CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES FACING THE AUSTRALIAN JUDICIARY: AN EMPIRICAL INTERRUPTION

© 2019 Melbourne University Law Review. All rights reserved. The structures that regulate and support the Australian judiciary reflect and serve the traditional judicial values of independence, impartiality and the rule of law. Yet modern society places emphasis on an additional range of values that are expected of government and public institutions. These contemporary values include diversity, transparency, accountability and efficiency. Reforms to introduce regulatory and support structures that prioritise and facilitate these values in the judicial arm has proved challenging and, sometimes, contentious. This article reports on a survey of Australian judicial officers (n = 142) from across different jurisdictions. Participants were asked what they considered to be the most pressing challenges that face the various levels of the Australian judiciary, and whether the current regulatory and support environment achieves international best practice. The responses provide a nuanced picture of the state of the modern Australian judiciary as it appears to those within it. The study facilitates an understanding of the degree to which judicial officers are satisfied with the current legal and regulatory framework and, where they are dissatisfied, the nature of their disquiet. While not seeking to offer complete resolutions to the many issues canvassed, the data and analysis presented in this article serve as an interruption to regulatory and academic studies of the Australian judiciary, with the potential to illuminate and re-orientate the reform conversation in light of the judicial perspective on these various issues

THE INFLUENCE OF POTENTILLA REPTANS EXTRACTS ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF AGROPYRON REPENS L. PLANTS

During the experiments, the influence of the aqueous extracts obtained from the leaves of Potentilla reptans on the physiology of Agropyron repens was studied.Agropyron repens is a plant of spontaneous flora of Romania, growing on cultivated and uncultivated soils and is one of the most harmful plants in agriculture.In areas where Potentilla reptans grows, couch grass growth is inhibited; this demonstrates that this plant can have an allelopatic action on the couch grass. During these experiments, aqueous extracts from the leaves of Potentilla reptans were used in concentrations of 5 g / l, 10 g / l, 15 g / l and 20 g / l. These extracts were used in order to water the Agropyron repens plants .The experiments focused on the intensity of leaf photosynthesis, leaf respiration intensity, transpiration intensity, leaf water content and chlorophyll content.In the variant with a concentration of 5 g / l, photosynthesis had much lower values, and at 20 g / l the process was reduced by about 50%.Regarding the respiration process, there was an increase, but only at high concentrations of the extracts (15 and 20 g / l). At low concentrations, the differences from the control were undetectable.In the control variant, the intensity of leaf transpiration had the lowest value. In the other variants, it has been found to intensify the transpiration process in proportion to the increase in the concentration of the extracts

The persistence in the liver of residual duck hepatitis B virus covalently closed circular DNA is not dependent upon new viral DNA synthesis

AbstractResidual hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA can be detected following the resolution of acute HBV infection. Our previous work using duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) infected ducks, indicated that ~80% of residual DHBV DNA in the liver is in the covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) form, suggesting that viral DNA synthesis is suppressed. The current study asked more directly if maintenance of residual DHBV cccDNA is dependent upon ongoing viral DNA synthesis. Ducks that recovered from acute DHBV infection were divided into 2 groups and treated with the antiviral drug, Entecavir (ETV), or placebo. No major differences in the stability of cccDNA or levels of residual cccDNA were observed in liver biopsy tissues taken 95days apart from ETV treated and placebo control ducks. The data suggest that residual DHBV cccDNA is highly stable and present in a cell population with a rate of turnover similar to normal, uninfected hepatocytes

Evaluation of λ-carrageenan, CpG-ODN, glycine betaine, Spirulina platensis and ergosterol as elicitors for the control of Zymoseptoria tritici in wheat

