University of South Australia

About: University of South Australia is a education organization based out in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 10086 authors who have published 32587 publications receiving 913683 citations. The organization is also known as: The University of South Australia & UniSA.

In Vivo Assessment of Arsenic Bioavailability in Rice and Its Significance for Human Health Risk Assessment

Abstract: Arsenic contamination of groundwater has been reported in many countries throughout the world, most notably in Southeast Asia. In recent years, much attention has focused on the As calamity in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, following the highly publicized reports of vast populations being exposed to As-contaminated groundwater. Recently, Chakraborti et al. (2004) reported that As levels in groundwater from 50 districts in Bangladesh (representing ~ 2,000 villages) exceeded the Bangladesh drinking water guidelines for As of 50 μ with As concentrations in some cases > 1,500 μ(Tondel et al. 1999). The issue in Bangladesh has been described as “the largest poisoning of a population in history” (Smith et al. 2000), with an estimated 35–70 million inhabitants being at risk of drinking As-contaminated water (Khan et al. 1997). Chronic exposure to As causes significant human health effects including various cancers (skin, lungs, bladder, and kidneys), skin disorders (hyperkeratosis and pigment changes), vascular disease, and diabetes mellitus (Guha Mazumder et al. 1998; Guo et al. 1997; Lein et al. 2001; Mandal and Suzuki 2002; Rahman et al. 2001). The increased incidence of these health effects have been observed in Bangladesh and West Bengal populations exposed to As (Ahmed et al. 2006; Mukherjee et al. 2006). In addition to drinking water, consumption of As-contaminated food is another major source of As exposure. In Bangladesh, As-contaminated water is also used for irrigating crops, particularly rice (Oryza sativa L.), which represents approximately 83% of the total irrigated area in Bangladesh (Dey et al. 1996). As a consequence of irrigating with As-contaminated water, rice may contain elevated levels of As. Arsenic concentrations ranging from 160 to 580 μ have been reported in rice from the Jessore district in Bangladesh (Alam et al. 2002), whereas Meharg and Rahman (2003) reported As concentrations > 1,830 μg/kg in rice from other regions of Bangladesh. Because rice is a staple food in Bangladesh, providing > 70% of the daily calorific intake (Ninno and Dorosh 2001), consumption of contaminated rice may represent a significant As exposure pathway. In fact, Meharg (2004) estimated that consumption of As-contaminated rice may contribute as much as 60% of the daily Bangladeshi dietary As intake based on conservative As concentrations in rice. In addition, absorption of As-contaminated water during the rice cooking process may significantly increase the amount of As in cooked rice (Ackerman et al. 2005; Bae et al. 2002), which is often overlooked when calculating As daily intake values. A number of studies have reported the presence of As in rice, ranging in concentration from 32 to 1,830 μg As/kg (Abedin et al. 2002a, 2002b; Alam et al. 2002; D’Amato et al. 2004; Heitkemper et al. 2001; Kohlmeyer et al. 2003; Meharg 2004; Meharg and Rahman 2003; Schoof et al. 1998; Williams et al. 2005); however, few studies have determined the proportion of inorganic to organic As in rice. In terms of human health risk assessment, As speciation is important because the toxicity of organic, inorganic, trivalent, and pentavalent As species vary greatly (Petrick et al. 2000; Vahter and Concha 2001). In addition, there is a dearth of information on the bioavailability of As in rice after consumption. Bioavailability, in the context of human health risk assessment, refers to the fraction of an administered dose that reaches the central (blood) compartment from the gastrointestinal tract (Ruby et al. 1999). After consumption of As-contaminated rice, it is unclear what proportion of the rice-bound As is absorbed and whether As speciation influences absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. To reduce the uncertainties in estimating exposure and to provide a more accurate estimate of risk, assessment of As bioavailability is critical. In this study, we investigated the concentration and speciation of As in supermarket-bought rice, in rice grown under greenhouse conditions using As-contaminated irrigation water, and in rice cooked in As-contaminated water. In addition, we assessed the bioavailability of As in rice using an in vivo swine assay—an animal model used to predict As uptake for human health risk assessment. We assessed As bioavailability in two different rice preparations to determine whether the mode of As accumulation in the grain (translocation by the plant vs. absorption during cooking) influenced As uptake in the swine model.

