The Tyranny of Distance: Clinical Legal Education in ‘The Bush’

This paper analyses the challenges faced by clients, students and teachers involved in a clinical program which uses new technology to deliver legal services in remote areas of Southern Queensland, Australia. A range of novel issues were addressed by Griffith University Law School, Learning Network Queensland and Caxton Legal Centre in their partnership development and delivery of this clinical program which involves the use of audio-graphics conferencing to enable students to provide legal advice and assistance to people hundreds of kilometres away. The ‘Advanced Family Law-Clinic’ program commenced in July 1999 with financial support from the Federal Attorney-General’s Department. The paper considers the range of issues which arose in development of the program

There is more to accommodation of the eye than simply minimizing retinal blur.

Eyes of children and young adults change their optical power to focus nearby objects at the retina. But does accommodation function by trial and error to minimize blur and maximize contrast as is generally accepted? Three experiments in monocular and monochromatic vision were performed under two conditions while aberrations were being corrected. In the first condition, feedback was available to the eye from both optical vergence and optical blur. In the second, feedback was only available from target blur. Accommodation was less precise for the second condition, suggesting that it is more than a trial-and-error function. Optical vergence itself seems to be an important cue for accommodation

Loss of ACTN3 gene function alters mouse muscle metabolism and shows evidence of positive selection in humans

More than a billion humans worldwide are predicted to be completely deficient in the fast skeletal muscle fiber protein α-actinin-3 owing to homozygosity for a premature stop codon polymorphism, R577X, in the ACTN3 gene. The R577X polymorphism is associ

Biotargeted nanomedicines for cancer: six tenets before you begin

Biotargeted nanomedicines have captured the attention of academic and industrial scientists who have been motivated by the theoretical possibilities of the ‘magic bullet’ that was first conceptualized by Paul Ehrlich at the beginning of the 20th century. The Biotargeting Working Group, consisting of more than 50 pharmaceutical scientists, engineers, biologists and clinicians, has been formed as part of the National Cancer Institute’s Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer to harness collective wisdom in order to tackle conceptual and practical challenges in developing biotargeted nanomedicines for cancer. In modern science and medicine, it is impossible for any individual to be an expert in every aspect of biology, chemistry, materials science, pharmaceutics, toxicology, chemical engineering, imaging, physiology, oncology and regulatory affairs. Drawing on the expertise of leaders from each of these disciplines, this commentary highlights six tenets of biotargeted cancer nanomedicines in order to enable the translation of basic science into clinical practice

Drug Inhibition Profile Prediction for NFκB Pathway in Multiple Myeloma

Nuclear factor κB (NFκB) activation plays a crucial role in anti-apoptotic responses in response to the apoptotic signaling during tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) stimulation in Multiple Myeloma (MM). Although several drugs have been found effective for the treatment of MM by mainly inhibiting NFκB pathway, there are not any quantitative or qualitative results of comparison assessment on inhibition effect between different drugs either used alone or in combinations. Computational modeling is becoming increasingly indispensable for applied biological research mainly because it can provide strong quantitative predicting power. In this study, a novel computational pathway modeling approach is employed to comparably assess the inhibition effects of specific drugs used alone or in combinations on the NFκB pathway in MM and to predict the potential synergistic drug combinations

Genetic diversity in Campylobacter jejuni is associated with differential colonization of broiler chickens and C57BL/6J IL10-deficient mice

