Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Healthiness Of Food And Beverages For Sale At Two Public Hospitals In New South Wales, Australia, Carrie Tsai, Erika Svensen, Victoria M. Flood, Yasmine Probst, Kathryn Reilly, Stephen Corbett, Jason H. Y Wu

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

(1) Background: Our aim was to conduct objective, baseline food environment audits of two major western Sydney public hospitals and compare them to recently revised state nutritional guidelines.

(2) Methods: A cross-sectional assessment was conducted (June-July2017) across 14 fixed food outlets and 70 vending machines in two hospitals using an audit tool designed to assess the guideline's key food environment parameters of availability, placement, and promotion of 'Everyday' (healthy) and 'Occasional' (less healthy) products.

(3) Results: Availability: Overall, Everyday products made up 51% and 44% of all products available at the two hospitals. Only 1/14(7%) fixed outlets and 16/70(23%) vending …

Gas-Phase Oxidation Of The Protonated Uracil-5-Yl Radical Cation, James Bezzina, Matthew Prendergast, Stephen J. Blanksby, Adam J. Trevitt

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

This study targets the kinetics and product detection of the gas-phase oxidation reaction of the protonated 5-dehydrouracil (uracil-5-yl) distonic radical cation using ion-trap mass spectrometry. Protonated 5-dehydrouracil radical ions (5-dehydrouracilH⁺ radical ion, m/z 112) are produced within an ion trap by laser photolysis of protonated 5-iodouracil. Storage of the 5-dehydrouracilH⁺ radical ion in the presence of controlled concentration of O₂ reveals two main products. The major reaction product pathway is assigned as the formation of protonated 2-hydroxypyrimidine-4,5-dione (m/z 127) + ^•OH. A second product ion (m/z 99), putatively assigned as a five-member-ring ketone structure, is tentatively …

Positive Ageing On Our Mind - An Initiative Called Afia (Age Friendly Illawarra Alliance), Lorna Moxham

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Ageing is everyone's business, after all, none of us are getting younger. This assertion is reflected in the nursing workforce with the Department of Health telling us that the overall ageing workforce is reflected in both the increasing average age of nurses from 44.3 years in 2009 to 44.6 years in 2012 and the increasing percentage of those aged 55 years and over from 19.8% in 2009 to 23.1% in 2012.

Dna Polymerase Iv Primarily Operates Outside Of Dna Replication Forks In Escherichia Coli, Sarah Henrikus, Elizabeth A. Wood, John P. Mcdonald, Michael M. Cox, Roger Woodgate, Myron F. Goodman, Antoine M. Van Oijen, Andrew Robinson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

In Escherichia coli, damage to the chromosomal DNA induces the SOS response, setting in motion a series of different DNA repair and damage tolerance pathways. DNA polymerase IV (pol IV) is one of three specialised DNA polymerases called into action during the SOS response to help cells tolerate certain types of DNA damage. The canonical view in the field is that pol IV primarily acts at replisomes that have stalled on the damaged DNA template. However, the results of several studies indicate that pol IV also acts on other substrates, including single-stranded DNA gaps left behind replisomes that re-initiate replication …

Employment Conditions Of Australian Primary Health Care Nurses, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Christine Ashley, Sharon James, Elizabeth A. Smyth

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: The primary health care (PHC) nursing workforce is growing to meet the demand for community based health services. To facilitate the recruitment and retention of nurses in PHC settings it is important that positive employment conditions exist.

Aim: To explore the employment characteristics ofAustralian PHC nurses, including employment patterns and remuneration considerations.

Methods: A descriptive survey of Australian PHC nurses was conducted during 2015 as part of a larger mixed methods study. This paper reports the survey findings relating to employment patterns, conditions and remuneration.

Findings: One thousand one hundred sixty six nurses responded to the …

Exercise And Psychological Benefits For Older People, Rebekkah Middleton, Lorna Moxham, Dominique R. Parrish

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The literature establishes that older people benefit not only physically, but cognitively and socially from being engaged in community recreational activities. Community recreational activities support healthy ageing (Young et al. 2015 p2), and allow older people to maintain cognitive abilities, improve self-belief, and quality of life indicators (Balducci et al. 2014).

Bachelor Of Nursing Honours Programs In Australia: Current Trends And Key Challenges, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Elizabeth A. Smyth, Lorna Moxham, Victoria Traynor, Ritin S. Fernandez

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: To prepare nurses for a role in knowledge generation they need to engage in research training. Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) programs are a first step in this training. Developing a better understanding of current programs, their challenges and outcomes will provide an evidence base to inform curriculum development and policy making.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore current Australian Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) programs in terms of their composition, delivery and number of enrolments/graduates.

