19683 research outputs found
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Comparing acute hospital outcomes for people with post-stroke aphasia who do and do not require an interpreter
No full textBackground: People with communication differences are known to have poorer hospital outcomes than their peers. However, the combined impact of aphasia and cultural/linguistic differences on care and outcomes after stroke remains unknown. Objectives: To investigate the association between cultural/linguistic differences, defined as those requiring an interpreter, and the provision of acute evidence-based stroke care and in-hospital outcomes for people with aphasia. Methods: Cross-sectional, observational data collected in the Stroke Foundation National Audit of Acute Services (2017, 2019, 2021) were used. Multivariable regression models compared evidence-based care and in-hospital outcomes (e.g., length of stay) by interpreter status. Models were adjusted for sex, hospital location, stroke type and severity, with clustering by hospital. Results: Among 3122 people with aphasia (median age 78, 49% female) from 126 hospitals, 193 (6%) required an interpreter (median age 78, 55% female). Compared to people with aphasia not requiring an interpreter, those requiring an interpreter had similar care access but less often had their mood assessed (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.32, 0.76), were more likely to have physiotherapy assessments (96% vs 90% p = 0.011) and carer training (OR 4.83, 95% CI 1.70, 13.70), had a 2 day longer median length of stay (8 days vs 6 days, p = 0.003), and were less likely to be independent on discharge (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.33, 0.89). Conclusions: Some differences exist in the management and outcomes for people with post-stroke aphasia who require an interpreter. Further research to explore their needs and the practical issues underpinning their clinical care pathways is required
Making Public Histories - a student-generated OER project (CAUL Community Day 2024)
No full textThis was a presentation about the La Trobe eBureau student-generated OER project to develop the open textbook Making Public Histories. It was delivered by Steven Chang as part of the CAUL OER Collective Community Day 2024 program.</p
What difference does sleep make? Continuous glucose monitoring metrics during fixed-overnight time versus sleep periods among older adults with type 1 diabetes
No full textHypoglycaemia during sleep is a common and clinically important issue for people living with insulin-treated diabetes. Continuous glucose monitoring devices can help to identify nocturnal hypoglycaemia and inform treatment strategies. However, sleep is generally inferred, with diabetes researchers and physicians using a fixed-overnight period as a proxy for sleep–wake status when analysing and interpretating continuous glucose monitoring data. No study to date has validated such an approach with established sleep measures. Continuous glucose monitoring and research-grade actigraphy devices were worn and sleep diaries completed for 2 weeks by 28 older adults (mean age 67 years [SD 5]; 17 (59%) women) with type 1 diabetes. Using continuous glucose monitoring data from a total of 356 nights, fixed-overnight (using the recommended period of 00:00 hours–06:00 hours) and objectively-measured sleep periods were compared. The fixed-overnight period approach missed a median 57 min per night (interquartile range: 49–64) of sleep for each participant, including five continuous glucose monitoring-detected hypoglycaemia episodes during objectively-measured sleep. Twenty-seven participants (96%) had at least 1 night with continuous glucose monitoring time-in-range and time-above-range discrepancies both ≥ 10 percentage points, a clinically significant discrepancy. The utility of fixed-overnight time continuous glucose monitoring as a proxy for sleep–awake continuous glucose monitoring is inadequate as it consistently excludes actual sleep time, obscures glycaemic patterns, and misses sensor hypoglycaemia episodes during sleep. The use of validated measures of sleep to aid interpretation of continuous glucose monitoring data is encouraged.</p
Being a parent, but not: A grounded theory of home-based care
No full textObjective: This constructivist-grounded-theory study explored how foster and kinship carers conceptualize and experience their role. Background: Internationally, amid growing emphasis on home-based care for children and young people living outside parental care, issues such as carer shortages, dissatisfied carers, and placement instability present significant challenges. Method: Sixteen carers (seven foster carers and nine kinship carers) from a regional area in Victoria, Australia, participated in in-depth interviews following constructivist-grounded-theory protocols. Results: Six categories reveal the central ways carers go about caring for children and young people and the main challenges they face in doing so. The core category of “being a parent, but not” demonstrates tensions that carers experience in trying to establish a sense of belonging and connectedness with a child, within the limits of the Victorian home-based care system. Conclusion: Home-based carers view their role through a parental lens, but with various limitations that restrict their sense of being a parent. Implications: The current research acknowledges the role tensions inherent within the Victorian home-based care system and emphasizes the importance of raising the status of foster and kinship carers to provide more recognition of the expertise they hold in the care of children and young people within this complex context
The urbanisation of controlled environment agriculture: Why does it matter for urban studies?
