Localization of type 1 diabetes susceptibility to the MHC class I genes HLA-B and HLA-A

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6 is associated with susceptibility to more common diseases than any other region of the human genome, including almost all disorders classified as autoimmune. In type 1 diabetes the major genetic susceptibility determinants have been mapped to the MHC class II genes HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1 (refs 1–3), but these genes cannot completely explain the association between type 1 diabetes and the MHC region4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Owing to the region's extreme gene density, the multiplicity of disease-associated alleles, strong associations between alleles, limited genotyping capability, and inadequate statistical approaches and sample sizes, which, and how many, loci within the MHC determine susceptibility remains unclear. Here, in several large type 1 diabetes data sets, we analyse a combined total of 1,729 polymorphisms, and apply statistical methods—recursive partitioning and regression...

HLA-DR/DQ haplotype in rheumatoid arthritis: Novel allelic associations in UK Caucasians

Objective. To elucidate the relative importance of the HLA-DR and HLA-DQ loci in conferring genetic predisposition to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles were typed in a set of 685 patients with RA using sequence-specific polymerase chain reaction. Allele and phenotype frequencies were compared with those in 2 large sets of historical, ethnically matched healthy controls, using the relative predispositional effect method. Results. Positive association was confirmed with the shared epitope positive HLA-DRB1 alleles associated with RA in Caucasians. A significant susceptibility effect was observed with HLA-DRB1*09, described in other ethnically diverse populations but not in Caucasians. A significant underrepresentation of the HLA-DRB1*0103 variant was noted among the RA cases, supporting the proposed protective role of the DERAA motif at residues 70-74 of the DRβ molecule. No HLA-DRB1 independent association of the HLA-DQB1 alleles, implicated in predisposing to RA, was evident. Conclusion. These data corroborate the shared epitope hypothesis of susceptibility to RA and provide strong evidence for the DRB1 locus as the primary RA susceptibility factor in the HLA region.

The sleep patterns of infants and young children with gastro-oesophageal reflux

Objective: Sleep disturbance in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) in infants and young children has not been systematically studied nor has this manifestation been compared with population norms. Methods: Sleep patterns of 102 infants and children aged 1 to 36 months with and without GORD, defined by pH monitoring, were analysed using the same questionnaire as in recent studies of normal sleep behaviour in this age range. Main outcome measures included time taken to settle at night, the number of night time wakenings requiring parental intervention, day time sleep patterns and parents problems with their childs' sleep behaviour. Results: Compared with the population norms (n=3102), those with GORD (n=76) had greater prevalence of night time waking >3/night (50% vs 13% aged 3-12 months; 60% vs 10% aged 12-24 months, P<0.001), requirement of parental intervention (82% vs 55% aged 3-12 months, P < 0.05; 92% vs 55% aged 12-24 months, P < 0.001), significantly delayed onset of sleeping through the night, and greater prevalence of daytime sleep beyond 24 months. Similar but less striking differences were seen comparing those with (n = 76) and without GORD (n = 26). Conclusions: Sleep interruption occurs more frequently in infants and children with GORD than population norms. Objective evaluation of infants and children with sleep disturbance after the age of 3 months may avoid unnecessary over or under diagnosis of GORD. Systematic investigation of the contribution of GORD to sleep disturbance in infants and young children is warranted

A controlled trial comparing the efficacy of rice-based and hypotonic glucose oral rehydration solutions in infants and young children with gastroenteritis

A prospective randomized trial was conducted to compare the efficacy of a rice-based oral rehydration solution (ORS) with glucose ORS in infants and children under 5 years of age with acute diarrhoea and mild to moderate dehydration (<10%). One hundred children presenting to a large metropolitan teaching hospital were eligible for entry to the study and were randomized to receive rice ORS or glucose ORS. Outcome measures were stool output (SO), duration of illness (DD) and recovery time to introduction of other fluids (RTF) and diet (RTD). Significant differences were found for all outcome measures in favour of the rice ORS group. Mean SO was lower (160 vs 213 mt; P<0.02), mean DD was reduced (17.3 vs 24.3 h; P = 0.03) and median RTF was decreased (12.7 vs 18.1 h; P< 0.001) in the rice ORS group compared with the glucose ORS group. The median rime to introduction of diet and mean length of hospital stay showed similar significant reductions. Our study has shown rice ORS to be an acceptable alternative to glucose ORS in young children and have shown that it is significantly more effective in reducing the course of diarrhoeal illness and the time taken to return to normal drinking and eating habits.