Methods: Bachelor of Nursing Honours Coordinators or Heads of Schools of Nursing and Midwifery at Australian Universities were emailed …

Does Walkability Contribute To Geographic Variation In Psychosocial Distress? A Spatial Analysis Of 91,142 Members Of The 45 And Up Study In Sydney, Australia, Darren J. Mayne, Geoffrey Morgan, Bin B. Jalaludin, Adrian E. Bauman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Walkability describes the capacity of the built environment to promote walking, and has been proposed as a potential focus for community-level mental health planning. We evaluated this possibility by examining the contribution of area-level walkability to variation in psychosocial distress in a population cohort at spatial scales comparable to those used for regional planning in Sydney, Australia. Data on psychosocial distress were analysed for 91,142 respondents to the 45 and Up Study baseline survey between January 2006 and April 2009. We fit conditional auto regression models at the postal area level to obtain smoothed "disease maps" for psychosocial distress, and …

Work Satisfaction And Future Career Intentions Of Experienced Nurses Transitioning To Primary Health Care Employment, Christine Ashley, Kathleen Peters, Angela M. Brown, Elizabeth J. Halcomb

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Aim: To explore registered nurses' reflections on transitioning from acute to primary health care employment, and future career intentions.

Background: Reforms in primary health care have resulted in increasing demands for a skilled primary health care nursing workforce. To meet shortfalls, acute care nurses are being recruited to primary health care employment, yet little is known about levels of satisfaction and future career intentions.

Method: A sequential mixed methods study consisting of a survey and semi-structured interviews with nurses who transition to primary health care.

Results: Most reported positive experiences, valuing work/life balance, role diversity and …

Self-Evacuation Archetypes In Australian Bushfire, Ken Strahan, Joshua Whittaker, John Handmer

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Australian householders respond to bushfire in diverse and complex ways according to their circumstances and characteristics. They tend not to simply make a binary decision to evacuate from or remain at their property, or simply to 'wait and see' what happens before they decide. Seven self-evacuation archetypes displaying universally recognisable, fundamentally human characteristics were identified through cluster and discriminant function analysis of data from 457 householders who had recently experienced a bushfire. These seven archetypes characterise the diverse attitudes and behaviour of typical groupings of householders faced with making a protective decision during a bushfire. The archetypes comprise those who …

Consumers’ Perspectives Of The Meaning Of Safety In Acute Mental Health Inpatient Services, Natalie A. Cutler, Lorna Moxham, Moira Stephens

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background and Aim: Safety is a priority in the acute mental health inpatient setting (ACQSHC 2014). Safety is commonly represented in government policy as the reduction or elimination of risk (AIHW 2018). Defining safety as the reduction or elimination of risk means this is where funding and resources are likely to be directed. This has limitations however, as it can lead to environments and processes considered by mental health services to be safe, but are not aligned with what people with lived experience of mental illness deem to be safe (Cutler, Moxham & Stephens 2015). This PhD study explored the …

Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid And Arachidonic Acid In Early Life: What Is The Best Evidence For Policymakers?, Stewart Forsyth, Philip C. Calder, Francis Zotor, Paul Amuna, Barbara J. Meyer, Bruce Holub

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: A wealth of information on the functional roles of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) from cellular, animal, and human studies is available. Yet, there remains a lack of cohesion in policymaking for recommended dietary intakes of DHA and ARA in early life. This is predominantly driven by inconsistent findings from a relatively small number of randomised clinical trials (RCTs), which vary in design, methodology, and outcome measures, all of which were conducted in high-income countries. It is proposed that this selective evidence base may not fully represent the biological importance of DHA and ARA during early and …

Timelines For Human Evolution And Dispersals, Richard G. Roberts, Zenobia Jacobs

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Luminescence dating has been instrumental in constraining the age of archaeological and human skeletal remains. Thermoluminescence dating was applied originally to heated pottery and burnt flint, and optical dating was developed subsequently to estimate the depositional age of sun-bleached sediments associated with artefacts and fossils. These methods have helped establish numerical timelines for human evolution and dispersals over the last half million years, including the earliest evidence for modern humans in Africa, Asia and Australia, and the comings and goings of archaic humans in Eurasia and Indonesia. Here, we recount the major role that luminescence dating has played recently in …

Evaluating The Effects Of A Physical Activity On Agitation And Wandering (Paaw) Experienced By Individuals Living With A Dementia In Care Homes, Victoria Traynor, Nadine S. Veerhuis, Keryn M. Johnson, Jessica Hazelton, Shiva Gopalan

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Aim and Methods: The aim was to evaluate the implementation of a structured physical activity (PA) programme for individuals living with a dementia in care homes. More specifically, the study aimed to test the effects on the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) using the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory and Algase Wandering Scale. The study was undertaken over 16 weeks using a quasi-experimental design. Registered nurses, physiotherapists, assistants in nursing and physiotherapy aids from one aged care organisation in NSW, Australia, undertook the study with academics.

