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Reporting disability
No full textPeople with disabilities tend to receive little coverage in the Australian media. Coverage, when it does occur, is often misguided, and helps to perpetuate negative stereotypes. This paper provides the findings of a small pilot study into the coverage of disability in the Adelaide Advertiser, a large daily newspaper, as a lead-in to a major national study. The study found – not surprisingly – that considerable work is required to help journalists understand disability and the potential impact of the words they use when writing about disability.
Obesity : the new childhood disability?
No full textThis review addresses the impact of obesity on paediatric physical functioning utilizing the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Framework (ICF). The ICF encompasses functioning (as it relates to all body functions and structures), activities (undertaking a particular task) and participation (in a life situation) with disability referring to impairments in body functions/structures, activity restrictions or participation limitations. Electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed studies published in English prior to May 2009 that examined aspects of physical functioning in children (≤18 years). Eligible studies (N = 104) were ranked by design and synthesized descriptively. Childhood obesity was found to be associated with deficits in function, including impaired cardiorespiratory fitness and performance of motor tasks; and there was some limited evidence of increased musculoskeletal pain and decrements in muscle strength, gait and balance. Health-related quality of life and the subset of physical functioning was inversely related to weight status. However, studies investigating impacts of obesity on wider activity and participation were lacking. Further research utilizing the ICF is required to identify and better characterize the effects of paediatric obesity on physical function, activity and participation, thereby improving targets for intervention to reduce disability in this population.
Dietary n-6:n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio and markers of vascular health in patients treated with statins: a randomized crossover trial
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The millennium generation : teacher-researchers exploring new forms of literacy
No full textThis article describes a collaborative teacher-researcher project exploring how 4—8-year-old children understood and worked with new forms of literacy at home and at school. Twenty-five teacher-researchers investigated young children’s home based multimodal funds of knowledge and then planned school or preschool curriculum based on these findings. The project revealed that children, independent of geographic location, had access to and could use information technologies far in advance of teachers’ expectations and had access to equipment beyond that available in many of the schools and preschools. In response to children’s use of and engagement with new literacies the teacher-researchers developed a framework known as the Multiliteracies Map. This framework was used in a state-wide early years professional learning programme to support curriculum planning for new forms of literacy. The teacher-researchers became the facilitators of the professional learning programme that took place in local districts and regions. A case study of one teacher-researcher shows how this literacy framework was used to plan and assess children’s learning with new forms of literacy.
Quantifying pain relief following administration of a novel formulation of paracetamol (acetaminophen)
No full textThis article describes how a model-based analysis was used to aid development of a novel formulation technology. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) was used as the motivating example with 4 different formulations (2 developmental and 2 commercial) compared using stochastic (Monte Carlo) pharmacokinetic (PK)–pharmacodynamic (PD) simulations to explore potential differences in pharmacodynamic outcomes. PK models were developed from data collected during an intensively sampled, 4-arm crossover trial in 25 fasted healthy subjects, administered 1 g of paracetamol in 4 different formulations. The PK models were linked to a previously published PD model that quantified pain relief over time following tonsillectomy. The number needed to treat (NNT) was the primary numeric used to compare effectiveness. The developmental formulations were likely to produce faster and greater analgesia with an NNT (compared with placebo) to reduce pain by 50% over a 45-minute interval post dose of 2.75 and 2.88 compared with 4.31 and 3.2 for the commercial products. Over the course of 1 hour, all formulations were comparable. The stochastic simulations provided support that the novel formulation technology was likely to provide a clinically meaningful advantage and should be developed further.
Land-use change in the 'edgelands' : policies and pressures in London's rural-urban fringe
No full textGreen Belt policies have helped to create chaotic landscapes at the rural–urban interfaces of the United Kingdom's largest cities. Their prime functions, to control urban sprawl and preserve an encircling green girdle to separate the urban from the open countryside, have created ‘edgelands’ that have been remarkably dynamic despite relatively strong controls on certain types of development. A detailed case study of one part of London's Metropolitan Green Belt, drawing upon analysis of planning registers, reveals long-term trends in land-use change linked to the development controls operated within the context of the Green Belt and the adjacent built-up area. This paper also outlines the history of the Green Belt policy in the United Kingdom (UK) and discusses recently proposed policy changes that have provoked ongoing debate about this form of control on urban sprawl and its consequences for the land use of Green Belts and the edgelands.
Synchrotron micro-diffraction analysis of the microstructure of cryogenically treated high performance tool steels prior to and after tempering
No full textThe phase transformation and strain changes within cryogenically (−196 °C) treated high performance tool steels (AISI H13) before and after tempering have been examined using both laboratory XRD and synchrotron micro-diffraction. The martensitic unit cell was found to have very low tetragonality as expected for low carbon steel. Tempering resulted in the diffusion of excess carbon out of the martensite phase and consequent unit cell shrinkage. In addition on tempering the martensite became more homogeneous as compared to the same samples prior to tempering. For cryogenically treated samples, the effect was most pronounced for the rapidly cooled sample which was the least homogenous sample prior to tempering but was the most homogenous sample after tempering. This suggests that the considerable degree of disorder resulting from rapid cryogenic cooling results in the beneficial release of micro-stresses on tempering thus possibly resulting in the improved wear resistance and durability observed for cryogenically treated tool steels.