Dieting and non-dieting: Socio-cognitive determinants and associations with nutrition and health status indicators

Dieting and non-dieting are two contrasting approaches to the management of overweight/obesity, but less is known about why people follow non-dieting approaches and how these approaches are associated with health and nutrition status indicators. This thesis enables a greater understanding of why dieting and non-dieting approaches are adopted and provides insight into whether one approach is more favourably associated with nutrition and health status indicators. The findings of this thesis will be useful for clinicians who wish to encourage dieting or non-dieting approaches in their clients and for researchers wishing to understand how best to address overweight and obesity.

Identity, image, and sexuality in young adults with cancer

The impact of disease and treatment on a young adult's self-image and sexuality has been largely overlooked. This is surprising given that establishing social and romantic relationships is a normal occurrence in young adulthood. This article describes three female patients' cancer journeys and demonstrates how their experiences have impacted their psychosocial function and self-regard. The themes of body image, self-esteem, and identity formation are explored, in relation to implications for relationship-building and moving beyond a cancer diagnosis. This article has been written by young cancer survivors, Danielle Tindle, Kelly Denver, and Faye Lilley, in an effort to elucidate the ongoing struggle to reconcile cancer into a normal young adult's life.

Cycling for transport and recreation: Associations with the socio-economic, natural and built environment

This study examined associations between objective environmental attributes and, separately, transport (TC) and recreational cycling (RC). Environmental attributes were more strongly associated with TC than RC. Distances to areas with the best bicycle infrastructure and urban amenities may be key environmental factors influencing TC but not RC. Government investments in bicycle infrastructure within inner Brisbane appear to have resulted in more TC than in outer areas and to appeal to residents of both the most and least disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Extending this infrastructure to residents living in disadvantaged and advantaged neighbourhoods outside the CBD could expand TC participation.

The trend toward pre-graduation professional work experience for Australian young planners: Essential experience or essentially exploitation

This paper explores the changing employment expectations that frame the early professional work experiences of young planners in Australia. In particular, it considers the rising popularity of pre-graduation professional work experience as a precursor to formal entry into the workforce as a practising planner. This shift is being driven in part by employer expectations that graduates will already have ‘real world’ and relevant work experience. However, an equally significant driver appears to be a growing desire for early career and graduate planners to find ways to distinguish themselves from their peers in an increasingly tight labour market. Using data from an ongoing research project into the formative work experiences of young people this paper describes the three main types of pre-graduation professional work experience undertaken by young planners. It highlights the potential challenges and benefits of pre-graduation work experience from a legal, social and ethical perspective as well as from the perspective of young planners themselves. The paper concludes by reflecting on the role of the planning profession – employers, peak bodies and planning educators – in managing the tensions between producing ‘work ready’ graduates and safeguarding the employment conditions of early career planning professionals.

Prevalence and characteristics of road traffic injuries among young drivers in Oman, 2009-2011

Objectives Studies from different parts of the world have indicated that the impact of road traffic incidents disproportionally affects young adults. Few known studies have been forthcoming from Arabian Gulf countries. Within Oman, a high proportion of the population is under the age of 20. Coupled with the drastic increase of motorization in recent years there is a need to understand the state of road safety among young people in Oman. The current research aimed to explore the prevalence and characteristics of road traffic injuries among young drivers aged 17-25 years. Methods Crash data from 2009-2011 was extracted from the Directorate General of Traffic, Royal Oman Police (ROP) database in Oman. The data was analyzed to explore the impact of road crashes on young people (17-25 years), the characteristics of young driver crashes and how these differ from older drivers and to identify key predictors of fatalities in young driver crashes. Results Overall, young people were over-represented in injuries and fatalities within the sample time period. While it is true that many young people in crashes were driving at the time, it was also evident that young people were often a victim in a crash caused by someone else. Thus, to reduce the impact of road crashes on young people, there is a need to generally address road safety within Oman. When young drivers were involved in crashes they were predominantly male. The types of crashes these drivers have can be broadly attributed to risk taking and inexperience. Speeding and night time driving were the key risk factors for fatalities. Conclusion The results highlight the need to address young driver safety in Oman. From these findings, the introduction of a graduated driver licensing system with night time driving restrictions could significantly improve young driver safety.

