title: Diversity and biosynthetic potential of culturable microbes associated with toxic marine animals

authors: Chau, Rocky

subjects: tetrodotoxin

abstract: Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a neurotoxin that has been reported from taxonomically diverse organisms across 14 different phyla. The biogenic origin of tetrodotoxin is still disputed, however, TTX biosynthesis by host-associated bacteria has been reported. An investigation into the culturable microbial populations from the TTX-associated blue-ringed octopus Hapalochlaena sp. and sea slug Pleurobranchaea maculata revealed a surprisingly high microbial diversity. Although TTX was not detected among the cultured isolates, PCR screening identifiedsome natural product biosynthesis genes putatively involved in its assembly. This study is the first to report on the microbial diversity of culturable communities from H. maculosa and P. maculata and common natural product biosynthesis genes from their microbiota. We also reassess the production of TTX reported from three bacterial strains isolated from the TTX-containing gastropod Nassarius semiplicatus.

text: Diversity and biosynthetic potential of culturable microbes associated with toxic marine animals Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a neurotoxin that has been reported from taxonomically diverse organisms across 14 different phyla. The biogenic origin of tetrodotoxin is still disputed, however, TTX biosynthesis by host-associated bacteria has been reported. An investigation into the culturable microbial populations from the TTX-associated blue-ringed octopus Hapalochlaena sp. and sea slug Pleurobranchaea maculata revealed a surprisingly high microbial diversity. Although TTX was not detected among the cultured isolates, PCR screening identifiedsome natural product biosynthesis genes putatively involved in its assembly. This study is the first to report on the microbial diversity of culturable communities from H. maculosa and P. maculata and common natural product biosynthesis genes from their microbiota. We also reassess the production of TTX reported from three bacterial strains isolated from the TTX-containing gastropod Nassarius semiplicatus.

year: 2013

title: The determinants of GP visits in New Zealand

authors: Cumming, Jacqueline

subjects: General practitioner

abstract: Objective: To identify the characteristics of New Zealanders who utilised primary healthcare services prior to the implementation of the New Zealand Primary Healthcare Strategy (PHCS).
Methods: This paper uses data from the 1996/97 and 2002/03 waves of the nationally representative New Zealand Health Survey to examine the relationship between individual, household and community characteristics and the utilisation of healthcare services by New Zealanders. Multivariate regression models are used to examine the correlation between particular characteristics and whether an individual visited a GP in the previous 12 months, the number of visits made to a GP in the previous 12 months, whether they reported needing to see a GP in the previous 12 months, but failed to do so, and whether they visited a secondary practitioner in the previous 12 months.
Results: Gender, age, and ethnicity are all found to be significantly related to healthcare utilisation, even when controlling for a fairly comprehensive set of characteristics. On the other hand, education, marital status, household composition, household income and community deprivation are found to be unrelated to healthcare utilisation. A strong relationship is found between employment status, health status and healthcare utilisation.
Conclusions and implications: We do not find any evidence of a relationship between socioeconomic status and healthcare utilisation after controlling for other measures of need. This and other findings suggest that the government subsidies in place prior to the implementation of the 2001 Primary Healthcare Strategy helped to ensure that user charges did not limit service utilisation in New Zealand for groups with lower socioeconomic status.

text: The determinants of GP visits in New Zealand Objective: To identify the characteristics of New Zealanders who utilised primary healthcare services prior to the implementation of the New Zealand Primary Healthcare Strategy (PHCS).
Methods: This paper uses data from the 1996/97 and 2002/03 waves of the nationally representative New Zealand Health Survey to examine the relationship between individual, household and community characteristics and the utilisation of healthcare services by New Zealanders. Multivariate regression models are used to examine the correlation between particular characteristics and whether an individual visited a GP in the previous 12 months, the number of visits made to a GP in the previous 12 months, whether they reported needing to see a GP in the previous 12 months, but failed to do so, and whether they visited a secondary practitioner in the previous 12 months.
Results: Gender, age, and ethnicity are all found to be significantly related to healthcare utilisation, even when controlling for a fairly comprehensive set of characteristics. On the other hand, education, marital status, household composition, household income and community deprivation are found to be unrelated to healthcare utilisation. A strong relationship is found between employment status, health status and healthcare utilisation.
Conclusions and implications: We do not find any evidence of a relationship between socioeconomic status and healthcare utilisation after controlling for other measures of need. This and other findings suggest that the government subsidies in place prior to the implementation of the 2001 Primary Healthcare Strategy helped to ensure that user charges did not limit service utilisation in New Zealand for groups with lower socioeconomic status.

year: 2010

title: The peopling and development of Aotearoa New Zealand: A demographic history, 1769-2020

authors: Pool, Ian

subjects: Aotearoa

abstract: This unpublished manuscript is the first demographic history of Aotearoa New Zealand, integrating 250 years of Māori and non-Māori data. It explores how development, in the broadest social, cultural and economic sense drove population changes, but was in turn driven by demographic factors. Based on extensively referenced research and analysis, the timeline starts with the earliest European settlement and finishes with the multicultural and aging society of the first decades of the twenty-first century.  It encompasses momentous changes, including: successive waves of migration, European settler demographic dominance occurring rapidly through natural increase, Māori nineteenth century cultural devastation and population decline, and twentieth-century resurgence, the Māori rural/urban exodus beginning in the 1940s, and the post-war non-Māori baby boom and baby bust. At each stage, this book demonstrates how profoundly the story of Aotearoa New Zealand is also the demographic story of its peopling.

text: The peopling and development of Aotearoa New Zealand: A demographic history, 1769-2020 This unpublished manuscript is the first demographic history of Aotearoa New Zealand, integrating 250 years of Māori and non-Māori data. It explores how development, in the broadest social, cultural and economic sense drove population changes, but was in turn driven by demographic factors. Based on extensively referenced research and analysis, the timeline starts with the earliest European settlement and finishes with the multicultural and aging society of the first decades of the twenty-first century.  It encompasses momentous changes, including: successive waves of migration, European settler demographic dominance occurring rapidly through natural increase, Māori nineteenth century cultural devastation and population decline, and twentieth-century resurgence, the Māori rural/urban exodus beginning in the 1940s, and the post-war non-Māori baby boom and baby bust. At each stage, this book demonstrates how profoundly the story of Aotearoa New Zealand is also the demographic story of its peopling.

year: 2026