Studying the effect of cigarette smoke exposure on murine models of allergic asthma

Exposure to pollution and active or passive smoking have been associated with a worsened asthma severity and a reduced response to treatment. These poorly controlled asthmatics are responsible for the majority of the economic burden of the disease but how pollution and/or cigarette smoke (CS) impacts on the disease is not well understood. The aim of this thesis was to develop a murine model of allergic asthma where CS exposure results in a change in model phenotype and the sensitivity of the response to pharmacological intervention. Two preclinical models of allergic asthma were utilised: the ovalbumin (OVA) model which had previously been established in-house, and the house dust mite (HDM) model which I developed in this thesis. As topical HDM exposure is known to cause innate inflammation I developed an allergic model where HDM challenge resulted in inflammation only in the mice which had been previously sensitised to HDM. The allergic inflammation in this model was accompanied by allergic airway hyper responsiveness, however the LAR was not observed in this model. CS exposure did not have a dramatic impact on the cellular inflammation in either the OVA- or the HDM-driven model, nor did it impact upon the anti-inflammatory effects of oral steroid treatment with the exception of the addition of a steroid-insensitive neutrophil population. However CS exposure attenuated the AHR observed in the OVA and the HDM models. Finally cigarette smoke exposure not only enhanced the OVA-induced LAR but also rendered this response completely insensitive to oral steroid treatment. Further investigation into the effects of CS in these two models may provide clues as to the mechanisms behind the effect of smoking on asthma in the clinic. The CS-enhanced LAR model could be invaluable in understanding the clinical phenotype of treatment resistance in smoking asthmatics.Open Acces

A Survey of the Management and Development of Captive African Elephant (\u3cem\u3eLoxodonta africana\u3c/em\u3e) Calves: Birth to Three Months of Age

We used four surveys to collect information about the birth, physical growth, and behavioral development of 12 African elephant calves born in captivity. The management of the birth process and neonatal care involved a variety of standard procedures. All of the calves were born at night, between 7PM and 7AM. The calves showed a systematic progression in behavioral and physical development, attaining developmental milestones at least a quickly as calves in situ. This study emphasized birth-related events, changes in the ways that calves used their trunks, first instances of behaviors, and interactions of the calves with other, usually adult, elephants. Several behaviors, such as the dam covering her calf with hay and the calf sucking its own trunk, were common in the captive situation and have been observed in situ. Overall, the behaviors of the calves resembled those observed for African elephant calves in situ. These data should help in the management of African elephants under human care by providing systematic reference values for the birth and development of elephant calves

Tracking Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) in the northeastern Pacific with an automated algorithm that estimates latitude by matching sea-surface-temperature data from satellites with temperature data from tags on fish

Data recovered from 11 popup satellite archival tags and 3 surgically implanted archival tags were used to analyze the movement patterns of juvenile northern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) in the eastern Pacific. The light sensors on archival and pop-up satellite transmitting archival tags (PSATs) provide data on the time of sunrise and sunset, allowing the calculation of an approximate geographic position of the animal. Light-based estimates of longitude are relatively robust but latitude estimates are prone to large degrees of error, particularly near the times of the equinoxes and when the tag is at low latitudes. Estimating latitude remains a problem for researchers using light-based geolocation algorithms and it has been suggested that sea surface temperature data from satellites may be a useful tool for refining latitude estimates. Tag data from bluefin tuna were subjected to a newly developed algorithm, called “PSAT Tracker,” which automatically matches sea surface temperature data from the tags with sea surface temperatures recorded by satellites. The results of this algorithm compared favorably to the estimates of latitude calculated with the lightbased algorithms and allowed for estimation of fish positions during times of the year when the lightbased algorithms failed. Three near one-year tracks produced by PSAT tracker showed that the fish range from the California−Oregon border to southern Baja California, Mexico, and that the majority of time is spent off the coast of central Baja Mexico. A seasonal movement pattern was evident; the fish spend winter and spring off central Baja California, and summer through fall is spent moving northward to Oregon and returning to Baja California

