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The fourth-stage autoinfective larva of Strongyloides stercoralis: redescription and diagnostic implications
Full text linkHuman strongyloidiasis is often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed, which can relate to a lack of knowledge or recognition of the importance of particular developmental/larval stages of Strongyloides stercoralis in making an accurate diagnosis using parasitological methods (a morphological approach or morphological features/characters). Here, we report the identification of S. stercoralis autoinfective fourth-stage larvae (L4a) in naturally infected humans, encountered in two clinical cases in Australia. These larvae were identified in sputum (Case 1) and bronchoalveolar lavage (Case 2) specimens by direct wet-mount microscopy. The L4a of S. stercoralis can be morphologically differentiated from autoinfective third-stage larvae by its conical and pointed tail and a relatively mature genital primordium with an enlarged genital rudiment and the formation of a vulva within cuticle layers. This study emphasizes the need to consider these morphological features of the L4a stage for an accurate diagnosis of S. stercoralis infection. A detailed morphological description of this stage is given to guide laboratory practitioners and researchers in the identification and differentiation of this unique but neglected life-cycle stage of S. stercoralis
Sex estimation by discriminant function analysis of long bones in prehistoric Southeast Asian populations
No full textBiological sex estimation is an integral part of reconstructing the biological profile of an individual in forensic anthropological and bioarchaeological contexts. Formulating population specific discriminant function equations for metric variables is vital for reconstructing biological sex of fragmentary skeletal remains. This study aimed to develop multivariable and univariable sectioning point sex estimation equations from long bones of prehistoric Thailand and Cambodia people dated from 4700 to 1450 BP. A total of 481 individuals (236 females and 245 males) with 997 long bone measurements were analyzed. Discriminant function analysis was used to analyze sexually dimorphic measurements from long bones of humeri (177 females and 183 males), femora (169 females and 178 males), and tibiae (139 females and 151 males). Stepwise and direct multivariable functions offered the highest accuracies of 97.3% for humeri, 97% for femora, and 96.7% for tibiae. Univariable functions indicated that the recommended measurements for use in sex estimations with high cross-validation accuracies are the humeral epicondylar breadth (89.1%), femoral maximum head diameter (87.1%), and tibial midshaft circumference (88.3%). These equations are applicable for use in sex estimation for the specific prehistoric Southeast Asian populations to improve our understanding of the prehistoric demography. Further evaluation and validation of the equations are required to test whether these equations can also be applied to estimate biological sex of contemporary Southeast Asian populations
Cultural safety in telehealth consultations with Indigenous people: A scoping review of global literature
No full textIntroduction: Telehealth has become increasingly routine within healthcare and has potential to reduce barriers to care, including for Indigenous populations. However, it is crucial for practitioners to first ensure that their telehealth practice is culturally safe. This review aims to describe the attributes of culturally safe telehealth consultations for Indigenous people as well as strategies that could promote cultural safety.
Methods: A scoping review was conducted on key features of cultural safety in telehealth for Indigenous people using the Johanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines and PRISMA-ScR checklist. Five electronic databases were searched, and additional literature was identified through handsearching.
Results: A total of 649 articles were screened resulting in 17 articles included in the review. The central themes related to the provision of culturally safe telehealth refer to attributes of the practitioner: cultural and community knowledge, communication skills and the building and maintenance of patient–provider relationships. These practitioner attributes are modified and shaped by external environmental factors: technology, the availability of support staff and the telehealth setting.
