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When one size does not fit all : creative enablers to achieve diversity, equity and inclusion in health professional education
No full textIntroduction The ANZAHPE Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) subcommittee was developed to promote accessible and equitable enactment of DEI principles in health professional education (HPE) programs across Australia and New Zealand. This initiative is designed to benefit the organisation and the broader community, particularly people with identities that have been historically and systemically marginalised.. Thinking critically about our educational practice is necessary to ensure safe learning environments and promote equitable practices. Many health professional educators role model and innovate their teaching practices with DEI in mind; some of these are documented while other innovations may not have been shared widely. Led by the ANZAHPE DEI Sub-Committee, this PeArLS session will provide the opportunity to showcase a range of creative enablers currently practiced by health professional educators across diverse HPE settings to achieve DEI objectives. Methods The PeArLs session will serve as a platform for participants to develop insights regarding DEI practice, sharing experiences of challenges and successful strategies. This interactive dialogue aims to benefit participants by fostering connections, facilitating the creation of a community of practice, and developing a repository of creative solutions. The insights gained from this session will not only contribute to the collective participant knowledge base but will also inform future DEI initiatives for the ANZAHPE community. Results/Evaluation We will conduct a post-session evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the PeArLs session in promoting DEI in HPE, including assessing knowledge exchange, repository development, and perceived impact for future initiatives. Discussion While DEI strategies in education have been disparate and inconsistent, there is a growing momentum to encourage discussions and sharing of these practices. Collecting diverse adaptable examples during this session provides a foundation for advancing effective DEI practices in Australia and New Zealand, aligning with calls from professional bodies for equitable approaches in HPE
A Weberian Perspective on Home, Nature and Sport: Disenchantment and Salvation
No full textThis book extends Max Weber’s theory of the value-spheres of modernity into wholly new areas, showing that the addition of home, nature and sport to Weber’s own list of five spheres (economic, scientific/intellectual, political/legal, erotic and aesthetic) yields original insights into these aspects of modernity and modernity itself. It shows how each of these new spheres is able to create its own ‘inner cosmos’ of salvation from rationalised senselessness, just as Weber’s ‘irrational’ spheres offer release from the grim reality of capitalism, the disenchanted universe and the bureaucratic state formed by the more ‘rationalised’ spheres. Drawing on a wide, cross-disciplinary range of sources, the author sheds light on the role of home in creating a sense of our enchanted past, of nature in helping to restore to the world a teleological meaning constructed from innocence and purity and of sport in imposing sense on the world, at least temporarily. A Weberian Perspective on Home, Nature and Sport: Disenchantment and Salvation will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in classical sociological theory and the analysis of modernity
Editorial : fruits, vegetables, and biotics for a healthy gut microbiome
No full textThe gut microbiome plays a fundamental role in human health and nutrition, as supported by a growing body of scientific literature. Notably, the gut microbiota and its metabolites have been linked with a variety of chronic conditions, creating new possibilities for gut microbiome modulation-based interventions such as prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics to maintain health and prevent and treat diseases. Fruits and vegetables, with their prebiotic (dietary fiber) and polyphenol content, not only play a crucial role in nutrition but also have the potential to positively influence the gut microbiome, improve gut health, and aid in the prevention and treatment of numerous chronic diseases. However, the in-depth mechanisms of action of fruits, vegetables, prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics on the gut microbiome are still speculative and require further investigation. This Research Topic encompasses eight papers on the regulation of the gut microbiome by fruits, vegetables, and dietary fiber, as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms of action, with a specific focus on developing innovative prebiotic, probiotic, and postbiotic interventions for various health applications
[In Press] Indigenous religions
No full textThis article challenges the conclusion that Indigenous religions are largely insignificant globally, based on statistics that indicate a very small percentage of adherents in comparison to the numbers of followers of major world faiths, or to those who profess to hold no religion. The article begins by defining precisely what is meant by an Indigenous religion. This leads to an examination of how Indigenous religions interact with other seemingly dominant religions, and concludes that in many cases practitioners of Indigenous religions can also be affiliated with major world religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, as well as with so-called secular forms of religion. This is illustrated by examples drawn from the author’s field studies in Zimbabwe, which imply that an Indigenous minority does not refer exclusively to a numerical indicator, but can also be understood in particular contexts as a relationship best expressed as ‘both-and’ rather than ‘either-or’. Indigenous agency is then discussed by presenting the case of a select group of Indigenous leaders in Australia, the Rainbow Spirit Elders, who intentionally transformed the central Christian doctrine of the Incarnation into an ancient and ubiquitous Indigenous symbol, the rainbow-serpent. A detailed case study drawn from Alaska follows, which describes how Indigenous communities in Alaska responded to the 1971 capitalist land claims settlement imposed by the United States Government by deliberately integrating the seemingly all-consuming ‘religious’ force of the market economy into customary patterns of life. The cases drawn from Zimbabwe, Australia, and Alaska show that classifying Indigenous religions as minorities needs to be qualified, contextualized, and nuanced
[In Press] Effect of global warming on thunderstorm frequency in Bangladesh
