Journal articles on the topic 'Population forecasting Victoria Melbourne'
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1
Williams, Mark. "The von Neumayer legacy in Australian meteorology." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 123, no. 1 (2011): 78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/rs11078.
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Georg von Neumayer established the first formal program to take meteorological observations in Melbourne in 1858 at the Flagstaff Hill Observatory. In doing this he set the platform for a long-term climate record of Melbourne of immeasurable value to the city of Melbourne and the nation. He also helped set in train an ever expanding program of weather recording in Victoria, and around the country. This program of observing the weather then evolved into the sophisticated system which exists today. Today’s weather observation program underpins the modern weather forecasting service, which the nation depends on so much for short and longer term activities.
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Boneh, Tal, Gary T. Weymouth, Peter Newham, Rodney Potts, John Bally, Ann E. Nicholson, and Kevin B. Korb. "Fog Forecasting for Melbourne Airport Using a Bayesian Decision Network." Weather and Forecasting 30, no. 5 (October 1, 2015): 1218–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/waf-d-15-0005.1.
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Abstract Fog events occur at Melbourne Airport, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately 12 times each year. Unforecast events are costly to the aviation industry, cause disruption, and are a safety risk. Thus, there is a need to improve operational fog forecasting. However, fog events are difficult to forecast because of the complexity of the physical processes and the impact of local geography and weather elements. Bayesian networks (BNs) are a probabilistic reasoning tool widely used for prediction, diagnosis, and risk assessment in a range of application domains. Several BNs for probabilistic weather prediction have been previously reported, but to date none have included an explicit forecast decision component and none have been used for operational weather forecasting. A Bayesian decision network [Bayesian Objective Fog Forecast Information Network (BOFFIN)] has been developed for fog forecasting at Melbourne Airport based on 34 years’ worth of data (1972–2005). Parameters were calibrated to ensure that the network had equivalent or better performance to prior operational forecast methods, which led to its adoption as an operational decision support tool. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the operational use of the network by forecasters over an 8-yr period (2006–13). This evaluation shows significantly improved forecasting accuracy by the forecasters using the network, as compared with previous years. BOFFIN-Melbourne has been accepted by forecasters because of its skill, visualization, and explanation facilities, and because it offers forecasters control over inputs where a predictor is considered unreliable.
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Hocking, Jane S., Jessika Willis, Sepehr Tabrizi, Christopher K. Fairley, Suzanne M. Garland, and Margaret Hellard. "A chlamydia prevalence survey of young women living in Melbourne, Victoria." Sexual Health 3, no. 4 (2006): 235. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/sh06033.
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Background: To estimate the population-based chlamydia prevalence among women aged 18 to 35 years living in Melbourne, Victoria, and to assess the feasibility of using mailed urine specimens to test women. Methods: A simple random sample of 11 001 households in Melbourne was selected from the telephone directory. Participants completed telephone interviews and provided urine specimens through the mail for chlamydia testing. Urines were tested using polymerase chain reaction. Results: 11 001 households were contacted, with 1532 households identified as including eligible women; telephone interviews were completed, with 979 women giving a response rate of 64%. Six hundred and fifty-seven women provided a urine specimen with a response rate of 43%. Among sexually active women aged 18–24 years, the chlamydia prevalence was 3.7% (95% CI: 1.2%, 8.4%) and 0.2% (95% CI: 0.0%, 1.1%) among 25–35 year olds. Chlamydia prevalence increased significantly with an increasing number of male sexual partners. Conclusions: This is the first study of its kind in Australia and shows that chlamydia prevalence increases with an increasing number of male sexual partners in the last 12 months. Mailed urine specimens are feasible for conducting population-based chlamydia-prevalence surveys but it is difficult to obtain high response rates with this methodology. Public health resources should now be directed towards investigating how to reach young women at increased risk of infection, ensuring that they are tested for chlamydia.
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Skotnicki, M. L., P. M. Selkirk, P. Broady, K. D. Adam, and J. A. Ninham. "Dispersal of the moss Campylopus pyriformis on geothermal ground near the summits of Mount Erebus and Mount Melbourne, Victoria Land, Antarctica." Antarctic Science 13, no. 3 (September 2001): 280–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102001000396.
