50716 research outputs found
Sort by
Sex, gender identity and women's health research and equality:An urgent need for clarity of language and accurate data collection
No full textBackground: With the rise in salience of the concept of gender identity, changes are being made to language and data collection with major implications for women's health research and equality. Specifically, language referring to women is being desexed and data collection on sex diminishing. In 2023, Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) undertook public consultations on two draft guidance documents discussing use of the words 'woman'/'women' when describing the involvement of pregnant women in research, and sex and gender identity data collection. We collaborated in writing and gathering support for responses to both consultations. Discussion: We advocated retaining sexed usage of woman/women when sex was relevant, emphasising that addressing sexism and the female data gap requires identifying women as a group and emphasised the need to avoid confusion, dehumanisation, and exclusion of disadvantaged groups. We expressed concern that data collection on gender identity is supplanting that on sex, and sex data is not being accurately collected. We recommended the NHMRC prioritise data accuracy, guide researchers on when and how to collect sex data, and recognise that individuals do not universally apply gender identity to themselves. These issues have international relevance as pressure to desex language and prioritise gender identity data is occurring world-wide. The NHMRC has now finalised its data collection guidance, unfortunately our concerns were largely ignored. Conclusion: Researchers and clinicians globally must urgently participate in policy discussion regarding the importance of sexed language and accurate sex data, to protect individual and population health and data and research integrity.</p
Help‑Seeking for Sexual Difficulties Among Australian Men: Analysis of the Ten to Men Longitudinal Study
No full textSexual difficulties are common among Australian men, affecting over half the population regardless of age or sexual identity. It can have significant impacts on physical health, mental well-being, and quality of life if left untreated. The present study aimed to examine sexual difficulty trends, sources of seeking help, and factors associated with sexual help-seeking behavior among a cohort of Australian men. Four waves of data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health (Ten to Men) were used in the analysis. We included men aged 18 years and above who had engaged in vaginal, oral, or anal sex, leading to a total sample size of 12,737 (wave 1), 8,933 (wave 2), 6,991 (wave 3), and 5,804 (wave 4) men. Logistic regression was undertaken to identify factors associated with sexual help-seeking behavior. Across the four waves, there was a significant rise in the prevalence of men experiencing at least one form of sexual difficulty, increasing from 54.1% (95% CI 52.7, 62.5) in 2013/14 to 64.7% (95% CI 62.8, 66.7) in 2022. The increase in prevalence of sexual difficulties was more pronounced among men from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds which increased from 42.8% (95% CI 38.1, 47.5) in 2013/14 to 61.5% (95% CI 55.6, 67.1) in 2022. Around 17.6% of men sought assistance for their sexual health concerns in 2022, with no significant change over the study period. Number of sexual difficulties, age, sexual identity, relationship status, conformity to masculine norms, depression, and number of financial hardships were factors significantly associated with sexual health-seeking behavior. Despite the burden of sexual difficulties increasing among Australian men, few have sought assistance, suggesting a significant level of unmet sexual health need. This underscores the necessity of evaluating current services and considering co-designed sexual health initiatives, informed by an intersectional approach, to enhance accessibility, engagement, and responsiveness to the distinct sexual health needs and preferences of men from a range of communities
City-Scale Revegetation Strategies Impact on the Temperature-Related Long-Term Mortality:A Quantitative Assessment in Three Cities in Southern Europe
No full textNature-based solutions (NBS) have attracted increasing attention in local air quality and climate change adaptation plans as suitable measures to reduce health risks. Although several studies have reported health benefits from short-term urban cooling effects of NBS, medium- to long-term health benefits are still poorly understood. In this study, we assess the changes in long-term mortality related to temperature fluctuations induced by city-scale vegetation actuations in three Southern European cities. We performed two annual high-resolution simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting model to anticipate the impact of future revegetation strategies on temperature in these urban areas. Further, we assessed the impact of temperature changes on health using a country-specific minimum mortality temperature (MMT) reported in scientific literature. It was found that NBS could provide non-negligible reductions of long-term mortality related to temperature regulation (central estimate of 4.1, 1.2, and 3.4 cases avoided per year in Madrid, Milano, and Bologna, respectively). The effect of vegetation is site-dependent, and the cooling effect explains most of the benefits, especially in densely built-up areas of the cities analyzed. Future research should combine short/long-term temperature effects with other indirect implications (air quality, mental health) in the context of climate change.</p