Previous studies have demonstrated that Campylobacter jejuni, the leading causative agent of bacterial food-borne disease in the USA, exhibits high-frequency genetic variation that is associated with changes in cell-surface antigens and ability to colonize chickens. To expand our understanding of the role of genetic diversity in the disease process, we analysed the ability of three C. jejuni human disease isolates (strains 11168, 33292 and 81-176) and genetically marked derivatives to colonize Ross 308 broilers and C57BL/6J IL10-deficient mice. C. jejuni colonized broilers at much higher efficiency (all three strains, 23 of 24 broilers) than mice (11168 only, 8 of 24 mice). C. jejuni 11168 genetically marked strains colonized mice at very low efficiency (2 of 42 mice); however, C. jejuni reisolated from mice colonized both mice and broilers at high efficiency, suggesting that this pathogen can adapt genetically in the mouse. We compared the genome composition in the three wild-type C. jejuni strains and derivatives by microarray DNA/DNA hybridization analysis; the data demonstrated a high degree of genetic diversity in three gene clusters associated with synthesis and modification of the cell-surface structures capsule, flagella and lipo-oligosaccharide. Finally, we analysed the frequency of mutation in homopolymeric tracts associated with the contingency genes wlaN (GC tract) and flgR (AT tracts) in culture and after passage through broilers and mice. C. jejuni adapted genetically in culture at high frequency and the degree of genetic diversity was increased by passage through broilers but was nearly eliminated in the gastrointestinal tract of mice. The data suggest that the broiler gastrointestinal tract provides an environment which promotes outgrowth and genetic variation in C. jejuni; the enhancement of genetic diversity at this location may contribute to its importance as a human disease reservoir

Legal services in rural communties: issues for clients and lawyers

This article considers the ability of people living in rural, regional and remote Australia (we will use the term ‘rural’ to cover ‘rural, regional and remote’) to access legal services. Surprisingly little has been written about rural legal services in Australia. Much of the writing on rural justice issues relates to criminal law with little attention being paid to family and civil law. The purpose of this article is to highlight issues which members of rural communities face when they seek to access legal and related services. It considers these issues from the perspectives of both clients and lawyers. The use of information technology to deliver legal services is also considered

Functional identity of the Mammalian Gamma Tropomyosin Gene

The actin filament system is fundamental to cellular functions including regulation of shape, motility, cytokinesis, intracellular trafficking and tissue organisation. Tropomyosins (Tm) are highly conserved components of actin filaments which differentially regulate filament stability and function. The mammalian Tm family consists of four genes; alphaTm, betaTm, gammaTm and deltaTm (Tpm1-4). Multiple Tm isoforms (>40) are generated by alternative splicing, and the expression of these isoforms is highly regulated with spatial and temporal sorting of Tm isoforms into different cellular compartments. The importance of gammaTm gene products during mammalian development has not been fully explored. In order to further identify the role of mammalian Tm isoforms, the functional specificity of subsets of gammaTm gene family products in mice was tested using a series of gene knockouts. Knockout constructs of the amino-terminal exon 1b and carboxy-terminal exons 9a+9b, exon 9c and exon 9d from the gammaTm gene were used to assess the viability of ES cells and mice. The deletion of amino-terminal coding exon 1b ablates all eleven known gammaTm gene cytoskeletal products (Tm5NM1-11) and results in non-viable mice. However, the elimination of four exon 9c-containing isoforms (Tm5NM4,7,8,9) shows no impact on embryo viability whereas the deletion of two exon 9d-containing isoforms (Tm5NM1,2) results in partial lethality. The viability of knockout ES cells in vitro was also compromised as neither exon 1b nor exon 9d homozygous knockout ES cells could be generated. In contrast, homozygous knockout ES cells for exons 9a+9b (Tm5NM3,5,6,8,9,10,11) were viable. Results indicate that exons 9a+9b may be required for ES cells to undergo differentiation and a conditional knockout mouse model of exons 9a+9b is being generated to determine whether these gene products are required for embryogenesis. Furthermore, sperm lacking cytoskeletal Tm products of the gammaTm gene show preferential transmission of the deleted allele which may indicate a selective advantage. Since all four Tm genes are expressed in early embryos, ES cells and sperm, it is concluded that isoforms from the gammaTm gene perform specific functions in ES cell viability and embryogenesis that cannot be compensated by the other Tm genes

Monoclonal antibodies recognizing a coagulase-negative staphylococcal protein

Monoclonal antibodies which can bind to the SdrF protein of Staphylococcus epidermidis are provided which can be useful in the treatment and protection against infection from staphylococcal bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis. The monoclonal antibodies of the invention are advantageous in that they can also recognize binding domains and subdomains of the S. epidermidis SdrF protein in addition to the protein itself. Suitable compositions and passive vaccines based on the monoclonal antibodies of the invention, as well as methods for their use, are also provided.U