Destinations: 3 Large Cast Plays for Young People

This book is a collection of three large-cast plays written in response to a very specific problem. My work as a teacher of drama often required me to locate a script that would somehow miraculously work for a cast of unknown number and gender, and most likely uneven skills and enthusiasm, who I hadn’t even met yet. It’s a familiar dilemma for teachers and students of drama in education contexts, at whatever level you’re teaching. I’d first addressed this creative problem with scripts such as Gate 38 (2010). I had tried using scripts that already existed, but found they required such extensive editing to suit the parameters of cast and performance duration that I may as well have been writing them myself. Even in the setting of a closed studio, in altering these plays I felt I was bending the vision of the playwright, and certainly their narrative structure, out of shape. Everyone who’s attempted to stage a performance with a large cast of students in an educational setting knows it takes time to truly connect with a play, its social contexts, themes and characters. It also takes a lot of time to get on top of the practicalities of learning, rehearsing, directing and running a performance with young people. Often the curtain goes up on something unfinished and unstable. I was looking for ways to reduce the complexity of staging a script, while maintaining the potential of this process as a site of rich, enjoyable learning. Two of the plays (Duty Free and Please Be Seated) are comprised of multiple monologues, combined with music-driven ensemble sequences. The monologues enable individuals to develop and polish their own performances, work in small groups, and cut down on the laborious detail of directing naturalistic scenes based in character interaction. The third (Australian Drama) involves a lot of duologues, meaning that its rehearsal process can happily employ that mainstay of the drama classroom: small group work. There’s plenty of room to move in terms of gender-blind casting as well. Please be Seated is mainly young women. The scripts also contain ensemble-based interludes which are non-verbal, music driven, with a choreographic element. They have also springboarded further explorations in form. The ethical and aesthetic complexities of verbatim works; the interaction between music and theatre; and meta-concerns related to the performing of performance: ‘how can the act of acting ‘acted’. The narratives of all three of these plays are deliberately open, enabling the flexible casting and on-the hop editing that large-group, time-poor processes sometimes necessitate. Duty Free is about the overseas ‘adventures’ of young people. Please Be Seated is based in verbatim text about young people falling in and out of love. Australian Drama is about young people in a drama classroom trying to connect with each other and put their own shine on dull fragments of the theatrical canon. The plays were published as a collection in hardcopy and digital editions by Playlab Press in 2015. Please be Seated is a co-write with a large group. These co-author’s names are listed in the publication, and below in ‘additional information’.

The nutritional management of acute diarrhea in young infants : effect of carbohydrate ingested

To compare the efficacy of a low-lactose hy-drolyzed milk formula, a lactose-free corn syrup-based milk formula, and a standard lactose-containing formula during refeeding after rehydration in infants with gastroenteritis, 135 patients older than 2 years were studied by randomized trial. Clearly demonstrated disadvantages in terms of early weight loss and longer duration of diarrhea were observed with the lactose-based formula compared with early weight gains on both the low-lactose formulae, and thus the lactose-containing formula was discontinued after 91 patients. The early weight loss with the lactose-containing formula was statistically significantly related to the degree of relative (rehydrated) underweight. The two low-lactose formulae were further compared in the remaining 44 patients. Early weight gain (48 h) was sig-nificantly greater with the lactose-hydrolyzed formula compared with the corn syrup-based formula, but no statistically significant differences were observed in duration of diarrhea, energy intake, treatment failures, or late weight gain. We conclude that the routine use of a low-lactose formula during refeeding after rehydration in infants with gastroenteritis may have some advantages in underweight infants and toddlers in whom it is important to prevent further weight loss. © 1994 Raven Press Ltd, New York.

Examining novice education: What can we learn from a compulsory program delivered to both mature-age and young pre-learner licence drivers?

This paper reports results from a qualitative evaluation of a compulsory pre-Learner driver education program within the Australian Capital Territory(ACT), Australia. Two methods were used to obtain feedback from those involved in the delivery of the program as well as those who participated in programs. The first, semi-structured interviews, was undertaken with class room teachers who run the program in their schools, group facilitators running the program with more mature-age students at private facilities (n = 15 in total), and former participants in both school-based and private-based versions of the program (n = 19). The second method used an on-line survey for students (n = 79). Results from both methods were consistent with each other, indicating that strengths of the program were perceived as being its interactive components and the high level of engagement of the target audience. There was strong support from young and mature-age students for the program to remain compulsory. However, consistent with other findings on novice driver education, mature-age participants identified that the program was less relevant to them. It may be that to have greater relevance to mature-age learners, content could address and challenge perceptions about behaviours other than intentional high-risk behaviours (e.g. low level speeding, fatigue) as well as encourage planning/strategies to avoid them. While a longer term, outcome focussed, evaluation of the pre-learner education program is needed, this study suggests that the program is well received by pre-licence drivers and that teachers and facilitators perceive it as both effective and beneficial.

