Prevalence of breast cancer treatment sequelae over 6 years of follow-up

Background: There is a need to better describe and understand the prevalence of breast cancer treatment-related adverse effects amenable to physical therapy and rehabilitative exercise. Prior studies have been limited to single issues and lacked long term follow-up. The Pulling Through Study provides data on prevalence of adverse effects in breast cancer survivors followed over six years. Methods: A population-based sample of Australian women (n=287) diagnosed with invasive, unilateral breast cancer was followed for a median of 6.6 years and prospectively assessed for treatment-related complications at 6, 12, 18 months, and 6 years post-diagnosis. Assessments included post-surgical complications, skin or tissue reaction to radiation therapy, upper-body symptoms, lymphedema, 10% weight gain, fatigue, and upper-quadrant function. The proportion of women with positive indication for each complication and one or more complication was estimated using all available data at each time point. Women were only considered to have a specific complication if they reported the highest two levels of the Likert scale for self-reported issues. Results: At six years post-diagnosis over 60% of women experienced one or more side effects amenable to rehabilitative intervention. The proportion of women experiencing 3 or more side effects decreased throughout follow-up, while the proportion experiencing no side effects remained stable around 40% from 12 months to six years. Weight gain was the only complication to increase in prevalence over time. Conclusion: These data support the development of a multi-disciplinary prospective surveillance approach for the purposes of managing and treating adverse effects in breast cancer survivors.

Bounded rationality and voting decisions over 160 years : voter behavior and increasing complexity in decision-making

Using a quasi-natural voting experiment encompassing a 160-year period (1848–2009) in Switzerland, we investigate whether a higher level of complexity leads to increased reliance on trusted parliamentary representatives. We find that when more referenda are held on the same day, constituents are more likely to refer to parliamentary recommendations when making their decisions. This finding holds true even when we narrow our focus to referenda with a relatively lower voter turnout on days on which more than one referendum is held. We also demonstrate that when constituents face a higher level of complexity, they follow the parliamentary recommendations rather than those of interest groups. "Viewed as a geometric figure, the ant’s path is irregular, complex, hard to describe. But its complexity is really a complexity in the surface of the beach, not a complexity in the ant." ([1] p. 51)

The changing face of contact lens wearers over 25 years

A combination of factors has dictated patterns of prescribing to contact lens wearers in different age groups over time, such as the evolution of manufacturing technology in bringing better lens designs and replacement frequency options; the aging population demographic; and the knowledge and attitudes of practitioners. Here we explore evolving lens fitting practices at the opposite poles of the age spectrum—children and presbyopes.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and age: analysis of pooled human blood serum from birth to over 60 years

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are considered to be a cost effective and efficient way to reduce flammability therefore reducing harm caused by fires. PBDEs are incorporated into a variety of manufactured products and are found worldwide in biological and environmental samples (e.g. Hites et al. 2004). Unlike other persistent organic pollutants there is limited data on PBDE concentrations by age and/or other population specific factors. Some studies have shown no variation in adult serum PBDE concentrations with age (e.g. Mazdai et al., 2003, Meironyte Guvenius et al., 2003) while Petreas et al. (2003) and Schecter et al. (2005) found results to be suggestive of an age trend in adult data but no statistically significant correlation was found. In addition to the data on adult concentrations there is limited data which investigates the levels of PBDEs in infants and young children. Fangström et al. (2005) showed that in seven year olds there was no difference in PBDE concentration when compared to adult concentrations. While Thomsen et al. (2002, 2005) found the concentration of PBDEs in pooled samples of blood serum from a 0-4 years age group to be higher than other age groups (4 to > 60 years). In addition, a family of four was studied in the U.S. and the concentrations were found to be greatest in the 18-month-old infant followed by the 5 year old child, then the mother and father (Fischer et al., 2006). The objectives of this study were to assess age, gender and regional trends of PBDE concentrations in a representative sample of the Australian population.

The Times They Are A Changin': The Effect of Institutional Change on Cooperative Behaviour at 26,000ft over Sixty Years

In 2006, Sir Edmund Hillary lambasted the modern climbing fraternity for abandoning other climbers to a slow frozen death on Everest, claiming that in his day they would never leave someone to die. This followed the controversial death of David Sharp, passed by an estimated 40 climbers who were more interested in the summit than the life of a fellow human being. But was this stinging criticism true or just the faded recollections of a former climbing giant? This book investigates that claim through a narrative analysis, which combines the empirical analysis of Hawley and Salisbury's Himalayan Expedition Database with the anecdotal evidence provided by a plethora of newspaper articles and books. While there is evidence supporting the claim that commercialization is to blame for the breakdown of pro-social behaviour, the results cannot conclude if it is the commercial climber or the operator driving the problem and that the Sherpa are the saving grace.