Bouncing Back or Forward? Two Approaches to Democratic Resilience After Extremist Attacks
No full textViolent extremist attacks pose a serious threat to democracy, undermining its institutions, norms and practices. This article examines the disruptive impact of violent extremism on the public sphere and considers the role of political leaders in responding to these challenges. Leaders are widely recognised as the key actors shaping the public discourse after extremist attacks, by either reinforcing or resisting the division intended by these attacks. Yet, their role in building democratic resilience – that is, fostering the public sphere’s ability to respond to extremist attacks without compromising its democratic commitments – remains underexplored. Drawing on a range of case studies, the article examines the spectrum of leaders’ responses to violent extremist attacks and their effects on democratic resilience. It identifes two distinct approaches to democratic resilience: ‘bouncing back’ by maintaining the status quo, or ‘bouncing forward’ by deepening democratic commitments. The article considers the implications of each approach and underscores the necessity of the latter in strengthening the public sphere and its deliberative capacity in the aftermath of extremist attacks.</p
Endogenous analgesia, assessed via conditioned pain modulation, is not different in people with hip osteoarthritis compared to controls:a cross-sectional study
No full textBackground: In people with knee osteoarthritis, measures of pain sensitivity have been demonstrated to relate to both pain severity and treatment outcomes, dependent on the type of pain sensitivity being tested. Objective: Quantify if differences in the pressure pain thresholds (PPT) or conditioned pain modulation (CPM) effect exist between people with hip osteoarthritis and age-matched controls without hip osteoarthritis. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study across two geographic locations. PPTs at a local (hip) and remote (elbow) site were collected via a manual algometer. CPM was quantified using PPTs immediately prior to, and during ice water immersion of the hand contralateral to the tested hip. We performed two linear mixed models (hip and elbow) to evaluate between-group (case vs control) differences in PPT over time. Significance was accepted with p < 0.05. Results: We included 71 participants: 32 with hip osteoarthritis (75 % female sex), and 39 without hip osteoarthritis (82 % female sex). Osteoarthritis participants had significantly lower baseline hip PPTs than control participants (p = 0.038). Hip PPTs significantly increased over time following the conditioning stimulus (p < 0.001). However, we did not detect a significant interaction effect for PPTs between group and time (p = 0.308). There were no significant differences detected in elbow PPT between hip osteoarthritis and control participants (p = 0.114). Elbow PPTs significantly increased over time following the conditioning stimulus (p < 0.001). However, we did not detect a significant interaction for PPTs between group and time (p = 0.606). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that people with hip osteoarthritis have local, but not widespread, increases in mechanical sensitivity. Further there were no group differences in CPM.</p
Half of the habitat of Australia's highly imperilled narrow-range species is outside protected areas
No full textGlobally, species with small distributions face disproportionate extinction risk, with the impacts of land use change more likely to have catastrophic consequences. Identifying, protecting and managing sites where such species occur is essential for minimising their extinction risk. Yet across Australia, efforts to protect and manage such species' habitats have hitherto been insufficient. Here, we present an example of an analytical and interpretive pathway for the conservation of such species, for a continental-scale case study. We identified 305 Critically Endangered species that have narrow ranges (<20,000 km2), and are distributed in fewer than six discrete patches. We refined existing species' habitat maps with advice from 18 experts via a modified Delphi approach. We assessed how much of each species' habitat is outside protected areas and considered to have agricultural capability, potentially elevating risk of conversion. We identified ∼85,000 km2 of habitat (∼1% of Australia) for these 305 species that must receive protection and management if the nation is going to meet its commitment to halt new extinctions. Approximately half of this habitat is outside the protected area estate, including the entire distribution of 39 species. Approximately 55% of habitat outside of protected areas had at least some agricultural capability. Protecting and managing the habitats of these narrow-range species should be a high priority in state and national conservation policy. Our case study serves as a template for the identification of important habitat for threatened species and could be applied in other regions of the world.</p
One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction
