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Objective: Assessing the strategies, achievements and challenges of implementing MindMatters and the views of partner schools towards the buddy support scheme. Design: The MindMatters buddy support scheme (2007-2008) was designed to increase the capacity of secondary schools to adopt a whole-school approach to improving health and well-being of the school community. Fourteen schools received support from health workers and funding. Setting: Secondary schools in southwest Sydney. Method: The scheme was evaluated qualitatively through face-to-face interviews with a representative from each school and thematic analysis of the information. Results: Participants believed that external support is needed to run additional programmes, as schools have competing priorities. They understood the link between the well-being of students and staff and good mental health. The achievements identified included less bullying and more student participation, connectedness, networking with outside agencies and increased confidence in showcasing their programmes. The challenges included: engaging culturally and linguistically diverse and indigenous communities; resources; support from the school executive; and staff transitions, time, skills and motivation. Factors that enabled schools to achieve positive outcomes were: partnership with the health service; MindMatters training; a positive staff attitude; and support from within the school. Conclusion: The partnership scheme contributed to strengthening staff confidence in implementing MindMatters. Health workers helped to bridge the gap between schools and state representatives. The capability of schools, the significance of the scheme and the usefulness of MindMatters training collectively contributed to the main achievements of incorporating a student voice, engaging community and building relationships with other agencies.

Summary: Background: Few randomized controlled trial (RCT) interventions targeted children's early risk behaviours using telephone or short message service (SMS) support. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of telephone or SMS early intervention focusing on mothers' behaviours starting from late pregnancy to improve BMI, and eating and screen time behaviours of children aged 2 years in comparison with the control group. Methods: A 3‐arm RCT was conducted in Australia, 2017–2019. Two arms involved the interventions using nurse‐led telephone or SMS support, delivered in nine stages from late pregnancy to age 2 years. The third arm was control. The primary outcome was children's objectively measured BMI and BMI z‐score at 2 years. Secondary outcomes included child eating and screen time behaviours as reported by parents at 2 years. Results: At 2 years, 797 mother–child dyads (69%) completed the telephone survey with 666 (58%) completing weight and height measurements. The study found no statistically significant difference in BMI between the groups. The mean BMI for telephone support was 16.93 (95% CI: 16.73 to 17.13), for SMS 16.92 (95% CI: 16.73 to 17.11) or for control 16.95 (95% CI: 16.73 to 17.16) with a difference of −0.02 (95% CI: −0.31 to 0.27, p = 0.907) in telephone versus control, and a difference of −0.03 (95% CI: −0.30 to 0.24, p = 0.816) in SMS versus control. Telephone support was associated with higher odds of no bottle at bedtime (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.99; 95% CI: 2.01 to 4.47), family meals (AOR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.26 to 3.33), drinking from a cup (AOR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.24 to 2.88), less screen time (<1 h/day) (AOR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.10 to 2.23) and not eating dinner in front of the TV (AOR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.09 to 2.06). SMS support was also associated with higher odds of no bottle at bedtime (AOR 2.30, 95% CI: 1.58 to 3.33) than the control. Conclusion: The telephone or SMS support intervention had no significant effects on BMI, but was effective in increasing no bottle use at bedtime. Telephone support showed more effects than SMS on reducing screen time and eating behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do High Ratings and Citizenship Mix? Change doesn't come easily to public TV, as the little war over Washington Week in Review demonstrates. When public TV station WETA in Washington [...]

Introduction: This article describes the process and evaluation of a smoking cessation support programme for mental health clients in Sydney.Aim: The objective of the study was to assess a group-based smoking cessation support model for community mental health clients.Methods: Two community mental health services participated; 29 clients received free NRT products and weekly education for 12 weeks on: effects of smoking, nicotine dependence, NRT use, withdrawal process and the benefits of quitting. Evaluation included face-to-face interviews, telephone or postal survey using a semi-structured questionnaire.Results: The baseline (n = 29) and follow-up (n = 14) surveys showed reduction in the number of cigarettes (30 to 21) smoked a day (55% vs. 36%). At one month 47% (n = 19) were confident about stopping smoking permanently whereas 19% (n = 14) reported the same after six months. Participants reported concerns of health effects, illness, physical symptoms (77% n = 27) and financial cost (93% n = 27) were the motivating factors in quitting. None of the findings was statistically significant.Conclusions: Community based interventions to address the rate of smoking in this group is needed. Financial and health benefits can be used as motivating factors, and integration of smoking cessation assistance in treatment and rehabilitation of mental health consumers would be useful. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the progressive degeneration of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) dopaminergic neurones and the formation of Lewy bodies (LB) in a proportion of the remaining neurones. α-synuclein is the main component of LB, but the pathological mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration associated with LB formation remain unclear. Three pivotal elements have emerged in the development of PD: α-synuclein, mitochondria and protein degradation systems. We previously reported a unique model, created by conditional genetic depletion of 26S proteasomes in the SNpc of mice, which mechanistically links these three elements with the neuropathology of PD: progressive neurodegeneration and intraneuronal inclusion formation. Using this model, we tested the hypothesis that α-synuclein was essential for the formation of inclusions and neurodegeneration caused by 26S proteasomal depletion. We found that both of these processes were independent of α-synuclein. This provides an important insight into the relationship between the proteasome, α-synuclein, inclusion formation and neurodegeneration. We also show that the autophagy-lysosomal pathway is not activated in 26S proteasome-depleted neurones. This leads us to suggest that the paranuclear accumulation of mitochondria in inclusions in our model may reflect a role for the ubiquitin proteasome system in mitochondrial homeostasis and that neurodegeneration may be mediated through mitochondrial factors linked to inclusion biogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the outcomes of a buddy support scheme designed to increase the capacity of secondary schools to adopt a whole school approach to improving the well-being of students and to enhance uptake of MindMatters. The scheme supported schools implementing MindMatters, forming partnerships, and creating links with health services, organisations and community groups. The results showed that intervention schools were significantly more likely to ensure internal support by assigning a person responsible for MindMatters (90% vs 38%), forming a core team (79% vs 21%), reporting changes (94% vs 26%) and connectedness (100% vs 21%) and continuing MindMatters implementation (90% vs 33%) than non-intervention schools. They also reported positive outcomes in student and community participation, policy development and implementation. The results indicated the usefulness of the scheme and a plausible contribution to a greater level of sustainable changes than standard delivery of MindMatters. To assess the impact, further investigation with a larger sample is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of a study which examined the effectiveness and usefulness of blossom thinning treatments to reduce the fruit set and boost the size of fruits of apples, Ambrosia and Aurora Golden Gala. The study showed that both ammonium thiosulphate (ATS) and Crocker's fish oil and lime sulphur (FOLS) reduced initial fruit set. It concludes that the fruit size of Ambroasia was less responsive to blossom thinning.

