Developing social impact assessment guidelines in a pre-existing policy context

Few jurisdictions have translated internationally agreed social impact assessment (SIA) principles into statutory provisions. Governments and regulatory bodies tend to provide developers with high-level frameworks, or require that social impacts be ‘considered’, without specifying how this is to be done. In Australia, this lack of clarity leaves all parties uncertain about requirements for SIA. The New South Wales (NSW) Government’s 2017 release of the SIA guideline for State-significant mining, petroleum and extractive industry development represents an attempt to clarify requirements and provide guidance. In this paper, we describe the process of bringing this guideline to fruition from the perspective of being directly involved in its development, and highlight the challenges involved in integrating leading-practice principles into the state’s pre-existing policy framework. While the guideline represents a significant advance in policy-based SIA guidance, some aspects leave room for improvement. The real test of the guideline’s impact will lie in its influence on SIA practice in NSW, and ultimately in social outcomes for communities affected by resources projects.     

如何用硅振荡器替代晶体和陶瓷谐振器

对于绝大多数微控制器时钟电路而言，硅振荡器是一种简单且有效的解决方案。与晶体和陶瓷谐振器不同，基于硅材料的定时器具有抗振动、抗撞击和抗电磁干扰的优点。同时，硅振荡器不需要严格匹配的定时元件和线路板走线。     

A phase I-II study of paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and vinorelbine with filgrastim (rhG-CSF) support in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer

PURPOSE: We designed a phase I-II trial of three active agents, paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and vinorelbine, in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to: 1) define the dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of paclitaxel with filgrastim (G-CSF) support; and 2) determine the overall response rate and median survival of patients treated on this regimen. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We treated cohorts of patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC with ifosfamide 1.2-1.6 g/m2/day x 3 and vinorelbine 20-25 mg/m2/day x 3 and escalating doses of paclitaxel at 100-175 mg/m2 on day 2 with G-CSF support on a 21-day cycle. One prior experimental single-agent chemotherapy regimen was allowed. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients, were enrolled on this trial: 27 on the phase I portion of the study and an additional 29 at the recommended phase II dose (RPTD). Thirteen patients had received prior chemotherapy. Paclitaxel doses of 175 mg/m2 and 150 mg/m2 produced dose-limiting myelosuppression, and the RPTD was determined to be paclitaxel 135 mg/m2 with ifosfamide 1.2 g/m2/day on days 1-3 and vinorelbine 20 mg/m2/ day on days 1-3 with G-CSF support. The overall response rate was 18%, with a median survival of 6.1 months. Six of 35 patients (17%) treated at the RPTD achieved a partial response to therapy. Grade IV neutropenia was observed in 19 of 35 patients at this dose, with eight patients suffering febrile neutropenia. CONCLUSIONS: This non-cisplatin-containing three-drug regimen has substantial toxicity and low activity in advanced NSCLC, and does not seem to improve on prior regimens. It is unclear whether the lack of efficacy relates to an antagonistic reaction between the specific drugs, administration schedule, or to subtherapeutic doses of the individual agents.     

Coronary bypass in vascular patients: a relatively high-risk procedure

A premise of cardiac risk stratification is that the added risk of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is offset by the improved safety of subsequent vascular reconstruction (VR). We questioned if elective CABG is patients with severe peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is a relatively high-risk procedure. A cohort study of 680 elective CABG patients from January 1993 to December 1994 was performed using three mutually exclusive outcomes of complication-free survival, morbidity, and mortality. Patient characteristic, operative, and outcome data were prospectively collected. Retrospective review determined that 58 patients had either a standard indication for or a history of VR. Overall CABG mortality was 2.5%, with statistically similar but relatively higher rates for PVD as compared to non-PVD patients. In contrast, major morbidity occurred at rates 3.6-fold higher in PVD patients (39.7%) than in disease-free patients (16.7%) after adjustment for the effects of patient and operative variables (odds ratio [OR] 3.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.93-6.99). CABG morbidity in the PVD patient was most likely in those patients with aortoiliac (OR 9.51, CI 3.20-28.27) and aortic aneurysmal (OR 5.24, CI 1.28-21.41) disease types. CABG in PVD patients is associated with significant major morbidity. Such morbidity may preclude or alter the timing of subsequent VR.     

