Material Legacies on Coral Reefs: Rubble Length and Bed Thickness Are Key Drivers of Rubble Bed Recovery.

Disturbances on coral reefs-which are increasing in intensity and frequency-generate material legacies. These are commonly in the form of rubble beds, which depend on rubble stability and/or binding to facilitate coral recruitment and recovery. Yet, our understanding of rubble stability and binding dynamics across environmental gradients is limited.

Brief parenting intervention (Triple P) for families of children with eczema: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and costs of a brief, group-delivered parenting intervention for families of children with eczema.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial design was used. Families attending the Queensland Children's Hospital and from the community (n = 257) were assessed for eligibility (child 2-10 years, diagnosed with eczema, prescribed topical corticosteroids).

Marine heatwaves modulate the genotypic and physiological responses of reef-building corals to subsequent heat stress.

Back-to-back marine heatwaves in 2016 and 2017 resulted in severe coral bleaching and mortality across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Encouragingly, some corals that survived these events exhibit increased bleaching resistance and may represent thermally tolerant populations that can better cope with ocean warming. Using the GBR as a natural laboratory, we investigated whether a history of minimal (Heron Island) or severe (Lizard Island) coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017 equates to stress tolerance in a successive heatwave (2020).

Additional saturday occupational therapy for adults receiving inpatient physiotherapy rehabilitation: a prospective cohort study.

Background: The first aim of this study was to investigate the impact of providing an additional four hours of Saturday occupational therapy to patients receiving Saturday physiotherapy in an inpatient setting on length of stay, functional independence, gait and balance. The second aim was to conduct an economic evaluation to determine if the introduction of a Saturday occupational therapy service in addition to physiotherapy resulted in a net cost savings for the rehabilitation facility.

Methods: A prospective cohort study with a historical control was conducted in an Australian private mixed rehabilitation unit from 2015-2017.

Preschool HABIT-ILE: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial to determine efficacy of intensive rehabilitation compared with usual care to improve motor skills of children, aged 2-5 years, with bilateral cerebral palsy.

Introduction: Young children with bilateral cerebral palsy (BCP) often experience difficulties with gross motor function, manual ability and posture, impacting developing independence in daily life activities, participation and quality of life. Hand Arm Bimanual Intensive Training Including Lower Extremity (HABIT-ILE) is a novel intensive motor intervention integrating upper and lower extremity training that has been developed and tested in older school-aged children with unilateral and BCP. This study aims to compare an adapted preschool version of HABIT-ILE to usual care in a randomised controlled trial.

Effectiveness of the Non-Medical Surgical Assistant measured by patient outcome assessment.

Aims: To investigate effectiveness of the nurse clinician as a Non-Medical Surgical Assistant compared with the Medical Surgical Assistant.

Background: Non-Medical Surgical Assistants are clinicians who are not medical practitioners. The surgical assistant works directly with the primary surgeon intraoperatively.

Protocol for a multisite randomised trial of Hand-Arm Bimanual Intensive Training Including Lower Extremity training for children with bilateral cerebral palsy: HABIT-ILE Australia.

Introduction: Children with bilateral cerebral palsy often experience difficulties with posture, gross motor function and manual ability, impacting independence in daily life activities, participation and quality of life (QOL). Hand-Arm Bimanual Intensive Training Including Lower Extremity (HABIT-ILE) is a novel intensive motor intervention integrating upper and lower extremity training. This study aimed to compare HABIT-ILE to usual care in a large randomised controlled trial (RCT) in terms of gross motor function, manual ability, goal attainment, walking endurance, mobility, self-care and QOL.

Economic evaluation of deep-brain stimulation for Tourette's syndrome: an initial exploration.

Background: Deep-brain stimulation (DBS) can be effective in controlling medically intractable symptoms of Tourette's syndrome (TS). There is no evidence to date, though, of the potential cost-effectiveness of DBS for this indication.

