Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand最新文献

This research investigated associations between multiple aspects of sleep health and child health, and the role of sleep in ethnic health inequities in early childhood. Questionnaire data on sleep and health of 3-year-old children (340 Māori, 570 non-Māori) in the Moe Kura: Mother and Child, Sleep and Wellbeing in Aotearoa/New Zealand study were analysed cross-sectionally. Logistic regression models investigated associations between poor sleep and health; and the contribution of socioeconomic deprivation, racism, and poor sleep to ethnic inequities in health (socioemotional difficulties; overweight/obesity; and asthma/eczema/allergy). Sleep measures included weekday and weekend sleep duration (per 24h), differences between weekday and weekend sleep duration and sleep timing, and sleep disturbance. Multiple aspects of sleep were associated with socioemotional or physical health outcomes. Ethnic health inequities existed, with Māori children having higher odds of poor health for all health measures. In sequential logistic regression models, socioeconomic deprivation attenuated ethnic health inequities, as did further adjustment for racism, and for sleep. Findings indicate that poor sleep health may be a pathway linking social disadvantage to ethnic inequities in health outcomes in early childhood. Results provide support for tackling systemic drivers of racism, and social and sleep inequities, to achieve health equity in early childhood.

In recent years, numerous over-the-counter (OTC) tooth whitening products have become available online to meet the demand of consumers wanting a convenient way to whiten their smile. This study investigated whether websites selling OTC whitening products containing hydrogen peroxide to New Zealanders are complying with hazardous substance laws set by the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). The search engine 'Google' was used to identify websites selling and shipping OTC whitening products to New Zealand. Data were collected from these websites and analysed. A total of 24 New Zealand based (n = 16) and overseas (n = 8) websites were included. Of these, 12 (50%) provided an ingredients list, 1 (4%) mentioned all precautionary statements required by the EPA, and 21 (88%) met the EPA restrictions for supply and application of a hazardous substance. 11 (46%) warned of tooth sensitivity as a potential side-effect and 8 (33%) gave a warning for gingival irritation. Fewer than half (42%) recommended consulting a dental professional before using their product. Over-the-counter tooth whitening products being sold online to New Zealanders may be breaching conditions of the EPA and putting New Zealanders at risk. Legislative changes should be considered to ensure that companies' websites are providing correct precautionary statements.

In aquaculture breeding or production programmes, counting juvenile fish represents a considerable cost in terms of the human hours needed. In this study, we explored the use of two state-of-the-art machine learning architectures (Single Shot Detection, hereafter SSD and Faster Regions with convolutional neural networks, hereafter Faster R-CNN) to augment a manual image-based juvenile fish counting method for the Australasian snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) bred at The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited. We tested model accuracy after tuning for confidence thresholds and non-maximal suppression overlap parameters, and implementing a bias correction using a Poisson regression model. Validation of image data showed that after tuning, bias-corrected SSD and Faster R-CNN models had mean absolute percent errors (MAPE) of less than 10%, with SSD having MAPE of less than 5%. Comparison of the results with those from manual counts showed that, while manual counts are slightly more accurate (MAPE = 1.56), the machine learning methods allow for more rapid assessment of counts and thus facilitating a higher throughput. This work represents a first step for deploying machine learning applications to an existing real-life aquaculture scenario and provides a useful starting point for further developments, such as real-time counting of fish or collecting additional phenotypic data from the source images.

The New Zealand Genetic Frontotemporal Dementia Study (FTDGeNZ) is an emerging longitudinal study of a large New Zealand pedigree with genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Natural history studies of genetic FTD cohorts provide a unique opportunity to identify biomarkers of pre-symptomatic dementia, as carriers can be identified and studied decades before expected symptom onset. FTDGeNZ was established in 2016 with the aim of identifying the earliest pre-symptomatic biomarkers of FTD, in collaboration with international multi-centre cohorts. We enrolled 25 participants from a single family between April 2016 and August 2018. Participants were genotyped to determine whether they were pre-symptomatic carriers of the mutation (MAPT IVS 10 + 16 C > T), or non-carrier controls. Participants have undergone clinical assessments including neuropsychological and mood assessment; olfactory testing; assessment of social cognition; and blood collection for analyses of microRNA and protein fluid biomarkers annually. We have also performed structural and functional MRI of the brain and assessment of autobiographical memory biennially, and retinal imaging at baseline. Here, we describe the full study protocol and the baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the FTDGeNZ cohort, and we highlight the latest findings in the field.

