Alcohol Use, Dietary, and Exercise Behaviors: A Latent Profile Analysis of Young Adult Lifestyle Behaviors

As individuals enter adulthood, their lifestyles and lifestyle behaviors begin to change drastically. These lifestyle behavior changes in emerging adulthood provide a foundation for future health behaviors that often persist through all of adulthood. The aim of this study was to use Latent profile analyses (LPA) to discover distinct profiles of homogenous groups of young adults based on alcohol, diet, and exercise behaviors. Overall, five distinct profiles for both males and females were identified: Moderates, Unhealthy Eaters, Medium Drinkers, Healthier Eaters and Exercisers, and Heavy Drinkers. Heavy Drinkers and Unhealthy Eaters were the highest risk groups and reported the highest number of days where their mental and physical health was poor. Medium Drinkers also reported more days where their mental health was poor relative to the Healthier Eaters and Exercisers. Future work should examine the motivations of individuals falling into these groups to identify mechanisms to intervene in order to promote healthy lifestyles as these young adults move into adulthood

Isolation of microvesicles and exosomes by microfiltration and estimation of normal reference range in blood plasma.

Current protocols for the isolation of microvesicles (MVs) and exosomes, which in the main focus on differential centrifugation, vary considerably (1). In an attempt to set a new standard, we describe a filtration protocol for isolating phosphatidylserine-positive MVs (larger than 100 nm in diameter) and exosomes. The key preparative step to successfully isolate both MVs and exosomes to a high degree of purity was a gentle sonication to break up exosome clumps. Filtration through a 100 nm pore size Millipore filter allowed for collection of exosomes in the filtrate. The larger MVs could then be recovered from the filter. Annexin V-PE MVs were sized and quantified using Polysciences Polybead Microspheres (200 nm) and BDTrucount tubes, respectively on a FACS CaliburTM flow cytometer. The normal reference range from normal human donors was found to be 0.51-2.82 x105 MVs/ml. Freeze/thawing of samples had little effect on MV counts and with age MV levels seemed only marginally reduced. Fasting status also affected MV levels, appearing up to 3-fold higher in fasting individuals. Smokers had lower MV counts and nicotine reduced MV release from THP-1 cells.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Recent occurrence of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, in Waikato lakes of New Zealand.

Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is a toxin-producing species of cyanobacteria that in autumn 2003 was recorded for the first time in three shallow (max. depth ≤5 m) Waikato lakes and a hydro-electric dam on the Waikato River, New Zealand. It formed water blooms at densities >100 000 cells/ml in Lakes Waahi and Whangape. Net rates of population growth >0.2 day-1 were recorded for C. raciborskii in Lakes Ngaroto, Waahi, and Karapiro, based on comparisons of low numbers (detection of cells/ml) from initial samples and its presence at bloom densities (>15 000 cells/ml) in the subsequent sample "x"-"y" days later. C. raciborskii may be well adapted to rapid proliferation in the Waikato lakes, which are eutrophic to hypertrophic, with high light attenuation, and where nitrogen (N) fixation may provide it with a competitive advantage over non-nitrogen fixing algae under N-limited conditions

Auctions with Options to Re-auction

We examine a dynamic model of English auctions with independent private values. There is a single object for sale and it is not possible for the seller, who has a value of zero for the object, to commit not to sell in the future if a sale is not accomplished today. The seller may be able to commit to a reserve price, or make a cheap-talk announcement of a reserve price and secretly bid for the object herself in order to re-auction it in a later round with a new set of bidders. Bidders are "short-lived" in the sense that at the end of each round all existing bidders vanish and new bidders start arriving. This framework allows us to obtain existing results for one shot-auctions as special cases. This framework also allows us to capture some of the features of thick internet auctions and to obtain some new insights on the role of commitment, on optimal length and on socially optimal reserve prices that are not apparent from a one-shot auction perspective.