Long-term effects of physical activity level on changes in healthy body mass index over 12 years in young adult women

Objectives To examine the effects of overall level and timing of physical activity (PA) on changes from a healthy body mass index (BMI) category over 12 years in young adult women. Patients and Methods Participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (younger cohort, born 1973-1978) completed surveys between 2000 (age 22-27 years) and 2012 (age 34-39 years). Physical activity was measured in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009 and was categorized as very low, low, active, or very active at each survey, and a cumulative PA score for this 9-year period was created. Logistic regression was used to examine relationships between PA accumulated across all surveys (cumulative PA model) and PA at each survey (critical periods PA model), with change in BMI category (from healthy to overweight or healthy to obese) from 2000 to 2012. Results In women with a healthy BMI in 2000, there were clear dose-response relationships between accumulated PA and transition to overweight (P=.03) and obesity (P<.01) between 2000 and 2012. The critical periods analysis indicated that very active levels of PA at the 2006 survey (when the women were 28-33 years old) and active or very active PA at the 2009 survey (age 31-36 years) were most protective against transitioning to overweight and obesity. Conclusion These findings confirm that maintenance of very high PA levels throughout young adulthood will significantly reduce the risk of becoming overweight or obese. There seems to be a critical period for maintaining high levels of activity at the life stage when many women face competing demands of caring for infants and young children.

Skin Awareness DVD

The Skin Awareness DVD is a component of the research project 'The Skin Awareness Study'. This study is a randomozed controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of a video-delivered intervention designed to increase the prevalence of skin self-examinations and rapid presentation to a doctor among men 50 years and above.

Tip-over injuries in children under 5 years of age in Queensland 1999-2008

Furniture and appliance related injuries in children under 5 years of age accounts for an estimated 180 emergency presentations annually in Queensland. Injuries occur when children push or pull items over, climb and fall off furniture, or climb and tip the item over. Children under 2 years of age tend to injure themselves by pulling items over onto themselves Children over 2 years of age are more likely to be injured after climbing the item and either falling off or tipping the item over onto themselves. Tip over injuries (where the item falls over and injures the child) in children under 5 years of age account for an estimated 115 emergency presentations annually in Queensland. The item most commonly associated with a tip over injury is a television (with or without the cabinet) Prevention requires better design and selection of furniture with inherent stability coupled with mechanisms to install or fix less stable items

ADCS reaches adulthood : an analysis of the conference and its community over the last eighteen years

How influential is the Australian Document Computing Symposium (ADCS)? What do ADCS articles speak about and who cites them? Who is the ADCS community and how has it evolved? This paper considers eighteen years of ADCS, investigating both the conference and its community. A content analysis of the proceedings uncovers the diversity of topics covered in ADCS and how these have changed over the years. Citation analysis reveals the impact of the papers. The number of authors and where they originate from reveal who has contributed to the conference. Finally, we generate co-author networks which reveal the collaborations within the community. These networks show how clusters of researchers form, the effect geographic location has on collaboration, and how these have evolved over time.

Queering cyberspace : fan fiction communities as spaces for expressing and exploring sexuality

The social construction of sexuality over the past one hundred and fifty years has created a dichotomy between heterosexual and non-heterosexual identities that essentially positions the former as “normal” and the latter as deviant. Even Kinsey’s and others’ work on the continuum of sexualities did little to alter the predominantly heterosexist perception of the non-heterosexual as “other” (Kinsey, Pomeroy and Martin 2007; Esterberg 2006; Franceour and Noonan 2007). Some political action and academic work is beginning to challenge such perceptions. Even some avenues of social interaction, such as the recent proliferation of online communities, may also challenge such views, or at least contribute to their being rethought in some ways. This chapter explores a specific kind of online community devoted to fan fiction, specifically homoerotic – or what is known colloquially as “slash” – fan fiction. Fan fiction is fiction, published on the internet, and written by fans of well-known books and television shows, using the characters to create new and varied plots. “Slash” refers to the pairing of two of the male characters in a romantic relationship, and the term comes from the punctuation mark dividing the named pair as, for example, Spock/Kirk from the Star Trek television series. Although there are some slash fan-fiction stories devoted to female-female relationships – called “femmeslash” – the term “slash” generally refers to male-male relationships, and will be utilized throughout this chapter, given that the research discussed focuses on communities centered around one such male pairing.

