Does the Living Wage ensure an adequate standard of living for families?

New Zealand was once held up as a model of egalitarianism to other countries. Today New Zealand is far from being that leader, with high income and wealth inequality and an unacceptable level of family poverty and homelessness. Children are particularly affected, suffering the highest levels of material deprivation in New Zealand (Perry, 2016). Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand (LWMA) has argued that raising wages is the best way to address this problem

Serum testosterone concentration in chloroquinetreated rats: effects of ascorbic acid and alphatocopherol

The effects of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) were studied on serum testosterone concentration in chloroquine-treated rats. Thirty five (35) adult male rats weighing 160 - 200 g were divided into seven groups of five (5) rats each. Group I rats served as the control and received 2 ml/kg of normal saline while Group II rats were treated with chloroquine (20 mg/kg). Groups III, IV, V, VI and VII rats were treated with chloroquine (20 mg/kg) and either vitamin C (14.3 or 100 mg/kg) or vitamin E (9.3 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg) or the combination of both. The drugs were administered orally for thirty five (35) days and at the end of the treatment, serum testosterone concentrations were determined. Theresults showed that chloroquine did not cause a significant change in serum testosterone concentration. In addition, the administration of the vitamins with chloroquine also did not cause any significant change in serum testosterone concentration when compared with the control. The results suggest that long-term administration of chloroquine could have no effect on testosterone concentration and the vitamins also could not cause any significant change in testosterone concentration in the presence of chloroquine

Implicit person theories and change in teacher evaluation: A longitudinal field study

Adopting a longitudinal field study, this paper investigates whether entity theorists (students who believe human attributes are fixed) are less likely than incremental theorists (students who believe human attributes are malleable) to change their evaluations of a teacher in accordance with his behavioral changes. An instructor exhibited some forgetful behaviors in the first half of a course, and ceased doing so in the second half. Consistent with our hypothesis, incremental theorists adjusted their perceptions of the instructor. They rated him as less forgetful accordingly at the end of the course than at the middle. Entity theorists, however, did not show this change. With improved ecological validity, this study extends previous laboratory studies to teacher evaluation. © 2010 Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.postprin

How effective are 2018 policy settings for the worst-off children?

This report analyses the policy settings in mid-2018 for their potential to improve the position of the worst-off children in New Zealand. The Labour-led government, elected at the end of 2017, seeks to place child well-being at the heart of their policies. As a first step, legislation setting out four primary measures and six supplementary measures of child poverty has been introduced. The purpose of this bill is to …encourage a focus on child poverty reduction, facilitate political accountability against published targets, require transparent reporting on child poverty levels, and create a greater commitment by Government to address child well-being. (New Zealand Parliament, 2018) Over ten years ago, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) identified “pockets of significant hardship” where some families were falling below the “very stringent 40% after housing costs poverty line where there is nothing in reserve”(Ministry of Social Development, 2007). For our purposes here, children in families which fall under the 40% poverty line – that is, 40% of median, equivalised, disposable household income, after housing costs, also known as the 40% AHC line – are taken as ‘the worst-off’ children. In 2016, ten years after the Ministry first voiced concern that any children fell below this line, there were at least 140,000 children in this group. Child advocacy groups have argued that the 40% AHC line needs to become one of the primary measures in the Child Poverty Reduction Bill and that no child should fall below it (Child Poverty Action Group, 2018b). This working paper provides a technical analysis to show how much is needed to address the poverty of these 140,000 children in a significant way. The finding is that current policy settings in the Families Package to be implemented from 1 July 2018 are seriously inadequate for the task. This report was written in mid-2018 as very low income families wait for relief from the Families Package, with a long winter to follow if there are no immediate and significant further policy changes. The figures in this report are indicative only, but suggest that while the Families Package should reduce measured child poverty overall, it will be insufficient to stem the rising tide of very low income family distress. A range of specific measures focused primarily on this group are recommended for immediate implementation

How effective are 2018 policy settings for the worst-off children?

This report analyses the policy settings in mid-2018 for their potential to improve the position of the worst-off children in New Zealand. The Labour-led government, elected at the end of 2017, seeks to place child well-being at the heart of their policies. As a first step, legislation setting out four primary measures and six supplementary measures of child poverty has been introduced. The purpose of this bill is to …encourage a focus on child poverty reduction, facilitate political accountability against published targets, require transparent reporting on child poverty levels, and create a greater commitment by Government to address child well-being. (New Zealand Parliament, 2018) Over ten years ago, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) identified “pockets of significant hardship” where some families were falling below the “very stringent 40% after housing costs poverty line where there is nothing in reserve”(Ministry of Social Development, 2007). For our purposes here, children in families which fall under the 40% poverty line – that is, 40% of median, equivalised, disposable household income, after housing costs, also known as the 40% AHC line – are taken as ‘the worst-off’ children. In 2016, ten years after the Ministry first voiced concern that any children fell below this line, there were at least 140,000 children in this group. Child advocacy groups have argued that the 40% AHC line needs to become one of the primary measures in the Child Poverty Reduction Bill and that no child should fall below it (Child Poverty Action Group, 2018b). This working paper provides a technical analysis to show how much is needed to address the poverty of these 140,000 children in a significant way. The finding is that current policy settings in the Families Package to be implemented from 1 July 2018 are seriously inadequate for the task. This report was written in mid-2018 as very low income families wait for relief from the Families Package, with a long winter to follow if there are no immediate and significant further policy changes. The figures in this report are indicative only, but suggest that while the Families Package should reduce measured child poverty overall, it will be insufficient to stem the rising tide of very low income family distress. A range of specific measures focused primarily on this group are recommended for immediate implementation

