Strip Searches, Police Power and the Infliction of Harm: An Analysis of the New South Wales Strip Search Regime

Police misuse of strip search powers at music festivals, at train stations, in police vehicles and at other locations has been subject to sustained public attention in recent years. This article traces the evolution of strip search practices in New South Wales, explores the legal and policy context in which they have developed, highlights the individual and social harms arising from them and discusses the need for fundamental law reform. We argue that recent controversies regarding police strip searches and drug detection dog operations in New South Wales show policing to be simultaneously a law-making and a law-abusing power. By examining concepts concerned with how police construct their own working rules, police data and testimony provided to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), we explain how police justify conducting strip searches that should otherwise be considered unlawful

Engineering a Mastoparan Peptide Concatemer Prodrug From CircRNA for Cancer Therapy

CircRNAs are covalently closed loops of RNA formed as products of RNA backsplicing in mammalian cells. Engineered circRNAs containing a desired coding sequence have been produced using self-splicing introns. Translatable circRNAs require an internal ribosomal entry site or m6A methylation site for translation initiation. CircRNAs with a nucleotide length a multiple of three, a start codon, and no stop codon in the same frame have an infinite open reading frame. This project aimed to produce a mastoparan peptide concatemer prodrug from circRNA for treatment in cancer therapeutics. Anabaena group I self-splicing introns were used to circularise a mastoparan prodrug containing a metalloproteinase cleavage site for activation (construct named Anabaena Mastoparan). RNA circularisation was achieved in vitro but not in mammalian cells, indicating that group I Anabaena introns do not have the catalytic ability to splice in mammalian cells. Mastoparan peptides were detected in vitro and in vivo after adding a Flag tag to the Anabaena Mastoparan construct. However, only peptides produced from unspliced RNA translation were detected. Mastoparan peptides extracted from Anabaena Mastoparan transfected cells caused cytotoxicity when added to the culture medium of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. Anabaena Mastoparan transfection did not directly lead to cytotoxicity, demonstrating the effectiveness of mastoparan as a prodrug, only being activated by metalloproteinase cleavage in the extracellular environment. This project aimed to identify endogenous circRNAs that have the coding potential to produce a peptide with a different biological function to their parent gene. Using a Bioinformatics approach, circRNAs containing an ORF through the circular junction were identified. Their ORF through junction peptides were investigated for differences in predicted function to their parent gene using InterProScan and Protein Homology/analogY Recognition (Phyre2). Using this approach, four candidate circRNAs were identified that encode a predicted peptide with a different biological function to their parent gene. The four candidate circRNAs contain either a predicted m6A or an internal ribosomal entry site for translation initiation, and have a codon adaption index score (CAI) between 0.781 and 0.821, comparable to the 75th percentile of ORFs through the circular junction (079), and the mean CAI score of coding sequence mRNA. This project demonstrates that the circular junction of circRNAs can provide the coding potential to produce unique peptides with a different function to their parent gene

Public Criminology, Victim Agency and Researching State Crime

Using the example of Australia's immigration detention policies, this article engages with contemporary debates about public criminology to explore how, when researching state crime, criminologists should conceptualize victims. It is argued that what is missing from the debates about public criminology (and much state crime research) is a systematic discussion of victim agency. A number of questions will be addressed throughout the discussion: Can victims be the "object" of "neutral" research? Should detainees, for example, be seen primarily as passive victims of state abuse? What role is played by institutional ethics policies, especially those based on medical models? It will be argued that state crime research should acknowledge - if not emphasize - the potential subjective role played by victims; that there is a complex and dynamic inter-relationship between the researcher and the victim that confronts traditional perceptions of criminological research; and that victim resistance, combined with criminological research, can be crucial in designating particular state activities as criminal and constructing the social audience that rejects them

Engineering a Mastoparan Peptide Concatemer Prodrug From CircRNA for Cancer Therapy

