title: Fear and uncertainty: The surrogacy triad’s experience of social workers’ role ambiguity

authors: Walker, Ruth

abstract: In New Zealand, as in the UK, the surrogate is the legal mother of the child until parentage is transferred by the court to the intended parents. Social workers are responsible for assessing the intended parents’ suitability to parent and scrutinising the arrangement. However, courts almost invariably transfer parentage, regardless of their recommendations, with the result that social workers experience a significant amount of role ambiguity. We conducted semi-structured interviews with surrogates and intended parents about their experience of surrogacy in New Zealand, focussing on the changes they would like to see in the regulatory framework, particularly with regards to legal parentage and the involvement of social workers in assessing intending parents’ suitability to parent. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts showed that role ambiguity and role conflict experienced by social workers have their corollary in the experience of intended parents and surrogates, where it manifests as either fear that the adoption could be declined or uncertainty about the purpose of the social worker’s involvement. Although participants recommended that their role be eliminated—along with the adoption process itself—we argue that there is a valuable role for social workers at the beginning of the process.

text: Fear and uncertainty: The surrogacy triad’s experience of social workers’ role ambiguity In New Zealand, as in the UK, the surrogate is the legal mother of the child until parentage is transferred by the court to the intended parents. Social workers are responsible for assessing the intended parents’ suitability to parent and scrutinising the arrangement. However, courts almost invariably transfer parentage, regardless of their recommendations, with the result that social workers experience a significant amount of role ambiguity. We conducted semi-structured interviews with surrogates and intended parents about their experience of surrogacy in New Zealand, focussing on the changes they would like to see in the regulatory framework, particularly with regards to legal parentage and the involvement of social workers in assessing intending parents’ suitability to parent. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts showed that role ambiguity and role conflict experienced by social workers have their corollary in the experience of intended parents and surrogates, where it manifests as either fear that the adoption could be declined or uncertainty about the purpose of the social worker’s involvement. Although participants recommended that their role be eliminated—along with the adoption process itself—we argue that there is a valuable role for social workers at the beginning of the process.

year: 2020

title: Insensitivity to anorexigenic effects of naltrexone in the VPA rat model of autism

authors: Bray, Jonathon Edward

subjects: Naltrexone

abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disorder whose etiology lies in, among others, abnormal neural processing, and improper neural circuitry development. This results in a plethora of aberrant behaviors, including those driven by the brain’s reward system and by the endogenous mediators of reward, for example opioids. One of the maladaptive consequences of pathophysiology of the reward system is excessive consumption of palatable foods in people with autism and in ASD model animals, such as valproic acid (VPA)-induced ASD rats. Here, I hypothesized that overconsumption of palatable diets in the VPA ASD rat is caused by abnormal functioning of the opioid circuitry. To investigate this, first I determined sensitivity of sucrose liquid-fed or high?fat high-sugar chow (HFHS)-fed VPA vs non-VPA control rats to the anorexigenic properties of the opioid receptor antagonist, naltrexone (NTX), a drug that reduces eating for palatability, but does not affect feeding for calories. In the follow up immunohistochemical study involving a marker of neuronal activity, c-Fos, I examined differences in brain activation after an injection of the same dose of NTX in VPAs vs non-VPA controls. As expected, NTX did not affect energy-driven consumption of bland chow in non-VPA controls or VPAs. NTX did, however, decrease intake of palatable sucrose water and HFHS chow. Importantly, while 1 mg/kg NTX was sufficient to reduce eating for palatability in non-VPA controls, a 10-mg NTX dose was needed to achieve the same effect in VPAs. c-Fos analysis in the non–VPA controls showed significant differences in neuronal activation in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), supraoptic nucleus (SON), arcuate nucleus (ARC), Dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH), central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), and nucleus accumbens shell (NAc – shell). The VPA animals showed a difference only in the CeA. Collectively these data show different responsiveness to NTX at the behavioural (feeding) and brain activation iii (c-Fos) level, likely indicative of dysregulation of the opioid signaling and – more broadly – reward processing, in the autistic brain.

