International tourists and road safety in Australia: developing a national research and management programme

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of injury death for international tourists. This makes road safety an important issue for tourism authorities. Unfortunately, as it is in other areas of tourist health, the common response from the travel and tourism industry is to remain silent about this problem and to leave any mishaps in the hands of insurers. At the same time, but for different reasons, international tourists are not usually targeted for road safety initiatives by transport authorities. Given that there are considerable 'hidden' costs associated with international tourists and motor vehicle crashes, the topic should be of concern to both tourism and transport groups. This paper examines issues concerned with driving in unfamiliar surroundings for international visitors in Australia, and proposes a national research and management programme to guide policy and planning in the area. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimal release strategies for biological control agents: an application of stochastic dynamic programming to population management

1. Establishing biological control agents in the field is a major step in any classical biocontrol programme, yet there are few general guidelines to help the practitioner decide what factors might enhance the establishment of such agents. 2. A stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) approach, linked to a metapopulation model, was used to find optimal release strategies (number and size of releases), given constraints on time and the number of biocontrol agents available. By modelling within a decision-making framework we derived rules of thumb that will enable biocontrol workers to choose between management options, depending on the current state of the system. 3. When there are few well-established sites, making a few large releases is the optimal strategy. For other states of the system, the optimal strategy ranges from a few large releases, through a mixed strategy (a variety of release sizes), to many small releases, as the probability of establishment of smaller inocula increases. 4. Given that the probability of establishment is rarely a known entity, we also strongly recommend a mixed strategy in the early stages of a release programme, to accelerate learning and improve the chances of finding the optimal approach.

A protocol for the fluorometric quantification of mGFP5-ER and sGFP(S65T) in transgenic plants

The Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) from Aequorea victor-in has begun to be used as a reporter protein in plants. It is particularly useful as GFP fluorescence can be detected in a non-destructive manner, whereas detection of enzyme-based reporters often requires destruction of the plant tissue. The use of GFP as a reporter enables transgenic plant tissues to be screened in vivo at any growth stage. Quantification of GFP in transgenic plant extracts will increase the utility of GFP as a reporter protein. We report herein the quantification of a mGFP5-ER Variant in tobacco leaf extracts by UV excitation and a sGFP(S65T) variant in sugarcane leaf and callus extracts by blue light excitation using the BioRad VersaFluor(TM) Fluorometer System or the Labsystems Fluoroskan Ascent FL equipped with a narrow band emission filter (510 +/- 5 nm). The GFP concentration in transgenic plant extracts was determined from a GFP-standard series prepared in untransformed plant extract with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 4 mu g/ml of purified rGFP. Levels of sgfp(S65T) expression, driven by the maize ubiquitin promoter, in sugarcane calli and leaves ranged up to 0.525 mu g and 2.11 mu g sGFP(S65T) per mg of extractable protein respectively. In tobacco leaves the expression of mgfPS-ER, driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter, ranged up to 7.05 mu g mGFP5-ER per mg extractable protein.

Risk management for scuba diving operators on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's most popular scuba diving destinations. Unfortunately, a series of recent diving injuries and deaths has tarnished the region's safety record. In particular, media attention surrounding the disappearance of American divers Thomas and Eileen Lonergan has focused attention on dive operators' legal responsibilities and the consequences of failing to discharge their duty of care to customers. This paper briefly examines the relevant Australian law for recreational diving operations, and reviews risk management strategies that may reduce or prevent the occurrence of future problems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decentralized control design for nonlinear plants: a v-metric approach

In this paper, a new v-metric based approach is proposed to design decentralized controllers for multi-unit nonlinear plants that admit a set of plant decompositions in an operating space. Similar to the gap metric approach in literature, it is shown that the operating space can also be divided into several subregions based on a v-metric indicator, and each of the subregions admits the same controller structure. A comparative case study is presented to display the advantages of proposed approach over the gap metric approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Syndrome packets and health worker training improve sexually transmitted disease case management in rural South Africa: randomized controlled trial

