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Identifying the Factors That Drive Health Service Utilization Among Healthy and Non-Healthy Agers in a Sample of Older Ethiopians:A Cross-Sectional Study
Get PDFBackground and Aims: Population aging is associated with the rising incidence of chronic illness. This presents a significant challenge to healthcare systems, particularly in developing countries, as untreated chronic conditions can lead to years of disability and loss of independence straining health budgets and resources. Promoting healthy aging can be one avenue for mitigating these challenges. This study aims to identify factors influencing health service use among healthy and non-healthy agers, utilizing the Andersen-Newman model that describes predisposing (including demographic characteristics, social structure, and health beliefs), enabling (related to the logistical aspects of obtaining care, such as personal and community resources), and need factors (referring to the individual's perceived and evaluated health status). Methods: Older adults (n = 545) in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia were surveyed about their health and health-seeking behaviors. Associations between risk factors and health service utilization were examined using Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Results: A total of 79.3% of older adults utilized health services, with consistent usage between healthy and non-healthy agers. Factors associated with increased health service utilization included severe (RR = 2.20; 95% CI: 1.56–3.09), and moderate (RR = 2.03; 95% CI: 1.44–2.85) disease severity, reporting comorbid conditions (RR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.06–1.23), having health insurance (RR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.05–1.23), not reporting loneliness (RR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.02–1.26), and being financially independent (RR = 1.11; 95% CI: 1.00–1.22). Conversely, residing in rented housing (RR = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.62–0.98) and living greater than 30 min from a healthcare facility (RR = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.54–0.71) decreased health service utilization. Conclusion: Health service utilization was low compared to developed countries. This could be due to newer and improved health services in developed countries. Improving financial independence, health insurance coverage, access to healthcare facilities, and encouraging peer or family support can enhance healthcare access in Ethiopians.</p
Fringe dwelling in autobiographical memory:Writers' perspectives
No full textThis essay includes collated contributions from practising writers, participants in a Creative Writing|Neuroimaging Exploratory Study, Ideasthetic Imagining – Mapping the Brain’s Microstates Using Magnetoencephalography (MEG), conducted at Swinburne University (2023, Melbourne, Australia). The study investigates neural activity in participants’ brains while undertaking a creative writing workshop. Participants write imaginatively from short and long-term memory. The research team utilises MEG neuroimaging technology to determine where and how the brain is processing information at distinct stages of the workshop. The creative writing workshop at the heart of the study involves imaginative approaches to life writing, transforming unresolved memories through creative practice. As participants engage in the workshop, the research team measures activity in target regions of the brain. The researchers then analyse the interaction between distinct regions of the brain at various stages. The following essay gathers the voices of the experimental group (practising writers), asking them to reflect upon their experience of writing a long-term memory, as they experienced it at the time and, subsequently, from a perspective other than their own. In this exercise, particular regions of the brain are activated (to a far greater extent) in the experimental group (practising writers) as opposed to the control group (non- writers)
Dear farmers, nobody wants to eat fungus-fed beef
Get PDFAustralian scientists announced this week that they have discovered a way to reduce the methane emissions from livestock
Australia’s Weak Response to Antisemitic Hate Crime
No full textOn Feb. 6, Australia’s parliament passed a bill to amend the current crime legislation to include “hate crimes.” Widely criticized as an attack on freedom of speech by conservatives, the legislation, which will become law once it is signed by the Governor-General, was meant to be a demonstration of the government’s response to ongoing antisemitism. Rather than represent action against antisemitism, however, the bill is more talk that does little to address the inaction of authorities at both the state and federal level to prosecute those who have terrorized and continue to terrorize Australia’s Jewish community
Community cleaner air spaces during landscape fire events:What do we know?
