Australian Bat Lyssavirus: Observations of Natural and Experimental Infection in Bats

This conference abstract gives data and conclusions arising from targeted surveillance of wild bats for naturally occuring Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) infection and other central nervous system diseases. It also provides data and conclusions arising from experimental infection of 10 Greyheaded flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus)

Genome-wide association and functional follow-up reveals new loci for kidney function

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important public health problem with a genetic component. We performed genome-wide association studies in up to 130,600 European ancestry participants overall, and stratified for key CKD risk factors. We uncovered 6 new loci in association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), the primary clinical measure of CKD, in or near MPPED2, DDX1, SLC47A1, CDK12, CASP9, and INO80. Morpholino knockdown of mpped2 and casp9 in zebrafish embryos revealed podocyte and tubular abnormalities with altered dextran clearance, suggesting a role for these genes in renal function. By providing new insights into genes that regulate renal function, these results could further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CKD

Parents’ self-efficacy and the quality of supervised driving practice they provide for their children

Learner drivers must gain supervised driving practice in a wide variety of driving situations to prepare them for independent driving. This study investigated the way that sociodemographic factors, parental self-efficacy and driving self-efficacy of parents are associated with the quality of supervised driving practice they provide to their learner driver children. An online survey was completed by 293 fully licensed parents (female = 86%) of learner (52%) and provisional (intermediate; 48%) drivers from Queensland, Australia. A variable indicating quality of supervised practice was defined based on the understanding that higher frequency and greater variety of driving situations and environments represents higher quality supervised practice. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyse parent responses. As predicted, driving self-efficacy was significantly and positively associated with quality of supervised practice. However, no significant association was found between parental self-efficacy and quality of supervised practice. Parent gender and perceived level of involvement were also important predictors of supervised practice quality. The association between previous experience with providing supervised practice and supervised practice quality was unclear. A key implication of this research is that devising methods to improve the driving self-efficacy of parents may contribute to provision of more frequent and varied supervised practice.</p

Parents’ perceptions of driver education:A theoretically guided qualitative investigation

In many jurisdictions with Graduated Driver Licensing systems, such as those in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, parents play an important role in teaching their child how to drive and facilitating their access to formal driver education. This study explored parents’ views on these processes in a theoretically grounded manner using the Goals for Driver Education (GDE) Framework. The GDE framework groups influences on young driver behaviour into four interconnected hierarchical levels: vehicle manoeuvring (Level 1), mastery of traffic situations (Level 2), goals and contexts for driving (Level 3) and goals for life and skills for living (Level 4). Fourteen parents of novice drivers participated in five focus groups held in urban and regional locations in South East Queensland, Australia. A six-step thematic analysis was used consisting of (1) familiarisation with the data, (2) generation of initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes and (6) producing the report. Parents indicated that they were more likely to outsource the teaching of skills at Levels 1 and 2 of the GDE to professional driving instructors as they were concerned that they would pass bad habits onto their child or they were unaware of the road rules that their child was required to follow. Parents believed that they were able to more effectively teach skills located on Levels 3 and 4 of the GDE framework because they had a greater knowledge of their child when compared with professional educators. The study findings can be used to develop an intervention that would support parents to more effectively supervise learner drivers.</p

The prototype willingness model : An application to adolescent driver speeding

Introduction: Many young drivers are involved in crashes due to speeding. Some studies have used the Prototype Willingness Model (PWM) to explain the risky driving behavior of young people. However, many have measured PWM constructs in a manner inconsistent with its formulation. The PWM asserts that the social reaction pathway is underpinned by a heuristic comparison of oneself with a cognitive prototype of someone who engages in a risky behavior. This proposition has not been comprehensively examined and few PWM studies specifically examine social comparison. The current study investigates intentions, expectations, and willingness to speed by teen drivers using operationalizations of PWM constructs more aligned with their original conceptualizations. Additionally, the influence of dispositional social comparison tendency on the social reaction pathway is examined to further test the original propositions underpinning the PWM. Method: Two hundred and eleven independently driving adolescents completed an online survey including items measuring PWM constructs and social comparison tendency. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to investigate the influence of perceived vulnerability, descriptive and injunctive norms, and prototypes on speeding intentions, expectations, and willingness. A moderation analysis examined the effect of social comparison tendency on the association between prototype perceptions and willingness. Results: The regression models explained substantial amounts of variance in intentions (39%), expectations (49%), and willingness (30%) to speed. There was no evidence that social comparison tendency influences the relationship between prototypes and willingness. Conclusions: The PWM is useful for predicting teenage risky driving. More studies should confirm that social comparison tendency does not moderate the social reaction pathway. However, there may be need for further theoretical development of the PWM. Practical applications: The study suggests that it may be possible to develop interventions to reduce adolescent driver speeding based on manipulation of PWM constructs such as speeding driver prototypes.</p