Older adults represent a large and growing section of Aotearoa New Zealand's population. Longitudinal research on experiences of later life enables understanding of both the capabilities with which people are ageing, and their determinants. The Health, Work, and Retirement (HWR) study has to date conducted eight biennial longitudinal postal surveys of health and well-being with older people (n = 11,601 respondents; 49.4% of Māori descent). Survey data are linked at the individual-level to other modes of data collection, including cognitive assessments, life course history interviews, and national health records. This article describes the HWR study and its potential to support our understanding of ageing in Aotearoa New Zealand. We present an illustrative analysis of data collected to date, using indicators of physical health-related functional ability from n = 10,728 adults aged 55-80 to describe mean trajectories of physical ability with age, by birth cohort and gender. As the original participant cohort recruited in 2006 reach ages 71-86 in 2022, future directions for study include expanding the study's core longitudinal measures to include follow-up assessments of cognitive functioning to understand factors predicting cognitive decline, and linkage to national datasets to identify population-level profiles of risk for conditions such as frailty.

This paper provides an overview of 'Kia Tika, Kia Pono - Honouring Truths' (Te Rōpū Arotahi 2022), an ethical framework to guide engagement with tamariki (children) and rangatahi (young people) who are care experienced (that is, who currently or at some stage in their lives have been in foster or residential care). Centring the voices and priorities of rangatahi with care experience, 'Kia Tika, Kia Pono' is intended for use by organisations and others working across the range of sectors and services that seek to engage tamariki and rangatahi who are care experienced in governance, policy making, service design, media or research. Its purpose is to ensure that these efforts are ethical, meaningful, and culturally safe. Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and participatory rights frameworks, 'Kia Tika, Kia Pono' is responsive to the cultural context of New Zealand. It is also distinctive in its centring of rangatahi with care experience as both knowledge-holders and knowledge-creators. In summarising the key elements of the 'Kia Tika, Kia Pono' framework, we also draw upon our insights from the research process regarding participatory practice with rangatahi with care experience. Kupu Māori/glossary of Māori words: Aroha: love, compassion, empathy; hapū: kinship group, sub-tribe, sub-nation, to be pregnant; hui: gathering, meeting, assembly, seminar, conference; iwi: extended kinship group, tribe, nation, people, bone; kai: food, meal; karakia: incantation; a set form of words to state or make effective a ritual activity; kaupapa: purpose, agenda; koha gift; especially one maintaining social relationships and has connotations of reciprocity; korowai: ornamented cloak; mana: spiritually sanctioned or endorsed influence, power, and authority; manaakitanga: showing and receiving care, respect, kindness, and hospitality; māramatanga: enlightenment, insight, understanding; mauri: life principle, life force, vital essence; pono: to be absolutely true, unfeigned, genuine; rangatahi: younger generation; rangatira: chiefly, esteemed, leader; tamariki: children; Te Tiriti o Waitangi: the Māori version of the Treaty of Waitangi; tika: what is right/good for any particular situation; tikanga Māori: customary system of values and practices that have been developed over time and are deeply embedded in the social context; tūāpapa: foundation, platform; ūkaipō: a place of nurturing and of spiritual and emotional strength; wairuatanga: spirituality; wānanga: to meet, discuss, deliberate, consider; whanau: to be born, extended family, family group; whanaungatanga: relationship, kinship, sense of family connection; a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging.

The New Zealand policy response to methamphetamine contamination of housing has resulted in reduction of public housing stock, award of significant remediation costs and evictions. The New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal (NZTT) has adjudicated methamphetamine contamination disputes between tenants and landlords without specific guidance in legislation. A 2018 scientific review by the Chief Science Advisor prompted a significant increase in the contamination threshold. To evaluate the outcomes from this policy change, we compared 195 NZTT orders following the threshold increase with 685 orders from before the threshold increase. Landlords remain as major applicants to the NZTT. Cases involving public housing tenancies dramatically decreased from 33% (pre threshold increase) to none. Mention of baseline testing and methamphetamine test results became more prominent after the threshold increase. The average remediation costs decreased from NZ$10,300 to NZ$3,500 per order, perhaps reflecting fewer rooms of houses requiring remediation under the new threshold. Applicants and respondents continued to support their claims based on different scientific thresholds and reports. Discrepancies between adjudicators' interpretations of test results and the threshold to apply continued to generate inconsistencies in NZTT decisions. Legislative and regulatory guidance is still needed to consistently and equitably resolve these disputes.

Despite recent advances in AI, building systems that can engage in natural and realistic cooperative interactions with human partners remains a challenge. In this article, we argue that as a precursor to modelling sophisticated cooperation in adults, it's useful to build a model of how cooperation develops in infants. We present a simple initial model of infant cooperation, embodied in BabyX - a hyperrealistic virtual simulation of an 18-month-old infant that can interact with human partners in real time. Our focus in this paper is on cooperative behaviours in the nonverbal domain. The framework for our model of these behaviours is a cognitive model of events and event processing. We detail how cognitive and motor mechanisms in BabyX lead to rudimentary cooperation manifested in nonverbal turn-taking. We introduce a novel empirical paradigm for testing BabyX's model of cooperation, by comparing her interactions with users with 'real' interactions between human infants and their caregivers, which we observed in a detailed empirical study. In this study, we find nonverbal turn-taking in human infant-caregiver interactions, consistent with our BabyX model. This initial model provides the foundation for a comprehensive, and developmentally consistent, model of human cooperation.