Training health professionals in smoking cessation

Abstract: Background Cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death world wide. There is good evidence that brief interventions from health professionals can increase smoking cessation attempts. A number of trials have examined whether skills training for health professionals can lead them to have greater success in helping their patients who smoke. Objectives To determine the effectiveness of training health care professionals in the delivery of smoking cessation interventions to their patients, and to assess the additional effects of training characteristics such as intervention content, delivery method and intensity. Search methods The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group’s Specialised Register, electronic databases and the bibliographies of identified studies were searched and raw data was requested from study authors where needed. Searches were updated in March 2012. Selection criteria Randomized trials in which the intervention was training of health care professionals in smoking cessation. Trials were considered if they reported outcomes for patient smoking at least six months after the intervention. Process outcomes needed to be reported, however trials that reported effects only on process outcomes and not smoking behaviour were excluded. Data collection and analysis Information relating to the characteristics of each included study for interventions, participants, outcomes and methods were extracted by two independent reviewers. Studies were combined in a meta-analysis where possible and reported in narrative synthesis in text and table. Main results Of seventeen included studies, thirteen found no evidence of an effect for continuous smoking abstinence following the intervention. Meta-analysis of 14 studies for point prevalence of smoking produced a statistically and clinically significant effect in favour of the intervention (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.55, p= 0.004). Meta-analysis of eight studies that reported continuous abstinence was also statistically significant (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.03, p= 0.03). Healthcare professionals who had received training were more likely to perform tasks of smoking cessation than untrained controls, including: asking patients to set a quit date (p< 0.0001), make follow-up appointments (p< 0.00001), counselling of smokers (p< 0.00001), provision of self-help material (p< 0.0001) and prescription of a quit date (p< 0.00001). No evidence of an effect was observed for the provision of nicotine gum/replacement therapy. Authors' conclusions Training health professionals to provide smoking cessation interventions had a measurable effect on the point prevalence of smoking, continuous abstinence and professional performance. The one exception was the provision of nicotine gum or replacement therapy, which did not differ between groups.

Moderating Effects of Tourists’ Novelty-Seeking Tendencies on Destination Image, Visitor Satisfaction, and Short- and Long-Term Revisit Intentions

Abstract: This study investigates the moderating effects of tourist novelty-seeking tendencies on the relationships among destination image, satisfaction, and short- and long-term revisit intentions. Using survey data collected in 2009 from 450 European visitors to Mediterranean destinations, a theoretically derived structural path model was examined. Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were used to identify three groups of tourists based on their novelty-seeking tendencies (high, medium, and low novelty seekers). The moderating effects of novelty-seeking tendencies on the structural path model were examined by means of multigroup invariance analysis. Tourists’ novelty-seeking tendencies have a moderating effect on the causal relationships among destination image, satisfaction, and revisit intentions. The effect of destination image on visitor satisfaction, as well as satisfaction on short-term revisit intentions, is significantly weaker for high novelty seekers as compared to low novelty seekers. Thus, dest...

Market Orientation and Company Profitability: Further Evidence Incorporating Longitudinal Data

Abstract: This study examines the association between market orientation and company profitability. It incorporates two methodological approaches that have generally not been used in previous research. First, it uses lagged company and environmental control variables in the data analysis, to better discern their effects on profitability and hence, clarify any relationship between market orientation and performance. Second, it analyses the individual components of market orientation and their relationships with business profitability separately. The study finds that of the components of a market orientation, a competitor orientation emerges as the variable with the strongest association with performance. This association is robust in two models, one with solely cross sectional data, and the other with lagged control variables. In simple terms, the strongest distinguishing feature of high-profit firms in this study is that they are very attuned to the activities and characteristics of competitors. For managers, this reinforces the view that while a customer orientation is vital, competitor intelligence activities may also be a key factor in ensuring high performance. The implication for researchers is that each component of market orientation should not necessarily be assumed to have equally strong associations with profitability.