Search

Access controls are a key area for any security program. However, the recommended access controls cannot always be implemented across the entire organisations. This is the case within critical infrastructure organisations that have both Information Technology and Operational Technology assets where many of the controls cannot be implemented on Operational Technology. Also, safety is a key concern for critical infrastructure organisations which is not always the case with many standard commercial organisations. This means the access controls while maintaining security must not impact safety which can occur if considerations are not given to Operational Technology and safety objectives. This paper will provide ways to manage the conflicts and issues that can occur and provide a process to allow critical infrastructure organisations to implement the required controls without impacting safety and security.

Internal auditing is important for ensuring compliance to multiple safety and security standards. The problem is that although safety and security have similarities when it comes to auditing, they also have differences that makes auditing both areas under the same process difficult. This paper has shown how to overcome those differences and leverage the similarities to create one auditing process for both safety and security. The paper has harmonized the different terminology between safety and security and showed how the new auditing process can allow compliance to IEC 61508, ISO 27001 and IEC 62443.

Objective: The aim of this study is to characterize the impact of additional electrical stimulation (AES) and various pre-rigor holding temperatures (for 3 h) on the ageing-potential of hot boned bovine M. longissimus lumborum (LL).Methods: Paired LL loins from 12 bulls were hot-boned within 40 min of slaughter, immediate AES applied and subjected to various holding temperatures (5°C, 15°C, 25°C, and 35°C) for 3 h.Results: AES did not accelerate the rate of rigor attainment, but the 3 h pre-rigor holding temperature did. Shear force values decreased as the pre-rigor holding temperatures increased. AES and holding for 3 h (at 25°C) resulted in higher water-holding capacity.Conclusion: Data confirmed that AES did not influence the various meat quality parameters in the present study, but pre-rigor holding temperature (25°C) alone or in combination with AES resulted in superior meat quality.

Understanding reasons for choosing not to inject drugs, among those who have never injected before, may be helpful for reducing transitions to injecting drug use. This study examines opportunities to inject and reasons for never injecting in young adults who used stimulants.Data are from a population-based study of young adults who used ecstasy and methamphetamine (n = 313), recruited in Queensland, Australia in 2008/2009. At the follow-up, participants who had never injected (n = 293) completed a 13-item instrument on reasons for never injecting. We conducted a principal components analysis to identify types of reasons (scored 0-100) and multivariate regression to predict endorsement of these reasons.Approximately one-in-five of all participants ever had an opportunity to inject and there was no gender difference in the propensity to accept an opportunity. Four types of reasons, labelled risk perception, subjective effects, social environment and aversion, were identified. Male gender was associated with lower endorsement of risk perception (β = -7.94; 95% confidence interval [CI] -13.37, -2.51) and social environment (β = -7.35; 95% CI -13.15, -1.54). Having friends who injected was associated with lower endorsement of the social environment (β = -8.88; 95% CI -14.83, -2.94), and higher endorsement of aversion (β = 7.67; 95% CI 1.44, 13.89).Our findings suggest that injecting drug use opportunities are common among young adults engaged in recreational drug use, with males and females equally likely to accept an opportunity. A strong aversion to injecting and a hedonic preference for non-injecting drug use may reduce the likelihood of accepting these opportunities.

For swine breeding programs, testing and selection programs are usually within purebred (PB) populations located in nucleus units that are generally managed differently and tend to have a higher health level than the commercial herds in which the crossbred (CB) descendants of these nucleus animals are expected to perform. This approach assumes that PB animals selected in the nucleus herd will have CB progeny that have superior performance at the commercial level. There is clear evidence that this may not be the case for all traits of economic importance and, thus, including data collected at the commercial herd level may increase the accuracy of selection for commercial CB performance at the nucleus level. The goal for this study was to estimate genetic parameters for five maternal reproductive traits between two PB maternal nucleus populations (Landrace and Yorkshire) and their CB offspring: Total Number Born (TNB), Number Born Alive (NBA), Number Born Alive > 1 kg (NBA > 1 kg), Total Number Weaned (TNW), and Litter Weight at Weaning (LWW). Estimates were based on single-step GBLUP by analyzing any two combinations of a PB and the CB population, and by analyzing all three populations jointly. The genomic relationship matrix between the three populations was generated by using within-population allele frequencies for relationships within a population, and across-population allele frequencies for relationships of the CB with the PB animals. Utilization of metafounders for the two PB populations had no effect on parameter estimates, so the two PB populations were assumed to be genetically unrelated. Joint analysis of two (one PB plus CB) vs. three (both PB and CB) populations did not impact estimates of heritability, additive genetic variance, and genetic correlations. Heritabilities were generally similar between the PB and CB populations, except for LWW and TNW, for which PB populations had about four times larger estimates than CB. Purebred-crossbred genetic correlations (rpc) were larger for Landrace than for Yorkshire, except for NBA > 1 kg. These estimates of rpc indicate that there is potential to improve selection of PB animals for CB performance by including CB information for all traits in the Yorkshire population, but that noticeable additional gains may only occur for NBA > 1 kg and TNW in the Landrace population.

