Search

Improving the suboptimal vegetable consumption among the majority of Australian children is imperative in reducing chronic disease risk. The objective of this research was to determine whether there was a relationship between food security determinants (FSD) (i.e., food availability, access, and utilisation dimensions) and adequate vegetable consumption among children living in regional and remote Western Australia (WA). Caregiver-child dyads (n = 256) living in non-metropolitan/rural WA completed cross-sectional surveys that included questions on FSD, demographics and usual vegetable intake. A total of 187 dyads were included in analyses, which included descriptive and logistic regression analyses via IBM SPSS (version 23). A total of 13.4% of children in this sample had adequate vegetable intake. FSD that met inclusion criteria (p ≤ 0.20) for multivariable regression analyses included price; promotion; quality; location of food outlets; variety of vegetable types; financial resources; and transport to outlets. After adjustment for potential demographic confounders, the FSD that predicted adequate vegetable consumption were, variety of vegetable types consumed (p = 0.007), promotion (p = 0.017), location of food outlets (p = 0.027), and price (p = 0.043). Food retail outlets should ensure that adequate varieties of vegetable types (i.e., fresh, frozen, tinned) are available, vegetable messages should be promoted through food retail outlets and in community settings, towns should include a range of vegetable purchasing options, increase their reliance on a local food supply and increase transport options to enable affordable vegetable purchasing.

Objective: Inequities can negatively impact the health outcomes of children. The aims of this study were to: i) ascertain the prevalence of food insecurity (FI) among regional and remote Western Australian (WA) children; and ii) determine which socio-demographic factors predicted child FI. Methods: Caregiver-child dyads (n=219) completed cross-sectional surveys. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS version 23. Results: Overall, 20.1% of children were classified as FI. Children whose family received government financial assistance were more likely to be FI (OR 2.60; CI 1.15, 5.91; p=0.022), as were children living in a Medium disadvantage area (OR 2.60; CI 1.18, 5.72; p=0.017), compared to High or Low SEIFA ratings. Conclusions: Study findings are suggestive of the impact low income has on capacity to be food secure. The higher FI prevalence among children from families receiving financial assistance and living in medium disadvantage areas indicates more support for these families is required. Recommendations include: ensuring government plans and policies adequately support disadvantaged families; increasing employment opportunities; establishing evidence on the causes and the potential impact of FI on children's health. Implications for public health: One in five children were FI, demonstrating that FI is an issue in Western Australia.

Issue addressed: Currently, two food sufficiency questions are utilised as a proxy measure of national food security status in Australia. These questions do not capture all dimensions of food security and have been attributed to underreporting of the problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate food security using the short form of the US Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) within an Australian context; and explore the relationship between food security status and multiple socio-demographic variables. Methods: Two online surveys were completed by 2334 Australian participants from November 2014 to February 2015. Surveys contained the short form of the HFSSM and twelve socio-demographic questions. Cross-tabulations chi-square tests and amultinomial logistic regression model were employed to analyse the survey data. Results: Food security status of the respondents was classified accordingly: High or Marginal (74%, n = 1495), Low (20%, n = 460) or Very Low (16%, n = 379). Significant independent predictors of food security were age (P < .001), marital status (P = .005), household income (P < .001) and education (P < .001). Conclusion: Findings suggest food insecurity is an important issue across Australia and that certain groups, regardless of income, are particularly vulnerable. Implications for health promotion: Government policy and health promotion interventions that specifically target "at risk" groups may assist to more effectively address the problem. Additionally, the use of a multi-item measure is worth considering as a national indicator of food security in Australia.

