Griffith University researchers have helped identify an important breakthrough in understanding the deadly meningococcal disease.

Professor Michael Jennings, Deputy Director of the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith, was part of an international team that discovered the previously unknown pathway of how the bacterium colonizes people.

“Neisseria meningitidis is an important human pathogen that can cause rapidly progressing, life threatening meningitis and meningococcal sepsis in humans,” Professor Jennings said.

“Until now we have not known how it attaches to the human host. It has been a long-standing mystery how it attaches to the airway to colonize”

People can be carriers of the bug and not get any symptoms, while some people progress to invasive disease.  To understand why we need to know the detail of how the bacterium colonizes the airway. Now that the pathway has been identified we can study this process to understand how invasive disease occurs. This is especially important considering the rapidly progressing and serious outcomes of meningococcal disease.

“If you understand how the bug first attaches and how it first signals its attachment then we may identify new risk factors or treatment procedures,” Professor Jennings said.

The findings were published Friday in the highly regard PLOS Pathogens journal as featured research “Dual Pili Post-translational Modifications Synergize to Mediate Meningococcal Adherence to Platelet Activating Factor Receptor on Human Airway Cells”

The paper states: There is no fully protective vaccine against this pathogen in current use and the key processes that dictate the transition from harmless carriage of the bacterium in the airway (the case for the vast majority of colonised hosts) to invasive disease are largely undefined. A key missing link in this organism’s interaction with the human host is the identity of the receptor that is the first point of contact for the organism within the airway.

Professor Jennings said the receptor is used by a range of airway pathogens and the bacterium mimics a human structure to attach to this receptor.

“It’s not actually protein that attaches to the receptor but decorations on the protein that are known as post-translational modifications. One of these is a sugar structure, which of course is of great interest to our work here at Glycomics,” he said.

The Institute of Glycomics is a world leader in the study of glycans and carbohydrates (sugars) and how they behave in terms of disease prevention and cure.

Professor Jennings worked with Glycomics colleague researcher Dr Freda Jen and scientists from Australia, United Kingdom and United States on this study.

The Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP) has called for a better understanding of rural cultures and how they might affect suicidal behaviours. The findings, in a recently released book by the Griffith University-based  institute make clear the importance of understanding  rural Australia better in order to find more effective prevention strategies.

“There is also a great need to better understand the relationship between access to appropriate and high-quality physical and mental healthcare in rural areas,” said lead researcher Dr Kairi Kolves.

“There is no doubt that great effort is being made to help rural communities; however, there is a need for better evaluation of these strategies in order to ensure their efficacy and validity, as well as to ensure there are no regions or groups overlooked.”

Dr Kolves team identified five key areas of concern with potential strategies to address them;

• Better support for people in exceptional circumstances
• Better vocational education and training
• Addressing the culture help-seeking for mental health issues
• Encouraging the development of culturally appropriate and flexible sources of support

“This may include ‘upskilling’ key members of the community to provide treatment and/or referral services,” said Dr Kolves.

Suicide is a significant problem in rural Australia, mostly associated with men, but exacerbated by weather cycles and events more significantly affecting people’s mental health.

With mental health services more likely to be thin on the ground in rural areas, AISRAP believe established social services and clubs, such as sporting clubs, CWA etc should be trained to look for the early signs mental health difficulties before they get out of hand.

Two doctors and a final year medical student all with shared interest in rural medicine have returned from Papua New Guinea after exploring a new frontier in medical education.

Griffith University Professor Scott Kitchener and Dr Andrew Ready from Queensland Rural Medical Education (QRME) and Brodie Quinn, a Griffith medicine graduate, went in search of learning opportunities that would not only benefit the students, but add to the health care of the people of PNG.

North of the Fly River

They travelled to clinics in Kiunga and Rumginae at the north end of the Fly River to meet with local doctors and health care professionals.

“When I asked them, ‘do you think you could have medical students here on placement?’ their response was ‘how many do you think you can send?’” said Dr Quinn

The remote clinics offer a dramatically different experience from the medical student-flooded hospitals and clinics in Australia today.

Safe

“The two clinics are remote by any standards, the only way in is by air. Like most rural communities both Rumginae and Kiunga are safe, friendly and very welcoming of people from the health care profession.”

The clinics, although medium size, had a turn over like that of most regional hospitals in Australia with wards including high level obstetrics, paediatrics, surgery and infectious disease.

Griffith and QRME hope to have final year medical students at both clinics for the second half of 2013.

A unique experience is assured, with a student’s presence also increasing the value of the services provided by the local health district.

The PNG clinics offer students a genuine opportunity to be of value to the services they learn in and expand their own horizon.

By Jenny O’Neill, Manager, Employer Liaison and Graduate Promotion - Careers and Employment Service

Degree = Job?  (Myth!)

Degree + Self Awareness + Career Research + Networking + Experience + Job application skills = Job (Reality!)

Griffith’s Careers and Employment Service staff are often alarmed by the prevalent assumption that graduating with a degree is an automatic passport to employment.

This is unfortunately not the case and many students leave preparing for graduate and postgraduate job search until it is too late.

Employment success has parallels with study. Just as we wouldn’t do well in an assignment without researching the topic, we shouldn’t expect to be able to get a great graduate job without prior preparation.

We can start from first year to research our future professions, explore the kind of work we are most suited to and start building a portfolio of employability skills that we are developing.

Progressive preparation throughout our degree life cycle will make our eventual graduate job search so much easier and dramatically increase our chance of success.

As with any endeavour, the success of our job search is affected by the conscientiousness of our efforts. But there’s no use trying hard if we don’t have a strategy.

