Authenticity and Diversity: Enhancing Australian Hepatitis C Prevention Messages

Despite two decades of prevention activities and education, rates of hepatitis C infection remain high among people who inject drugs. In this article we draw on the findings of an extensive review of the content of print hepatitis C prevention materials circulating in Australia, examining these data in light of Petraglia’s (2009) theory of “authenticity” in social marketing. We identify three main areas in which resources could be redesigned: closer attention to language and terminology, a critical engagement with common concepts of the individual, and more acknowledgement of the role of social and structural factors in shaping injecting practice. To achieve a stronger sense of authenticity, and in turn become more equitable and efficient, future resources could address these issues using insights from social marketing literature

Optimized cross-slot flow geometry for microfluidic extension rheometry

A precision-machined cross-slot flow geometry with a shape that has been optimized by numerical simulation of the fluid kinematics is fabricated and used to measure the extensional viscosity of a dilute polymer solution. Full-field birefringence microscopy is used to monitor the evolution and growth of macromolecular anisotropy along the stagnation point streamline, and we observe the formation of a strong and uniform birefringent strand when the dimensionless flow strength exceeds a critical Weissenberg number Wicrit 0:5. Birefringence and bulk pressure drop measurements provide self consistent estimates of the planar extensional viscosity of the fluid over a wide range of deformation rates (26 s1 "_ 435 s1) and are also in close agreement with numerical simulations performed by using a finitely extensible nonlinear elastic dumbbell model

History Memorized and Recalled upon Glass Transition

The memory effect upon glassification is studied in the glass to rubber transition of vulcanized rubber with the strain as a controlling parameter. A phenomenological model is proposed taking the history of the temperature and the strain into account, by which the experimental results are interpreted. The data and the model demonstrate that the glassy state memorizes the time-course of strain upon glassification, not as a single parameter but as the history itself. The data also show that the effect of irreversible deformation in the glassy state is beyond the scope of the present model. Authors' remark: The title of the paper in the accepted version is above. The title appeared in PRL is the one changed by a Senior Assistant Editor after acceptance of the paper. The recovery of the title was rejected in the correction process.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Addressing injecting related risks among people who inject both opioids and stimulants: Findings from an Australian survey of people who inject drugs

Background: Opioids and stimulants are the most commonly injected illicit drugs worldwide and in Australia. While some people who inject drugs (PWID) prefer either opioids or stimulants, others regularly use both opioids and stimulants. Limited available research indicates that those who use opioids and stimulants together, either in combination or alternating between the two, may engage in injection-related practices which potentially place them at greater health risk and could lead to poorer health outcomes. Methods: Participants were recruited nationally through member organizations of the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL); these organizations represent PWID in each Australian state and territory. This study compared a sample of PWID (N = 535) who reported past-month injection of opioids only (N = 173), stimulants only (N = 208), or both (N = 154) on a range of health and wellbeing outcomes. PWID completed a survey assessing drugs injected, frequency of injecting, receptive equipment sharing, psychological distress, self-reported hepatitis C (HCV) status, experienced and internalized stigma, drug use salience, and community attachment. Results: People who injected both opioids and stimulants reported more frequent injecting, more experiences of stigma, and greater reported HCV diagnosis than people who injected stimulants or opioids alone. They also showed greater attachment to a community of PWID and greater salience of drug use to their identity. Conclusions: The findings of increased injecting and broader harms associated with injecting both stimulants and opioids are important for tailoring harm reduction and intervention designs for people who use both opioid and stimulant drugs, including prioritizing peer-based approaches