Journal of Cybersecurity and Information Management (JCIM) Vol. 7, No. 1, PP. 22-50, 2021

The objective of this study was to create various pH/temp decline rates in hot-boned bull beef M. longissimus lumborum (LL) through a combination of electrical stimulation (ES) and pre-rigor holding temperature. The relationship between the pre-rigor interventions, the activities of µ-calpain and small heat shock proteins (sHSP), and the impacts on meat product quality were determined. Paired LL loins from 13 bulls were hot-boned within 40 min of slaughter, immediately ES and subjected to various holding temperatures (5, 15, 25, and 35°C) for 3 hr. The rate of muscle pH decline, sarcomere length, shear force, and proteolysis of muscle proteins were measured. ES-25°C had a longer sarcomere length compared to non-electrical stimulation samples. ES-25°C and ES-35°C samples had lower shear force values, higher µ-calpain activity and higher desmin, troponin-T, and sHSP degradation. The above findings suggest that pH/temp decline rates created in hot-boned muscle impacted muscle protein proteolysis by increasing the activity of proteases and degradation of sHSP.

Introduction and Aims: Needle‐syringe programs (NSP) are an underutilized source of data on drug injection trends; these data are essential for informing public health interventions. We examine trends in NSP service occasions from 2007–2015. Design and Methods: Using standardised data from 26 NSP outlets through the Queensland NSP Minimum Data Set (QNSPMDS), trends in service occasions among clients intending to inject methamphetamine, heroin, opioid substitution therapy (OST) medications and other pharmaceutical opioids were assessed using multilevel mixed‐effects negative binomial regression, adjusting for month, year, age and clustering by site. Results: Over 1.5 million service occasions were recorded in 2007-2015. Methamphetamine was the main ‘drug intended to inject’ (33.7%), however cf. 2007, the incidence rate ratio decreased to 0.64 (95% CI: 0.62, 0.66) in 2009, remaining low until 2015. Among clients reporting methamphetamine injection, there was a shift in the form from base to the higher‐potency crystal methamphetamine since 2012. Heroin injection (22.5% service occasions) initially increased (cf. 2007), followed by a decline to 0.77 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.79) in 2015. Significant and sustained increases in OST and other pharmaceutical opioids injection were observed throughout the study period, accounting for 7.2% and 19.8% of total visits, respectively. Discussion and Conclusions: The QNSPMDS provides unique, routinely collected, jurisdiction‐wide and standardised data on the demographics of people who inject drugs, types of drugs injected and regional variations; these data are essential in informing policy, planning and program implementation. There remains significant opportunity to enhance engagement and linkage to care alongside needle‐syringe provision.

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is one of the most severe complications and the leading cause of late mortality and morbidity after lung transplantation (LT) and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). No approved treatment for BOS is available. This review aimed to systematically identify and summarise the findings regarding the relationship between FEVA systematic literature search was performed in the Medline, Embase and Cochrane reviews databases. Of the 501 potential studies identified 25 met inclusion criteria and were analysed.Overall, 13 studies reported a relationship between FEVThe systematic literature review identified studies and findings that support a relationship between FEV

