Gambling with communities

In this chapter we draw attention to spoken and unspoken aspects of government policy found in the disadvantaging of community forms of gambling. Much of the rhetoric presented by government claims to be about protecting communities from gambling, but we argue that this language is at odds with the realities of policy and of practice. Such rhetoric foreshadowed the recent Review of Gaming, but the outcomes to date are not designed to redress the balance. These outcomes include a moratorium on casino licences securing the existing monopoly, increased surveillance on gaming machines run by clubs and pubs by the Department of Internal Affairs, and a bizarre effort to check Internet-based gambling in New Zealand

Everyday gambling in New Zealand

There is a sizeable body of statistics on gambling in New Zealand which points albeit unintentionally - to the everyday status of this activity. Max Abbott and Rachel Volberg, two leading figures in the rapidly growing discipline of gambling studies, note that in 15 short years there have been no less than seven surveys on gambling in New Zealand (not including a large number of university theses). These include three assessments of people's participation in gambling by the Department of Internal Affairs, plus two surveys funded by the department focusing on problem gambling. To these can be added one conducted by a regional health authority, North Health, under contract to the Committee on Problem Gambling Management and one conducted on behalf of the Casino Control Authority. This much research on gambling should suggest to the reader that there is something about gambling that piques the interest of government bureaucrats and agencies. Here the frequency of the phrase `problem gambling' is the giveaway. In this section we will review some of the findings of this research and cover its more pathological rationale later

Investigating the effects of perceived student gender on primary school teachers' recognition of autism

Recent research indicates that autism is under-recognized in girls and women. The current study investigated whether the gender-based assumptions of teaching staff impact the identification of autism. A survey was completed by 249 primary school teaching staff. After reading a vignette describing the behavior of a hypothetical child whose gender was randomly assigned, participants answered questions regarding possible reasons for the behavior described, including mental health and disability diagnoses and their confidence in their chosen answers. The gender of the described child was not found to have an impact on the likelihood of choosing autism as a potential diagnosis, suggesting that the participants did not make gender-based assumptions about autism characteristics. Higher qualified teachers were less confident in their answers than those with lower or no qualifications. Teachers may have more nuanced understandings of the complexities of autism than had been expected. Further research into the effect of gender on autism identification is needed

The endorsement of cognitive distortions: comparing child pornography offenders and contact sex offenders

This study examined the endorsement of cognitive distortions in child pornography offenders (CPOs), using an established assessment tool, the Abel and Becker Cognition Scale. The scale was expanded to include cognitions specific to child pornography offending, extracted from Howitt and Sheldon’s Children and Sexual Activities Inventory (C&SA). Three samples of CPOs, child sex offenders and offenders with both offence types responded to the cognition items. An exploratory Principal Component Analysis suggested six main components of the scale. CPOs were significantly less likely to endorse these statements in general, and this was more pronounced on items that project blame onto the child or other people, describe a need for power and consider children as sexually active. The statements extracted from C&SA did not differentiate between the groups. These findings are discussed under consideration of the relationship between cognitive distortions and contact sex offending, and in reference to the general criticism concerning the definition and appropriate measurement of cognitive distortion

Identification of Class I HLA T Cell Control Epitopes for West Nile Virus

The recent West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak in the United States underscores the importance of understanding human immune responses to this pathogen. Via the presentation of viral peptide ligands at the cell surface, class I HLA mediate the T cell recognition and killing of WNV infected cells. At this time, there are two key unknowns in regards to understanding protective T cell immunity: 1) the number of viral ligands presented by the HLA of infected cells, and 2) the distribution of T cell responses to these available HLA/viral complexes. Here, comparative mass spectroscopy was applied to determine the number of WNV peptides presented by the HLA-A*11:01 of infected cells after which T cell responses to these HLA/WNV complexes were assessed. Six viral peptides derived from capsid, NS3, NS4b, and NS5 were presented. When T cells from infected individuals were tested for reactivity to these six viral ligands, polyfunctional T cells were focused on the GTL9 WNV capsid peptide, ligands from NS3, NS4b, and NS5 were less immunogenic, and two ligands were largely inert, demonstrating that class I HLA reduce the WNV polyprotein to a handful of immune targets and that polyfunctional T cells recognize infections by zeroing in on particular HLA/WNV epitopes. Such dominant HLA/peptide epitopes are poised to drive the development of WNV vaccines that elicit protective T cells as well as providing key antigens for immunoassays that establish correlates of viral immunity. © 2013 Kaabinejadian et al

Distribution of glucocorticoid receptors and 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase isoforms in the rat inner ear.

11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) is an enzyme complex responsible for the conversion of hormonally active cortisol to inactive cortisone, and two isoforms of the enzyme (11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2) have been cloned and characterized. An immunohistochemical study was performed to determine the precise distribution of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and the isoforms of 11β-HSD in the rat (postnatal day 1, 4, 10, and adult). Immunoreactivity of GRs was detected in the stria vascularis (SV), the outer hair cells (OHCs), the inner hair cells (IHCs), the spiral ligament (SLig), the spiral limbus (SLib), the spiral ganglion cells (SGCs), Reissner\u27s membrane (RM), the cochlear nerve (CN), the vestibular hair cells (VHCs), the dark cells (DCs), and the vestibular nerve (VN) in the rats. Immunostaining of 11β-HSD1 was observed in almost all the tissues in the cochlea and the vestibule except SLig, SLib, SGCs, CN, VHCs, and VN during all developmental stages, whereas, immunoreactivity of 11β-HSD2 was not detected in any of the inner ear tissues. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) study was also performed on GRs, 11β-HSD1, and 11β-HSD2 in the OC, SV and vestibule of the postnatal rats, and revealed that mRNAs were detected in all those and tissues in all the developmental days of postnatal days 1, 4, and 10. This data indicates that expression of GRs and 11β-HSD isoforms in the inner ear is tissue and age-specific, and that different local steroid regulation by GRs and the isoforms of 11β-HSD is present in each part of the inner ear