A brief and unsupervised online intervention improves performance on a validated test of hazard perception skill used for driver licensing

Drivers who have higher levels of hazard perception skill also tend to have fewer crashes. Training designed to improve this skill has therefore been proposed as a strategy for reducing crash risk. To date, however, hazard perception training has only been evaluated in supervised settings. This means that improvements in hazard perception skill resulting from such training may not generalize to unsupervised situations, which may limit opportunities for large scale roll-out via automated delivery methods. In the present study, we investigated whether a brief video-based training intervention could improve hazard perception skill when drivers completed it online without supervision. The training involved drivers watching videos of traffic scenes, while generating a commentary of what they were searching for, monitoring, and anticipating in each scene. Drivers then compared their own commentary to a pre-recorded commentary generated by an expert driver, hence allowing for performance feedback without an instructor present. A convenience sample of 93 drivers (who did not receive any performance-related incentives) participated in a randomized control study. The training was found to significantly improve response times to hazards in stimuli from the official hazard perception test used for driver licensing in Queensland, Australia, which is known to predict crash involvement. That is, the training was effective in improving hazard perception skill (Cohen’s d = 0.50), even though participants were aware that no one was monitoring the extent to which they engaged in the intervention. Given that the training could, in principle, be deployed at scale with minimal resources (e.g. via any online platform that allows video streaming), the intervention may represent a practical and effective opportunity to improve road safety

The effect of psychosocial factors on perceptions of driver education using the goals for driver education framework

Professional driver education and training has often been found in evaluations to not provide additional safety benefits for young drivers. However, it is possible that identifying how psychosocial factors affect perceptions of driver education may contribute to improve program design, content and implementation. The Goals for Driver Education (GDE) framework was used in this research to explore the impact of various psychosocial factors, such as sensation seeking, normlessness, attitudes towards driver risk taking and positive attitudes towards speeding on the perceptions of young drivers participating in a professional driver education courses. One hundred and fourteen young drivers (Mage = 17.89, SD = 0.85) who had attended a driver education course within the past three years completed an online survey that collected socio-demographic information, perceptions of the benefits of education for individuals learning to drive at each level of the GDE framework, and information about psychosocial factors. Overall, the results suggested that psychosocial factors do affect young driver perceptions of driver education and training. Higher levels of sensation seeking predicted that participants thought it beneficial for novice driver education to focus on vehicle manoeuvring (Level 1), mastery of traffic situations (Level 2) and goals and contexts for driving (Level 3) but not the highest level of the GDE matrix, goals for life. Higher levels of normlessness predicted participants believing it was more beneficial for new drivers to learn about the goals and contexts for driving. This suggests there is a need for driver educators to consider personalising their programs as much as possible to take into account the psychosocial differences between individuals, which may impact on the way they respond to the education they receive

Psychosocial factors, goals for driver education and perceptions of driver education

While previous research has identified benefits from certain types of driver education, there has been little research undertaken regarding how psychosocial factors affect this intervention. This research begins to address this gap by examining how four psychosocial characteristics: thrill-seeking, normlessness, attitudes relating to traffic flow and rule obedience as well as attitudes towards speeding, affect perceptions of what should be taught in driver education courses. An online survey was completed by 114 participants aged 17 to 19 years that had completed a driver education course. A series of regression analyses identified that psychosocial factors have an effect

A Morbillivirus that Caused Fatal Fisease in Horses and Humans

A morbillivirus has been isolated and added to an increasing list of emerging viral diseases. This virus caused an outbreak of fatal respiratory disease in horses and humans. Genetic analyses show it to be only distantly related to the classic morbilliviruses rinderpest, measles, and canine distemper. When seen by electron microscopy, viruses had 10- and 18-nanometer surface projections that gave them a "double-fringed" appearance. The virus induced syncytia that developed in the endothelium of blood vessels, particularly the lungs