Objective: To provide the first estimates of the likely cost-effectiveness of DBS in the treatment of severe TS.

Cost-Effectiveness of Deep Brain Stimulation With Movement Disorders: A Systematic Review.

Background: Movement disorders (MDs) are increasingly being managed with deep brain stimulation (DBS). High-quality economic evaluations (EEs) are necessary to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of DBS. We conducted a systematic review of published EEs of the treatment of MDs with DBS.

Enhanced future changes in wet and dry extremes over Africa at convection-permitting scale.

African society is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The representation of convection in climate models has so far restricted our ability to accurately simulate African weather extremes, limiting climate change predictions. Here we show results from climate change experiments with a convection-permitting (4.

Seasonal temperature is associated with Parkinson's disease prescriptions: an ecological study.

The aim of this study is to test what effect the weather may have on medications prescribed to treat Parkinson's disease. Twenty-three years of monthly time, series data was sourced from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Data were available for eight states and territories and their corresponding capital cities.

Short-range phenotypic divergence among genetically distinct parapatric populations of an Australian funnel-web spider.

Speciation involves divergence at genetic and phenotypic levels. Where substantial genetic differentiation exists among populations, examining variation in multiple phenotypic characters may elucidate the mechanisms by which divergence and speciation unfold. Previous work on the Australian funnel-web spider Gray (2010; , 285-392; Mygalomorphae: Hexathelidae: Atracinae) has revealed a marked genetic structure along a 110-kilometer transect, with six genetically distinct, parapatric populations attributable to past glacial cycles.

Evaluation of a Skin Self-Examination Programme: a Four-Stage Recursive Model.

Background: Effective skin self-examination can enable early diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer, which otherwise could result in significant morbidity and mortality. We compare the effects of watching a DVD and reading printed materials on self skin examination. Methods: Longitudinal data from the Randomized Skin Awareness Trial were analysed (n=984).

Skilful prediction of Sahel summer rainfall on inter-annual and multi-year timescales.

Summer rainfall in the Sahel region of Africa exhibits one of the largest signals of climatic variability and with a population reliant on agricultural productivity, the Sahel is particularly vulnerable to major droughts such as occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. Rainfall levels have subsequently recovered, but future projections remain uncertain. Here we show that Sahel rainfall is skilfully predicted on inter-annual and multi-year (that is, >5 years) timescales and use these predictions to better understand the driving mechanisms.

Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: A Review of Emerging Issues and Technologies.

This paper provides an overview of current progress in the technological advances and the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, as presented by participants of the Fourth Annual DBS Think Tank, which was convened in March 2016 in conjunction with the Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration at the University of Florida, Gainesveille FL, USA. The Think Tank discussions first focused on policy and advocacy in DBS research and clinical practice, formation of registries, and issues involving the use of DBS in the treatment of Tourette Syndrome. Next, advances in the use of neuroimaging and electrochemical markers to enhance DBS specificity were addressed.

A comparison of the direct medical costs for individuals with or without basal or squamous cell skin cancer: A study from Australia.

Objectives: The composition of the medical costs incurred by people treated for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas (hereafter keratinocyte cancers) is not adequately understood. We sought to compare the medical costs of individuals with or without keratinocyte cancers.

Methods: We used national health insurance data to analyze the direct medical costs of 2000 cases and 2000 controls nested within the QSkin prospective cohort study (n = 43,794) conducted in Australia.

A reconstruction of a medical history from administrative data: with an application to the cost of skin cancer.

The medical record is a repository of clinical data, which can greatly enhance the quality of health and healthcare analysis. Administrative data are collected for the purpose of billing and reimbursement, and are valued by health researchers because the data are routinely audited to maintain accurate financial records. However, the quantity of incorporated clinical data can be variable.

Health system costs of skin cancer and cost-effectiveness of skin cancer prevention and screening: a systematic review.

