An examination of Australian newspaper coverage of the link between alcohol and cancer 2005 to 2013

Published online: 24 July 2017Background: Alcohol is a Class-1 carcinogen but public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer is low. The news media is a popular, readily-accessible source of health information and plays a key role in shaping public opinion and influencing policy-makers. Examination of how the link between alcohol and cancer is presented in Australian print media could inform public health advocacy efforts to raise awareness of this modifiable cancer risk factor. Method: This study provides a summative qualitative content analysis of 1502 articles that included information about a link between alcohol and cancer, as reported within Australian newspaper media (2005–2013). We use descriptive statistics to examine the prominence of reports, the nature and content of claims regarding the link between alcohol and cancer, and the source of information noted in each article. Results: Articles were distributed throughout newspapers, most appearing within the main (first) section. The link between alcohol and cancer tended not to appear early in articles, and rarely featured in headlines. 95% of articles included a claim that alcohol causes cancer, 5% that alcohol prevented or did not cause cancer, 1% included both. Generally, the amount of alcohol that would cause or prevent cancer was unspecified or open to subjective interpretation. Coverage increased over time, primarily within community/free papers. The claim that alcohol causes cancer often named a specific cancer, did not name a specific alcohol, was infrequently the focus of articles (typically subsumed within an article on general health issues), and cited various health-promoting (including advocacy) organisations as information sources. Articles that included the converse also tended not to focus on that point, often named a specific type of alcohol, and most cited research institutions or generic ‘research’ as sources. Half of all articles involved repetition of materials, and most confirmed that alcohol caused cancer. Conclusions: Information about a link between alcohol and cancer is available in the Australian newsprint media, but may be hidden within and thus overshadowed by other health-related stories. Strategic collaboration between health promoting organisations, and exploitation of ‘churnalism’ and journalists’ preferences for ready-made ‘copy’ may facilitate increased presence and accuracy of the alcohol-cancer message.Jaklin Eliott, Andrew John Forster, Joshua McDonough, Kathryn Bowd and Shona Crab

A public health framework for reducing stigma: the example of weight stigma

We examine stigma and how it operates, then develop a novel framework to classify the range of positions that are conceptually possible regarding how stigma ought to be handled from a public health perspective. In the case of weight stigma, the possible positions range from encouraging the intentional use of weight stigma as an obesity prevention and reduction strategy to arguing not only that this is harmful but that weight stigma, independent of obesity, needs to be actively challenged and reduced. Using weight stigma as an illustrative example, we draw on prior theoretical work on stigma mechanisms and intervention strategies to develop a framework for improving the understanding, evaluation, and planning of anti-stigma interventions. This framework has the potential to help public health actors to map out how protest, contact, education, and regulation strategies can be used to reduce direct discrimination, structural discrimination, and internalized stigma (self-stigma).Alison Harwood, Drew Carter, Jaklin Eliot

Building research capacity at The University of Notre Dame Australia, School of Medicine, Sydney, to improve chronic disease management

The research focus for this study is osteoporosis (OP) in community-dwelling older adults. APHCRI funding is enabling development of research capacity in primary care at the University of Notre Dame Australia Clinical School by supporting employment of a Post-Doctoral Fellow to be based at the School's Wagga Wagga Rural Clinical School to assist in the development and implementation of an osteoporosis project in collaboration with the Murrumbidgee integrated primary health care centre and the UNSW Rural Clinical School with 'in kind' support from the the University of Notre Dame Australia Clinical School. This aligns with Notre Dame's key focus area of health research and engagement with the community.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy

Superconducing Alloys with Weak and Strong Scattering: Anderson's Theorem and a Superconductor-Insulator Transition

