Researching Solutions to the Sustainability and Environmental Challenges for Rice-based Cropping Systems in Southern Australia

The major threat to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the rice growing regions of the southern Australia is secondary salinisation as a result of rising watertables. Rice growing contributes about half of the accessions to the groundwater in these regions. A range of strategies for reducing the accessions from rice are applied, including restricting rice growing to soil assessed as suitable for rice. In the past this was based on soil texture, but increasingly EM-31 survey is being used, and the inclusion of soil sodicity constraints will further improve the ability to predict suitable soils. The net evaporative demand for rice growing over the whole season is well-approximated by reference evapotranspiration (ETo), which is used to calculate the seasonal rice paddock water use limit. Potential methods for increasing rice water use efficiency and reducing recharge include shorter duration varieties and a range of water and soil management strategies. Intermittent and sprinkler irrigation can significantly reduce water use, however yields are also reduced due to cold temperature damage during early pollen microspore. Small areas of leaky soils can greatly increase total accessions to the watertable, and EM-31 surveys show that many “suitable” rice paddocks have leaky areas. Recharge from leaky areas can be reduced by puddling or by impact compaction. After rice harvest, soil water content is high, and recharge may continue, especially under the influence of winter rainfall and low evaporation. Research is underway to quantify the effect on accessions to the watertable of growing a winter crop immediately after rice harvest. Future work will investigate the conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water to promote watertable control while maximising agricultural productivity by making more water available for irrigation. The SWAGMAN (Salt Water And Groundwater MANagement) series of computer models has been developed to determine the impacts of management and climate on watertables, salinisation and yield, and the tradeoffs between environmental objectives and profitability. These models include SWAGMAN Destiny, a point scale crop model that can be run for up to 30 years of climatic data. SWAGMAN Farm is a farm scale optimisation model which predicts the most economic cropping mixes that meet specified net recharge and root zone salinity objectives, taking into account farmer preferences. Regional groundwater models have been developed to evaluate the impacts of climate and management on watertables. The development of shallow saline watertables results in the generation of saline drainage waters. Numerous evaporation basins ranging in size from a couple of hectares to a few hundred hectares have been created in recent years to receive saline drainage. Investigations into the salt and water balance of evaporation basins, the development of the model BASINMAN, and economic analyses have led to guidelines for the siting, design and management of evaporation basins. A pilot trial is also underway to investigate the feasibility of serial biological concentration, with the production of high value crops in the first 2 stages, followed by salt tolerant crops (stage 3), fish farming (4), evaporation basins (5) and a solar pond to generate energy

Radio Emission from SN 1994I in NGC 5194 (M 51) - The Best Studied Type Ib/c Radio Supernova

We present the results of detailed monitoring of the radio emission from the Type Ic supernova SN 1994I from 3 days after optical discovery on 1994 March 31 until eight years later at age 2927 days on 2002 April 05. The data were mainly obtained using the Very Large Array at the five wavelengths, 1.3, 2.0, 3.6, 6.2, and 21 cm, and from the Cambridge 5 km Ryle Telescope at 2.0 cm. Two additional measurements were obtained at millimeter wavelengths. This data set represents the most complete, multifrequency radio observations ever obtained for a Type Ib/c supernova. The radio emission evolves regularly in both time and frequency and is well described by established SN emission/absorption models. It is the first radio supernova with sufficient data to show that it is clearly dominated by the effects of synchrotron self-absorption at early times.Comment: 43 pages, 5 figure

Self-help interventions for symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress in patients with physical illnesses: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Psychological distress, depression and anxiety are common in most physical diseases, and self-help interventions, if effective, might be an important approach to improve outcomes as they are inexpensive to provide to large numbers of patients. The primary aim of this review was to assess randomised controlled trials examining the impact of self-help interventions on symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress in patients with physical illness. Systematic searches of electronic databases resulted in twenty-five eligible studies for meta-analysis (n = 4211). The results of the primary meta-analyses revealed a significant improvement in depression symptoms, in favour of the intervention group (SMD = − 0.13, 95% CI: − 0.25, − 0.02, p = 0.02, I2 = 50%). There were no significant differences in symptoms of anxiety (SMD = − 0.10, 95% CI: − 0.24, 0.05, p = 0.20, I2 = 63%) or psychological distress (SMD = − 0.14, 95% CI: − 0.40, 0.12, p = 0.30, I2 = 72%) between intervention and control conditions. Several subgroup and sensitivity analyses improved effect sizes, suggesting that optimal mental health outcomes may be obtained in patients without neurological conditions, and with interventions based on a therapeutic model (such as cognitive behavioural therapy), and with stress management components. This review demonstrates that with appropriate design and implementation, self-help interventions may potentially improve symptoms of depression in patients with physical conditions

The distribution of pond snail communities across a landscape: separating out the influence of spatial position from local habitat quality for ponds in south-east Northumberland, UK