Functional correlation of bacterial LuxS with their quaternary associations: interface analysis of the structure networks

Background The genome of a wide variety of prokaryotes contains the luxS gene homologue, which encodes for the protein S-ribosylhomocysteinelyase (LuxS). This protein is responsible for the production of the quorum sensing molecule, AI-2 and has been implicated in a variety of functions such as flagellar motility, metabolic regulation, toxin production and even in pathogenicity. A high structural similarity is present in the LuxS structures determined from a few species. In this study, we have modelled the structures from several other species and have investigated their dimer interfaces. We have attempted to correlate the interface features of LuxS with the phenotypic nature of the organisms. Results The protein structure networks (PSN) are constructed and graph theoretical analysis is performed on the structures obtained from X-ray crystallography and on the modelled ones. The interfaces, which are known to contain the active site, are characterized from the PSNs of these homodimeric proteins. The key features presented by the protein interfaces are investigated for the classification of the proteins in relation to their function. From our analysis, structural interface motifs are identified for each class in our dataset, which showed distinctly different pattern at the interface of LuxS for the probiotics and some extremophiles. Our analysis also reveals potential sites of mutation and geometric patterns at the interface that was not evident from conventional sequence alignment studies. Conclusion The structure network approach employed in this study for the analysis of dimeric interfaces in LuxS has brought out certain structural details at the side-chain interaction level, which were elusive from the conventional structure comparison methods. The results from this study provide a better understanding of the relation between the luxS gene and its functional role in the prokaryotes. This study also makes it possible to explore the potential direction towards the design of inhibitors of LuxS and thus towards a wide range of antimicrobials.

Dystopian fiction for young people: Instructive tales of resilience

The rise and popularity of dystopian fiction in recent years is quite marked and critics often attribute such high sales of books and box office as being linked to the impact September 11 has had on the world, especially in the United States. While the events of September 11, 2001 saw a heightened anxiety by nations and their citizens about the fear and threat of terrorism – an anxiety which is paradoxically lowered and raised by increased surveillance practices, security checks and warnings – other changes since the last stages of the twentieth century have also raised concerns and anxieties. In this paper I use examples of Young Adult (YA) dystopian fiction to illustrate the potential these texts have for providing their readers with alternative ways of thinking about the challenges that others face and their capacity for resilience.

Influence of road traffic environment and mobile phone distraction on the speed selection behaviour of young drivers

Travel speed is one of the most critical parameters for road safety; the evidence suggests that increased vehicle speed is associated with higher crash risk and injury severity. Both naturalistic and simulator studies have reported that drivers distracted by a mobile phone select a lower driving speed. Speed decrements have been argued to be a risk compensatory behaviour of distracted drivers. Nonetheless, the extent and circumstances of the speed change among distracted drivers are still not known very well. As such, the primary objective of this study was to investigate patterns of speed variation in relation to contextual factors and distraction. Using the CARRS-Q high-fidelity Advanced Driving Simulator, the speed selection behaviour of 32 drivers aged 18-26 years was examined in two phone conditions: baseline (no phone conversation) and handheld phone operation. The simulator driving route contained five different types of road traffic complexities, including one road section with a horizontal S curve, one horizontal S curve with adjacent traffic, one straight segment of suburban road without traffic, one straight segment of suburban road with traffic interactions, and one road segment in a city environment. Speed deviations from the posted speed limit were analysed using Ward’s Hierarchical Clustering method to identify the effects of road traffic environment and cognitive distraction. The speed deviations along curved road sections formed two different clusters for the two phone conditions, implying that distracted drivers adopt a different strategy for selecting driving speed in a complex driving situation. In particular, distracted drivers selected a lower speed while driving along a horizontal curve. The speed deviation along the city road segment and other straight road segments grouped into a different cluster, and the deviations were not significantly different across phone conditions, suggesting a negligible effect of distraction on speed selection along these road sections. Future research should focus on developing a risk compensation model to explain the relationship between road traffic complexity and distraction.