Does Further Education in Adulthood Improve Physical and Mental Health among Australian Women? A Longitudinal Study

Objective

We analyzed whether further education in young adult and mid-life [adult educational mobility] influences physical functioning and depressive symptoms in women.

Methods

14247 women born 1973–78 (younger cohort) and 13715 women born 1946–51 (mid-aged cohort) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health were followed for 14–16 years. Measures were the Short-Form 36 Health Survey physical functioning subscale (SF-36 PF) and Centre for Epidemiologic Studies 10-item Depression Scale (CESD-10). Linear mixed modelling, accounting for time varying covariates, assessed the influence of further education on physical functioning and depressive symptoms over time. Sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of missing data was conducted using multiple imputation.

Results

Compared to younger women with a pre-existing high level of education, women gaining further education (up to age 39 years) from low levels had lower SF-36 PF scores (poorer physical functioning) (fully adjusted beta estimates (95%CIs) -1.52 (-2.59, -0.44)) while those gaining further education from middle to high levels showed equivalent SF-36 PF scores (-0.08 (-0.61, 0.44)). A similar pattern was shown for CESD-10 scores (0.78 (0.29, 1.25); -0.02 (-0.26, 0.21), respectively) where higher scores represented more depressive symptoms. For mid-age women, further education from a middle to high level resulted in equivalent SF-36 PF scores (-0.61 (-1.93,0.71)) but higher CESD-10 scores (0.49 (0.11, 0.86)), compared to highly educated women.

Conclusion

Women who delay further education until they are aged between their 40s and 60s can improve or maintain their physical functioning but may have missed the critical time to minimise depressive symptomatology. Public health policy should focus on encouraging women to upgrade their educational qualifications earlier in life in order to potentially offset the negative associations between their initial lower socio-economic position class of origin and their mental health.     

A Therapeutic Moment? Identity, Self, and Culture in the Anthropology of Education

Identity is a key area for consideration in contemporary educational analysis and in the anthropology of education in particular. This article considers the need for critical inquiry into the notion of identity, suggesting that the field might reconsider the need and value of an approach that moves beyond identity toward consideration of cultural models of self and their implications. The discussion outlines three areas where self appears to be a useful construct (cultural therapy, multiculturalism, and transcultural comparisons of teaching and learning).     

Further purification and characterization of the acid α-glucosidase

1. Centrifugation of rat liver acid glucosidase, which had been purified by adsorption on dextran gel, on a density gradient of sucrose showed the enzyme to be impure. 2. Preliminary purification of the enzyme before the gel filtration improved the final degree of purity of this preparation. Disc gel electrophoresis of this preparation showed a single band of protein. 3. The sedimentation co-efficient and the molecular weight determined on a sucrose gradient were 4.9-5.1s and 76000-83000 respectively for the rat liver enzyme, and 5.6s and 97000 for the acid alpha-glucosidase purified by means of the same procedure from the human kidney. 4. The Michaelis constants of rat liver and human kidney enzyme were 4.7x10(-3)m and 13.6x10(-3)m respectively with maltose as substrate. 5. The enzyme from both tissues was inhibited by tris and by erythritol. The inhibition of the rat liver acid glucosidase by erythritol was competitive.     

Patient Safety in Medical Education: Students’ Perceptions,Knowledge and Attitudes

Patient safety is a new and challenging discipline in the Iranian health care industry. Among the challenges for patient safety improvement, education of medical and paramedical students is intimidating. The present study was designed to assess students’ perceptions of patient safety, and their knowledge and attitudes to patient safety education. This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 2012 at Urmia University of Medical Sciences, West Azerbaijan province, Iran. 134 students studying medicine, nursing, and midwifery were recruited through census for the study. A questionnaire was used for collecting data, which were then analyzed through SPSS statistical software (version 16.0), using Chi-square test, Spearman correlation coefficient, F and LSD tests. A total of 121 questionnaires were completed, and 50% of the students demonstrated good knowledge about patient safety. The relationships between students’ attitudes to patient safety and years of study, sex and course were significant (0.003, 0.001 and 0.017, respectively). F and LSD tests indicated that regarding the difference between the mean scores of perceptions of patient safety and attitudes to patient safety education, there was a significant difference among medical and nursing/midwifery students. Little knowledge of students regarding patient safety indicates the inefficiency of informal education to fill the gap; therefore, it is recommended to consider patient safety in the curriculums of all medical and paramedical sciences and formulate better policies for patient safety.     

