Notes on some Tasmanian Mesozoic plants. Part II.

This paper completes the examination, undertaken last year, of a series of fossil plants from the Mesozoic Rocks of Tasmania. In addition to the collections of the Tasmanian Museum and Geological Survey, I have also had the opportunity of examining a small collection from Mt. Nicholas, presented by Mr. Alex Montgomery to the Geological Survey of New South Wales. This list of thirty-three species indicates the extent to which the Tasmanian Mesozoic flora is now known, and compares favourably, as regards number of known species, with any of the floras of Mesozoic age in Australia

A cross-sectional analysis of pharmaceutical industry-funded events for health professionals in Australia

Objectives: To analyse patterns and characteristics of pharmaceutical industry sponsorship of events for Australian health professionals and to understand the implications of recent changes in transparency provisions that no longer require reporting of payments for food and beverages. Design: Cross-sectional analysis. Participants and setting: 301 publicly available company transparency reports downloaded from the website of Medicines Australia, the pharmaceutical industry trade association, covering the period from October 2011 to September 2015. Results: Forty-two companies sponsored 116 845 events for health professionals, on average 608 per week with 30 attendees per event. Events typically included a broad range of health professionals: 82.0% included medical doctors, including specialists and primary care doctors, and 38.3% trainees. Oncology, surgery and endocrinology were the most frequent clinical areas of focus. Most events (64.2%) were held in a clinical setting. The median cost per event was $A263 (IQR$A153–1195) and over 90% included food and beverages. Conclusions: Over this 4-year period, industry-sponsored events were widespread and pharmaceutical companies maintained a high frequency of contact with health professionals. Most events were held in clinical settings, suggesting a pervasive commercial presence in everyday clinical practice. Food and beverages, known to be associated with changes to prescribing practice, were almost always provided. New Australian transparency provisions explicitly exclude meals from the reporting requirements; thus, a large proportion of potentially influential payments from pharmaceutical companies to health professionals will disappear from public view

Notes on some Tasmanian Mesozoic plants. Part I.

Through the kindness of Messrs. Clive Lord and P. B. Nye I have been enabled to examine collections of Mesozoic fossil Plants from the Tasmanian and Launceston Museums and the Geological Survey of Tasmania. This has given me the opportunity of checking the determinations of some of these fossils made by the late R. M Johnston some thirty to forty years ago. Unfortunately. a large proportion of the specimens had lost their locality labels, but it is probable that one acquainted with the rocks in which these fossils occur in Tasmania could, with reasonable certainty, determine the localities from which the majority of the specimens came. The notes in this paper are not quite complete, but as many of the specimens were from the exhibition collections of the Tasmanian Museum, it was desirable that I should not keep them very long. In order not to delay publication of the results of my examination I have thought it advisable to present the following notes now, and hope, during next year, to be able to supplement this paper with another• short one, which should contain a few additional observations, together with some analysis of the Tasmanian Mesozoic floras, and comparison with the Mesozoic floras of the mainland and other areas

Genetic evaluation for growth traits in Mexican Pelibuey sheep

El objetivo de este estudio fue estimar los parámetros genéticos de rasgos de peso de ovinos Pelibuey. Los rasgos analizados fueron peso al nacer (PN), peso al destete (PD), peso a los 120 días (P120), peso a los 150 días (P150), y peso a los 210 días (P210). Se utilizó un conjunto de datos con registros de 51,382 corderos, progenie de 1,440 sementales y 14,715 madres para realizar análisis genéticos, utilizando un modelo animal. Se ajustaron seis modelos que variaban los efectos aleatorios, incluidos los efectos genéticos, maternos y ambientales permanentes maternos. Luego, los mismos modelos base se ajustaron con el efecto aleatorio adicional de la interacción semental por rebaño. Las estimaciones de heredabilidad directa para los modelos base oscilaron entre 0.13 y 0.18 y se redujeron en todos los rasgos cuando la interacción semental por rebaño se ajustó en el modelo (0.03 a 0.11). Las correlaciones genéticas aditivas variaron de 0.49 a 0.96 y de 0.81 a 1.00 para los modelos base y los modelos de semental por rebaño, respectivamente. Se realizaron análisis de validación para estudiar la predictibilidad de los VGE de los sementales en el rendimiento de la progenie, con un procedimiento de validación cruzada desarrollado para P120. El ajuste de semental por rebaño mejoró la predictibilidad, con valores de 0.22 para todos los sementales, y de 0.43 para los sementales de enlace, cerca del valor esperado de 0.50. Las tendencias genéticas anuales estimadas fueron 0.011, 0.051, 0.060, 0.068 y 0.045 kg/año para PN, PD, P120, P150 y P210, respectivamente, para el período comprendido entre 2010 y 2017. En general, los resultados indican que es posible realizar una evaluación genética entre rebaños para ovinos Pelibuey en México.The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for weight traits for the Pelibuey sheep. The traits analysed were birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), weight at 120 d (W120), weight at 150 d (W150), and weight at 210 d (W210). Data set with records from 51,382 lambs, progeny of 1,440 sires, and 14,715 dams were used to conduct genetic analyses, using an animal model. Six models varying the random effects were fitted including genetic, maternal and maternal permanent environmental effects. Then, the same base models were fitted with the additional random effect of sire by flock interaction. Direct heritability estimates for the base models ranged from 0.13 to 0.18 and reduced across all traits when the sire by flock was fitted in the model (0.03 to 0.11). Additive genetic correlations ranged from 0.49 to 0.96 and 0.81 to 1.00 for the base models and sire by flock models, respectively. Validation analyses were performed to study the predictability of sire EBVs on progeny performance, with a cross-validation procedure developed for W120. Fitting sire by flock improved predictability, with values for all sires at 0.22, and for link sires at 0.43, close to the expected value of 0.50. The estimated annual genetic trends were 0.011, 0.051, 0.060, 0.068 and 0.045 kg/yr for BWT, WWT, W120, W150 and W210, respectively, for the period between 2010 and 2017. Overall, the results indicate that an across-flock genetic evaluation for Pelibuey sheep in Mexico is possible