No full textClimate change is projected to have a significant influence on the frequency, intensity, duration, and timing of climate extremes. Bangladesh is already known as one of the most vulnerable countries in the context of climate change due to its disadvantageous geographical location. In recent years, extreme weather events like thunderstorms and lightning activity have become more frequent in Bangladesh, resulting in increased lightning fatalities and injuries. This study examines how the frequency and regional variability of future thunderstorm activity in Bangladesh might change due to global warming in the twenty-first century, based on global climate model data under the RCP 8.5 scenario from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-Phase 5. Initially, we studied the climatology of convective available potential energy (CAPE), which has been widely used to characterize the meteorological conditions that foster severe thunderstorm formation. Later, using precipitation and CAPE, different statistical thunderstorm (TH) frequency prediction models were developed. The results show that the risk of thunderstorms in Bangladesh is expected to increase in a warmer future climate, likely due to the projected rise in CAPE. Country-average CAPE could increase by up to 45% during the pre-monsoon, which is the most thunderstorm-prone season in Bangladesh. Annual changes in TH frequency at different stations across Bangladesh are projected to vary between −3% to 20% in the 2020s, 9% to 35% in the 2050s, and 16% to 60% in the 2080s. The country-average changes in TH frequency for the pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter seasons in 2080 are projected to be 39, 35, 68, and 41%, respectively
Curcumin as a potential therapeutic agent for treating neurodegenerative diseases
No full textNeurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the progressive loss of neuronal structure and function, posing a tremendous burden on health systems worldwide. Although the underlying pathological mechanisms for various neurodegenerative diseases are still unclear, a common pathological hallmark is the abundance of neuroinflammatory processes, which affect both disease onset and progression. In this review, we explore the pathways and role of neuroinflammation in various neurodegenerative diseases and further assess the potential use of curcumin, a natural spice with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that has been extensively used worldwide as a traditional medicine and potential therapeutic agent. Following the examination of preclinical and clinical studies that assessed curcumin as a potential therapeutic agent, we highlight the bioavailability of curcumin in the body and discuss both the challenges and benefits of using curcumin as a therapeutic compound for treating neurodegeneration. Although elucidating the involvement of curcumin in aging and neurodegeneration has great potential for developing future CNS-related therapeutic targets, further research is required to elucidate the mechanisms by which Curcumin affects brain physiology, especially BBB integrity, under both physiological and disease conditions
Navigating workforce uptake, retention, and placement poverty amid cost of living challenges in Australia
No full textThe phenomenon of placement poverty profoundly affects students enrolled in healthcare professional education programs, with a notable impact observed within the nursing student population and other healthcare professional student populations. Financial stressors associated with placement poverty can lead to increased anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress among students (Cheng et al., Citation2023). These stressors are known to contribute to burnout and worsen pre-existing problems students may face. Placement poverty not only impedes the educational journey of aspiring nurses, but also undermines the quality of healthcare delivery (Cao et al.,)
[In Press] Oil price uncertainty and corporate carbon performance : an international investigation
No full textDrawing on legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory, this study examines whether oil price uncertainty (OPU) affects corporate carbon performance (CCP) in the international context. Based on data extracted from CDP (previously known as the Carbon Disclosure Project), World Bank, and Thomson Reuters Eikon databases, the study’s sample consists of 9,074 firm-year observations over the period 2011–2018 for all non-financial multinational companies invited to take part in the CDP questionnaire. Using an ordinary least squares regression model, we identify a strong relationship between OPU and carbon emissions performance. Our findings are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests, all of which support our original results. This study contributes new knowledge regarding the influence of OPU on CCP. The results will be of interest to investors and policymakers as they provide a useful basis for understanding OPU and its impact on CCP to promote better decision-making
Seasonal variations and footwear choices for people with inflammatory arthritis in Australia : a quality analysis
No full text[In Press] Identifying and exploring the cognitive nature of threshold concepts in pharmacology to improve medical students' learning
No full textPhenomenon: Pharmacology is a fundamental healthcare discipline, but it can be difficult and counterintuitive for learners to learn. navigation toward understanding pharmacology can be troublesome, but once the threshold to comprehension is crossed, learners can experience a transformative shift in their ways of thinking and practicing. we conducted an in-depth examination of threshold concepts within pharmacology, aiming to identify and prioritize their learning to improve the medical curriculum and enhance medical treatment and patient safety. Approach: we carried out a consensus generation process using the nominal Group Technique (nGT) to identify potential threshold concepts in pharmacology. Participant groups of pharmacology experts and medical students considered, identified, reviewed, and ranked potential pharmacology threshold concepts within their own group. Then, using a logical, step-by-step approach, we combined the final ranked data from these multiple nGT sessions. we further analyzed these data using an abductive analysis approach; data were coded, categorized, reorganized, and conceptually mapped after critical evaluation. Conceptual themes were established corresponding to different phases of cognitive schema development. Findings: Six comprehensive conceptual themes were identified: drug Mechanism of Action; Pharmacotherapeutics; Pharmacokinetics; drug receptor Interactions; drug Terminology and nomenclature; and Signaling Pathways. These concepts align with many of the key attributes of threshold concepts (e.g., troublesome, integrative and transformative). The cognitive schematic themes generated were (i) acquisition-troublesome; (ii) acquisition-transformative; (iii) automation-troublesome; (iv) automation-transformative. Insights: Transformative learning involves different stages of cognitive schema evolution, including acquisition, elaboration, and automation, and is influenced by both the inherent challenges of the concepts and limitations of human cognition. The high interactivity of these troublesome concepts challenge schema acquisition and automation. Troublesome concepts underpinning procedures or skills, while not easily explained by cognitive rules, can lead to slow, awkward, error-prone performance, creating additional barriers for practice. Integrating concepts into a coherent structure leads to the irreversible assimilation of knowledge and the transferability of both knowledge and skills, influencing learners’ epistemological transitions and ontological transformations at theoretical and professional levels. Further work on designing instructional models around assisting and automating schemas around identified troublesome knowledge, while addressing the impact of cognitive load, has the potential to promote transformational learning