain, wetlands, swamps and waterholes, are the traditional lands of the Gamilaraay* people. The Namoi is a very different river to the one the Gamilaraay people once knew and fished...

Escape from apoptosis after prolonged serum deprivation is associated with the regulation of the mitochondrial death pathway by Bcl-x(l)

Bcl-x(l) and Bax play important roles in the regulation of apoptosis. This study investigated the involvement of the mitochondrial death pathway and the role of Bcl-x(l) and Bax in the escape from apoptosis after prolonged serum deprivation in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. Low level apoptosis and basal activity of the mitochondrial death pathway were detectable in normal cell growth. In serum deprivation, mitosis was partially suppressed, and the mitochondrial activity was stimulated. The level of apoptosis continuously rose over 48 h. This rise was concomitant with the increasing presence of cytochrome c in cytosol. However, both apoptosis and cytosolic cytochrome c fell dramatically at 72 h. Elevation of whole cell Bcl-x(l) and redistribution of Bcl-x(l) protein from cytosol to the membrane at 48 h and 72 h was observed. Redistribution of Bax protein from the membrane to cytosol occurred at 24 h, and remained steady to 72 h. Bax/Bcl-x(l) coimmunoprecipitation by anti-Bax antibody showed reduced Bax/Bcl-x(l) interaction at the membrane at 72 h, but not at 24 or 48 h. These results suggest that apoptosis upon serum withdrawal results from the leakage of cytochrome c to cytosol. Amelioration of the leakage of cytochrome c and apoptosis requires not only the increase of Bcl-x(l)/Bax ratio, but also the release of Bcl-x(l) from Bax at the membrane.

Factors associated with the isolation of Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from a large municipal water system in Brisbane, Australia

Background Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are normal inhabitants of a variety of environmental reservoirs including natural and municipal water. The aim of this study was to document the variety of species of NTM in potable water in Brisbane, QLD, with a specific interest in the main pathogens responsible for disease in this region and to explore factors associated with the isolation of NTM. One-litre water samples were collected from 189 routine collection sites in summer and 195 sites in winter. Samples were split, with half decontaminated with CPC 0.005%, then concentrated by filtration and cultured on 7H11 plates in MGIT tubes (winter only). Results Mycobacteria were grown from 40.21% sites in Summer (76/189) and 82.05% sites in winter (160/195). The winter samples yielded the greatest number and variety of mycobacteria as there was a high degree of subculture overgrowth and contamination in summer. Of those samples that did yield mycobacteria in summer, the variety of species differed from those isolated in winter. The inclusion of liquid media increased the yield for some species of NTM. Species that have been documented to cause disease in humans residing in Brisbane that were also found in water include M. gordonae, M. kansasii, M. abscessus, M. chelonae, M. fortuitum complex, M. intracellulare, M. avium complex, M. flavescens, M. interjectum, M. lentiflavum, M. mucogenicum, M. simiae, M. szulgai, M. terrae. M. kansasii was frequently isolated, but M. avium and M. intracellulare (the main pathogens responsible for disease is QLD) were isolated infrequently. Distance of sampling site from treatment plant in summer was associated with isolation of NTM. Pathogenic NTM (defined as those known to cause disease in QLD) were more likely to be identified from sites with narrower diameter pipes, predominantly distribution sample points, and from sites with asbestos cement or modified PVC pipes. Conclusions NTM responsible for human disease can be found in large urban water distribution systems in Australia. Based on our findings, additional point chlorination, maintenance of more constant pressure gradients in the system, and the utilisation of particular pipe materials should be considered.