Wheat crops are constantly challenged by the pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici responsible for Septoria tritici Blotch (STB) disease. The present study reports the identification of five biocontrol compounds (λ-carrageenan, CpG-ODN, glycine betaine, Spirulina platensis and ergosterol) for the protection of wheat against STB in order to offer new alternative tools to farmers for sustainable crop protection. Screening of elicitors of wheat defenses was carried out through a succession of experiments: biocidal in vitro tests enabled to check for any fungicidal activities; glasshouse experiments allowed to determine the efficacy of a given compound in protecting wheat against STB; qRT-PCR biomolecular tests investigated the relative expression of 23 defense genes in treated versus untreated plants. We therefore demonstrated that λ-carrageenan, CpG-ODN, glycine betaine, Spirulina platensis and ergosterol are potential elicitors of wheat defenses. Foliar treatments with these compounds conferred protection of wheat by up to approximately 70 % against Z. tritici under semi-controlled conditions and induced both SA- and/or JA-dependent signaling pathways in the plant. These findings contribute to extend the narrow list of potential elicitors of wheat defenses against Z. tritici

Microtubule-associated protein 6 mediates neuronal connectivity through Semaphorin 3E-dependent signalling for axonal growth.

Structural microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) stabilize microtubules, a property that was thought to be essential for development, maintenance and function of neuronal circuits. However, deletion of the structural MAPs in mice does not lead to major neurodevelopment defects. Here we demonstrate a role for MAP6 in brain wiring that is independent of microtubule binding. We find that MAP6 deletion disrupts brain connectivity and is associated with a lack of post-commissural fornix fibres. MAP6 contributes to fornix development by regulating axonal elongation induced by Semaphorin 3E. We show that MAP6 acts downstream of receptor activation through a mechanism that requires a proline-rich domain distinct from its microtubule-stabilizing domains. We also show that MAP6 directly binds to SH3 domain proteins known to be involved in neurite extension and semaphorin function. We conclude that MAP6 is critical to interface guidance molecules with intracellular signalling effectors during the development of cerebral axon tracts

A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Matrix Protein and Nucleocapsid Trafficking during Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Uncoating

To study VSV entry and the fate of incoming matrix (M) protein during virus uncoating we used recombinant viruses encoding M proteins with a C-terminal tetracysteine tag that could be fluorescently labeled using biarsenical (Lumio) compounds. We found that uncoating occurs early in the endocytic pathway and is inhibited by expression of dominant-negative (DN) Rab5, but is not inhibited by DN-Rab7 or DN-Rab11. Uncoating, as defined by the separation of nucleocapsids from M protein, occurred between 15 and 20 minutes post-entry and did not require microtubules or an intact actin cytoskeleton. Unexpectedly, the bulk of M protein remained associated with endosomal membranes after uncoating and was eventually trafficked to recycling endosomes. Another small, but significant fraction of M distributed to nuclear pore complexes, which was also not dependent on microtubules or polymerized actin. Quantification of fluorescence from high-resolution confocal micrographs indicated that after membrane fusion, M protein diffuses across the endosomal membrane with a concomitant increase in fluorescence from the Lumio label which occurred soon after the release of RNPs into the cytoplasm. These data support a new model for VSV uncoating in which RNPs are released from M which remains bound to the endosomal membrane rather than the dissociation of M protein from RNPs after release of the complex into the cytoplasm following membrane fusion

Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Vaccine Vectors Expressing Filovirus Glycoproteins Lack Neurovirulence in Nonhuman Primates

The filoviruses, Marburg virus and Ebola virus, cause severe hemorrhagic fever with high mortality in humans and nonhuman primates. Among the most promising filovirus vaccines under development is a system based on recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) that expresses an individual filovirus glycoprotein (GP) in place of the VSV glycoprotein (G). The main concern with all replication-competent vaccines, including the rVSV filovirus GP vectors, is their safety. To address this concern, we performed a neurovirulence study using 21 cynomolgus macaques where the vaccines were administered intrathalamically. Seven animals received a rVSV vector expressing the Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) GP; seven animals received a rVSV vector expressing the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (MARV) GP; three animals received rVSV-wild type (wt) vector, and four animals received vehicle control. Two of three animals given rVSV-wt showed severe neurological symptoms whereas animals receiving vehicle control, rVSV-ZEBOV-GP, or rVSV-MARV-GP did not develop these symptoms. Histological analysis revealed major lesions in neural tissues of all three rVSV-wt animals; however, no significant lesions were observed in any animals from the filovirus vaccine or vehicle control groups. These data strongly suggest that rVSV filovirus GP vaccine vectors lack the neurovirulence properties associated with the rVSV-wt parent vector and support their further development as a vaccine platform for human use

