Alternatives to prohibition illicit drugs: how we can stop killing and criminalising young Australians

This report follows from a Roundtable discussion held in July 2012 to consider new approaches to public policy about illicit drugs in Australia. An earlier Australia21 report launched in April 2012 had concluded that attempts to control drug use through the criminal justice system have clearly failed. They have also caused the needless and damaging criminalisation of too many young people, often with adverse life-changing consequences, including premature death from overdose

Interview of Bob Douglas (Egypt)

Huffard interviews Douglas on his experiences in the mission field in Egypt. The interview was conducted in Searcy, AR

NCEPH: The first twelve years 1988 - 000 And lists of all graduates, academic and general staff 1988 - 2008.

The National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH) began in response to a national review of public health teaching and training for the Commonwealth Minister of Health by Dr Kerr L White from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1986. In April 1987, ANU signed a contract with the Commonwealth of Australia to create a new National Centre of Excellence in Epidemiology and Population Health, which initially would be fully funded by a block grant to ANU of $2 million per year. The purposes were: a) To carry out research of the highest academic standards in epidemiology and population health in close association both with demographers and other social scientists and with biomedical and clinical scientists. b) To develop research pursuits, in particular in ■■ Epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable diseases and behavioural disorders: ■■ Statistics, including biometry, medical statistics and health and vital statistics: ■■ Sociology, including survey methods, the social welfare dimension, the sociology of medicine, the organization of health services and individual and group perceptions of health: ■■ Health economics, including cost benefit analysis of health care and health care delivery systems and general analysis of the health sector of the economy: ■■ Population studies including studies of fertility, infertility, mortality and the social and economic aspects of demographic change. c) To provide a supervised experience in research leading to MSc and PhD degrees in the above fields so as to generate leaders in epidemiology and population health, but not to offer degrees in coursework alone and d) To provide intensive short courses as appropriate. In his report Dr White proposed that the Centre should be located intellectually and geographically within the Institute of Advanced Studies at ANU in close proximity to the John Curtin School for Medical Research so it could draw on the strengths of the Institute with its wealth of talent and its traditions. This summary of the first 12 years, during which I was privileged to be the first Director, has been prepared to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Centre’s formation. It clearly reflects my personal bias and cannot do justice to all of the people who contributed to making it such an enjoyable journey

Interview of Bob Douglas (Lebanon)

Huffard interviews Douglas on his experiences in the mission field in . The interview was conducted in Searcy, AR

Healthcare market research examined. Relevant, rigorous and highly regulated

[The abstract of this article is not available. Here are the first sentences of the article. The full text is freely available upon registration]Market research is invariably confused with marketing – but, in fact, the two disciplines are very different. Put in its simplest terms, marketing is about promotion whilst market research is about understanding. Accordingly, data collected for market research purposes are used in a completely different way to that gathered for marketing, with research practices heavily regulated to ensure high ethical standards.Let’s begin with a definition of what, exactly, market research is. According to the ICC/ESOMAR International Code 2007 (a definition also adopted by the European Pharmaceutical Market Research Association), it is: «the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organisations using the statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision-making. The identity of respondents will not be revealed to the user of the information without explicit consent and no sales approach will be made to them as a direct result of their having provided information»

New immortalities: Death, donation, and dedication in the twenty-first century

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Self-organized Models of Selectivity in Ca and Na Channels

A simple pillbox model with two adjustable parameters accounts for the selectivity of both DEEA Ca channels and DEKA Na channels in many ionic solutions of different composition and concentration. Only the side chains are different in the model of the Ca and Na channels. Parameters are the same for both channels in all solutions. 'Pauling' radii are used for ions. No information from crystal structures is used in the model. Side chains are grossly approximated as spheres. The predicted properties of the Na and Ca channels are very different. How can such a simple model give such powerful results when chemical intuition says that selectivity depends on the precise relation of ions and side chains? We use Monte Carlo simulations of this model that determine the most stable-lowest free energy-structure of the ions and side chains. Structure is the computed consequence of the forces in this model. The relationship of ions and side chains vary with ionic solution and are very different in simulations of the Na and Ca channels. Selectivity is a consequence of the 'induced fit' of side chains to ions and depends on the flexibility (entropy) of the side chains as well as their location. The model captures the relation of side chains and ions well enough to account for selectivity of both Na channels and Ca channels in the wide range of conditions measured in experiments. Evidently, the structures in the real Na and Ca channels responsible for selectivity are self-organized, at their free energy minimum. Oversimplified models are enough to account for selectivity if the models calculate the 'most stable' structure as it changes from solution to solution, and mutation to mutation.Comment: Version of http://www.ima.umn.edu/2008-2009/W12.8-12.08/abstracts.html, talk given at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, University of Minnesota, November 19, 2008. Abstract published in Biophysical Journal, Volume 96, Issue 3, 253

The Cuban Community in Louisville

The changing demographics of Louisville, Kentucky