Results: A total of 72 individuals living with a dementia from four …

Ectothermic Telomeres: It's Time They Came In From The Cold, Mats M. Olsson, Erik Dr Erik Wapstra, Christopher R. Friesen

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

We review the evolutionary ecology and genetics of telomeres in taxa that cannot elevate their body temperature to a preferred level through metabolism but do so by basking or seeking out a warm environment. This group of organisms contains all living things on earth, apart from birds and mammals. One reason for our interest in this synthetic group is the argument that high, stable body temperature increases the risk of malignant tumours if long, telomerase-restored telomeres make cells 'live forever'. If this holds true, ectotherms should have significantly lower cancer frequencies. We discuss to what degree there is support for …

Low Intensity Blood Parasite Infections Do Not Reduce The Aerobic Performance Of Migratory Birds, Steffen Hahn, Silke Bauer, Dimitar Dimitrov, Tamara Emmenegger, Karina Ivanova, Pavel Zehtindjiev, William A. Buttemer

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Blood parasites (Haemosporidia) are thought to impair the flight performance of infected animals, and therefore, infected birds are expected to differ from their non-infected counterparts in migratory capacity. Since haemosporidians invade host erythrocytes, it is commonly assumed that infected individuals will have compromised aerobic capacity, but this has not been examined in free-living birds. We tested if haemosporidian infections affect aerobic performance by examining metabolic rates and exercise endurance in migratory great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) experimentally treated with Plasmodium relictum pGRW04 and in naturally infected wild birds over consecutive life-history stages. We found no effect of acute or chronic …

Parasite Metacommunities: Evaluating The Roles Of Host Community Composition And Environmental Gradients In Structuring Symbiont Communities Within Amphibians, Joseph Mihaljevic, Bethany J. Hoye, Pieter Johnson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Ecologists increasingly report the structures of metacommunities for free-living species, yet far less is known about the composition of symbiont communities through space and time. Understanding the drivers of symbiont community patterns has implications ranging from emerging infectious disease to managing host microbiomes. Using symbiont communities from amphibian hosts sampled from wetlands of California, USA, we quantified the effects of spatial structure, habitat filtering and host community components on symbiont occupancy and overall metacommunity structure. We built upon a statistical method to describe metacommunity structure that accounts for imperfect detection in survey data-detection error-corrected elements of metacommunity structure-by adding an …

International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 369 Preliminary Report: Australia Cretaceous Climate And Tectonics: Tectonic, Paleoclimate, And Paleoceanographic History Of High-Latitude Southern Margins Of Australia During The Cretaceous, Brian T. Huber, Richard W. Hobbs, Kara A. Bogus, Sietske Batenburg, H-J Brumsack, Rodrigo Do Monte Guerra, Kirsty Edgar, Trine Edvardsen, Dennis Harry, Takashi Hasegawa, Shannon Haynes, Tao Jiang, Matthew M. Jones, Junichiro Kuroda, Eun-Young Lee, Y-X Li, Kenneth Macleod, Alessandro Maritati, Mathieu Martinez, Lauren O'Connor, Maria Petrizzo, Tracy Quan, Carl Richter, Laurent Riquier, Gabriel Tagliaro, Maria Tejada, Carmine Wainman, David K. Watkins, Lloyd T. White, Erik Wolfgring, Zhaokai Xu

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The tectonic and paleoceanographic setting of the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and the Mentelle Basin (MB; adjacent to Naturaliste Plateau) offered an outstanding opportunity to investigate Cretaceous and Cenozoic climate change and ocean dynamics during the last phase of breakup among remnant Gondwana continents. Sediment recovered from sites in both regions during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 369 will provide a new perspective on Earth's temperature variation at sub-polar latitudes (60°-62°S) across the extremes of the mid-Cretaceous hot greenhouse climate and the cooling that followed. The primary goals of the expedition were to: * Investigate the timing and causes for …

