title: The Sensitivity of Adenovirus and Herpes simplex virus to Honey

authors: Littlejohn, Emma Sophie Vout

subjects: Honey

abstract: Honey has been used for centuries as a medicine to treat various ailments and infections. A large amount of research has established that honey has potent antibacterial activity. However, the sensitivity to honey of viral species that cause infections has been studied in only a small number of cases. The aim of this study was to obtain data to clarify and extend knowledge obtained from these previous studies of honey's antiviral activity, and especially study those viruses that cause localised infections which have limited or no therapy available, which are suitable to treatment with topically applied honey. 

The susceptible A549 cell line and viral isolates of Adenovirus serotypes 1, 3, and 8, and Herpes simplex virus serotypes 1 and 2, were provided by the Waikato Hospital Virology Laboratory. A number of types of honey were investigated from a range of sources: Manuka honey with high concentrations of methylglyoxal,  unique manuka factor  activity, and phenolics, Honeydew and Rewarewa honeys which have high antioxidant activity, and Ling Heather honey which is high in phenolic compounds. These honeys were selected due to their range of characteristic activities in order to make comparisons with antiviral activity.
A variety of tests using cell culture were developed to evaluate the sensitivity of the viruses to whole honey. Each test scored and monitored the development of morphological changes to the cells, to observe whether the honey treatment can prevent the development of these changes known as viral cytopathic effect. These included tests for: protection, in which the cells were pre-treated with, and incubated either with or without honey; prevention, where honey was used to treat infected cells, and in plaque reduction assays, to examine whether it can reduce the resultant number of plaques; and neutralisation, in which the virus was directly exposed to the honey for a defined period. 
It was found with each type of test using cell culture that many of the honeys studied can lower the severity of viral cytopathic effect or delay its onset compared with the development observed with virus that was not treated with honey. This can suggest that the antiviral activity may be a feature of more than one type of honey. In general the antiviral effect increased with the concentration of honey and time the virus was exposed to it. Manuka honey M116 at a concentration of 10% was effective in preventing the development of viral cytopathic effect of each of virus, after the viruses at concentrations in excess of the tissue culture infectious dose had been exposed to the honey for 8 hours. 
Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays were used to measure the effect the successful treatments found in the extended neutralisation experiments had on viral surface proteins necessary for viral entry into the cells. The results using this technique suggested that there was very little virus present in the samples that had been treated with honey and with the untreated virus. Therefore it could not be shown whether the honey was acting via this mechanism.
It is concluded from the findings in this study that honey is likely to be an effective antiviral treatment for the therapy of localised viral infections, this needs to be verified by clinical trials.

text: The Sensitivity of Adenovirus and Herpes simplex virus to Honey Honey has been used for centuries as a medicine to treat various ailments and infections. A large amount of research has established that honey has potent antibacterial activity. However, the sensitivity to honey of viral species that cause infections has been studied in only a small number of cases. The aim of this study was to obtain data to clarify and extend knowledge obtained from these previous studies of honey's antiviral activity, and especially study those viruses that cause localised infections which have limited or no therapy available, which are suitable to treatment with topically applied honey. 

The susceptible A549 cell line and viral isolates of Adenovirus serotypes 1, 3, and 8, and Herpes simplex virus serotypes 1 and 2, were provided by the Waikato Hospital Virology Laboratory. A number of types of honey were investigated from a range of sources: Manuka honey with high concentrations of methylglyoxal,  unique manuka factor  activity, and phenolics, Honeydew and Rewarewa honeys which have high antioxidant activity, and Ling Heather honey which is high in phenolic compounds. These honeys were selected due to their range of characteristic activities in order to make comparisons with antiviral activity.
A variety of tests using cell culture were developed to evaluate the sensitivity of the viruses to whole honey. Each test scored and monitored the development of morphological changes to the cells, to observe whether the honey treatment can prevent the development of these changes known as viral cytopathic effect. These included tests for: protection, in which the cells were pre-treated with, and incubated either with or without honey; prevention, where honey was used to treat infected cells, and in plaque reduction assays, to examine whether it can reduce the resultant number of plaques; and neutralisation, in which the virus was directly exposed to the honey for a defined period. 
It was found with each type of test using cell culture that many of the honeys studied can lower the severity of viral cytopathic effect or delay its onset compared with the development observed with virus that was not treated with honey. This can suggest that the antiviral activity may be a feature of more than one type of honey. In general the antiviral effect increased with the concentration of honey and time the virus was exposed to it. Manuka honey M116 at a concentration of 10% was effective in preventing the development of viral cytopathic effect of each of virus, after the viruses at concentrations in excess of the tissue culture infectious dose had been exposed to the honey for 8 hours. 
Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays were used to measure the effect the successful treatments found in the extended neutralisation experiments had on viral surface proteins necessary for viral entry into the cells. The results using this technique suggested that there was very little virus present in the samples that had been treated with honey and with the untreated virus. Therefore it could not be shown whether the honey was acting via this mechanism.
It is concluded from the findings in this study that honey is likely to be an effective antiviral treatment for the therapy of localised viral infections, this needs to be verified by clinical trials.

