Ken Greenwood

The high-level mobility assessment tool (HiMAT) for traumatic brain injury. Part 1 : Item generation.

Primary objective: To generate a comprehensive list of items for a scale suitable for assessing high-level mobility in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Research design: High-level mobility items were generated following a critical evaluation of existing adult and paediatric mobility scales and by surveying expert clinicians for opinions about items appropriate for inclusion on a high-level mobility scale. Main outcomes and results: The critical evaluation identified 18 different items from 31 mobility scales. These included nine walking items in addition to higher level activities such as stair use, running, jumping and hopping. Expert clinicians generated 157 items that were collated and condensed to 88 items for ranking on a questionnaire. Fifteen items on the questionnaire were rated as very important by 80% of the expert clinicians. These included walking forwards, walking on slopes and different surfaces, changing direction, walking long distances and stair use. Running items included forwards, backwards, on slopes and over different surfaces, changing direction, stopping and starting as well as running long distances. Balancing in single limb stance was also included. Conclusion: The final list comprised walking, running, hopping, skipping, jumping and balance items. This initial version of the HiMAT has face and content validity although requires further testing to investigate whether it is uni-dimensional and valid for people with TBI.

Studies on the enzymatic synthesis of enterochelin in Escherichia coli K-12. Four polypeptides involved in the conversion of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate to enterochelin.

Four gene products involved in the enzymatic synthesis of enterochelin from 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate, L-serine and ATP (Luke, R.K.L. and Gibson, F. (1971) J. Bacteriol. 107,557-562; Woodrow, G.C., Young, I.G. and Gibson, F. (1975) J. Bacteriol. 124, 1-6) have been partially purified using a previously reported fractionation procedure (Bryce, G.F. and Brot, N. (1972) Biochemistry 11, 1708-1715). The products of genes E, F and G have been separated from each other and correspond to the E1, E2 and E3 activities described by Bryce and Brot. These three gene products were not completely separated from the product of gene D. We refer to these gene products as components E, F, G and D of the enzymic apparatus for biosynthesis of enterochelin. Certain properties and functions of the four semi-purified components have been investigated. The E component is involved in the activation of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate and the F component in the activation of L-serine. The D component physically associates with the F and G components during gel filtration and chromatography on DEAE Sephadex. It is proposed that the synthesis of enterochelin from L-serine and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid is catalysed in vivo by a multienzyme complex, enterochelin synthetase.

Persistence of rat nocturnal feeding and drinking during diurnal presentation of palatable diet

Male laboratory rats were fed a highly palatable diet during the light phase of a 12:12 LD cycle. Nocturnality of feeding was reduced from approximately 77% of the total daily intake to 56%. Increase in diurnal feeding was attributable to the ingestion of a large meal at the beginning of the L phase. Reduction of nocturnal feeding was attributable to decreased ingestion in the first 3 hr of the D phase. Outside these times the daily feeding pattern was unmodified. These findings do not represent a reversal of the feeding rhythm as previously reported, but a modification which is not consistent with interpretation as a phase-shift. Throughout the testing period total daily food intake remained unchanged and body weight was defended despite the increase in calories ingested. Daily drinking patterns and total daily water intake were not significantly altered by the experimental manipulation.

Failure of periodic presentation of palatable diet to entrain feeding, drinking and activity rhythms under constant conditions

