Four Work-Ins by Australian Journalists, 1944-80

During industrial disputes with employers between 1944 and 1980 the Australian Journalist's Association occasionally turned to the tactic of the work-in, producing wild cat newspapers during strikes in Sydney. These newspapers (The News, and The Clarion) exemplified problematic elements of the work-in as a working-class strategy. While single incident studies of the work-in have been conducted in Australia, the Australian Journalist Association work-ins present a time series of struggle. This time series allows for a broader evaluation of the radical content of the work-in and indicates that the tactic can become systematised, less radical, and less participatory when not connected to a broader generation of workplace radical behaviour by workers. In short: the work-in, much like the strike or go slow, can become a tame cat tactic – it is not inherently transgressive or opposed to capitalist production. Expectedly, the first work-ins were more radical in scope, presenting a newspaper which fully duplicated the commodity produced under capitalist control and in some ways exceeded the scope presented by capitalist organised journalism in both a material and a cultural sense. However, this radical economic potential dissipated by the end of the time series of work-ins. Instead of providing an alternative commodity fit for market, the tactic produced propaganda pieces aimed primarily at the members of the community who would be predisposed to favour the journalist's case. The 1980s Clarion was not a daily newspaper of news, sport, racing, women's interest, classifieds, and general opinion. This change will be explained in terms of human causes such as skills loss, production process causes such as computerisation and wire services, and broader social causes such as the changing role of the newspaper in Australian society.The symposium is organised on behalf of AAHANZBS by the Business and Labour History Group, The University of Sydney, with the financial support of the University’s Faculty of Economics and Business

American palm ethnomedicine: A meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many recent papers have documented the phytochemical and pharmacological bases for the use of palms (<it>Arecaceae</it>) in ethnomedicine. Early publications were based almost entirely on interviews that solicited local knowledge. More recently, ethnobotanically guided searches for new medicinal plants have proven more successful than random sampling for identifying plants that contain biodynamic ingredients. However, limited laboratory time and the high cost of clinical trials make it difficult to test all potential medicinal plants in the search for new drug candidates. The purpose of this study was to summarize and analyze previous studies on the medicinal uses of American palms in order to narrow down the search for new palm-derived medicines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Relevant literature was surveyed and data was extracted and organized into medicinal use categories. We focused on more recent literature than that considered in a review published 25 years ago. We included phytochemical and pharmacological research that explored the importance of American palms in ethnomedicine.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 730 species of American palms, we found evidence that 106 species had known medicinal uses, ranging from treatments for diabetes and leishmaniasis to prostatic hyperplasia. Thus, the number of American palm species with known uses had increased from 48 to 106 over the last quarter of a century. Furthermore, the pharmacological bases for many of the effects are now understood.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Palms are important in American ethnomedicine. Some, like <it>Serenoa repens </it>and <it>Roystonea regia</it>, are the sources of drugs that have been approved for medicinal uses. In contrast, recent ethnopharmacological studies suggested that many of the reported uses of several other palms do not appear to have a strong physiological basis. This study has provided a useful assessment of the ethnobotanical and pharmacological data available on palms.</p

The I,105V polymorphism in glutathione S-transferase P1, parental smoking and the risk for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate.

Contains fulltext : 70847.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Genetic variations in the detoxification enzyme glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) may modify the teratogenicity of lifestyles, such as smoking. We investigated the role of the I105V polymorphism in GSTP1, parental periconception smoking, and their interaction with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) risk in the offspring. The GSTP1 I105V polymorphisms were determined in Dutch non-consanguineous Caucasians comprising of 155 CL/P triads (mother, father, child) and 195 control triads. The analyses were also carried out on complete triads only (n=69 CL/P and n=95 controls). Transmission disequilibrium testing and logistic regression analyses were performed. Neither maternal nor paternal smoking increased CL/P risk; odds ratios (OR): 1.2, 95 confidence intervals (CI)=0.7-2.0 and OR: 1.0, 95% CI=0.6-1.6, respectively. Carriership of the polymorphic Val105 allele in mothers may increase CL/P risk, OR: 1.5, 95% CI=0.96-2.5. Children homozygous for the Val105 allele may show an increased risk of CL/P, OR: 2.2, 95% CI=0.8-6.4. Maternal smoking tended to increase CL/P risk in mothers and children carrying Val105 alleles, OR=1.9, 95% CI=0.9-4.0 and OR=2.2, 95% CI=0.98-4.9, respectively. The highest risk for CL/P in children carrying Val105 alleles with a smoking father was 1.7, 95% CI=0.8-3.5. The GSTP1 I105V polymorphism in mothers and/or children either alone or in combination with maternal smoking may contribute to CL/P risk. Although of borderline significance, these results may underline the importance of smoking cessation in the periconception period for the prevention of CL/P in future generations