Kimberley Transitions, Collaborating to Care for Our Common Home: Beginnings...

This scoping paper is a preliminary introduction to the aspirations, interrelated literature and research involved in development of the Kimberley Transitions Project. Our focus is on Western Australia’s Kimberley region, a landscape of immense natural and cultural significance. Along with the rest of Australia, and indeed the world in which we all live, the Kimberley is on the verge of major climate, political, social and economic change. The direction of changes being proposed by governments and industry are regularly criticised, both globally and locally, by individuals and organisations concerned about damage to its rich biodiversity and cultural integrity. With the aim of collaboratively generating Kimberley-based responses grounded in local knowledges, a mix of disciplines and emerging international theories, scholars and relevant groups have come together to form a Kimberley-wide practical and shared research agenda. One of the key influences behind the project is an international transitions movement which aims to generate collaborative change incorporating a process of transition. Locally identified issues using local knowledges and capacity are central to its evolution. A conceptual and theoretical framing known as ‘transitions discourse’ is also emerging internationally and nationally, one that foregrounds diverse epistemologies and challenges mainstream economics and associated ideologies, such as neoliberalism. Via the Kimberley Transitions project, Kimberley-based researchers and collaborators aim to support and further document social, cultural and economic change inspired by the transitions movement and informed by transition discourses. It has the Kimberley landscape and people at its heart; a transformative approach featuring cultural healing, intellectual rigour and an ethos aimed at enduring, practical and interconnected sustainable outcomes.https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/nulungu_research/1001/thumbnail.jp

Postprandial metabolic responses to mixed versus liquid meal tests in healthy men and men with type 2 diabetes

AbstractAimsCompare metabolic responses after mixed versus liquid meals of similar caloric/nutritional content in healthy and type 2 diabetes (T2D) subjects.MethodsTen healthy men and 10 men with T2D received mixed and liquid meals after an overnight fast. Classical (insulinogenic index; insulin/glucose areas under curves, AUCinsulin/AUCglucose) and model-based (beta-cell glucose sensitivity; rate sensitivity; potentiation factor ratio, PFR) beta-cell function estimates were calculated. Between-meal differences in glucose, insulin, C-peptide, triglyceride (TG), beta-cell function and oral glucose insulin sensitivity (OGIS) and between-meal correlations for beta-cell function and OGIS were evaluated.ResultsAmong healthy subjects, beta-cell function and OGIS were similar between meals. C-peptide (p=0.03), insulin (p=0.002), AUCinsulin/AUCglucose (p=0.004) and insulin secretion (p=0.04) were higher after the liquid meal. Among T2D subjects, glucose, insulin, C-peptide, beta-cell function, and OGIS were similar. PFR was higher (p=0.004) and TG increased more slowly (p=0.002) after the liquid meal. OGIS and beta-cell function were correlated during both meals in both groups (r=0.66–0.98), except incremental AUCinsulin/AUCglucose, rate sensitivity, and, in healthy subjects, PFR.ConclusionsMetabolic responses after mixed or liquid meals of similar content were highly correlated in T2D and healthy subjects. In T2D, the liquid meal produced beta-cell function estimates generally similar to the mixed meal