Lumen Autumn 2024 - Flipbook - Page 33
The study will investigate risk factors for
back and neck pain by asking thousands of
participants to take part in a comprehensive,
annual online survey that will track how
their ailments are progressing over
several years.
Leading causes of disability globally,
back and neck pain are both major
health problems for millions of people
worldwide.Nearly 200,000 Australians were
hospitalised with back problems in 2020-21.
Daily dark tea and diabetes
Drinking dark tea every day may reduce
the risk of type 2 diabetes in adults through
better blood sugar control.
THE STUDY FOUND DAILY
CONSUMERS OF DARK TEA
HAD A 53 PER CENT LOWER
RISK FOR PREDIABETES AND
A 47 PER CENT REDUCED
RISK FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES,
COMPARED WITH PEOPLE
WHO HAD NEVER
DRUNK TEA.
“The substantial health benefits of
tea, including a reduced risk of
cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes,
have been reported in several studies over
recent years, but the mechanisms underlying
these benefits have been unclear,” said the
University of Adelaide’s Associate Professor
Tongzhi Wu, co-lead author of the study
and Hospital Research Foundation Group
Mid-Career Fellow.
Changing the face of politics
Pathways to Politics for Women is a
non-partisan initiative that equips women
across the political spectrum with the skills,
knowledge, confidence, and connections
they need to run for elected office and thrive
as political leaders.
It is a new program offered by our
University – the first University in Australia
to award all degree courses to women on
an equal basis to men. The program
consists of 10 sessions and brings together
significant expertise from across
Australia’s political spectrum, providing
participants with networking opportunities
and practical training with an emphasis on
good governance, ethics, and leadership.
It was launched in July 2023.
Private renting ages you faster
New osteoarthritis hope
A new study has found that renting, rather
than owning, a private-sector home leads
to faster biological ageing.
Current osteoarthritis treatment manages
symptoms rather than addressing the
underlying disease, but a University of
Adelaide study has shown the condition
may be treatable and reversible.
The negative health impacts of renting
were shown to be greater than those of
experiencing unemployment or being a
former smoker.
“Our findings demonstrate that housing
circumstances have a significant impact on
biological ageing, even more so than other
important social determinants, such as
unemployment, for example, and therefore
health impacts should be an important
consideration shaping housing policies,”
said lead researcher Dr Amy Clair, from the
University's Australian Centre for Housing
Research.
The researchers (from the Universities
of Adelaide and Essex) found it is likely
that the insecurity and poor affordability
of private rented homes is driving the link
between renting and biological ageing.
Osteoarthritis is the degeneration of
cartilage and other tissues in joints and
is the most common form of arthritis in
Australia, with one in five people over
the age of 45 having the condition.
It is a long-term and progressive
condition which affects people’s mobility
and has historically had no cure. Its
treatment costs the Australian health system
an estimated $3.9 billion in 2019-20. Often
described as a ‘wear and tear’ condition,
factors such as ageing, obesity, injury and
family history contribute to the progression
of osteoarthritis.
University of Adelaide researchers
discovered a novel population of stem cells –
marked by the Gremlin 1 gene – responsible
for the progression of osteoarthritis.
“The findings of our study reimagine
osteoarthritis not as a ‘wear and tear’
condition but as an active, and pharmaceutically reversible loss of critical articular
cartilage stem cells,” said Dr Jia Ng, from
the Adelaide Medical School, who co-led
the study.
LUMEN
