KID'S PALS: AN INTERGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY PROJECT

In previously immunized elderly adults inactivated influenza A (H1N1) virus vaccines induce poor antibody responses that are not enhanced by liposome adjuvant

Two groups of 10 healthy ambulatory subjects, i.e., a group of 10 persons less than or equal to 30 years of age (mean age, 27.6 years) and a group of 10 persons greater than or equal to 65 years of age (mean age, 70 years), were randomized in a single-trial crossover design to receive 1 and 2 g of cefoperazone with a 1-week washout between doses. The elderly subjects had both decreased estimated creatinine clearances and decreased albumin concentrations in serum. Cefoperazone concentrations in serum of elderly persons were significantly higher at each interval from 30 min to 6 h for the 2-g dose. Compared with that in younger persons, the total clearance in elderly subjects was significantly lower for both the 1- and 2-g doses, the renal clearance was significantly lower for the 2-g dose, and the area under the curve was significantly higher for the 2-g dose in the elderly persons. The half-life at beta phase was higher in the elderly persons at both the 1- and 2-g doses but not significantly so. Changes in total clearance and area under the curve and higher levels in serum in the elderly persons suggest a longer duration of antimicrobial activity in this age group.

The authors report the latest findings from a 32-year longitudinal study of 269 back-ward patients from Vermont State Hospital. This intact cohort participated in a comprehensive rehabilitation program and was released to the community in a planned deinstitutionalization effort during the mid-1950s. At their 10-year follow-up mark, 70% of these patients remained out of the hospital but many were socially isolated and many were recidivists. Twenty to 25 years after their index release, 262 of these subjects were blindly assessed with structured and reliable protocols. One-half to two-thirds of them had achieved considerable improvement or recovery, which corroborates recent findings from Europe and elsewhere.

Using data from the 2011 Census, we estimate quality of life across Australia. With mobile households, utility will be equalised across regions, so those regions with high real incomes must have a compensating low quality of life and vice versa. There are significant differences in quality of life across the 56 regions we examine. The top‐ranked region in our study is the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, while the Western Australian Outback has the lowest quality of life. The drivers of quality of life are explored, and climate appears to be important as well as certain human‐made cultural amenities.

This paper presents the results of a small number of dates from sand samples collected at building sites in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. OSL ages of well-sorted, quartz sand ranges from 31 to 24 ka from within well-developed podzol soil profiles within a metre of the surface. The source of this sand appears to be from the east off the inner continental shelf during a period just prior to the maximum of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, Marine Isotope Stage 2) when sea-level was approximately 70–90 m below present level. During a later phase of the LGM, there is evidence from other coastal sites in central NSW and Gippsland, Victoria, that the dominant wind was from the west consistent with evidence from arid and semiarid Australia. Dune orientations in northern NSW into Queensland and other evidence at this time appear to reflect winds from the southeast quadrant. This study highlights the existence of a potential pivot area in dominant wind direction during the LGM between sustained westerly flow in southern area including Victoria and northeast Tasmania and southeast flow of northern NSW into Queensland. In central NSW, the circulation switched from easterly in Stage 2 to westerly as the glacial stage intensified in the LGM sometime after ca 25 ka.