CircRNAs are covalently closed loops of RNA formed as products of RNA backsplicing in mammalian cells. Engineered circRNAs containing a desired coding sequence have been produced using self-splicing introns. Translatable circRNAs require an internal ribosomal entry site or m6A methylation site for translation initiation. CircRNAs with a nucleotide length a multiple of three, a start codon, and no stop codon in the same frame have an infinite open reading frame. This project aimed to produce a mastoparan peptide concatemer prodrug from circRNA for treatment in cancer therapeutics. Anabaena group I self-splicing introns were used to circularise a mastoparan prodrug containing a metalloproteinase cleavage site for activation (construct named Anabaena Mastoparan). RNA circularisation was achieved in vitro but not in mammalian cells, indicating that group I Anabaena introns do not have the catalytic ability to splice in mammalian cells. Mastoparan peptides were detected in vitro and in vivo after adding a Flag tag to the Anabaena Mastoparan construct. However, only peptides produced from unspliced RNA translation were detected. Mastoparan peptides extracted from Anabaena Mastoparan transfected cells caused cytotoxicity when added to the culture medium of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. Anabaena Mastoparan transfection did not directly lead to cytotoxicity, demonstrating the effectiveness of mastoparan as a prodrug, only being activated by metalloproteinase cleavage in the extracellular environment. This project aimed to identify endogenous circRNAs that have the coding potential to produce a peptide with a different biological function to their parent gene. Using a Bioinformatics approach, circRNAs containing an ORF through the circular junction were identified. Their ORF through junction peptides were investigated for differences in predicted function to their parent gene using InterProScan and Protein Homology/analogY Recognition (Phyre2). Using this approach, four candidate circRNAs were identified that encode a predicted peptide with a different biological function to their parent gene. The four candidate circRNAs contain either a predicted m6A or an internal ribosomal entry site for translation initiation, and have a codon adaption index score (CAI) between 0.781 and 0.821, comparable to the 75th percentile of ORFs through the circular junction (079), and the mean CAI score of coding sequence mRNA. This project demonstrates that the circular junction of circRNAs can provide the coding potential to produce unique peptides with a different function to their parent gene

The hoverflies: a case of "poor" mimicry?

The hoverflies (Diptera:Syrphidae) represent an apparently paradoxical visual Batesian mimicry complex, with what appear to be "poor" Mimics outnumbering their more accomplished counterparts. The purpose of this thesis is to determine how far conventional mimicry theory is capable of explaining the apparent paradoxes of mimicry in the hoverflies. It becomes obvious that determining the mimetic status of the supposedly poor Mimics is not a trivial task. Conventional experimental tests of mimicry, using captive predators, seem incapable of predicting the degree of protection enjoyed by a Mimic in the field. The research therefore concentrates on developing some novel empirical approaches to the study of mimicry. This includes developing a method of image analysis which yields an objective, single-value measure of the similarity between Model and Mimic patterns. This index of similarity is used to produce unique descriptions of the structure of mimetic communities in terms of Mimic frequency and similarity to the supposed Model. These profiles indicate that there is an objective basis to the perceived paradox, and suggest that there is not a simple relationship between the actual and perceived similarity of two patterns. The perceived similarity of Model and Mimic will be a key determinant of mimetic success. The index of similarity is also used as a basis for direct comparison of the supposedly mimetic hoverflies with a more established example of mimicry in the butterflies. This exercise demonstrates that an index of pattern similarity enables a unique comparative analysis of mimicry. It is proposed that an index of similarity also provides a unique opportunity to test our theoretical understanding of mimicry, if it is used in conjunction with a mathematical model that possesses some specific attributes. A suitable prototype model is developed and demonstrated. The thesis concludes with an indication that the novel empirical approaches developed here, have been adopted elsewhere. This latter work indicates that those hoverfly species which are apparently "poor" Mimics, may be exploiting some constraint in predator perceptual and cognitive systems to achieve mimetic protection, despite a relatively low degree of actual similarity to the Model species

