This thesis examined the hypotheses that the mucus lining of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of Australian marsupials is colonised with large populations of spiral and fusiform shaped bacteria, many of which belong to the genus Helicobacter and that these Helicobacter species are likely be unique. The presence of spiral and fusiform shaped bacteria in the GIT of 8 Australian marsupial species (32 animals in total) was examined using microscopy, culture and Helicobacter genus specific PCR. The marsupials studied included the brushtail possum, ringtail possum, koala, wombat, Eastern grey kangaroo, Tasmanian devil, Eastern quoll and long nosed bandicoot. The spiral and fusiform shaped isolates were characterised and identified using morphological appearance, Helicobacter genus specific PCR and 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons. The spatial distribution of Helicobacter species in the GIT sections was examined microscopically in silver stained sections of the GIT and using Fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) with a Helicobacter genus specific probe. Spiral and/or fusiform shaped bacteria were detected and/or isolated from all marsupials studied. The prevalence and bacterial load of these organisms was found to differ in each marsupial species. These bacteria were found to belong to 3 different genera (Helicobacter, Campylobacter and Desulfovibrio). Each marsupial species appeared to be colonised with one or more unique Helicobacter species. Comparison of the detection of Helicobacter species in different groups of marsupials (herbivores, omnivores and carnivores) suggests that diet as well as the function and structure of the GIT may have a significant impact on their colonisation. Phylogenetic analysis of the new possum Helicobacters showed that they shared a common ancestor. Comparison of Helicobacter species isolated from different species of marsupial and placental mammals, as well as birds, showed that differences in environmental location i.e. gastric vs lower bowel had a major impact on the position of the Helicobacters on the phylogenetic tree.

Abstract not available

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Large artery stiffness is predictive of adverse cardiovascular events and all cause mortality. Artery structure and function are determinants of artery stiffness. This thesis presents a series of in-vivo experimental studies of effect of structural and functional changes on large artery stiffness. Improved analysis methods were developed for measurement of arterial stiffness indexes, Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) and pressure wave re ection. These were applied in studies of acute in ammation, active and passive changes in systemic pressures, aortic elastic laminae defects, and aortic calcification in rats using a novel, high fidelity, dual pressure sensing technique of measuring aortic rat PWV. Findings indicated that acute in ammation does not increase large artery stiffness, and that localised effects altering arterial structure do not manifest in in-vivo changes in large artery stiffness. The functional component of stiffness was investigated using graded systemic infusion of vasoconstrictor agents (angiotensin-II, noradrenaline, and Endothelin-1 (ET-1)) in the in-vivo ovine iliac artery. There was a markedly greater dose dependency of pressure independent change in PWV (angiotensin-II) compared to direct endothelial effects (ET-1), although blocking of ET-1 receptors produced marked changes in iliac blood ow. A similar experiment in the human iliac artery found that the B-antagonist and nitric oxide (NO) donor, x Structural and functional effects on large artery stiffness nebivolol, potentially causes a decrease in regional functional stiffness. An additional study in human subjects directly measured the decrease in forearm arterial stiffness during reactive hyperaemia following different periods of ischaemia. The findings precluded the use of this method in measuring brachial artery structural stiffness with maximal smooth muscle relaxation. Increasing periods of ischaemia had a bi-phasic relationship with changes in arterial stiffness, the first phase linked to endogenous nitric oxide release. This finding is of importance in the clinical quantification of endothelial dysfunction. These findings in basic research of arterial haemodynamics provide new quantitative contributions to the in-vivo experimental investigation of the aetiology of large artery stiffness related to structure and function of endothelial and medial wall properties. This can lead to potential clinical applications and techniques for assessment of cardiovascular risk.