Ponds support a rich biodiversity because the heterogeneity of individual ponds creates, at the landscape scale, a diversity of habitats for wildlife. The distribution of pond animals and plants will be influenced by both the local conditions within a pond and the spatial distribution of ponds across the landscape. Separating out the local from the spatial is difficult because the two are often linked. Pond snails are likely to be affected by both local conditions, e.g. water hardness, and spatial patterns, e.g. distance between ponds, but studies of snail communities struggle distinguishing between the two. In this study, communities of snails were recorded from 52 ponds in a biogeographically coherent landscape in north-east England. The distribution of snail communities was compared to local environments characterised by the macrophyte communities within each pond and to the spatial pattern of ponds throughout the landscape. Mantel tests were used to partial out the local versus the landscape respective influences. Snail communities became more similar in ponds that were closer together and in ponds with similar macrophyte communities as both the local and the landscape scale were important for this group of animals. Data were collected from several types of ponds, including those created on nature reserves specifically for wildlife, old field ponds (at least 150 years old) primarily created for watering livestock and subsidence ponds outside protected areas or amongst coastal dunes. No one pond type supported all the species. Larger, deeper ponds on nature reserves had the highest numbers of species within individual ponds but shallow, temporary sites on farm land supported a distinct temporary water fauna. The conservation of pond snails in this region requires a diversity of pond types rather than one idealised type and ponds scattered throughout the area at a variety of sites, not just concentrated on nature reserves

Can a GP be a generalist and a specialist? Stakeholders views on a respiratory General Practitioner with a special interest service in the UK

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Researching Complex Interventions in Health: The State of the Art : Exeter, UK. 14-15 October 2015.

Erratum to this paper available at http://hdl.handle.net/10871/23087

Cancer risks in populations living near landfill sites in Great Britain

Previous studies have raised concerns about possible excess risks of bladder, brain and hepatobiliary cancers and leukaemias near landfill sites. Several cancers have been implicated, but no consistent pattern has emerged. We present a large nationwide analysis of selected cancers near landfill sites in Great Britain. The base population comprised people living within 2 km of 9565 (from a total of 19 196) landfill sites that were operational at some time from 1982 to 1997, with populations living more than 2 km from a landfill as reference. Risks of cancers at the above sites were computed with adjustment for age, sex, year of diagnosis, region and deprivation. National post-coded registers provided a total of 341 856 640 person–years for the adult cancer analyses and 113 631 443 person–years for childhood leukaemia. There were 89 786 cases of bladder cancer, 36 802 cases of brain cancer, 21 773 cases of hepatobiliary cancer, 37 812 cases of adult leukaemia and 3973 cases of childhood leukaemia. In spite of the very large scale of this national study, we found no excess risks of cancers of the bladder and brain, hepatobiliary cancer or leukaemia, in populations living within 2 km of landfill sites. The results were similar if the analysis were restricted to landfill sites licensed to carry special (hazardous) waste. Our results do not support suggestions of excess risks of cancer associated with landfill sites reported in other studies

Selective inhibition of tropomyosin-receptor-kinase A (TrkA) reduces pain and joint damage in two rat models of inflammatory arthritis

Background: Inflammation is an essential component of arthritis pain. Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a key role in acute and chronic pain states especially those associated with inflammation. NGF acts through tropomyosin-receptor-kinase A (TrkA). NGF blockade has reduced arthritis pain in clinical trials. We explored the mechanisms within the joint which may contribute to the analgesic effects of NGF by selectively inhibiting TrkA in carrageenan-induced or collagen-induced joint pain behaviour. The goal of the current study was to elucidate whether inflammation is central to the efficacy for NGF blockade. Methods: Rats were injected in their left knees with 2 % carrageenan or saline. Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was induced by intradermal injections of a mixture of bovine type II collagen (0.2 mg) and incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (0.2 mg). Oral doses (30 mg/kg) of AR786 or vehicle control were given twice daily after arthritis induction. Ibuprofen-treated (35 mg/kg, orally, once daily) rats with CIA were used as positive analgesic controls. Pain behaviour was measured as hind-limb weight-bearing asymmetry and hind-paw withdrawal thresholds to von Frey hair stimulation (carrageenan synovitis), or withdrawal to joint compression using a Randall Selitto device (CIA). Inflammation was measured as increased knee joint diameter and by histopathological analysis. Results: Intra-articular injections of carrageenan or induction of CIA was each associated with pain behaviour and synovial inflammation. Systemic administration of the TrkA inhibitor AR786 reduced carrageenan-induced or CIA-induced pain behaviour to control values, and inhibited joint swelling and histological evidence of synovial inflammation and joint damage. Conclusions: By using two models of varying inflammation we demonstrate for the first time that selective inhibition of TrkA may reduce carrageenan-induced or CIA-induced pain behaviour in rats, in part through potentially inhibiting synovial inflammation, although direct effects on sensory nerves are also likely. Our observations suggest that inflammatory arthritis causes pain and the presence of inflammation is fundamental to the beneficial effects (reduction in pain and pathology) of NGF blockade. Further research should determine whether TrkA inhibition may ameliorate human inflammatory arthritis