Publications by authors named "Michael Beckmann"

Glaciers provide multiple ecosystem services (ES) to human society. Due to the continued global warming, the valuation of glacier ES is of urgent importance because this knowledge can support the protection of glaciers. However, a systematic valuation of glacier ES is still lacking, particularly from the perspective of ES contributors.

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Background: This study aimed to measure patient-reported health-related quality of life amongst post-partum women in Queensland, Australia.

Methods: Patient-reported health-related quality of life data was prospectively collected from 134 post-partum women using the EQ-5D-5L at weekly intervals during the first six weeks following birth. Data across the five health domains of the EQ-5D-5L was converted to a single health utility value to represent overall health status.

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Purpose: The demand for SIJ fusion among obese patients has grown substantially. However, the clinical relevance of obesity in the context of SI joint fusion has not been well investigated specifically, whether there is a BMI cutoff above which the benefit-risk ratio is low.

Methods: Adult patients ≥ 21 years of age who underwent minimally invasive SIJ fusion between 2020 and 2023.

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Intensive agriculture with high reliance on pesticides and fertilizers constitutes a major strategy for 'feeding the world'. However, such conventional intensification is linked to diminishing returns and can result in 'intensification traps'-production declines triggered by the negative feedback of biodiversity loss at high input levels. Here we developed a novel framework that accounts for biodiversity feedback on crop yields to evaluate the risk and magnitude of intensification traps.

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Background: Perinatal women are highly vulnerable to developing mental health issues and particularly susceptible to a recurrence of psychiatric illness. Poor mental health during the perinatal period can have long-term impacts on the physical and psychiatric health of both mother and child. A potentially useful strategy to improve women's mental health is through a mobile application teaching mindfulness, an evidence-based technique helping individuals focus on the present moment.

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We here present a database of evidence on the impact of agricultural management practices on biodiversity and yield. This database is the result of a systematic literature review, that aimed to identify meta-analyses that use as their response variables any measure of biodiversity and yield. After screening more than 1,086 titles and abstracts, we identified 33 relevant meta-analyses, from which we extracted the overall estimates, the subgroup estimates as well as all information related to them (effect size metric, taxonomic group, crop type etc.

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Study Question: In women with threatened miscarriage, does progesterone supplementation until the completion of the first trimester of pregnancy increase the probability of live birth?

Summary Answer: In women with threatened miscarriage, 400 mg vaginal progesterone nightly, from onset of bleeding until 12 weeks, did not increase live birth rates.

What Is Known Already: Limited evidence has indicated that vaginal micronized progesterone may make little or no difference to the live birth rate when compared with placebo in women with threatened miscarriage. Subgroup analysis of one recent randomized trial reported that in women with bleeding and at least one previous miscarriage, progesterone might be of benefit.

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Article Synopsis
  • The 'Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Dataset' includes mean values for six key vascular plant traits, essential for understanding plant variation.
  • This dataset aggregates around 1 million trait records from the TRY database and other sources, encompassing 92,159 species mean values across 46,047 species.
  • Comprehensive data quality management and validation ensure this is the largest and most reliable collection of empirical data on vascular plant traits available.
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Background: Induction of labour is one of the most common obstetric interventions globally. Balloon catheters and vaginal prostaglandins are widely used to ripen the cervix in labour induction. We aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety profiles of these two induction methods.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigated how a coleadership model affects team performance during simulated maternity emergencies compared to a singular leadership model, using randomized trials in hospitals.
  • - Primary outcomes measured were teamwork and clinical performance, with assessments showing no significant differences between the two leadership models in terms of teamwork or completion of critical tasks.
  • - Although the data did not support increased performance with coleadership, participants reported a positive view of the model, indicating subjective benefits despite the lack of objective evidence.
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Shared leadership improves team performance in many domains and is present in some interprofessional healthcare teams. Despite the dominant paradigm of a singular obstetrician leader in maternity emergencies, co-leadership, a specific form of shared leadership, has been identified as a potentially beneficial to clinical care. This qualitative interview study addresses the gaps in knowledge regarding clinician attitudes toward co-leadership and how a co-leadership structure might be implemented within a maternity care setting.

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During induction of labour (IOL), the optimal timing of oxytocin following amniotomy is unknown, with limited data to guide decision-making. This study aimed to see whether a 2-h delay after amniotomy before starting oxytocin during IOL reduced the use of oxytocin as well as other positive or negative impact. A propensity-score-matched cohort study assessed the maternal, neonatal and process outcomes of 1168 women (584 per group) comparing immediate oxytocin to a 2-h delay ('wait') after amniotomy.