Objectives This qualitative study explored the barriers and enablers influencing Western Australian (WA) community pharmacists’ knowledge, confidence, willingness and practice in engaging older clients (>60 years) in alcohol-related health discussions. Methods Two focus groups were conducted with a total of 14 community pharmacists who had previously completed a formative quantitative survey (n = 63), and indicated willingness to participate in a follow-up focus group. Focus group questions, informed by the survey results, explored participants’ perceptions about barriers and enablers to delivering health information and advice about alcohol to older clients (60+ years). Shaw and colleagues’ theoretical framework was used to understand barriers and enablers in relation to role legitimacy, role adequacy and role support. Key findings Participants acknowledged that providing health information about alcohol to older clients is a legitimate part of a community pharmacist's role, and most were confident performing this role in situations perceived as core to their professional practice, such as while dispensing medicines. However, many participants identified limited knowledge, skills and confidence in assisting older clients who may have alcohol issues, beyond advising them on medication and alcohol use. Structural barriers such as time and financial barriers were also identified. Conclusion Routine professional practice including dispensing medicine and home medicine reviews may provide valuable opportunities to engage older clients in alcohol-related discussions. However, limited knowledge concerning appropriate strategies to assist older clients reduce their alcohol consumption, coupled with limited skills and confidence among community pharmacists in raising sensitive alcohol-related issues with clients, suggest the need for specific alcohol-related training and support.

Objectives This research aimed to identify older Australian drinkers’ knowledge about Australian Alcohol Guidelines and their beliefs about the risks and benefits of alcohol; their recall of alcohol-related issues being raised with them by their community pharmacist and General Practitioner (GP); and their receptiveness to alcohol-related information being provided by either health professional. Methods This research was conducted in Perth, Western Australia. Flyers calling for participants were placed in local health and service centres, and advertisements were placed in local media. Participants who met eligibility requirements were posted a survey pack (n = 190) including an information letter, consent form, quantitative survey, and return addressed, postage paid envelope. 188 people aged over 60 years returned completed questionnaires. Key findings Women were more familiar with national alcohol guidelines, and were more conservative about the potential health benefits of alcohol. While 90% of participants were receptive to their GP asking about their alcohol use, only 30% of men and 20% of women recalled their GP raising this issue with them in the prior 12 months. Of these, high-risk drinkers were six times more likely than low-risk drinkers to have been asked by their GP. Likewise, 50% of men and 65% of women were receptive to having alcohol-related health conversations with their community pharmacist, but less than 4% recalled their pharmacist raising this issue. Participants were most receptive to receiving information about alcohol-medication interactions. Conclusions This research highlights that prescribing and dispensing medication represents the ideal opportunity for health professionals to deliver alcohol-related information to older people.

(1) Background/Objectives: The Paleolithic diet has been receiving media coverage in Australia and claims to improve overall health. The diet removes grains and dairy, whilst encouraging consumption of fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs and nuts. Our aim was to compare the diet to the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) in terms of compliance, palatability and feasibility; (2) Subjects/Methods: 39 healthy women (age 47 ± 13 years, BMI 27 ± 4 kg/m2) were randomised to an ad-libitum Paleolithic (n = 22) or AGHE diet (n = 17) for 4-weeks. A food checklist was completed daily, with mean discretionary consumption (serves/day) calculated to assess compliance. A 12-item questionnaire was administered post intervention to assess palatability and feasibility; (3) Results: The AGHE group reported greater daily consumption of discretionary items (1.0 + 0.6 vs. 0.57 + 0.6 serves/day, p = 0.03). Compared to the AGHE group, the Paleolithic group reported a significantly greater number of events of diarrhoea (23%, 0%, p = 0.046), costs associated with grocery shopping (69%, 6% p < 0.01) and belief that the diet was not healthy (43%, 0% p < 0.01); (4) Conclusions: Compliance to both diets was high but the potential side effects and increased cost suggest that the Paleolithic diet may not be practical in clinical/public health settings. Further studies are required to assess longer term feasibility.