Get PDFThis commentary summarises current evidence, guidelines, and research and policy gaps in relation to the implementation and use of community cleaner air spaces (CCASs). CCASs may be established by jurisdictional health authorities or local governments during periods of severe and prolonged poor air quality, usually as a result of landscape fire smoke, with the aim of reducing smoke exposure across communities. We found very limited published evidence evaluating their establishment, use, effectiveness (both for reducing exposures and improving health outcomes) and their reach into higher-risk populations. Few guidelines exist to assist government agencies to set up a CCAS and effectively communicate their benefits to the community. In a warming world, with increasing risks of landscape fires, urgent research is needed to evaluate this potentially useful climate adaptation response and translate this evidence into policy and action
Dutton hints he’ll sack 36,000 public servants. Voters deserve to know what services will be affected
No full textA Genomic-Based Workflow for eDNA Assay Development for a Critically Endangered Turtle, Myuchelys georgesi
No full textEnvironmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has become a popular conservation tool for detecting rare and elusive species. eDNA assays typically target mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) due to its high copy number per cell and its ability to persist in the environment longer than nuclear DNA. Consequently, the development of eDNA assays has relied on mitochondrial reference sequences available in online databases, or in cases where such data are unavailable, de novo DNA extraction and sequencing of mtDNA. In this study, we designed eDNA primers for the critically endangered Bellinger River turtle (Myuchelys georgesi) using a bioinformatically assembled mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) derived from a reference genome. We confirmed the accuracy of this assembled mitogenome by comparing it to a Sanger-sequenced mitogenome of the same species, and no base pair mismatches were detected. Using the bioinformatically extracted mitogenome, we designed two 20 bp primers that target a 152-base-pair-long fragment of the cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) gene and a 186-base-pair-long fragment of the cytochrome B (CytB) gene. Both primers were successfully validated in silico, in vitro, and in situ.</p
Sleep in Residential Aged Care:A Secondary Qualitative Analysis of Data from the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
No full textBACKGROUND: Sleep is a crucial healing and restorative component of older person care but is often negatively impacted through the effects of institutionalization in residential aged care (RAC). Currently, information about how sleep occurs is limited.METHODS: Through the lens of person-centered care, this study examined submissions to the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. The Commission was established in 2018 with the aim of protecting and improving the safety, quality of life, and well-being of people receiving aged care. The commission received 10 000+ submissions from a range of stakeholders, including consumers, family members, expert witnesses, healthcare professionals, and industry. Using a big qualitative data approach with 33 sleep-related keywords, submissions were analyzed using thematic analysis to understand how institutional practices impact individual sleep experiences.RESULTS: Three themes were identified highlighting tensions between institutional requirements and person-centered care: (1) Care practices of RAC staff may impact residents' sleep, (2) Tensions between provision of overnight care and preservation of sleep, and (3) The dignity of choice of residents including autonomy of sleep timing and their sleep environment.CONCLUSION: Opportunities to improve the quality of sleep experience and associated outcomes in Australian RAC exist. Improved staffing, planning for person-centered timing of care, and addressing the competing tensions of safety surveillance activities and person-centered care implementation in a home environment are needed.</p
Exploring dementia service gaps and barriers in the Australian Capital Territory:a qualitative study
Get PDFBackground In recent years, there has been increased recognition of the importance of unmet needs of services for people with dementia regionally and nationally. This study aimed to explore the service gaps described by health and aged care providers in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to inform decisions regarding dementia care services. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 health and aged care service providers, managers, and stakeholders providing dementia services in the ACT in 2022 and 2023. Responses to two open-ended questions regarding the perception of service gaps in the region were examined using content analysis. Results Six themes were identified across the interviews: (1) concerns with existing dementia care services; (2) concerns with primary care; (3) a lack of dementia-appropriate services; (4) workforce shortages and limited training; (5) funding as a barrier to access and collaboration between services; and (6) lack of understanding of dementia. Several participants felt these issues were not unique to the ACT and indicative of systemic issues common across Australia. Conclusions The service gaps described in the ACT region indicate a need for improved access to high-quality, coordinated, dementia-specific services with appropriate staffing, potentially reducing pressure on the ACT health system and current and future associated costs.</p
Judicial Narratives and ‘Reality’: A Thematic Analysis of References to Family Violence in Sentencing Remarks for the Offence of Threat to Kill
Get PDFFor domestic and family violence (‘DFV’) offences, sentencing remarks present a unique opportunity for dialogue between the Court, the offender, the victim-survivor, and the public. At the point of sentencing an offender, the judicial officer provides a rationale for the sentence imposed. This rationale includes a consideration of the impact of the offending on the victim, but can also carry narratives about the harms, dynamics, and outcomes of DFV offences. This article seeks to evaluate the narratives present within sentencing remarks for the offence of threat to kill occurring in a DFV context in the Australian jurisdictions of the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. The authors use thematic analysis to compare themes generated within the judgments to the sentencing considerations required by the Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT) and the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic). Our findings support the idea that if required to refer to the nature and dynamics of DFV in sentencing offenders, judicial officers’ understanding of DFV may be improved. We therefore suggest such requirements could potentially play a similar role in other jurisdictions