Parameters of Kava Used as a Challenge to Alcohol

1986 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cawte

The kava bowl, a traditional feature of Pacific Island societies, has been adopted and adapted by a number of Aboriginal (Yolngu) communities of northern Australia, where it was introduced in the hope that it would challenge alcohol. This paper reports a study of its usage at Elcho Island, Northern Territory. At the high level of intake in this community, medical effects hitherto unreported are being observed. Some, such as a condition of detachment, reminiscent of the archetypal ‘blissful indolence’ of the lotus-eaters of Greek tradition as limned by the poet Homer, are obvious to the lay observer. Other effects are apparently advantageous for the management of alcohol abuse and some forms of psychosis. A surprising effect is the occurrence of a pellagrinous reaction. These observations indicate that further studies of the clinical effects and the human metabolism of high dosage kava are needed. Looming over all are questions of pharmacology. Do the kava pyrones possess anxiolytic or antipsychotic properties? Do they indeed have the property for which Pacific missionaries introduced them to Australia, as an alternative to alcoholism?

Author(s):  
Geoffrey W Coombs ◽  
Denise A Daley ◽  
Shakeel Mowlaboccus ◽  
Yung Thin Lee ◽  
Stanley Pang ◽  
...  

From 1 January to 31 December 2018, thirty-six institutions around Australia participated in the Australian Enterococcal Sepsis Outcome Programme (AESOP). The aim of AESOP 2018 was to determine the proportion of enterococcal bacteraemia isolates in Australia that were antimicrobial resistant, and to characterise the molecular epidemiology of the E. faecium isolates. Of the 1,248 unique episodes of bacteraemia investigated, 93.5% were caused by either E. faecalis (54.2%) or E. faecium (39.3%). Ampicillin resistance was not detected in E. faecalis but was detected in 89.4% of E. faecium. Vancomycin non-susceptibility was not detected in E. faecalis but was reported in 45.0% of E. faecium. Overall 49.3% of E. faecium isolates harboured vanA or vanB genes. Of the vanA/vanB positive E. faecium isolates, 52.9% harboured vanA genes and 46.2% vanB genes; 0.8% harboured both vanA and vanB genes. The percentage of E. faecium bacteraemia isolates resistant to vancomycin in Australia is substantially higher than that seen in most European countries. E. faecium consisted of 59 multilocus sequence types (STs) of which 74.4% of isolates were classified into six major STs containing ten or more isolates. All major STs belong to clonal cluster (CC) 17, a major hospital-adapted polyclonal E. faecium cluster. The predominant STs (ST17, ST1424, ST796, ST80, ST1421, and ST262) were found across most regions of Australia. The most predominant clone was ST17 which was identified in all regions except the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Overall, 55.8% of isolates belonging to the six predominant STs harboured vanA or vanB genes. The AESOP 2018 study has shown that enterococcal bacteraemias in Australia are frequently caused by polyclonal ampicillin-resistant high-level gentamicin-resistant vanA- or vanB-harbouring E. faecium which have limited treatment options.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-16
Author(s):  
A B Mulik ◽  
S V Bulatetsky ◽  
I V Ulesikova ◽  
I G Mulik ◽  
E V Nazarova ◽  
...  

The problem of alcohol consumption is one of the major causes of depopulation in the Russian Federation. The particular concern is the alcoholism of teenagers and young adults. Substantiates the relevance of complex factors influence the biological and social risks of substance use among youth. Objective: To develop an integrated system approach predicting human risk of alcohol abuse, combining the functional assessment, psychological and social factors in the formation of demand for psychoactive substances. As the object of the study 89 people of both sexes were involved, 18-23 years of age, students of Volgograd State University. The work was performed in accordance with Articles 5, 6 and 7 "on Bioethics and Human Rights, the Universal Declaration” with registration of informed consent. As a result of complex investigations undertaken identified a number of positions of principle capable of predicting the risk of alcohol abuse human. At the same time, it justified the increased susceptibility to alcohol consumption in individuals with a high level of general non-specific reactivity (UONRO). It revealed highly significant effect of negative feelings from the first samples of alcohol to block alcohol abuse human motivations. At the same time, positive feelings of alcohol during the first trial, significantly increase the risk of alcoholism. It was determined that the vast majority of respondents (95%) did not consume alcohol, brought up in the families of non-drinking parents. In contrast, respondents - consumers of alcohol, in 62% of cases vopityvalis in alcoholic families traditions. Thus, the facts revealed dependence on the combination of alcohol consumption UONRO indicators of psychosomatic condition of the person as a result of the first sample of alcohol and attitudes of members of the parental family to consume alcohol. Based on these data provided a method for predicting the risk of alcohol consumption, which provides a comprehensive account of the functional, psychological and social factors in the formation of demand for psychoactive substances, the possibility of a qualitative typology and differentiation degree of risk of alcohol abuse and algorithmization testing process.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4949 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-594
Author(s):  
ARTURO GOLDARAZENA ◽  
BRUNO MICHEL ◽  
FRED JACQ