Repeat tumor biopsies to study genomic changes during therapy are difficult, invasive and data are confounded by tumoral heterogeneity. The analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can provide a non-invasive approach to assess prognosis and the genetic evolution of tumors in response to therapy. Mutation-specific droplet digital PCR was used to measure plasma concentrations of oncogenic BRAF and NRAS variants in 48 patients with advanced metastatic melanoma prior to treatment with targeted therapies (vemurafenib, dabrafenib or dabrafenib/trametinib combination) or immunotherapies (ipilimumab, nivolumab or pembrolizumab). Baseline ctDNA levels were evaluated relative to treatment response and progression-free survival (PFS). Tumor-associated ctDNA was detected in the plasma of 35/48 (73%) patients prior to treatment and lower ctDNA levels at this time point were significantly associated with response to treatment and prolonged PFS, irrespective of therapy type. Levels of ctDNA decreased significantly in patients treated with MAPK inhibitors (p < 0.001) in accordance with response to therapy, but this was not apparent in patients receiving immunotherapies. We show that circulating NRAS mutations, known to confer resistance to BRAF inhibitors, were detected in 3 of 7 (43%) patients progressing on kinase inhibitor therapy. Significantly, ctDNA rebound and circulating mutant NRAS preceded radiological detection of progressive disease. Our data demonstrate that ctDNA is a useful biomarker of response to kinase inhibitor therapy and can be used to monitor tumor evolution and detect the early appearance of resistance effectors.

Proper dynamic modelling of the troposphere wet delay using the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) measurements is important in precise point positioning and in estimation of the PrecipitableWater Vapour (PWV) for weather forecast. The random walk (RW) and the first-order Gauss-Markov (GM) autocorrelation models are commonly used for this purpose. However, it was found that these models consistently underestimate the temporal correlations that exist among the troposphere wet delay. Therefore, a new dynamic model is proposed. The performance of the proposed model in following the autocorrelation of actual data is demonstrated and its impact on the near-real time estimation of the wet delay was tested and compared to that of the GMand RWmodels. Results showed that the proposed model outperformed these models. When the computed wet delays were used to compute PWV, their estimated valueswere very close to actual PWV data measured by radiosonde with differences less than 1 mm.

Proper modelling of the temporal correlations of the zenith wet delay (ZWD) is important in some of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) applications such as estimation of the Perceptible Water Vapour (PWV), and methods such as Precise Point Positioning (PPP). The random walk (RW) and the first-order Gauss- Markov (GM) autocorrelation model are commonly used for the dynamic modelling of ZWD in Kalman filtering of GNSS measurements. However, it was found that the GM model consistently underestimates the temporal correlations that exist among the ZWD estimates. Therefore, a new autocorrelation dynamic model is proposed in a form similar to that of a hyperbolic function. The impact of the proposed dynamic model on the near-real time estimation of the ZWD was tested and its results were compared to that of the GM model as well as the RW model. In this test, GPS dual-frequency data collected on the 25th Jan 2010 at two Western Australian IGS stations, namely, Yarragadee and Karratha, were used. Results showed that the proposed model outperformed the GM model, and when added to hydrostatic models were able to provide near real-time (with 30 seconds intervals) ZTD estimates to within a few cm accuracy.

Troposphere delay is one of the main distance-dependent errors in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) observations. Precise estimation of the troposphere wet delay is necessary to aid ambiguity resolution and for positioning in network Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) and Precise Point Positioning. Wet tropospheric estimates can also serve as a source of atmospheric information to facilitate weather forecasting. Interpolation of the troposphere wet delay is thus required when its estimation is interrupted for short periods or when data are processed at higher intervals from that of available data. The objective of this research is to compare the performance of several interpolation methods that can be used in order to suggest the most appropriate technique. Six interpolation models were considered. The models ranged from the easy-to-implement linear model, to the more sophisticated Kriging model. Other models considered are the cubic spline interpolation, cubic Hermite polynomial interpolation, Lagrange polynomial interpolation, and Fast Fourier transform interpolation. The performance of these methods was assessed by comparing their results with actual troposphere wet delay data collected at the station Onsala (ONSA) in Sweden. As the number of observations used to generate the interpolation process affects the determination of the model coefficients; the use of different lengths of observations was investigated. The number of missing wet delay values considered for interpolation during testing ranged from one to four in a row. Test results showed that the linear interpolation, the cubic Hermite polynomial and fast Fourier transform models produce better estimates than splines and ordinary Kriging. The Lagrange polynomials method was the poorest performer. The paper provides explanation of the interpolation results achieved by linking them with autocorrelation of the troposphere wet delays.

