Papers by Richard Matthews
Changing the user interface at a telecommunications terminal
These are words uttered by Lord Hope in the decision in Chargot [2009] 2 All ER 65, relating to e... more These are words uttered by Lord Hope in the decision in Chargot [2009] 2 All ER 65, relating to employers duties and directors duty as per the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 ('HSWA'). Richard Matthews QC represented the Health and Safety Executive in this case, Chargot, the leading authority on what the prosecution must prove in order to establish a prima facie case in a prosecution under sections 2, 3, 4, 7 and 37 of SWA 1974.
Middle School Journal, 1993
ACS macro letters, Jan 20, 2012
A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate how the bending rigidity of a polymer... more A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate how the bending rigidity of a polymer under tension affects the formation of a trefoil knot. Thermodynamic integration techniques are applied to demonstrate that the free-energy cost of forming a knot has a minimum at nonzero bending rigidity. The position of the minimum exhibits a power-law dependence on the applied tension. For knotted polymers with nonuniform bending rigidity, the knots preferentially localize in the region with a bending rigidity that minimizes the free energy.
Health as a mediator of change in the trajectory of young people in contact with the criminal justice system
International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 2007
Health care services in Juvenile Detention Centres have historically been provided by the crimina... more Health care services in Juvenile Detention Centres have historically been provided by the criminal justice system. These health services have focused on assessment and treatment of presenting health problems and have been hampered by the lack of clinical algorithms and standardised protocols expected of health run services. There is now comprehensive information on the health needs and prevalence of ill health, both physical and mental, for the population of adolescents in contact with the criminal justice system. This information has led to a greater understanding of the causative relationship between disadvantage, trauma, ill health and behaviour judged to be criminal as well an understanding of the need for a population health approach to underpin intervention. Young people in contact with the criminal justice system in New South Wales were found to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, have significant physical and mental health problems as well as increased risk behaviours and their associated health sequelae. This prevalence data can be used to plan service delivery and shape a model of delivery. Paradoxically incarceration offers an opportunity to target high prevalence health presentations and to screen for emerging physical and mental health problems. The potential to ameliorate life long conditions that impact on personal quality of life, and personal and system economic costs are of importance. There is the potential for some health interventions, such as mental illness and drug and alcohol to have an impact on the trajectory and lethality of recidivist behaviour. More research is required to examine health interventions with the potential to positively impact on long-term health outcomes as well as re-offending.
Toxicology Letters, 1996
Apoptosis has been described as programmed active cell death. Overexpression of the c-Myc gene ha... more Apoptosis has been described as programmed active cell death. Overexpression of the c-Myc gene has been shown to induce apoptosis in RatlA/Myc-ER cells when combined with a growth blocking agent. In the present study, we tested whether 4-Hydroxynonenal (HNE) or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (LNAC) affect apoptotic death in serum deprived RatlA/Myc-ER cells caused by the c-Myc protein. The incidence of apoptosis in growth arrested cells was confirmed photographically and by ladder pattern formation seen on agarose gel electrophoresis. To study the effect of HNE and LNAC, the cells were cultured in 0.5% serum and treated with various concentrations of HNE and LNAC. c-Myc was then activated by addition of 2/~M fl-estradiol. Two separate parameters were used to determine the rate of cell death. In the first, the amount of DNA isolated from dying cells was compared by UV absorption. As the second parameter, the cell numbers were determined by counting. Our results showed that 1 /zM of HNE has no effect on apoptotic cell death. However, 10/~M HNE decreased thc amount of DNA isolated while increasing the cell count 14% relatiw; to cells treated only with fl-estradiol. In addition, we found that various concentrations of the antioxidant LNAC does not protect cells from c-Myc induced death. However, it supports cell survival in 0.5% serum and causes an increase in cell number.
Life Sciences, 2008
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Effects of N-acetylcysteine amide (NACA), a thiol antioxidant on radiation-induced cytotoxicity in Chinese hamster ovary cells
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2013
A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate the effect of a fluctuating fluid mem... more A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate the effect of a fluctuating fluid membrane on the dynamics of patchy-particle assembly into virus capsid-like cores. Results from simulations for a broad range of parameters are presented, showing the effect of varying interaction strength, membrane stiffness and membrane viscosity. Furthermore, the effect of hydrodynamic interactions is investigated. Attraction to a membrane may promote assembly, including for sub-unit interaction strengths for which it does not occur in the bulk, and may also decrease single-core assembly time. The membrane budding rate is strongly increased by hydrodynamic interactions. The membrane deformation rate is important in determining the finite-time yield. Higher rates may decrease the entropic penalty for assembly and help guide sub-units towards each other but may also block partial cores from being completed. For increasing sub-unit interaction strength, three regimes with different effects of the membrane are identified.