Growth, meat quality, and carcass traits are of economic importance in swine breeding. Understanding their genetic basis in purebred (PB) and commercial crossbred (CB) pigs is necessary for a successful breeding program because, although the breeding goal is to improve CB performance, phenotype collection and selection are usually carried out in PB populations housed in biosecure nucleus herds. Thus, the selection is indirect, and the accuracy of selection depends on the genetic correlation between PB and CB performance ([Formula: see text]). The objectives of this study were to 1) estimate genetic parameters for growth, meat quality, and carcass traits in a PB sire line and related commercial CB pigs and 2) estimate the corresponding genetic correlations between purebred and crossbred performance ([Formula: see text]). Both objectives were investigated by using pedigree information only (PBLUP) and by combining pedigree and genomic information in a single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) procedure. Growth rate showed moderate estimates of heritability for both PB and CB based on PBLUP, while estimates were higher in CB based on ssGBLUP. Heritability estimates for meat quality traits were diverse and slightly different based on PB and CB data with both methods. Carcass traits had higher heritability estimates based on PB compared with CB data based on PBLUP and slightly higher estimates for CB data based on ssGBLUP. A wide range of estimates of genetic correlations were obtained among traits within the PB and CB data. In the PB population, estimates of heritabilities and genetic correlations were similar based on PBLUP and ssGBLUP for all traits, while based on the CB data, ssGBLUP resulted in different estimates of genetic parameters with lower SEs. With some exceptions, estimates of [Formula: see text] were moderate to high. The SE on the [Formula: see text] estimates was generally large when based on PBLUP due to limited sample size, especially for CBs. In contrast, estimates of [Formula: see text] based on ssGBLUP were not only more precise but also more consistent among pairs of traits, considering their genetic correlations within the PB and CB data. The wide range of estimates of [Formula: see text] (less than 0.70 for 7 out of 13 traits) indicates that the use of CB phenotypes recorded on commercial farms, along with genomic information, for selection in the PB population has potential to increase the genetic progress of CB performance.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: An understanding of the relationship between hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection and contextual factors such as imprisonment may contribute to the development of targeted treatment and prevention programs. We examine the associations of imprisonment and drug dependence with lifetime exposure to HCV, and whether these associations differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people who inject drugs. DESIGN AND METHODS: Respondent-driven sampling was used in major cities and 'peer recruitment' in regional towns of Queensland to obtain a community sample of people who injected drugs, which comprised 243 Indigenous and 227 non-Indigenous participants who had ever been tested for HCV. Data are cross-sectional. Two binary Poisson models were developed to examine associations for variables relating to imprisonment, Indigeneity and drug use history. RESULTS: Sharing needles and syringes in prison (adjusted risk ratio 1.25, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.53) remained significantly associated with HCV infection after adjustment for Indigeneity, injecting drug use history and drug dependence. Opioid dependence and concurrent dependence on opioids and methamphetamine was also independently associated with HCV infection. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Sharing needles and syringes in prison is linked with HCV infection, for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people who inject drugs. Further development of treatment and prevention programs in prisons is required, with consideration of the role of opioid and methamphetamine dependence in HCV exposure.

Background While young adults who engage in recreational drug use are at increased risk of contact with police, their experiences of police contact have been largely overlooked. Method In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 70 young adult amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS; i.e., ecstasy [MDMA] and methamphetamine) users who had experienced intensive alcohol and other drug-related police contact (e.g., being arrested, charged, or raided by police). These interviews focused on perceptions of personal experiences of alcohol and other drug-related police contact and general perceptions of police and policing and were conducted as part of a larger longitudinal study of drug use among a population-based sample of young adults from South-East Queensland, Australia. Results ATS users' perceptions of their personal interactions with police and general perceptions of police and policing were influenced by a number of factors, including police behaviour, prior contact with police, friends and family members' contact with police, and perceptions of their own behaviour leading to their contact with police. While a majority of ATS users reported that their contact with police had either a neutral or negative impact on their general perceptions of police and policing, some ATS users reported that police contact had a positive impact. For 70% of ATS users, police contact was reported to have had an impact on their substance use behaviours, resulting in either modification of their substance use behaviours to avoid further police contact or reduction in their substance use. Conclusions These findings suggest that police contact among young adult ATS users can impact on both perceptions of police and policing and substance use behaviours, emphasising the importance of the quality and nature of police contact and its potential role in harm reduction.