Discussion: This review identified practitioner-led features which enhance cultural safety but also recognised the structural factors that can contribute, both positively and negatively, to the cultural safety of a telehealth interaction. For some individuals, telehealth is not a comfortable or acceptable form of care. However, if strategies are undertaken to make telehealth more culturally safe, it has the potential to increase opportunities for access to care and thus contribute towards reducing health inequalities faced by Indigenous peoples
Give Me a Straight Answer: Response Ambiguity Diminishes Likability
Full text linkAcross nine experiments (eight preregistered) involving Western and Asian samples, we showed that people providing ambiguous (vs. specific) responses to questions in various social scenarios are seen as less likable. This is because, depending on the social context, response ambiguity may be interpreted as a way to conceal the truth and as a sign of social disinterest. Consequently, people reported lower inclination to befriend or date individuals who appeared to provide ambiguous responses. We also identified situations in which response ambiguity does not harm likability, such as when the questions are sensitive and the responder may need to “soften the blow”. A final exploratory study showed that response ambiguity also impacts personality perceptions - individuals providing ambiguous responses are judged as less warm, less extraverted, less gullible, and more cautious. We discuss theoretical implications for the language psychology and person perception literatures, and practical implications for impression management and formation
Ex Machina: Machine Learning, ceramics & rock art in the Khorat Plateau, Thailand
No full textMachine Learning for the recognition and analysis of prehistoric rock art and pottery is a promising area of research that could reveal new insights into cultural heritage and identity. Deep Learning (a form of Artificial Intelligence) can now be used to train powerful models to automatically recognise pottery and rock art images, overcoming resource constraints such as time, manpower, and lack of funding. This article provides a preliminary overview and proof of concept by providing Machine Learning approaches based on current advancements in Deep Learning to train a model to recognise images of pottery and prehistoric rock art. These methods can process large amounts of data quickly and accurately, revealing new patterns and relationships. Although ML can be a complex undertaking, new tools make it accessible to the archaeological practitioner who is not an AI expert
The first record of the southbound movements of satellite-tagged pygmy blue whales (B. m. brevicauda) from Savu Sea (Indonesia) to the subantarctic waters
Full text link[Extract] Pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) are known to conduct annual migrations between the southern and western waters of Australia to the Banda Sea via the Savu Sea in Indonesia (Double et al., 2014; Möller et al., 2020). However, the journey back to Australian waters is rarely documented, often due to limited battery life of satellite tags deployed in Australian waters or inadequate funding to conduct satellite tracking studies originating in the Indonesian waters
Low-risk caesarean among black women may be independent of hospital structural characteristics
No full text[Extract] Racial disparities have been shown to increase the likelihood of low-risk caesarean (LRC) among non-Hispanic black or Hispanic people compared to white people.1 In a cross-sectional study, Clark et al2 compared the caesarean birth rates of black and white women at low risk for caesarean birth across hospitals that were categorised into low, medium and high proportions of black women. LRC was defined as a term, singleton, vertex and live birth in women without prior caesareans and without high-risk diagnoses. Hospital categories were created based on the proportion of black women giving birth at a hospital
Affective Ambush: An Autotheoretical Approach to Understanding Emotions as Useful to the Research Process
Full text linkThis essay considers the use of emotions in life narrative research. Using autotheory the authors recount and reflect on their experiences of a phenomenon they are tentatively calling ‘affective ambush’, wherein during the course of research the researcher unexpectedly experiences significantly heightened affect—or ‘big feelings’—stimulated by research materials. Drawing on Sarah Ahmed, they position sites of affective ambush as feminist spaces of encounter that yield rich data accessible through embodied modes of enquiry such as autotheory and autocriticism. As such, in this essay they seek to trouble and problematise the dominant detached and ‘objective’ academic position, and investigate how moving outside of this paradigm has unique implications for scholars of life narrative, trauma and grief. They propose instances of ‘affective ambush’ as sources of affective information that, if integrated into the research process, can reveal new insights about the texts and subjects that we investigate as life narrative scholars
Great Barrier Reef Indigenous archaeology and occupation of associated reef and continental islands
Full text linkThe coasts, islands and waters of the Great Barrier Reef have been home for First Nations peoples for thousands of years. Most of the islands and coral cays of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) formed in the Holocene (last 11,700 years) following postglacial sea level rise. Continuous First Nations coastal occupation occurred in the GBRWHA from at least c.9000 years ago to the present with increasingly intensive coast and island use evident by the Mid-Holocene (c.4000–6000 years ago), with specialised maritime economies known historically and ethnographically emerging throughout the Late Holocene (past 4000 years). Archaeological research in the GBRWHA has focused on when islands were first used and/or seasonally or permanently occupied; how people travelled to islands; Melanesian and Asian connections; cultural responses to insularity and isolation; and the effects of sea-level and climate change. GBRWHA archaeological sites are unique archives of information on long-term inter-relationships between environment and culture that can inform current climate and sea level debates. Coastal and island sites are impacted by many processes that differentially alter or remove them from the archaeological record, necessitating complex approaches to understanding their formation, preservation, functions and management in partnership with contemporary First Nations communities
Evaluating the factor structure and measurement invariance of the 20-item short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale across multiple countries, languages, and gender identities
Full text linkThe UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Model and the various psychometric instruments developed and validated based on this model are well established in clinical and research settings. However, evidence regarding the psychometric validity, reliability, and equivalence across multiple countries of residence, languages, or gender identities, including gender-diverse individuals, is lacking to date. Using data from the International Sex Survey (N = 82,243), confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance analyses were performed on the preestablished five-factor structure of the 20-item short version of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale to examine whether (a) psychometric validity and reliability and (b) psychometric equivalence hold across 34 country-of-residence-related, 22 language-related, and three gender-identity-related groups. The results of the present study extend the latter psychometric instrument’s well-established relevance to 26 countries, 13 languages, and three gender identities. Most notably, psychometric validity and reliability were evidenced across nine novel translations included in the present study (i.e., Croatian, English, German, Hebrew, Korean, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese—Portugal, and Spanish—Latin American) and psychometric equivalence was evidenced across all three gender identities included in the present study (i.e., women, men, and gender-diverse individuals)