Pathways to Transform Institutional (and Everyday) Racism in New Zealand

Racism has become a normalised part of New Zealand society despite our governments’ endorsement of human rights treaties and our founding document Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The outcomes of racism appear as significant and enduring disparities in social outcomes between Māori and non-Māori. New Zealand has a range of strategies attempting to deal with inequities between population groups but currently lacks a coherent national plan and/or strategy to transform racism. Within this paper the authors offer four pathways as a contribution to a national plan i) addressing historical racism ii) improving racial climate iii) mobilising civil society through collective impact iv) strengthening controls through systems change approaches within public institution

Remediação de água cinza por meio de fitorremediação e tecnologias intermitentes de filtro de areia visando o reuso na irrigação de jardins

A fim de garantir a qualidade dos recursos hídricos, estudos envolvendo o reuso de águas cinzas e a utilização de fitorremediação na remoção de contaminantes têm se tornado uma alternativa viável para reaproveitamento e consequentemente, redução do consumo de água tratada. Este trabalho objetivou avaliar características da água cinza, por meio de sistema envolvendo filtros de areia e plantas, avaliar a remoção de DQO e DBO5 pelo sistema e, verificar a possibilidade de reuso na irrigação de jardins. Para tal, elaborou-se filtros de areia com diâmetro médio de grãos de 0,5 mm e 0,25 mm, nos quais realizou-se o tratamento de água cinza sintética. Em dois filtros houve a consorciação com plantas (uma coluna Liriope muscari e outra coluna Hedera helix). Os resultados evidenciaram elevada remoção de DQO, apresentando redução de 64,33%, 63,78% e 60, 72%, nos filtros sem planta, com a espécie H. helix e L. muscari, respectivamente. Já para o parâmetro DBO5, as remoções observadas foram de 77,13%, 74,30% e 66,91%, para os filtros com L. muscari, sem planta e H. helix, respectivamente. Em relação ao reuso das águas em jardins, observou-se que a partir do 31°, 32° e 34° de detenção hidráulica, para os tratamentos sem planta, L. muscari e H. helix, respectivamente, houve a redução exigida pela legislação. Diante disso, conclui-se que a utilização de filtros de areia no tratamento de águas cinzas apresentou resultados positivos e que a consorciação com plantas contribuiu para a remoção de DQO e DBO5

Non-Compliance with Growth Hormone Treatment in Children Is Common and Impairs Linear Growth

BACKGROUND: GH therapy requires daily injections over many years and compliance can be difficult to sustain. As growth hormone (GH) is expensive, non-compliance is likely to lead to suboptimal growth, at considerable cost. Thus, we aimed to assess the compliance rate of children and adolescents with GH treatment in New Zealand. METHODS: This was a national survey of GH compliance, in which all children receiving government-funded GH for a four-month interval were included. Compliance was defined as ≥ 85% adherence (no more than one missed dose a week on average) to prescribed treatment. Compliance was determined based on two parameters: either the number of GH vials requested (GHreq) by the family or the number of empty GH vials returned (GHret). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. FINDINGS: 177 patients were receiving GH in the study period, aged 12.1 ± 0.6 years. The rate of returned vials, but not number of vials requested, was positively associated with HVSDS (p < 0.05), such that patients with good compliance had significantly greater linear growth over the study period (p<0.05). GHret was therefore used for subsequent analyses. 66% of patients were non-compliant, and this outcome was not affected by sex, age or clinical diagnosis. However, Maori ethnicity was associated with a lower rate of compliance. INTERPRETATION: An objective assessment of compliance such as returned vials is much more reliable than compliance based on parental or patient based information. Non-compliance with GH treatment is common, and associated with reduced linear growth. Non-compliance should be considered in all patients with apparently suboptimal response to GH treatment

4-Pyridone-3-carboxamide-1-β-D-ribonucleoside Triphosphate (4PyTP), a Novel NAD+ Metabolite Accumulating in Erythrocytes of Uremic Children: A Biomarker for a Toxic NAD+ Analogue in Other Tissues?

We have identified a novel nucleotide, 4-pyridone 3/5-carboxamide ribonucleoside triphosphate (4PyTP), which accumulates in human erythrocytes during renal failure. Using plasma and erythrocyte extracts obtained from children with chronic renal failure we show that the concentration of 4PyTP is increased, as well as other soluble NAD+ metabolites (nicotinamide, N1-methylnicotinamide and 4Py-riboside) and the major nicotinamide metabolite N1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide (2PY), with increasing degrees of renal failure. We noted that 2PY concentration was highest in the plasma of haemodialysis patients, while 4PyTP was highest in erythrocytes of children undergoing peritoneal dialysis: its concentration correlated closely with 4Py-riboside, an authentic precursor of 4PyTP, in the plasma. In the dialysis patients, GTP concentration was elevated: similar accumulation was noted previously, as a paradoxical effect in erythrocytes during treatment with immunosuppressants such as ribavirin and mycophenolate mofetil, which deplete GTP through inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase in nucleated cells such as lymphocytes. We predict that 4Py-riboside and 4Py-nucleotides bind to this enzyme and alter its activity. The enzymes that regenerate NAD+ from nicotinamide riboside also convert the drugs tiazofurin and benzamide riboside into NAD+ analogues that inhibit IMP dehydrogenase more effectively than the related ribosides: we therefore propose that the accumulation of 4PyTP in erythrocytes during renal failure is a marker for the accumulation of a related toxic NAD+ analogue that inhibits IMP dehydrogenase in other cells

Feedback modeling of non-esterified fatty acids in rats after nicotinic acid infusions

A feedback model was developed to describe the tolerance and oscillatory rebound seen in non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) plasma concentrations following intravenous infusions of nicotinic acid (NiAc) to male Sprague-Dawley rats. NiAc was administered as an intravenous infusion over 30 min (0, 1, 5 or 20 μmol kg−1 of body weight) or over 300 min (0, 5, 10 or 51 μmol kg−1 of body weight), to healthy rats (n = 63), and serial arterial blood samples were taken for measurement of NiAc and NEFA plasma concentrations. Data were analyzed using nonlinear mixed effects modeling (NONMEM). The disposition of NiAc was described by a two-compartment model with endogenous turnover rate and two parallel capacity-limited elimination processes. The plasma concentration of NiAc was driving NEFA (R) turnover via an inhibitory drug-mechanism function acting on the formation of NEFA. The NEFA turnover was described by a feedback model with a moderator distributed over a series of transit compartments, where the first compartment (M1) inhibited the formation of R and the last compartment (MN) stimulated the loss of R. All processes regulating plasma NEFA concentrations were assumed to be captured by the moderator function. The potency, IC50, of NiAc was 45 nmol L−1, the fractional turnover rate kout was 0.41 L mmol−1 min−1 and the turnover rate of moderator ktol was 0.027 min−1. A lower physiological limit of NEFA was modeled as a NiAc-independent release (kcap) of NEFA into plasma and was estimated to 0.032 mmol L−1 min−1. This model can be used to provide information about factors that determine the time-course of NEFA response following different modes, rates and routes of administration of NiAc. The proposed model may also serve as a preclinical tool for analyzing and simulating drug-induced changes in plasma NEFA concentrations after treatment with NiAc or NiAc analogues