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Mount Melbourne in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, is a glaciated 2733 m volcanic cone. The moss Compylopus pyriformis occurs on two small areas of steam-warmed snow-free ground near its summit. This moss species also occurs in temperate regions world-wide, but has not been recorded elsewhere in continental Antarctica. RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) studies of 26 samples of C. pyriformis from two areas of heated ground on Mount Melbourne showed there was genetic diversity within the population. Genetic evidence for dispersal between the two sites, together with some genetic variation within individual colonies, indicates a single colonisation event has probably occurred at this extremely isolated location followed by multiple mutations. A single sample of moss protonema was collected 25 years ago from steam-warmed ground near the summit of another volcano, Mount Erebus (3794 m), on Ross Island some 300 km south of Mount Melbourne. The moss could not be identified based on morphological and reproductive criteria, as all attempts to differentiate it to a recognisable gametophyte were unsuccessful. The RAPD technique has now shown it to be C. pyriformis, and closely related to the population on Mount Melbourne.
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Campbell, Lynda, and Margaret Kertesz. "Boys aged 9-12 years using the services of Anglicare Victoria: A three month population study." Children Australia 28, no. 3 (2003): 22–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s103507720000568x.
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This study was conducted in response to the concerns of staff within Anglicare Victoria about the presenting problems of boys aged 9-12 years across the various agency programs and the lack of systematic data about them. Under the umbrella of the Anglicare Victoria/University of Melbourne Social Work Partnership Program, a study was undertaken with the assistance of social work students on placement within the agency. A census-style survey was completed by AV staff members for any boy aged 9, 10, 11 or 12 years in an agency program during a three-month period. Non-identifying survey forms were returned for 203 boys and this article reports the major descriptive information and service implications derived from those returns.
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Antioch, Kathryn M., Michael K. Walsh, David Anderson, and Richard Brice. "Forecasting hospital expenditure in Victoria: Lessons from Europe and Canada." Australian Health Review 22, no. 1 (1999): 133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah990133.
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This paper specifies an econometric model to forecast State government expenditure on recognised public hospitals in Victoria. The OECD's recent cross-country econometric work exploring factors affecting health spending was instructive. The model found that Victorian Gross State Product, population aged under 4 years, the mix of public and private patients in public hospitals, introduction of case mix funding and funding cuts, the proportion of public beds to total beds in Victoria and technology significantly impacted on expenditure. The model may have application internationally for forecasting health costs, particularly in short and medium-term budgetary cycles.
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Tory, K. J., M. E. Cope, G. D. Hess, S. Lee, K. Puri, P. C. Manins, and N. Wong. "The Australian Air Quality Forecasting System. Part III: Case Study of a Melbourne 4-Day Photochemical Smog Event." Journal of Applied Meteorology 43, no. 5 (May 1, 2004): 680–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2092.1.
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Abstract A 4-day photochemical smog event in the Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, region (6–9 March 2001) is examined to assess the performance of the Australian Air Quality Forecasting System (AAQFS). Although peak ozone concentrations measured during this period did not exceed the 1-h national air quality standard of 100 ppb, elevated maximum ozone concentrations in the range of 50–80 ppb were recorded at a number of monitoring stations on all four days. These maximum values were in general very well forecast by the AAQFS. On all but the third day the system predicted the advection of ozone precursors over Port Phillip (the adjacent bay) during the morning, where, later in the day, relatively high ozone concentrations developed. The ozone was advected back inland by bay and sea breezes. On the third day, a southerly component to the background wind direction prevented the precursor drainage over the bay, and the characteristic ozone cycle was disrupted. The success of the system's ability to predict peak ozone at individual monitoring stations was largely dependent on the direction and penetration of the sea and bay breezes, which in turn were dependent on the delicate balance between these winds and the opposing synoptic flow.
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Wah, Win, Rob G. Stirling, Susannah Ahern, and Arul Earnest. "Forecasting of Lung Cancer Incident Cases at the Small-Area Level in Victoria, Australia." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 10 (May 11, 2021): 5069. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105069.
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Predicting lung cancer cases at the small-area level is helpful to quantify the lung cancer burden for health planning purposes at the local geographic level. Using Victorian Cancer Registry (2001–2018) data, this study aims to forecast lung cancer counts at the local government area (LGA) level over the next ten years (2019–2028) in Victoria, Australia. We used the Age-Period-Cohort approach to estimate the annual age-specific incidence and utilised Bayesian spatio-temporal models that account for non-linear temporal trends and area-level risk factors. Compared to 2001, lung cancer incidence increased by 28.82% from 1353 to 1743 cases for men and 78.79% from 759 to 1357 cases for women in 2018. Lung cancer counts are expected to reach 2515 cases for men and 1909 cases for women in 2028, with a corresponding 44% and 41% increase. The majority of LGAs are projected to have an increasing trend for both men and women by 2028. Unexplained area-level spatial variation substantially reduced after adjusting for the elderly population in the model. Male and female lung cancer cases are projected to rise at the state level and in each LGA in the next ten years. Population growth and an ageing population largely contributed to this rise.