text: Insensitivity to anorexigenic effects of naltrexone in the VPA rat model of autism Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disorder whose etiology lies in, among others, abnormal neural processing, and improper neural circuitry development. This results in a plethora of aberrant behaviors, including those driven by the brain’s reward system and by the endogenous mediators of reward, for example opioids. One of the maladaptive consequences of pathophysiology of the reward system is excessive consumption of palatable foods in people with autism and in ASD model animals, such as valproic acid (VPA)-induced ASD rats. Here, I hypothesized that overconsumption of palatable diets in the VPA ASD rat is caused by abnormal functioning of the opioid circuitry. To investigate this, first I determined sensitivity of sucrose liquid-fed or high?fat high-sugar chow (HFHS)-fed VPA vs non-VPA control rats to the anorexigenic properties of the opioid receptor antagonist, naltrexone (NTX), a drug that reduces eating for palatability, but does not affect feeding for calories. In the follow up immunohistochemical study involving a marker of neuronal activity, c-Fos, I examined differences in brain activation after an injection of the same dose of NTX in VPAs vs non-VPA controls. As expected, NTX did not affect energy-driven consumption of bland chow in non-VPA controls or VPAs. NTX did, however, decrease intake of palatable sucrose water and HFHS chow. Importantly, while 1 mg/kg NTX was sufficient to reduce eating for palatability in non-VPA controls, a 10-mg NTX dose was needed to achieve the same effect in VPAs. c-Fos analysis in the non–VPA controls showed significant differences in neuronal activation in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), supraoptic nucleus (SON), arcuate nucleus (ARC), Dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH), central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), and nucleus accumbens shell (NAc – shell). The VPA animals showed a difference only in the CeA. Collectively these data show different responsiveness to NTX at the behavioural (feeding) and brain activation iii (c-Fos) level, likely indicative of dysregulation of the opioid signaling and – more broadly – reward processing, in the autistic brain.

year: 2022

title: Boat electrofishing salvage of fish in the Lower Mangamahoe Dam reservoir

authors: Hicks, Brendan J.

abstract: The aim of the survey was to salvage fish from the Lower Mangamahoe Dam reservoir before dewatering and dam removal. We used the University of Waikato’s 4.5 m-long, aluminium-hulled electrofishing boat to catch a total of 140 fish weighing an estimated 37.0 kg along 8 fishing tracks sites on 24 February 2022. These tracks comprised 2,807 lineal m and 11,228 m2 in area. Shortfin eels (Anguilla australis) and common bullies (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) were the only fish species present. Mean density of eels caught was 2.9 fish 100 m–2 and mean biomass was 7.84 g m–2. The eels and bullies were transferred to sites downstream in the Waiwhakaiho River by iwi members of the two hapū - Ngāti Te Whiti and Ngāti Tawhirikura. Water clarity, expressed as black disc distance (BDD, 1.05 m), was good for a shallow lake, and water temperature and water conductivity were close to optimum for electrofishing. Poor water clarity can reduce the efficiency of electrofishing, so we left time after fishing each track for the sediment suspended by the propellor wash to sink before refishing a track.

text: Boat electrofishing salvage of fish in the Lower Mangamahoe Dam reservoir The aim of the survey was to salvage fish from the Lower Mangamahoe Dam reservoir before dewatering and dam removal. We used the University of Waikato’s 4.5 m-long, aluminium-hulled electrofishing boat to catch a total of 140 fish weighing an estimated 37.0 kg along 8 fishing tracks sites on 24 February 2022. These tracks comprised 2,807 lineal m and 11,228 m2 in area. Shortfin eels (Anguilla australis) and common bullies (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) were the only fish species present. Mean density of eels caught was 2.9 fish 100 m–2 and mean biomass was 7.84 g m–2. The eels and bullies were transferred to sites downstream in the Waiwhakaiho River by iwi members of the two hapū - Ngāti Te Whiti and Ngāti Tawhirikura. Water clarity, expressed as black disc distance (BDD, 1.05 m), was good for a shallow lake, and water temperature and water conductivity were close to optimum for electrofishing. Poor water clarity can reduce the efficiency of electrofishing, so we left time after fishing each track for the sediment suspended by the propellor wash to sink before refishing a track.

year: 2022