ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6692-739X
Current Organisation
University of Tasmania
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Publisher: BMJ
Date: 07-08-2021
DOI: 10.1136/TOBACCOCONTROL-2019-055588
Abstract: The retail availability of tobacco is at odds with the health harms associated with tobacco smoking and undermines tobacco control efforts. Evidence suggests ease of access to tobacco through retail outlets contributes to smoking prevalence. This study aimed to understand why retailers stop selling tobacco and explore possible implications for tobacco control. The Tobacco Licensing Database maintained by the Department of Health Tasmania was used to identify and recruit past retailers who no longer held licences. Semistructured interviews were conducted to explore business demographics and the reasons they stopped selling tobacco. Interview findings were analysed using a thematic framework. Twenty former tobacco retailers participated, representing all business types except specialist tobacconists and large supermarkets. Retailers gave multiple reasons for ending tobacco sales, related to business considerations, security, tobacco regulations, ethics and health. Most often, the decision was business-related health or ethical considerations were rarely a factor. Most retailers felt they played no role in mitigating tobacco-related harm. This study provides insights into factors that make tobacco sales unattractive or unfeasible for low-volume outlets and may inform supply-focused tobacco control policy. A c aign that emphasises the possible business benefits of ending tobacco sales in favour of other higher-margin products may support retailers to transition away from tobacco sales. The regulatory obligations of selling tobacco are disincentives and create a less favourable retail environment.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.PLACENTA.2014.10.013
Abstract: Dietary supplementation with omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) may exert benefits in pregnancy through inhibition of placental inflammation. However, studies on the anti-inflammatory effects of n-3 PUFAs in the placenta are lacking. We compared the cytokine responses of human placental explants in vitro after 4 days pre-incubation with either: a) in idual n-3 or n-6 PUFAs (20 μM), or b) physiologically relevant combinations of low, medium or high n-3 or n-6 PUFA concentrations. Placental cytokine (IL-6 and TNF-α) mRNA expression and protein production were assessed at 4 h and 12 h, respectively. Cytokine and fatty acid concentrations were also measured in placentas delivered at term by women who ingested either low (n = 12) or high (n = 10) amounts of fish/fish oil in the month prior to delivery. Pre-exposure to n-3 PUFAs as in idual fatty acids results in reduced placental IL-6 production (P < 0.05), whereas exposure to complex fatty acid mixtures enriched in n-3 PUFAs (high n-3:n-6 ratios) results in a significant stimulation of IL-6 production (P < 0.05). There were no differences in placental n-3 or n-6 PUFA levels between women with either high or low dietary fish oil intake and no differences in cytokine expression. In summary, data from our complex lipid explant model and an observational cohort study do not support a role for n3 PUFAs in the suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in the human placenta. Results from studies of placental tissues exposed to single n-3 and n-6 PUFAs should be interpreted with considerable caution.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-04-2020
Abstract: The relationship between maternal exposure to ambient air pollution and pregnancy complications is not well characterized. We aimed to explore the relationship between maternal exposure to ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and placental abruption. Using administrative data, we defined a state-wide cohort of singleton pregnancies born between 1 March 2012 and 31 December 2015 in Victoria, Australia. Annual average NO2 and PM2.5 was assigned to maternal residence at the time of birth. 285,594 singleton pregnancies were included. An IQR increase in NO2 (3.9 ppb) was associated with reduced likelihood of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (RR 0.89 95%CI 0.86, 0.91), GDM (RR 0.92 95%CI 0.90, 0.94) and placental abruption (RR 0.81 95%CI 0.69, 0.95). Mixed observations and smaller effect sizes were observed for IQR increases in PM2.5 (1.3 µg/m3) and pregnancy complications reduced likelihood of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (RR 0.95 95%CI 0.93, 0.97), increased likelihood of GDM (RR 1.02 95%CI 1.00, 1.03) and no relationship for placental abruption. In this exploratory study using an annual metric of exposure, findings were largely inconsistent with a priori expectations and further research involving temporally resolved exposure estimates are required.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-06-2016