Assessing medication packaging and labelling appropriateness in Sri Lanka

Background: There is substantial evidence of poor dispensing practices with inadequate packaging and labelling of medicines, and limited advice on their usage in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). We examined the labelling and packaging of medicines identified during a survey of 1322 households in six regions of Sri Lanka between 2010 and 2013 conducted using the World Health Organization (WHO) methodology for household surveys. We compared medicines obtained from public and private sources and asked interviewees if they understood how to take the medicines. Methods: Packaging was considered adequate when the primary package was an envelope or closable container holding only one medicine. Adequate labels were legible and included medicine name, dose and expiration date. Interviewers assessed whether respondents knew how to take the medicines. Results: Of 1322 households, 1253 households (94.8%) had at least one medicine; 84% were classified as western medicines and 16% traditional medicines. Of 5756 western medicines identified, 82.1% were adequately packaged, 43.3% adequately labelled and 41.4% both adequately packaged and labelled. Participants stated that they understood the label and knew how to take 96% of the medicines. Private medicine sources had more adequately packaged medicines than public sources (87.7% vs 73.5%; OR 2.58, 95% CI 2.23, 2.99) and more adequately labelled medicines (52.2% vs 27.4%; OR 2.90, 95% CI 2.57, 3.26). Conclusions: Inadequate packaging and labelling of medicines remain a concern in Sri Lanka. Commitment to Good Pharmacy Practices, investments in staff education and training and adequate dispensing resources (containers and labels), particularly in the public sector, are needed to address sub-optimal dispensing practices. Ageing populations with more chronic diseases requiring polypharmacy and complex medicine regimens increase the need for appropriately packaged and labelled medicines

Value of data from ram breeding flocks as an industry reference population for Australian sheep

This study examined the value of using carcass data from seedstock ram breeding flocks to build upon an industry sheep reference population in Australia. Data from 995 lambs managed in 15 commercial ram breeder flocks were collected between 2017 and 2020 for carcass and meat quality measurements: hot carcass weight, tissue depth on the 12th rib (GR site), eye muscle depth, fat between the 12th and the 13th rib (C - site), intramuscular fat and shear force. Industry data were cross-validated with and without reference data from the MLA Resource Flock. Industry data did not bias the estimation of breeding values when used in combination with the reference population (MLA Resource Flock). Therefore, industry data can be used to expand an industry reference population if data collection is accurate and consistent with industry standards

Mandatory Disclosure of Pharmaceutical Industry-Funded Events for Health Professionals

David Henry and colleagues examine compliance with new disclosure requirements of Medicines Australia, the pharmaceutical industry representative body, and argue that they fall short and instead more comprehensive reporting standards are needed

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of an Olympic Games

This paper attempts to estimate the net benefit to Canada of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Two particular classes of problems in Olympic CBA are studied in detail. The first is the unique nature of project dependency in an Olympic Games, and this is surmounted by the classification of Olympic-related costs and benefits as "Event-related" or "Infrastructure-related", with rules for handing each in the context of a CBA for an Olympic Games. The second is the estimation of net benefit of three types of "Olympic Outputs", namely the Olympic Spectacle, the Olympic Halo (the feelings of pride engendered in the residents of the host city), and the tourism induced by an Olympic Games. One key result of the paper is that a correct accounting of induced Olympic tourism shows that the net benefit of this tourism is substantially less than its widely touted 'economic impact'. Although a detailed estimation of infrastructure costs and benefits is outside the scope of the paper, their contribution to the net benefit of the Games under the proposed project accounting rules is clearly negative. The net benefit of the Olympic Games is therefore also substantially negative when the estimates of Olympic benefits from this paper are combined with published estimates for event costs

Validation of reaction norm breeding values for robustness in Australian sheep

Background There can be variation between animals in how stable their genetic merit is across different environments due to genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions. This variation could be used in breeding programs to select robust genotypes that combine high overall performance with stable genetic ranking across environments. There have been few attempts to validate breeding values for robustness in livestock, although this is a necessary step towards their implementation in selection decisions. The objective of this study was to validate breeding values for the robustness of body weight across different growth environments that were estimated using reaction norm models in sheep data.Results Using threefold cross-validation for the progeny of 337 sires, the average correlation between single-step breeding values for the reaction norm slope and the realised robustness of progeny across different growth environments was 0.21. The correlation between breeding values for the reaction slope estimated independently in two different datasets linked by common sires was close to the expected correlation based on theory.Conclusions Slope estimated breeding values (EBV) obtained using reaction norm models were predictive of the phenotypic robustness of progeny across different environments and were consistent for sires with progeny in two different datasets. Selection based on reaction norm EBV could be used to increase the robustness of a population to environmental variation

Motion Rail: A Virtual Reality Level Crossing Training Application

This paper presents the development and usability testing of a Virtual Reality (VR) based system named 'Motion Rail' for training children on railway crossing safety. The children are to use a VR head mounted device and a controller to navigate the VR environment to perform a level crossing task and they will receive instant feedback on pass or failure on a display in the VR environment. Five participants consisting of two male and three females were considered for the usability test. The outcomes of the test was promising, as the children were very engaging and will like to adopt this training approach in future safety training