Copy number gain of granulin-epithelin precursor (GEP) at chromosome 17q21 associates with overexpression in human liver cancer

Background: Granulin-epithelin precursor (GEP), a secretory growth factor, demonstrated overexpression in various human cancers, however, mechanism remain elusive. Primary liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), ranks the second in cancer-related death globally. GEP controlled growth, invasion, metastasis and chemo-resistance in liver cancer. Noted that GEP gene locates at 17q21 and the region has been frequently reported to be amplified in subset of HCC. The study aims to investigate if copy number gain would associate with GEP overexpression. Methods: Quantitative Microsatellite Analysis (QuMA) was used to quantify the GEP DNA copy number, and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to consolidate the amplification status. GEP gene copy number, mRNA expression level and clinico-pathological features were analyzed. Results: GEP DNA copy number determined by QuMA corroborated well with the FISH data, and the gene copy number correlated with the expression levels (n = 60, r = 0.331, P = 0.010). Gain of GEP copy number was observed in 20% (12/60) HCC and associated with hepatitis B virus infection status (P = 0.015). In HCC with increased GEP copy number, tight association between GEP DNA and mRNA levels were observed (n = 12, r = 0.664, P = 0.019). Conclusions: Gain of the GEP gene copy number was observed in 20% HCC and the frequency comparable to literatures reported on the chromosome region 17q. Increased gene copy number contributed to GEP overexpression in subset of HCC. © Yung et al; licensee BioMed Central.published_or_final_versio

Structural, DNA/BSA binding interactions and cytotoxicity studies of carboxamide (pyridyl)pyrazine palladium(II) complexes

Reactions of ligands [N2, N3-bis(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxamide] (L1), [N2, N3-bis(6-methylpyridin-2- yl)pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxamide] (L2), [N2,N3-bis(4-methylpyridin-2-yl)pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxamide] (L3) and [N2, N3-bis(quinoline-8-yl)pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxamide] (L4) with [PdCl2(NCMe)2] afforded the respective palladium(II) complexes: [Pd2(L1)2Cl2] (Pd1), [Pd2(L2)2Cl2] (Pd2), [Pd2(L3)2Cl2] (Pd3) and [Pd(L4)Cl] (Pd4). Molecular structures of complexes Pd1 and Pd3 are dinuclear containing two bridging bidentate ligand units. The interactions of the palladium complexes (Pd1-Pd4) with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) were monitored using UV–Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy and revealed intercalative binding modes, with intrinsic binding constants (Kb) in the order of 106 M1. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) interaction was evaluated using fluorescence techniques and displayed a static quenching mechanism. The cytotoxic effects of the complexes Pd1-Pd4 were examined against human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, and human transformed lung cell line MRC5-SV2 (a model of lung cancer) and its parental normal lung fibroblast cell line MRC5. While the complexes Pd1 and Pd4 showed significant to moderate cytotoxicity against MCF-7 (IC50 of 11.2 µM and 61.5 µM, respectively), complexes Pd2 and Pd3 were inactive. All the complexes were inactive against the MDA-MB-231 cell line, and Pd2-Pd4 were inactive against the MRC5-SV2 cell line. Compounds Pd1 exhibited lower cytotoxicity against the normal cell line MRC5

Self-administered acupressure for symptom management among Chinese family caregivers with caregiver stress: a randomized, wait-list controlled trial

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Point-Spread-Function-Aware Slice-to-Volume Registration: Application to Upper Abdominal MRI Super-Resolution

MR image acquisition of moving organs remains challenging despite the advances in ultra-fast 2D MRI sequences. Post-acquisition techniques have been proposed to increase spatial resolution a posteriori by combining acquired orthogonal stacks into a single, high-resolution (HR) volume. Current super-resolution techniques classically rely on a two-step procedure. The volumetric reconstruction step leverages a physical slice acquisition model. However, the motion correction step typically neglects the point spread function (PSF) information. In this paper, we propose a PSF-aware slice-to-volume registration approach and, for the first time, demonstrate the potential benefit of Super-Resolution for upper abdominal imaging. Our novel reconstruction pipeline takes advantage of different MR acquisitions clinically used in routine MR cholangiopancreatography studies to guide the registration. On evaluation of clinically relevant image information, our approach outperforms state-of-the-art reconstruction toolkits in terms of visual clarity and preservation of raw data information. Overall, we achieve promising results towards replacing currently required CT scans