scholarly journals Reproductive Choices of Women With Multiple Sclerosis

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Martine Sponiar ◽  
Louise Sharpe ◽  
Phyllis Butow ◽  
Gary Fulcher
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Family Planning ◽  
Decision Aid ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Secondary Progressive ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Relapsing Remitting ◽  
Decision Making Tool

A decision aid may be needed for women with multiple sclerosis (MS) in making family-planning choices. Four hundred sixty-one women responded to a mailing asking them where they were in deciding whether to have children. The mailing was sent to female members of the MS Societies in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, who were between 20 and 40 years of age. Results showed that 46% of respondents were currently unsure about whether they would start, forego, or enlarge their families. More women with relapsing-remitting MS and women who were unsure of their MS type were undecided about motherhood than those with primary progressive and secondary progressive MS. The results indicate that a decision-making tool to assist women with family planning may be useful.

Chlamydia trachomatis infection in the family planning clinical setting across New South Wales

Sexual Health ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah J. Bateson ◽  
Edith Weisberg ◽  
Harpreet Lota
Keyword(s):  
Family Planning ◽  
Chlamydia Trachomatis ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Oral Contraceptive Pill ◽  
Chlamydia Trachomatis Infection ◽  
The Past ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Sexually Transmissible Infections ◽  
The Family

Background: Following a small pilot study in 2003, a study was set up to determine the prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in young women presenting to Family Planning NSW centres across New South Wales and to evaluate the characteristics of those infected. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 621 consecutive women aged from 16 to 24 years was carried out over a 3-month period in 2004 at five Family Planning NSW centres. Urine samples were tested for C. trachomatis using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Women with a positive result were reviewed and treated. Results: Of 925 eligible clients, 621 (67%) were recruited to the study. Chlamydia trachomatis was detected in 35 of the 621 recruits (5.6%, 95% CI 3.8–7.4). The prevalence at the Hunter centre was significantly higher than the combined prevalence at the other four participating centres (9.7% compared with 3.9%; P = 0.008). Two characteristics were identified as independent predictors of infection in this study: ‘reporting a recent change of partner in the past three months’ (crude odds ratio (OR) 3.33, 95% CI 1.67–6.64) and ‘reporting three or more partners in the past year’ (crude OR 3.69, 95% CI 1.83–7.46). Reported condom use, a history of one or more sexually transmissible infections and current combined oral contraceptive pill use were not associated with infection in this study. Conclusions: The prevalence of C. trachomatis infection is sufficiently high to support targeted testing of 16–24-year-old women in the Family Planning NSW setting and informs the development of a national screening strategy.

Living With Multiple Sclerosis in New South Wales, Australia, at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Impact of Mobility Disability

2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.L. Tribe ◽  
W.A. Longley ◽  
G. Fulcher ◽  
R.J. Faine ◽  
L. Blagus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Mobility Disability ◽  
Initial Report ◽  
Personal Support ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Full Time Employment

This article is the initial report on the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society of New South Wales (NSW) Client Census Database study, a telephone-based cohort study of registered clients of the society in 2001. The final database sample comprised 2618 respondents with a diagnosis of MS from the registered client database, representing 73% of this target client population and an estimated 70% of all people with MS in NSW, Australia. The mean age was 49 years, and mean time since diagnosis was 11 years, with 36% diagnosed in the past 5 years. Approximately three-quarters (74%) were women. The mobility disability profile of the sample covered the entire spectrum, with half reporting being able to walk without a mobility aid and only 17% being confined to a wheelchair. The average age of respondents confined to a wheelchair was 56 years. Most respondents reported other MS symptoms they felt were disabling, such as fatigue and abnormal sensory symptoms. Most were living with a partner or spouse but were less likely to be living with children in the family home than the general NSW population. Only 5% were living in supported accommodations. Only a third of respondents were employed, with greater levels of disability leading to greater levels of unemployment—full-time employment being more adversely affected than part time and men being more disadvantaged than women with MS compared with their general NSW population counterparts. Essential medical care and personal support needs were mostly well met but less reliably so for the most severely disabled respondents and those living farther from major cities. The most frequently reported unmet needs were for breaks from home and employment support. Less than half of the sample reported being on immunotherapy. Those who were on immunotherapy were more likely to be women, employed part time, and experiencing only mild or moderate mobility disability.

