Swimming pools in remote indigenous communities : some basic information for planning a pool

"The four reports included here provide the basic information any community considering building a pool should have at its fingertips. In the first report, epidemiologist and medical practitioner, Dr Carmen Audera reviews the potential health benefits and risks of providing swimming pools in remote communities. A CRC-funded summer student project allowed Andrew Peart and Cassandra Szoeke to systematically gather information from Indigenous communities with pools about the benefits, risks, logistics and costs of installing and maintaining a swimming pool. They also gathered information from communities without pools about where people swim, how this is managed and whether there are associated risks. Centre for Appropriate Technology staff member and engineer, Jonathan Duddles, compiled the necessary information about construction and maintenance options and finally another CRC-funded summer student, Nigel Vivian, worked with CAT engineer, Bob Lloyd, to examine the feasibility of monitoring pool water for chemical and microbiological hazards." (Foreword

Quantification of structural changes in the corpus callosumin children with profound hypoxic-ischaemic brain injury

Background Birth-related acute profound hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury has specific patterns of damage including the paracentral lobules. Objective To test the hypothesis that there is anatomically coherent regional volume loss of the corpus callosum as a result of this hemispheric abnormality. Materials and methods Study subjects included 13 children with proven acute profound hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury and 13 children with developmental delay but no brain abnormalities. A computerised system divided the corpus callosum into 100 segments, measuring each width. Principal component analysis grouped the widths into contiguous anatomical regions. We conducted analysis of variance of corpus callosum widths as well as support vector machine stratification into patient groups. Results There was statistically significant narrowing of the mid–posterior body and genu of the corpus callosum in children with hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury. Support vector machine analysis yielded over 95% accuracy in patient group stratification using the corpus callosum centile widths. Conclusion Focal volume loss is seen in the corpus callosum of children with hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury secondary to loss of commissural fibres arising in the paracentral lobules. Support vector machine stratification into the hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury group or the control group on the basis of corpus callosum width is highly accurate and points towards rapid clinical translation of this technique as a potential biomarker of hypoxic–ischaemic brain injur