Background: Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are important co-factors in HIV transmission. We studied the impact of health worker training and STD syndrome packets (containing recommended drugs, condoms, partner notification cards and information leaflets) on the quality of STD case management in primary care clinics in rural South Africa. Methods: A randomized controlled trial of five matched pairs of clinics compared the intervention with routine syndromic management. Outcomes were measured by simulated patients using standardized scripts, and included the proportion given recommended drugs; correctly case managed (given recommended drugs plus condoms and partner cards); adequately counselled; reporting good staff attitude; and consulted in privacy. Results: At baseline, the quality of STD case management was similarly poor in both groups. Only 36 and 46% of simulated patients visiting intervention and control clinics, respectively, were given recommended drugs. After the intervention, intervention clinics provided better case management than controls: 88 versus 50% (P < 0.01) received recommended drugs; 83 versus 12% (P < 0.005) were correctly case managed; 68 versus 46% (P = 0.06) were adequately counselled; 84 versus 58% experienced good staff attitude (P = 0.07); and 92 versus 86% (P = 0.4) were consulted privately. A syndrome packet cost US$1.50; the incremental cost was US$6.80. The total intervention cost equalled 0.3% of annual district health expenditure. Interpretation: A simple and affordable health service intervention achieved substantial improvements in STD case management. Although this is a critical component of STD control and can reduce HIV transmission, community-level interventions to influence health-seeking behaviour are also needed. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Circular proteins in plants - Solution structure of a novel macrocyclic trypsin inhibitor from Momordica cochinchinensis

Much interest has been generated by recent reports on the discovery of circular (i.e. head-to-tail cyclized) proteins in plants. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of one of the newest such circular proteins, MCoTI-II, a novel trypsin inhibitor from Momordica cochinchinensis, a member of the Cucurbitaceae plant family. The structure consists of a small beta -sheet, several turns, and a cystine knot arrangement of the three disulfide bonds. Interestingly, the molecular topology is similar to that of the plant cyclotides (Craik, D. J., Daly, N. L., Bond, T., and Waine, C. (1999) J. Mol. Biol, 294, 1327-1336), which derive from the Rubiaceae and Violaceae plant families, have antimicrobial activities, and exemplify the cyclic cystine knot structural motif as part of their circular backbone. The sequence, biological activity, and plant family of MCoTI-II are all different from known cyclotides. However, given the structural similarity, cyclic backbone, and plant origin of MCoTI-II, we propose that MCoTI-II can be classified as a new member of the cyclotide class of proteins. The expansion of the cyclotides to include trypsin inhibitory activity and a new plant family highlights the importance and functional variability of circular proteins and the fact that they are more common than has previously been believed, Insights into the possible roles of backbone cyclization have been gained by a comparison of the structure of MCoTI-II with the homologous acyclic trypsin inhibitors CMTI-I and EETI-II from the Cucurbitaceae plant family.

L-studio/cpfg: A software system for modeling plants

L-studio/cpfg is a plant modeling software system designed for Windows 95/98/NT platforms. Its key components are the L-system-based plant simulator cpfg and the modeling environment called L-studio. We overview version 1.0 of this system from the user's perspective.

Management of canine diabetes

The majority of diabetic dogs appear to have a form of type 1 diabetes analogous to the latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA) in humans. Evidence of acute or chronic pancreatitis occurs in about 40% of diabetic dogs. Blindness caused by cataract formation eventually occurs in the majority of diabetic dogs and is not dependent on glycemic control. Insulin is the mainstay of therapy for diabetic dogs, and a conservative approach to insulin therapy is crucial. Most diabetic dogs require twice-daily dosing with lente or NPH insulin to adequately control their clinical signs. The diet fed should primarily be palatable and nutritionally balanced. Improved glycemic control may be achieved in some dogs if the diet contains increased insoluble fiber.

Using biplots to interpret gene expression patterns in plants

Sum: Plant biologists in fields of ecology, evolution, genetics and breeding frequently use multivariate methods. This paper illustrates Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Gabriel's biplot as applied to microarray expression data from plant pathology experiments. Availability: An example program in the publicly distributed statistical language R is available from the web site (www.tpp.uq.edu.au) and by e-mail from the contact. Contact: scott.chapman@csiro.au.

Reaching those most in need: a review of diabetes self-management interventions in disadvantaged populations

There has been increased recognition of the importance of developing diabetes self-management education (DSME) interventions that are effective with under-served and minority populations. Despite several recent studies in this area, there is to our knowledge no systematic review or synthesis of what has been learned from this research. An electronic literature search identified five formative evaluations and ten controlled DSME intervention trials focused on under-served (low-income, minority or aged) populations. The RE-AIM (Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) evaluation framework was used to evaluate the controlled studies on the dimensions of reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Fifty percent of the studies identified reported on the percentage of patients who participated, and the percentages were highly variable. The methodological quality of the articles was generally good and the short-term results were encouraging, especially on behavioral outcomes. Data on adoption (representativeness of settings and clinicians who participate) and implementation were almost never reported. Studies of modalities in addition to group meetings are needed to increase the reach of DSME with under-served populations. The promising formative evaluation work that has been conducted needs to be extended for more systematic study of the process of intervention implementation and adaptation with special populations. Studies that explicitly address the community context and that address multiple issues related to public health impact of DSME interventions are recommended to enhance long-term results. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.