How accurate are self-evaluations of singing ability?

Research has shown that people inaccurately assess their own abilities on self-report measures, including academic, athletic, and music ability. Evidence suggests this is also true for singing, with individuals either overestimating or underestimating their level of singing competency. In this paper, we present the Melbourne Singing Tool Questionnaire (MST-Q), a brief 16-item measure exploring people's self-perceptions of singing ability and engagement with singing.

A program evaluation of Kids2Hear, a student-run hearing screening program for school children.

Background: Hearing deficits in children are demonstrably negatively associated with language acquisition and cognition. Although universal neonatal hearing screening exists, it is not offered equally across Canada. Additionally, children emigrating from other countries are often not assessed.

A new species of Chaetaglaea (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae, Xylenini), from eastern North America.

Chaetaglaea tremula (Harvey) occurs through the Gulf States, from southern Florida, west to eastern Texas. Coastal populations, previously referred to Chaetaglaea tremula occurring from the Carolinas, at least as far north as Massachusetts and shoreline dunes in southwestern Ontario are recognized as distinct and described here as Chaetaglaea rhonda. Adults and genitalia are illustrated for Chaetaglaea rhonda and Chaetaglaea tremula.

Analysis of B-genome chromosome introgression in interspecific hybrids of Brassica napus × B. carinata.

Brassica carinata, an allotetraploid with B and C genomes, has a number of traits that would be valuable to introgress into B. napus. Interspecific hybrids were created between B.

Teams communicating through STEPPS.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of a TeamSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) program at an Australian mental health facility.

Design, Setting And Participants: TeamSTEPPS is an evidence-based teamwork training system developed in the United States. Five health care sites in South Australia implemented TeamSTEPPS using a train-the-trainer model over an 8-month intervention period commencing January 2008 and concluding September 2008.

Evaluation of an intervention aimed at improving voluntary incident reporting in hospitals.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of an intervention package comprising intense education, a range of reporting options, changes in report management and enhanced feedback, in order to improve incident-reporting rates and change the types of incidents reported.

Design, Setting And Participants: Non-equivalent group controlled clinical trial involving medical and nursing staff working in 10 intervention and 10 control units in four major cities and two regional hospitals in South Australia.

Main Outcome Measures: Comparison of reporting rates by type of unit, profession, location of hospital, type of incident reported and reporting mechanism between baseline and study periods in control and intervention units.

Construction of the astaxanthin biosynthetic pathway in a methanotrophic bacterium Methylomonas sp. strain 16a.

Methylomonas sp. strain 16a is an obligate methanotrophic bacterium that uses methane or methanol as the sole carbon source. An effort was made to engineer this organism for astaxanthin production.

Mutational and functional analysis of the beta-carotene ketolase involved in the production of canthaxanthin and astaxanthin.

Biosynthesis of the commercial carotenoids canthaxanthin and astaxanthin requires beta-carotene ketolase. The functional importance of the conserved amino acid residues of this enzyme from Paracoccus sp. strain N81106 (formerly classified as Agrobacterium aurantiacum) was analyzed by alanine-scanning mutagenesis.

Topoisomerase II suppresses the temperature sensitivity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae pds5 mutants, but not the defect in sister chromatid cohesion.

Sister chromatid cohesion enables chromosomes to achieve bipolar attachment to the mitotic spindle and its dissolution is required for chromosome segregation. The cohesin complex serves as the primary molecular glue responsible for cohesion. Pds5p binds to the same chromosomal loci as the cohesin complex but plays a distinct role as a regulator of cohesion maintenance.

Pds5p regulates the maintenance of sister chromatid cohesion and is sumoylated to promote the dissolution of cohesion.

Pds5p and the cohesin complex are required for sister chromatid cohesion and localize to the same chromosomal loci over the same cell cycle window. However, Pds5p and the cohesin complex likely have distinct roles in cohesion. We report that pds5 mutants establish cohesion, but during mitosis exhibit precocious sister dissociation.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel beta-substituted indol-3-yl ethylamido melatoninergic analogues.

A series of new melatonin analogues have been synthesized. Interestingly, two of the new compounds, 11c and 11e, which did not show any appreciable affinity for the melatonin receptor, were found to be potent inhibitors of lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes. Analogue 11c, in particular, is a better antioxidant than melatonin.

Pds5p is an essential chromosomal protein required for both sister chromatid cohesion and condensation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The PDS5 gene (precocious dissociation of sisters) was identified in a genetic screen designed to identify genes important for chromosome structure. PDS5 is an essential gene and homologues are found from yeast to humans. Pds5p function is important for viability from S phase through mitosis and localizes to chromosomes during this cell cycle window, which encompasses the times when sister chromatid cohesion exists.

Septic arthritis due to Cryptococcus neoformans.

Cryptococcal arthritis is rare. We report two cases, one of infection of the hip joint in a 56-year-old woman, the other of arthritis of the elbows and knees in a 4-year-old boy. Both patients were treated successfully with a combination of surgical drainage and antifungal therapy.

Infection of the human orbit by Aspergillus stromatoides. Case report.

We report a case of human infection due to Aspergillus stromatoides. To our knowledge this organism has not previously been described as causing human infections. The infection of sino-orbital tissues was of 3 1/2 years duration and the patient died following cerebral involvement despite seven months of hospitalisation and therapy including amphotericin B, 5-fluorocytosine and rifampicin.

Pulmonary mucormycosis presenting with Horner's syndrome. Report of a medical cure.

A patient with pulmonary mucormycosis caused by Rhizopus oryzae was treated with a total dose of intravenous amphotericin B 2060 mg which resulted in medical cure. This is the first reported medical cure in the RSA of pulmonary mucormycosis. Mucormycosis with brachial plexus involvement and Horner's syndrome has not been previously reported.