Methods of Assessing Health Care Costs in a Changing Climate: A Case Study of Heatwaves and Ambulance Dispatches in Tasmania, Australia.

Anthropogenic climate change is causing a rise in global temperatures, with this trend projected to increase into the future. Rising temperatures result in an increase in the frequency and severity of heatwave events, with an associated increase in poor health outcomes for vulnerable individuals. This places an increasing strain on health care services.

Effects of soil- and climate data aggregation on simulated potato yield and irrigation water requirement.

Input data aggregation affects crop model estimates at the regional level. Previous studies have focused on the impact of aggregating climate data used to compute crop yields. However, little is known about the combined data aggregation effect of climate (DAE) and soil (DAE) on irrigation water requirement (IWR) in cool-temperate and spatially heterogeneous environments.

The Value of Local Heatwave Impact Assessment: A Case-Crossover Analysis of Hospital Emergency Department Presentations in Tasmania, Australia.

Heatwaves have been identified as a threat to human health, with this impact projected to rise in a warming climate. Gaps in local knowledge can potentially undermine appropriate policy and preparedness actions. Using a case-crossover methodology, we examined the impact of heatwave events on hospital emergency department (ED) presentations in the two most populous regions of Tasmania, Australia, from 2008-2016.

Evaluating the Risk of Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma: Lessons from Australia.

Epidemic thunderstorm asthma (ETA) is an emerging public health threat in Australia, highlighted by the 2016 event in Melbourne, Victoria, that overwhelmed health services and caused loss of life. However, there is limited understanding of the regional variations in risk. We evaluated the public health risk of ETA in the nearby state of Tasmania by quantifying the frequency of potential ETA episodes and applying a standardized natural disaster risk assessment framework.

Heatwave and health impact research: A global review.

Background: Observed increases in the frequency and intensity of heatwave events, together with the projected acceleration of these events worldwide, has led to a rapid expansion in research on the health impacts of extreme heat.

Objective: To examine how research on heatwaves and their health-related impact is distributed globally.

Methods: A systematic review was undertaken.

Microplate-reader method for the rapid analysis of copper in natural waters with chemiluminescence detection.

We have developed a method for the determination of copper in natural waters at nanomolar levels. The use of a microplate-reader minimizes sample processing time (~25 s per sample), reagent consumption (~120 μL per sample), and sample volume (~700 μL). Copper is detected by chemiluminescence.

Investigation of polar organic solvents compatible with Corona Charged Aerosol Detection and their use for the determination of sugars by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography.

A range of organic solvents (ethanol, isopropanol and acetone) has been investigated as alternatives to acetonitrile and methanol when used in conjunction with Corona Charged Aerosol Detection (Corona CAD). These solvents have been evaluated with regard to their effect on the response of the Corona CAD. Three dimensional response surfaces were constructed using raw data showing the relationship between detector response, analyte concentration and percentage of organic solvent in the mobile phase, using sucralose or quinine as the test analyte.

Modern sampling and analytical methods for the determination of trace elements in marine particulate material using magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

Trace elements often limit phytoplankton growth in the ocean, and the quantification of particulate forms is essential to fully understand their biogeochemical cycling. There is presently a lack of reliable measurements on the trace elemental content of marine particles, in part due to the inadequacies of the sampling and analytical methods employed. Here we report on the development of a series of state-of-the-art trace metal clean methods to collect and process oceanic particulate material in open-ocean and sea ice environments, including sampling, size-fractionated filtration, particle digestions and analysis by magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).