Building collaborative partnerships: a key to increasing Indigenous Victorian peoples' access to country

This article reports on a qualitative research study undertaken with Indigenous government employees to explore ways in which Indigenous communities can access programs involving caring for Country' (knowledge, responsibility and inherent right to protect the traditional natural landscape) on their traditional land and, in so doing. improve their health. Factors that optimise such nature-based projects are the capacity of their intention to build relationships, consultation. transparency, consistency, education and training between Indigenous communities. government and the general public. Government agencies need to develop strategies where partnership and collaboration are effective with Indigenous communities and within the agencies themselves, in order to resolve controversial issues surrounding access to Country.

Association between impaired glucose metabolism and quality of life

Aims
We examined the association of quality of life with glucose tolerance status in an Australian population to determine the stage in the development of diabetes that quality of life is impaired.

Methods
The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study (AusDiab) was a population-based study of 11,247 people from randomly selected areas of Australia. As part of the study, participants underwent an oral glucose tolerance test and completed the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire.

Results
Previously diagnosed diabetes was associated with a significantly greater risk of being in the lowest quartile of each dimension of the SF-36 scale (except for mental health) and this association was only partially attenuated by adjustment for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), physical activity and treatment for hypertension and lipid abnormalities (adjusted odds ratios [95% CI]: bodily pain, 1.51 [1.18–1.94]; general health, 2.20 [1.64–2.95]; physical functioning, 1.50 [1.10–2.05]; role limitation (emotional), 1.43 [1.07–1.91]; role limitation (physical), 1.57 [1.13–2.18]; social functioning, 1.93 [1.46–2.54] and vitality, 2.24 [1.56–3.22]. Among those with newly diagnosed diabetes (NDM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), there was also evidence of reduced quality of life on some dimensions of the SF-36 scale (NDM, general health, physical functioning and role limitation (physical); IGT, physical functioning and social functioning) after adjustment for confounders.

Conclusion
These findings show that diabetes is associated with a reduced quality of life and that this is evident in the early stage of the disease, particularly in relation to the ability to perform physical activities.

Glucose indices, health behaviors, and incidence of diabetes in Australia: the Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle study (AusDiab)

OBJECTIVE--We examined the associations of objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity with continuous indexes of metabolic risk in Australian adults without known diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--An accelerometer was used to derive the percentage of monitoring time spent sedentary and in light-intensity and moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity, as well as mean activity intensity, in 169 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) participants (mean age 53.4 years). Associations with waist circumference, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, resting blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and a clustered metabolic risk score were examined.

RESULTS--Independent of time spent in moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity, there were significant associations of sedentary time, light-intensity time, and mean activity intensity with waist circumference and clustered metabolic risk. Independent of waist circumference, moderate-to-vigorous-intensity activity time was significantly beneficially associated with triglycerides.

CONCLUSIONS--These findings highlight the importance of decreasing sedentary time, as well as increasing time spent in physical activity, for metabolic health.

If the land is healthy...it makes the people healthy : the relationship between caring for country and health for the Yorta Yorta nation, Boonwurrung and Bangerang Tribes

This article reports on research undertaken with members of three Indigenous groups in Victoria, Australia, to explore the health and wellbeing implications of caring for Country (defined as having knowledge, sense of responsibility and inherent right to be involved in the management of traditional lands). The research findings provide a better understanding of this key determinant of the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people in the context of public health where there are few existing published studies assessing this relationship. Thirteen traditional custodians1 and local Indigenous environmental workers were interviewed. This qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews identified that caring for Country offers great benefits, including building self-esteem, fostering self-identity, maintaining cultural connection and enabling relaxation and enjoyment through contact with the natural environment. Results generated indicate that caring for Country may offer a means of improving the current poor health status of Indigenous Australian peoples.

Genome - wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci

Breast cancer exhibits familial aggregation, consistent with variation in genetic susceptibility to the disease. Known susceptibility genes account for less than 25% of the familial risk of breast cancer, and the residual genetic variance is likely to be due to variants conferring more moderate risks. To identify further susceptibility alleles, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study in 4,398 breast cancer cases and 4,316 controls, followed by a third stage in which 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for confirmation in 21,860 cases and 22,578 controls from 22 studies. We used 227,876 SNPs that were estimated to correlate with 77% of known common SNPs in Europeans at r² > 0.5. SNPs in five novel independent loci exhibited strong and consistent evidence of association with breast cancer (P < 10^-7). Four of these contain plausible causative genes (FGFR2, TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1). At the second stage, 1,792 SNPs were significant at the P < 0.05 level compared with an estimated 1,343 that would be expected by chance, indicating that many additional common susceptibility alleles may be identifiable by this approach.

Using a qualitative approach to research to build trust between a non-Aboriginal researcher and Aboriginal participants (Australia)

This article focuses on the qualitative methodologies employed in a research project developed in collaboration with Aboriginal advisors and gaining an in-depth understanding of Aboriginal Victorian peoples' connection to their ancestral lands. It outlines why qualitative methodologies were used and highlights the ethical dimensions of working with Aboriginal Victorian communities. A research partnership was developed between Aboriginal Victorian communities and the non-Aboriginal researcher and this process was emphasised because in the past Australian Indigenous people have been grossly exploited in health research. The methods of semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to gain a better understanding of this topic. The novel point of this article is that it provides an honest reflection of the benefits and limitations of this qualitative research process from the perspectives of a non-Aboriginal researcher and an Aboriginal participant, when emphasis is placed on a collaborative approach. The paper outlines what a successful qualitative research project looks like in Victorian Aboriginal communities. This can be used as a blueprint not only for working with Victorian Aboriginal communities, who have been marginalised within Australian society, but may also be relevant to other culturally diverse communities throughout the world.

Inflation dynamics and New Keynesian Phillips Curve in Australia

The New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) is a standard model in the analysis of inflation dynamics. For the Australian economy, this study establishes the empirical evidence that the NKPC can explain the process of inflation dynamics and the price-setting mechanism. The trade shocks, such as the real exchange rate and the terms of trade, play an important role in inflation dynamics.