Abstract: Air pollution from landscape fires, domestic fires and fossil fuel combustion is recognized as the single most important global environmental risk factor for human mortality and is associated with a global burden of disease almost as large as that of tobacco smoking. The shift from a reliance on biomass to fossil fuels for powering economies, broadly described as the pyric transition, frames key patterns in human fire usage and landscape fire activity. These have produced distinct patters of human exposure to air pollution associated with the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions and post-industrial the Earth global system-wide changes increasingly known as the Anthropocene. Changes in patterns of human fertility, mortality and morbidity associated with economic development have been previously described in terms of demographic, epidemiological and nutrition transitions, yet these frameworks have not explicitly considered the direct consequences of combustion emissions for human health. To address this gap, we propose a pyrohealth transition and use data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) collaboration to compare direct mortality impacts of emissions from landscape fires, domestic fires, fossil fuel combustion and the global epidemic of tobacco smoking. Improving human health and reducing the environmental impacts on the Earth system will require a considerable reduction in biomass and fossil fuel combustion. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-06-2019
DOI: 10.1111/RESP.13617
Abstract: Long-term respiratory risks following exposure to relatively short periods of poor air quality early in life are unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between exposure to a 6-week episode of air pollution from a coal mine fire in children aged <2 years, and their lung function 3 years after the fire. We conducted a prospective cohort study. In idual exposure to 24-h average and peak concentrations of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm in diameter (PM Of the 203 infants originally recruited, 84 aged 4.3 ± 0.5 years completed FOT testing. Median (interquartile range, IQR) for average and peak PM Infant exposure to coal mine fire emissions could be associated with long-term impairment of lung reactance.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 03-2018
DOI: 10.5694/MJA17.00765
Abstract: To describe the retail availability of tobacco and to examine the association between tobacco outlet density and area-level remoteness and socio-economic status classification in Tasmania. Ecological cross-sectional study analysis of tobacco retail outlet data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services (Tasmania) according to area-level (Statistical Areas Level 2) remoteness (defined by the Remoteness Structure of the Australian Statistical Geographical Standard) and socio-economic status (defined by the 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics Index of Relative Socioeconomic Advantage and Disadvantage). Tobacco retail outlet density per 1000 residents. On 31 December 2016, there were 1.54 tobacco retail outlets per 1000 persons. The density of outlets was 79% greater in suburbs or towns in outer regional, remote and very remote Tasmania than in inner regional Tasmania (rate ratio [RR], 1.79 95% confidence Interval [CI], 1.29-2.50 P < 0.001). Suburbs or towns in Tasmania with the greatest socio-economic disadvantage had more than twice the number of tobacco outlets per 1000 people as areas of least disadvantage (RR, 2.30 95% CI, 1.32-4.21 P = 0.014). A disproportionate concentration of tobacco retail outlets in regional and remote Tasmania and in areas of lowest socio-economic status is evident. Our findings are consistent with those of analyses in New South Wales and Western Australia. Progressive tobacco retail restrictions have been proposed as the next frontier in tobacco control. However, the intended and unintended consequences of such policies need to be investigated, particularly for socio-economically deprived and rural areas.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-07-2019
Abstract: Indigenous children have much higher rates of ear and lung disease than non-Indigenous children, which may be related to exposure to high levels of geogenic (earth-derived) particulate matter (PM). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between dust levels and health in Indigenous children in Western Australia (W.A.). Data were from a population-based s le of 1077 Indigenous children living in 66 remote communities of W.A. ( ,000,000 km2), with information on health outcomes derived from carer reports and hospitalisation records. Associations between dust levels and health outcomes were assessed by multivariate logistic regression in a multi-level framework. We assessed the effect of exposure to community s led PM on epithelial cell (NuLi-1) responses to non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) in vitro. High dust levels were associated with increased odds of hospitalisation for upper (OR 1.77 95% CI [1.02–3.06]) and lower (OR 1.99 95% CI [1.08–3.68]) respiratory tract infections and ear disease (OR 3.06 95% CI [1.20–7.80]). Exposure to PM enhanced NTHi adhesion and invasion of epithelial cells and impaired IL-8 production. Exposure to geogenic PM may be contributing to the poor respiratory health of disadvantaged communities in arid environments where geogenic PM levels are high.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVINT.2019.03.028