Heliothrips (Parthenothrips) octarcticulatus was originally described by Schmutz (1913) from Sri Lanka. Subsequently, Hood (1954) described from Taiwan a new genus and species Copidothrips formosus, and then Stannard and Mitri (1962) described a further new genus and species, Mesostenothrips kraussi, from Kiribati and Gibert Islands. Bhatti (1967, 1990), recognized that only a single genus and species was involved amongst these names, established the resultant synonymies, and recorded the species octarcticulatus from various localities between the Seychelles and five different Pacific Island groups. It has also been recorded from Northern Australia, and Thailand (ThripsWiki 2021) as well as Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean (Mound 2019). Despite these records, there is little reliable information about host plants and biology apart from Piper myristicum on Pohnpei island (Micronesia), and also damage caused to the leaves of Aglaonema and Spathoglottis at Darwin in Australia (Mound & Tree 2020). In this note, we add a further interesting host record and describe the previously unknown male as well as the larvae of this species. 


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 967
Author(s):  
Paloma Massó ◽  
Juan Melchor ◽  
Guillermo Rus ◽  
Francisca Sonia Molina

Transient or acoustic radiation force elastography (ARFE) is becoming the most extended technology to assess cervical effacement, additionally to the Bishop test and conventional ultrasound. However, a debate on the fetal safety has been opened due to the high intensity focused beam emitted to produce shear waves. This work is aimed at providing preliminary data to assess clinical effects of fetal exposure. A follow-up study in newborns of 42 women exposed to ARFE during pregnancy was carried out to explore neonatal hypoacusia, Apgar test, and anthropometry. No hypoacusia cases attributable to ARFE were observed. The Apgar test at five minutes scored normally in all the newborns. Comparisons between anthropometric measurements showed no significant statistically differences. The results preclude to state the harmfulness nor the safety of ARFE. However, given the concern on the high level of energy and the potential risk of harmful bioeffects, larger studies are recommended.


Soil Research ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
BG Williams

Soil salinity, pH, and Eh were determined in two soil types on the Adelaide River plains (Northern Territory) throughout the growing period of a rice crop. Both the total salinity, as indicated by specific conductivity values of the soil solution, and individual ion species were followed at 30 sites in each soil. The results demonstrated the existence of salt gradients within the soil profiles and these gradients, together with the total salt concentration and ion ratios, remained relatively constant throughout the growing season. The results are discussed in terms of experimental methods commonly employed for determining the effects of soil solution properties on rice culture.


2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Westerman ◽  
Mark J. Blacket ◽  
Ashley Hintz ◽  
Kyle Armstrong ◽  
Patricia A. Woolley ◽  
...  

Multiple mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences reveal substantial genetic variation within the dasyurid marsupial genus Planigale, suggesting greater taxonomic diversity than is currently recognised. To further investigate planigale relationships 116 new mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences, including 16 new specimens, were added to our database. We confirm the presence of an unrecognised species (Planigale ‘species 1’) limited to the Pilbara region of Western Australia and suggest that the ‘Mt Tom Price’ animals may be closely related to Planigale ingrami subtilissima. We also confirm that at least four distinct genetic lineages make up what is currently recognised as P. maculata. This complex of closely related taxa represents a radiation of sibling species rather than a single, genetically diverse one. Three of these lineages (M1 + M2, M3 and M4) are distributed sympatrically across the Top End of Australia and one (M5 = P. maculata sensu stricto) is localised to the eastern coast of Australia. Within the Planigale ingrami complex, Planigale ‘Mt Tom Price’ (lineage Ing. 1) occurs in the Pilbara in sympatry with Planigale ‘species 1’ and lineage Ing. 2 is found in the Northern Territory in sympatry with species of the P. maculata complex. There is thus a plethora of northern Australian planigales, many of which are formally undescribed and whose geographic ranges require careful re-evaluation.