Terrestrial Laser Scanning To Quantify Above-Ground Biomass Of Structurally Complex Coastal Wetland Vegetation, Christopher Owers, Kerrylee Rogers, Colin D. Woodroffe

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Above-ground biomass represents a small yet significant contributor to carbon storage in coastal wetlands. Despite this, above-ground biomass is often poorly quantified, particularly in areas where vegetation structure is complex. Traditional methods for providing accurate estimates involve harvesting vegetation to develop mangrove allometric equations and quantify saltmarsh biomass in quadrats. However broad scale application of these methods may not capture structural variability in vegetation resulting in a loss of detail and estimates with considerable uncertainty. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) collects high resolution three-dimensional point clouds capable of providing detailed structural morphology of vegetation. This study demonstrates that TLS is a …

Dissolved Organic Matter Signatures Vary Between Naturally Acidic, Circumneutral And Groundwater-Fed Freshwaters In Australia, Aleicia Holland, Jenny Stauber, Chris M. Wood, Melanie Trenfield, Dianne F. Jolley

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays important roles in both abiotic and biotic processes within aquatic ecosystems, and these in turn depend on the quality of the DOM. We collected and characterized chromophoric DOM (CDOM) from different Australian freshwater types (circumneutral, naturally acidic and groundwater-fed waterways), climatic regions and seasons. CDOM quality was characterized using absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy. Excitation emission scans followed by parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis showed that CDOM was characterized by three main components: protein-like, fulvic-like and humic-like components commonly associated with various waters globally in the Openfluor database. Principal component analysis showed that CDOM quality varied between …

Students Use Of Exemplars To Support Academic Writing In Higher Education: An Integrative Review, Rebekah B. Carter, Yenna Salamonson, Lucie Ramjan, Elizabeth J. Halcomb

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Background: Timely and meaningful feedback is essential to promote active learning and student engagement with learning. However, achieving this remains elusive, particularly in undergraduate nursing programs that admit large student cohorts. One strategy to provide meaningful en masse feedback is to provide feed-forward support by using exemplars. To date, there has been limited evaluation of the effectiveness of this feedback strategy.

Objective: To review the impact of using exemplars as a feedback strategy to support student academic writing in higher education.

Data Sources and Review Method: A systematic search of electronic databases for original research papers published …

The Use Of Time-Averaged Concentrations Of Metals To Predict The Toxicity Of Pulsed Complex Effluent Exposures To A Freshwater Alga, Brad M. Angel, Kathryn Goodwyn, Dianne F. Jolley, Stuart L. Simpson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Intermittent, fluctuating and pulsed contaminant discharges may result in organisms receiving highly variable toxicant exposures. This study investigated the toxicity of continuous and pulsed exposures of a complex, neutralised drainage water (NDW) and dissolved copper-spiked dilute NDW to the green alga, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. The effects of single pulses of between 1 and 48 h duration and continuous exposures (72 h) on algal growth rate inhibition were compared on a time-averaged concentration (TAC) basis. Algal growth rates generally recovered to control levels within 24e48 h of the pulse removal. Continuous exposures to NDW resulted in similar or marginally higher toxicity …

Long Open-Path Measurements Of Greenhouse Gases In Air Using Near-Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy, David W. T Griffith, Denis Pohler, Stefan Schmitt, S. S. Hammer, S Vardag, Ulrich Platt

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

In complex and urban environments, atmospheric trace gas composition is highly variable in time and space. Point measurement techniques for trace gases with in situ instruments are well established and accurate, but do not provide spatial averaging to compare against developing high-resolution atmospheric models of composition and meteorology with resolutions of the order of a kilometre. Open-path measurement techniques provide path average concentrations and spatial averaging which, if sufficiently accurate, may be better suited to assessment and interpretation with such models. Open-path Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) in the mid-infrared region, and differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) in the UV and …

Open-Air Preservation Of Miniaturised Lithics: Experimental Research In The Cederberg Mountains, Southern Africa, Natasha Phillips, Justin Pargeter, Marika Low, Alex Mackay

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Open-air archaeology plays a limited role in southern African Late Pleistocene research, with most studies focused on rock shelter assemblages. Recently, archaeologists have noted discrepancies in the composition of Late Pleistocene lithic assemblages between some of the region's open-air and rock shelter sites. For example, although relatively abundant in rock shelters, Late Pleistocene Later Stone Age (LSA, c. 44-12 kcal. BP) bipolar cores are rare in open-air contexts. In this paper, we assess this discrepancy by testing for differential preservation of specific artefact classes and sizes in semi-arid open-air conditions. We placed a replicated assemblage of miniaturised cores and flakes …