We have studied the effects of strong impurity scattering on disordered superconductors beyond the low impurity concentration limit. By applying the full CPA to a superconductiong A-B binary alloy, we calculated the fluctuations of the local order parameters $\Delta_{A}, \Delta_{B}$ and charge densities, $n_{A}, n_{B}$ for weak and strong on site disorder. We find that for narrow band alloy s-wav e superconductors the conditions for Anderson's theorem are satisfied in general only for the case of particle-hole symmetry. In this case it is satisfied regardless whether we are in the weak or strong scattering regimes. Interestingly, we find that strong scattering leads to band splitting and in this regime for any band filling we have a critical concentration where a superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition occurs at T=0.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figure

Differences in muscle oxygenation between young and middle-aged recreationally active men during high-volume resistance exercise

The aim of this study was to compare muscle oxygenation of the vastus lateralis during a high-volume isokinetic resistance exercise protocol (HVP) between young adult (YA) and middle-aged adult (MA) men. Twenty recreationally trained men were assigned to either the YA (age 21.8±2.0 years, body mass 90.7±11.6 kg, body height 179±4.7 cm) or MA (age 47.0±4.4 years, body mass 96.1±21.6 kg, body height 177±7.7 cm) group. The HVP consisted of eight sets of 10 repetitions of unilateral isokinetic concentric knee extension and eccentric knee flexion at 60°·s-1. Changes in tissue hemoglobin saturation index (TSI), tissue oxygenated hemoglobin concentration (O2Hb), deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb), and muscle oxidation index (O2Hb-HHb) were measured during the exercise session using the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Data were analyzed using two-way mix factorial analyses of variance. Prior to exercise, TSI was significantly greater (p=.024) for YA compared to MA. Significant decreases in O2Hb and O2Hb-HHb and increases in HHb were observed during each of the eight sets relative to the rest periods (p<.05) for both groups. The average change during the eight sets of the HVP revealed a significantly higher (p=.036) level of HHb and a lower (p=.029) level of O2Hb-HHb for MA compared to YA. A significant negative correlation was also noted at baseline between O2Hb-HHb index and the cross-sectional area of the vastus lateralis muscle (r=-.45, p=.045). During a high- volume resistance exercise, MA experienced reduced muscle oxygen saturation levels compared to YA. These results may be attributed to reductions in local tissue oxidative capacity and reduced blood delivery occurring during middle-age, and possibly due to group differences in muscle morphology

International Coercion, Emulation and Policy Diffusion: Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reforms, 1977-1999

Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that the domestic adoption of market-oriented reforms is strongly influenced by international pressures of coercion and emulation. We find robust support for these arguments with an event-history analysis of the determinants of reform in the telecommunications and electricity sectors of as many as 205 countries and territories between 1977 and 1999. Our results also suggest that the coercive effect of multilateral lending from the IMF, the World Bank or Regional Development Banks is increasing over time, a finding that is consistent with anecdotal evidence that multilateral organizations have broadened the scope of the “conditionality” terms specifying market-oriented reforms imposed on borrowing countries. We discuss the possibility that, by pressuring countries into policy reform, cross-national coercion and emulation may not produce ideal outcomes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40099/3/wp713.pd

Long-Term Results from an Epiretinal Prosthesis to Restore Sight to the Blind

PurposeRetinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of inherited retinal degenerations leading to blindness due to photoreceptor loss. Retinitis pigmentosa is a rare disease, affecting only approximately 100 000 people in the United States. There is no cure and no approved medical therapy to slow or reverse RP. The purpose of this clinical trial was to evaluate the safety, reliability, and benefit of the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System (Second Sight Medical Products, Inc, Sylmar, CA) in restoring some visual function to subjects completely blind from RP. We report clinical trial results at 1 and 3 years after implantation.DesignThe study is a multicenter, single-arm, prospective clinical trial.ParticipantsThere were 30 subjects in 10 centers in the United States and Europe. Subjects served as their own controls, that is, implanted eye versus fellow eye, and system on versus system off (native residual vision).MethodsThe Argus II System was implanted on and in a single eye (typically the worse-seeing eye) of blind subjects. Subjects wore glasses mounted with a small camera and a video processor that converted images into stimulation patterns sent to the electrode array on the retina.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome measures were safety (the number, seriousness, and relatedness of adverse events) and visual function, as measured by 3 computer-based, objective tests.ResultsA total of 29 of 30 subjects had functioning Argus II Systems implants 3 years after implantation. Eleven subjects experienced a total of 23 serious device- or surgery-related adverse events. All were treated with standard ophthalmic care. As a group, subjects performed significantly better with the system on than off on all visual function tests and functional vision assessments.ConclusionsThe 3-year results of the Argus II trial support the long-term safety profile and benefit of the Argus II System for patients blind from RP. Earlier results from this trial were used to gain approval of the Argus II by the Food and Drug Administration and a CE mark in Europe. The Argus II System is the first and only retinal implant to have both approvals