No full textFreshwater ecosystems are highly biodiverse1 and important for livelihoods and economic development2, but are under substantial stress3. To date, comprehensive global assessments of extinction risk have not included any speciose groups primarily living in freshwaters. Consequently, data from predominantly terrestrial tetrapods4,5 are used to guide environmental policy6 and conservation prioritization7, whereas recent proposals for target setting in freshwaters use abiotic factors8, 9, 10, 11, 12–13. However, there is evidence14, 15, 16–17 that such data are insufficient to represent the needs of freshwater species and achieve biodiversity goals18,19. Here we present the results of a multi-taxon global freshwater fauna assessment for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species covering 23,496 decapod crustaceans, fishes and odonates, finding that one-quarter are threatened with extinction. Prevalent threats include pollution, dams and water extraction, agriculture and invasive species, with overharvesting also driving extinctions. We also examined the degree of surrogacy of both threatened tetrapods and freshwater abiotic factors (water stress and nitrogen) for threatened freshwater species. Threatened tetrapods are good surrogates when prioritizing sites to maximize rarity-weighted richness, but poorer when prioritizing based on the most range-restricted species. However, they are much better surrogates than abiotic factors, which perform worse than random. Thus, although global priority regions identified for tetrapod conservation are broadly reflective of those for freshwater faunas, given differences in key threats and habitats, meeting the needs of tetrapods cannot be assumed sufficient to conserve freshwater species at local scales.</p
Smartphone Proprioception for Ankle Navigation (SPAN):Reliability and Effect of Position Exposure Time
Get PDFThis study investigated ankle discriminative acuity and performance and measurement consistency for tests undertaken with different joint position exposure times (PETs). Twenty-four participants were tested using a novel Smartphone Proprioception for Ankle Navigation (SPAN) under four PETs, i.e., 0.25s, 0.5s, 0.75s and 1s, delivered in a random sequence, and then re-tested within one week. The results indicated a PET main effect (F = 10.12, p = 0.004, partial ƞ2 = 0.14), and limb preference main effect (F = 5.39, p = 0.03, partial ƞ2 = 0.19), without significant interactions (p > 0.05). Ankle proprioception improved with prolonged PET, with the non-dominant side outperforming the dominant side. A PET of 0.25s showed good to excellent reliability, with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of 0.897 (95%CI: 0.761, 0.955) and 0.885 (95%CI: 0.736, 0.951), with standard errors of measurements (SEM) between 0.030 and 0.035, and minimum detectable change at 90% (MDC90) between 0.070 and 0.082, compared to poor to moderate reliability at the other three longer PETs (ICCs =0.352–0.736). The findings suggested the prolongation of PET can improve ankle proprioceptive performance but can amplify the inter-occasion variability, likely due to increased cognitive analysis with longer stimulus sampling. SPAN may thus be a cost-effective and accessible apparatus for clinical practice.</p
Interdisciplinary online simulation:A collaborative pilot innovation for health professional students
Get PDFInterprofessional learning prepares health graduates to work in collaborative multidisciplinary teams, a cornerstone of quality patient care. Synchronous online cross-institutional multidisciplinary simulation may address some barriers to interprofessional learning. Nineteen participants completed the pilot. Eleven clinical experts from seven health disciplines formed a reference group, and eight students from three disciplines (nursing, pharmacy and physiotherapy) trialed the intervention. This pilot online simulation included case development, reference group review, creation of vignettes, student trials and qualitative evaluation. The reference group validated the cases with some minor amendments for professional relevance. Educators confirmed suitability and feasibility. Preliminary findings support students’ development of role clarity and professional identity, with improved collaboration and strong support for interprofessional integration into their studies. The pilot demonstrated feasibility with positive initial feedback. An online interprofessional activity may offer a scalable model for IPL. Future work will explore broader implementation, assessing long term outcomes across diverse healthcare programs.</p
Learning from lived experience:rural older Australians’ perspectives of mental health, wellbeing, and support
Get PDFObjectives: Older adults with poor mental health living in rural areas are seldom heard in research and disadvantaged in health service provision. Consequently, this study aimed to explore rural older Australians’ perspectives of mental health, wellbeing, and access to and receipt of support. Method: Six older adults with recent self- or clinically-diagnosed mental ill-health in rural Australia (mean age 67.33 years; 66% female), and six informal carers of such individuals (67.33 years; 83% female), participated in interviews exploring their lived and living experiences of rural older adult mental health. Results: Four themes describing participant experiences were identified: ‘how perceived attitudes about mental health reduce help-seeking’, ‘the impact of social transparency in rural areas’, ‘the interconnected nature of physical and mental health in later life’, and ‘the contextual complexities in accessing timely and appropriate supports in rural areas’. Conclusion: The identified themes highlight the personal and contextual complexity affecting access to mental health supports for older adults and informal carers in rural areas. These findings provide valuable lived experience insights to support the design and delivery of appropriate and accessible mental health supports that meet the needs of older rural Australians.</p