scholarly journals Australian Twin Registry: 30 Years of Progress

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Hopper ◽  
Debra L. Foley ◽  
Paul A. White ◽  
Vincent Pollaers
Keyword(s):  
Twin Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Medical Council ◽  
Twin Registry ◽  
Pair Comparisons ◽  
Baseline Information ◽  
The University ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Online Software

The Australian Twin Registry (ATR) is a national volunteer resource of twin pairs and higher-order multiples willing to consider participating in health, medical, and scientific research. The vision of the ATR is ‘to realize the full potential of research involving twins to improve the health and well-being of all Australians’. The ATR has been funded continuously by the National Health and Medical Council for more than 30 years. Its core functions entail the recruitment and retention of twin members, the maintenance of an up-to-date database containing members’ contact details and baseline information, and the promotion and provision of open access to researchers from all institutes in Australia, and their collaborators, in a fair and equitable manner. The ATR is administered by The University of Melbourne, which acts as custodian. Since the late 1970s the ATR has enrolled more than 40,000 twin pairs of all zygosities and facilitated more than 500 studies that have produced at least 700 peer-reviewed publications from classical twin studies, co-twin control studies, within-pair comparisons, twin family studies, longitudinal twin studies, randomized controlled trials, and epigenetics studies, as well as studies of issues specific to twins. New initiatives include: a Health and Life Style Questionnaire; data collection, management, and archiving using a secure online software program (The Ark); and the International Network of Twin Registries. The ATR's expertise and 30 years of experience in providing services to national and international twin studies has made it an important resource for research across a broad range of disciplines.

scholarly journals Thriving from Work: Conceptualization and Measurement

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 7196
Author(s):  
Susan E. Peters ◽  
Glorian Sorensen ◽  
Jeffrey N. Katz ◽  
Daniel A. Gundersen ◽  
Gregory R. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Psychometric Testing ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Job Design ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Cognitive Response ◽  
Design Work ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Work And Health

Work is a major contributor to our health and well-being. Workers’ thriving is directly influenced by their job design, work environment and organization. The purpose of this report is to describe the qualitative methods used to develop the candidate items for a novel measure of Thriving from Work through a multi-step iterative process including: a literature review, workshop, interviews with experts, and cognitive testing of the candidate items. Through this process, we defined Thriving from Work as the state of positive mental, physical, and social functioning in which workers’ experiences of their work and working conditions enable them to thrive in their overall lives, contributing to their ability to achieve their full potential in their work, home, and community. Thriving from Work was conceptualized into 37 attributes across seven dimensions: psychological, emotional, social, work–life integration, basic needs, experience of work, and health. We ultimately identified, developed and/or modified 87 candidate questionnaire items mapped to these attributes that performed well in cognitive testing in demographically and occupationally diverse workers. The Thriving from Work Questionnaire will be subjected to psychometric testing and item reduction in future studies. Individual items demonstrated face validity and good cognitive response properties and may be used independently from the questionnaire.

Sharing Research, Building Possibility: Reflecting on Research with Men Who Have Sex with Men in Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Syvertsen
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Critical Space ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Research Dissemination ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
Applied Health Research ◽  
Health And Well Being

Sharing our research with participants and communities is a standard and critically important ethical practice in anthropology, but do we use such opportunities to their full potential? In this article, I reflect on the possibilities generated by a community dissemination event to share my research with men who have sex with men and engage in sex work in Kisumu, Kenya. Drawing on Arjun Apaddurai’s concept of an “ethics of possibility” that pushes beyond ordinary ethical practice, I reflect upon engagement with participants in the research process and advocate for greater emphasis on research dissemination events as a strategy to make research more meaningful to communities. Although my project was initially framed around HIV, what emerged were men’s desire for spirituality, belonging, and new possibilities of inclusive citizenship that better attend to men’s health and well-being. Research dissemination creates a critical space to generate ethnographic insight and guide theoretically rich applied health research.

scholarly journals Brazilian Twin Registry: A Bright Future for Twin Studies/Twin Research: Twin Study of Alcohol Consumption and Mortality; Oxygen Uptake in Adolescent Twins/In the News: Superfecundated Twins In Vietnam; Adolescent Twin Relations; Twin and Triplet Co-Workers; A Special Twin Ultrasound; Monozygotic Twins With Different Skin Color; Identical Twin Returns from Space

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy L. Segal
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Oxygen Uptake ◽  
Skin Color ◽  
Monozygotic Twins ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Twin Research ◽  
Twin Registry

