Child health and the income gradient : evidence from Australia

The positive relationship between household income and child health is well documented in the child health literature but the precise mechanisms via which income generates better health and whether the income gradient is increasing in child age are not well understood. This paper presents new Australian evidence on the child health–income gradient. We use data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), which involved two waves of data collection for children born between March 2003 and February 2004 (B-Cohort: 0–3 years), and between March 1999 and February 2000 (K-Cohort: 4–7 years). This data set allows us to test the robustness of some of the findings of the influential studies of Case et al. [Case, A., Lubotsky, D., Paxson, C., 2002. Economic status and health in childhood: the origins of the gradient. The American Economic Review 92 (5) 1308–1344] and Currie and Stabile [Currie, J., Stabile, M., 2003. Socioeconomic status and child health: why is the relationship stronger for older children. The American Economic Review 93 (5) 1813–1823], and a recent study by Currie et al. [Currie, A., Shields, M.A., Price, S.W., 2007. The child health/family income gradient: evidence from England. Journal of Health Economics 26 (2) 213–232]. The richness of the LSAC data set also allows us to conduct further exploration of the determinants of child health. Our results reveal an increasing income gradient by child age using similar covariates to Case et al. [Case, A., Lubotsky, D., Paxson, C., 2002. Economic status and health in childhood: the origins of the gradient. The American Economic Review 92 (5) 1308–1344]. However, the income gradient disappears if we include a rich set of controls. Our results indicate that parental health and, in particular, the mother's health plays a significant role, reducing the income coefficient to zero; suggesting an underlying mechanism that can explain the observed relationship between child health and family income. Overall, our results for Australian children are similar to those produced by Propper et al. [Propper, C., Rigg, J., Burgess, S., 2007. Child health: evidence on the roles of family income and maternal mental health from a UK birth cohort. Health Economics 16 (11) 1245–1269] on their British child cohort.

Subjective reasons why immigrant patients attend the emergency department

Background Some patients visit a hospital’s emergency department (ED) for reasons other than an urgent medical condition. There is evidence that this practice may differ among patients from different backgrounds. The objective of this study was to examine the reasons why patients from a non-English speaking background (NESB) and patients with an English speaking background but not born in Australia (ESB-NBA) visit the ED, as compared to patients from English-speaking backgrounds but born in Australia (ESB-BA). Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the ED of a tertiary hospital in metropolitan Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Over a four-month period patients who were assigned an Australasian Triage Scale score of 3, 4 or 5 were surveyed. Pearson chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the differences between the ESB and NESB patients’ reported reasons for attending the ED. Results A total of 828 patients participated in this study. Compared to ESB-BA patients NESB patients were less likely to consider contacting a general practitioner (GP) before attending the ED (Odds Ratios (OR) 0.6 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.4–0.8, p < .05) While ESB-NBA were more likely to consider contacting a GP 1.7 (1.1–2.5, p < .05). Both the NESB patients and the ESB-NBA patients were far more likely than ESB-BA patients to report that they had visited the ED either because they do not have a GP (OR 7.9, 95% CI 4.7–13.4, p < .001) and 2.2 (95% CI 1.1–4.4, p < .05) respectively and less likely to think that the ED could deal with their problem better than a GP(OR 0.5 (95% CI 0.3–0.8, p < .05) and 0.7 (0.3–0.9, p < .05) respectively. The NESB patients also thought it would take too long to make an appointment to consult a GP (OR 6.2, 95% CI 3.7–10.4, p < 0.001). Conclusions NESB patients were the least likely to consider contacting a GP before attending hospital EDs. Educational interventions may help direct NESB people to the appropriate health services and therefore reduce the burden on tertiary hospitals ED.