BRCA1 mutations in women attending clinics that evaluate the risk of breast cancer

BACKGROUND: To define the incidence of BRCA1 mutations among patients seen in clinics that evaluate the risk of breast cancer, we analyzed DNA samples from women seen in this setting and constructed probability tables to provide estimates of the likelihood of finding a BRCA1 mutation in individual families. METHODS: Clinical information, family histories, and blood for DNA analysis were obtained from 263 women with breast cancer. Conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing were used to identify BRCA1 mutations. RESULTS: BRCA1 mutations were identified in 16 percent of women with a family history of breast cancer. Only 7 percent of women from families with a history of breast cancer but not ovarian cancer had BRCA1 mutations. The rates were higher among women from families with a history of both breast and ovarian cancer. Among family members, an average age of less than 55 years at the diagnosis of breast cancer, the presence of ovarian cancer, the presence of breast and ovarian cancer in the same woman, and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry were all associated with an increased risk of detecting a BRCA1 mutation. No association was found between the presence of bilateral breast cancer or the number of breast cancers in a family and the detection of a BRCA1 mutation, or between the position of the mutation in the BRCA1 gene and the presence of ovarian cancer in a family. CONCLUSIONS: Among women with breast cancer and a family history of the disease, the percentage with BRCA1 coding-region mutations is less than the 45 percent predicted by genetic-linkage analysis. These results suggest that even in a referral clinic specializing in screening women from high-risk families, the majority of tests for BRCA1 mutations will be negative and therefore uninformative.     

Incorporating social support into a community-wide smoking-cessation contest

Exposure to foreign particles sometimes causes inflammatory reactions through production of cytokines and chemoattractants by phagocytic cells. In this study, we focused on macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) to evaluate its pathophysiological role in the phagocytic process. Immunohistochemical analysis of human pseudosynovial tissues retrieved at revision of total hip arthroplasty showed that infiltrating mononuclear and multinuclear cells were positively stained by both an anti-CD68 antibody and anti-human MIF antibody. For in vitro study, MIF was released from murine macrophage-like cells (RAW 264.7) in response to phagocytosis of fluorescent-latex beads in a particle dose-dependent manner. Northern blot analysis showed marked elevation of the MIF mRNA level in the phagocytic macrophage-like cells. Moreover, pretreatment of RAW 264.7 cells with rat recombinant MIF increased the extent of phagocytosis by 1.6-fold compared with the control. Taken together, these results suggest that MIF plays an important role by activating macrophages in autocrine and paracrine fashion to phagocytose foreign particles.     

RNA tertiary structure mediation by adenosine platforms

The crystal structure of a group I intron domain reveals an unexpected motif that mediates both intra- and intermolecular interactions. At three separate locations in the 160-nucleotide domain, adjacent adenosines in the sequence lie side-by-side and form a pseudo-base pair within a helix. This adenosine platform opens the minor groove for base stacking or base pairing with nucleotides from a noncontiguous RNA strand. The platform motif has a distinctive chemical modification signature that may enable its detection in other structured RNAs. The ability of this motif to facilitate higher order folding provides one explanation for the abundance of adenosine residues in internal loops of many RNAs.     

Bladder injury model induced in rats by exposure to protamine sulfate followed by bacterial endotoxin

PURPOSE: A bladder injury model was developed using protamine sulfate (PS) and endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administered intravesically to female Sprague-Dawley rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Experimental and control animals were catheterized and intravesically exposed to PS-LPS, PS, LPS, or phosphate buffered saline. After 4, 24 or 72 hours, rats were sacrificed. Urines and bladder tissues were then obtained. Bladder mucosal permeability was evaluated by measuring 14C-urea uptake 24 hours after injury. Repeated instillations of PS/LPS were also made in another group of rats over a period of 5 weeks to attempt to establish a more serious mucosal injury, possibly reflected by altered staining of the collagen IV component of the urinary basement membrane (UBM). RESULTS: Histological examination of the tissues indicated a maximal inflammatory response in the mucosa 4 hours after instillation of PS/LPS. Neutrophils and macrophages in close proximity to the UBM and intraepithelially could be demonstrated. Bladder permeability was significantly altered (26.9% 14C-urea uptake) in rats assayed 24 hours after the PS/LPS treatment, but not after exposure to PS or LPS alone (11.9 and 17.5%, respectively). Protease activity detected in urines from experimental, but not control, animals coincided with the appearance of inflammatory cells in the lamina propria. Inflammatory injury did not appear to alter the collagen IV staining of the UBM. CONCLUSIONS: This rat bladder injury model is useful for examining controversial issues regarding bladder wall structure-function alterations induced by inflammation and possibly important in the pathobiological mechanisms involved in some patients with interstitial cystitis.