No full textThis paper critically examines why urban studies should be interested in the emergence of controlled environment agriculture. Over the last decade, there has been significant commercial and urban policy interest in controlled environment agriculture systems for producing food in enclosed environments. Furthermore, there has been a significant expansion in research publications on urban controlled environment agriculture, stressing the novel character of these systems and the complex relationships with the conventional concerns of urban agriculture. The paper subjects these claims to critical scrutiny and then reconceptualises urban controlled environment agriculture as an emergent urban infrastructure of artificial, highly productive microclimates and ecosystems for non-human life designed to increase the productive use of ‘surplus or under-utilised’ urban spaces. We argue that controlled environment agriculture tries to secure food production through three spatial–temporal fixes: (1) the enclosure move – holding food closer by substituting the increasingly hostile outdoors for the controlled indoors in order to optimise yield, quality, efficiency and the ‘cleanness’ of the food; (2) the urban move – holding food closer to the city by substituting rural agricultural space for urban space to shorten supply chains and thereby help secure food production and improve its green credentials; and (3) combining 1 and 2, the urban interiorisation move – holding food yet closer still by moving food production into city buildings and intricate infrastructural systems, increasing control by securing total environments. In these ways, the paper shows how urban controlled environment agriculture selectively extends existing logics of urban and rural agriculture and identifies the future research challenges for urban studies
Can self-reliant societies be potential adopters of electric bicycles? Examining the role of sociopsychological influences among the university employees in India
No full textNo description supplied.</p
Psychologists’ experiences towards culturally responsive practices to strengthen social and emotional wellbeing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients
No full textObjective: This study aimed to explore psychologists experiences when providing culturally responsive psychological practice working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander1 clients. Method: Psychologists (N = 108, Female 83.2%, Male 16.8%, Aboriginal 13.9%, non-Indigenous 86.1%, age range 22–83) responded to an electronic mixed method survey. Statistical and content analysis were undertaken using data gathered to address the study aims. Results: The findings highlighted and validated challenging, successful, and unsuccessful psychological practice adjustments used by psychologists when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. Aboriginal psychologist’s voices were privileged as traditional knowledge holders. Conclusions: There is diversity in opinion and practices utilised by psychologists when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The uncertainty applied to the effectiveness of treatments, and/or outcomes. To enhance social and emotional wellbeing higher education institutes need to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content in psychology curriculum to better prepare non-Indigenous psychologists to work in a culturally responsive way with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.</p
Design and Development of Bioinspired Antibacterial Surfaces
No full textSubmitted in total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Investigating the Mechanical Behaviour of Sand Mixed with Recycled Waste Material: Experimental and Machine Learning Approaches
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Civil Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
The Effectiveness of a Lactobacilli-Based Probiotic Food Supplement on Bone Mineral Density and Bone Metabolism in Australian Early Postmenopausal Women: Protocol for a Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial
No full textOsteoporosis affects one in three women over the age of 50 and results in fragility fractures. Oestrogen deficiency during and after menopause exacerbates bone loss, accounting for higher prevalence of fragility fractures in women. The gut microbiota (GM) has been proposed as a key regulator of bone health, as it performs vital functions such as immune regulation and biosynthesis of vitamins. Therefore, GM modulation via probiotic supplementation has been proposed as a target for potential therapeutic intervention to reduce bone loss. While promising results have been observed in mouse model studies, translation into human trials is limited. Here, we present the study protocol for a double-blind randomized controlled trial that aims to examine the effectiveness of three lactobacilli strains on volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), trabecular, and cortical microstructure, as measured using High Resolution peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (HR-pQCT). The trial will randomize 124 healthy early postmenopausal women (up to 8 years from menopause) to receive either probiotic or placebo administered once daily for 12 months. Secondary outcomes will investigate the probiotics' effects on areal BMD and specific mechanistic biomarkers, including bone metabolism and inflammatory markers. </p