Pivot to prevent bowel cancer: Reflections on adapting an Aboriginal bowel cancer screening awareness program to a digital call to action-A commentary.

Issue Addressed: The Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) Health Promotion Unit was awarded a Cancer Institute NSW grant to raise awareness of bowel cancer and promote the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) among Aboriginal communities in SLHD. The COVID-19 pandemic thwarted initial plans for face-to-face workshops and plans pivoted to digital products and dissemination of messages on a range of communication platforms.

Discussion: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic provided staff with the freedom, flexibility, and ability to be creative in ways not possible prior to the pandemic and ultimately ended up with a superior product with a reach further than anticipated.

Health promotion programs for middle-aged adults that promote physical activity or healthy eating and involve local governments and health services: A rapid review.

Background: Noncommunicable diseases can be prevented or delayed through health promotion programs. Little is known about programs delivered by partnership organisations that address lifestyle behaviours. The study's purpose was to review the literature on physical activity or healthy eating health promotion programs, delivered in partnership by the local government and local health services, to describe characteristics of programs and their impact on physical activity, healthy eating or related health outcomes among middle-aged adults.

Effects of telephone support or short message service on body mass index, eating and screen time behaviours of children age 2 years: A 3-arm randomized controlled trial.

Background: Few randomized controlled trial (RCT) interventions targeted children's early risk behaviours using telephone or short message service (SMS) support.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of telephone or SMS early intervention focusing on mothers' behaviours starting from late pregnancy to improve BMI, and eating and screen time behaviours of children aged 2 years in comparison with the control group.

Methods: A 3-arm RCT was conducted in Australia, 2017-2019.

Effects of Telephone and Short Message Service Support on Infant Feeding Practices, "Tummy Time," and Screen Time at 6 and 12 Months of Child Age: A 3-Group Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: There is limited information as to whether telephone or short message service (SMS) support is effective in improving infant feeding practices and tummy time and reducing screen time.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of either nurse-led telephone or SMS support in improving infant feeding practices and tummy time and reducing screen time.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study was part of a 2-year, 3-group parallel, randomized clinical trial conducted from February 23, 2017, to November 30, 2018, among 1155 women in the third trimester of pregnancy in New South Wales, Australia.

Culturally tailored tobacco control: Aboriginal community perspectives in Sydney, Australia.

Introduction: A community-based project was developed to support quit attempts and denormalise smoking in Aboriginal communities. This qualitative study evaluates the effectiveness of project strategies, messages and the partnership process, and explores impacts observed by Aboriginal community members, complementing findings from a quantitative evaluation.

Methods: The study comprised five focus groups (40 participants) and 14 in-depth interviews (with 15 community members).

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation in acute decompensated aortic stenosis.

Objectives: To assess the safety and efficacy of first-line transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients presenting with acute decompensated aortic stenosis (ADAS).

Background: ADAS is common and is often treated medically or using balloon aortic valvuloplasty in the first instance. This temporizing measure results in suboptimal outcomes.

[Helminth fauna in a semi-arid host species - scaled quail ()].

Helminths were examined from 145 scaled quail (Callipepla squamata) collected during the 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 hunting seasons from a semi-arid region of Texas that spans four ecoregions. Helminth infracommunities were species poor, averaging 1.7 (range 1-4) species.

Linking two randomised controlled trials for Healthy Beginnings©: optimising early obesity prevention programs for children under 3 years.

Background: Beginning in 2017 we have conducted a 3-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) to determine the effectiveness of an early obesity intervention in the first two years of life using either telephone or Short Message Service (SMS) support for mothers. The trial recruited 1155 mothers from their third trimester of pregnancy. This protocol is for a new trial to build on the existing trial using the mother-child dyads retained at 24 months for recruitment to the new RCT.

Evaluating an Aboriginal tobacco social marketing project in Sydney, Australia.

Introduction: A partnership between three Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and a mainstream health service was formed to develop, implement and evaluate a comprehensive and culturally appropriate social marketing project which aimed to encourage smokers to quit smoking. The project also supported quit attempts and promoted denormalisation of smoking.

Methods: The project was evaluated through baseline (n = 427) and follow-up (n = 611) surveys carried out face-to-face with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander participants 18 years and older recruited through convenience sampling at community events and venues during 2010-2011 and 2015.

Synthesizing qualitative and quantitative evidence on non-financial access barriers: implications for assessment at the district level.

