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The purpose of the study was to develop and test culturally appropriate health promotion materials that were seen to be socially inclusive in regard to blood donation within the Australian-African community. Materials were produced in multiple languages (English, Arabic, Swahili and Kirundi) and were initially developed based on previous pilot data, with feedback from the project partner (Australian Red Cross Blood Service) and the African community. Seven formative focus groups with 62 participants were then conducted to ensure the materials would be effective, credible and culturally acceptable to the target audience, including preferred messages, taglines and images. The response confirmed that quotes and images from community members (as opposed to actors) were critical to ensure messages were engaging and believable, and had meaningful taglines that were perceived to be authentic. The refined materials were then used in a community intervention study. The evaluation included an assessment of respondents' views of the messages post-intervention. Of the 281 African migrants who saw the campaign materials during the intervention period, the majority (75.8%) strongly agreed that the materials made them feel part of the wider Australian community. These results suggest that engagement in developmental activities with targeted communities is important for creating positively viewed culturally targeted public health campaigns. A six-step process is suggested that could be used by other organizations to ensure that messages are acceptable to targeted migrant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mosquitoes have distinct developmental and adult life history, and the vectorial capacity of females has been shown to be affected by the larval nutritional environment. However, little is known about the effect of developmental nutrition on insulin-signaling and nutrient storage. In this study, we used Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, to determine whether larval nutrition affects insulin gene expression. We also determined the traits regulated by insulin signaling, such as stored-nutrient levels and fecundity. We raised mosquito larvae on two different diets, containing either high protein or high carbohydrates. Development on a high-carbohydrate diet resulted in several life-history phenotypes indicative of suboptimal conditions, including increased developmental time and decreased fecundity. Additionally, our data showed that insulin transcript levels are affected by a high-carbohydrate diet during development. Females, not males, reared on high-carbohydrate diets had much higher transcript levels of insulin-like peptide 3 (ILP3), a mosquito equivalent of human insulin, and these females more readily converted sugar meals into lipids. We also found that AaILP4, not AaILP3, transcript levels were much higher in the males after a sugar meal, suggesting sex-specific differences in the insulin-signaling pathway. Our findings suggest a conserved mechanism of carbohydrate-mediated hyperinsulinemia in animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]