An outbreak of enterovirus 71 in metropolitan Sydney: enhanced surveillance and lessons learnt.

Objective: To report the findings of the enhanced surveillance set up in New South Wales in response to the recent outbreak of human enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection.

Design And Setting: A two-armed enhanced public health surveillance system including statewide emergency department surveillance and clinical surveillance at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network.

Participants: Children aged less than 10 years with suspected or confirmed enterovirus infection.

Active travel to work in NSW: trends over time and the effect of social advantage.

Issues Addressed: Active travel can increase population levels of physical activity, but should be promoted equitably. Socio-economic advantage, housing location and/or car ownership influence walking and cycling (active travel) for transport. We examined active commuting over time in the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region, and associations between active commuting and socioeconomic advantage, urban/rural location and car ownership at a Local Government Area (LGA) level across New South Wales (NSW).

Role of general practice in the utilisation of the NSW Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service.

A lifestyle-modification telephone-based service is delivered in New South Wales (NSW; the Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service (GHS)) as an important obesity-prevention, population-wide program. The present study examined referrals from general practitioners (GP) versus self-referral to the GHS in terms of risk profile and effectiveness of outcomes. The study used a pre-post test design to assess changes in outcomes within the setting of a telephone-based lifestyle-support service available to NSW adults (18+ years) who self-referred or were referred by their health practitioner and/or GP, and registered for the GHS between February 2009 and August 2013 (n = 22 183).

Risk factors for dental caries in small rural and regional Australian communities.

Introduction: Dental decay (caries) can cause pain, infection and tooth loss, negatively affecting eating, speaking and general health. People living in rural and regional Australian communities have more caries, more severe caries and more untreated caries than those in the city. The unique environmental conditions and population groups in these communities may contribute to the higher caries burden.

Joy, exercise, enjoyment, getting out: a qualitative study of older people's experience of cycling in Sydney, Australia.

Introduction: Cycling can be an enjoyable way to meet physical activity recommendations and is suitable for older people; however cycling participation by older Australians is low. This qualitative study explored motivators, enablers, and barriers to cycling among older people through an age-targeted cycling promotion program.

Methods: Seventeen adults who aged 50-75 years participated in a 12-week cycling promotion program which included a cycling skills course, mentor, and resource pack.

Changes in travel-related carbon emissions associated with modernization of services for patients with acute myocardial infarction: a case study.

Background: Little attention has been paid on the carbon footprint of different healthcare service models. We examined this question for service models for patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Methods: We estimated carbon emissions associated with ambulance (patient) transport under a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) care model based in tertiary centres, compared with historical emissions under a thrombolysis model based in general hospitals.