Physical Review Letters, 2012
A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate the effect of a fluid membrane on pat... more A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate the effect of a fluid membrane on patchy-particle assembly into biologically-relevant structures motivated by viral cores and clathrin. For cores, we demonstrate a non-monotonic dependence of the promotion of assembly on membrane stiffness. If the membrane is significantly deformable, cores are enveloped in buds, although this effect is suppressed for very flexible membranes. In the less deformable regime, we observe no marked enhancement for cores, even for strong adhesion to the surface. For clarthrin-like particles, we again observe the formation of buds, whose morphology depends on membrane-flexibility. In self-assembly, the interactions between a collection of components guide them to spontaneously form an ordered structure [1]. Biological self-organization happens within cells, from which all living organisms are composed. Cells are all bounded by a membrane, as are many sub-cellular structures. Thus many self-assembly processes are membrane-influenced. Membranes themselves are also self-assembled, primarily as a lipid bilayer [2]. We focus, however, on structures assembled only from proteinaeous sub-units, particularly viruses and clathrin. The genome of a virus is contained in a core or capsid, a typically mono-disperse shell, assembled from individual protein complexes. Often the shells are approximately spherical, with many having icosahedral symmetry [3]. Viruses are divided into enveloped and nonenveloped types, depending on whether the core is surrounded by a membrane. The envelope in the former group is acquired through budding [4]. For both enveloped [5-10] and nonenveloped [11-13] viruses there is abundant evidence of membrane influence on core assembly. Clathrin, on the other hand, is intrinsically linked to membranes: its main function is the formation of coated vesicles for intra-cellular protein transport [14]. Its three-legged shape allows a collection of individual units to form structures that range from extended hexagonal sheets to closed cages, which always include 12 pentagonal, in addition to different numbers of hexagonal, faces [15]. Assembly is nucleated on cellular membranes by adaptors, protein complexes which bind the lattice to the membrane. Hexagonal sheets on membranes are observed [16] and coated vesicles form through budding [14]. Experimentally, the reversible disassembly and reassembly of viral capsids in solution may be triggered by raising and lowering the pH [17], allowing in vitro experiments of bulk assembly, which is observed, for example, by light scattering [18] or electron microscopy [19]. Similar experiments with clathrin [20] observed bulk assembly into cage structures, finding them to be much more homogeneous when adaptor proteins are present. Much theoretical work on biological bulk self-assembly has used patchy-particle models. Patchy-particles have discrete, attractive interaction sites on their surface and are very versatile in terms of the range of structures that may be assembled [21]. The main focus has been on the assembly of mono-disperse viral capsids [22-26], with simulations reproducing key characteristics such as a lag time, hysteresis and partial capsid formation at high concentrations. Simulations also give more detailed, experimentally inaccessible information about assembly dynamics. A similar coarse-grained simulation approach was also applied
In The Green Sprig
Michigan Historical Review, 1975
Treatment of Chronic Ulceration of the Legs with Human Amnion
The Lancet, 1980
Chronic leg ulcers in fifteen patients were prepared for autografting with a dressing of cultured... more Chronic leg ulcers in fifteen patients were prepared for autografting with a dressing of cultured human amnion. In thirteen vascular responses filled the ulcer beds with granulation tissue. Four patients initially received more traditional therapy and their lesions altered little in gross appearance and were not regarded clinically to have produced a granulation-tissue response. Fourteen patients received autografts after 5 days of amnion application and eight of these grafts have remained intact for 2-10 months. The appearance of healthy granulation tissue after amnion application was associated with successful autografting.
Journal of Applied Toxicology, 2008
Ethanol and ionizing radiation exposure are independently known to cause tissue damage through va... more Ethanol and ionizing radiation exposure are independently known to cause tissue damage through various mechanisms. The non-enzymatic and enzymatic metabolism of ethanol, the latter via the cytochrome P 450 2E1dependent pathway produces free radicals, which deplete cellular glutathione (GSH). Ionizing radiation exposure has been shown to induce lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, protein oxidation and GSH depletion. It was postulated that cells sensitized by ethanol will be susceptible to additional insult, such as by radiation through increased oxidative stress. In this investigation, cultured liver cells (HepG2, human hepatocellular liver carcinoma) were exposed to ethanol, followed by ionizing radiation. The antioxidant status of the cells was evaluated by an array of techniques. Levels of glutathione, cysteine (CYS), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured by HPLC. Activities of antioxidant enzymes, catalase and glutathione reductase (GR) were determined enzymatically. Apoptosis was evaluated by the caspases-3 assay and fluorescence microscopy. The data showed that combined treatment with ethanol and radiation resulted in the lowest levels of GSH, and highest MDA level compared with the control. The catalase activity was lower in the combined exposure groups, when compared with the single agent exposure groups, and the glutathione reductase activity was the highest in the combined exposure groups and lowest in the control. These findings suggest that a combination of ethanol and ionizing radiation results in greater toxicity in vitro through elevated oxidative stress.
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Papers by Richard Matthews