Variable phenotype in 16p duplication within a family

Background More individuals are now being identified with very rare genetic syndromes. We present a family with an inherited duplication of 16p11.2 to 16q12.1 in ring formation. Three of the four children, (aged 15 months to 10 years), mother, uncle, and grandmother are affected. Our aim was to provide preliminary evidence of possible phenotypic patterns of learning and behaviour associated with this chromosome anomaly. Method Psychometric assessments were undertaken with all four children. The mother and uncle also agreed to participate in the study. Measures of development (Bayley or Mullen), intellectual ability (WISC-IV or WAIS-III), academic achievement (WIAT-II), adaptive behaviour (Vinelands), and other relevant aspects of functioning (e.g., Children’s Memory Scale) were administered. Results. The first-born child is the only one who is unaffected. Her intellectual ability was assessed as being within the superior range. The second child experienced early difficulties with speech and motor skills. Although his intelligence is average, he has learning difficulties and significant auditory memory problems. The third child’s speech and motor milestones were markedly delayed. He has a complex medical history that includes a vitamin B12 deficiency. On the Mullen Scales at age 4 his scores ranged from average to very low. The development of the youngest child (aged 15 months), who also had a B12 deficiency but was treated early, was assessed as being within typical limits. Conclusions There is considerable developmental variability among the three children with this inherited 16p duplication. We discuss the intriguing similarities and differences, considering common features that may reflect phenotypic patterns and speculating about possible explanations for the variable presentations.

Unlearning leadership in the conceptual age

"We live in times in which unlearning has become as important as learning. Dan Pink has called these times the Conceptual Age,i to distinguish them from the Knowledge/Information Age in which many of us were born and educated. Before the current Conceptual Age, the core business of learning was the routine accessing of information to solve routine problems, so there was real value in retaining and reusing the templates taught to us at schools and universities. What is different about the Conceptual Age is that it is characterised by new cultural forms and modes of consumption that require us to unlearn our Knowledge/Information Age habits to live well in our less predictable social world. The ‘correct’ way to write, for example, is no longer ‘correct’ if communicating by hypertext rather than by essay or letter. And who would bother with an essay or a letter or indeed a pen these days? Whether or not we agree that the Conceptual Age, amounts to the first real generation gap since rock and roll, as Ken Robinson claims,ii it certainly makes unique demands of educators, just as it makes unique demands of the systems, strategies and sustainability of organisations. Foremost among these demands, according to innovation analyst Charlie Leadbeater,iii is to unlearn the idea that we are becoming a more knowledgeable society with each new generation. If knowing means being intimately familiar with the knowledge embedded in the technologies we use in our daily lives, then, Leadbeater says, we have never been more ignorant.iv He reminds us that our great grandparents had an intimate knowledge of the technologies around them, and had no problem with getting the butter churn to work or preventing the lamp from smoking. Few of us would know what to do if our mobile phones stopped functioning, just as few of us know what is ‘underneath’ or ‘behind’ the keys of our laptops. Nor, indeed, do many of us want to know. But this means that we are all very quickly reduced to the quill and the lamp if we lose our power sources or if our machines cease to function. This makes us much more vulnerable – as well as much more ignorant in relative terms – than our predecessors."

Do great minds appear in batches?

Despite much scholarly fascination with the question of whether great minds appear in cycles, together with some empirical evidence that historical cycles exist, prior studies mostly disregard the ‘‘great minds’’ hypothesis as it relates to scientists. Rather, researchers assume a linear relation based on the argument that science is allied with the development of technology. To probe this issue further, this study uses a ranking of over 5600 scientists based on number of appearances in Google Books over a period of 200 years (1800–2000). The results point to several peak periods, particularly for scientists born in the 1850–1859, 1897–1906, or 1900–1909 periods, suggesting overall cycles of around 8 years and a positive trend in distinction that lasts around 100 years. Nevertheless,a non-parametric test to determine whether randomness can be rejected indicates that nonrandomness is less apparent, although once we analyse the greatest minds overall, rejection is more likely.

Divest Harvard: Climate justice, higher education, and fossil fuel divestment

On the 19 November 2014, seven Harvard students — the Harvard Climate Justice Coalition — have brought a legal action against Harvard University to compel it to withdraw its investments from fossil fuel companies. The plaintiffs include the Harvard Climate Justice Coalition; Alice Cherry, a law student; Benjamin Franta, a physics student interested in renewable energy; Sidni Frederick, a student of history and literature; Joseph Hamilton, a law student; Olivia Kivel, a biologist interested in sustainable farming; Talia Rothstein, a student of history and literature; and Kelsey Skaggs, a law student from Alaska interested in climate justice. The Harvard Climate Justice Coalition also bringing the lawsuit as ‘next friend of Plaintiffs Future Generations, individuals not yet born or too young to assert their rights but whose future health, safety, and welfare depends on current efforts to slow the pace of climate change.’ The case of Harvard Climate Justice Coalition v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, is being heard in the Suffolk County Superior Court of Massachusetts. The dispute will be an important precedent on the ongoing policy and legal battles in respect of climate change, education, and fossil fuel divestment.

