scholarly journals Biocultural Drivers of Salivary Microbiota in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Handsley-Davis ◽  
Emily Skelly ◽  
Newell W. Johnson ◽  
Kostas Kapellas ◽  
Ratilal Lalloo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dental Caries ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Oral Microbiota ◽  
Caries Risk ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Microbial Composition ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Salivary Microbiota ◽  
Salivary Ph ◽  
Torres Strait

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children experience unacceptably high rates of dental caries compared to their non-Indigenous Australian counterparts. Dental caries significantly impacts the quality of life of children and their families, particularly in remote communities. While many socioeconomic and lifestyle factors impact caries risk, the central role of the oral microbiota in mediating dental caries has not been extensively investigated in these communities. Here, we examine factors that shape diversity and composition of the salivary microbiota in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents living in the remote Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) of Far North Queensland. We employed 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing to profile bacteria present in saliva collected from 205 individuals aged 4–17 years from the NPA. Higher average microbial diversity was generally linked to increased age and salivary pH, less frequent toothbrushing, and proxies for lower socioeconomic status (SES). Differences in microbial composition were significantly related to age, salivary pH, SES proxies, and active dental caries. Notably, a feature classified as Streptococcus sobrinus increased in abundance in children who reported less frequent tooth brushing. A specific Veillonella feature was associated with caries presence, while features classified as Actinobacillus/Haemophilus and Leptotrichia were associated with absence of caries; a Lactobacillus gasseri feature increased in abundance in severe caries. Finally, we statistically assessed the interplay between dental caries and caries risk factors in shaping the oral microbiota. These data provide a detailed understanding of biological, behavioral, and socioeconomic factors that shape the oral microbiota and may underpin caries development in this group. This information can be used in the future to improve tailored caries prevention and management options for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and communities.

Considering the Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Improvement of Australian Aboriginal Health: Scoping Review (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Troy Walker ◽  
Claire Palermo ◽  
Karen Klassen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Aboriginal Health ◽  
Health Messages ◽  
Community Control ◽  
Torres Strait Islander People ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Torres Strait

BACKGROUND Social media may have a significant role in influencing the present and future health implications among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, yet there has been no review of the role of social media in improving health. OBJECTIVE This study aims to examine the extent of health initiatives using social media that aimed to improve the health of Australian Aboriginal communities. METHODS A scoping review was conducted by systematically searching databases CINAHL Plus; PubMed; Scopus; Web of Science, and Ovid MEDLINE in June 2017 using the terms and their synonyms “Aboriginal” and “Social media.” In addition, reference lists of included studies and the Indigenous HealthInfonet gray literature were searched. Key information about the social media intervention and its impacts on health were extracted and data synthesized using narrative summaries. RESULTS Five papers met inclusion criteria. All included studies were published in the past 5 years and involved urban, rural, and remote Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people aged 12-60 years. No studies reported objective impacts on health. Three papers found that social media provided greater space for sharing health messages in a 2-way exchange. The negative portrayal of Aboriginal people and negative health impacts of social media were described in 2 papers. CONCLUSIONS Social media may be a useful strategy to provide health messages and sharing of content among Aboriginal people, but objective impacts on health remain unknown. More research is necessary on social media as a way to connect, communicate, and improve Aboriginal health with particular emphasis on community control, self-empowerment, and decolonization.

scholarly journals Otitis media guidelines for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: summary of recommendations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda J Leach ◽  
Peter S Morris ◽  
Harvey LC Coates ◽  
Sandra Nelson ◽  
Stephen J O'Leary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Otitis Media ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Torres Strait

scholarly journals The overall health and risk factor profile of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants from the 45 and up study

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Gubhaju ◽  
Bridgette J McNamara ◽  
Emily Banks ◽  
Grace Joshy ◽  
Beverley Raphael ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Risk Factor Profile ◽  
Torres Strait

scholarly journals Resetting the Narrative in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annabelle Wilson ◽  
Roland Wilson ◽  
Robyn Delbridge ◽  
Emma Tonkin ◽  
Claire Palermo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Nutrition Research ◽  
Torres Strait

ABSTRACT As the oldest continuous living civilizations in the world, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have strength, tenacity, and resilience. Initial colonization of the landscape included violent dispossession and removal of people from Country to expand European land tenure and production systems, loss of knowledge holders through frontier violence, and formal government policies of segregation and assimilation designed to destroy ontological relationships with Country and kin. The ongoing manifestations of colonialism continue to affect food systems and food knowledges of Aboriginal peoples, and have led to severe health inequities and disproportionate rates of nutrition-related health conditions. There is an urgent need to collaborate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to address nutrition and its underlying determinants in a way that integrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ understandings of food and food systems, health, healing, and well-being. We use the existing literature to discuss current ways that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are portrayed in the literature in relation to nutrition, identify knowledge gaps that require further research, and propose a new way forward.

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the development of pandemic influenza containment strategies: Community voices and community control

Health Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 103 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 184-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Massey ◽  
Adrian Miller ◽  
Sherry Saggers ◽  
David N. Durrheim ◽  
Richard Speare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pandemic Influenza ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Community Control ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Torres Strait

Keyword analysis and the indexing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-399
Author(s):  
Monika Bednarek
Keyword(s):  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Television Drama ◽  
Keyword Analysis ◽  
Australian Aboriginal ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Social Demographics ◽  
Industry Professionals

Abstract This article presents a corpus-driven sociolinguistic study of Redfern Now – the first major television drama series commissioned, written, acted, directed and produced by Indigenous industry professionals in Australia. The study examines whether corpus linguistic keyword analysis can identify evidence for type indexicality (social demographics, personae) and trait indexicality (stance, personality), with particular attention paid to the potential indexing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity. More specifically, the study’s goal is to retrieve and analyse words that are associated with varieties of English in Australia, and with Australian Aboriginal Englishes in particular. To this end, a corpus with dialogue from Redfern Now is compared to a reference corpus of US television dialogue. Results show that Redfern Now features the use of easily recognisable and familiar words (e.g. blackfella[s], deadly; kinship terms), but also shows clear variation among characters. The case study concludes by evaluating the use of keyword analysis for identifying indexicality in telecinematic discourse.

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