Background Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is one of the most severe complications and the leading cause of late mortality and morbidity after lung transplantation (LT) and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). No approved treatment for BOS is available. This review aimed to systematically identify and summarise the findings regarding the relationship between FEV1 decline and mortality in patients who developed BOS following LT or allo-HSCT. Methods A systematic literature search was performed in the Medline, Embase and Cochrane reviews databases. Of the 501 potential studies identified 25 met inclusion criteria and were analysed. Results Overall, 13 studies reported a relationship between FEV1 and mortality, and 12 studies reported both mortality and FEV1 results but did not investigate the relationship between them. There was heterogeneity in the analyses, which investigated the relationship between FEV1 decline and mortality across the studies in terms of levels of lung functioning, comparison to a control group, treatment, and statistical methodology; nevertheless, a clear and consistent increase in the risk of death associated with FEV1 decrease was seen in the analysed studies. Conclusions The systematic literature review identified studies and findings that support a relationship between FEV1 and mortality, with a decrease in FEV1 being statistically associated with increased risk of death. Knowing that lower FEV1 levels are associated with higher mortality rates may help assess the condition of a patient with BOS and monitor future treatment effectiveness. However, more evidence is needed to further investigate this relationship and to verify its clinical usefulness.

Introduction The narrative surrounding new and investigational cancer drugs is frequently optimistic. Recently, the term "unprecedented" has been used to describe some such agents. Unlike other superlatives, "unprecedented" has a specific meaning—no previous therapy has worked as well. We examined empirically how often cancer drugs were hailed as "unprecedented" when they had been preceded by a more advantageous agent. Methods We performed systematic searches of the lay press (Google News and Medscape) to identify the use of "unprecedented" referring to a specific cancer drug indications. For each term, we identified if the drug had received US Food and Drug Administration approval for that indication, and whether a randomized controlled trial had been conducted. If an RCT was found, we searched for a prior RCT in that setting with more advantageous hazard ratio. Results We found 96 instances of the term "unprecedented" referring to 48 specific cancer drug instances. Only 25/48 drugs (52%) hailed as offering an "unprecedented" benefit were FDA approved as of February 2017. 54% (26/48) had been tested in randomized trials, though in 6/26 (23%) of cases, we could find a prior therapy with superior hazard ratio. In 2/26 cases the drug failed late phase testing or other confirmatory test. Conclusion We found just 40% (19/48) of drugs hailed as "unprecedented" were tested in a randomized trial where no superior study could be found or which did not fail in phase 3, and nearly half had not earned FDA approval. The use of the word "unprecedented" in the lay press is often inaccurate and frequently overstates the importance of findings from the scientific literature.

Increased milk production due to high litter size, coupled with low feed intake, results in excessive mobilization of sow body reserves during lactation, which can have detrimental effects on future reproductive performance. A possibility to prevent this is to improve sow lactation performance genetically, along with other traits of interest. The aim of this study was to estimate breed-specific genetic parameters (by parity, between parities, and across parities) for traits associated with lactation and reproduction in Yorkshire and Landrace sows. Performance data were available for 2,107 sows with 1 to 3 parities (3,424 farrowings total). Sow back fat, loin depth and BW at farrowing, sow feed intake (SFI), and body weight loss (BWL) during lactation showed moderate heritabilities (0.21 to 0.37) in both breeds, whereas back fat loss (BFL), loin depth loss (LDL), and litter weight gain (LWG) showed low heritabilities (0.12 to 0.18). Among the efficiency traits, sow lactation efficiency showed extremely low heritability (near zero) in Yorkshire sows but a slightly higher (0.05) estimate in Landrace sows, whereas sow residual feed intake (SRFI) and energy balance traits showed moderate heritabilities in both breeds. Genetic correlations indicated that SFI during lactation had strong negative genetic correlations with body resource mobilization traits (BWL, BFL, and LDL; -0.35 to -0.70), and tissue mobilization traits in turn had strong positive genetic correlations with LWG (+0.24 to +0.54; < 0.05). However, SFI did not have a significant genetic correlation with LWG. These genetic correlations suggest that SFI during lactation is predominantly used for reducing sow body tissue losses, rather than for milk production. Estimates of genetic correlations for the same trait measured in parities 1 and 2 ranged from 0.64 to 0.98, which suggests that first and later parities should be treated as genetically different for some traits. Genetic correlations estimated between traits in parities 1 and 2 indicated that BWF and BWL measured in parity 1 can be used as indicator traits for SFI and SRFI measured in parities 1 and 2. In conclusion, traits associated with lactation in sows have a sizable genetic component and show potential for genetic improvement.

