The health of indigenous Australians remains well below that of non-indigenous Australians and indigenous peoples in Canada and New Zealand. Although recent planning has initiated many outstanding, culturally appropriate programmes with indigenous involvement, health statistics only reflect marginal improvement in recent years. It is crucial that positive programmes are sustained with appropria...

In 2003 Mozambique’s parliament approved a new legal code that proposes a “Western” view of family and gender roles. These changes question the social organization and the symbolic views of gender in Mozambique. We show how men are reconstructing their identities when caught between tradition and male dominance and the Westernized values of the modern equalitarian family. We analyze change at t...

This exploratory autoethnographic study, undertaken by a White straight cisgender child and youth care practitioner, seeks to understand the experiences of LGBTQI+ newcomer, refugee, immigrant students in Canada. It highlights nuances creating safe spaces for young people who experience harm due intersections systemic racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia. The overarching finding this stu...

Synopsis – Artificial infant feeding, the first reproductive technology, has eliminated the need for women’s breasts and lactation function in successful reproduction. This paper argues that men have been the primary beneficiaries of this technology. Artificial infant feeding provides wealth, power, and status to the men who produce and control it. Women in nonindustrialized nations are especia...

Published evidence suggests that adiposity in humans may be linked to impaired energy expenditure for reasons widely unresolved. We have generated mice with a systemic impairment of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) due to aP2 cre-mediated targeted disruption, and unexpectedly ubiquitous reduction of mitochondrial frataxin protein expression. Only when maintained on a high-calorie diet resembl...

In recent years, colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence has been increasing to become a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide from cancers, with high rates in westernized societies and increasing rates in developing countries. Epigenetic modifications including changes in DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs play a critical role in carcinogenesis. Epidemiological da...

Epidemiological evidence points to the inverse relationship between microbial exposure and the prevalence of allergic asthma and autoimmune diseases in Westernized countries. The molecular basis for this observation has not yet been completely delineated. Here we report that the administration of certain toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, via the activation of innate immunity, induces high level...

Asthma is an airway disease highly prevalent in westernized countries and of unknown etiology. Often, asthma is associated with atopy, but not all atopic individuals have asthma. Some patients with asthma outgrow symptoms, whereas many others acquire asthma later in life. Still other patients suffer from asthma their entire life. How can we explain these different patterns? It may be that asthm...

It is undeniable that the increasing costs in healthcare are a concern. Although technological advancements have been made in healthcare systems, the return on investment made by governments and payers has been poor. The current model of care is unsustainable and is due for an upgrade. In developed nations, a law of diminishing returns has been noted in population health standards, whilst in th...

Vascular diseases are increasing health problems affecting > 25 million individuals in westernized societies. Such patients could benefit from transplantation of tissue-engineered vascular grafts using autologous cells. One challenge that has limited this development is the need for cell isolation, and risks associated with ex vivo expanded stem cells. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to ge...