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Article Synopsis
  • The safety of waterbirth is debated due to insufficient evidence from randomized trials, prompting a study to evaluate its feasibility.
  • In a cohort study at an Australian maternity hospital, 1,260 women were recruited, with 15% open to participating in future randomizations; comparisons were made between those intending to have a waterbirth and those opting for traditional birth.
  • Results showed waterbirth participants had fewer medical interventions but no significant difference in serious neonatal complications, suggesting a large-scale randomized trial may not be practical while a prospective study is achievable.
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Background: The World Health Organisation recommends that induction of labour (IOL) be performed only with a clear medical indication. Australian rates of IOL appear to be rising, with more than one-third of women having labour induced. This may reflect changing clinician and consumer perceptions of the benefits and potential harms of term IOL.

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Anaemia is a global disease, affecting over 1 billion people worldwide; 12% of Australian women experience anaemia in pregnancy. Professional bodies/institutions recommend screening for and treating anaemia in pregnancy but there is inconsistency in recommendations for when to screen. A ten-year retrospective analysis was undertaken of 10 518 pregnancies where there was not a specific indication for repeat blood tests.

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Background: Implementation science aims to embed evidence-based practice as 'usual care' using theoretical underpinnings to guide these processes. Conceptualising the complementary purpose and application of theoretical approaches through all stages of an implementation project is not well understood and is not routinely reported in implementation research, despite call for this. This paper presents the synthesis and a collective approach to application of a co-design model, a model for understanding need, theories of behaviour change with frameworks and tools to guide implementation and evaluation brought together with the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR).

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The use of carbon fibre (CF)-reinforced plastics has grown significantly in recent years, and new areas of application have been and are being developed. As a result, the amount of non-recyclable waste containing CF is also rising. There are currently no treatment methods for this type of waste.

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Background: This study follows the 2017 UK INFANT Collaborative Group RCT, which compared neonatal outcomes with and without the use of the INFANT cardiotocograph decision support system for over 46 000 patients in labour. The original trial failed to demonstrate a significant improvement to neonatal outcomes; however, the study design was subject to methodological critique.

Aims: This Australian retrospective cohort study aimed to report perinatal outcomes before and after the introduction of INFANT decision support software for cardiotocograph use in labour.

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Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) following caesarean section is a serious but underreported problem with an estimated incidence of 5-9%. It is essential to identify adherence to established prevention strategies to reduce the incidence rate.

Aims: The aims of this study were to quantify unwarranted variation from evidence-based practice on the prevention of SSI at caesarean section in Australia; and to identify predictors of not implementing an existing infection prevention bundle: pre-incision antibiotic prophylaxis, vaginal preparation and spontaneous placenta removal.

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Objective: The aim of this work was to assess the cost-effectiveness of induction of labor with outpatient balloon catheter cervical priming versus inpatient prostaglandin vaginal gel or tape.

Study Design: Economic evaluation alongside a multi-centre, randomized controlled trial at eight Australian maternity hospitals. The trial reported on 448 women with live singleton term pregnancies, undergoing induction of labor for low-risk indications between September 2015 and October 2018.

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Nature visitation is important, both culturally and economically. Given the contribution of nature recreation to multiple societal goals, comprehending determinants of nature visitation is essential to understand the drivers associated with the popularity of nature areas, for example, to inform land-use planning or site management strategies to maximise benefits. Understanding the factors related to nature, tourism and recreation can support the management of nature areas and thereby, also conservation efforts and biodiversity protection.

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Organobromine compounds comprise between 3 and 8% by weight of WEEE and mainly converted to HBr and Br in the incinerator. However, these compounds, during the cooling of the flue gases, can form the PBDD/Fs in the post-combustion area of the furnace. Due to the many benefits of Oxy-combustion process, our group has developed a fluidised bed incinerator for burning the WEEE and plan to maximise HBr/Br in the flue gas.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Biodiversity studies often face challenges due to varying temporal and spatial scales that can lead to inaccuracies in comparing biodiversity across different studies, especially when those studies use different sampling methods.
  • - The analysis of simulated old-growth and secondary forest communities revealed that factors like sampling size, biodiversity measures, and effect-size metrics impact the accuracy and precision of biodiversity estimates.
  • - The study recommends using log response ratios for measuring species richness over Hedges' g to ensure better accuracy in cross-study comparisons and calls for more transparency in data publication to help mitigate bias.
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The increasing expansion of cropland is major driver of global carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. However, predicting plausible future global distributions of croplands remains challenging. Here, we show that, in general, existing global data aligned with classical economic theories of expansion explain the current (1992) global extent of cropland reasonably well, but not recent expansion (1992-2015).

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