Spatial variation in cervical cancer screening participation and outcomes among Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australians in Queensland

Indigenous women continue to experience a disproportionately higher burden of cervical cancer than non‐Indigenous women in Australia. The National Indigenous Cervical Screening Project used probabilistic record linkage to combine population‐based administrative databases and identify Indigenous women on Pap Smear Registers. This study aimed to quantify the spatial variation by local government areas (LGAs) for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous women in Queensland in cervical screening participation rates and related outcomes. Empirical Bayes local geostatistical smoothing was performed to reduce the likelihood of spurious variation between small areas. The cohort included 1,091,260 women (2 per cent Indigenous) aged 20 to 69 with 2,393,708 Pap smears between 2006 and 2011. Indigenous women had smoothed LGA‐specific 5‐year participation rates (interquartile range (IQR) 38.9–53.3 per 100 eligible women) consistently lower than non‐Indigenous women (IQR 80.7–85.3). The non‐overlapping confidence intervals of these rates suggest that the Indigenous differential was significant. Compared with Indigenous women, non‐Indigenous women had consistently lower and more stable prevalence rates of histologically confirmed high grade abnormalities (IQR 8.0–10.1 versus 15.0–21.3 per 1,000 screened women). Although the LGA‐specific rates also suggest that a higher proportion of non‐Indigenous women were followed‐up within two months of an abnormal screening result, the wide confidence intervals for these estimates limit our ability to draw definitive conclusions about spatial patterns for this outcome. These findings highlight the importance of continued monitoring and ongoing efforts to identify drivers of these patterns and develop effective strategies to improve participation and potentially reduce the cervical cancer burden among Indigenous women.     

Metrical discrimination between mandibular first and second molars in domestic cattle

The difficulty of distinguishing between loose first and second mandibular molars of domestic cattle (BOS taurus) from archaeological sites is well known. This paper proposes cervical length as a discriminatory measurement. The possibility that cervical measurements of first and second mandibular molars may be sexually dimorphic is also explored.     

A Correction and Comment on ‘Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts’

C. L. Kieffer incorrectly identified a fused pair of cervical vertebrae in an article published online in May of 2015. This is a correction of the misidentification and a comment on the implications for the author's larger point that the individuals involved may have been physically handicapped and therefore selected by the ancient Maya as victims of human sacrifice. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Ontogenetic Development of the Cervical Rib

This paper describes a case of cervical rib that was observed in a skeleton from the St Bride's documented skeletal collection. The ontogenetic development of this phenomenon is discussed with reference to potential clinical symptoms including cyanosis, paraesthesia, muscular atrophy and even digital gangrene. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Many Sexes of Risk: Gender,Disease, and Identity in the Asia-Pacific Region and Elsewhere

That potential pathogens transit to and through body parts and fluids of densely connected individuals belonging to highly mobile ethnic groups shows how relevant to health is the study of sexual networking. Five recent books show sexual networking has quickened owing to labor migration, poverty, religious double standards, militarism, tourism, and nation building. Gender conventions and sexual practice in Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea have hardened in some contexts and destabilized in others. HIV, HPV, AIDS, and cervical cancer are expressed in gendered and sexed bodies, behaviors, technologies, and ideas that are often situated in violent interpersonal and structural contexts.     

Ragnar Granit 100 Years - Memories and Reflections

The Swedish-Finnish Nobel laureate Ragnar Granit, born 100 years ago, is commemorated in a brief article by one of his former PhD students and collaborators. After a short account of Granit’s life and scientific career, special attention is given to Granit’s role as a teacher in research training and his published thoughts on this matter, partly reflecting Granit’s own experience as a “postdoc’‘ in the laboratory of Sherrington (Oxford). The article includes personal recollections of how it was to work together with Granit in his laboratory.