Suitability of the WHO 25 x 25 chronic disease targets and indicators for Australia

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013‐2020 aims to reduce the burden of non‐communicable diseases by 2025, through action on nine targets measured by 25 indicators of performance. While the WHO 25 x 25 targets were cited as a key set of measures for Australia to assess and improve the health of the population, they must be tailored to the Australian context. This paper reviews the nationally available data relevant to the WHO 25 x 25 targets and indicators, identifying any gaps that exist. This report will be used to provoke discussion and inform the development of targets and indicators, based on the WHO model, but tailored to Australia’s population health needs

Development of Australian chronic disease targets and indicators

Analyses available baseline information for chronic diseases in Australia, as a starting point for chronic disease target and indicator consideration. Introduction The Australian Health Policy Collaboration (AHPC) is facilitating development of a set of targets and indicators to measure and track the prevention and management of chronic diseases in Australia. Using criteria described in this paper, the AHPC will work with health stakeholders from the public and non‐government sectors to review the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases targets and indicators and consider suitable alternatives where necessary. The WHO 25 x 25 targets are a key set of measures for Australia to assess and draw from, however, national measures must be tailored to the Australian context.  The AHPC work on chronic disease policies for Australia, outlined in this paper, takes a broader approach to chronic diseases, including for example, mental illness. This paper should be read in conjunction with the technical paper Suitability of the WHO 25 x 25 chronic disease targets and indicators for Australia, for which it provides context and background.&nbsp

A Search for Solutions: Evaluating the Latest Anti-Stalking Developments and the National Institute of Justice Model Stalking Code

Beatings by men are the leading cause of injury for American women.\u27 Many people ask why these women do not leave their batterers. The answer often has its roots in the crime of stalking. As the mother of a battered woman who was stalked and murdered by her abuser explains, People ask \u27Why don\u27t battered women leave?\u27 They get killed. That\u27s why. 2 Unwilling to relinquish control, batterers [can] become stalkers, pursuing their victims after the victims leave the abusive relationship. 3 Stalking is a problem faced not only by domestic violence victims or women in general. Virtually anyone can fall prey to a stalker. First, this Comment will define stalking and explain the urgency of the issue. Second, it will discuss and evaluate the stalking laws developed by the states. Third, it will -compare the state laws with the National Institute of Justice Model Anti- Stalking Code for States in order to determine which provisions best protect stalking victims

The burgeoning interest in young onset dementia: redressing the balance or reinforcing ageism?

Critical evaluation is undertaken of social scientific conceptualisations of dementia in relation to ageing. In response to the societal tendency to associate dementia with old age, there is a growing body of literature that seeks to explicate the particular challenges faced by younger people with the condition. While recognition of the distinctive impacts presented by dementia at different ages is crucial, an age-related conceptual model that focuses on a lifecourse divide at age 65 is problematic: it promulgates a sense that younger people with dementia have ‘‘unique’’ experiences, while dementia for older people is typical. This also reflects a societal ageism, under which concerns are focused on those situated within ‘‘productive adulthood.’’ Moreover, a straightforward chronological marker cannot adequately represent a social world shaped by significant demographic changes. A more textured appreciation of ageing and dementia is required to help articulate how distinctive experiences emerge across the lifecourse

The effects of visual deprivation on adaptation to a rotating environment

Visual deprivation effects on adaptation to rotating environment - Motion sickness studie

Technical note: The effects of five different defaunation methods on biogeochemical properties of intertidal sediment

Various methods have been used to remove organisms from sediments to investigate structure and function of faunal assemblages in intertidal habitats. Nevertheless, little is known about how these treatments affect properties of the sediments themselves, although changing these properties may cause changes in the assemblages, independently of other hypotheses being tested. This study assesses the efficacy of defaunation and effect on selected biogeochemical properties of five different methods of defaunating soft muddy sediments in an estuary. The methods were removal and freezing of sediment, removal and oven-heating, freezing in situ with liquid N2, spraying with formalin and spraying with hydrogen peroxide. The first four of these methods have been used in previous studies, whilst the fifth was considered to be a potentially useful defaunator because it does not leave toxic residues. The first two methods required sediment to be brought back to the lab, disrupting the natural structure of the sediment; the last three were done in situ, with much less disturbance.  Variables measured to assess effects of the treatments on the sediment were amount of water, grain size, total carbohydrate, suspension index (relative erosion rate), erosion threshold, chlorophyll a and b, colloidal carbohydrate, Fo (minimal fluorescence) and Fv/ Fm (photosynthetic yield). There were no significant effects of any treatment on the first four variables. For the others, effects of defaunation varied from treatment to treatment and with time after treatment. Generally, the greatest disturbance was to the microphytobenthos (MPB, measured by chlorophyll and fluorescence) and related variables. For most treatments, recovery was rapid, but the effects of formalin and H2O2 persisted for a few days. Effects on physical properties of the sediment were mostly minor and insignificant. Removal and freezing or heating, however, caused major changes to the sediments because of the disturbances involved. Choosing the appropriate method of defaunation is very important if interpretations are not to be confounded between the effects of defaunation per se and any effects of changes to other biota (such as microphytobenthos) and/or the properties of sediments caused by the method used to defaunate experimental areas