Abstract inserted as part of Final MPH Thesis: Non-Communicable Diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and others, have become the major cause of premature death, morbidity and disability in many Pacific countries including Samoa. These are linked by common preventable risk factors like obesity, hypertension, smoking, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. OBJECTIVES: To determine the trends and development of Non-Communicable diseases and its risk factors in Samoa over the last 24 years using the recently developed diagnostic criteria. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This research thesis combines 3 large surveys that were done in 1978, 1991, and 2002, looking at the trends in the prevalence of diabetes, and the prevalence of the NCD risk factors such as blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol and smoking. The 3 survey samples were selected randomly from around similar regions (Urban Upolu, Rural Upolu, and Rural Savaii) of Samoa in 1978, 1991 and 2002, with a total of 5973 individuals (1978 survey = 1467; 1991 survey = 1778; 2002 survey = 2728) available for the thesis analysis. The 1978 and 1991 data sets were secured from Professor P Zimmet, and the 2002 STEPs survey data set was secured from the Samoa Ministry of Health. The 3 surveys methodologies, survey procedures, questionnaires and anthropometric measurements were similar though the diagnostic criteria used to measure obesity slightly differ between the surveys. The blood pressure measurements were similar though the diastolic blood pressure measure in 1978 was higher. The 1978 and 1991 surveys used fasting venous blood sampling to measure fasting plasma glucose, and cholesterol levels at the laboratory. OGTT was also used in 1978 and 1991, but not 2002. The 2002 survey used capillary sampling to measure fasting glucose using a glucometer, and cholesterol level using a cholesterol meter. The combined data was then cleaned, standardized and matched with each survey, to make analysis easier. The recent diagnostic criteria were then applied to all the surveys to diagnose diabetes (1999 WHO Diabetes Criteria), hypertension (WHO 1999, JNC-VII 2003, NHF 1999 Hypertension Criteria), obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m??), and hypercholesterolaemia. The prevalences using the recent diagnostic criteria were then mapped out. RESULTS: The overall age-standardized prevalence of type 2 diabetes (known or previously unknown) utilizing the current 1999 WHO diagnostic criteria for men and women ≥20 years of age has increased from 5.4% (males 4.8%, females 5.9%) in 1978, to 12.0% (males 10.9%, females 13.5%) in 1991, and to 20.1% (males 17.2%, females 22.2%) in 2002. Among the individuals with diabetes in the 3 surveys, more than 60% had previously undiagnosed diabetes. Compared with the 1978 survey, the diabetes prevalence in 2002 represents a 4-fold increase over the 24 year period. This has occurred along with increasing obesity, urbanization and modernization, aging, cultural changes, and changes in physical activity. There is a high prevalence of non-communicable disease risk factors. The age-standardized prevalence of hypertension defined by the WHO 1999 and JNC-VII 2003 criteria was 47.2% in 1978, 22.5% in 1991, and 24.0% in 2002. The high prevalence of hypertension in 1978 was due to the method used for recording diastolic blood pressure. Hypertension was more common in the urban regions than rural regions in 1978 and 1991 while in 2002, there was no statistical difference between the rates of hypertension between the different regions due to the rise in the prevalence rate of hypertension in rural regions. There is a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in Samoa. Using the WHO classification for BMI, there was an increase in obesity (BMI ≥ 30kg/m??) prevalence in Samoa in the last decade, increasing steeply from 34.9% in 1978 to 51.3% in 1991, and slowing down to an increase to 57.4% in 2002. The prevalence of obesity is significantly higher in females compared with their male counterparts. The overweight prevalence (BMI 25-29.9kg/m??) was 34% in 1978, 31% in 1991 and 29% in 2002. The prevalence of obesity has increased by 65% from 1978 to 2002 with an increase of 47% from 1978 to 1991, and 12% from 1991 to 2002. Prevalence of obesity is increasing with age and is more of a problem in women than men. It is higher in the urban regions but there has been a faster rise in obesity prevalence in rural regions from 1978 to 2002 as the rural regions become urbanized. The prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia (total cholesterol ≥ 5.2 mmol/l) was 30.5% in 1978, and this increased to 51.1% in 1991. There was a marked decline of hypercholesterolaemia in 2002 (14.4%), which may be due to differences in the method of measurement. Although smoking prevalence remains high in Samoa it declined significantly from 42.4% 1978 to 35.3% 1991 but remained essentially steady at 38% in 2002. There was a significant gender difference in smoking with about 60% of men and 20% of women smoking regularly. CONCLUSION: Samoa is experiencing an increasing problem with Non-Communicable diseases like diabetes and some of its risk factors. Diabetes prevalence has dramatically increased by 4-fold in the last 24 years. The prevalence of hypertension has stabilized around 23% though there was a decrease from 1978. The prevalence of obesity has also increased. Smoking prevalence has slightly increased from 1991 to 2002 with a significant number of the population smoking. Hypercholesterolaemia is more common in 1991 with an apparent decrease in 2002. These findings have important implications for public health efforts and policy developments to contain the epidemic of Non-Communicable diseases in Samoa.

Bibliography: leaves 217-244. Tachykinins are implicated in the mediation of airway inflammatory responses and may have roles in airway remodeling and healing. The actions of tachykinins are mediated by specific receptors, designated NK1, NK2 and NK3. Tachykinin degredation, an important mechanism for limiting the effects of these peptides, is principally mediated by neutral endopeptidase (NEP). This thesis investigates the role of tachykinins, in vivo, in an ovine model and in human airway epithelium. Results show that the nett effect of tachykinins in the airway will depend on the relative balance between the expression of receptors, tachykinins and NEP. Assessment of these molecules in the airway epithelium from subjects with normal lungs or chronic bronchitis showed that preprotachykinin-A gene expression was relatively higher in the disease group whereas NEP and NK1 receptor levels were unchanged. These studies provide new insights into the role of tachykinins in airways disease.