Caries in children with and without orofacial clefting:A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review compared children's primary dentition caries experience for those with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) and without. Four databases were searched without date restriction for; cross-sectional studies comparing caries experience for children with CL/P to those without. Screening, data extraction and risk assessment were carried out independently (in duplicate). Meta-analyses used a random-effects model. Twenty studies (21 reports) fitting the inclusion criteria comprised 4647 children in primary dentition from 12 countries. For dmft (n = 3016 children; 15 groups), CL/P mean = 3.2; standard deviation = 2.22 and no CL/P mean dmft = 2.5; sd 1.53. For dmfs (n = 1095 children; 6 groups), CL/P mean = 4; sd = 3.5 and no CL/P mean = 3; sd = 2.8. For % caries experience (n = 1094 children; 7 groups), CL/P mean = 65%; sd = 20.8 and no CL/P mean = 52%; sd = 28.1. Meta-analysis showed higher caries experience in children with CL/P, standardised mean difference = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.15, 0.77. Studies' risk of bias was high (n = 7), medium (n−10) and low (n = 3). Children with CL/P had higher caries experience compared to those without CLP

Crimmigration and Refugees: Bridging Visas, Criminal Cancellations and ‘Living in the Community’ as Punishment and Deterrence

Australia’s status as the only state with a policy of mandatory indefinite detention of all unlawful non-citizens, including asylum seekers, who are within Australian territory is a fact that is both well-known and frequently cited. From its inception, mandatory immigration detention was touted as ‘the method of deterrence for those seeking asylum onshore’ and since then ‘mandatory detention has been at the forefront of a deterrence as control and control as deterrence discourse’2. The imagined subjects of deterrence are frequently asylum seekers presented as ‘bogus’ or as economic migrants, and the sites for control are Australia’s ‘immigration program’ and borders. While these dual factors have animated the implementation and continuation of the policy for over 25 years, the contemporary practice and enforcement of detention in Australia presents a much more complex picture

Turning the Tables: Media Constructions of British Asians from Victims to Criminals, 1962 to 2011

Book synopsis: Media, Crime and Racism draws together contributions from scholars at the leading edge of their field across three continents to present contemporary and longstanding debates exploring the roles played by media and the state in racialising crime and criminalising racialised minorities. Comprised of empirically rich accounts and theoretically informed analysis, this dynamic text offers readers a critical and in-depth examination of contemporary social and criminal justice issues as they pertain to racialised minorities and the media. Chapters demonstrate the myriad ways in which racialised ‘others’ experience demonisation, exclusion, racist abuse and violence licensed – and often induced – by the state and the media. Together, they also offer original and nuanced analysis of how these processes can be experienced differently dependent on geography, political context and local resistance. This collection critically reflects on a number of globally significant topics including the vilification of Muslim minorities, the portrayal of the refugee ‘crisis’ and the representations and resistance of Indigenous and Black communities. This volume demonstrates that processes of racialisation and criminalisation in media and the state cannot be understood without reference to how they are underscored and inflected by gender and power. Above all, the contributors to this volume demonstrate the resistance of racialised minorities in localised contexts across the globe: against racialisation and criminalisation and in pursuit of racial justice

Review essay -- Weber L and Pickering S (2011) Globalization and borders : death at the global frontier

The pertinence of this book cannot be overemphasised. The world’s refugee crisis has reached a two‐decade high with the United Nations recently announcing that ‘displacement is the new 21st century challenge’ (UNHCR 2013). The transnational movement of dislocated peoples fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty is a global responsibility requiring nation states to collaborate for humanitarian resolutions embedded in human rights. However, in times of human rights expansionism, and the relaxation of borders for maximising free‐trade and fiscal prosperity, the movement of people experiencing immense abuse and deprivation has witnessed an increase in draconian regulation within discourses of intolerance and deterrence. Weber and Pickering cogently and emphatically emphasise the human cost of inhumane and populist government immigration and border‐entry polices underpinned by ideologies of retribution, suspicion, and demonisation. It is a moving and engaging narrative: a book that exposes state prejudice and abuse, whilst advocating for the victims who undertake perilous journeys in search of safety from lives of violence and persecution. Moreover, it is a book that pushes ideological boundaries and seeks new criminological horizons, for which the authors must be sincerely congratulated. It is a text of innovation, inspired thinking and long lasting criminological value