Effects of vitamin D supplementation on bone density in healthy children: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To determine the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation for improving bone mineral density in children and adolescents and if effects vary with factors such as vitamin D dose and vitamin D status

Australian forested wetlands under climate change:Collapse or proliferation?

Climatically driven perturbations (e.g. intense drought, fire, sea surface temperature rise) can bring ecosystems that are already stressed by long-term climate change and other anthropogenic impacts to a point of collapse. Recent reviews of the responses of Australian ecosystems to climate change and associated stressors have suggested widespread ecosystem collapse is occurring across multiple biomes. Two commonly cited case studies concern forested wetland ecosystems: mangrove forest dieback in northern Australia (2015-16) and riverine forest dieback in the south-east of the continent (2002-09). We present an alternative interpretation that emphasises the dominant signal of climate change effects, rather than the interdecadal signal of climate variability that drives wetland forest dynamics. For both the south-east Australian riverine forests and mangroves of northern Australia, aerial extent remains greater after dieback than in the early 1990s. We interpret dieback and defoliation in both systems as a dry phase response and provide evidence of a current and near-future climate change trajectory of increased areal extent and cover (i.e. tree colonisation and range infilling). In both case studies, climate change-driven increases in tree cover and extent are occurring at the expense of wetland grasslands and the important ecosystem functions they support

Comparison of Methods to Diagnose Lymphoedema Among Breast Cancer Survivors: 6-Month follow-up

One of the more problematic and dreaded complications of breast cancer is lymphoedema. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of lymphoedema 6-months following breast cancer treatment and to examine potential risk factors among a population-based sample of women residing in South-East Queensland (n =176). Women were defined as having lymphoedema if the difference between the sum of arm circumferences (SOAC) of the treated and untreated sides was >5 cm (prevalence=11.9%) or >10% (prevalence=0.6%), their multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance (MFBIA) score was greater than or equal to 3 standard deviations above the reference impedance score (prevalence=11.4%), or they reported 'yes' when asked if arm swelling had been present in the previous 6 months (prevalence=27.8%). Of those with lymphoedema defined by MFBIA, only 35% were detected using the SOAC method (difference > 5 cm), while 65% were identified via the self-report method (i.e., respective sensitivities). Specificities for SOAC (difference > 5 cm) and self-report were 88.5% and 76.9%, respectively. When examining associations between presence of lymphoedema and a range of characteristics, findings also varied depending on the method used to assess lymphoedema. Nevertheless, one of the more novel and significant findings was that being treated on the non-dominant, compared to dominant, side was associated with an 80% increased risk of having lymphoedema (MFBIA). Our work raises questions about the use of circumferences as the choice of measurement for lymphoedema in both research and clinical settings, and assesses MFBIA as a potential alternative

Property Values as a Measure of Neighborhoods: An Application of Hedonic Price Theory

This article describes a tool kit for understanding how neighborhood characteristics are quantified in appraisal values

Resilience of trees and the vulnerability of grasslands to climate change in temperate Australian wetlands

Objectives: Observations from wetlands across the globe suggest a consistent pattern of woody encroachment into wetland grasslands, altering habitat structure and ecological function. The extent to which hydrological changes have contributed to woody invasion of wetland grasslands is unclear. Our objective was to compare rates of woody encroachment in Australian floodplain wetlands between wet and dry hydrological phases. We test the hypothesis that contraction of non-woody wetland vegetation (grasses and rushes) would be concentrated in dry phases, co-incident with recruitment of the River Red Gum Eucalyptuscamaldulensis lower in the floodplain. Methods: We conduct the first detailed mapping of habitat change in two of the largest forested wetlands in inland Australia, comparing wet and dry hydrological phases. Detailed photogrammetry, supported by extensive ground survey, allowed the interpretation of high resolution aerial photography to vegetation community level. Results: We found a consistent pattern of decline in non-woody vegetation, particularly amongst grasses utilising the C4 photosynthetic pathway. The C4 grasses Pseudoraphisspinescens and Paspalumdistichum showed steep declines in the Barmah Millewa and Macquarie Marshes respectively, being replaced by River Red Gum E. camaldulensis. C3 sedges proved more resilient in both systems. Conclusions: Our results suggest that a pattern of tree expansion into non-woody wetland vegetation, characteristic of wetlands across the globe, is a major habitat structural change in the Australian floodplain wetlands studied. Projected hydrological impacts of climate change are likely to further restrict wetland grass foraging habitat in these semi-arid floodplain wetlands.Sara Karimi was supported by a Macquarie University research training fellowship. Mapping was funded by the NSW Wetland Recovery Plan and the NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program