Yellow Peril

This catalogue essay was written to accompany Eugenia Lim's 2015 exhibition at Metro Arts, Brisbane, 'Yellow Peril'. It discusses Lim's exploration of her identity as a Chinese-Australian, providing contextual information of Chinese immigration during Australia's gold rush years and the work of Hong Kong born American artist, Tseng Kwong Chi. It presents Yellow Peril as an exhibition that speaks critically about art and our cultural history amidst a fine layering of imagery, object and context, with a vitality that is derived from its rich and compelling base in real life moments and connections.

Dietary intake of children aged 12-16 months and associations with maternal feeding beliefs and practices

This thesis provides the first detailed data describing the dietary intake of first-born Australian children aged 12-16 months. Overall, quality of intake could improve, with toddlers being exposed to energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods which may adversely affect the development of long-term healthy food preferences and growth trajectory. The leaner, but healthy weight toddler who exhibited more frequent food refusal was described a fussy eater or prompted higher maternal concern. However these behaviours are consistent with typical child development during the second year of life. Mothers can be supported to understand food refusal as manifestation of children's ability to self-regulate energy intake.

Health and prevention among East African women in the U.S.

African-born individuals in the U.S. face significant health challenges, including low utilization of preventive screening services. Using a community-based participatory research framework, we describe preliminary efforts at establishing a collaborative relationship with the East African communities of San Diego, identifying salient community health needs, and developing a framework for disseminating information and addressing identified health gaps. To this end, 40 East African-born women participated in focus groups with the purpose of eliciting community perspectives on U.S. health care services, beliefs about preventive screening, and to garner recommendations for future outreach. Qualitative analyses identified participants’ desire to engage in primary prevention techniques that incorporated best practices from their home countries and the U.S., and the need for health education programs to provide information on increasingly prevalent chronic diseases. The findings are discussed in connection with continued community-engaged efforts and the implications for health and resettlement policies to reduce inequities disfavoring resettled refugees.

Travelling bones: The repatriation of Indigenous ancestral remains

In the album Journey, Archie Roach -- the Australian Indigenous singer-songwriter hailing from Mooroopna in Victoria - has a melancholy song called ‘Travell’n Bones.' It is about the repatriation of Indigenous ancestral remains to their rightful home. This Chapter considers the legal, ethical, and cultural conflicts over Australian indigenous remains being held in museums, in Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States. James Nason comments: ‘The explosion of legal and extra legal attention on issues of cultural property and heritage was born of the frustration and anger of indigenous peoples whose rights and perspectives about cultural property and heritage issues had been largely absent and essentially unwanted by the museum of community.' Part I focuses upon disputes in Australia involving the repatriation of Indigenous Australian remains. In Bropho v HREOC, there was controversy over a cartoon, mocking the repatriation of the remains of Yagan, an Indigenous warrior, to Western Australia. There was a discussion about the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), and the exemptions available from the operation of the regime. Part II considers the efforts by The Te Papa Tongarewa - the Museum of New Zealand - to repatriate Maori and Moriori ancestral remains to New Zealand, and to iwi communities of origin. The conclusion considers the relevance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Persons 2007, and issues raised by ventures such as the Genographic Project.

'As many options as there are, there are just not enough for me': Contraceptive use and barriers to access among Australian women

OBJECTIVE A comprehensive life course perspective of women's experiences in obtaining and using contraception in Australia is lacking. This paper explores free-text comments about contraception provided by women born between 1973 and 1978 who participated in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). METHODS The ALSWH is a national population-based cohort study involving over 40,000 women from three age groups, who are surveyed every three years. An initial search identified 1600 comments from 690 women across five surveys from 1996 (when they were aged 18-23 years) to 2009 (31-36 years). The analysis included 305 comments from 289 participants. Factors relating to experiences of barriers to access and optimal contraceptive use were identified and explored using thematic analysis. RESULTS Five themes recurred across the five surveys as women aged: (i) side effects affecting physical and mental health; (ii) lack of information about contraception; (iii) negative experiences with health services; (iv) contraceptive failure; and (v) difficulty with accessing contraception. CONCLUSION Side effects of hormonal contraception and concerns about contraceptive failure influence women's mental and physical health. Many barriers to effective contraception persist throughout women's reproductive lives. Further research is needed into reducing barriers and minimising negative experiences, to ensure optimal contraceptive access for Australian women.

