Reflections on Poverty Assessments in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu

Poverty, vulnerability and corruption are not new or unique to the South Pacific, but the lack of capacity of governments to govern has seriously affected households and communities already on the edge of poverty. In Papua New Guinea, the general deterioration in government services and in transport and communication infrastructure, has increased the economic and social marginalisation of many isolated communities. The recent poverty assessments in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu outline a number of strategies to assist those living in, or on the edge of poverty, but these will only be successful if accompanied by strategies to achieve more effective and equitable governance

An Uneasy Relationship

The situation of Norfolk Island, as a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, is one of the historical anomalies in governance, which has persisted since 1914. It reflects the direct historical linkages between the British Crown and those Norfolk Islanders who were descendants of Pitcairn Islanders of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. Yet, once Federation was in the wind, the British Government, against the expressed wishes of the Norfolk Island community, sought to divest itself of all responsibility for Norfolk Island. There is a curiously ‘Yes Minister’ quality about the negotiations which lead to the final take-over by Australia, and the appointment of the first Commonwealth Administrator of Norfolk Island. The direct involvement of Atlee Hunt, then Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, eventually ensured the appointment of Michael Vincent Murphy. In order to achieve this end, Hunt had to fend off other applicants who were busy ingratiating themselves with the Minister for External Affairs Patrick McMahon Glynn and the then Prime Minister Joseph Cook. This is essentially a study of the relationships between governors, politicians, public servants and community leaders during the years which followed the take-over of Norfolk Island, and of the struggle of one Norfolk Islander, Charles Chase Ray Nobbs, against Australian administrative authorit

Youth in Papua New Guinea: With reference to Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu

This study of youth in society examines the colonial and pest-colonial influences on youth policies and programmes in Papua New Guinea and neighbouring South Pacific n tions. Maev O'Collins argues that youth development planners need to understand the sociocultural background of u rban and rural communities as well as the current economic and political pressures in the wider society, if youth programmes are to be effectively integrated into overall development planning

Social development in Papua New Guinea (1972-1990) : Searching for solutions in a changing world.

The papers included in this monograph span eighteen years of social development planning in Papua New Guinea and cover many of the same areas of concern. Apart from minor editing to maintain consistency and to avoid repetition, the papers are reproduced as they were presented and reflect my position, and personal perspectives and biases as a teacher, social science researcher and participant observer at that particular t ime. The aim of this monograph is to provide an historical perspective on social development during the 1970s and 1980s with the hope that this will assist students and practitioners in planning and programming to meet current and future social needs

Fe y cultura

La fe cristiana necesita de una cultura, lo mismo que las culturas humanas necesitan de la fe cristiana. La fe y la cultura son aliados naturales. Hoy más que nunca la fe necesita de la cultura y la cultura necesita de la fe. ¿Por qué? Porque no sólo la fe, sino también la cultura están amenazadas y atacadas por diversas fuerzas destructoras

Reprint: Good laboratory practice: preventing introduction of bias at the bench

As a research community, we have failed to show that drugs, which show substantial efficacy in animal models of cerebral ischemia, can also improve outcome in human stroke. Accumulating evidence suggests this may be due, at least in part, to problems in the design, conduct, and reporting of animal experiments which create a systematic bias resulting in the overstatement of neuroprotective efficacy. Here, we set out a series of measures to reduce bias in the design, conduct and reporting of animal experiments modeling human stroke

Women and politics in Papua New Guinea.

This volume comprises papers presented to the Department of Political and Social Change's fifth annual seminar on Papua New Guinea, held at The Australian National University in May 1984, together with an introductory paper by Professor Maev O'Collins. It brings together contributions by Papua New Guineans and foreigners, politicians and scholars, women and men

Post-stroke inhibition of induced NADPH oxidase type 4 prevents oxidative stress and neurodegeneration

Ischemic stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Only one moderately effective therapy exists, albeit with contraindications that exclude 90% of the patients. This medical need contrasts with a high failure rate of more than 1,000 pre-clinical drug candidates for stroke therapies. Thus, there is a need for translatable mechanisms of neuroprotection and more rigid thresholds of relevance in pre-clinical stroke models. One such candidate mechanism is oxidative stress. However, antioxidant approaches have failed in clinical trials, and the significant sources of oxidative stress in stroke are unknown. We here identify NADPH oxidase type 4 (NOX4) as a major source of oxidative stress and an effective therapeutic target in acute stroke. Upon ischemia, NOX4 was induced in human and mouse brain. Mice deficient in NOX4 (Nox4(-/-)) of either sex, but not those deficient for NOX1 or NOX2, were largely protected from oxidative stress, blood-brain-barrier leakage, and neuronal apoptosis, after both transient and permanent cerebral ischemia. This effect was independent of age, as elderly mice were equally protected. Restoration of oxidative stress reversed the stroke-protective phenotype in Nox4(-/-) mice. Application of the only validated low-molecular-weight pharmacological NADPH oxidase inhibitor, VAS2870, several hours after ischemia was as protective as deleting NOX4. The extent of neuroprotection was exceptional, resulting in significantly improved long-term neurological functions and reduced mortality. NOX4 therefore represents a major source of oxidative stress and novel class of drug target for stroke therapy

Treatment with the immunomodulator FTY720 does not promote spontaneous bacterial infections after experimental stroke in mice

Background: FTY720, an immunomodulator derived from a fungal metabolite which reduces circulating lymphocyte counts by increasing the homing of lymphocytes to the lymph nodes has recently gained interest in stroke research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective efficacy of FTY720 in cerebral ischemia in two different application paradigms and to gather first data on the effect of FTY720 on the rate of spontaneous bacterial infections in experimental stroke. Methods: Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in C57BL/6 mice (strain J, groups of 10 animals) was performed with two different durations of ischemia (90 min and 3 h) and FTY720 was applied 2 h after vessel occlusion to study the impact of reperfusion on the protective potency of FTY720. Lesion size was determined by TTC staining. Mice treated with FTY720 or vehicle were sacrificed 48 h after 90 min MCAO to determine the bacterial burden in lung and blood. Results: FTY720 1 mg/kg significantly reduced ischemic lesion size when administered 2 h after the onset of MCAO for 3 h (45.4 +/- 22.7 mm3 vs. 84.7 +/- 23.6 mm3 in control mice, p = 0.001) and also when administered after reperfusion, 2 h after the onset of MCAO for 90 min (31.1 +/- 28.49 mm3 vs. 69.6 +/- 27.2 mm3 in control mice, p = 0.013). Bacterial burden of lung homogenates 48 h after stroke did not increase in the group treated with the immunomodulator FTY720 while there was no spontaneous bacteremia 48 h after MCAO in treated and untreated animals. Conclusions: Our results corroborate the experimental evidence of the protective effect of FTY720 seen in different rodent stroke models. Interestingly, we found no increase in bacterial lung infections even though FTY720 strongly reduces the number of circulating leukocytes