New Brunswick HEARS: outcomes of a community-delivered hearing intervention adapted for older adults in Atlantic Canada.

Objective: To assess acceptability and benefit of a community-based hearing intervention delivered at no cost to lower-income older adults with untreated hearing loss in New Brunswick, Canada.

Design: Mixed method pre-post intervention study investigating aspects of communication function and social support at baseline and three months post-intervention.

Study Sample: 124 of 175 independent-living older adults screened at the study site and in local community centres in low-income neighbourhoods were recruited into the study.

Recovery in Mind: A Recovery College's journey through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The Covid-19 restrictions of 2020-2021 are known to have undermined the UK population's mental health. Working alongside staff, peer trainers and students at Recovery in Mind (RiM), a Recovery College (RC) in West Berkshire, England, this mixed-methods study is amongst the first to investigate how an RC has responded to the pandemic.

Methods: Working in co-production with RiM staff and peer-trainers, this study employed a mixed-methods design, gathering Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) well-being outcome measures by questionnaire and student experience, learning and co-production by interviews.

Methodology for the Development of the Australian National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework.

Internationally healthcare organisations and governments are grappling with the issue of upskilling healthcare workforces in relation to digital health. Significant research has been undertaken in relation to documenting essential digital health capability requirements for the workforce. In 2019 the Australian Digital Health Agency funded work by the Australasian Institute of Digital Health to develop a National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework.

Factors Contributing to Posttraumatic Growth Following Bereavement.

Multiple factors have been studied to determine their relationship to posttraumatic growth, with findings suggesting the importance of resiliency (Bensimon, 2012), social support (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004), event centrality (Taku et al., 2014), religious coping (Pargament et al., 2006), relationship to the deceased (Oginska-Bulik, 2015), and the circumstance of passing (Feigelman et al.

Implementing a healthy food retail policy: a mixed-methods investigation of change in stakeholders' perspectives over time.

Objectives: To investigate (i) changes in stakeholder commitment and (ii) perceptions of the purpose, challenges and benefits of healthy food and beverage provision in community sports settings during the stepwise implementation of a healthy beverage policy.

Design: Convergent, parallel, mixed-methods design complemented (i) repeat semi-structured interviews with council stakeholders (n 17 interviews, n 6 interviewees), with (ii) repeat quantitative stakeholder surveys measuring Commitment to Organisational Change; (iii) weekly sales data examining health behaviour and revenue effects (15 months pre-intervention; 14 months post-intervention); (iv) customer exit surveys (n 458); and (v) periodic photographic audits of beverage availability. Interviews were analysed inductively.

The long-term effectiveness and acceptability of the retailer-led removal of unhealthy drinks from display in a self-service café.

Objective: In 2015, beverages were removed from display at a self-service café within a major health service, resulting in fewer purchases of unhealthy beverages. This initiative was continued following initial evaluation of the results. The current study aimed to determine customer acceptability of the initiative, and whether healthier purchases had continued, at 18 months following implementation.

Exploring the Health Informatics Occupational Group in the 2018 Australian Health Information Workforce Census.

There has been no empirical evidence about the health informatics workforce in Australia produced in the last ten years. This study reports the findings from an analysis of a subset of the 2018 Australian Health Informatics Workforce Census data. Analysing 420 responses that were identified as the occupational group Health Informatics, the results indicate that whilst most of the workforce is classified as aged (>45 years), many respondents are still relatively early in their health informatics careers.

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Myocardial Infarction in the Transgender Population.

Background: As of 2016, ≈1.4 million people in the United States identify as transgender. Despite their growing number and increasing specific medical needs, there has been a lack of research on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD risk factors in this population.

Changes in the volatile profile of skim milk powder prepared under different processing conditions and the effect on the volatile flavor profile of model white chocolate.

The objective of this work is to determine the extent to which changes in the skim milk powder (SMP) manufacturing process alter the volatile profile of SMP, and whether these changes are carried through to a final product when the SMP is used as an ingredient and subjected to further processing. The manufacture of SMP is a multistage process involving a preliminary concentration step, heat treatment, and a drying stage. However, the methods and conditions used by the industry are not standardized, and the inherent variability in the production of SMP has consequences for the end-users, such as the confectionery industry, where the SMP is used as an ingredient during the production of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel.

Breast arterial calcification association with coronary artery calcium scoring and implications for cardiovascular risk assessment in women.

Breast arterial calcification (BAC) is a type of medial artery calcification that can be seen incidentally on mammography. Studies have suggested association of BAC with cardiovascular risk factors, coronary artery disease (CAD), and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recently published studies have also suggested a modest correlation of BAC with coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring.

Impact of the Skim Milk Powder Manufacturing Process on the Flavor of Model White Chocolate.