Dry-eye rot and gray mold of apple are important diseases caused by Botrytis cinerea. Fungicides available for their control are lacking, and this study was conducted to determine if cyprodinil (Vangard) could be used for this purpose. The mean EC[sub 50] value of cyprodinil for 32 Botrytis spp. isolates (27 from apple) was 0.02 µg ml[sup -1], indicating that apple isolates are generally very sensitive. Some of the isolates (19%) were less sensitive and had EC[sub 50] values greater than 0.03 µg ml[sup -1], and one isolate from 'Gala' apple was considerably less sensitive at 0.095 µg ml[sup -1]. Bloom sprays of cyprodinil alone in 1998 and 1999 or in combination with myclobutanil or metiram in 1998 reduced Botrytis spp. infection on developing fruit. Postharvest application of cyprodinil in 1998 indicated that cyprodinil protected apples from gray mold for 3 months. Cyprodinil applied 2 to 3 weeks before harvest in 1999 reduced lesion diameters 68 and 62% on 'Jonagold' and 'Gala' apples, respectively, that had been wounded and inoculated with B. cinerea after storage at 1°C for 6 months. In similar trials on 'Gala' apples in 2000 and 2001, preharvest applications of cyprodinil consistently reduced gray mold incidence and lesion diameter on inoculated apples stored for 6 months. New preharvest use patterns for cyprodinil are discussed for control of postharvest diseases caused by B. cinerea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short DNA gene sequences (oligonucleotides) from the ribosomal spacer regions of bacterial and fungal pathogens were used to identify and monitor economically important apple diseases. The oligonucleotides or probes were attached to a nylon membrane by an amine modified linker arm and arranged in a precise pattern to form an array for detecting five pathogens corresponding to five apple diseases. Initially the specificity of the probes was determined by hybridizing pure cultures of the pathogens to the probes. The DNA array correctly identified Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium expansum, Podosphaera leucotricha, Venturia inaequalis, and Erwinia amylovora and eliminated closely related species. When the array was used to monitor V. inaequalis ascospores collected from spore traps located in orchards, it confirmed the presence of ascospores as predicted by the disease forecasting model. Preliminary tests to quantify P. leucotricha populations using grayscale values was effective to 20 conidia per leaf disk. The DNA array is a promising new detection system for accurate identification of several pathogens in a single test with the potential for being a new tool for epidemiological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), is an angiogenic growth factor, expressed more highly in malignant than benign ovarian tumours. Neuropilin-1, which can act as a VEGF receptor has been shown to be associated with tumour angiogenesis in some cancer systems. Somatostatin (SST), a potentially anti-angiogenic factor, acts via somatostatin receptors that are expressed in ovarian cancer. We used immunohistochemistry to demonstrate expression of Neuropilin-1 in 63 malignant and 35 benign ovarian tumours and compared it to VEGF, Flt, Flk, SST expression and tumour microvessel density (MVD). Neuropilin-1 was expressed in 34/63 malignant and 22/35 benign lesions. VEGF, Flt, Flk and SST were expressed more highly in the epithelium of malignant and the vessels of benign lesions. VEGF expression correlated with SST expression in the epithelium (p<0.001) and the vessels (p<0.001), this co-expression was confirmed by dual immunostaining. The MVD for malignant lesions was higher than benign (p<0.001) and positively correlated to epithelial VEGF expression (p=0.001) and negatively correlated to vascular VEGF expression (p=0.025). These results show that Neuropilin-1 is expressed in ovarian tumours and also show that VEGF and SST are co-expressed in the same tissue compartments raising the intriguing possibility that SST may be important in angiogenesis in ovarian cancer.