Attainment of early feeding milestones in preterm neonates

Objective: This study aimed to document the ages at which preterm neonates commence suckle-feeds and attain exclusive suckle-feeding, as well as the time taken to transition from commencement of suckle-feeds to exclusive suckle-feeding. It was hypothesized that gestational age (GA) at birth and degree of neonatal morbidity would influence the timing of these early feeding milestones. Study Design: A chart review was conducted for all neonates born <37;0 weeks GA admitted to a tertiary level perinatal facility over a 12-month period (n=735). Complete data relating to attainment of feeding milestones were available on 472 neonates. Results: Correlation analysis indicated that both a low GA at birth and a high neonatal morbidity rating were statistically significantly correlated with an increased transition time from commencement of suckle-feeds to exclusive suckle-feeding. Cox regression indicated that both of these variables were statistically significant risk factors for a delayed GA at attainment of exclusive suckle-feeding. Conclusion: Preterm neonates who were less mature at birth and/or who displayed a greater degree of neonatal morbidity took longer to transition from starting suckle-feeds to achieving independent suckle-feeding, and were more mature at attainment of independent suckle-feeding.

NMR (1H, 13C) and MO (ab initio, CNDO/2, EHT) studies on basic and N-protonated hydrazinecarbothioamide

The conformational preferences of hydrazinecarbothioamide (HCTA, H2NNHCSNH2) in its basic and N-protonated (PHCTA, H3NNNHCSNH2) forms have been studied by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and by theoretical LCAO-MO methods (ab initio, CNDO/2 and EHT). The hindered rotation around the C---N bond has been investigated by a total line shape analysis for the thioamide protons and by the three MO methods. Changes in the molecular conformation and electronic structure on protonation are briefly discussed.

Honey flows through fertile valleys : The cognitive and evolutionary foundations of paradise representations

The aim of the study is to explain how paradise beliefs are born from the viewpoint of mental functions of the human mind. The focus is on the observation that paradise beliefs across the world are mutually more similar than dissimilar. By using recent theories and results from the cognitive and evolutionary study of religion as well as from studies of environmental preferences, I suggest that this is because pan-human unconscious motivations, the architecture of mind, and the way the human mind processes information constrain the possible repertoire of paradise beliefs. The study is divided into two parts, theoretical and empirical. The arguments in the theoretical part are tested with data in the empirical part with two data sets. The first data set was collected using an Internet survey. The second data set was derived from literary sources. The first data test the assumption that intuitive conceptions of an environment of dreams generally follow the outlines set by evolved environmental preferences, but that they can be tweaked by modifying the presence of desirable elements. The second data test the assumption that familiarity is a dominant factor determining the content of paradise beliefs. The results of the study show that in addition to the widely studied belief in supernatural agents, belief in supernatural environments wells from the natural functioning of the human mind attesting the view that religious thinking and ideas are natural for human species and are produced by the same mental mechanisms as other cultural information. The results also help us to understand that the mental structures behind the belief in the supernatural have a wider scope than has been previously acknowledged.

Travel behaviours of immigrants in Queensland, Australia

The aim of this research is to determine if there is a significant difference in public transport usage between Australian-born and overseas-born travellers in South East Queensland and identify if further investigation into this demographic factor is necessary. Using the household travel survey data of Southeast Queensland, Australia, this paper analyses the travel behaviours of immigrants and non-immigrants in the region. The immigrant population is divided into six sub-groups based on their continent of origin. The analysis results suggest that immigrants are more likely to use public transit in Brisbane over other regions in the study. Overall, this research strongly suggests that in Australia, a higher proportion of the immigrant population is more likely to use public transit compared to the proportion of the local population.