Orientation illusions and after-effects : inhibition between channels

Abstract-The apparent ilt from vertical has been examined for vertical sinusoidal gratings in the presence of an inducing grating which was tilted 12 ’ from vertical. The amount of apparent tilt depended on the contrast of the test grating. At high test contrasts, the grating appeared to be tilted about 2 ” clockwise; at low contrasts, near threshold. there was little or no apparent tilt. If the inducing grating and test grating were not contiguous but were separated by about 0.4’. there was no apparent tilt at any test contrast. The detection threshold for the test grating was elevated by the inducing grating only when the whole of the test grating was close to the inducing grating. It is argued that these results can be explained if there is an inhibitory interaction between detectors responding to similar orientations and subserving similar parts of the visual field. INTRODUflION Viewing a grating for a few seconds may cause a subsequently-viewed grating in the same region of the visual field to appear distorted in several ways. First, its apparent orientation may be changed the tilt after-effect (Vernon, 1934; Gibson and Radner, 1937). Second. its apparent spatial-frequency may be changed, the spatial-frequency after-effect (Blake

Determining how functionally diverse intertidal sediment species preserve mudflat ecosystem properties after abrupt biodiversity loss

As a result of anthropogenic climate change, extreme climatic events have increased in frequency, severity, and longevity. The consequences for community structure after a catastrophic event have been well studied. However, changes in ecosystem functioning that occur after such an event, including ecosystemrecovery, are still uncertain. A catastrophic event was simulated in an intertidalsedimentary habitat. Postevent sediment replicates were assigned to one of four recovery scenarios: (1) no recovery, (2) migration recovery, and recovery by differential opportunistic colonisation by (3) the polychaete worm Hediste diversicolor and (4) the mud snail Peringia ulvae, two locally dominant infauna species. These are compared with a control scenario not subjected to the event. The simulated extreme event caused a shift in habitat state due to a reduction in mobile macrofauna abundance and an increase in microphytobenthos biomass. Migratory recovery of species and the simulated opportunistic expansion of a single species ameliorated this shift and, for some metrics, functional compensation for the loss of other species and the preservation of certain ecosystem functions was observed. The dominant species identity during postevent habitat recovery can have considerable effects on important ecosystem processes and functions with consequences that may result in functional regime shifts in a habitat and alter coastal stability

Blue Opportunities from the future: Knowledge and tools to inform sustainable growth for an integrated terrestrial, coastal and marine zone economy - a summary report

This summary brochure presents highlights of the ‘Blue Opportunities from the Future’ project.When referencing this report, please use the following citation: Day, S.A., Tolhurst, T.J., Lorenzoni, I., Johnson, M.J., Kennedy, K., Dunnett, I., Forster, J., Goodli e, R., Luisetti, T., Mengo, E., Moore, K., Parker, B., Reynolds, J., Rickards, S., and Southern, A. (2018) Blue Opportunities from the future: Knowledge and tools to inform sustainable growth for an integrated terrestrial, coastal and marine zone economy – a summary report. Marine Knowledge Exchange Network (MKEN), School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich. This project was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant NE/ N017323/1) and the Economic and Social Research Council, via Impact Accelerator support to the University of East Anglia. PROJECT PARTNERS: Blue Ltd. CEFAS Coastal Partnership East Environment Agency New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership OrbisEnergy RSPB and The Landscape Partnership We thank our project partners and participants for contributing their insights, knowledge and expertise to this research. </div

Promoting vulnerability or resilience to HIV? A qualitative study on polygamy in Maiduguri, Nigeria

Literature on the links between polygamy and HIV and AIDS is limited and the findings inconclusive. Literature to date in Sub-Saharan Africa has relied mainly on case-control studies and surveys. This qualitative study aimed to explore different community members' perceptions of the links between the practice of polygamy and vulnerability or resilience to HIV and AIDS in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria. The study used focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with religious and community leaders and different groups of women and men in the community. Participant views on the links between polygamy and HIV were varied. However, one clear emerging theme was that it is not the practice of polygamy per se that shapes vulnerability to HIV and AIDS but the dynamics of sexual relations and practices both within and beyond the marital union - whether monogamous or polygamous. The ways in which these social relationships are negotiated and experienced are in turn shaped by religious traditions, gender roles and relations, education and socio-economic status. Within the religious environment of north-eastern Nigeria, where asymmetrical gender roles and relations and connotations of morality shape experiences of sexual interactions, windows of opportunity to promote behaviour-change strategies to support women and men's resilience to HIV need to be carefully created. Health practitioners and planners should develop partnerships with religious and community leaders and women's groups to construct and deliver behaviour-changes strategies