Development of novel isolation methodologies for microvesicles and exosomes, as potential biomarkers for health (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes), and use of microvesicle-delivered β-Gly in erythroleukaemia

Both MVs and exosomes are isolated by similar methodologies such as differential centrifugation of cell culture supernatant (S/N), filtration, floating on chemical gradients or using antibody labelled magnetic beads. Hence, the isolation techniques, commonly in use, provide low levels of purification and therefore require improvements and an in-depth analysis of observed results. This research has established a protocol for isolation of these vesicles and a means to identify them using known markers and their respective properties. The isolation techniques used and developed in this research include differential centrifugation, sucrose gradient centrifugation, and filtration. MVs and exosomes were later identified and distinguished according to their relative ability to bind FITC and PE conjugated annexin V, anti-LAMP1, anti-CD63 and anti-CD11b antibodies using flow cytometry. Protein gels were run with MVs and exosome samples isolated by different techniques to identify some distinct proteins in MVs/exosomes that may be uniquely present on one or either and hence that could be used as a marker to distinguish MVs from exosomes. To prevent exosomal contamination of MV preparations, in a further improvement of the newly developed reverse filtration technique, gentle disruption of exosome aggregates by gentle water sonication was used and measurements of plasma MV levels made from a population of healthy donors. This found plasma MV levels to range between 0.51 and 2.82 x 105 MVs/ml. The MVs were characterised as phosphatidylserine-positive and ≥0.2 μm in diameter. Most of the variables looked at in this study including freezing at -20ºC, gender and subject age did not alter MV absolute counts significantly. For the first time the effect of fasting on MV levels has been studied. Fasting individuals had a wider spread and appeared to have higher MV levels (2.8x105-5.8x105 MVs/ml). This could be defined as the normal baseline fasting reference range, which is almost 3-fold higher compared to the non-fasting group reference range (0.9-1.5x105) MVs/ml. These results suggest that when analysing total MVs, further investigations should use fasting subjects, as for quantification of other fasting analytes. Prospective markers of (monocyte-derived) MVs, IL-1α, RANTES, G-CSF, CCL-1 and IL-17E are proposed for further investigation. MVs were shown to inhibit phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies more effectively than exosomes. With a view to understanding likely pathways being stimulated during MV release, and to also shortlist possible pharmacological reagents capable of being used to therapeutically inhibit Y27632, calpeptin and methyl-β cyclodextrin were shown to inhibit MV release. MV release from K562 cells was inhibited by Y27632 and calpeptin but less effectively by chlorpromazine or methyl-β-cyclodextrin, MV release from THP-1 acute monocytic leukaemia cells was greater than from peripheral blood monocytes which were in turn shown to express more phosphotidylserine than on exosomes. With a view to using MVs as drug delivery vehicles, THP-1 MVs were found to fuse/hemifuse to K562 erythroleukaemia cells, but not at 4°C or if the MV surface was blocked with annexin V. β-Gly (10 μM) (as well as MVs carrying β-Gly [β-Gly MVs]) was found to inhibit proliferation at least 3-fold compared to untreated control. β-Gly and β-Gly MVs increased the doubling time but neither induced apoptosis of K562 cells (unlike MVs from apoptotic cells). Finally, β-Gly increased the percentage of cells in G0/G1 whilst decreasing the cells in G2/M and appears to induce erythroid differentiation as seen by the increase in the percentage of benzidine-stained cells

Public value summary background paper

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) at UTS has published a background paper about understanding and promoting public value creation within Australian local government. The paper provides a definition of public value and public value creation from key literature, and links this with current practice within the sector. The Public Value project is a partnership between the Local Government Business Excellence Network (LGBEN) and ACELG and explores how councils create public value in a broad sense – or ‘the common good’ – and deliver this value specifically through planning and managing and delivering a wide range of services, programs and projects. A final phase of the project will provide examples of public value so frameworks and tools can be developed for councils looking at undertaking continual improvement initiatives

NSW councils shake-up: is the endgame near?

The Baird government is pressing on with its agenda for restructuring local government across New South Wales and for the Sydney Metropolitan Region in particular. Casting ahead to see what the outcomes might be, the experience of other Australian states and territories is salutary. It appears likely there will be a political price to pay at the next state election due in March 2019. Of more concern is that the reasons for undertaking reform have been lost in the fog of politics – both party-political and state-local

Kristin Grant and Ryan Lewis in a Faculty Recital

This is the program for the faculty recital featuring flautist Kristen Grant and percussionist Ryan Lewis. This recital took place on January 28, 2013, in the W. Francis Mcbeth Recital Hall

The Establishment of a Non-University Higher Education Institution :a reflection on the marketplace and the experience

The Higher Education market has become contestable. This paper assembles data to present the diversity within the non university, higher education sector and a trend of consolidation that is creating intuitions big enough to challenge university based faculties. We present a participant observation of the establishment of a new institution which could be likened to a corporatized, privately owned business faculty. As two participants - the Chair of the institution’s Academic Board and a consultant engaged by the company - we reflect on the meaning of policy and regulatory changes for those wishing to engage in the creation of a new institution