Grossarth-Maticek and colleagues presented longitudinal evidence for personality Type being related to disease. Type 1s (cancer prone) and Type 2s (CHD prone) were proposed to be dependent on others, in contrast to the autonomous Type 4s, who had a lower mortality rate at follow-up. Stress was the mechanism proposed to account for the effects of personality on disease, yet this claim has not been systematically investigated. Four studies compared responses of Type 1, 2 and 4 individuals to stress and non-stress tasks. Types 1 and 2 showed increased salivary cortisol responses to an uncontrollable maths stress task (relative to control) compared to Type 4s, and scored higher on perceived stress, state-anxiety, and measures of negative mood, consistent with the implications of the Grossarth-Maticek hypothesis. No significant differences were evident between the Types in response to progressive muscle relaxation, suggesting stress is necessary for Type differences to emerge. Further, Types 1 and 2 responded differently to different stressors (maths vs. exam), arguing against criticisms that Types 1 and 2 are indistinguishable. The relation between Grossarth-Maticek Type subscales was further clarified through their correlations with each other (controlling for mood, stress and social desirability), and with the Lifestyle Defense Mechanisms (LDM) inventory, a psychometric refinement of the Grossarth-Maticek scales. A prospective study examining mortality rates in a sample exposed to environmental noise stressors revealed no prediction of death or cause of death by Grossarth-Maticek Type. This may have been due to the relative youth of the sample, short (7 year) follow-up period, and consequently low death rate. The current research is the first to show different responses to different stressors between Types 1 and 2, and revealed converging evidence for the claim that stress is the mechanism for Type effects on disease. Additionally, theoretical issues in conceptions of stress, and models of the relation between the Types, stress and disease were considered. This project suggests that after a history of criticisms, the Grossarth-Maticek typology should be re-considered for its public health implications, and along with the LDM inventory, should be considered for further investigation of the relation between personality variables and disease.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / From Federation in 1901 through the first three decades of the twentieth century there was a perceptible shift in modes of rule in New South Wales (NSW) related to the management of venereal diseases. At the beginning of the twentieth century a medicopenal approach was central. By 1925, persuasion and ‘responsibilisation’ were becoming important modes, and young people rather than ‘case-hardened prostitutes' were assessed as being a ‘venereal’ risk. Framing this period were three important legislative developments which informed, and were informed by, these shifts: the NSW Prisoners Detention Act 1909, the NSW Select Committee into the Prevalence of Venereal Diseases 1915 and the NSW Venereal Diseases Act 1918. At its core this thesis is concerned with examining shifting modes of rule. This thesis closely examines each. I suggest that these modes of rule can be viewed through the lens of biopolitics, and following Foucault, deploy the ‘medical gaze’ and the ‘watchful eye’ as constructs to examine the relationship between the government of self, government of others and government of the state. I use the medical gaze to describe not only the individual venereal patient attending a hospital and the body of the patient diagnosed with syphilis and/or gonorrhoea, but most importantly to describe the power relationship between the medical practitioner, the teaching hospital and the patient. I use the watchful eye in a more overarching way to suggest the suite of techniques and apparatus deployed by government to monitor and regulate the venereal body politic, both the populations perceived to be posing a venereal risk, and populations at risk of venereal infection. In relation to the venereal body and the venereal body politic, I analyse three fundamental aspects of the management of venereal diseases: treatment, prevention and epidemiology. Treatment: Over this period, treatment moved from lock institutions to outpatient clinics. Embodied in this change was a widespread institutional ambivalence towards treating venereal patients. I contend that treatment of venereal diseases was painful, prolonged and punitive precisely because of the moral sickness perceived to be at the iv heart of venereal infection. I track this ambivalence to a systemic fear of institutional ‘venerealisation’, which decreased perceptibly across the period. Closely analysing surviving patient records, I argue that in their conduct, venereal patients were often compliant, conscientious and responsible. Prevention: I argue that preventative approaches to venereal diseases became increasingly complex, and operated in three domains – preventative medicine (diagnosis, treatment and vaccination); public health prevention (notification, isolation and disinfection); and prevention education (social purity campaigns and sex hygiene). An emerging plethora of community-based organisations and campaigns began to shift the sites and practices of power. Epidemiology: I suggest that there was a shift from danger to risk in the conceptualisation of venereal diseases. This shift necessitated a focus on factors affecting populations, as opposed to factors affecting individuals. This in turn led to the deployment of various techniques to monitor the conduct of venereal populations. The NSW Venereal Diseases Act 1918 created two important new venereal categories: the ‘notified person’ and the ‘defaulter,’ both of which came to permeate renditions of venereal patients throughout the 20th century.