Information Exchange and global economic regulation - for whose benefit?

Offshore financial centres have both the sovereign right and the moral right to insist that information exchange be limited to matters of common criminality and governed by due legal process for the protection of both their own residents and citizens an

Urban water policy: in need of economics

The thesis of this article is that Australian urban water supply and pricing policies are not well grounded in rational economic thinking. It questions the policy consensus that water is necessarily so scarce in Australia as to require the sorts of penal charges, water restrictions and use regulations which are being imposed or being considered for imposition upon urban users. It also questions the policy consensus on vetoing new dams for urban water supply, a consensus from which Queensland is partly defecting

Microwave-assisted synthesis of a MK2 inhibitor by Suzuki-Miyaura coupling for study in Werner syndrome cells

Microwave-assisted Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions have been employed towards the synthesis of three different MAPKAPK2 (MK2) inhibitors to study accelerated aging in Werner syndrome (WS) cells, including the cross-coupling of a 2-chloroquinoline with a 3-pyridinylboronic acid, the coupling of an aryl bromide with an indolylboronic acid and the reaction of a 3-amino-4-bromopyrazole with 4-carbamoylphenylboronic acid. In all of these processes, the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction was fast and relatively efficient using a palladium catalyst under microwave irradiation. The process was incorporated into a rapid 3-step microwave-assisted method for the synthesis of a MK2 inhibitor involving 3-aminopyrazole formation, pyrazole C-4 bromination using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), and Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of the pyrazolyl bromide with 4-carbamoylphenylboronic acid to give the target 4-arylpyrazole in 35% overall yield, suitable for study in WS cells

The provision of compulsory school physical activity: Associations with physical activity, fitness and overweight in childhood and twenty years later

BackgroundTo determine whether the provision of higher levels of compulsory school physical activity is associated with higher physical activity and fitness levels and less overweight in childhood and 20 years later.MethodsAs part of the 1985 Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey, 109 schools reported how much compulsory physical education (PE) and school sport they provided and were classified as low (&lt;110 and &lt;150 minutes/week for primary and secondary schools, respectively), medium (110&ndash;149 and 150&ndash;189 minutes/week for primary and secondary schools, respectively) or high (&ge;150 and &ge;190 minutes/week for primary and secondary schools, respectively) compulsory physical activity schools by tertile cutpoints. 6,412 children reported frequency and duration of school (PE and sport) and non-school (commuting and non-organised exercise) physical activity and had height and weight measured; overweight was defined using body mass index (BMI) (m/kg2) cutpoints. 9, 12 and 15 year-olds (n = 2,595) completed a cycle ergometer fitness test (physical working capacity at heart rate 170, PWC170). At follow-up in 2004&ndash;5, 2,346 participants kept a pedometer record, completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and/or a PWC170 fitness test; and had height and weight measured (overweight = BMI&ge;25 m/kg2).ResultsAt baseline and follow-up, median total physical activity, fitness and BMI were similar in participants who attended low, medium and high physical activity schools, and those attending high physical activity schools reported only modestly higher school physical activity. There was no difference in the prevalence of high total physical activity and fitness levels in childhood or adulthood across compulsory school physical activity categories. The prevalence of overweight in childhood and adulthood was similar across low, medium and high compulsory physical activity schools.ConclusionThe amount of compulsory physical activity reported by schools was not associated with total physical activity, fitness or overweight in childhood or in adulthood. Policies promoting amounts of compulsory school physical activity in this range may not be sufficient to increase physical activity and fitness or reduce the prevalence of obesity in children.<br /

Microwave-assisted synthesis of a MK2 inhibitor by Suzuki-Miyaura coupling for study in Werner syndrome cells

Microwave-assisted Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions have been employed towards the synthesis of three different MAPKAPK2 (MK2) inhibitors to study accelerated aging in Werner syndrome (WS) cells, including the cross-coupling of a 2-chloroquinoline with a 3-pyridinylboronic acid, the coupling of an aryl bromide with an indolylboronic acid and the reaction of a 3-amino-4-bromopyrazole with 4-carbamoylphenylboronic acid. In all of these processes, the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction was fast and relatively efficient using a palladium catalyst under microwave irradiation. The process was incorporated into a rapid 3-step microwave-assisted method for the synthesis of a MK2 inhibitor involving 3-aminopyrazole formation, pyrazole C-4 bromination using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS), and Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of the pyrazolyl bromide with 4-carbamoylphenylboronic acid to give the target 4-arylpyrazole in 35% overall yield, suitable for study in WS cells

Association between childhood health, socioeconomic and school-related factors and effort-reward imbalance at work: a 25-year follow-up study

