An Australian Test of Economic and Political Models of Welfare State Expenditures: 1945 - 1979

This paper tests \u27political\u27 and \u27economic\u27 models of welfare expenditure with post-World War II Australian data. The major antecedents of welfare spending for the overall time period (1945-1979) appeared to be economic growth as mediated by the age of the population and program incrementalism. It was shown, however, that this view misleads rather than clarifies the influence of different factors during specific periods within the overall time series. A periodization of welfare spending was found to be more useful. The periodization analysis showed that the influence of politics on welfare spending is important. Right political strength was found to have a negative impact on spending levels and the equality of aged pensioner incomes. It was also shown that program incrementalism does not reduce inequality

High-resolution transcriptional analysis of the regulatory influence of cell-to-cell signalling reveals novel genes that contribute to Xanthomonas phytopathogenesis

The bacterium Xanthomonas campestris is an economically important pathogen of many crop species and a model for the study of bacterial phytopathogenesis. In X.campestris, a regulatory system mediated by the signal molecule DSF controls virulence to plants. The synthesis and recognition of the DSF signal depends upon different Rpf proteins. DSF signal generation requires RpfF whereas signal perception and transduction depends upon a system comprising the sensor RpfC and regulator RpfG. Here we have addressed the action and role of Rpf/DSF signalling in phytopathogenesis by high-resolution transcriptional analysis coupled to functional genomics. We detected transcripts for many genes that were unidentified by previous computational analysis of the genome sequence. Novel transcribed regions included intergenic transcripts predicted as coding or non-coding as well as those that were antisense to coding sequences. In total, mutation of rpfF, rpfG and rpfC led to alteration in transcript levels (more than fourfold) of approximately 480 genes. The regulatory influence of RpfF and RpfC demonstrated considerable overlap. Contrary to expectation, the regulatory influence of RpfC and RpfG had limited overlap, indicating complexities of the Rpf signalling system. Importantly, functional analysis revealed over 160 new virulence factors within the group of Rpf-regulated genes.</p

HNF1B Genetic Testing In a Turkish Cypriot Population with a High Incidence of Familial Kidney Disease

This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the 'Additional Link' above to access the full-text via the publisher's site.Published

Young adults' perspectives on living with kidney failure: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies.

Young adults fare worse than younger adolescents or older adults on a broad range of health indicators. Those with a chronic illness such as renal failure are a particularly vulnerable group, who experience poor outcomes compared with both children and older adults. Understanding how being in receipt of renal replacement therapy (RRT) affects the lives of young adults might help us to better prepare and support these individuals for and on RRT, and improve outcomes. This study aimed to synthesise research describing young adults' experiences of the psychosocial impact of kidney failure and RRT.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Additional Link above to access the full-text

嶺南通訊 Lingnan Newsletter (第63期)

https://commons.ln.edu.hk/lingnan_newsletter/1062/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of Male Pheromones That Accelerate Female Reproductive Organ Development

Male odors can influence a female's reproductive physiology. In the mouse, the odor of male urine results in an early onset of female puberty. Several volatile and protein pheromones have previously been reported to each account for this bioactivity. Here we bioassay inbred BALB/cJ females to study pheromone-accelerated uterine growth, a developmental hallmark of puberty. We evaluate the response of wild-type and mutant mice lacking a specialized sensory transduction channel, TrpC2, and find TrpC2 function to be necessary for pheromone-mediated uterine growth. We analyze the relative effectiveness of pheromones previously identified to accelerate puberty through direct bioassay and find none to significantly accelerate uterine growth in BALB/cJ females. Complementary to this analysis, we have devised a strategy of partial purification of the uterine growth bioactivity from male urine and applied it to purify bioactivity from three different laboratory strains. The biochemical characteristics of the active fraction of all three strains are inconsistent with that of previously known pheromones. When directly analyzed, we are unable to detect previously known pheromones in urine fractions that generate uterine growth. Our analysis indicates that pheromones emitted by males to advance female puberty remain to be identified