Risk of multiple sclerosis after a first demyelinating syndrome in an Australian Paediatric cohort: clinical, radiological features and application of the McDonald 2010 MRI criteria

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (13) ◽  
pp. 1749-1759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther M Tantsis ◽  
Kristina Prelog ◽  
Fabienne Brilot ◽  
Russell C Dale
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Early Recognition ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Radiological Features ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Multiple Variables

Background: The risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) is dependent on multiple variables, including geographical location. There is increasing interest in the early recognition and treatment of MS in children. Method: Using univariate and multivariate analysis, we determined the clinical and radiological features that were predictive of MS in 88 children from New South Wales, Australia, with a first acute demyelinating syndrome (ADS) who were followed for a minimum of one year. We tested the McDonald, KIDMUS, Callen and Verhey MRI criteria for paediatric MS. Results: After a mean follow-up of 5.2 years, 13/88 (15%) of children had MS. Using multivariate analysis, preceding infection was protective of MS, and corpus callosal lesions, the combined presence of both well and poorly demarcated lesions, and contrast-enhancing lesions on MRI were predictive of MS. The sensitivity and specificity of the respective radiological criteria were McDonald 2005 (69%, 68%), McDonald 2010 (58%, 95%), KIDMUS (8%, 100%), Callen (69%, 85%) and Verhey (62%, 84%). When McDonald 2010 criteria were applied to baseline and serial scans, the sensitivity and specificity was 91% and 93%. Conclusion: Despite the long follow-up, the risk of MS appears lower in New South Wales children compared to previously reported cohorts. Radiological features are more predictive than clinical features in predicting MS. The McDonald 2010 criteria performed well although the dissemination in time criteria on baseline scans is difficult to apply to children with encephalopathy.

‘All the evidence is that Cobargo is slipping’: An ecological approach to rural cinema-going

Film Studies ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Bowles
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Ecological Approach ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Road Development ◽  
Picture Show ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Advertising And Promotion ◽  
Flood Prone Areas

This paper considers the impact of extra-filmic elements on the cultural decision-making behaviours of a small rural Australian cinema audience, focusing on the rural New South Wales village of Cobargo in the late 1920s. In considering how why such fragile rural picture show operations either failed or became successful, it is critical to take account of rural geographies, particularly in terms of early road development, and the nature and state of road bridges in flood-prone areas. The paper argues that these elements are part of a broad ecosystemic framework for cultural decision-making which can assist in our interpretation of early newspaper advertising and promotion for picture show programs.

scholarly journals Seagull Syndrome: Relationships between Patrol Workers and Government Officials in NSW, Australia

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Jayne Porter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Core ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Core Features

This paper explores the nature of relations between public officials and community workers, drawing on empirical data from a study on Indigenous patrols in New South Wales, Australia. Patrol workers interact with public officials from various state entities who are tasked with overseeing funding, carrying out evaluations and, to varying degrees, monitoring the ‘effectiveness’ of local patrol operations. These interactions illuminate several issues regarding the ways in which knowledge about patrols is created, contested and communicated between Indigenous and non-Indigenous domains. The emergent patterns of these relations can be described as ‘seagull syndrome’, which involves the privileging of some types of knowledge over others in decision-making regarding Indigenous affairs, often with disastrous consequences for Indigenous organisations and communities. The paper documents the core features of seagull syndrome with respect to the discrete practices, everyday decision-making and mundane communication between public officials and patrol workers in New South Wales. It considers the implications of seagull syndrome for policy-makers and academics working in the Indigenous justice space and suggests ways to resist or challenge this tendency

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