Aerosol Optical Properties And Trace Gas Emissions By Pax And Op-Ftir For Laboratory-Simulated Western Us Wildfires During Firex, Vanessa Selimovic, R Yokelson, Carsten Warneke, J M. Roberts, Joost A. De Gouw, J Reardon, David W. T Griffith

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Western wildfires have a major impact on air quality in the US. In the fall of 2016, 107 test fires were burned in the large-scale combustion facility at the US Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory as part of the Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments Experiment (FIREX). Canopy, litter, duff, dead wood, and other fuel components were burned in combinations that represented realistic fuel complexes for several important western US coniferous and chaparral ecosystems including ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, chamise, and manzanita. In addition, dung, Indonesian peat, and individual coniferous ecosystem fuel …

Communicating A Diagnosis Of Dementia: A Systematic Mixed Studies Review Of Attitudes And Practices Of Health Practitioners, Lee-Fay Low, Margaret Mcgrath, Kate Swaffer, Henry Brodaty

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The aim of this study is to systematically review practitioners' practices and attitudes in regards to communicating a diagnosis of dementia. A systematic search was conducted of Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed for English language original empirical papers. A sequential explanatory mixed studies analysis approach was used. Twenty-five quantitative descriptive, two intervention, six mixed methods descriptive and 21 qualitative studies were included. Pooled analysis showed that 34% of GPs and 48% of specialists usually/routinely tell the person with dementia their diagnosis, and 89% of GPs and 97% specialists usually/routinely tell the family the diagnosis. Euphemistic terms such as 'memory …

Emissions Of Trace Gases From Australian Temperate Forest Fires: Emission Factors And Dependence On Modified Combustion Efficiency, Elise-Andree Guerette, Clare Paton-Walsh, Maximilien Desservettaz, T E L Smith, Liubov Volkova, Christopher Weston, C P Meyer

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

We characterised trace gas emissions from Australian temperate forest fires through a mixture of open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) measurements and selective ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) and White cell FTIR analysis of grab samples. We report emission factors for a total of 25 trace gas species measured in smoke from nine prescribed fires. We find significant dependence on modified combustion efficiency (MCE) for some species, although regional differences indicate that the use of MCE as a proxy may be limited. We also find that the fire-integrated MCE values derived from our in situ on-the-ground open-path measurements are not …

Vegetation History And Paleoclimate At Lake Dojran (Fyrom/Greece) During The Late Glacial And Holocene, Alessia Masi, Alexander Francke, Caterina Pepe, Matthias Thienemann, Bernd Wagner, Laura Sadori

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

A new high-resolution pollen and NPP (non-pollen palynomorph) analysis has been performed on the sediments of Lake Dojran, a transboundary lake located at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The sequence covers the last 12 500 years and provides information on the vegetational dynamics of the Late Glacial and Holocene for the southern Balkans. Robust age model, sedimentological diatom, and biomarker analyses published previously have been the base for a multi-perspective interpretation of the new palynological data. Pollen analysis revealed that the Late Glacial is characterized by steppic taxa with prevailing Amaranthaceae, Artemisia and …

Island-Hopping Study Shows The Most Likely Route The First People Took To Australia, Kasih Norman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The First Australians were among the world's earliest great ocean explorers, undertaking a remarkable 2,000km maritime migration through Indonesia which led to the discovery of Australia at least 65,000 years ago. But the voyaging routes taken through Indonesia's islands, and the location of first landfall in Australia, remain a much debated mystery to archaeologists. Our research, published earlier this year in Quaternary Science Reviews, highlights the most likely route by mapping islands in the region over time through changing sea levels.

Repeated Megafloods From Glacial Lake Vitim, Siberia, To The Arctic Ocean Over The Past 60,000 Years, Martin Margold, John D. Jansen, Alexandru Tiberiu Codilean, Frank Preusser, Artem L. Gurinov, Toshiyuki Fujioka, David Fink

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Cataclysmic outburst floods transformed landscapes and caused abrupt climate change during the last deglaciation. Whether such events have also characterized previous deglaciations is not known. Arctic marine cores hint at megafloods prior to Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 2, but the overprint of successive glaciations means that geomorphological traces of ancient floods remain scarce in Eurasia and North America. Here we present the first well-constrained terrestrial megaflood record to be linked with Arctic archives. Based on cosmogenic-nuclide exposure dating and optically stimulated luminescence dating applied to glacial-lake sediments, a 300-m deep bedrock spillway, and giant eddy-bars > 200-m high, we reconstruct a …