The establishment of the Brazilian Twin Registry for the study of genetic, social, and cultural influences on behavior is one of eleven newly funded projects in the Department of Psychology at the University of São Paulo. These 11 interrelated projects form the core of the university's Center for Applied Research on Well-Being and Human Behavior. An overview of the planned twin research and activities to date is presented. Next, two recent twin studies are reviewed, one on the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality, and the other on factors affecting maximal oxygen uptake. Twins cited in the media include the first identified superfecundated twins in Vietnam, adolescent twin relations, twins and triplets who work together, monozygotic twins with different skin tones and a co-twin control study that addresses the effects of space travel.

scholarly journals The Brazilian Twin Registry

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 687-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo H. Ferreira ◽  
Vinicius C. Oliveira ◽  
Daniela R. Junqueira ◽  
Lígia C. Cisneros ◽  
Lucas C. Ferreira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
Health History ◽  
Twin Registry ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
The University ◽  
Different Sources

The Brazilian Twin Registry (BTR) was established in 2013 and has impelled twin research in South America. The main aim of the initiative was to create a resource that would be accessible to the Brazilian scientific community as well as international researchers interested in the investigation of the contribution of genetic and environmental factors in the development of common diseases, phenotypes, and human behavior traits. The BTR is a joint effort between academic and governmental institutions from Brazil and Australia. The collaboration includes the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil, the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne in Australia, the Australian Twin Registry, as well as the research foundations CNPq and CAPES in Brazil. The BTR is a member of the International Network of Twin Registries. Recruitment strategies used to register twins have been through participation in a longitudinal study investigating genetic and environmental factors for low back pain occurrence, and from a variety of sources including media campaigns and social networking. Currently, 291 twins are registered in the BTR, with data on demographics, zygosity, anthropometrics, and health history having been collected from 151 twins using a standardized self-reported questionnaire. Future BTR plans include the registration of thousands of Brazilian twins identified from different sources and collaborate nationally and internationally with other research groups interested on twin studies.

Commentary on the Study: “What Do Workplace Wellness Programs Do? Evidence From the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study”

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-444
Author(s):  
Ron Z. Goetzel
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Clinical Trials ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Wellness Programs ◽  
Workplace Wellness ◽  
Workplace Health ◽  
Wellness Program ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Workplace Wellness Programs ◽  
The University ◽  
Health And Well Being

Recently, several high-profile randomized clinical trials conducted with employees at the University of Illinois and BJ’s Wholesale Club have questioned the value of workplace health and well-being programs. This commentary focuses on the latest research published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics by authors Jones, Molitor, and Reif who evaluated the iThrive wellness program. The commentary challenges the study’s main finding that wellness programs (in general) do not work. Several perspectives are explored including whether the evaluated programs are well-designed, sufficiently potent, and appropriate candidates for randomized trials. The article also asks what role employers can or should play in improving the health and well-being of Americans given recent troubling statistics showing a decline in life expectancy and an increase in health risks.

Why achieving gender equality is of fundamental importance to improve the health and well-being of future generations: a DOHaD perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-104
Author(s):  
Tessa J. Roseboom
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Health And Well Being

AbstractDespite progress in gender equality, women continue to be disadvantaged compared with men. Worldwide, women are more often confronted with poverty, violence, and mental health problems, and they have less access to food and education. All these factors do not only affect women themselves, but also have a negative impact on the child’s early environment and impair its early development, thereby reducing the health and well-being of future generations. Framing gender equality as a women’s issue fails to highlight the importance of gender equality for the health and well-being of the next generation. As a scientific community investigating early human development and health, we have failed to fully recognize and underscore the importance of gender equality in achieving the best possible start for every child. If women and men had equal rights and opportunities, their children would be more likely to reach their full potential which would improve the health and well-being of future generations. Our studies and interventions have not fully taken into account the complexity of gender inequality and women’s disadvantaged positions in society. We need better insight into the complex adaptive interactions between various societal and human factors contributing to gender inequality and find approaches that take this complexity into account. If we want DOHaD science to have societal impact, we should strive beyond gender equality for gender equity and help women achieve equal rights and opportunities. We need to work with public health professionals, human rights activists, and policymakers to gauge the importance of gender equality. After all, gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also a necessary foundation for healthier future generations.

scholarly journals University of Washington Twin Registry: Poised for the Next Generation of Twin Research