Out of touch? On the lack of emotional support over the mobile phone

Findings from an Australian case study of adult women expose general, light and basic use of mobile phones. Participants used their mobile phone mainly for coordination and to a lesser extent for practicing intrinsic interactions motivated by emotional support purposes. This paper focuses on social and emotional support over the mobile phone. Though crucial to individuals, emotional support seems to be a neglected area of research among mobile communication studies, all the more so when focusing on adult women. This study addresses this literature gap. The empirical findings are based on a case study of 26 women over 35 years of age residing in one coastal Australian town. The research design included a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. This paper examines the communication methods adult women use for social and emotional support, and analyses reasons and social implications of this limited intrinsic communication use pattern over the mobile phone.

Equity in the twenty-first century

Issues of equity and inequity have always been part of employment relations and are a fundamental part of the industrial landscape. For example, in most countries in the nineteenth century and a large part of the twentieth century women and members of ethnic groups (often a minority in the workforce) were barred from certain occupations, industries or work locations, and received less pay than the dominant male ethnic group for the same work. In recent decades attention has been focused on issues of equity between groups, predominantly women and different ethnic groups in the workforce. This has been embodied in industrial legislation, for example in equal pay for women and men, and frequently in specific equity legislation. In this way a whole new area of law and associated workplace practice has developed in many countries. Historically, employment relations and industrial relations research has not examined employment issues disaggregated by gender or ethnic group. Born out of concern with conflict and regulation at the workplace, studies tended to concentrate on white, male, unionized workers in manufacturing and heavy industry (Ackers, 2002, p. 4). The influential systems model crafted by Dunlop (1958) gave rise to The discipline’s preoccupation with the ‘problem of order’ [which] ensures the invisibility of women, not only because women have generally been less successful in mobilizing around their own needs and discontents, but more profoundly because this approach identifies the employment relationship as the ultimate source of power and conflict at work (Forrest, 1993, p. 410). While ‘the system approach does not deliberately exclude gender . . . by reproducing a very narrow research approach and understanding of issues of relevance for the research, gender is in general excluded or looked on as something of peripheral interest’ (Hansen, 2002, p. 198). However, long-lived patterns of gender segregation in occupations and industries, together with discriminatory access to work and social views about women and ethnic groups in the paid workforce, mean that the employment experience of women and ethnic groups is frequently quite different to that of men in the dominant ethnic group. Since the 1980s, research into women and employment has figured in the employment relations literature, but it is often relegated to a separate category in specific articles or book chapters, with women implicitly or explicitly seen as the atypical or exceptional worker (Hansen, 2002; Wajcman, 2000). The same conclusion can be reached for other groups with different labour force patterns and employment outcomes. This chapter proposes that awareness of equity issues is central to employment relations. Like industrial relations legislation and approaches, each country will have a unique set of equity policies and legislation, reflecting their history and culture. Yet while most books on employment and industrial relations deal with issues of equity in a separate chapter (most commonly on equity for women or more recently on ‘diversity’), the reality in the workplace is that all types of legislation and policies which impact on the wages and working conditions interact, and their impact cannot be disentangled one from another. When discussing equity in workplaces in the twenty-first century we are now faced with a plethora of different terms in English. Terms used include discrimination, equity, equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity with all its variants (workplace diversity, managing diversity, and so on). There is a lack of agreed definitions, particularly when the terms are used outside of a legislative context. This ‘shifting linguistic terrain’ (Kennedy-Dubourdieu, 2006b, p. 3) varies from country to country and changes over time even within the one country. There is frequently a division made between equity and its related concepts and the range of expressions using the term ‘diversity’ (Wilson and Iles, 1999; Thomas and Ely, 1996). These present dilemmas for practitioners and researchers due to the amount and range of ideas prevalent – and the breadth of issues that are covered when we say ‘equity and diversity in employment’. To add to these dilemmas, the literature on equity and diversity has become bifurcated: the literature on workplace diversity/management diversity appears largely in the business literature while that on equity in employment appears frequently in legal and industrial relations journals. Workplaces of the twenty-first century differ from those of the nineteenth and twentieth century not only in the way they deal with individual and group differences but also in the way they interpret what are fair and equitable outcomes for different individuals and groups. These variations are the result of a range of social conditions, legislation and workplace constraints that have influenced the development of employment equity and the management of diversity. Attempts to achieve employment equity have primarily been dealt with through legislative means, and in the last fifty years this legislation has included elements of anti-discrimination, affirmative action, and equal employment opportunity in virtually all OECD countries (Mor Barak, 2005, pp. 17–52). Established on human rights and social justice principles, this legislation is based on the premise that systemic discrimination has and/or continues to exist in the labour force and particular groups of citizens have less advantageous employment outcomes. It is based on group identity, and employment equity programmes in general apply across all workplaces and are mandatory. The more recent notions of diversity in the workplace are based on ideas coming principally from the USA in the 1980s which have spread widely in the Western world since the 1990s. Broadly speaking, diversity ideas focus on individual differences either on their own or in concert with the idea of group differences. The diversity literature is based on a business case: that is diversity is profitable in a variety of ways for business, and generally lacks a social justice or human rights justification (Burgess et al., 2009, pp. 81–2). Managing diversity is represented at the organizational level as a voluntary and local programme. This chapter discusses some major models and theories for equity and diversity. It begins by charting the history of ideas about equity in employment and then briefly discusses what is meant by equality and equity. The chapter then analyses the major debates about the ways in which equity can be achieved. The more recent ideas about diversity are then discussed, including the history of these ideas and the principles which guide this concept. The following section discusses both major frameworks of equity and diversity. The chapter then raises some ways in which insights from the equity and diversity literature can inform employment relations. Finally, the future of equity and diversity ideas is discussed.

CSG A Greener Tomorrow : Comprehensive Organizational and Socialistic Report

Humans have altered environments and enhanced their wellbeing unlike any other creature on the planet (Hielman & Donda, 2007); this is no different whether the environment is ecological, social or organizational. In recent times, the debate regarding greenhouse effects on the global weather patterns and the sustainment of the earth’s temperature necessary for life support has become quite infamously problematic as society pushes to find new sources of energy both renewable and environmentally sustainable. The feedback received on CSG from both government and companies alike is that the opportunities this industry creates has a lasting range of social and economic benefits worth over fifty (50) billion dollars in projects (Queensland Government, 2013). This however, has been overshadowed by social activist and lobbyist groups as ‘Lock the Gate Alliance’ saying, as one part of their report noted from the National Water Commission, “coal seam gas development could cause significant social impacts by disrupting current land-use practices and the local environment through infrastructure construction and access” (Lock the Gate Alliance, n.d.), and “In recent years both a NSW and Federal Senate inquiry into coal seam gas production were deliberately mislead by an organization that claims to work on behalf of the farming community, This is the battle for the end of the fossil fuel industry. This is the end game..." (Ward, 2013).

Examining the impact of climate change on dengue transmission in the Asia-Pacific region

Dengue fever (DF) is a serious public health concern in many parts of the world. An increase in DF incidence has been observed globally over the past decades. Multiple factors including urbanisation, increased international travels and global climate change are thought to be responsible for increased DF. However, little research has been conducted in the Asia-Pacific region about the impact of these changes on dengue transmission. The overarching aim of this thesis is to explore the spatiotemporal pattern of DF transmission in the Asia-Pacific region and project the future risk of DF attributable to climate change. Annual data of DF outbreaks for sixteen countries in the Asia-Pacific region over the last fifty years were used in this study. The results show that the geographic range of DF in this region increased significantly over the study period. Thailand, Vietnam and Laos were identified as the highest risk areas and there was a southward expansion observed in the transmission pattern of DF which might have originated from Philippines or Thailand. Additionally, the detailed DF data were obtained and the space-time clustering of DF transmission was examined in Bangladesh. Monthly DF data were used for the entire country at the district level during 2000-2009. Dhaka district was identified as the most likely DF cluster in Bangladesh and several districts of the southern part of Bangladesh were identified as secondary clusters in the years 2000-2002. In order to examine the association between meteorological factors and DF transmission and to project the future risk of DF using different climate change scenarios, the climate-DF relationship was examined in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The results show that climate variability (particularly maximum temperature and relative humidity) was positively associated with DF transmission in Dhaka. The effects of climate variability were observed at a lag of four months which might help to potentially control and prevent DF outbreaks through effective vector management and community education. Based on the quantitative assessment of the climate-DF relationship, projected climate change will likely increase mosquito abundance and activity and DF in this area. Assuming a temperature increase of 3.3oC without any adaptation measures and significant changes in socio-economic conditions, the consequence will be devastating, with a projected annual increase of 16,030 cases in Dhaka, Bangladesh by the end of this century. Therefore, public health authorities need to be prepared for likely increase of DF transmission in this region. This study adds to the literature on the recent trends of DF and impacts of climate change on DF transmission. These findings may have significant public health implications for the control and prevention of DF, particularly in the Asia- Pacific region.