Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, correlates and interventions among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: a scoping review protocol

Introduction: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Australia experience poorer health outcomes in the areas of overweight and obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Contributing to this burden of disease in the Australian community generally and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, is the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). We have described a protocol for a review to systematically scope articles that document use of SSBs and interventions to reduce their consumption with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These results will inform future work that investigates interventions aimed at reducing harm associated with SSB consumption. Methods and analysis: This scoping review draws on a methodology that uses a six-step approach to search databases including PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, Informit (including Informit: Indigenous Peoples), Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database and Mura, between January 1980 and February 2017. Two reviewers will be engaged to search for and screen studies independently, using formulated selection criteria, for inclusion in our review. We will include primary research studies, systematic reviews including meta-analysis or meta-synthesis, reports and unpublished grey literature. Results will be entered into a table identifying study details and characteristics, summarised using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis chart and then critically analysed. Ethics and dissemination: This review will not require ethics committee review. Results will be disseminated at appropriate scientific meetings, as well as through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.Jodie C Avery, Jacqueline A Bowden, Joanne Dono, Odette R Gibson, Aimee Brownbill, Wendy Keech, David Roder, Caroline L Mille

Recruitment strategies in randomised controlled trials of men aged 50 years and older: a systematic review

Objectives: To identify and review evaluations of strategies to recruit men aged 50 years and over to randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Design: Systematic review and narrative synthesis. Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and ORRCA databases were searched to 1 December 2017. Eligibility Criteria: Studies using quantitative methods to evaluate recruitment strategies to RCTs of men aged 50 years and older. Data Extraction and Synthesis: A single reviewer extracted data (for each strategy, number of participants approached, screened and randomised, and cost). Study quality was assessed using National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Quality Assessment Tools and considered study design, description of interventions, description and measurement of outcomes, completeness of outcome reporting, performance of statistical testing and consideration of confounders. Recruitment strategies were categorised by the recruitment stage they addressed. Results: Sixteen studies (n >14 000) were included: one good quality, ten fair quality and five poor quality. Studies evaluated strategies to identify prospective participants, and to improve the processes for assessing participant eligibility, providing participant information and seeking consent. In good and fair quality studies, the most effective strategies for identifying participants were referral from an affiliated health service provider (two studies), mass mailing (five studies) and media coverage (two studies). Community outreach activities such as displaying posters and attending local community events were not effective (two studies). Trial-specific training of site recruitment staff, developed using qualitative analysis of recruitment visits (two studies), and provision of study information to prospective participants at a multidisciplinary, group information session (one study) both improved recruitment. Conclusion: Improved engagement of men aged 50 years and older in RCTs is needed. A gender-sensitised approach to RCT recruitment may help to address this need. We have identified several promising recruitment strategies that merit further evaluation.Karen Bracken, Lisa Askie, Anthony C Keech, Wendy Hague, Gary Witter

Pathway to the PiezoElectronic Transduction Logic Device

The information age challenges computer technology to process an exponentially increasing computational load on a limited energy budget - a requirement that demands an exponential reduction in energy per operation. In digital logic circuits, the switching energy of present FET devices is intimately connected with the switching voltage, and can no longer be lowered sufficiently, limiting the ability of current technology to address the challenge. Quantum computing offers a leap forward in capability, but a clear advantage requires algorithms presently developed for only a small set of applications. Therefore, a new, general purpose, classical technology based on a different paradigm is needed to meet the ever increasing demand for data processing.Comment: in Nano Letters (2015

Opposite associations between alanine aminotransferase and γ-glutamyl transferase levels and all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes: analysis of the Fenofibrate Intervention and Event Lowering in Diabetes (FIELD) study

Aims Reported associations between liver enzymes and mortality may not hold true in type 2 diabetes, owing to a high prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which has been linked to cardiovascular disease and mortality in its own right. Our study aimed to determine whether alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) levels predict mortality in type 2 diabetes, and to examine possible mechanisms. Methods Data from the Fenofibrate Intervention and Event Lowering in Diabetes (FIELD) study were analysed to examine the relationship between liver enzymes and all-cause and cause-specific mortality over 5 years. Results Over 5 years, 679 (6.9%) individuals died. After adjustment, for every standard deviation increase in ALT (13.2U/L), the HR for death on study was 0.85 (95% CI 0.78-0.93), p70 U/L, compared with GGT ≤70 U/L, had HR 1.82 (1.48−2.24), p70 U/L was associated with higher risks of death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer and non-cancer/non-cardiovascular causes. The relationship for ALT persisted after adjustment for indirect measures of frailty but was attenuated by elevated hsCRP. Conclusions As in the general population, ALT has a negative, and GGT a positive, correlation with mortality in type 2 diabetes when ALT is less than two times the upper limit of normal. The relationship 4 for ALT appears specific for death due to cardiovascular disease. Links of low ALT with frailty, as a potential mechanism for relationships seen, were neither supported nor conclusively refuted by our analysis and other factors are also likely to be important in those with type 2 diabetes