year: 2009

title: Laptops for teachers: An evaluation of the TELA scheme in schools (Years 1 to 3)

authors: Cowie, Bronwen

subjects: Laptop for Teachers Scheme

abstract: The purpose of this evaluation is to investigate the impacts of the Laptops for Teachers Scheme: TELA (referred to from here as the TELA scheme) on teachers’ work over a period of three years (2006, 2007, 2008) and to record emerging changes in laptop use.  This evaluation report presents findings from the three annual cycles of national focus groups and questionnaires with Years 1 to 3 teachers in New  Zealand primary schools.
In this evaluation, two methods of data collection were used: first, three focus groups were held with teachers in face-to-face meetings and second, a questionnaire was sent to teachers in a range of schools. The focus groups allowed teachers to talk about changes in their use of the laptop over the three years. Focus groups were held in the Taranaki, Wellington and Marlborough areas. The questionnaire asked teachers about various aspects of their laptops experience, including school support for laptops, professional development, their use of laptops at home and in school, and their goals for future use. In this final report, questionnaire results are presented together with the results from the focus groups held over three years.

text: Laptops for teachers: An evaluation of the TELA scheme in schools (Years 1 to 3) The purpose of this evaluation is to investigate the impacts of the Laptops for Teachers Scheme: TELA (referred to from here as the TELA scheme) on teachers’ work over a period of three years (2006, 2007, 2008) and to record emerging changes in laptop use.  This evaluation report presents findings from the three annual cycles of national focus groups and questionnaires with Years 1 to 3 teachers in New  Zealand primary schools.
In this evaluation, two methods of data collection were used: first, three focus groups were held with teachers in face-to-face meetings and second, a questionnaire was sent to teachers in a range of schools. The focus groups allowed teachers to talk about changes in their use of the laptop over the three years. Focus groups were held in the Taranaki, Wellington and Marlborough areas. The questionnaire asked teachers about various aspects of their laptops experience, including school support for laptops, professional development, their use of laptops at home and in school, and their goals for future use. In this final report, questionnaire results are presented together with the results from the focus groups held over three years.

year: 2010

title: Tribal guns, tribal gunners : A study of acculturation by Maori of European military technology during the New Zealand inter-tribal musket wars

authors: Bentley, Trevor William

abstract: The Musket Wars were New Zealand’s longest and most costly war. Some 20,000 Maori perished in the raids, battles and sieges that convulsed the tribal societies during the 1820’s and 1830’s. The rise of powerful musket armies set in train forty major hekes or tribal migrations that emptied vast reaches of country by 1840, paving the way for European settlement that proceeded largely unopposed until the 1860’s.

There is little known about the nature of Maori warfare in this period for the Musket Wars have yet to receive the same kind of intense study currently being given by New Zealand historians to the Northern and New Zealand Wars. While other nations have conducted exhaustive research into the military history of their indigenous people, the Musket Wars remain New Zealand’s least known war.

The paucity of information on inter-tribal; warfare in this period is sourced in the fact that native warfare was actively discouraged by the missionaries, judged barbaric by most early visitors and regarded as an inferior form of warfare by settlers and English military men. Later nineteenth century writers perpetuated a distorted view of the Musket Wars as chaotic inter-tribal conflicts in which Maori fought and destroyed Maori. This distorted view has its origins in the two widely divergent systems of values that operated in nineteenth century New Zealand and in the dominance of Victorian ideas about race and colonialism.