The objective of this study was to review the literature for malignant melanoma, basal and squamous cell carcinomas to understand: (a) national estimates of the direct health system costs of skin cancer and (b) the cost-effectiveness of interventions for skin cancer prevention or early detection. A systematic review was performed using Medline, Cochrane Library and the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Databases as well as a manual search of reference lists to identify relevant studies up to 31 August 2013. A narrative synthesis approach was used to summarize the data.

Environmental complexity and biodiversity: the multi-layered evolutionary history of a log-dwelling velvet worm in Montane Temperate Australia.

Phylogeographic studies provide a framework for understanding the importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors in shaping patterns of biodiversity through identifying past and present microevolutionary processes that contributed to lineage divergence. Here we investigate population structure and diversity of the Onychophoran (velvet worm) Euperipatoides rowelli in southeastern Australian montane forests that were not subject to Pleistocene glaciations, and thus likely retained more forest cover than systems under glaciation. Over a ~100 km transect of structurally-connected forest, we found marked nuclear and mitochondrial (mt) DNA genetic structuring, with spatially-localised groups.

Testing for vitamin D and other trends in the clinical management of osteoporosis.

Summary: This descriptive paper identifies some salient trends in the Australian management of osteoporosis. Changes in pharmaceutical consumption and medical utilisation are analysed. The total national consumption of four pharmaceuticals is estimated.

Implications of global warming for the climate of African rainforests.

African rainforests are likely to be vulnerable to changes in temperature and precipitation, yet there has been relatively little research to suggest how the regional climate might respond to global warming. This study presents projections of temperature and precipitation indices of relevance to African rainforests, using global climate model experiments to identify local change as a function of global temperature increase. A multi-model ensemble and two perturbed physics ensembles are used, one with over 100 members.

Predicting local adaptation in fragmented plant populations: implications for restoration genetics.

Understanding patterns and correlates of local adaptation in heterogeneous landscapes can provide important information in the selection of appropriate seed sources for restoration. We assessed the extent of local adaptation of fitness components in 12 population pairs of the perennial herb Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides (Asteraceae) and examined whether spatial scale (0.7-600 km), environmental distance, quantitative (Q(ST)) and neutral (F(ST)) genetic differentiation, and size of the local and foreign populations could predict patterns of adaptive differentiation.

Genome size and chromosome number in velvet worms (Onychophora).

The Onychophora (velvet worms) represents a small group of invertebrates (~180 valid species), which is commonly united with Tardigrada and Arthropoda in a clade called Panarthropoda. As with the majority of invertebrate taxa, genome size data are very limited for the Onychophora, with only one previously published estimate. Here we use both flow cytometry and Feulgen image analysis densitometry to provide genome size estimates for seven species of velvet worms from both major subgroups, Peripatidae and Peripatopsidae, along with karyotype data for each species.

Unexplored character diversity in onychophora (velvet worms): A comparative study of three peripatid species.

Low character variation among onychophoran species has been an obstacle for taxonomic and phylogenetic studies in the past, however we have identified a number of new and informative characters using morphological, molecular, and chromosomal techniques. Our analyses involved a detailed examination of Epiperipatus biolleyi from Costa Rica, Eoperipatus sp. from Thailand, and a new onychophoran species and genus from Costa Rica, Principapillatus hitoyensisgen.

Source population characteristics affect heterosis following genetic rescue of fragmented plant populations.

Understanding the relative importance of heterosis and outbreeding depression over multiple generations is a key question in evolutionary biology and is essential for identifying appropriate genetic sources for population and ecosystem restoration. Here we use 2455 experimental crosses between 12 population pairs of the rare perennial plant Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides (Asteraceae) to investigate the multi-generational (F(1), F(2), F(3)) fitness outcomes of inter-population hybridization. We detected no evidence of outbreeding depression, with inter-population hybrids and backcrosses showing either similar fitness or significant heterosis for fitness components across the three generations.