Objectives: Stress pathways can have origins in childhood, but few early predictors have been explored in relation to adult job stress. This study examined whether childhood school, health or socioeconomic factors were associated with adult job stress. Methods: Data came from the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health study that began in 1985 with children aged 7-15 years who reported effortreward imbalance (ERI) scales at ages 31-41 years. Linear regression assessed the association between childhood factors and adult ERI adjusted for age and socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood. Results: There were between 999 and 1390 participants in each analysis. Lower adulthood ERI, indicating less job stress, was predicted by several school-related factors in men. For example, each higher category of learner self-concept was associated with a 19% (95% CI – 32% to 6%) reduction in adult ERI, and each unit increase in academic attainment was associated with a 15% (95% CI –28% to 3%) reduction in adult ERI. Childhood health was associated with adult ERI. For example, in women, overweight children had 14% (95% CI 5% to 22%) higher adult ERI scores compared with healthy weight children, and each unit of negative affect was associated with 2% (95% CI 1% to 4%) increase in adult ERI. Adult SEP had no effect on these associations for men but explained some of the effect in women. Childhood SEP had inconsistent associations with adult ERI. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that a range of childhood socioeconomic, school- and health-related factors might contribute to the development of job stress in adulthood

The effect of RO3201195 and a pyrazolyl ketone P38 MAPK inhibitor library on the proliferation of Werner syndrome cells

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Takeaway food consumption and its associations with diet quality and abdominal obesity: a cross-sectional study of young adults

Background : Few studies have investigated the associations of takeaway food consumption with overall diet quality and abdominal obesity. Young adults are high consumers of takeaway food so we aimed to examine these associations in a national study of young Australian adults.Methods : A national sample of 1,277 men and 1,585 women aged 26&ndash;36 completed a self-administered questionnaire on demographic and lifestyle factors, a 127 item food frequency questionnaire, usual daily frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption and usual weekly frequency of takeaway food consumption. Dietary intake was compared with the dietary recommendations from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Waist circumference was measured for 1,065 men and 1,129 women. Moderate abdominal obesity was defined as &ge; 94 cm for men and &ge; 80 cm for women. Prevalence ratios (PR) were calculated using log binomial regression. Takeaway food consumption was dichotomised, with once a week or less as the reference group.Results : Consumption of takeaway food twice a week or more was reported by more men (37.9%) than women (17.7%, P &lt; 0.001). Compared with those eating takeaway once a week or less, men eating takeaway twice a week or more were significantly more likely to be single, younger, current smokers and spend more time watching TV and sitting, whereas women were more likely to be in the workforce and spend more time watching TV and sitting. Participants eating takeaway food at least twice a week were less likely (P &lt; 0.05) to meet the dietary recommendation for vegetables, fruit, dairy, extra foods, breads and cereals (men only), lean meat and alternatives (women only) and overall met significantly fewer dietary recommendations (P &lt; 0.001). After adjusting for confounding variables (age, leisure time physical activity, TV viewing and employment status), consuming takeaway food twice a week or more was associated with a 31% higher prevalence of moderate abdominal obesity in men (PR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.61) and a 25% higher prevalence in women (PR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.50).Conclusion : Eating takeaway food twice a week or more was associated with poorer diet quality and a higher prevalence of moderate abdominal obesity in young men and women.<br /

APOE Genotype and Cardio-Respiratory Fitness Interact to Determine Adiposity in 8-Year-Old Children from the Tasmanian Infant Health Survey

APOE plays a well established role in lipid metabolism. Animal model evidence suggests APOE may also be associated with adiposity, but this has not been thoroughly investigated in humans. We measured adiposity (BMI, truncal fat mass, waist circumference), physical activity (PA), cardiorespiratory fitness and APOE genotype (E2, E3, E4) in 292 8-year-old children from the Tasmanian Infant Health Survey (TIHS), an Australian population-based prospective birth cohort. Our aims were to examine the association of APOE with child adiposity, and to examine the interplay between this association and other measured factors. We found that APOE was associated with child lipid profiles. APOE was also associated with child adiposity measures. The association was E4 allele-specific, with adiposity lower in the E4-containing group (BMI: Mean difference -0.90 kg/m2; 95% confidence intervals (CI) -1.51, -0.28; p = 0.004). The association of APOE4 with lower BMI differed by fitness status (difference in effect p = 0.002), and was more evident among the less fit (mean difference -1.78 kg/m2; 95% CI -2.74, -0.83; p<0.001). Additionally, associations between BMI and lipids were only apparent in those of lower fitness who did not carry APOE4. Similar overall findings were observed when truncal fat mass and waist circumference were used as alternative adiposity measures. APOE4 and cardiorespitatory fitness could interact to influence child adiposity. In studies addressing the genetic determinants of childhood obesity, the context of child fitness should also be taken into account