Synchronized Retrovirus Fusion in Cells Expressing Alternative Receptor Isoforms Releases the Viral Core into Distinct Sub-cellular Compartments

Disparate enveloped viruses initiate infection by fusing with endosomes. However, the highly diverse and dynamic nature of endosomes impairs mechanistic studies of fusion and identification of sub-cellular sites supporting the nucleocapsid release. We took advantage of the extreme stability of avian retrovirus-receptor complexes at neutral pH and of acid-dependence of virus-endosome fusion to isolate the latter step from preceding asynchronous internalization/trafficking steps. Viruses were trapped within endosomes in the presence of NH4Cl. Removal of NH4Cl resulted in a quick and uniform acidification of all subcellular compartments, thereby initiating synchronous viral fusion. Single virus imaging demonstrated that fusion was initiated within seconds after acidification and often culminated in the release of the viral core from an endosome. Comparative studies of cells expressing either the transmembrane or GPI-anchored receptor isoform revealed that the transmembrane receptor delivered the virus to more fusion-permissive compartments. Thus the identity of endosomal compartments, in addition to their acidity, appears to modulate viral fusion. A more striking manifestation of the virus delivery to distinct compartments in the presence of NH4Cl was the viral core release into the cytosol of cells expressing the transmembrane receptor and into endosomes of cells expressing the GPI-anchored isoform. In the latter cells, the newly released cores exhibited restricted mobility and were exposed to a more acidic environment than the cytoplasm. These cores appear to enter into the cytosol after an additional slow temperature-dependent step. We conclude that the NH4Cl block traps the virus within intralumenal vesicles of late endosomes in cells expressing the GPI-anchored receptor. Viruses surrounded by more than one endosomal membrane release their core into the cytoplasm in two steps – fusion with an intralumenal vesicle followed by a yet unknown temperature-dependent step that liberates the core from late endosomes

IFITM3 Inhibits Influenza A Virus Infection by Preventing Cytosolic Entry

To replicate, viruses must gain access to the host cell's resources. Interferon (IFN) regulates the actions of a large complement of interferon effector genes (IEGs) that prevent viral replication. The interferon inducible transmembrane protein family members, IFITM1, 2 and 3, are IEGs required for inhibition of influenza A virus, dengue virus, and West Nile virus replication in vitro. Here we report that IFN prevents emergence of viral genomes from the endosomal pathway, and that IFITM3 is both necessary and sufficient for this function. Notably, viral pseudoparticles were inhibited from transferring their contents into the host cell cytosol by IFN, and IFITM3 was required and sufficient for this action. We further demonstrate that IFN expands Rab7 and LAMP1-containing structures, and that IFITM3 overexpression is sufficient for this phenotype. Moreover, IFITM3 partially resides in late endosomal and lysosomal structures, placing it in the path of invading viruses. Collectively our data are consistent with the prediction that viruses that fuse in the late endosomes or lysosomes are vulnerable to IFITM3's actions, while viruses that enter at the cell surface or in the early endosomes may avoid inhibition. Multiple viruses enter host cells through the late endocytic pathway, and many of these invaders are attenuated by IFN. Therefore these findings are likely to have significance for the intrinsic immune system's neutralization of a diverse array of threats

Fortification: Lacing skills development with ethical content

A collection of academic writings on the varied issues surrounding the teaching of law.Suzanne Le Mir