Dating of the oldest continental sediments from the Himalayan foreland basin

A detailed knowledge of Himalayan development is important for our wider understanding of several global processes, ranging from models of plateau uplift to changes in oceanic chemistry and climate(1-4). Continental sediments 55 Myr old found in a foreland basin in Pakistan(5) are, by more than 20 Myr, the oldest deposits thought to have been eroded from the Himalayan metamorphic mountain belt. This constraint on when erosion began has influenced models of the timing and diachrony of the India-Eurasia collision(6-8), timing and mechanisms of exhumation(9,10) and uplift(11), as well as our general understanding of foreland basin dynamics(12). But the depositional age of these basin sediments was based on biostratigraphy from four intercalated marl units(5). Here we present dates of 257 detrital grains of white mica from this succession, using the Ar-40-(39) Ar method, and find that the largest concentration of ages are at 36-40 Myr. These dates are incompatible with the biostratigraphy unless the mineral ages have been reset, a possibility that we reject on the basis of a number of lines of evidence. A more detailed mapping of this formation suggests that the marl units are structurally intercalated with the continental sediments and accordingly that biostratigraphy cannot be used to date the clastic succession. The oldest continental foreland basin sediments containing metamorphic detritus eroded from the Himalaya orogeny therefore seem to be at least 15-20 Myr younger than previously believed, and models based on the older age must be re-evaluated

Synthesis of enantiomerically-pure and racemic benzyl-tethered Ru (II)/TsDPEN complexes by direct arene substitution : further complexes and application

The use of a direct arene-exchange method for the synthesis of benzyl-tethered arene/Ru/TsDPEN complexes for use in asymmetric transfer hydrogenation is reported. A series of complexes tethered through a three-carbon linear chain was also prepared. The arene-exchange approach significantly simplifies the synthetic approach to this class of catalyst and permits the ready formation of modified analogues. The approach also provides a route to racemic catalysts for use in general reductions with either hydrogen or transfer hydrogenatio

Elasticity of entangled polymer loops: Olympic gels

In this note we present a scaling theory for the elasticity of olympic gels, i.e., gels where the elasticity is a consequence of topology only. It is shown that two deformation regimes exist. The first is the non affine deformation regime where the free energy scales linear with the deformation. In the large (affine) deformation regime the free energy is shown to scale as $F \propto \lambda^{5/2}$ where $\lambda$ is the deformation ratio. Thus a highly non Hookian stress - strain relation is predicted.Comment: latex, no figures, accepted in PRE Rapid Communicatio

The Parkes Observatory Pulsar Data Archive

The Parkes pulsar data archive currently provides access to 144044 data files obtained from observations carried out at the Parkes observatory since the year 1991. Around 10^5 files are from surveys of the sky, the remainder are observations of 775 individual pulsars and their corresponding calibration signals. Survey observations are included from the Parkes 70cm and the Swinburne Intermediate Latitude surveys. Individual pulsar observations are included from young pulsar timing projects, the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array and from the PULSE@Parkes outreach program. The data files and access methods are compatible with Virtual Observatory protocols. This paper describes the data currently stored in the archive and presents ways in which these data can be searched and downloaded.Comment: Accepted by PAS

A Robust Cross-Linking Strategy for Block Copolymer Worms Prepared via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly

A poly(glycerol monomethacrylate) (PGMA) chain transfer agent is chain-extended by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) statistical copolymerization of 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) with glycidyl methacrylate (GlyMA) in concentrated aqueous solution via polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). A series of five free-standing worm gels is prepared by fixing the overall degree of polymerization of the core-forming block at 144 while varying its GlyMA content from 0 to 20 mol %. 1H NMR kinetics indicated that GlyMA is consumed much faster than HPMA, producing a GlyMA-rich sequence close to the PGMA stabilizer block. Temperature-dependent oscillatory rheological studies indicate that increasing the GlyMA content leads to progressively less thermoresponsive worm gels, with no degelation on cooling being observed for worms containing 20 mol % GlyMA. The epoxy groups in the GlyMA residues can be ring-opened using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) in order to prepare core cross-linked worms via hydrolysis-condensation with the siloxane groups and/or hydroxyl groups on the HPMA residues. Perhaps surprisingly, 1H NMR analysis indicates that the epoxy-amine reaction and the intermolecular cross-linking occur on similar time scales. Cross-linking leads to stiffer worm gels that do not undergo degelation upon cooling. Dynamic light scattering studies and TEM analyses conducted on linear worms exposed to either methanol (a good solvent for both blocks) or anionic surfactant result in immediate worm dissociation. In contrast, cross-linked worms remain intact under such conditions, provided that the worm cores comprise at least 10 mol % GlyMA