Indigenous well-being in four countries: An application of the UNDP'S Human Development Index to Indigenous Peoples in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand consistently place near the top of the United Nations Development Programme's <it>Human Development Index (HDI) </it>rankings, yet all have minority Indigenous populations with much poorer health and social conditions than non-Indigenous peoples. It is unclear just how the socioeconomic and health status of Indigenous peoples in these countries has changed in recent decades, and it remains generally unknown whether the overall conditions of Indigenous peoples are improving and whether the gaps between Indigenous peoples and other citizens have indeed narrowed. There is unsettling evidence that they may not have. It was the purpose of this study to determine how these gaps have narrowed or widened during the decade 1990 to 2000.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Census data and life expectancy estimates from government sources were used to adapt the Human Development Index (HDI) to examine how the broad social, economic, and health status of Indigenous populations in these countries have changed since 1990. Three indices – life expectancy, educational attainment, and income – were combined into a single HDI measure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Between 1990 and 2000, the HDI scores of Indigenous peoples in North America and New Zealand improved at a faster rate than the general populations, closing the gap in human development. In Australia, the HDI scores of Indigenous peoples decreased while the general populations improved, widening the gap in human development. While these countries are considered to have high human development according to the UNDP, the Indigenous populations that reside within them have only medium levels of human development.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The inconsistent progress in the health and well-being of Indigenous populations over time, and relative to non-Indigenous populations, points to the need for further efforts to improve the social, economic, and physical health of Indigenous peoples.</p

Distinct Campylobacter fetus lineages adapted as livestock pathogens and human pathobionts in the intestinal microbiota

Campylobacter fetus is a venereal pathogen of cattle and sheep, and an opportunistic human pathogen. It is often assumed that C. fetus infection occurs in humans as a zoonosis through food chain transmission. Here we show that mammalian C. fetus consists of distinct evolutionary lineages, primarily associated with either human or bovine hosts. We use whole-genome phylogenetics on 182 strains from 17 countries to provide evidence that C. fetus may have originated in humans around 10,500 years ago and may have "jumped" into cattle during the livestock domestication period. We detect C. fetus genomes in 8% of healthy human fecal metagenomes, where the human-associated lineages are the dominant type (78%). Thus, our work suggests that C. fetus is an unappreciated human intestinal pathobiont likely spread by human to human transmission. This genome-based evolutionary framework will facilitate C. fetus epidemiology research and the development of improved molecular diagnostics and prevention schemes for this neglected pathogen

Longitudinal testing of a dietary self-care motivational model in adolescents with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Based on self-determination theory, this study tests a model positing that perceived autonomy support from parents and health care providers positively predicts self-efficacy and autonomous self-regulation in dietary self-care. In turn, self-efficacy and autonomous self-regulation predict better dietary self-care over time. METHOD: Longitudinal data were collected in a consecutive series of 289 adolescent patients with type I diabetes at two time points separated by a two-year interval. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that perceived autonomy support from health care providers at Time 1 (T1) positively predicted self-efficacy and autonomous self-regulation at Time 2 (T2), T1 self-efficacy and autonomous self-regulation positively predicted T2 dietary self-care, and T1 dietary self-care positively predicted T2 autonomous self-regulation. CONCLUSION: Autonomy support from health care providers appears to help adolescents develop motivational factors for dietary self-care and adhere to dietary recommendations

Representations of relatedness with parents and friends and autonomous academic motivation during the late adolescence-early adulthood period: reciprocal or unidirectional effects?

BACKGROUND: The literature on the determinants of academic motivation indicates that social and affective processes connected to students' interpersonal relationships are central elements in understanding students' academic motivation and other school-related outcomes. AIMS: The aim of this study was to answer the following questions: Does autonomous motivation drive representations of relatedness, do representations of relatedness drive autonomous motivation, or are these constructs reciprocally related over time? SAMPLE: The sample consists of 834 adolescents aged 18 years (SD=1.88) who participated in a 3-year longitudinal study. RESULTS: Results from the structural equation models provided good support for the effect of representations of relatedness with parents on autonomous academic motivation but no convincing support for the effect of motivation on representations of relatedness with parents. In addition, no significant effect in either direction was found between representations of relatedness with friends and autonomous academic motivation. CONCLUSION: It might be important to inform parents that they may still have an influence on their adolescent's representations of relatedness and subsequently on his/her autonomous academic motivation even during the late adolescence-early adulthood period, a period when some parents may be tempted to believe that they can do little to motivate their offspring

Effects of gender, age, and diabetes duration on dietary self-care in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: A Self-Determination Theory perspective

This study tests a model derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci and Ryan, 2000) to explain the mechanisms by which non-modifiable factors influence dietary self-care in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (n = 289). SEM analyses adjusted for HbA1c levels revealed that longer diabetes duration and female gender were indicative of poorer dietary self-care. This effect was mediated by contextual and motivational factors as posited by SDT. Poorer autonomy support from practitioners was predominant in girls with longer diabetes duration. Perceived autonomous motivation and self-efficacy were indicative of greater autonomy support, and led to better dietary self-care

Nuclear pore complex structure analyzed by immunogold EM with human autoantibodies

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