Risking for protection: discourses around 'safe sex' among Chilean, Turkish and second-generation Greek women living in Melbourne, Australia.

The aim of this study was to identify the ways in which women from Turkish, second-generation Greek and Chilean backgrounds living in Melbourne, Australia, understand risks to their sexual health with a focus on STDs including HIV/AIDS. Data were derived from in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 women from each ethnic group (N = 60). Interviews were guided by a theme list, conducted in the woman's language of preference, tape-recorded and fully transcribed. Transcripts were double coded for key themes and analysed using ethnographic content analysis. The key findings are that for many women, reducing the risk of STDs to protect their physical health introduces risks to their social health and to the well-being of their family and community. Thus, women place priority over the protection of their social health as opposed to their physical health. Despite specific cultural differences in understandings of sexual health risks and illnesses, all women shared gendered commonalities in the ways in which they contextualise STDs within the wider context of social relationships and their everyday life. We conclude by arguing for interventions that specifically take into account social models of risk in STD and HIV/AIDS prevention and we consider the practical implications of this for harm reduction strategies in multicultural societies such as Australia.

Evaluation of a novel PCR-based diagnostic assay for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples.

We report on a PCR-based assay we have developed for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples. One hundred sputum specimens, which included 34 culture-positive and 66 culture-negative specimens, were evaluated with this system. Of the 34 culture-positive specimens, 31 were PCR positive, and 60 of the culture-negative specimens were PCR negative. An internal standard has been included in the assay system to monitor PCR inhibition and to confirm the reliability of the PCR assay.

DNA probe for Aeromonas salmonicida.

A DNA fragment that is specific to Aeromonas salmonicida has been isolated from a genomic DNA library by differential hybridization. The specificity of this fragment as a DNA probe for A. salmonicida was shown by hybridization against reference strains and clinical isolates of A. salmonicida, related aeromonads, and species from several other bacterial genera. The sensitivity of detection by a polymerase chain reaction test, based on this fragment, was approximately two A. salmonicida cells.

Evidence for a previously unidentified upstream exon in the human oestrogen receptor gene.

The presence of a previously unidentified exon upstream of the originally described human oestrogen receptor (hOR) gene is demonstrated. This is shown to be spliced to the 5' untranslated region of the previously designated exon I. The resulting genomic structure of the human gene is thus in agreement with the structure of the mouse OR gene and highlights the conservation of an 18 amino acid upstream open-reading frame formed from the above splicing event. Taken in conjunction with previous publications this would suggest that the hOR gene is a complex transcriptional unit that contains two promoters.

Characterization of PBSX, a defective prophage of Bacillus subtilis.

PBSX, a defective Bacillus subtilis prophage, maps to the metA-metC region of the chromosome. DNA (33 kilobases) from this region of the chromosome was cloned and analyzed by insertional mutagenesis with the integrating plasmid pWD3. This plasmid had a promoterless alpha-amylase gene (amyL) that provided information on the direction and level of transcription at the site of integration. Transcription under the control of the PBSX repressor proceeded in the direction metA to metC over a distance of at least 18 kilobases. Electrophoretic analysis of proteins produced by different integrant strains upon PBSX induction and by fragments subcloned in Escherichia coli allowed the identification of early and late regions of the prophage. A set of contiguous fragments directing mutagenic integration suggested that the minimum size of an operon that encodes phage structural proteins is 19 kilobases. The adaptation of PBSX transcriptional and replicational functions to a chromosomally based, thermoinducible expression system is discussed.

The isolation of strains of Bacillus subtilis showing improved plasmid stability characteristics by means of selective chemostat culture.

A pUB110-derived plasmid encoding chloramphenicol resistance, kanamycin resistance and high-temperature alpha-amylase showed a high degree of segregational instability when inserted into Bacillus subtilis. In an attempt to obtain stable derivatives, the organism was grown in chemostat culture in the presence of chlorampheniol. It was periodically found necessary to increase the concentration of chloramphenicol in the medium feed in order to avoid plasmid loss. Strains were isolated after 19 and 160 generations, which showed high levels of plasmid stability. This characteristic appeared to be genotypic. No detectable difference in plasmid copy number was found between the original and the improved strains. The stability characteristics resided in the host, rather than in the plasmid. Stable isolates possessed elevated MICs for both chloramphenicol and kanamycin. Their maximum specific growth rates were higher than that of the original strain, and similar to that of the plasmid-free parent strain.