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The prevalence of the discourse of "successful girls" (and failing boys) in Australia and internationally has been widely documented. Against the much-vaunted lifting of barriers to opportunity for girls and women, it might reasonably be expected that their educational experiences and career paths are expressive of wider opportunities, greater confidence and autonomy. This article draws on qualitative research with young women in regional Australia to argue that supposedly outmoded but evidently durable patterns of educational and occupational experience remain and are accompanied by new burdens and anxieties. Importantly, young women are now obliged to account for these unfashionable arrangements, using the ubiquitous belief in choice and the possibility of self-actualisation to demonstrate the volition and agency deemed appropriate to a post-feminist ethos. Thus, techniques of reflective selfhood and neoliberal accountability are mobilised to justify social reproduction, while at the same time showcasing invigorated notions of meritocracy and social mobility. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

As the wild blue yonder beckons and labs and classrooms empty, Nature's regular reviewers share their holiday reads. The Extreme Life of the Sea STEPHEN R. PALUMBI AND ANTHONY R. [...]

Charles Percy Snow ignited controversy around science and policy-making in a series of lectures at Harvard University a year after his 'Two Cultures' debate. Below we reproduce an extract from [...]

Cosmologists couldn't have wished for a better anniversary present. Almost 50 years to the day after the first detection of the Big Bang's afterglow--a faint glimmer of long-wavelength photons known [...]

Joanne Baker lauds a paean to the experimentalists of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Jo Baker lauds a paean to the experimentalists of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop., Author(s): Joanne Baker Author Affiliations: The Doctor Who theme and beyond: female pioneers of electronic music Daphne Oram in her home studio in 1962. [see PDF for image] Credit: Daily [...]

In a darkened room in Pavia, Italy, a jumble of stubby arrows spreads out across a large screen like a swarm of ants on the march. To Ross Stein, the [...]

Abstract Background Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are now widely used for prompt on-site diagnosis in remote endemic areas where reliable microscopy is absent. Aberrant results, whereby negative test results occur at high parasite densities, have been variously reported for over a decade and have led to questions regarding the reliability of the tests in clinical use. Methods In the first trial, serial dilutions of recombinant HRP2 antigen were tested on an HRP2-detectiing RDT. In a second trial, serial dilutions of culture-derived Plasmodium falciparum parasites were tested against three HRP2-detecting RDTs. Results A prozone-like effect occurred in RDTs at a high concentration of the target antigen, histidine-rich protein-2 (above 15,000 ng/ml), a level that corresponds to more than 312000 parasites per μL. Similar results were noted on three RDT products using dilutions of cultured parasites up to a parasite density of 25%. While reduced line intensity was observed, no false negative results occurred. Conclusions These results suggest that false-negative malaria RDT results will rarely occur due to a prozone-like effect in high-density infections, and other causes are more likely. However, RDT line intensity is poorly indicative of parasite density in high-density infections and RDTs should, therefore, not be considered quantitative. Immediate management of suspected severe malaria should rely on clinical assessment or microscopy. Evaluation against high concentrations of antigen should be considered in malaria RDT product development and lot-release testing, to ensure that very weak or false negative results will not occur at antigen concentrations that might be seen clinically.

Abstract Background Accurate diagnosis is essential for prompt and appropriate treatment of malaria. While rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) offer great potential to improve malaria diagnosis, the sensitivity of RDTs has been reported to be highly variable. One possible factor contributing to variable test performance is the diversity of parasite antigens. This is of particular concern for Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (PfHRP2)-detecting RDTs since PfHRP2 has been reported to be highly variable in isolates of the Asia-Pacific region. Methods The pfhrp2 exon 2 fragment from 458 isolates of P. falciparum collected from 38 countries was amplified and sequenced. For a subset of 80 isolates, the exon 2 fragment of histidine-rich protein 3 (pfhrp3) was also amplified and sequenced. DNA sequence and statistical analysis of the variation observed in these genes was conducted. The potential impact of the pfhrp2 variation on RDT detection rates was examined by analysing the relationship between sequence characteristics of this gene and the results of the WHO product testing of malaria RDTs: Round 1 (2008), for 34 PfHRP2-detecting RDTs. Results Sequence analysis revealed extensive variations in the number and arrangement of various repeats encoded by the genes in parasite populations world-wide. However, no statistically robust correlation between gene structure and RDT detection rate for P. falciparum parasites at 200 parasites per microlitre was identified. Conclusions The results suggest that despite extreme sequence variation, diversity of PfHRP2 does not appear to be a major cause of RDT sensitivity variation.

Two studies involving a total of six 5 and 6-year olds demonstrated that it is possible to increase specified components of children's creative behaviors using a verbal self-instructional procedure. A social validation procedure indicated that drawings high in representational diversity were ranked as significantly more creative than baseline drawings, although this effect was not repeated for the stories. (CL)

Author(s): Joanne Baker [1] A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse Theresa Levitt W. W. Norton: 2013 [illus. 1] At a remote lighthouse on [...]

Elucidation of the structural basis of endothelial barrier function and the study of transcapillary fluid exchange dynamics are areas of active research. There has been significant enhancement in our understanding of the ultrastructural basis of endothelial barrier function. The role of glycocalyx has received special attention. Experimental evidence has called for a revision in the classic Starling principle of transcapillary exchange. The glycocalyx model provides a potential structural mechanism for the revised Starling principle. This knowledge can provide the framework for understanding the volume expansion effect of fluid therapy and the physiological basis of fluid therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe/Dispatches from the Frontiers of Cosmology by Anil Ananthaswamy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Gerald Duckworth: 2010. 336 [...]

Charles Darwin's ideas speak to the essence of what it is to be human. Different cultures have absorbed and expressed this in different ways. His impact on science and culture [...]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8500.2007.00533_6.x Byline: Joanne Baker (1) Author Affiliation: (1)James Cook University