Crop Updates 2004 - Cereals

This session covers twenty eight papers from different authors: PLENARY 1. Declining profitability in continuous cropping systems. Is more wheat the answer on Duplex soil? Dr Wal Anderson, Department of Agriculture 2. Disease implications of extending the wheat phase in low-medium rainfall areas, Dr Vivian Vanstone and Dr Robert Loughman, Department of Agriculture 3. Prolonged wheat phase on duplex soils – where do weeds set the boundary? Vanessa Stewart, Department of Agriculture WHEAT AGRONOMY 4. Management of small grain screenings in wheat, Dr Wal Anderson and Dr Darshan Sharma, Department of Agriculture 5. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties, Christine Zaicou-Kunesch, Dr Darshan Sharma, Brenda Shackley, Dr Mohammad Amjad, Dr Wal Anderson and Steve Penny,Department of Agriculture 6. Managing wheat yield reduction from wide rows, Dr Mohammad Amjad and Dr Wal Anderson, Department of Agriculture 7. Row spacing and stubble effect on wheat yield and ryegrass seed set, Glen Riethmuller, Department of Agriculture 8. Grain protein management – lessons learnt on the south coast, Jeremy Lemon, Department of Agriculture 9. Unravelling the mysteries of optimum seed rates, Dr Wal Anderson, Dr Darshan Sharma, Brenda Shackley and Mario D’Antuono, Department of Agriculture 10. Agronomic features for growing better wheat – south east agricultural region 2003, Dr Mohammad Amjad, Veronika Reck and Ben Curtis, Department of Agriculture 11. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties – great southern agricultural region 2003, Brenda Shackley and Judith Devenish, Department of Agriculture 12. Variety specific responses of new wheat varieties – central agricultural region 2003, Dr Darshan Sharma and Dr Wal Anderson, Department of Agriculture 13. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties – northern agricultural region 2003, Christine Zaicou-Kunesch, Melaine Kupsch and Anne Smith, Department of Agriculture BARLEY AND OAT AGRONOMY 14. Gairdner for high rainfall – where does Baudin fit in? Blakely Paynter, Roslyn Jettnerand Leanne Schulz, Department of Agriculture 15. Oaten hay – varieties and agronomy, Blakely Paynter, Jocelyn Ball and Tom Sweeny, Department of Agriculture NUTRITION 16. In-furrow fungicide applications in liquid fertiliser, Dr Stephen Loss, CSBP Ltd 17. Elemental sulphur as a fertiliser source in Western Australia, Ashleigh Brooks1A, Justin Fuery2, Geoff Anderson3 and Prof Zed Rengel1,1UWA, 2Summit FertilizerFertilisers and 3Department of Agriculture 18. Genetic variation in potassium efficiency of barley, Paul Damon and Prof. Zed Rengel, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UWA 19. Managing protein through strategic N applications, Eddy Pol and Dr Stephen Loss, CSBP Ltd 20. Nitrogen management for wheat in high rainfall cropping areas, Narelle Hill1, Ray Tugwell1, Dr Wal Anderson1, Ron McTaggart1and Nathan Moyes2, 1Department of Agriculture and 2Landmark 21. Flag smut resistance in current WA wheat varieties, John Majewski and Dr Manisha Shankar, Department of Agriculture 22. Rust resistance update for wheat varieties in WA, Dr Manisha Shankar, John Majewski and Jamie Piotrowski, Department of Agriculture PESTS AND DISEASES 23. Stripe rust in WA – where was it and what can we learn from 2003? Dr Robert Loughman and Ciara Beard, Department of Agriculture 24. Foliar disease management – a key factor in the adoption of Baudin and Hamlin barley, Dr Kithsiri Jayasena, Dr Rob Loughman, Kazue Tanaka and Grey Poulish, Department of Agriculture 25. Validating aphid and virus risk forecasts for cereals, Dr Debbie Thackray, Rohan Prince and Dr Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture HARVESTING 26. Swathing Gairdner barley at 30% moisture, Peter Nelson¹ and Nigel Metz², ¹Cooperative Bulk Handling and ² Fitzgerald Biosphere Group MODELLING 27. Development of a web based grower decision aid application for cereal growers, Dr Leisa Armstrong1, Yee Leong (Alex) Yung1and Dr Moin Salam2 1School of Computer and Information Science, Edith Cowan University; and 2Department of Agriculture 28. Wheat varieties updated in ‘Flowering Calculator’ – a model predicting flowering time, Brenda Shackley, Dr David Tennant, Dr Darshan Sharma and Christine Zaicou‑Kunesch, Department of Agricultur

Pravastatin for early-onset pre-eclampsia:a randomised, blinded, placebo-controlled trial

Objective: Women with pre-eclampsia have elevated circulating levels of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1). Statins can reduce sFlt-1 from cultured cells and improve pregnancy outcome in animals with a pre-eclampsia-like syndrome. We investigated the effect of pravastatin on plasma sFlt-1 levels during pre-eclampsia. Design: Blinded (clinician and participant), proof of principle, placebo-controlled trial. Setting: Fifteen UK maternity units. Population: We used a minimisation algorithm to assign 62 women with early-onset pre-eclampsia (24 +0–31 +6 weeks of gestation) to receive pravastatin 40 mg daily (n = 30) or matched placebo (n = 32), from randomisation to childbirth. Primary outcome: Difference in mean plasma sFlt-1 levels over the first 3 days following randomisation. Results: The difference in the mean maternal plasma sFlt-1 levels over the first 3 days after randomisation between the pravastatin (n = 27) and placebo (n = 29) groups was 292 pg/ml (95% CI −1175 to 592; P = 0.5), and over days 1–14 was 48 pg/ml (95% CI −1009 to 913; P = 0.9). Women who received pravastatin had a similar length of pregnancy following randomisation compared with those who received placebo (hazard ratio 0.84; 95% CI 0.50–1.40; P = 0.6). The median time from randomisation to childbirth was 9 days [interquartile range (IQR) 5–14 days] for the pravastatin group and 7 days (IQR 4–11 days) for the placebo group. There were three perinatal deaths in the placebo-treated group and no deaths or serious adverse events attributable to pravastatin. Conclusions: We found no evidence that pravastatin lowered maternal plasma sFlt-1 levels once early-onset pre-eclampsia had developed. Pravastatin appears to have no adverse perinatal effects. Tweetable abstract: Pravastatin does not improve maternal plasma sFlt-1 or placental growth factor levels following a diagnosis of early preterm pre-eclampsia #clinicaltrial finds

