The Role of TRAIL-Signalling in Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity

This item is only available electronically.Thesis (BHlthMSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Medical School, YEA

Integrating Social Media in the Development of a Special Event Population Dynamics Model

With society’s increasing participation in social media, scientists now have access to new sources of data that reflect our daily activities in space and in time. Such data are plentiful and, more notably, at an unprecedented granular level. The ability for users to capture and express their geolocation through their phones’ global positioning system (GPS) or through a particular location’s hashtag or Facebook Page provides a great opportunity for modeling spatiotemporal population dynamics. High resolution population models and databases for episodic special events can be extremely useful for enhancing emergency management and response. This research assesses the feasibility of improving a special event population distribution and dynamics model, namely Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s LandScan USA, using data from social media. Specifically, analysis is across a 24 hour period for a number of football game days associated with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville during the 2013-2014 season. Data from two popular social media platforms, namely Twitter and Facebook, were used to analyze possible patterns of population distributions around the university’s football stadium. Spatial autocorrelation was measured and calculated using Global Moran’s I and the Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) test to support and build confidence of the tweet and check-in data. Overall, data from social media were found to be beneficial for improving high-resolution population distribution datasets, such as LandScan USA. However, long term collection and analysis of social media data are necessary for ensuring sustainability and predictive capacity of such data in modeling near real-time population dynamics for special events

Do Early Childhood Body Mass Index Trajectories Affect School Readiness, Socioemotional Development, or Cognition? Findings From the CANDLE Study.

Sims Taylor, Lauren M., PhD. The University of Memphis. December 2018. Early childhood weight status and its effects on socioemotional development, school readiness, and cognition.Major Professor: Vikki Nolan, DSc, MPHChildhood obesity is associated with negative health and social outcomes in school-age children. These effects range from absenteeism and poor self-esteem to worse test scores, and fewer completed grades. Although previous studies have found these associations in school-age children and adolescents, less is known about this association in young children, who are just beginning school. Additionally, many studies of the outcomes of obesity are limited by cross-sectional study designs. These projects attempted to examine three distinct effects of obesity in early childhood by using a novel strategy: trajectory analysis. Using yearly data from the Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early childhood (CANDLE) study, a prospective birth cohort study in Memphis, TN, we categorized child participants into one of four BMI percentile group trajectories. Linear regression was used to examine the association between these trajectories and school readiness, socioemotional development, and cognition. Crude analysis in all three studies yielded no significant associations. Once potential confounders were included in the models, there was still no association between trajectory group and the outcomes. Maternal education, insurance type, and childs race were significant predictors of school readiness, with insurance type having the largest effect. Children with private insurance, compared to children with public insurance, had higher average scores by 1.64 and 1.73 points for girls and boys, respectively. Maternal education was a significant predictor of score on all eight outcome scales that measured socioemotional development, with children of mothers without a college degree having higher average scores on the total problems scales by 3.60 points, compared to children of mothers with a college degree or more education. Childs race was a significant predictor of the score on two outcome scales. Maternal education, maternal marital status, insurance type, and child race were all significant predictors of IQ in girls. Maternal education, insurance type, and child race were significant predictors of IQ in boys. Girls and boys who have private insurance, compared to girls who have public insurance, have higher average IQs by 4.58 and 4.67 points, respectively

Looking back at the IGC-ISI India development policy conference

The IGC Growth Week is due to take place at the London School of Economics 23rd-25th September and will feature research on India and South Asia. To give an insight into the work of the IGC’s India Central programme, India At LSE rounds up some of the research presentations at last month’s IGC-ISI India Development Policy Conference in Delhi

Short term impact of smoke-free legislation in England: retrospective analysis of hospital admissions for myocardial infarction

Objective To measure the short term impact on hospital admissions for myocardial infarction of the introduction of smoke-free legislation in England on 1 July 2007

How does the emotive content of televised anti-smoking mass media campaigns influence monthly calls to the NHS Stop Smoking helpline in England?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of different types of televised mass media campaign content on calls to the English NHS Stop Smoking helpline. METHOD: We used UK government-funded televised tobacco control campaigns from April 2005 to April 2010, categorised as either “positive” (eliciting happiness, satisfaction or hope) or “negative” (eliciting fear, guilt or disgust). We built negative binomial generalised additive models (GAMs) with linear and smooth terms for monthly per capita exposure to each campaign type (expressed as Gross Ratings Points, or GRPs) to determine their effect on calls in the same month. We adjusted for seasonal trends, inflation-adjusted weighted average cigarette prices and other tobacco control policies. RESULTS: We found non-linear associations between exposure to positive and negative emotive campaigns and quitline calls. The rate of calls increased more than 50% as exposure to positive campaigns increased from 0 to 400 GRPs (rate ratio: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.25–2.01). An increase in calls in response to negative emotive campaigns was only apparent after monthly exposure exceeded 400 GRPs. CONCLUSION: While positive campaigns were most effective at increasing quitline calls, those with negative emotive content were also found to impact on call rates but only at higher levels of exposure

Characterizing tobacco control mass media campaigns in England

Aims To characterize publically funded tobacco control campaigns in England between 2004 and 2010 and to explore if they were in line with recommendations from the literature in terms of their content and intensity. International evidence suggests that campaigns which warn of the negative consequences of smoking and feature testimonials from real-life smokers are most effective, and that four exposures per head per month are required to reduce smoking prevalence. Design Characterization of tobacco control advertisements using a theoretically based framework designed to describe advertisement themes, informational and emotional content and style. Study of the intensity of advertising and exposure to different types of advertisement using data on population-level exposure to advertisements shown during the study period. Setting England. Measurements Television Ratings (TVRs), a standard measure of advertising exposure, were used to calculate exposure to each different campaign type. Findings A total of 89% of advertising was for smoking cessation; half of this advertising warned of the negative consequences of smoking, while half contained how-to-quit messages. Acted scenes featured in 72% of advertising, while only 17% featured real-life testimonials. Only 39% of months had at least four exposures to tobacco control campaigns per head. Conclusions A theory-driven approach enabled a systematic characterization of tobacco control advertisements in England. Between 2004 and 2010 only a small proportion of tobacco control advertisements utilized the most effective strategies—negative health effects messages and testimonials from real-life smokers. The intensity of campaigns was lower than international recommendations