A test vehicle for compliance with resilience requirements in index-based e-health systems

Increasingly, national and international governments have a strong mandate to develop national e-health systems to enable delivery of much-needed healthcare services. Research is, therefore, needed into appropriate security and reliance structures for the development of health information systems which must be compliant with governmental and alike obligations. The protection of e-health information security is critical to the successful implementation of any e-health initiative. To address this, this paper proposes a security architecture for index-based e-health environments, according to the broad outline of Australia’s National E-health Strategy and National E-health Transition Authority (NEHTA)’s Connectivity Architecture. This proposal, however, could be equally applied to any distributed, index-based health information system involving referencing to disparate health information systems. The practicality of the proposed security architecture is supported through an experimental demonstration. This successful prototype completion demonstrates the comprehensibility of the proposed architecture, and the clarity and feasibility of system specifications, in enabling ready development of such a system. This test vehicle has also indicated a number of parameters that need to be considered in any national indexed-based e-health system design with reasonable levels of system security. This paper has identified the need for evaluation of the levels of education, training, and expertise required to create such a system.

Exploring the role of the governing body (board) in information technology governance : a study of Australian universities

In this thesis, I advance the understanding of information technology (IT) governance research and corporate governance research by considering the question “How do boards govern IT?” The importance of IT to business has increased over the last decade, but there has been little academic research which has focused on boards and their role in the governance of IT (Van Grembergen, De Haes and Guldentops, 2004). Most of the research on information technology governance (ITG) has focused on advancing the understanding and measurement of the components of the ITG model (Buckby, Best & Stewart, 2008; Wilkin & Chenhall, 2010), a model recommended by the IT Governance Institute (2003) as ‘best practice’ for boards to use in governing IT. IT governance is considered to be the responsibility of the board and is said to form an important subset of an organisation’s corporate governance processes (Borth & Bradley, 2008). Boards need to govern IT as a result of the large capital investment in IT resources and high dependency on IT by organisations. Van Grembergen, De Haes and Guldentops (2004) and De Haes & Van Grembergen (2009) indicate that corporate governance matters are not able to be effectively discharged unless IT is being governed properly, and call for further specific research on the role of the board in ITG. Researchers also indicate that the link between corporate governance and IT governance has been neglected (Borth & Bradley, 2008; Musson & Jordan, 2005; Bhattacharjya & Chang, 2008). This thesis will address this gap in the ITG literature by providing the bridge between the ITG and corporate governance literatures. My thesis uses a critical realist epistemology and a mixed method approach to gather insights into my research question. In the first phase of my research I develop a survey instrument to assess whether boards consider the components of the ITG model in governing IT. The results of this first study indicated that directors do not conceptualise their role in governing IT using the elements of the ITG model. Thus, I moved to focus on whether prominent corporate governance theories might elucidate how boards govern IT. In the second phase of the research, I used a qualitative inductive case based study to assess whether agency, stewardship and resource dependence theories explain how boards govern IT in Australian universities. As the first in-depth study of university IT governance processes, my research contributes to the ITG research field by revealing that Australian university board governance of IT is characterized by a combination of agency theory and stewardship theory behaviours and processes. The study also identified strong links between a university’s IT structure and evidence of agency and stewardship theories. This link provides insight into the structures element of the emerging enterprise governance of IT framework (Van Grembergen, De Haes & Guldentops, 2004; De Haes & Van Grembergen, 2009; Van Grembergen & De Haes, 2009b; Ko & Fink, 2010). My research makes an important contribution to governance research by identifying a key link between corporate and ITG literatures and providing insight into board IT governance processes. The research conducted in my thesis should encourage future researchers to continue to explore the links between corporate and IT governance research.

Chlorzoxazone, an SK-type potassium channel activator used in humans, reduces excessive alcohol intake in rats

Background Alcoholism imposes a tremendous social and economic burden. There are relatively few pharmacological treatments for alcoholism, with only moderate efficacy, and there is considerable interest in identifying additional therapeutic options. Alcohol exposure alters SK-type potassium channel (SK) function in limbic brain regions. Thus, positive SK modulators such as chlorzoxazone (CZX), a US Food and Drug Administration–approved centrally acting myorelaxant, might enhance SK function and decrease neuronal activity, resulting in reduced alcohol intake. Methods We examined whether CZX reduced alcohol consumption under two-bottle choice (20% alcohol and water) in rats with intermittent access to alcohol (IAA) or continuous access to alcohol (CAA). In addition, we used ex vivo electrophysiology to determine whether SK inhibition and activation can alter firing of nucleus accumbens (NAcb) core medium spiny neurons. Results Chlorzoxazone significantly and dose-dependently decreased alcohol but not water intake in IAA rats, with no effects in CAA rats. Chlorzoxazone also reduced alcohol preference in IAA but not CAA rats and reduced the tendency for rapid initial alcohol consumption in IAA rats. Chlorzoxazone reduction of IAA drinking was not explained by locomotor effects. Finally, NAcb core neurons ex vivo showed enhanced firing, reduced SK regulation of firing, and greater CZX inhibition of firing in IAA versus CAA rats. Conclusions The potent CZX-induced reduction of excessive IAA alcohol intake, with no effect on the more moderate intake in CAA rats, might reflect the greater CZX reduction in IAA NAcb core firing observed ex vivo. Thus, CZX could represent a novel and immediately accessible pharmacotherapeutic intervention for human alcoholism. Key Words: Alcohol intake; intermittent; neuro-adaptation; nucleus accumbens; SK potassium channel

Morphine-induced receptor endocytosis in a novel knockin mouse reduces tolerance and dependence

Abstract Opioid drugs, such as morphine, are among the most effective analgesics available. However, their utility for the treatment of chronic pain is limited by side effects including tolerance and dependence. Morphine acts primarily through the mu-opioid receptor (MOP-R) , which is also a target of endogenous opioids. However, unlike endogenous ligands, morphine fails to promote substantial receptor endocytosis both in vitro, and in vivo. Receptor endocytosis serves at least two important functions in signal transduction. First, desensitization and endocytosis act as an "off" switch by uncoupling receptors from G protein. Second, endocytosis functions as an "on" switch, resensitizing receptors by recycling them to the plasma membrane. Thus, both the off and on function of the MOP-R are altered in response to morphine compared to endogenous ligands. To examine whether the low degree of endocytosis induced by morphine contributes to tolerance and dependence, we generated a knockin mouse that expresses a mutant MOP-R that undergoes morphine-induced endocytosis. Morphine remains an excellent antinociceptive agent in these mice. Importantly, these mice display substantially reduced antinociceptive tolerance and physical dependence. These data suggest that opioid drugs with a pharmacological profile similar to morphine but the ability to promote endocytosis could provide analgesia while having a reduced liability for promoting tolerance and dependence