Evenness mediates the global relationship between forest productivity and richness

1. Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all important properties of a community, including community evenness, which may mediate the relationship between biodiversity and productivity. If the evenness of a community correlates negatively with richness across forests globally, then a greater number of species may not always increase overall diversity and productivity of the system. Theoretical work and local empirical studies have shown that the effect of evenness on ecosystem functioning may be especially strong at high richness levels, yet the consistency of this remains untested at a global scale. 2. Here, we used a dataset of forests from across the globe, which includes composition, biomass accumulation and net primary productivity, to explore whether productivity correlates with community evenness and richness in a way that evenness appears to buffer the effect of richness. Specifically, we evaluated whether low levels of evenness in speciose communities correlate with the attenuation of the richness–productivity relationship. 3. We found that tree species richness and evenness are negatively correlated across forests globally, with highly speciose forests typically comprising a few dominant and many rare species. Furthermore, we found that the correlation between diversity and productivity changes with evenness: at low richness, uneven communities are more productive, while at high richness, even communities are more productive. 4. Synthesis. Collectively, these results demonstrate that evenness is an integral component of the relationship between biodiversity and productivity, and that the attenuating effect of richness on forest productivity might be partly explained by low evenness in speciose communities. Productivity generally increases with species richness, until reduced evenness limits the overall increases in community diversity. Our research suggests that evenness is a fundamental component of biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships, and is of critical importance for guiding conservation and sustainable ecosystem management decisions

Neuropsychiatric manifestations and sleep disturbances with dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy versus standard of care in children and adolescents: a secondary analysis of the ODYSSEY trial

BACKGROUND: Cohort studies in adults with HIV showed that dolutegravir was associated with neuropsychiatric adverse events and sleep problems, yet data are scarce in children and adolescents. We aimed to evaluate neuropsychiatric manifestations in children and adolescents treated with dolutegravir-based treatment versus alternative antiretroviral therapy. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of ODYSSEY, an open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority trial, in which adolescents and children initiating first-line or second-line antiretroviral therapy were randomly assigned 1:1 to dolutegravir-based treatment or standard-of-care treatment. We assessed neuropsychiatric adverse events (reported by clinicians) and responses to the mood and sleep questionnaires (reported by the participant or their carer) in both groups. We compared the proportions of patients with neuropsychiatric adverse events (neurological, psychiatric, and total), time to first neuropsychiatric adverse event, and participant-reported responses to questionnaires capturing issues with mood, suicidal thoughts, and sleep problems. FINDINGS: Between Sept 20, 2016, and June 22, 2018, 707 participants were enrolled, of whom 345 (49%) were female and 362 (51%) were male, and 623 (88%) were Black-African. Of 707 participants, 350 (50%) were randomly assigned to dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy and 357 (50%) to non-dolutegravir-based standard-of-care. 311 (44%) of 707 participants started first-line antiretroviral therapy (ODYSSEY-A; 145 [92%] of 157 participants had efavirenz-based therapy in the standard-of-care group), and 396 (56%) of 707 started second-line therapy (ODYSSEY-B; 195 [98%] of 200 had protease inhibitor-based therapy in the standard-of-care group). During follow-up (median 142 weeks, IQR 124–159), 23 participants had 31 neuropsychiatric adverse events (15 in the dolutegravir group and eight in the standard-of-care group; difference in proportion of participants with ≥1 event p=0·13). 11 participants had one or more neurological events (six and five; p=0·74) and 14 participants had one or more psychiatric events (ten and four; p=0·097). Among 14 participants with psychiatric events, eight participants in the dolutegravir group and four in standard-of-care group had suicidal ideation or behaviour. More participants in the dolutegravir group than the standard-of-care group reported symptoms of self-harm (eight vs one; p=0·025), life not worth living (17 vs five; p=0·0091), or suicidal thoughts (13 vs none; p=0·0006) at one or more follow-up visits. Most reports were transient. There were no differences by treatment group in low mood or feeling sad, problems concentrating, feeling worried or feeling angry or aggressive, sleep problems, or sleep quality. INTERPRETATION: The numbers of neuropsychiatric adverse events and reported neuropsychiatric symptoms were low. However, numerically more participants had psychiatric events and reported suicidality ideation in the dolutegravir group than the standard-of-care group. These differences should be interpreted with caution in an open-label trial. Clinicians and policy makers should consider including suicidality screening of children or adolescents receiving dolutegravir

