ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9621-0912
Current Organisations
Brighton and Sussex Medical School
,
University of Tasmania
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-10-2019
DOI: 10.1093/CID/CIZ563
Abstract: The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) program is a 7-country network (as of December 2018) established by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify the causes of death in children in communities with high rates of under-5 mortality. The program carries out both mortality and pregnancy surveillance, and mortality surveillance employs minimally invasive tissue s ling (MITS) to gather small s les of body fluids and tissue from the bodies of children who have died. While this method will lead to greater knowledge of the specific causes of childhood mortality, the procedure is in tension with cultural and religious norms in many of the countries where CHAMPS works—Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. Participatory Inquiry Into Community Knowledge of Child Health and Mortality Prevention (PICK-CHAMP) is a community entry activity designed to introduce CHAMPS to communities and gather initial perspectives on alignments and tensions between CHAMPS activities and community perceptions and priorities. Participants’ responses revealed medium levels of overall alignment in all sites (with the exception of South Africa, where alignment was high) and medium levels of tension (with the exception of Ethiopia, where tension was high). Alignment was high and tension was low for pregnancy surveillance across all sites, whereas Ethiopia reflected low alignment and high tension for MITS. Participants across all sites indicated that support for MITS was possible only if the procedure did not interfere with burial practices and rituals.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.JINORGBIO.2022.111731
Abstract: Metal complexes studied to date under the framework of metalloglycomics belong to the M-NH
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 13-01-2020
Abstract: Refugees experience traumatic life events with impacts lified in regional and rural areas due to barriers accessing services. This study examined the factors influencing the lived experience of resettlement for former refugees in regional Launceston, Australia, including environmental, social, and health-related factors. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with adult and youth community members from Burma, Bhutan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iran, and Sudan, and essential service providers (n = 31). Thematic analysis revealed four factors as primarily influencing resettlement: English language proficiency employment, education and housing environments and opportunities health status and service access and broader social factors and experiences. Participants suggested strategies to overcome barriers associated with these factors and improve overall quality of life throughout resettlement. These included flexible English language program delivery and employment support, including industry-specific language courses the provision of interpreters community events fostering cultural sharing, inclusivity and promoting well-being and routine inclusion of nondiscriminatory, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed practices throughout a former refugee’s environment, including within education, employment, housing and service settings.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1111/AJR.12583
Abstract: To examine the resettlement experiences of former refugees living in regional Australia, focusing on mental health and mental health and support services, including barriers to access. A phenomenological approach utilising a combination of six qualitative, semi-structured, face-to-face focus groups (n = 24) and seven in idual interviews. Data were analysed thematically using NVivo 10 software. Launceston, Tasmania. Adult and youth former refugees from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Iran, and essential service providers, residing in Launceston. Participants were asked about experiences of resettlement and mental health. Participants reported that their mental health had improved since resettlement however, major stressors impacted mental health and resettlement included employment and housing access and mastering the English language. Past experiences continued to impact current functioning, with trauma commonly experienced intergenerationally through parenting and attachment and ongoing trauma and feelings of guilt and responsibility experienced with families left behind. Participants noted barriers to accessing services: (a) Language difficulties including lack of interpreters and (b) lack of culturally sensitive and trauma-informed practices. Discrimination was experienced through the inconsistent provision of interpreters and lack of due consideration of cultural and religious differences. The use of children as interpreters enhanced a number of risk including miscommunication of medical information, exposure to age-inappropriate information and the resulting increased risk of trauma for the child. Culturally sensitive, trauma-informed and discrimination-free practices should be employed across services, where Western-views surrounding this medical model are not imposed, cultural differences are respected, and timely access to interpreters was provided.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 19-03-2020
Abstract: Mental health promotion programs are important in rural communities but the factors which influence program effectiveness remain unclear. The aim of this mixed-methods study was to assess how community resilience affected the implementation of a mental health promotion program in rural Tasmania, Australia. Four study communities were selected based on population size, rurality, access to local support services, history of suicide within the community, and maturity of the mental health promotion program. Data from self-report questionnaires (n = 245), including items of Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART) assessment, and qualitative (focus group and interview) data from key local stakeholders (n = 24), were pooled to explore the factors perceived to be influencing program implementation. Survey results indicate the primary community resilience strengths across the four sites were related to the ‘Connection and Caring’ domain. The primary community resilience challenges related to resources. Qualitative findings suggested lack of communication and leadership are key barriers to effective program delivery and identified a need to provide ongoing support for program staff. Assessment of perceived community resilience may be helpful in informing the implementation of mental health promotion programs in rural areas and, in turn, improve the likelihood of their success and sustainability.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2020
DOI: 10.1111/AJR.12620
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 02-2023
Abstract: Suicide rates in rural communities are higher than in urban areas, and communities play a crucial role in suicide prevention. This study explores community-based suicide prevention using a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups asked participants to explore community-based suicide prevention in the context of rural Australia. Participants recruited ((n = 37 ages 29–72, Mean = 46, SD = 9.56) female 62.2% lived experience 48.6%) were self-identified experts, working in rural community-based suicide prevention (community services, program providers, research, and policy development) around Australia. Data were thematically analysed, identifying three themes relating to community-based suicide prevention: (i) Community led initiatives (ii) Meeting community needs and (iii) Programs to improve health and suicidality. Implementing community-based suicide prevention needs community-level engagement and partnerships, including with community leaders gatekeepers community members people with lived experience services and professionals, to “get stuff done”. Available resources and social capital are utilised, with co-created interventions reflecting erse lifestyles, beliefs, norms, and cultures. The definition of “community”, community needs, issues, and solutions need to be identified by communities themselves. Primarily non-clinical programs address determinants of health and suicidality and increase community awareness of suicide and its prevention, and the capacity to recognise and support people at risk. This study shows how community-based suicide prevention presents as a social innovation approach, seeing suicide as a social phenomenon, with community-based programs as the potential driver of social change, equipping communities with the “know how” to implement, monitor, and adjust community-based programs to fit community needs.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-07-2023
Abstract: Artificial metallo‐nucleases (AMNs) are promising DNA damaging drug candidates. Here, we demonstrate how the 1,2,3‐triazole linker produced by the Cu‐catalysed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction can be directed to build Cu‐binding AMN scaffolds. We selected biologically inert reaction partners tris (azidomethyl)mesitylene and ethynyl‐thiophene to develop TC‐Thio, a bioactive C 3 ‐symmetric ligand in which three thiophene‐triazole moieties are positioned around a central mesitylene core. The ligand was characterised by X‐ray crystallography and forms multinuclear Cu II and Cu I complexes identified by mass spectrometry and rationalised by density functional theory (DFT). Upon Cu coordination, Cu II ‐TC‐Thio becomes a potent DNA binding and cleaving agent. Mechanistic studies reveal DNA recognition occurs exclusively at the minor groove with subsequent oxidative damage promoted through a superoxide‐ and peroxide‐dependent pathway. Single molecule imaging of DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells shows that the complex has comparable activity to the clinical drug temozolomide, causing DNA damage that is recognised by a combination of base excision repair (BER) enzymes.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 2019
Funder: Primary Health Tasmania
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2018
End Date: 2020
Funder: Kentish Regional Clinic Inc
View Funded Activity