Reconceptualising Australia’s transfer pricing rules: An approach based on adopting economic presence as a basis for taxation

Against the background of a global focus on base erosion and profit shifting and well-publicised cases of high profile multinationals minimising their taxable burden in high tax jurisdictions, including the use of transfer pricing as a major tax minimisation strategy, this paper argues for a reconceptualisation of Australia’s Transfer Pricing rules by adopting an approach based on using economic presence as a basis for source based taxation.The approach of the paper is to first discuss and evaluate the evolution of Australia’s transfer pricing legislation. In this part, it will be argued that the most current reforms to Australia’s transfer pricing regime present several fundamental deficiencies. In response to these deficiencies, the second part of the paper advocates a policy response focused on a reconceptualised version of current source rules applying economic presence as a foundation for taxation

Future Dispute System Design: Ethical Imperatives, Millennial and Beyond

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio

Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship Among Continuous Self- Improvement, Engagement, & Disengagement

https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2018/1019/thumbnail.jp

The primacy of client privilege: designing a statutory tax advice privilege for accredited non lawyer tax advisors

There are several types of professional groups that provide tax advice in Australia: lawyers, accountants, and financial advisors, many of whom are registered tax agents. In many cases, the type of advice provided is the same; however, currently whilst lawyers can extend to their clients a blanket legal professional privilege (“LPP”) over confidential tax advice, clients of non-lawyer tax advisors (“NLTAs”) are presently only granted an administrative concession by the Australian Taxation Office (“ATO”) and then only over a limited range of documents. This article argues in favour of the enactment of a separate statutory tax advice privilege in Australia for accredited NLTAs and suggests a framework for determining which taxation professionals should be able to offer a tax advice privilege to their clients

How does gender non-conformity intolerance impact homonegativity? An exploration of attitudes and behaviours towards lesbians.

The current research explores the importance of including gender non-conformity prejudice within research on negative attitudes and behaviours towards lesbians. The connectivity between lesbian homosexuality and masculine presentation are considered, as previous research has consistently shown that sexuality incongruity to the prescribed norm, prescribed incongruent gender presentation (Greene, 2007). The theory of heteronormativity, which conceptualises prescribed societal sexuality and genders norms (Habarth, 2015), themes this body of work. Across two studies, the impact of gender role beliefs and gender presentation on homonegativity was explored, to demonstrate the complexity of variable relationships effecting homonegative attitudes and behaviour. In the first study, experimental design used four vignettes (masculine presenting homosexual, feminine presenting homosexual and vice versa heterosexual women) to identify gender presentation and sexuality main effects and interactions. Using an online opportunity sample (n = 282). Results showed that vignettes with masculine appearance scored higher for passive harm and homosexual vignettes were scored higher for active harm. The second study explored attitudinal and behaviour variable relationships again using an opportunity sample (n = 385). Results showed that the heteronormativity scale (assumptions that gender binary and heterosexuality are normative) reduced positive behaviour towards homosexuals, through social distancing. Results also showed that the effect gender non-conformity prejudice has on discriminatory behaviour, is fully mediated by sexuality prejudice. Together, both studies show the complex relationships between gender non-conformity and sexuality prejudice. Conclusions drawn encourage further investigation of intersectional identities and promotes effective directions for future work in regards to reducing discriminatory behaviour and studying homonegative attitudes

Diet of the Myotis Sodalis (Indiana Bat) at an Urban/Rural Interface

We conducted a study of the diet of the federally endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) at an urban/rural interface near Indianapolis International Airport in summer 2004. We used two 1-m2quadrats covered with window screening to collect guano under a known roost tree. We then examined 20 fecal pellets/week until the bats abandoned the roost (i.e., 13 weeks). The most common orders of insects eaten were: Lepidoptera (35.3% volume, 84.6% frequency), Diptera (27.9%, 73.2%), Coleoptera (16.9%, 62.9%), and Hymenoptera (10.9%, 45.9%). Components of the diet at the ordinal level varied significantly over time. Despite the developed nature of the site, the diet consisted of the same components reported in earlier studies