Love on the line: The social dynamics involved with people meeting other people using New Zealand online dating sites

The intention of this thesis is to explore whether New Zealand trends in online dating parallel those identified by overseas studies, or whether patterns are emerging that are unique to New Zealand society. The Internet Windows Messenger instant messenger service (MSN) was used to interview 32 subjects about their experiences with online dating, covering areas such as motivation for using online dating; types of relationships sought; barriers to online dating; online rapport and offline chemistry; online infidelity; and managing 'difference'. Drawing on these responses, this thesis presents findings pertaining to a diverse group of New Zealanders' attitudes towards and uses of online dating. Some of the key findings show that online rapport does not guarantee offline chemistry; that there are gender differences in attitudes towards appearance, age, and receiving sexually explicit material online; and that sexual experimentation and infidelity are being facilitated through online dating. The issue of 'difference' as it relates to online dating has been largely neglected by overseas researchers, and for this reason was extensively included in this research. Key findings relating to 'difference' show that there is a clear split between those interviewees whose 'difference' impacted positively on their online dating experience (those with sexual 'difference' falling into this category), and those whose 'difference' impacted negatively (those with physical or mental 'difference'). In addition, those interviewees with a sexual 'difference' have been able to connect with other like-minded people through online dating, contributing to the 'normalization' of previously considered deviant behaviours. Based on the research presented in this thesis, it appears that New Zealand online dating activities are consistent with overseas trends, although there are indications that some behaviour may be more specific to New Zealand society, such as gender differences in relation to bisexuality, and covert same-sex encounters involving men who are either married or who state in their profiles that they are 'straight' or heterosexual

New amine-substituted cyclopentadienyl and indenyl ligands

This thesis concerns the new amine-substituted cyclopentadiene and indene ligands C(_5)H(_5)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H and C(_9)H(_7)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H which can co-ordinate to a metal through all five carbon atoms of the five-membered ring (η(^5)) and/ or through the nitrogen (σ). Chapter 1 reviews the recent literature concerning Lewis-base functionalised cyclopentadienyl and indenyl ligands and their compounds with s-, p-, d- and f-block metals. Chapter 2 contains a brief review of possible synthetic routes to amine-substituted cyclopentadienyl and indenyl ligands with some examples from the recent literature, and a detailed account of the synthesis of C(_5)H(_5)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H and C(_9)H(_7)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H. The amino alcohol (^t)BuNH(CH(_2))(_3) OH was synthesised by the conjugate addition of (^t)BuNH(_2) to ethyl acrylate and reduction of the product ester (^t)BuNH(CH(_2))(_2)C0(_2)Et using LiAIH(_4). (^t)BuNH(CH(_2))(_3)OH was converted into (^t)BuNH(CH(_2))(_3)Br.HBr and (^t)BuNH(CH(_2)(_3)Cl.HCl by reaction with HBr or SOCI(_2). Reaction between (^t)BuNH(CH(_2))(_3)C1.HC1 and two equivalents of Na(C(_5)H(_5)) gave C(_5)H(_5)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H in good yield. Treatment of (^1)BuNH(CH(_2))(_3)C1.HC1 with excess NaOH followed by reaction with Li(C(_9)H(_7)) gave C(_9)H(_7)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H, also in good yield. Chapter 3 describes the synthesis of various main group and iron compounds of C(_5)H(_5)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H and C(_9)H(_7)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H. Lithium salts Li[C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H], Li[C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)]Li, Li[C(_9)H(_6)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H] and Li[C(_9)H(_6)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)]Li were prepared for use as reactive intermediates and Li[C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H] was characterised as its THF-adduct by (^t)H NMR spectroscopy. The silyl derivatives (Me(_3)Si)C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)NH(^t)Bu and (Me(_3)Si)C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)SiMe(_3) were synthesised and characterised by NMR spectroscopy, and (Me(_3)Si)C(_9)H(_6)(CH(_6))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H and (Me(_3)Si)C(_9)H(_6)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)(SiMe(_3)) were also synthesised. The anune-substituted ferrocene Fe{η(^5)-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H}(_2) was synthesised and oxidised to the corresponding ferricenium ion which was isolated as its PF(_6)(^-) salt. Exploratory work was carried out into the preparation of heterobimetallic species by reaction between Fe{η(^5)-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H}(_2) and MX(_2) (M = Co, Ni, X = CI, M = Mn, X = Br). The substituted bis(indenyl) iron(II) complex Fe{η(^5)-C(_9)H(_6)(CH(_2))(_3)N((^t)Bu)H}(_2) was also synthesised. Chapter 4 is an account of the chemistry of {η(^5) :σ-C(_5)H(_4) (CH(_2))(_3)N(^t)Bu}Ti(NMe(-2))(_2) which was synthesised by an aminolysis reaction between C(_5)H(_5)(CH(_2))(_3)NH(^t)Bu and Ti(NMe(_2))(_4) Reaction between this compound and various weak acids gave a range of new compounds including{η(^5):σ-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(-3)N(^t)Bu} Ti(O(^t)Pr)(_2), {η(^5):σ-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N(^t)Bu)(_2), {η(^5):σC, {η(^5):σ-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N(^t)Bu}Ti(C(_5)H(_5))(NMe(_2)) , {η(^5):σ-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N(^t)Bu}Ti(SnBu(_3))(_z) and the imido-bridged dimer [{η(^5):σ-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N(^t)Bu}Ti(NHPh)](_2)(µ-NPh)2, the X-ray structure of which is reported. Chapter 5 describes the experimental procedures used, and chapter 6 gives lists of characterising data for each compound. Appendix A gives details of the methods used for magnetic susceptibility determinations; appendix B lists X-ray crystallographic data for [ {η(^5):σ-C(_5)H(_4)(CH(_2))(_3)N(^t)Bu}Ti(NHPh)](_2)(µ-NPh)(_2) and appendix C lists departmental colloquia attended