Introduction: A key element of the global drive to universal health coverage is ensuring access to needed health services for everyone, and to pursue this goal in an equitable way. This requires concerted efforts to reduce disparities in access through understanding and acting on barriers facing communities with the lowest utilisation levels. Financial barriers dominate the empirical literature on health service access.

Twitter tweets and twaddle: twittering at AHPA. National Health Promotion Conference.

Unlabelled: ISSUE ADDRESSED This paper explored the first-time use of Twitter by the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) at its 2013 National Health Promotion Conference.

Methods: The @AHPA_AU Twitter account and #AHPA2013 hashtag were established and included in the conference program. Attendees were encouraged throughout the conference to use it.

Local barriers and solutions to improve care-seeking for childhood pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria in Kenya, Nigeria and Niger: a qualitative study.

We present qualitative research findings on care-seeking and treatment uptake for pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria among children under 5 in Kenya, Nigeria and Niger. The study aimed to determine the barriers caregivers face in accessing treatment for these conditions; to identify local solutions that facilitate more timely access to treatment; and to present these findings as a platform from which to develop context-specific strategies to improve care-seeking for childhood illness. Kenya, Nigeria and Niger are three high burden countries with low rates of related treatment coverage, particularly in underserved areas.

Somatostatin receptor expression in thyroid disease.

Somatostatin analogues are commercially available and used for the management of acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumours, but the expression of the receptors as a target in thyroid disease has not been explored. To assess somatostatin (SST) and somatostatin receptor (SSTR1-5) expression in both normal and thyroid disorders, as a potential target for somatostatin analogue therapy, 67 thyroid tissue specimens were reviewed: 12 differentiated thyroid carcinomas, 14 follicular adenomas, 17 multinodular goitres, 14 Graves disease, 10 Hashimotos thyroiditis specimens and five normal thyroids. Tissue was immunostained for SST and SSTR1-5.

Pale body-like inclusion formation and neurodegeneration following depletion of 26S proteasomes in mouse brain neurones are independent of α-synuclein.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the progressive degeneration of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) dopaminergic neurones and the formation of Lewy bodies (LB) in a proportion of the remaining neurones. α-synuclein is the main component of LB, but the pathological mechanisms that lead to neurodegeneration associated with LB formation remain unclear. Three pivotal elements have emerged in the development of PD: α-synuclein, mitochondria and protein degradation systems.

Care and the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women: a transformative policy space?

In March 2009, UN member states met at the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to discuss the priority theme of "the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS". This meeting focused the international community's attention on care issues and generated Agreed Conclusions that aimed to lay out a roadmap for care policy. I examine how the frame of "care" - a contested concept that has long divided feminist researchers and activists - operated in this site.

Clubfoot in Malawi: treatment-seeking behaviour.

We explore the treatment-seeking behaviour of guardians of patients undergoing treatment for clubfoot at clinics run by the Malawi National Clubfoot Programme (MNCP). Core data was collected and analysed using qualitative methodologies of critical medical anthropology. Sixty detailed case studies were completed, each based on an extended open-ended interview with patient guardians.

Clubfoot in Malawi: local theories of causation.

This paper examines local theories of the causation of clubfoot expressed by the guardians of children undergoing treatment at clinics run by the Malawi National Clubfoot Programme (MNCP). Core data was collected and analysed using qualitative methodologies of critical medical anthropology. Sixty detailed case studies were completed, each based on an extended open-ended interview with patient guardians.

The theoretical and political framing of the population factor in development.

The silence about population growth in recent decades has hindered the ability of those concerned with ecological change, resource scarcity, health and educational systems, national security, and other global challenges to look with maximum objectivity at the problems they confront. Two central questions about population--(1) is population growth a problem? and (2) what causes fertility decline?--are often intertwined; if people think the second question implies possible coercion, or fear of upsetting cultures, they can be reluctant to talk about the first. The classic and economic theories explaining the demographic transition assume that couples want many children and they make decisions to have a smaller family when some socio-economic change occurs.

Pregnant smokers are receptive to smoking cessation advice and use of nicotine replacement therapy.

Pregnant women who identified themselves as smokers were surveyed to ascertain their attitudes towards and likelihood of using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) if it were to be provided free of charge at antenatal clinics. Smokers were asked to participate in a brief anonymous survey to identify current levels of smoking, nicotine dependence, attitudes towards cessation, use of cessation aids and whether they would use free NRT if it were provided with support at antenatal clinics. The majority of women were supportive of NRT being offered to pregnant smokers (87%), and 64% reported they would be very likely to use NRT if it were offered free from the antenatal clinic.