Addressing alcohol and tobacco harms in remote Indigenous communities and rapid responses to mental health crises in regional centres

Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) were initially designed as part of a wide range of innovative and significant Queensland Government reforms. As well as supply control, these promised to reduce alcohol and substance misuse and violence through demand reduction by addressing key social determinants: economic development; education and training, land and sustainable natural resource management, housing, and health 3, 4. The limited available evidence in the peer-reviewed published literature points to some favourable impacts of restrictions 5, 6, including a reduction in indicators of serious injury in some communities to historically low levels 7. These favourable findings were reflected in an internal Queensland Government review 4. However, the evidence that these initial positive effects were experienced in all communities, or that they have been sustained, particularly after the most recent round of restrictions in 2008, has become equivocal 8. This paper was the first in a unique evaluation research program designed to examine the health and social effects of Queensland�s AMPs 1, 9. It investigates issues surrounding implementation of the designed AMP intervention components, specifically their perceived impacts on alcohol supply and consumption, violence, injury and community health and well-being. Perceptions and experiences are reported of the community leaders, service providers and relevant organisations with a mandate or responsibility for alcohol-related matters in the affected AMP communities and nearby towns.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy

Genetic Engineering in Streptomyces roseosporus to Produce Hybrid Lipopeptide Antibiotics

SummaryDaptomycin is a lipopeptide antibiotic produced by a nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) in Streptomyces roseosporus. The holoenzyme is composed of three subunits, encoded by the dptA, dptBC, and dptD genes, each responsible for incorporating particular amino acids into the peptide. We introduced expression plasmids carrying dptD or NRPS genes encoding subunits from two related lipopeptide biosynthetic pathways into a daptomycin nonproducing strain of S. roseosporus harboring a deletion of dptD. All constructs successfully complemented the deletion in trans, generating three peptide cores related to daptomycin. When these were coupled with incomplete methylation of 1 amino acid and natural variation in the lipid side chain, 18 lipopeptides were generated. Substantial amounts of nine of these compounds were readily obtained by fermentation, and all displayed antibacterial activity against gram-positive pathogens

Electron paramagentic resonance studies on the reactions and structure of some blue copper oxidases

Imperial Users onl

A Synthesis of (+)- Prelog-Djerassi Lactonic Acid

A new approach to the synthesis of Prelog-Djerassi Lactonic acid (1) is reported. A key step in this synthesis involves an Ireland-Claisen rearrangement/silicon-mediated fragmentation sequence to provide the carbon framework in (

Possible persons and the problem of prenatal harm

When attempting to determine which of our acts affect future generations and which affect the identities of those who make up such generations, accounts of personal identity that privilege psychological features and person affecting accounts of morality, whilst highly useful when discussing the rights and wrongs of acts relating to extant persons, seem to come up short. On such approaches it is often held that the intuition that future persons can be harmed by decisions made prior to their existence is mistaken as identity is a most fragile thing with even the smallest differences in the conditions under which we procreate affecting not the interests of distinct future persons, but the identities of those who will come to exist in the future. Within this paper I reject this view, holding that a subscription to these two accounts need not result in the conclusion that virtually all acts relating to possible persons are permitted. Further, I argue that such accounts may in fact allow a great deal more scope for the determination of prenatal harms than accounts of personal identity that privilege physical features. Finally, by interpreting claims regarding causal identity such as Parfit’s Time Dependence Claim in terms of Counterpart Theory I suggest that a solution to the non-identity problem can be found in the acceptance of, as relevant in prenatal cases, three kinds of objective similarity relations: Biological, Environmental and Decisional counterpart relations

Does the local food environment around schools affect diet? Longitudinal associations in adolescents attending secondary schools in East London.

BACKGROUND: The local retail food environment around schools may act as a potential risk factor for adolescent diet. However, international research utilising cross-sectional designs to investigate associations between retail food outlet proximity to schools and diet provides equivocal support for an effect. In this study we employ longitudinal perspectives in order to answer the following two questions. First, how has the local retail food environment around secondary schools changed over time and second, is this change associated with change in diet of students at these schools? METHODS: The locations of retail food outlets and schools in 2001 and 2005 were geo-coded in three London boroughs. Network analysis in a Geographic Information System (GIS) ascertained the number, minimum and median distances to food outlets within 400 m and 800 m of the school location. Outcome measures were 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' diet scores derived from adolescent self-reported data in the Research with East London Adolescents: Community Health Survey (RELACHS). Adjusted associations between distance from school to food retail outlets, counts of outlets near schools and diet scores were assessed using longitudinal (2001-2005 n=757) approaches. RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2005 the number of takeaways and grocers/convenience stores within 400 m of schools increased, with many more grocers reported within 800 m of schools in 2005 (p< 0.001). Longitudinal analyses showed a decrease of the mean healthy (-1.12, se 0.12) and unhealthy (-0.48, se 0.16) diet scores. There were significant positive relationships between the distances travelled to grocers and healthy diet scores though effects were very small (0.003, 95%CI 0.001 - 0.006). Significant negative relationships between proximity to takeaways and unhealthy diet scores also resulted in small parameter estimates. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide some evidence that the local food environment around secondary schools may influence adolescent diet, though effects were small. Further research on adolescents' food purchasing habits with larger samples in varied geographic regions is required to identify robust relationships between proximity and diet, as small numbers, because of confounding, may dilute effect food environment effects. Data on individual foods purchased in all shop formats may clarify the frequent, overly simple classification of grocers as 'healthy'