Darwin��s Busts and Public Evolutionary Outreach and Education

For the 1909 Darwin Centennial, the New York Academy of Sciences gave a large bronze bust of Charles Darwin to the American Museum of Natural History. Created by the well-known sculptor, William Couper, the bust was placed on its tall granite pedestal at the entrance at the newly designated exhibition hall, the Charles Darwin Hall of Invertebrate Zoology. Later that year, the American Museum ordered a bronze copy of the bust and presented it to Christ’s College, in Cambridge, England at the British Darwinian celebration. In 1935, Victor Von Hagen requested a plaster copy of the bust for a monument he was erecting on San Cristóbal in the Galapagos Islands to celebrate Darwin’s arrival in the Galapagos. During 1960, the American Museum of Natural History returned the original bronze bust to the New York Academy of Science, where it is now on display at its headquarters in New York City. To celebrate the Darwin bicentennial, the National Academy of Sciences recreated the bust in a computer-generated copy for display at their Washington, DC headquarters.     

A Further Separation and Some Properties of β-Lactamase I

A carbohydrate binding protein was found in mid-lactating rat mammary gland. This rat mammary gland lectin agglutinated trypsinized rabbit erythrocytes and the hemagglutination was inhibited by the addition of β-d-galactosides such as lactose, melibiose, UDP-galactose and thio-d-galactoside. The lectin was partially purified by affinity chromatography on a column of Sepharose 4B to which asialo-fetuin had been covalently linked. Rat mammary gland lectin is a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 14,800, estimated from SDS-PAGE, or 16,800 from gel filtration.

The occurrence of two glycoproteins, C4-casein and α-lactalbumin, is known in rat milk. Bovine κ-casein is a well-characterized glycoprotein. These glycoproteins were found to be bound by the rat mammary gland lectin, when they were desialylated by the action of neuraminidase. Neuraminidase-untreated α-lactalbumin also bound to the lectin but to a lesser extent. The level of the lectin in rat mammary gland was greatly reduced during regression of the gland after weaning.     

Continuing Medical Education: Planning and Goals Conference in Continuing Medical Education—Workshop Recommendations

Following are recommendations drawn up by workshops held as a part of the Planning and Goals Conference in Continuing Medical Education, sponsored by the California Medical Association and directed by its Committee on Continuing Medical Education, San Diego, 11 to 12 March 1967. The general subject was divided among four workshops and the reports of two of them—No. 1, (a) and (b), and No. 2—were printed in the August issue of California Medicine. The Reports herewith are those of the other two workshops.The conference was supported in part by Contract No. PH 108-67-158, Bureau of Health Manpower, Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare.     

Hydroxylation and Further Oxidation of Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol by Alkane-Degrading Bacteria

