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Area-Level Walkability And The Geographic Distribution Of High Body Mass In Sydney, Australia: A Spatial Analysis Using The 45 And Up Study, Darren J. Mayne, Geoffrey Morgan, Bin Jalaludin, Adrian E. Bauman

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Improving the walkability of built environments to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce high body mass is increasingly considered in regional development plans. Walkability indexes have the potential to inform, benchmark and monitor these plans if they are associated with variation in body mass outcomes at spatial scales used for health and urban planning. We assessed relationships between area-level walkability and prevalence and geographic variation in overweight and obesity using an Australian population-based cohort comprising 92,157 Sydney respondents to the 45 and Up Study baseline survey between January 2006 and April 2009. Individual-level data on overweight and obesity were aggregated to …

Mobile Phone Use And Incidence Of Brain Tumour Histological Types, Grading Or Anatomical Location: A Populationbased Ecological Study, Ken Karipidis, Mark Elwood, Geza P. Benke, Masoumeh Sanagou, Lydiawati Tjong, Rodney J. Croft

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Objective Some studies have reported increasing trends in certain brain tumours and a possible link with mobile phone use has been suggested. We examined the incidence time trends of brain tumour in Australia for three distinct time periods to ascertain the influence of improved diagnostic technologies and increase in mobile phone use on the incidence of brain tumours.

Design In a population-based ecological study, we examined trends of brain tumour over the periods 1982- 1992, 1993-2002 and 2003-2013. We further compared the observed incidence during the period of substantial mobile phone use (2003-2013) with predicted (modelled) incidence for the same …

Development And Evaluation Of The Telephone Crisis Support Skills Scale, Taneile Kitchingman, Coralie J. Wilson, Peter Caputi, Alan Woodward, Tara Hunt

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background: Although telephone services continue to play an important role in the delivery of front-line crisis support, published evidence of the standardized assessment of such services does not exist to date. Aims: To describe the development of the Telephone Crisis Support Skills Scale (TCSSS), an instrument to assess workers' intentions to use recommended skills with callers, and to evaluate its factor structure and reliability. Method: TCSSS items were mapped to a national telephone crisis support practice model. A national sample of workers (n = 210) completed the TCSSS as part of a larger online survey. Principal axis factoring was used …

The Ecological Fallacy Of The Role Of Age In Chronic Disease And Hospital Demand, David Whyatt, Raji Tenneti, Julie Marsh, Anna Kemp, Laura Firth, Kevin Murray, Berwin Turlach, Alistair Vickery

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Objective: To examine the relationship between age and all-cause hospital utilization in the years preceding and following a diagnosis in hospital of heart failure, type 2 diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Research Design: A cohort study of all patients in Western Australia who have had a principal diagnosis of heart failure, type 2 diabetes, or COPD, upon admission to hospital. All-cause hospital utilization 6 years preceding and 4 years following cardinal events, that is, a disease-specific diagnosis upon hospital admission, where such an event has not occurred in the previous 2 years, are examined in specific age groups. …

Teasaponin Reduces Inflammation And Central Leptin Resistance In Diet-Induced Obese Male Mice, Yinghua Yu, Yizhen Wu, Alexander Szabo, Zhixiang Wu, Hongqin Wang, Duo Li, Xu-Feng Huang

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Chronic inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Recently, teasaponin, an extract from tea, has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. We examined the effect of teasaponin on obesity, inflammation, glucose metabolism and central leptin sensitivity, in obese mice fed a high-fat (HF) diet for 16 weeks. Intraperitoneal injections of teasaponin (10mg/kg, daily) for 21 days significantly decreased the food intake and body weight of HF diet-induced obese mice. Teasaponin treatment also reduced the protein levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and/or IL-1β) and NF-κB signaling (p-IKK and p-IκBα) in adipose tissue and the liver. …

An Objective Index Of Walkability For Research And Planning In The Sydney Metropolitan Region Of New South Wales, Australia: An Ecological Study, Darren J. Mayne, Geoffrey Morgan, Alan Willmore, Nectarios Rose, Bin Jalaludin, Hilary Bambrick, Adrian Bauman

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Background: Walkability describes the capacity of the built environment to support walking for various purposes. This paper describes the construction and validation of two objective walkability indexes for Sydney, Australia.

Methods: Walkability indexes using residential density, intersection density, land use mix, with and without retail floor area ratio were calculated for 5,858 Sydney Census Collection Districts in a geographical information system. Associations between variables were evaluated using Spearman’s rho (ρ). Internal consistency and factor structure of indexes were estimated with Cronbach’s alpha and principal components analysis; convergent and predictive validity were measured using weighted kappa (κw) and by comparison with …