“What’s his is his and what’s mine is his”: Financial power and economic abuse of women in Aotearoa

AIM: This study aimed to understand the experiences and effects of economic abuse for women in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly in relation to methods of coercive control, with the intention of developing risk matrices to be used by practitioners.METHODS: We conducted a survey with 448 respondents—with 398 the focus of analysis for this article. The survey contained a combination of scaling and open-ended questions.FINDINGS: Abusers employed a range of abusive methods to restrict victims’ freedom and exercise domination. These abusive behaviours seemed to follow traditional hegemonic construction of masculinity as synonymous with “provider” in that many of these methods relied on the reproduction of gendered stereotypes which subjugate women to a subordinate position in the household. Women experienced a range of adverse emotional impacts as a result of this abuse

Diet, Metabolites, and “Western-Lifestyle” Inflammatory Diseases

One explanation for the increased incidence of allergies, asthma, and even some autoimmune diseases has been the hygiene hypothesis. However, recent studies also highlight an important role for diet and bacterial metabolites in controlling various immune pathways, including gut and immune homeostasis, regulatory T cell biology, and inflammation. Dietary-related metabolites engage “metabolite-sensing” G-protein-coupled receptors, such as GPR43, GPR41, GPR109A, GPR120, and GPR35. These receptors are expressed on immune cells and some gut epithelial cells and generally mediate a direct anti-inflammatory effect. Insufficient intake of “healthy foodstuffs” adversely affects the production of bacterial metabolites. These metabolites and those derived directly from food drive beneficial downstream effects on immune pathways. We propose that insufficient exposure to dietary and bacterial metabolites might underlie the development of inflammatory disorders in Western countries. This review highlights what is currently known about diet, metabolites, and their associated immune pathways in relation to the development of inflammatory disease

Utilization of renal function and iron status laboratory test investigations in Eastern Health

Introduction: Healthcare spending in Canada reached 219.1 billion dollars in 2015. Unnecessary laboratory test investigations have been well documented in many countries, making it an area of interest in order to reduce costs, improve care and ultimately improve the performance of the health care system. The use of serum urea is unnecessary to evaluate kidney function in stable patients as serum creatinine has better specificity and no decrease in sensitivity. Therefore, we examined the use of serum urea in the community of a regional health authority. Ferritin is a good test of iron status and indicated in anemic patients, particularly when mean corpuscular volume/mean corpuscular hemoglobin levels are low. Therefore, we examined the use of iron status tests in the community to determine the degree of under-utilization in the patients likely to have iron deficient anemia and of over-utilization in patients with normal hemoglobin and blood indices. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of Eastern Health’s laboratory electronic database to investigate patterns of laboratory test utilization for two specific bundles of tests: (1) serum creatinine and serum urea; (2) hemoglobin (hgB), ferritin and iron saturation. Laboratory tests were examined for a 6-month period in 2014 (bundle 1) and a 12-month period (bundle 2) throughout 2013-2014. Test utilization is described by age, sex, patient type (inpatient/outpatient), submitting physician specialty and test result. Results: 227, 092 serum creatinine and 218, 289 serum urea tests were ordered for all patients within the Eastern Health Region during the 6-month period. 96.8 % (n=211, 279) serum urea tests were ordered in the same draw as serum creatinine. 64.6% (n=141,112) serum urea tests were ordered in the same draw as serum creatinine for outpatients. General practitioners elicited the highest rate of serum urea tests (52.5% of total), followed by the internal medicine specialty. 69.3% (n=62, 274) of coupled serum creatinine and serum urea laboratory investigations ordered by general practitioners for outpatients elicited normal results for both tests. High volumes of hemoglobin (n=450, 792) and iron status tests (ferritin; n=86,293, iron saturation; n=23,415) were ordered within the 12-month period. General practitioners elicited the highest ordering for all three tests for outpatients. 89.6% (n=55,595) of iron tests requested by general practitioners for nonanemic outpatients (first Hgb) produced a normal result in the 12-month period. 44.9% (n=136) of females (≤ 50 years of age) with anemia did not undergo iron testing within 1-year of the first documentation of the anemia by a general practitioner. Conclusion: Serum urea and iron testing may be areas of interest for the improvement of utilization of health care resources within the Eastern Health Region. Information contained in this thesis may be used as a guiding tool for decision makers in the development of interventions to improve test-ordering behaviours without compromising patient quality of care