Rev-dependent lentiviral expression vector

BACKGROUND: HIV-responsive expression vectors are all based on the HIV promoter, the long terminal repeat (LTR). While responsive to an early HIV protein, Tat, the LTR is also responsive to cellular activation states and to the local chromatin activity where the integration has occurred. This can result in high HIV-independent activity, and has restricted the use of LTR-based reporter vectors to cloned cells, where aberrantly high expressing (HIV-negative) cells can be eliminated. Enhancements in specificity would increase opportunities for expression vector use in detection of HIV as well as in experimental gene expression in HIV-infected cells. RESULTS: We have constructed an expression vector that possesses, in addition to the Tat-responsive LTR, numerous HIV DNA sequences that include the Rev-response element and HIV splicing sites that are efficiently used in human cells. It also contains a reading frame that is removed by cellular splicing activity in the absence of HIV Rev. The vector was incorporated into a lentiviral reporter virus, permitting detection of replicating HIV in living cell populations. The activity of the vector was measured by expression of green fluorescence protein (GFP) reporter and by PCR of reporter transcript following HIV infection. The vector displayed full HIV dependency. CONCLUSION: As with the earlier developed Tat-dependent expression vectors, the Rev system described here is an exploitation of an evolved HIV process. The inclusion of Rev-dependency renders the LTR-based expression vector highly dependent on the presence of replicating HIV. The application of this vector as reported here, an HIV-dependent reporter virus, offers a novel alternative approach to existing methods, in situ PCR or HIV antigen staining, to identify HIV-positive cells. The vector permits examination of living cells, can express any gene for basic or clinical experimentation, and as a pseudo-typed lentivirus has access to most cell types and tissues

Educational Technology Use in Neurodiagnostic Clinical Skills Training

The current shortage of clinical sites for neurodiagnostic technology (NDT) students is limiting enrollments and subsequently limiting graduates from NDT schools in the U.S. A lack of knowledge or consensus concerning the use of educational technology in NDT clinical skills training prompted this investigation. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of educational technology in providing NDT clinical skill training. This qualitative Delphi study was guided by experiential learning theory and cognitive constructionist epistemology. Thirty expert panelists were recruited to rate the effectiveness of educational technology methods in addressing neurodiagnostic competencies for electroencephalography. Twenty-four completed round one, twenty-two completed round two and nineteen completed the third and final round. The competencies were derived by combining national competencies or practice analysis from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom for neurodiagnostic technologists performing electroencephalography (EEG). Results of the three rounds of the Delphi study were processed using the mean value and interquartile deviation for evaluation of consensus. Consensus among the expert panelists supported the potential effectiveness of educational technology to address neurodiagnostic graduate competencies for technologists performing EEG. In conclusion, the expert panel consensus was NDT clinical skills for performing EEG can be addressed using educational technology, followed by a post-graduate clinical residency. Using educational technology and a post-graduate residency could increase school capacity. An increase in graduate numbers would help sustain the existing schools, better supply the profession, and increase public access to quality neurodiagnostic care

Evaluation of BacLite Rapid MRSA, a rapid culture based screening test for the detection of ciprofloxacin and methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) from screening swabs