1995 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Tyler

Recent attempts to involve the remote and small town communities of Northern Australia in their own policing and correctional services have often been held up as a model for developing Aboriginal criminal justice policies. Such a proposal raises important questions as to both the construction of the post-colonial ‘community’ in remote and settled Australia and the sociological principles by which these criminal justice schemes (eg night patrols, community wardens, community corrections) have been constituted. The paper explores the constructions of the Aboriginal community over the past two decades (ethnographic, politico-administrative and postmodernist) as a background to the development and implementation of community-based criminal justice schemes in the Northern Territory. A typology of post-colonial criminal justice strategies is developed which identifies four ‘ideal types’ in which the initiatives may be positioned. These are the mediative (community wardens, night patrols), the educative (community justice programs), the neo-colonialist (new forms of imposed European laws and policing) and the incorporative (pervasive and totalising forms of control). The possibility of transposing these Northern Territory schemes to other Aboriginal situations is then critically evaluated in the light of differing socio-political constructions of ‘community’.


1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Gardner ◽  
J. G. Nelson

At the very general level, the aim of this paper is to compare the interaction of national parks and native peoples in Northern Canada (Yukon Territory), Alaska, and the Northern Territory of Australia. Currently these areas are subject to increasing land-use pressures from mining, industrial development, the creation of national parks and related reserves, and native attempts to maintain traditional wildlife and renewable resource use. The study focuses on the interactions between national parks and native peoples on the premise that experiences can be compared and problems encountered in one area but possibly avoided in another.The study begins by briefly describing native land-use issues, land-rights arrangements, and organizations, in the Yukon Territory, central Alaska, and Northern Australia. The national park agencies are described, compared, and shown to differ considerably in institutional character, field of management, control of land, and external links with interest groups such as native peoples. Case-studies of the national parks etc. named Kluane (Yukon), Gates of the Arctic (Alaska), and Kakadu (Northern Territory of Australia), are presented to provide more details on similarities and differences in planning, types of tenure, native subsistence activities, and other factors.In the Yukon Territory, neither the national parks agency nor the native people are highly motivated to interact. In contrast, the park agencies and native people in Alaska and the Northern Territory of Australia recognize mutual benefits from interaction—largely as a result of legislation and policies which encourage cooperation. Native involvement officers now facilitate coordination in the Yukon and Alaska. Park agency native employment programmes are proceeding in all three ‘hinterlands’, while native people can own land on which national parks are established in Alaska and the Australian Northern Territory. Only in Australia are native people known to be directly involved in upperlevel national park management. Potential limitations on native subsistence and associated use of national parks range from moderate to severe, and are only defined clearly in Alaska. Lack of definition leads to confusion in deciding upon native use, while exceedingly precise definition precludes flexibility at the park level.A number of aids to a more mutually satisfactory interaction can be identified. One is motivation, or recognition by both parties that there are advantages to consultation and cooperation. Another, not yet achieved in the Yukon, is a land-claims settlement, stating the legislated rights of native peoples in the ‘hinterlands’ and giving them a land-holding and bargaining status which is comparable with that of government agencies. A third aid is comprehensive systematic and regional planning efforts involving opportunities for informed input from all affected parties. Such planning would provide a forum for consideration of a variety of interests, including national parks and native peoples. Finally, satisfactory interaction on the park site could be assisted by clear yet flexible means of deciding upon acceptable native use of parkland, the conservation of wildlife, and associated economic and cultural factors.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alana de Laive ◽  
Chris J. Jolly

ABSTRACT Chameleon Dragons Chelosania brunnea Gray, 1845 are well known amongst naturalists of northern Australia as being one of the most cryptic and least frequently observed of Australia’s large, iconic lizards. Despite their broad distribution across the savanna woodlands that dominate northern Australia, very few records exist of this species and, as a consequence, nearly nothing is known about their natural history. Here, we present records of 19 Chameleon Dragons, detected during clearing activities of a small area of semi-arid woodland at Delamere Air Weapons Range, Northern Territory. Additionally, we provide notes on sexual dimorphism, antipredator behaviour and shelter site use in this species. We discuss how some of this novel information may explain why this species is so rarely detected and suggests that this cryptic agamid may be much more common in savanna woodland than currently appreciated.


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