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 455-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Strachan ◽  
Corinne Hunt ◽  
Niloofar Afari ◽  
Glen Duncan ◽  
Carolyn Noonan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Twin Studies ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
University Of Washington ◽  
Geospatial Information ◽  
Twin Registry ◽  
Gene By Environment Interactions ◽  
Birth Records ◽  
New Research ◽  
The University

The University of Washington Twin Registry is a unique community-based registry of twin pairs who join specifically to participate in scientific research. It was founded in 2002 to serve as a resource for investigators throughout the scientific community. Current enrollment exceeds 7,200 pairs, and plans are in place to increase enrollment to 10,000 pairs by 2015. In addition to serving as a recruitment base for new research studies, the registry maintains extensive and continually expanding survey data on physical and mental health, as well as a biorepository that includes DNA from more than 8,800 individual twins. The registry is engaged in linking member data to birth records and to diagnostic and procedure variables for hospital-based care provided to members in Washington State. It also incorporates several innovative variables relevant to the built and social environments, which were created by geocoding twin addresses and linking the resulting coordinates to geospatial information systems databases. This combination of existing data and biospecimens, characterizing a group of twins who are willing to participate in research, is a valuable resource for the new wave of twin studies. These include ‘omics’, epigenetics, gene-by-environment interactions, and other novel methods to understand human health.

scholarly journals The Study Demands-Resources Framework: An Empirical Introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (14) ◽  
pp. 5183
Author(s):  
Tino Lesener ◽  
Leonard Santiago Pleiss ◽  
Burkhard Gusy ◽  
Christine Wolter
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Student Burnout ◽  
Study Context ◽  
The University ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Pathogenic Effects

Based on the well-established job demands-resources (JD-R) framework, in our study we introduce the novel study demands-resources (SD-R) framework. The SD-R framework allows the study of salutogenic and pathogenic effects of university settings on students’ health and well-being. Using a large sample of university students (n = 5660), our aim was to translate and validate the JD-R’s essential assumptions within the university context, and thus establish the SD-R framework. We performed structural equation modelling to examine these essential assumptions. As assumed, we found that study demands—the “bad things” at university—predict student burnout (β = 0.50), whereas study resources—the “good things” at university—predict student engagement (β = 0.70) as well as burnout (β = −0.35). Also, in line with the SD-R’s assumptions, student burnout predicts life satisfaction negatively (β = −0.34), whereas student engagement predicts life satisfaction positively (β = 0.29). Hence, we were able to introduce the novel SD-R framework and validate its core assumptions. The SD-R framework serves as an excellent theoretical basis to examine both the salutogenic and pathogenic effects of the study context on students’ health and well-being. However, the framework needs further longitudinal and meta-analytical verification in accordance with the research on the JD-R framework.

Australian Twin Registry: A Nationally Funded Resource for Medical and Scientific Research, Incorporating match and WATCH

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 707-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Hopper ◽  
Susan A. Treloar ◽  
Nicholas H. de Klerk ◽  
Ruth Morley
Keyword(s):  
Mission Statement ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Multiple Birth ◽  
Multiple Gestation ◽  
Twin Registry ◽  
Baseline Information ◽  
Twin Children ◽  
Western Australian

AbstractThe Australian Twin Registry (ATR) has, since the late 1970s, enrolled more than 30,000 pairs of all zygosity types and ages willing to consider participation in approved research studies. Its core functions are the recruitment to, and maintenance of, an up-to-date database containing contact details and baseline information, and the management of fair and equitable access so as to enhance medical and scientific research. The ATR has facilitated more than 430 studies producing 525 peer-reviewed publications using a variety of designs including classic biometrical twin and twin family studies, co-twin control studies, intervention studies, longitudinal studies, and studies of issues relevant specifically to twins. The ATR is supported for 2004 to 2009 by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Enabling Grant, a new form of funding which recognizes the importance of long-term support for shared national resources. New initiatives include: integration with the Western Australian Twin Child Health (WATCH) cohort and the new Western Australian Twin Registry (WATR); foundation of a cohort of mothers and their twin children recruited from the time of diagnosis of the multiple gestation (match); a national Twins Festival run in collaboration with the Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA); promotion of the ATR at medical conferences; and fostering an active network of researchers from a range of disciplines and providing financial support for new researchers to attend international twin research workshops. Consistent with its mission statement, the long-term goal of the ATR is to make twin studies a standard component of medical and scientific research.

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