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major nosocomial pathogen worldwide. The need for accurate and rapid screening methods to detect MRSA carriers has been clearly established. The performance of a novel assay, BacLite Rapid MRSA (Acolyte Biomedica, UK) for the rapid detection (5 h) and identification of hospital associated ciprofloxacin resistant strains of MRSA directly from nasal swab specimens was compared to that obtained by culture on Mannitol salt agar containing Oxacillin (MSAO) after 48 h incubation. RESULTS: A total of 1382 nasal screening swabs were tested by multiple operators. The BacLite Rapid MRSA test detected 142 out of the 157 confirmed MRSA that were detected on MSAO giving a diagnostic sensitivity of 90.4, diagnostic specificity of 95.7% and a negative predictive value of 98.7%. Of the 15 false negatives obtained by the BacLite Rapid MRSA test, seven grew small amounts (< 10 colonies of MRSA) on the MSAO culture plate and five isolates were ciprofloxacin sensitive. However there were 13 confirmed BacLite MRSA positive samples, which were negative by the direct culture method, probably due to overgrowth on the MSAO plate. There were 53 false positive results obtained by the BacLite Rapid MRSA test at 5 h and 115 cases where MRSA colonies were tentatively identified on the MSAO plate when read at 48 h, and which subsequently proved not to be MRSA. CONCLUSION: The Baclite MRSA test is easy to use and provides a similar level of sensitivity to conventional culture for the detection of nasal carriage of MRSA with the advantage that the results are obtained much more rapidly

Good images, effective messages? Working with students and educators on academic practice understanding

Work at Northumbria University has focussed on activity that extends opportunities for students to engage directly with the skills development necessary for sound academic practice. This has included highly visual campaigns on the "Plagiarism trap", providing access to Turnitin plagiarism detection software, guides and sessions to highlight use of associated referencing tools. Sessions on a variety of topics, such as supporting study skills and reading originality reports, have been provided for students on taught, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. This provision has included students working on collaborative partners' sites and also those on research programmes. Alongside the activities with students, "designing out" approaches have been embedded in staff development within the educator community at Northumbria. Formative use of Turnitin is integrated throughout programmes and academic practice development is formally recognised within the University Learning and Teaching Strategy's focus on information literacy. This article outlines and reviews these activities in a critical institutional context and evaluates responses from a variety of students and educators to determine how effective these measures have been

High-spatial-resolution imaging of thermal emission from debris disks

We have obtained sub-arcsec mid-IR images of a sample of debris disks within 100 pc. For our sample of nineteen A-type debris disk candidates chosen for their IR excess, we have resolved, for the first time, five sources plus the previously resolved disk around HD 141569. Two other sources in our sample have been ruled out as debris disks since the time of sample selection. Three of the six resolved sources have inferred radii of 1-4 AU (HD 38678, HD 71155, and HD 181869), and one source has an inferred radius ~10-30 AU (HD 141569). Among the resolved sources with detections of excess IR emission, HD 71155 appears to be comparable in size (r~2 AU) to the solar system's asteroid belt, thus joining Zeta Lep (HD 38678, reported previously) to comprise the only two resolved sources of that class. Two additional sources (HD 95418 and HD 139006) show spatial extent that implies disk radii of ~1-3 AU, although the excess IR fluxes are not formally detected with better than 2-sigma significance. For the unresolved sources, the upper limits on the maximum radii of mid-IR disk emission are in the range ~1-20 AU, four of which are comparable in radius to the asteroid belt. We have compared the global color temperatures of the dust to that expected for the dust in radiative equilibrium at the distances corresponding to the observed sizes or limits on the sizes. In most cases, the temperatures estimated via these two methods are comparable, and therefore, we see a generally consistent picture of the inferred morphology and the global mid-IR emission. Finally, while our sample size is not statistically significant, we notice that the older sources (>200 Myr) host much warmer dust (T > 400 K) than younger sources (in the 10s of Myr).Comment: 46 pages, 12 figure

A platform in the use of medicines to treat chronic hepatitis C (PLATINUM C): Protocol for a prospective treatment registry of real-world outcomes for hepatitis C