Five-Year Safety and Performance Results from the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System Clinical Trial

Purpose: The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System (Second Sight Medical Products, Inc, Sylmar, CA) was developed to restore some vision to patients blind as a result of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or outer retinal degeneration. A clinical trial was initiated in 2006 to study the long-term safety and efficacy of the Argus II System in patients with bare or no light perception resulting from end-stage RP. / Design: Prospective, multicenter, single-arm clinical trial. Within-patient controls included the nonimplanted fellow eye and patients' native residual vision compared with their vision with the Argus II. / Participants: Thirty participants in 10 centers in the United States and Europe. / Methods: The worse-seeing eye of blind patients was implanted with the Argus II. Patients wore glasses mounted with a small camera and a video processor that converted images into stimulation patterns sent to the electrode array on the retina. / Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measures were safety (the number, seriousness, and relatedness of adverse events) and visual function, as measured by 3 computer-based, objective tests. Secondary measures included functional vision performance on objectively scored real-world tasks. / Results: Twenty-four of 30 patients remained implanted with functioning Argus II Systems at 5 years after implantation. Only 1 additional serious adverse event was experienced after the 3-year time point. Patients performed significantly better with the Argus II on than off on all visual function tests and functional vision tasks. / Conclusions: The 5-year results of the Argus II trial support the long-term safety profile and benefit of the Argus II System for patients blind as a result of RP. The Argus II is the first and only retinal implant to have market approval in the European Economic Area, the United States, and Canada

Home videophones improve direct observation in Tuberculosis treatment: a mixed methods evaluation

BACKGROUND: The use of direct observation to monitor tuberculosis treatment is controversial: cost, practical difficulties, and lack of patient acceptability limit effectiveness. Telehealth is a promising alternative delivery method for improving implementation. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a telehealth service delivering direct observation, compared to an in-person drive-around service. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study was conducted within a community nursing service in South Australia. Telehealth patients received daily video calls at home on a desktop videophone provided by the nursing call center. A retrospective cohort study assessed the effectiveness of the telehealth and traditional forms of observation, defined by the proportion of missed observations recorded in case notes. This data was inputted to a model, estimating the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of telehealth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with current patients, community nursing and Chest Clinic staff, concerning service acceptability, usability and sustainability. The percentage of missed observations for the telehealth service was 12.1 (n = 58), compared to 31.1 for the in-person service (n = 70). Most of the difference of 18.9% (95% CI: 12.2 – 25.4) was due to fewer pre-arranged absences. The economic analysis calculated the ICER to be AUD$1.32 (95$0.51 – $2.26) per extra day of successful observation. The video service used less staff time, and became dominant if implemented on a larger scale and/or with decreased technology costs. Qualitative analysis found enabling factors of flexible timing, high patient acceptance, staff efficiency, and Chest Clinic support. Substantial technical problems were manageable, and improved liaison between the nursing service and Chest Clinic was an unexpected side-benefit. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Home video observation is a patient-centered, resource efficient way of delivering direct observation for TB, and is cost-effective when compared with a drive-around service. Future research is recommended to determine applicability and effectiveness in other settings.Victoria A. Wade, Jonathan Karnon, Jaklin A. Eliott and Janet E. Hille