The microbial biotransformation of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol was investigated using a collection of 206 alkane-degrading strains. Fifteen percent of these strains, mainly gram-positive strains from the genera Rhodococcus, Mycobacterium, Gordonia, and Dietzia, yielded more-polar derivatives. Eight derivatives were produced on a mg scale, isolated, and purified, and their chemical structures were elucidated with the use of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), and two-dimensional NMR (¹H-¹H correlation spectroscopy and heteronuclear multiple bond coherence). All eight biotransformation products possessed modified alkyl chains, with hydroxy, carboxy, and ester functionalities. In a number of strains, β-oxidation of the initially formed C₅ carboxylic acid led to the formation of a carboxylic acid lacking two methylene groups.Δ⁹-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC) is the decarboxylated product of the corresponding Δ⁹-THC acid, the major cannabinoid present in the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L., Cannabaceae). This compound is officially registered as a drug for the stimulation of appetite and antiemesis in patients under chemotherapy and human immunodeficiency virus therapy regimens. Other biological activities ascribed to this compound include lowering intraocular pressure in glaucoma, acting as an analgesic for muscle relaxation, immunosuppression, sedation, bronchodilation, and neuroprotection (11).Δ⁹-THC and many of its derivatives are highly lipophilic and poorly water soluble. Calculations of the n-octanol/water partition coefficient (K_o/w) of Δ⁹-THC at neutral pH vary between 6,000, using the shake flask method (15), and 9.44 × 10⁶, by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography estimation (19). The poor water solubility and high lipophilicity of cannabinoids cause their absorption across the lipid bilayer membranes and fast elimination from blood circulation. In terms of the “Lipinsky rule of 5” (14), the high lipophilicity of cannabinoids hinders the further development of these compounds into large-scale pharmaceutical products.To generate more water-soluble analogues, one can either apply de novo chemical synthesis (as, e.g., in reference 16) or modify naturally occurring cannabinoids, e.g., by introducing hydroxy, carbonyl, or carboxy groups. Chemical hydroxylation of compounds such as cannabinoids is difficult (Δ⁹-THC is easily converted into Δ⁸-THC under mild conditions), and therefore microbial biotransformation of cannabinoids is potentially a more fruitful option to achieve this goal.So far, studies on biotransformation of Δ⁹-THC were mainly focused on fungi, which led to the formation of a number of mono- and dihydroxylated derivatives. Previous reports on the biotransformation of cannabinoids by various microorganisms are summarized in Table ​Table1.1. The aim of the present study was to test whether bacterial strains are capable of transforming Δ⁹-THC into new products (with potentially better pharmaceutical characteristics) at a higher yield and specificity than previously found for fungal strains. For this purpose, we have chosen to use a collection of alkane-degrading strains, since it was shown in previous studies (8, 18, 20) that alkane oxygenases often display a broad substrate range. Production of novel cannabinoid derivatives that might have interesting pharmacological activities was another objective of this project.

TABLE 1.

Previous biotransformation experiments conducted using various microorganisms to transform cannabinoids

Does competition regulate ungulate populations? Further evidence from Serengeti,Tanzania

Summary Changes in populations of several ungulate species in the Serengeti-Mara region of East Africa over the past 30 years suggest several hypotheses for their regulation and coexistence. Recent censuses in the 1980s have allowed us to test the hypotheses that: (1) there was competition between wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) and Thomson's gazelle (Gazella thomsoni). This predicted that gazelle numbers should have declined in the 1980s when wildebeest were food limited. Census figures show no change in gazelle numbers between 1978 and 1986, a result contrary to the interspecific competition hypothesis; (2) wildebeest and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) populations were regulated by intraspecific competition for food. Since both populations reached food limitation in the 1970s, the hypothesis predicted that the populations should have been stable in the 1980s. The results confirm these predictions for wildebeest and the buffalo population in the Mara reserve. In the Serengeti the buffalo population declined 41% over the period 1976–1984. The decline was not evenly distributed over the park, some areas showing an 80–90% decline, others no change or an increase in numbers. The decline was associated with proximity to human habitation; (3) an outbreak of the viral disease, rinderpest, in 1982 may have been the cause of the drop in buffalo population. Blood serum samples to measure the prevalence of antibodies were collected from areas of decreasing, stable and increasing populations. If rinderpest was the cause of decrease there should be a negative relationship between the prevalence of rinderpest and the instantaneous rate of increase (r). The results showed no relationship. We conclude that rinderpest was not the major cause of the drop in buffalo numbers. Elephant (Loxodonta africana) numbers dropped 81% in Serengeti in the period 1977–1986. In the Mara there was little change. The evidence suggests that extensive poaching in northern and western Serengeti during 1979–1984 accounted for the drop in both elephant and buffalo numbers.