Native diversity buffers against severity of non-native tree invasions

Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting the spread of invasive species$^{1,2}$. Tree invasions in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they have the potential to transform ecosystems and economies$^{3,4}$. Here, leveraging global tree databases$^{5,6,7}$, we explore how the phylogenetic and functional diversity of native tree communities, human pressure and the environment influence the establishment of non-native tree species and the subsequent invasion severity. We find that anthropogenic factors are key to predicting whether a location is invaded, but that invasion severity is underpinned by native diversity, with higher diversity predicting lower invasion severity. Temperature and precipitation emerge as strong predictors of invasion strategy, with non-native species invading successfully when they are similar to the native community in cold or dry extremes. Yet, despite the influence of these ecological forces in determining invasion strategy, we find evidence that these patterns can be obscured by human activity, with lower ecological signal in areas with higher proximity to shipping ports. Our global perspective of non-native tree invasion highlights that human drivers influence non-native tree presence, and that native phylogenetic and functional diversity have a critical role in the establishment and spread of subsequent invasions

The global biogeography of tree leaf form and habit

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, evergreen and deciduous trees. To address these gaps, we conducted a global, ground-sourced assessment of forest leaf-type variation by integrating forest inventory data with comprehensive leaf form (broadleaf vs needle-leaf) and habit (evergreen vs deciduous) records. We found that global variation in leaf habit is primarily driven by isothermality and soil characteristics, while leaf form is predominantly driven by temperature. Given these relationships, we estimate that 38% of global tree individuals are needle-leaved evergreen, 29% are broadleaved evergreen, 27% are broadleaved deciduous and 5% are needle-leaved deciduous. The aboveground biomass distribution among these tree types is approximately 21% (126.4 Gt), 54% (335.7 Gt), 22% (136.2 Gt) and 3% (18.7 Gt), respectively. We further project that, depending on future emissions pathways, 17-34% of forested areas will experience climate conditions by the end of the century that currently support a different forest type, highlighting the intensification of climatic stress on existing forests. By quantifying the distribution of tree leaf types and their corresponding biomass, and identifying regions where climate change will exert greatest pressure on current leaf types, our results can help improve predictions of future terrestrial ecosystem functioning and carbon cycling

The global biogeography of tree leaf form and habit.

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, evergreen and deciduous trees. To address these gaps, we conducted a global, ground-sourced assessment of forest leaf-type variation by integrating forest inventory data with comprehensive leaf form (broadleaf vs needle-leaf) and habit (evergreen vs deciduous) records. We found that global variation in leaf habit is primarily driven by isothermality and soil characteristics, while leaf form is predominantly driven by temperature. Given these relationships, we estimate that 38% of global tree individuals are needle-leaved evergreen, 29% are broadleaved evergreen, 27% are broadleaved deciduous and 5% are needle-leaved deciduous. The aboveground biomass distribution among these tree types is approximately 21% (126.4 Gt), 54% (335.7 Gt), 22% (136.2 Gt) and 3% (18.7 Gt), respectively. We further project that, depending on future emissions pathways, 17-34% of forested areas will experience climate conditions by the end of the century that currently support a different forest type, highlighting the intensification of climatic stress on existing forests. By quantifying the distribution of tree leaf types and their corresponding biomass, and identifying regions where climate change will exert greatest pressure on current leaf types, our results can help improve predictions of future terrestrial ecosystem functioning and carbon cycling