Milk powder is an important ingredient in the confectionery industry, but its variable nature has consequences for the quality of the final confectionary product. This paper demonstrates that skim milk powders (SMP) produced using different (but typical) manufacturing processes, when used as ingredients in the manufacture of model white chocolates, had a significant impact on the sensory and volatile profiles of the chocolate. SMP was produced from raw bovine milk using either low or high heat treatment, and a model white chocolate was prepared from each SMP.

Towards public health surveillance of intensive care services in NSW, Australia.

Objectives: Outbreaks of known and novel pathogens causing very severe illness increase the risk to public health in a globalised community and alarm the public. Intensive care units (ICUs) may be an underused setting for public health surveillance. This study investigates the electronic Record for Intensive Care (eRIC), an electronic clinical information and management system being developed for New South Wales ICUs, and its surveillance opportunity offerings.

Designing an intervention to help people with colorectal adenomas reduce their intake of red and processed meat and increase their levels of physical activity: a qualitative study.

Background: Most cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) arise from adenomatous polyps and malignant potential is greatest in high risk adenomas. There is convincing observational evidence that red and processed meat increase the risk of CRC and that higher levels of physical activity reduce the risk. However, no definitive randomised trial has demonstrated the benefit of behaviour change on reducing polyp recurrence and no consistent advice is currently offered to minimise patient risk.

Factors associated with self-care activities among adults in the United Kingdom: a systematic review.

Background: The Government has promoted self-care. Our aim was to review evidence about who uses self-tests and other self-care activities (over-the-counter medicine, private sector, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), home blood pressure monitors).

Methods: During April 2007, relevant bibliographic databases (Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, PsycINFO, British Nursing Index, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Sociological Abstracts, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Arthritis and Complementary Medicine Database, Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Pain Database) were searched, and potentially relevant studies were reviewed against eligibility criteria.

Introduction of intensive glycaemic control into a neurosurgical intensive care unit: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: There is evidence that intensive glycaemic control decreases morbidity and mortality in surgical intensive care unit patients. In traumatic brain injury, hyperglycaemia is a prognostic indicator.

Objective And Study Design: This retrospective cohort study describes the blood glucose level outcomes before and after the introduction of an intensive insulin protocol to a neurosurgical ICU.

Flavor formation and character in cocoa and chocolate: a critical review.

Chocolate characters not only originate in flavor precursors present in cocoa beans, but are generated during post-harvest treatments and transformed into desirable odor notes in the manufacturing processes. Complex biochemical modifications of bean constituents are further altered by thermal reactions in roasting and conching and in alkalization. However, the extent to which the inherent bean constituents from the cocoa genotype, environmental factors, post-harvest treatment, and processing technologies influence chocolate flavor formation and relationships with final flavor quality, has not been clear.

Preliminary experience with nesiritide in pediatric patients less than 12 months of age.

The natriuretic peptide system plays an active role in the regulation of fluid balance and systemic vascular resistance. Advances in recombinant technology have provided the opportunity for the exogenous administration of a recombinant form of B-type natriuretic peptide (nesiritide). To date, reports of its use in the pediatric population are limited, with limited information regarding its use in patients less than 12 months of age.

Internet healthcare: do self-diagnosis sites do more harm than good?

Background: The growth of the Internet has enabled the public to more readily access information about health and disease. Available websites include those that provide possible diagnoses for particular symptoms and those that then assist people to decide whether to self-treat or consult a doctor.

Objective: To describe the possible impact of the use of self-diagnosis websites.

Self-testing for cancer: a community survey.

Background: Cancer-related self-tests are currently available to buy in pharmacies or over the internet, including tests for faecal occult blood, PSA and haematuria. Self-tests have potential benefits (e.g.

Introduction of enhancement technologies into the intensive care service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.

In order to achieve the full potential of information technology in healthcare, information systems must have the ability to share and exchange data, which requires the support of standardised medical terminology, such as Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine--Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT). The Royal Prince Alfred Intensive Care Service and the School of Information Technologies, University of Sydney have been collaborating for over two years, developing pioneering software initiatives for clinical information systems (CIS). More recently, the collaboration resulted in the development of two prototype systems.

A 5-year survey of nitric oxide use in a pediatric intensive care unit.

The authors retrospectively reviewed their experience with nitric oxide (NO) in a pediatric ICU. Given its cost ($3000/d), ongoing evaluations are required to ensure its effective use and avoid inappropriate applications. NO use included 4 categories: (1) hypoxemic respiratory failure, (2) pulmonary hypertension following surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD), (3) intraoperatively for surgical procedures such BT shunt placement or 1-lung ventilation, and (4) during ECMO.