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The goal of this research was to test commercially viable alternative methods to fungicides for controlling storage diseases of melons that are safe for human health and the environment. Initially, experiments were conducted on melons to develop a protocol for optimum conditions of disease development during storage for different pathogens and for different stages of fruit maturity. For all pathogens tested, the study found that humidity greater than 90% and temperatures above 20° C support infection and rapid growth of disease. Differences in the rate of infection and extent of disease development after the inoculation of different storage pathogens was observed between rockmelon and honeydew melons, indicating differences in host pathogen interactions. Among the tested pathogens, Alternaria spp. was the least aggressive in infection and disease severity, growing considerably slower than Fusarium acuminatum which was moderately aggressive and Rhizopus spp. which was very aggressive, in comparison. Green half-slip melons showed greater resistance to pathogen attack than green full-slip fruit, while yellow full-slip melons were highly susceptible to pathogen attack. Therefore, the laboratory experiments for postharvest treatments of rockmelons were performed using green full-slip fruit challenged with F. acuminatum. Evaluation of physical and safe chemical methods of postharvest treatment to control postharvest diseases of melons showed that none of the treatments alone was as effective as the commercially available fungicide. Hot water solutions of safe compounds considerably increase their efficacy against postharvest rots, however, symptoms of phytotoxicity on the rind after dipping made their use unacceptable. Iodine was the only safe chemical tested which did not cause any phytotoxicity on melons. When combined with hot water, iodine showed the best control of storage rots and was as good as the fungicides carbendazim or guazatine. Hot water iodine dipping of fruit also delayed ripening and fruit were firmer during storage for a longer period of time. Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) was evaluated as a method of controlling powdery mildew in glasshouse grown rockmelon seedlings by treating with the activators 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid (INA) or benzothiadiazole (BTH) or water. Increased resistance due to application of INA or BTH, was observed by the reduction of powdery mildew on pre-inoculated detached leaves and also on intact leaves from natural infections. Heightened resistance due to spraying with elicitors of SAR, was further evident by the increased activities of the pathogenesis related proteins (PR proteins), peroxidase and accumulation of phenolics or antifungal compounds during and after challenge inoculation. Field grown rockmelons were treated with INA or BTH or BABA (β-aminobutyric acid) or water at various stages of plant growth and evaluated for increased resistance against pre and postharvest diseases. Both powdery mildew and downy mildew were significantly less on the SAR elicitor treated plants. Preharvest treatment with SAR elicitors also reduced storage diseases of the harvested rockmelon fruit. The reduction in postharvest disease was similar whether plants were treated once, three weeks before harvest, or given four sprays during the growing season beginning at anthesis. A further postharvest dip with 500 ppm of guazatine gave substantial reduction of storage rots of melons. Enhanced activities of chitinase and peroxidase, two major PR-proteins, compared to the control, indicated induction of defence had occurred in the foliage and fruit as a result of SAR. Over the course of four field and one glasshouse experiments slight phytotoxicity was observed in plants frequently sprayed with INA or BTH, but no phytotoxicity was seen after a single spray during the late stages of fruit development. The combination of SAR elicitor treatment and use of a safe postharvest dip provided substantial control of storage rots of rockmelons. The best treatment for control of storage rots involved application of BTH (50 ppm) two weeks before harvest, combined with a hot iodine dip (55° C) of fruit, achieving equivalent or better disease control than use of guazatine fungicide dip.

The maxilla and mandible may be affected by a wide variety of lesions of developmental, neoplastic or inflammatory origin. These lesions have a vast array of clinical and radiographic presentations from which a dentist forms a clinical provisional diagnosis and treats the lesions accordingly. The aim of this study was to determine the range, demographic and clinical features of all histologically diagnosed radiolucent jaw lesions in a New Zealand population over a twenty-year period. Additionally, the provisional diagnosis was compared to the histopathological diagnosis in an effort to gain an insight into the difficulties practitioners face in clinically diagnosing radiolucent jaw lesions. Material and Methods: From the histopathology diagnostic service at the University of Otago School of Dentistry all specimens with a diagnosis of a radiolucent jaw lesion between 1986 and 2006 were retrieved and classified into six diagnostic categories. For each lesion the age, gender, site, clinical presentation, clinicians provisional diagnosis and the final histological diagnosis was gathered and analysed. Results: During the study period 4983 specimens were identified as radiolucent jaw lesions. The diagnostic category with the largest number of specimens was inflammatory lesions (72.8%), followed by developmental odontogenic cysts (21.8%). Malignant tumours accounted for less than 1% of all specimens. Concordance of provisional and histopathological diagnoses ranged from 81.0% for nasopalatine duct cyst to 0% for the majority of intra-osseous malignant tumours. Conclusions: The range and demographic features of radiolucent jaw lesions in this study are comparable to that of other populations with a European majority. No radiolucent jaw lesion can be reliably accurately diagnosed from clinical presentation and radiographic appearance alone.