While procedural justice has been highlighted as a key strategy for promoting cooperation with police, little is known about this model’s applicability to subgroups engaged in illegal behaviour, such as illicit drug users. This study compares willingness to cooperate with police and belief in police legitimacy, procedural justice and law legitimacy among a population-based sample of Australian young adult amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS; i.e. ecstasy and methamphetamine) users and non-users. We then examine predictors of willingness to cooperate among ATS users. ATS users were significantly less willing to cooperate with police and had significantly lower perceptions of police legitimacy, procedural justice and law legitimacy, compared to non-users. However, belief in police legitimacy independently predicted willingness to cooperate among ATS users. We set out to discuss the implications of these findings for policing, including the role of procedural justice in helping police deliver harm reduction strategies.

Introduction and Aims: Despite over-representation of Indigenous Australians in sentinel studies of injecting drug use, little is known about relevant patterns of drug use and dependence. This study compares drug dependence and possible contributing factors in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians who inject drugs. Design and Methods: Respondent-driven sampling was used in major cities and ‘peer recruitment’ in regional towns of Queensland to obtain a community sample of Indigenous (n = 282) and non-Indigenous (n = 267) injectors. Data are cross sectional. Multinomial models were developed for each group to examine types of dependence on injected drugs (no dependence, methamphetamine-dependent only, opioid-dependent only, dependent on methamphetamine and opioids). Results: Around one-fifth of Indigenous and non-Indigenous injectors were dependent on both methamphetamine and opioids in the previous 12 months. Psychological distress was associated with dual dependence on these drugs for Indigenous [adjusted relative risk (ARR) 4.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.08–11.34] and non-Indigenous (ARR 4.14, 95% CI 1.59–10.78) participants. Unemployment (ARR 8.98, 95% CI 2.25–35.82) and repeated (> once) incarceration as an adult (ARR 3.78, 95% CI 1.43–9.97) were associated with dual dependence for Indigenous participants only. Indigenous participants had high rates of alcohol dependence, except for those dependent on opioids only. Discussion and Conclusions: The drug dependence patterns of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who inject drugs were similar, including the proportions dependent on both methamphetamine and opioids. However, for Indigenous injectors, there was a stronger association between drug dependence and contextual factors such as unemployment and incarceration. Expansion of treatment options and community-level programs may be required. [Smirnov A, Kemp R, Ward J, Henderson S, Williams S, Dev A, Najman J M. Patterns of drug dependence in a Queensland (Australia) sample of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who inject drugs. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:611-619].

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T01:24:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-08-01 Consumers’ willingness to pay a premium when purchasing pork chops is driven by eating satisfaction. Genetic parameters for sensory traits and their associations with pH and intramuscular fat were estimated in pork chops. A univariate animal model was used to estimate the heritability of the sensory traits in ASReml using pedigree information, while phenotypic and genetic correlations were estimated using a bivariate animal model. Low heritability (h2 < 0.2) was found for all measured sensory traits, and genetic correlations estimated between sensory traits and pH were smaller than that estimated between intramuscular fat and sensory traits. Positive genetic correlations of sensory measurements with pH and intramuscular fat were found, indicating that selection to increase intramuscular pH and fat can help to increase sensory scores. However, as the genetic correlations were low to moderate, increase in pork sensory scores through selection for loin pH and intramuscular fat content would be slow, and because of the small sample size, the results should be interpreted with caution. Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science University of Alberta Ethology and Animal Ecology Research Group Department of Animal Science São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Lacombe Research and Development Centre, 6000 C&E Trail Genesus Inc. Hypor Inc. Ethology and Animal Ecology Research Group Department of Animal Science São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of two different freezing rate then thaw-aging regimens on the quality attributes of lamb loins. The loins were randomly allocated to one of five different freezing/thawing/aging regimes: fast-(FF1A0) and slow-(SF1A0) frozen only; fast-(FF1A2) and slow-(SF1A2) frozen then thaw-aged for 14 days; aged for 14 days never frozen (A2). FF1A2 samples had a significantly higher water-holding capacity compared to the slow frozen regardless of further aging periods. FF1A2 samples had lower (p < 0.05) shear force values than A2 and higher (p < 0.05) water-holding capacity compared to the SF1A2. Fast freezing resulted in more intracellular cryo-damage, whereas slow freezing resulted in extracellular cryo-damage. FF1A0 and SF1A0 samples had lower (p < 0.05) myofibrillar proteins degradation. This study demonstrated that fast freezing then thaw-aging can result in an improved water-holding capacity and tenderness through the minimization of extracellular ice crystal formation, reduction in purge and drip losses, and improved proteolysis in thawed lamb.