This thesis is revisionist only in its attempt to demolish the entrenched colonial view of Maori musket warfare as disordered and exclusively Maori. It endeavours to fill specific gaps that exist in the research on this period by examining the role and purpose of the European gun trading enterprise in New Zealand and the extent of European involvement in Maori warfare. The thesis explores the deployment and effectiveness of European guns during the three phases of Maori warfare that characterise the period; predatory raiding, the great rakau-musket battles and the musket to musket conflicts of the 1830’s. The thesis also develops the theme that while the Musket Wars were shaped by non-Maori influences they were distinctly Maori in style.
While the bulk of evidence is provided by contemporary European observers and nineteenth century historians, every attempt has been made to provide a more balanced picture of Maori warfare by reporting Maori experiences wherever possible. The thesis consequently draws on current Maori oral testimony, the evidence of contemporary Maori eyewitness and the substantial and well developed body of written tribal history currently available.

The Musket Wars represent a fascinating but largely forgotten military age in New Zealand where Maori armies of unprecedented size employed powerful armaments of flintlock guns and ships cannon on long distance campaigns against remote enemies. This period has provided a unique opportunity to research the ways an indigenous warrior society acculturated European firearms technology in established tribal rituals and in warfare, independent of European military influences and in a purely Maori context. Most importantly the Musket Wars have provided the opportunity to examine Maori tactical developments through the critical stage between classical Maori warfare and the clashes with British and Colonial forces during the Northern war of 1845 and New Zealand wars of the 1860’s.

text: Tribal guns, tribal gunners : A study of acculturation by Maori of European military technology during the New Zealand inter-tribal musket wars The Musket Wars were New Zealand’s longest and most costly war. Some 20,000 Maori perished in the raids, battles and sieges that convulsed the tribal societies during the 1820’s and 1830’s. The rise of powerful musket armies set in train forty major hekes or tribal migrations that emptied vast reaches of country by 1840, paving the way for European settlement that proceeded largely unopposed until the 1860’s.

There is little known about the nature of Maori warfare in this period for the Musket Wars have yet to receive the same kind of intense study currently being given by New Zealand historians to the Northern and New Zealand Wars. While other nations have conducted exhaustive research into the military history of their indigenous people, the Musket Wars remain New Zealand’s least known war.

The paucity of information on inter-tribal; warfare in this period is sourced in the fact that native warfare was actively discouraged by the missionaries, judged barbaric by most early visitors and regarded as an inferior form of warfare by settlers and English military men. Later nineteenth century writers perpetuated a distorted view of the Musket Wars as chaotic inter-tribal conflicts in which Maori fought and destroyed Maori. This distorted view has its origins in the two widely divergent systems of values that operated in nineteenth century New Zealand and in the dominance of Victorian ideas about race and colonialism.

This thesis is revisionist only in its attempt to demolish the entrenched colonial view of Maori musket warfare as disordered and exclusively Maori. It endeavours to fill specific gaps that exist in the research on this period by examining the role and purpose of the European gun trading enterprise in New Zealand and the extent of European involvement in Maori warfare. The thesis explores the deployment and effectiveness of European guns during the three phases of Maori warfare that characterise the period; predatory raiding, the great rakau-musket battles and the musket to musket conflicts of the 1830’s. The thesis also develops the theme that while the Musket Wars were shaped by non-Maori influences they were distinctly Maori in style.
While the bulk of evidence is provided by contemporary European observers and nineteenth century historians, every attempt has been made to provide a more balanced picture of Maori warfare by reporting Maori experiences wherever possible. The thesis consequently draws on current Maori oral testimony, the evidence of contemporary Maori eyewitness and the substantial and well developed body of written tribal history currently available.

The Musket Wars represent a fascinating but largely forgotten military age in New Zealand where Maori armies of unprecedented size employed powerful armaments of flintlock guns and ships cannon on long distance campaigns against remote enemies. This period has provided a unique opportunity to research the ways an indigenous warrior society acculturated European firearms technology in established tribal rituals and in warfare, independent of European military influences and in a purely Maori context. Most importantly the Musket Wars have provided the opportunity to examine Maori tactical developments through the critical stage between classical Maori warfare and the clashes with British and Colonial forces during the Northern war of 1845 and New Zealand wars of the 1860’s.

year: 1997