Leigh syndrome: One disorder, more than 75 monogenic causes

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137543/1/ana24551_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137543/2/ana24551.pd

Chalk cliff retreat in East Sussex and Kent 1870s to 2001

The retreat of chalk cliffs fringing the eastern English Channel contributes shingle to the beaches which helps to protect the cliffs and slow down erosion. Conversely, cliff retreat endangers settlements and infrastructure on the clifftop. Rates of retreat have been calculated by a variety of methods over the past century, but no attempt has been made to provide a complete coverage that allows for a true comparison of retreat rates over the entire coastline. Using historic maps and recent orthophotos, cliff retreat rates have been calculated for consecutive 50 m sections of chalk cliff along the English side of the entire eastern English Channel for a period of 125 years. The chalk cliffs of East Sussex erode at an average rate of 0.25 - 0.3 m y−1 while those in Kent at a rate of 0.1 m y−1

Paddock scale modelling to assess effectiveness of agricultural management practice in improving water quality in the Great Barrier Reef Catchments

Agriculture in the catchment areas adjacent to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park generates pollutants that are a concern for the health of the Reef. Under the Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting program (P2R) of the Reef Plan, the impacts of improved agricultural management practices on water quality entering the GBR are modelled to evaluate the effectiveness of Government water quality improvement policies. The Source Catchments modelling framework estimates loads of pollutants entering the GBR lagoon from rivers. However, Source Catchments does not have the capacity to represent the collection of management practices available to farmers that affect water quality in runoff and drainage at a paddock scale. Therefore, paddock scale agricultural systems models were used to demonstrate the effects of management practice adoption and to provide input to the catchment scale models. Paddock scale models were used because they represent a level of process detail compatible with the management practice investments and implementation on-ground. A fit-for-purpose modelling approach was used, where the paddock model most suited to a given land use and/or water quality pollutant was applied. Three one-dimensional agricultural systems models were employed; HowLeaky in grains, APSIM in sugarcane with HowLeaky post-processing for herbicides and phosphorous and GRASP in grazing lands. These models share similar soil water balance, ground cover and runoff sub-models. However, they vary in the level of detail, particularly in terms of representing crop growth and in the processes considered, such as pesticide degradation and export. In grains and sugarcane cropping, the pollutant time-series (e.g. load per day per unit area) in the Source Catchments models was replaced with an output time-series from HowLeaky or APSIM for each soil-climate spatial combination. Management practices were grouped into systems classed as A, B, C or D. The proportion of each of these management systems contributing to the modelled loads was adjusted to reflect data on the prevalence of adoption of improved management practices in the GBR catchment. In grazing lands, GRASP pasture utilisation and ground cover time-series outputs were interrogated to derive relationships between changes in grazing system management and changes in the USLE C-factors. The USLE is used to predict hillslope erosion in the Source Catchments model. Scaling indices derived from GRASP outputs were used to adjust the USLE C-factors applied in Source Catchments where management practices had changed. The P2R program has demonstrated the effectiveness of linking paddock scale models or emergent models derived from them with catchment scale models. This has enabled detailed management options to be simulated to investigate broad scale water quality impacts of the adoption of improved agricultural practices

Detailed Analysis of Nearby Bulgelike Dwarf Stars II. Lithium Abundances

Li abundances are derived for a sample of bulgelike stars with isochronal ages of 10-11 Gyr. These stars have orbits with pericentric distances, Rp, as small as 2-3 kpc and Zmax < 1 kpc. The sample comprises G and K dwarf stars in the metallicity range -0.80<[Fe/H]< +0.40. Few data of Li abundances in old turn-off stars (> 4.5 Gyr) within the present metallicity range are available. M67 (4.7 Gyr) and NGC 188 (6 Gyr) are the oldest studied metal-rich open clusters with late-type stars. Li abundances have also been studied for few samples of old metal-rich field stars. In the present work a high dispersion in Li abundances is found for bulgelike stars for all the metallicity range, comparable with values in M67. The role of metallicity and age on a Li depletion pattern is discussed. The possible connection between Li depletion and oxygen abundance due to atmospheric opacity effects is investigated.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Mutations of the mitochondrial ND1 gene as a cause of MELAS

Copyright © 2004 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. All rights reserved. BMJ JournalsD. M. Kirby, R. McFarland, A. Ohtake, C. Dunning, M. T. Ryan, C. Wilson, D. Ketteridge, D. M. Turnbull, D. R. Thorburn, R. W. Taylo