Prior research indicates that patterns of combined alcohol and methamphetamine use may be associated with experiencing subjective feelings of aggression or hostility during methamphetamine use episodes.This study examines whether subjective effects of methamphetamine use (i.e., aggression or hostility and paranoia) are associated with aggressive behavior while under the influence of any illicit drugs, controlling for combined alcohol and methamphetamine use and a number of other potential predictors.Data from a population-based sample of Australian young adult methamphetamine users (n = 101) collected in 2010 was analyzed. A prediction model of aggressive behavior under the influence of illicit drugs was developed using penalized maximum likelihood logistic regression.Over one-third (34.7%) of methamphetamine users had engaged in verbal and/or physical aggression under the influence of illicit drugs in the last 12 months. In the prediction model, recurrent feelings of aggression or hostility attributed to methamphetamine use (≥3 times in the last 12 months) were associated with aggressive behavior (adjusted odds ratio 4.95, 95% confidence interval 1.67, 14.69). This association was independent of methamphetamine-attributed paranoia, combined alcohol and methamphetamine use, methamphetamine, ecstasy, cocaine, and cannabis use patterns, heavy episodic drinking, gender, and age. No association was found for combined alcohol and methamphetamine use.These findings indicate a link between methamphetamine-related subjective feelings of aggression or hostility and self-reported aggressive behavior while under the influence of illicit drugs. This suggests that subjective feelings of aggression or hostility may distinguish those who are involved in aggression from other methamphetamine users.

MacNeil, M. D. and Kemp, R. A. 2015. Genetic parameter estimation and evaluation of Duroc boars for feed efficiency and component traits. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 155–159. The objective of this research was to produce a genetic evaluation for traits related to feed efficiency of Duroc boars. Meeting this objective required partitioning phenotypic (co)variance into additive genetic and environmental components for feed intake and traits indicative of growth and body composition. Boars (N=3291) were housed in group pens of 22 to 24 animals with two electronic feeders per pen and feed intake was recorded for 8 to 14 wk. Body weight was recorded for each boar at the start and end of test, at approximately 100 kg and at up to three times during the test. The pedigree used contained sire and dam of each boar with at least one recorded phenotype (N=4651) and their maternal and paternal grandsires. Variance components were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood for animal models in a series of uni-variate and bi-variate analyses. Two multiple trait genetic evaluations were conducted to predict estimated breeding value for feed intake using animal models. The first evaluation included feed intake (h2=0.33±0.05), age at 100 kg (h2=0.31±0.04), and subcutaneous fat depth (h2=0.47±0.05). The second genetic evaluation included feed intake, average daily gain (h2=0.27±0.04), mid-test weight (h2=0.33±0.05), and subcutaneous fat depth. Genetic correlations of feed intake with age at 100 kg and fat depth were –0.80±0.05 and 0.57±0.08, respectively. Estimated breeding values for measures of feed efficiency (residual feed intake and residual gain) were calculated from the results of the second analysis and the associated additive genetic (co)variance components.

Aims: Little is known about the possible influence of different social settings on changes in patterns of ecstasy use over time. This study explores the relationship between engagement with different types of nightlife venues and subsequent frequent ecstasy use in an Australian young adult population sample. Methods: Longitudinal data are from a population-derived sample of Australian young adult ecstasy users (n = 265). Attendance at four types of venues (nightclubs, electronic dance music events/music festivals, venues playing live music, and pubs/bars) was measured at 6 months. Frequency of recent ecstasy use (last 12 months) was measured at 12 and 30 months. A prediction model of frequent ecstasy use at 30 months was developed using Poisson regression reporting adjusted relative risk. Findings: Regular attendance at nightclubs (≥monthly, adjusted relative risk 6.21, confidence interval 2.30–16.76) was associated with frequent ecstasy use at 30 months, independently of ecstasy use expectancies,...