Abstract: The Hazelwood coal mine fire was an unprecedented event in Australian history that resulted in the surrounding towns in regional Victoria being covered in plumes of smoke and ash for six weeks in 2014. Evidence concerning adverse reproductive impacts associated with maternal exposure to ambient air pollution is expanding. Gaps remain regarding the relative impact of acute changes in outdoor air quality lasting days to months, such as that resulting from coal mine fires. Routinely collected perinatal data was used to define a complete cohort of singleton babies born within the affected region. Maternal average, and peak, fine particulate matter (PM There were a total of 3591 singleton livebirths during the study period 763 of which were in utero during the coal mine fire. Average PM Maternal exposure to fine particulate matter resulting from the 2014 Hazelwood coal mine fire did not appear to adversely effect fetal maturity. However, there was weak evidence of a trophic response among babies born to exposed mothers with gestational diabetes, a possible susceptibility that requires further exploration.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVPOL.2018.10.086
Abstract: Little is known about the impacts of maternal exposure to acute episodes of outdoor air pollution, such as that resulting from wildfires, on obstetric and neonatal outcomes. This systematic review aims to synthesise the existing literature exploring the relationship between maternal exposure to short-to medium-term changes in outdoor air quality and obstetric and neonatal outcomes. A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles using PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, ProQuest, GreenFILE and Scopus was conducted in January 2018 using selected search terms. Quality of included studies were assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Eleven studies were included eight assessed the impact of maternal exposure to air pollution exacerbation events, such as wildfires, oil well fires and volcanic eruptions, and three assessed the impact of improvement events, such as the 2018 Beijing Olympics and closure of industrial activities, on obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Studies were highly heterogenous in methodology. Six studies found a significant association between acute changes in air quality and markers of fetal growth restriction, while two did not. Three studies found an adverse association between acute changes in air quality and markers of gestational maturity, and one did not. Overall, there is some evidence that maternal exposure to acute changes in air quality of short-to medium-term duration increases the risk of fetal growth restriction and preterm birth. The relationship for other adverse obstetric or neonatal outcomes is less clear.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-06-2016
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 20-12-2019
DOI: 10.1136/ARCHDISCHILD-2019-317528
Abstract: To evaluate whether vascular health in young children was associated with exposure to a 6-week episode of coal mine fire smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in a retrospective cohort study. Three years after a coal mine fire in Victoria, Australia, we investigated the vascular health of children either in utero (n=75) or aged years (postnatal exposure, n=96) at the time of the fire. The outcomes were the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV). The mean and peak daily particulate matter .5 µm in diameter (PM 2.5 ) exposures were estimated based on their daily locations throughout the fire period. Multivariable linear regression models were used to test for associations between the fire-related PM 2.5 and outcomes adjusted for relevant covariates including ETS. In the postnatal-exposure group, each 10 µg/m³ increase in mean PM 2.5 level was independently positively associated with PWV (β=0.116, p=0.028). When these two groups were combined, there was an association between mean PM 2.5 and increased PWV in those children who had ETS exposure (β=0.148, p=0.033) or whose mothers smoked (β=0.151, p=0.011), but not in those not exposed to ETS or maternal smoking. Three years after a coal mine fire, infants aged up to 2 years at the time of exposure have increases in vascular stiffness. Although no adverse effects were observed in the in uterus exposure group, further follow-up study is needed to elucidate the long-term effects of coal mine fire smoke exposure.
No related grants have been discovered for Shannon Melody.