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: Safe, highly curative, short course, direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapies are now available to treat chronic hepatitis C. DAA therapy is freely available to all adults chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Australia. If left untreated, hepatitis C may lead to progressive hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Australia is committed to eliminating hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030 set by the World Health Organization. However, since the introduction of funded DAA treatment, uptake has been suboptimal. Australia needs improved strategies for testing, treatment uptake and treatment completion to address the persisting hepatitis C public health problem. PLATINUM C is a HCV treatment registry and research platform for assessing the comparative effectiveness of alternative interventions for achieving virological cure. Methods: PLATINUM C will prospectively enrol people with active HCV infection confirmed by recent detection of HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) in blood. Those enrolled will agree to allow standardised collection of demographic, lifestyle, treatment, virological outcome and other relevant clinical data to better inform the future management of HCV infection. The primary outcome is virological cure evidenced by sustained virological response (SVR), which is defined as a negative HCV PCR result 6 to 18 months after initial prescription of DAA therapy and no less than 12 weeks after the completion of treatment. Study participants will be invited to opt-in to medication adherence monitoring and quality of life assessments using validated self-reported instruments (EQ-5D-5L). Discussion: PLATINUM C is a treatment registry and platform for nesting pragmatic trials. Data collected will inform the design, development and implementation of pragmatic trials. The digital infrastructure, study procedures and governing systems established by the registry will allow PLATINUM C to support a wider research platform in the management of hepatitis C in primary care. Trial registration: The trial is registered with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ACTRN12619000023156). Date of registration: 10/01/2019

Chloroquine resistance before and after its withdrawal in Kenya

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Human candidate gene polymorphisms and risk of severe malaria in children in Kilifi, Kenya: a case-control association study

Background: Human genetic factors are important determinants of malaria risk. We investigated associations between multiple candidate polymorphisms—many related to the structure or function of red blood cells—and risk for severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria and its specific phenotypes, including cerebral malaria, severe malaria anaemia, and respiratory distress. Methods: We did a case-control study in Kilifi County, Kenya. We recruited as cases children presenting with severe malaria to the high-dependency ward of Kilifi County Hospital. We included as controls infants born in the local community between Aug 1, 2006, and Sept 30, 2010, who were part of a genetics study. We tested for associations between a range of candidate malaria-protective genes and risk for severe malaria and its specific phenotypes. We used a permutation approach to account for multiple comparisons between polymorphisms and severe malaria. We judged p values less than 0·005 significant for the primary analysis of the association between candidate genes and severe malaria. Findings: Between June 11, 1995, and June 12, 2008, 2244 children with severe malaria were recruited to the study, and 3949 infants were included as controls. Overall, 263 (12%) of 2244 children with severe malaria died in hospital, including 196 (16%) of 1233 with cerebral malaria. We investigated 121 polymorphisms in 70 candidate severe malaria-associated genes. We found significant associations between risk for severe malaria overall and polymorphisms in 15 genes or locations, of which most were related to red blood cells: ABO, ATP2B4, ARL14, CD40LG, FREM3, INPP4B, G6PD, HBA (both HBA1 and HBA2), HBB, IL10, LPHN2 (also known as ADGRL2), LOC727982, RPS6KL1, CAND1, and GNAS. Combined, these genetic associations accounted for 5·2% of the variance in risk for developing severe malaria among individuals in the general population. We confirmed established associations between severe malaria and sickle-cell trait (odds ratio [OR] 0·15, 95% CI 0·11–0·20; p=2·61 × 10−58), blood group O (0·74, 0·66–0·82; p=6·26 × 10−8), and –α3·7-thalassaemia (0·83, 0·76–0·90; p=2·06 × 10−6). We also found strong associations between overall risk of severe malaria and polymorphisms in both ATP2B4 (OR 0·76, 95% CI 0·63–0·92; p=0·001) and FREM3 (0·64, 0·53–0·79; p=3·18 × 10−14). The association with FREM3 could be accounted for by linkage disequilibrium with a complex structural mutation within the glycophorin gene region (comprising GYPA, GYPB, and GYPE) that encodes for the rare Dantu blood group antigen. Heterozygosity for Dantu was associated with risk for severe malaria (OR 0·57, 95% CI 0·49–0·68; p=3·22 × 10−11), as was homozygosity (0·26, 0·11–0·62; p=0·002). Interpretation: Both ATP2B4 and the Dantu blood group antigen are associated with the structure and function of red blood cells. ATP2B4 codes for plasma membrane calcium-transporting ATPase 4 (the major calcium pump on red blood cells) and the glycophorins are ligands for parasites to invade red blood cells. Future work should aim at uncovering the mechanisms by which these polymorphisms can result in severe malaria protection and investigate the implications of these associations for wider health. Funding: Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council, European Union, and Foundation for the National Institutes of Health as part of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative