Physical activity and exercise in the maintenance of the adult skeleton and the prevention of osteoporotic fractures

In the prevention of osteoporosis and osteoporoticrelated fractures, strategies aimed at maximizing peak bone mass during childhood and adolescence; maintaining or attenuating bone loss during the adult years; and increasing or preserving muscle mass, strength, power, and function are all considered critical. To this end, physical activity and exercise are recognized as important modifiable lifestyle variables that can strengthen the skeleton and muscles and reduce the risk of falls and subsequent fracture, as well as enhance quality of life... 

Up to a quarter of the Australian population may have suboptimal health literacy depending upon the measurement tool : results from a population-based survey

The objective of this paper is to measure health literacy in a representative sample of the Australian general population using three health literacy tools; to consider the congruency of results; and to determine whether these assessments were associated with socio-demographic characteristics. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in a stratified random sample of the adult Victorian population identified from the 2004 Australian Government Electoral Roll. Participants were invited to participate by mail and follow-up telephone call. Health literacy was measured using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) and Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Of 1680 people invited to participate, 89 (5.3%) were ineligible, 750 (44.6%) were not contactable by phone, 531 (32%) refused and 310 (response rate 310/1591, 19.5%) agreed to participate. Compared with the general population, participants were slightly older, better educated and had a higher annual income. The proportion of participants with less than adequate health literacy levels varied: 26.0% (80/308) for the NVS, 10.6% (51 33/310) for the REALM and 6.8% (21/309) for the TOFHLA. A varying but significant proportion of the general population was found to have limited health literacy. The health literacy measures we used, while moderately correlated, appear to measure different but related constructs and use different cut offs to indicate poor health literacy.

Training for the new work order : the adult classroom as a site of class(ed) work

This paper reports on a qualitative case study that investigated how the professional identities of trainers in the adult sector in Australia are shaped by intersecting relations of social class, ethnicity, gender and the discourses of vocational adult education. Interviews with two trainers as well as observations of them at work are analysed and presented here to illustrate how social class, considered in relation to gender and race, is played out through the trainers' identity investments in discourses of nurturance and care and economic rationalism. Such identity investments shape the relationships the trainers develop with their students and the training strategies and practices they privilege. The paper argues the need for trainers to develop critical reflective practices and to interrogate how their investments in particular classed identities shape their views about learning for work and training for work. It also argues the need for more research around social class and trainer identity within the adult sector.

Flexible delivery in the Australian vocational education and training sector: Barrier to success identified in cases studies of four adult learners

Government policy in Australia is increasingly encouraging training organisations in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector to adopt flexible delivery approaches, but some researchers are sounding a note of caution. Evidence is emerging that Australian VET learners are not universally ready for flexible delivery, and this is reflected in high attrition rates and low pass rates. The literature on flexible delivery identifies a number of specific factors that can impact on the success of adult learners. However, there seems to be agreement that failure or dropout is not determined by a single factor, but by the interaction of a number of factors that build up over time. To understand these factors, we need to understand the learners - what their participation in education means to them, the context in which they are studying, and the numerous inter-connected factors that contribute to their failure to achieve a successful outcome. This paper discusses four case studies from a research project that followed up a small number of adult learners who enrolled in flexible delivery VET courses but did not achieve a successful outcome.

Visions of the virtual : the role of computers and artificial intelligence in a selection of Australian young adult fiction

Advances in computer technology over the last twenty years have resulted in a number of different visions of what it means to be real, and of what it means to be human. This paper will explore how computers and artificial intelligence are used as major themes in four Australian novels written for young adults: Gillian Rubinstein’s Space Demons trilogy — comprising Space Demons, Skymaze and Shinkei — and Michael Pryor’s The Mask of Caliban. In so doing, the paper will look at how these texts explore the relationship between increasingly developed technology and visions of a better world. By comparing a series of oppositions that occur in all four books, this paper will look at how the theme of technology is used to privilege particular values and to advocate particular beliefs.

The site of 'becoming' - music and adolescence as liminal spaces in a selection of young adult fictions

Both the experience of music (Boyce-Tillman 2009, DeChaine 2002) and that of adolescence (Bettis and Adams 2005, Bradford 2013, Meyer and Land 2005) have been described as "liminal spaces" - that is, spaces in which transformation of those involved can occur. This paper will examine three texts with an implied young adult audience - Marion's Angels (K. M. Peyton, 1979, later republished as Falling Angels), The Bamboo Flute (Gary Disher, 1992), and The Carbon Diaries 2017 (Saci Lloyd, 2009) - to demonstrate how engagement with music assists the young adult protagonist with negotiating certain necessary developmental tasks of adolescence.

In the eye of the beholder? The unadulterated beautiful and the threatening grotesque in a selection of young adult science fiction narratives

This paper looks closely at the aesthetics of the bodies and landscapes in Monica Hughes' Invitation to the Game and M.T. Anderson's Feed – the flesh, the wires, and the pixels – to consider the complicated relationship between the often “unadulterated” beautiful and the “threatening” grotesque in these (and other) science fiction narratives that involve the hybridisation of the artificial and the organic.

Breeding biology, adult survival and territoriality of the white-browed treecreeper (climacteris affinis) in north-west Victoria, Australia

This is the first study to present empirical data describing the social organisation and breeding biology of the White-browed Treecreeper (Climacteris affinis). The species is typical of many small Australian passerines in that it has high annual survival (~80%), small clutches (mean = 1.95 ± 0.05), long breeding seasons (eggs laid August to November) and long incubation (17–18 days) and nestling periods (25–26 days), corrected for body weight. Reproductive effort is modified in response to variation in climatic conditions by adjusting the commencement of breeding and number of clutches laid per season, which is facilitated by an extended breeding season. White-browed Treecreepers occupied relatively large (mean = 8.4 ± 0.8 ha), all-purpose territories throughout the year. However, unlike many group territorial birds, territory size was not related to the number of occupants. The role of food limitation and climatic variability in relation to territory dispersion and life-history traits is explored. Facultative cooperative breeding was confirmed. Cooperative groups were formed through male philopatry, with usually only one, but up to three, male helpers present in a moderate fraction (35%) of breeding units. Thus, all species of Climacteris are now confirmed as facultative cooperatively breeding species, which provides further evidence for the aggregation of cooperative breeders at the generic level in mixed (i.e. cooperative and pair breeders) phylogenetic clades. In C. affinis, males may attain breeding positions through inheritance of their natal territory or by filling vacancies in nearby territories. Females obtained breeding positions by ‘floating’ as non-breeding residents in established territories, waiting for a vacancy to arise.

Development of physiological discriminators for the Australasian triage scale

The Consistency of Triage in Victoria’s Emergency Departments Project (2001), funded by the Victorian Department of Human Services, aimed to improve the consistency of application of the Australasian (National) Triage Scale (ATS). One of the major objectives of the project was the development of an education strategy to promote a consistent approach to triage education, leading to the development of the Adult Physiological Discriminators (APDs) for the ATS and Paediatric Physiological Discriminators (PPDs) for the ATS. The guidelines and physiological discriminators were developed in consultation with the Emergency Nurses’ Association of Victoria (ENA Vic.) and clinical nurse educators, lecturers, nurse unit managers and clinicians from a wide variety of Emergency Departments (EDs) across Victoria. Numerous studies have identified varying degrees of inconsistency in the application of the ATS. A number of factors associated with inconsistency in the application of the ATS have also been alluded to in the literature. These range from the wide variation in the experiential and educational requirements of Victorian triage nurses to the specific clinical characteristics of the patient identified by the triage nurse. However, a consistent approach to triage education and uniform triage guidelines has been repeatedly identified as a key factor in improving the consistency of application of the ATS. Physiological data demonstrates the highest degree of objectivity and consistency and research has shown that physiological observations are useful and measurable indicators of clinical urgency and patient safety. This paper will discuss the development of these discriminators as part of the educational strategy including a critique of other approaches to triage decision-making and a review of the consultative processes used to facilitate consensus amongst triage nurses, ED Nurse Managers and ED Nurse Educators. The physiological discriminators developed by this project are also presented.

Immunolocalization of Na+/K+-ATPase, carbonic anhydrase II, and vacuolar H+-ATPase in the gills of freshwater adult lampreys, Geotria australis

As adults, anadromous lampreys migrate from seawater into freshwater rivers, where they require branchial ion (NaCl) absorption for osmoregulation. In teleosts and elasmobranchs, pharmological, immunohistochemical, and molecular data support roles for Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase (NPPase), carbonic anhydrase II (CAII), and vacuolar H⁺-ATPase (V-ATPase) in two different models of branchial ion absorption. To our knowledge, these transport-related proteins have not been studied in adult freshwater lampreys, and therefore it is not known if they are expressed, or have similar functions, in lampreys. The purpose of this study was to localize NPPase, CAII, and V-ATPase in the gills of adult freshwater lampreys and determine if any of these transport-related proteins are expressed in the same cells. Heterologous antibodies were used to localize the three proteins in gill tissue from pouched lamprey (Geotria australis). Immunoreactivity (IR) for all three proteins occurred between, and at the base of, lamellae in cells that match previous descriptions of mitochondrion-rich-cells (MRCs). NPPase-IR was always on the basolateral side of cells that did not stain for CAII or V-ATPase. In contrast, CAII-IR was always on the apical side of cells that also contained diffuse V-ATPase-IR. Therefore, we have identified two types of MRC in adult freshwater lamprey gills based on immunohistochemical staining for three transport proteins. A model of ion transport, based on our results, is proposed for adult freshwater lampreys.