Hyper-peripheral regional evolution: The “long histories” of the Pilbara and Buryatia

In this article, we outline how evolutionary economic geography (EEG) explains peripheral economic development by comparing two peripheries over extended time periods. This comparison involves critically appraising EEG’s capacity to account for peripheral evolution. For geographical, historical, and political reasons, peripheries lack resources that lead to path creation and renewal. The hyper-peripheral regions of the Pilbara in north-west Australia and of Buryatia in south-east Russia provide excellent comparative case studies for understanding how peripheral regional development evolves in ways contingent upon time, state institutions, natural resource endowments, and region/firm dynamics. Our analysis shows that EEG is well equipped to deal with historical factors and capitalist economies but it struggles to reconcile these regions’ resilience and ability to sustain both Indigenous and non-Indigenous socio-economies. Development in these regions over extended periods of time invites questions about whether it is appropriate to apply EEG and its constituent parts: path creation, renewal, and exhaustion; regional resilience; and institutional thinness and thickness. In addressing those questions, we show that EEG can incorporate temporal development, stretching over long periods and economic analysis. We also critique the extent to which EEG can be used to consider how state activities influence path creation and renewal, the importance of extra-regional contexts, and heterodox and Indigenous perspectives

Lines of Hygiene: Pandemic Border Control in Australia, 1919

 The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has highlighted the public health history of infectious disease control. Yet while much historiographical focus has been directed to the management of international movement in pandemic times, this has proved insufficient as restrictions on movement have turned inward and become far more domestic and local during COVID-19. We argue for a new significance of, and for, local historical analysis of medico-legal border regulation. We consider Australian responses to the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 in this light, examining three geographies through which movement was restricted – interstate, intrastate, and town and district – and the internal lines of hygiene that were both established and evaded. We analyse the exercise of authority, as much as law, including the micro-authorities claimed by local residents’ groups in 1919. We argue that authority–lawful and sometimes lawless–was both devolved and assumed at a finer scale than historical scholarship has recognised

Prevalence of incidental breast cancer and precursor lesions in autopsy studies: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Autopsy studies demonstrate the prevalence pool of incidental breast cancer in the population, but estimates are uncertain due to small numbers in any primary study. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of autopsy studies to estimate the prevalence of incidental breast cancer and precursors. Methods Relevant articles were identified through searching PubMed and Embase from inception up to April 2016, and backward and forward citations. We included autopsy studies of women with no history of breast pathology, which included systematic histological examination of at least one breast, and which allowed calculation of the prevalence of incidental breast cancer or precursor lesions. Data were pooled using logistic regression models with random intercepts (non-linear mixed models). Results We included 13 studies from 1948 to 2010, contributing 2363 autopsies with 99 cases of incidental cancer or precursor lesions. More thorough histological examination (≥20 histological sections) was a strong predictor of incidental in-situ cancer and atypical hyperplasia (OR = 126·8 and 21·3 respectively, p < 0·001), but not invasive cancer (OR = 1·1, p = 0·75). The estimated mean prevalence of incidental cancer or precursor lesion was 19·5% (0·85% invasive cancer + 8·9% in-situ cancer + 9·8% atypical hyperplasia). Conclusion Our systematic review in ten countries over six decades found that incidental detection of cancer in situ and breast cancer precursors is common in women not known to have breast disease during life. The large prevalence pool of undetected cancer in-situ and atypical hyperplasia in these autopsy studies suggests screening programs should be cautious about introducing more sensitive tests that may increase detection of these lesions

Improving safety culture: the impact of the construction induction training on the construction industry in Western Australia

Australia strives to be a world leader in safety practice however improving safety cultures to reduce work-related injuries in the hazardous environment of the construction industry is a continual challenge. It is particularly difficult in Western Australia (WA) where the industry is engaging with the second development boom this century, often in isolated locations, and simultaneously adapting to the national harmonisation of OHS regulations. In 2006, Worksafe WA introduced mandatory certification in safety awareness training for all employees, before they could begin work on a construction site. This paper reviews the impact of this training on the construction industry, presenting both the perceptions of the stakeholders from their survey returns and through the analysis of lost time injury/disease statistics. The findings of the study indicate that the training has played a role in decreased work-related injuries and changing attitudes to safety training

Getting reticent young male participants to talk: using artefact-mediated interviews to promote discursive interaction

During a pilot study that used interviews to collect data from young male apprentices about construction site safety, we were confronted with limited verbal responses. This article is about how we explored this research problem of ameliorating unresponsive interview interactions. The article reviews the options that previous researchers have trialled and developed, and specifically focuses on artefact-mediated interviews conducted with young male participants. We focus on the use of images within artefact-mediated interviews to draw out data from less communicative subjects. Our reflection upon this process proposes that the use of both abstract and concrete images within an artefact-mediated interview can produce diverse and enriched forms of data

Supersuppressors in N. crassa

Supersuppressors in N. crass

Urine glycosaminoglycans in congenital and acquired nephrotic syndrome

Urine glycosaminoglycans in congenital and acquired nephrotic syndrome. To evaluate the specificity of a raised heparan sulphate (HS) excretion previously reported in four children with congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS), we measured the urinary excretion of HS and chondroitin sulphate (CS) in seven children with Finnish-type congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNSF), seven with diffuse mesangial sclerosis (DMS), nine with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), 14 with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome of whom eight had a biopsy confirming minimal change histology (SSNS), and 17 controls. The urine HS/CS ratio in normal children had a median of 0.36 (observed range 0.21 to 0.68) and was independent of age. HS/CS ratio was significantly greater than controls in CNSF (median 0.80, range 0.43 to 1.28), DMS (median 0.81, range 0.49 to 1.13) and FSGS children (median 0.66, range 0.38 to 1.6), but was not in SSNS (median 0.44, range 0.28 to 0.70). There was a positive correlation between the HS/CS ratio and urine albumin excretion. High HS/CS ratios are not diagnostic of a particular histological variety of CNS

JOINT-SPECIFIC POWER PRODUCTION DURING SUBMAXIMAL AND MAXIMAL CYCLING

Cycle ergometry is commonly used to quantify muscular work and power, and to elicit perturbations to metabolic homeostasis for a broad range of physiological investigations. Separate authors have reported that knee extension dominates power production during submaximal cycling (SUBcyc; Ericson, 1988) and hip extension is the dominate action during maximal cycling (MAXcyc, Martin & Brown, 2009). Changes in joint-specific powers across broad ranges of net cycling powers within one group of cyclists have not been reported. Our purpose was to determine the extent to which ankle, knee, and hip joint actions produced power across a range of net cycling powers. Based on previous reports we hypothesized that relative contributions of knee extension power would decrease and relative knee flexion and hip extension powers would increase as net cycling power increase