An understanding of the relationship between hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection and contextual factors such as imprisonment may contribute to the development of targeted treatment and prevention programs. We examine the associations of imprisonment and drug dependence with lifetime exposure to HCV, and whether these associations differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people who inject drugs.Respondent-driven sampling was used in major cities and 'peer recruitment' in regional towns of Queensland to obtain a community sample of people who injected drugs, which comprised 243 Indigenous and 227 non-Indigenous participants who had ever been tested for HCV. Data are cross-sectional. Two binary Poisson models were developed to examine associations for variables relating to imprisonment, Indigeneity and drug use history.Sharing needles and syringes in prison (adjusted risk ratio 1.25, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.53) remained significantly associated with HCV infection after adjustment for Indigeneity, injecting drug use history and drug dependence. Opioid dependence and concurrent dependence on opioids and methamphetamine was also independently associated with HCV infection.Sharing needles and syringes in prison is linked with HCV infection, for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people who inject drugs. Further development of treatment and prevention programs in prisons is required, with consideration of the role of opioid and methamphetamine dependence in HCV exposure.

This chapter provides an account of the research undertaken and considers the findings of the Groundwork survey—Small Firms and the Environment 1998—in the context of the so-called 'intractable small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector' and environmental management. Other SME managers likely to take responsibility for the environmental policy included health and safety managers, site managers, technical directors, quality managers, and production/operations managers. The views of SME managers, along with information from other surveys, reveal that small firms recognise that there are pressures to improve their environmental performance. Efforts by government and business-support organisations to raise awareness of the cost savings and competitive advantage that result from improved environmental performance have had little impact on SME behaviour. SMEs generally agree that they require external assistance to meet their environmental responsibilities, but this assistance should be locally accessible and include best-practice case studies relevant to the size and sector of the company.

Background Increasing marker density was proposed to have potential to improve the accuracy of genomic prediction for quantitative traits; whole-sequence data is expected to give the best accuracy of prediction, since all causal mutations that underlie a trait are expected to be included. However, in cattle and chicken, this assumption is not supported by empirical studies. Our objective was to compare the accuracy of genomic prediction of feed efficiency component traits in Duroc pigs using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panels of 80K, imputed 650K, and whole-genome sequence variants using GBLUP, BayesB and BayesRC methods, with the ultimate purpose to determine the optimal method to increase genetic gain for feed efficiency in pigs. Results Phenotypes of average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), ultrasound backfat depth (FAT), and loin muscle depth (LMD) were available for 1363 Duroc boars from a commercial breeding program. Genotype imputation accuracies reached 92.1% from 80K to 650K and 85.6% from 650K to whole-genome sequence variants. Average accuracies across methods and marker densities of genomic prediction of ADFI, FAT, LMD and ADG were 0.40, 0.65, 0.30 and 0.15, respectively. For ADFI and FAT, BayesB outperformed GBLUP, but increasing marker density had little advantage for genomic prediction. For ADG and LMD, GBLUP outperformed BayesB, while BayesRC based on whole-genome sequence data gave the best accuracies and reached up to 0.35 for LMD and 0.25 for ADG. Conclusions Use of genomic information was beneficial for prediction of ADFI and FAT but not for that of ADG and LMD compared to pedigree-based estimates. BayesB based on 80K SNPs gave the best genomic prediction accuracy for ADFI and FAT, while BayesRC based on whole-genome sequence data performed best for ADG and LMD. We suggest that these differences between traits in the effect of marker density and method on accuracy of genomic prediction are mainly due to the underlying genetic architecture of the traits. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12711-018-0387-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An increased awareness of the injection of methadone syrup has been appreciated by methadone treatment clinicians and Needle Exchange outlets which distribute large-volume syringes. This study aimed to identify patterns of use by methadone injectors, and the reasons and perceived risks of this behaviour. Nineteen of 36 attendees at a needle exchange who stated they had injected methadone over the previous 3 months completed a structured interview. Results found a majority were methadone clinic patients. Forty-two percent injected three times a week or more. This practice continued in 58%, despite reported difficult venous access. Subjects' concerns included accelerating vein damage and possible toxicity of syrup additives. Reasons for injecting included immediate drug effect (80%) and 'needle-fixation' (47%). It is concluded that methadone clinic staff need to be aware of such patients who may require additional treatment approaches, and that methadone formulations should minimize harmful consequences if injected.