Abstract Feeding, drinking and activity of two groups of male laboratory rats were studied across three experimental stages: LD 12:12; LL; and LD 12:12. In the first group (Control), ordinary diet was availabel ad lib for the entire experiment. In the second group (Experimental), palatable diet was available for the first 12 hr of each day and ordinary diet for the remainder of the day in stages 2 and 3. It was found that in stage 1 all behaviors were highly nocturnal. The nocturnality of feeding was achieved by the ingestion of more meals in the D phase as compared to the L phase. Dark ingested meals were not significantly larger than meals in the L phase. In stage 2, circadian rhythms in all three variables were damped and meals became evenly spaced across the day in both groups. In the Control group, meal sizes were also of the same magnitude across the day. However, periodic presentation of palatable diet resulted in larger meals and, therefore, the ingestion of 60% of total daily food intake during the 12 hr period when palatable food was available. Total daily food intake in LL did not change compared to stage 1 and did not differ between the groups. The size and number of significant meal size/post-meal interval correlations increased over the duration of the experiment but remained relatively small. In stage 2, water intake and activity were similarly evenly distributed over the 24 hr period in both groups and were not influenced by periodic presentation of palatable diet. No marked decreases in total daily water intake, but a substantial decrease in daily activity, were found. Under LL, daily body weight increments in both groups were maintained, but subtle changes were observed. In stage 3 when the LD cycle was reinstated, both groups ate a greater number of meals in the D phase despite the availability of palatable food in the L phase for the Experimental group. These animals ate fewer but larger meals of palatable diet than ordinary food resulting in 50% of their daily intake being ingested during the L phase. Activity and water intake returned to stage 1 levels and the distributions of these behaviors were similar to those found in stage 1 in both groups. It was concluded that palatable diet influenced meal size only and that the timing of meals depended on the illumination conditions only. Further, periodic presentation of palatable diet failed to entrain the damped rhythms of feeding, drinking and activity in LL. These results do not rule out the possibility that such an entraining effect of periodic presentation of palatable diet might be found in conditions of DD.

A survey of the health of Victorian primary school principals

In recent years responsibility for the administration of schools internationally has shifted from education departments towards self‐governing schools. This trend has resulted in major changes to the role of school principals. Such changes in role may impact on the psychological and physical health of principals, but there has been very little research into this population. A survey of the health and wellbeing of a representative sample of 50 principals of State primary schools in Victoria, Australia is reported. Subjects completed questionnaires measuring health‐related behaviour and stress and arousal levels and participated in comprehensive health appraisals. Principals reported better smoking patterns than the population as a whole. Despite a higher socioeconomic status than the population as a whole, the health status of the principals was not apparently better. Principals reported higher stress levels and worse physical health than a group of white‐collar employees of similar socioeconomic status.

Prevalence of self-reported voice problems in the general population in South Australia

This study determined the prevalence of self-reported voice problems in the general population. By including questions in the The Health Omnibus Survey, conducted in conjunction with the South Australian Health Commission, data were collected from a random sample of 2210 adults living in South Australia and aged between 21 and 64 years. For the purpose of this study, a voice problem was defined as any difficulty that prevented the respondent from doing all they wanted to with their voice. This provided a definition which used the respondent as the “norm” against which to make judgements, thereby avoiding possible ambiguity with interpretation of arbitrary descriptions of what constitutes a normal voice, while still allowing each individual to have different expectations of their own voice. Prevalence was determined over three time periods: adult life, this year and on the day of the survey. The prevalence of self-reported voice problems during adult life was 6.8%; year prevalence was 4.0%; and point prevalence was 3.1%. This is the first study to determine the prevalence of self-reported voice problems in a large, representative sample of the general population. The rigor of the respondent selection and the data collection ensures that these data make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the prevalence of self-reported voice problems in the general population.

Impact of a health promotion program on the health of primary school principals

The role of a school principal has changed dramatically in the last decade and there has been widespread concern regarding the impact of this change of role on principal health and wellbeing. Worksite health promotion programs have been used in many different settings to encourage employee health, but there is very little information on the effectiveness of such programs, particularly in improving principal health. This study evaluated the impact of a 12‐month health promotion program on a group of 50 volunteer principals. Participants in the program reported improvements in their diet and exercise habits and this was reflected in improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and body fat measures. These results indicate that worksite health promotion can play a significant role in improving the health and wellbeing of school principals.

Regulation of enterochelin synthetase in Escherichia coli K-12

Enterochelin synthetase activity is controlled by both repression and feed-back inhibition mechanisms. Inclusion of iron in growth media results in synthesis of all four (D, E, F and G) components of enterochelin synthetase being repressed. The specific inhibition of L-serine activation (partial reaction catalyzed by the F component) by the end products, ferric-enterochelin and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoylserine, is shown to inhibit overall enterochelin synthetase activity.