Griffith’s Careers Service professionals are well aware of the job search formulas that really work and can pass on this knowledge to Griffith students via online resources and a suite of programs and services designed to maximise career success:  intranet.griffith.edu.au/careers

Let’s look at the components of a successful formula for landing the job we want by asking ourselves some questions:

• Can I identify and articulate my skills and strengths to prospective employers? (Self Awareness)
• How much do I know about the industry I’m hoping to enter? Do I know where the ‘hidden’ jobs are? (Career Research)
• Who do I know in the industry I’m hoping to enter and how do I develop industry contacts? (Networking)
• Have I gained degree-related experience while I have been studying? (Experience – work placements, internships, vacation work, part time, casual or volunteer work in my field).
• Do I know how to prepare an effective resume and write persuasive application letters and selection criteria? (Job application skills)

We live in a highly competitive job market.

With over 75% of employment vacancies never making it to an advertisement, we cannot afford to wait complacently for opportunities to be advertised.

We must proactively search out opportunities and market ourselves to companies and individuals who can help us achieve the career we want. For information and assistance with all the components necessary to succeed in your job search, you’ll find thousands of useful resources on our Careers and Employment Service website at:  intranet.griffith.edu.au/careers

Try this:

E=MC²  ?  >  Employment = My Career Conscientiousness²

(Apologies to Albert)

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for careers news & myth-busting!

Jenny

Once a flourishing linchpin of any community, the volunteer is easily classified today in the category titled ‘Rare Breed’.

A Griffith University researcher says the tide can be turned through volunteer tourism.

Dr Alexandra Coghlan, a senior lecturer at Griffith’s Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, is encouraging want-to-be volunteers to embrace the spirit of National Volunteer Week through volunteer tourism.

“People are increasingly time poor, and many people struggle to find time to volunteer,” Dr Coghlan said. “But by incorporating volunteering into your annual holiday, you can effectively create the time to volunteer.

“And the health benefits for volunteers are significant.”

Volunteer tourism involves tourists who travel for leisure and volunteer at the destination.

Typically, volunteering is channelled into either educational or humanitarian welfare projects. A volunteer can teach, support conservation projects or put the shoulder to the wheel and help with community construction projects that improve health and wellbeing in poor regions overseas.

“Volunteer tourism has been growing in popularity, particularly among young travellers. It’s almost like a new form of initiation travel for the backpacker,” she says.

“But it has also come become a victim of its own success with commercial businesses increasingly moving into a space previously occupied by not-for-profit organisations.”

Dr Coghlan says the resultant commodification of the volunteer tourism sector is inevitable, and some worthwhile projects will fall by the wayside if they are not selling.

“This is the biggest issue associated with volunteer tourism but once you link these worthwhile projects with tourism, they’re at the mercy of tourist markets which are always demand-led, so it is somewhat inevitable.

“Instead I would encourage people to focus on the real health benefits to be gained from volunteer tourism.

“Social capital is equally as important as financial capital in terms of achieving better health, and volunteering is a means to this healthier end.

“It provides a healthier lifestyle in terms of personal development, better relationships, education, health and wellbeing.”

Dr Coghlan highlights the seven domains of health. These are physical health, spiritual health, social health, financial health, intellectual health, emotional health, environmental health.

“Volunteer tourism can be linked to most of these but it fits perfectly with the social domain of health as it builds relationships and opens our eyes and minds to new cultures.”

National Volunteer Week 2013 ends on Friday, May 19.

You can watch and read the whole story here: http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2013/05/16/Will-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-be-President-of-Burma.aspx

You can read the whole article here: http://fijilive.com/news/2013/05/ageing-population-not-a-worry-academic/53854.Fijilive

You can hear the entire podcast here: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asia/radio/program/connect-asia/questions-over-legal-fairness-in-myanmar/1128414

You can read the whole article here: Asylum for persecuted homosexuals in the Republic of Korea

The Griffith MBA for Life, an initiative designed to keep graduates in tune with the latest business moves and developments, was launched last night (May 16).

The Griffith Business School innovation in postgraduate education has been carefully structured to meet the professional needs of busy MBA graduates as the business landscape evolves relentlessly.

The MBA App was also unveiled in conjunction with the MBA for Life launch at the Ship Inn Function Room at Griffith University’s South Bank campus.

VIDEO: MBA for Life here

The App is an interactive platform where anyone can update knowledge and get across the latest industry thinking through a range of categories including Director’s Updates, Ideas and Tips and MBA Program content.

Business events, networking opportunities and articles from around the world on business practice are also accessible through the App.

“The MBA for Life is very much embodied in the App,” MBA Director, Dr Nick Barter, says.

The Griffith MBA is built around three core values – responsible leadership, sustainable business practice and global orientation – which effectively inform and guide the personal and professional lives of graduates.

“No one is going to say they want to be less responsible in the future. History shows organisations have taken on more and more responsibility over time,” Dr Barter says.

“No one is going to say let’s use up more resources, more quickly. Sustainable business practice is here to stay.

“These values transcend the moment and are worth retaining and revisiting. If someone is about responsible leadership, sustainability and has a global orientation, that doesn’t stop overnight.”

The MBA for Life will enable graduates operating at all levels of the business world to engage and interact with the latest thinking through the MBA App, a vibrant LinkedIn group and lecture options and short-course business workshops.

An updated and refreshed MBA curriculum, with an eye on the Asia Pacific region, will also inform the MBA for Life significantly.

“The Griffith MBA is a qualification for a lifetime and through the MBA for Life initiative, students can ensure they continue to stay up to date with the latest thinking and thus continue to be agents of change, making the world a better place to live and do business in.

“We are not providing training, we’re providing an education.”