Parent-centred and culturally-competent literacies for health promotion with newly arrived African communities : a literature review

When considering culturally competent health literacy in newly arrived communities the following key concepts are important: Health literacy and literacy - People practice and use literacy in many ways. People use text or the written word, oral literacy (or the spoken word), visual literacy (or images) and technological literacy (through the use of information and communication technologies). They also draw on other people who mediate health-related information. People’s identities and their access to social networks shape their use of literacy practices and their engagement with health promoting activities. Literacy practices are not static. Initiatives to improve health literacy need to be responsive to the social context (e.g. migration experience; life history; gender; ethnicity; religion; life stage; education) and integrate expertise from both the health promotion and the adult literacy fields. Collectivism and authoritarianism - Most western cultures, such as Australia, support an environment that promotes individualism. With parenting, this translates to parenting styles that place high priority on children’s autonomy, individual achievement, self-expression and egalitarianism. However, African (and other) cultures place a high priority on collectivism and authoritarianism as the norm. Authoritarianism is characterized by the imposition of an absolute set of standards, the valuing of obedience and respect for authority. In this sense the collectivist cultures discourage self-assertion and autonomy, and the goal of parenting is the promotion of interdependence, cooperation, compliance without discussion, and inhibition of personal wishes. Acculturation - Acculturation of immigrants and refugees is a complex and dynamic interaction that takes place between groups settling in the host country and the people, culture, environment, politics and systems of the new country. The impact of acculturation on the health and wellbeing of new arrivals is significant and there are several models of acculturation described in the literature. A way to support health appears to be through a combination of maintenance of beneficial traditional elements of life as well as adopting useful host cultural skills. Cultural competence - The literature frames ‘cultural competence’ as the evolution of the terms cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness. The concept is important as it shifts focus from the individual to the organisation and systems. The ethos of cultural competence is a reflective practice and ongoing process of learning, valuing and interacting crossculturally at an individual, organisation and system level

Harbingers of Hope: Scientists and the Pursuit of World Peace

The ongoing wars in many regions-such as the conflict between Israel and Hamas-as well as the effects of war on communities, social services, and mental health are covered in this special editorial. This article emphasizes the need for international efforts to promote peace, offer humanitarian aid, and address the mental health challenges faced by individuals and communities affected by war and violence

Development and validation of a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancers

Next generation sequencing has revolutionised genomic studies of cancer, having facilitated the development of precision oncology treatments based on a tumour’s molecular profile. We aimed to develop a targeted gene sequencing panel for application to disparate cancer types with particular focus on tumours of the head and neck, plus test for utility in liquid biopsy. The final panel designed through Roche/Nimblegen combined 451 cancer-associated genes (2.01 Mb target region). 136 patient DNA samples were collected for performance and application testing. Panel sensitivity and precision were measured using well-characterised DNA controls (n = 47), and specificity by Sanger sequencing of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Interacting Protein (AIP) gene in 89 patients. Assessment of liquid biopsy application employed a pool of synthetic circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Library preparation and sequencing were conducted on Illumina-based platforms prior to analysis with our accredited (ISO15189) bioinformatics pipeline. We achieved a mean coverage of 395x, with sensitivity and specificity of >99% and precision of >97%. Liquid biopsy revealed detection to 1.25% variant allele frequency. Application to head and neck tumours/cancers resulted in detection of mutations aligned to published databases. In conclusion, we have developed an analytically-validated panel for application to cancers of disparate types with utility in liquid biopsy

The FANCM:p.Arg658* truncating variant is associated with risk of triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract: Breast cancer is a common disease partially caused by genetic risk factors. Germline pathogenic variants in DNA repair genes BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2 are associated with breast cancer risk. FANCM, which encodes for a DNA translocase, has been proposed as a breast cancer predisposition gene, with greater effects for the ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes. We tested the three recurrent protein-truncating variants FANCM:p.Arg658*, p.Gln1701*, and p.Arg1931* for association with breast cancer risk in 67,112 cases, 53,766 controls, and 26,662 carriers of pathogenic variants of BRCA1 or BRCA2. These three variants were also studied functionally by measuring survival and chromosome fragility in FANCM−/− patient-derived immortalized fibroblasts treated with diepoxybutane or olaparib. We observed that FANCM:p.Arg658* was associated with increased risk of ER-negative disease and TNBC (OR = 2.44, P = 0.034 and OR = 3.79; P = 0.009, respectively). In a country-restricted analysis, we confirmed the associations detected for FANCM:p.Arg658* and found that also FANCM:p.Arg1931* was associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk (OR = 1.96; P = 0.006). The functional results indicated that all three variants were deleterious affecting cell survival and chromosome stability with FANCM:p.Arg658* causing more severe phenotypes. In conclusion, we confirmed that the two rare FANCM deleterious variants p.Arg658* and p.Arg1931* are risk factors for ER-negative and TNBC subtypes. Overall our data suggest that the effect of truncating variants on breast cancer risk may depend on their position in the gene. Cell sensitivity to olaparib exposure, identifies a possible therapeutic option to treat FANCM-associated tumors