The determination of the zenith wet delay (ZWD) component can be a difficult task due to the dynamic nature of atmospheric water vapour. However, precise estimation of the ZWD is essential for high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications such as real-time positioning and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) modelling.The functional and stochastic models that can be used for the estimation of the tropospheric parameters from GNSS measurements are presented and discussed in this study. The focus is to determine the ZWD in an efficient manner in static mode. In GNSS, the estimation of the ZWD is directly impacted by the choice of stochastic model used in the estimation process. In this thesis, the rigorous Minimum Norm Quadratic Unbiased Estimation (MINQUE) method was investigated and compared with traditional models such as the equal-weighting model (EWM) and the elevationangle dependent model (EADM). A variation of the MINQUE method was also introduced. A simulation study of these models resulted in MINQUE outperforming the other stochastic models by at least 36% in resolving the height component. However, this superiority did not lead to better ZWD estimates. In fact, the EADM provided the most accurate set of ZWD estimates among all the models tested. The EADM also yielded the best ZWD estimates in the real data analyses for two independent baselines in Australia and in Europe, respectively.The study also assessed the validity of a baseline approach, with a reduced processing window size, to provide good ZWD estimates at Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) in an efficient manner. Results show that if the a-priori station coordinates are accurately known, the baseline approach, along with a 2-hour processing window, can produce ZWD estimates that are statistically in good agreement with the estimates from external sources such as the radiosonde (RS), water vapour radiometer (WVR) and International GNSS Service (IGS) solutions. Res

Most stochastic modelling techniques assume the physical correlations among the raw observations to be negligible when forming the variance covariance matrix of the GPS observations. Such an assumption may, however, lead to significantly biased solutions. The Minimum Norm Quadratic Unbiased Estimation (MINQUE) method is an iterative technique that can be used to estimate spatial correlation among GPS measurements. Studies by previous authors have shown that MINQUE improves the accuracy and the reliability of the ambiguity resolution, and ultimately, the geodetic solution. However, its effect on the estimation of zenith wet delay (ZWD) is somewhat unknown. In this paper, an investigation into its impact on ZWD, as well as heighting, is carried out using simulated data. The results obtained from MINQUE for an observation window of five-days in static mode indicate an average improvement of 51% and 71% in the station height precision when compared against elevation-angle dependent and equal weighting models, respectively. This development, however, did not translate into better ZWD estimation, for which the differences between each respective stochastic model are generally at the sub-millimetre level.

Crisafulli, B., Lo, J., Mueller, U., Ryan, K., & Fairclough, D. (2022). Increasing confidence in estimates of average weight and recreational harvest ranges. Fisheries Research, 248, article 106208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2021.106208

Maisey, G., Cattani, M., Devine, A., Lo, J., Fu, S. C., & Dunican, I. C. (2021). Digging for data: How sleep is losing out to roster design, sleep disorders, and lifestyle factors. Applied Ergonomics, 99, article 103617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103617

Jeffery, R. C. H., Thompson, J. A., Lo, J., Lamey, T. M., McLaren, T. L., McAllister, I. L., . . . Chen, F. K. (2021). Atrophy expansion rates in Stargardt disease using ultra-widefield fundus autofluorescence. Ophthalmology Science, 1(1), article 100005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xops.2021.100005

Wickens, N., Wallace, R., Dare, J., Costello, L., Lo, J., & Nimmo, L. (2020). Mobile phone use and social interactions among caregivers can reduce their ability to provide constant supervision to children at Australian public swimming pools. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 32(S2), 147-157. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.445

Maisey, G., Cattani, M., Devine, A., Lo, J., Fu, S. C., & Dunican, I. C. (2021). Digging for data: How sleep is losing out to roster design, sleep disorders, and lifestyle factors. Applied Ergonomics, 99, article 103617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103617

Wilkinson, C., Dare, J., French, M., McDermott, M. L., Lo, J., & Allsop, S. (2016). Prescribing or dispensing medication represents the best opportunity for GPs and pharmacists to engage older people in alcohol-related clinical conversations. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 24(5), 319-325. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpp.12255