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Campbell, Lynda. "The Families First Pilot Program in Victoria: Cuckoo or contribution?" Children Australia 19, no. 2 (1994): 4–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1035077200003898.
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The Families First Pilot Program in the then Outer East metropolitan region of Melbourne began in mid-1991 as an intensive family preservation and reunification service for children on the verge of state care. The service offered was brief (4-6 week), intensive (up to 20 hours per week), home-based and flexible (24 hour a day, 7 day a week availability) and all members of the household or family were the focus of service even though the goals were clearly grounded in the protection of the child. This paper begins with some of the apprehension expressed both in the field and in Children Australia in 1993, and reports upon the now completed evaluation of the pilot, which covered the first 18 months of operation. The evaluation examined implementation and program development issues and considered the client population of the service against comparative data about those children at risk who were not included. The paper concludes that there is room for Families First in the Victorian system of protective and family services and points to several developmental issues.
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Frank, Stephen, Glenn Waters, Russell Beer, and Peter May. "An Analysis of the Street Tree Population of Greater Melbourne at the Beginning of the 21st Century." Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 32, no. 4 (July 1, 2006): 155–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2006.021.
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An audit of the street tree population of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, was undertaken to establish its size and botanical composition as a reference point for future studies. The 31 independent municipalities that comprise metropolitan Melbourne were approached to provide information on their respective street tree populations. Where available, data from individual municipalities on population, area, and total street length were also collected. Of the 31 municipalities surveyed, 23 had undertaken some form of street tree inventory or audit. These individual data sets were combined into a single database. Data queries were then undertaken to obtain a range of information. A total of 922,353 trees, comprising 1127 taxa, were captured in this superset of data. Australian native plants made up the majority of the trees with 60% of the total. Of the Australian native taxa, wattles (Acacia spp.), gums or eucalypts (Eucalyptus spp.), paperbarks (Melaleuca spp.), bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.), and Queensland brush box (Lophostemon confertus [R. Br.] Peter G. Wilson and Waterhouse) comprised 394,730 individuals (43% of all trees). Of the exotic taxa, Prunus spp. were the most common with 86,227 individuals (9% of the total). Queensland brush box was the most common taxon surveyed with 61,959 individuals. Purple-leaf cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. ‘Nigra’) was the most common exotic taxon with 35,402 individuals. An analysis of the diversity of this population showed that it meets a set of minimum diversity criteria apart from the dominance of the Myrtaceae at the family level.
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Weiss, John, Kathryn Sheffield, Anna Weeks, and David Smith. "Modelling the Incursion and Spread of a Forestry Pest: Case Study of Monochamus alternatus Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Victoria." Forests 10, no. 2 (February 22, 2019): 198. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f10020198.
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Effective and efficient systems for surveillance, eradication, containment and management of biosecurity threats require methods to predict the establishment, population growth and spread of organisms that pose a potential biosecurity risk. To support Victorian forest biosecurity operations, Agriculture Victoria has developed a landscape-scale, spatially explicit, spatio-temporal population growth and dispersal model of a generic pest pine beetle. The model can be used to simulate the incursion of a forestry pest from a nominated location(s), such as an importation business site (approved arrangement, AA), into the surrounding environment. The model provides both illustrative and quantitative data on population dynamics and spread of a forestry pest species. Flexibility built into the model design enables a range of spatial extents to be modelled, from user-defined study areas to the Victoria-wide area. The spatial resolution of the model (size of grid cells) can be altered from 100 m to greater than 1 km. The model allows core parameters to be altered by the user, enabling the spread of a variety of windborne insect species and pathogens to be investigated. We verified the model and its parameters by simulating and comparing the outputs with the 1999/2000 Melbourne incursion, but no establishment of a forestry pest beetle was believed to be Monochamus alternatus Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). The model accurately predicts the distance and direction of the historic incursion, and the subsequent failure to establish is due to low overall population density of the pest species.
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Thompson, Sandra C., Gill E. Checkley, Jane S. Hocking, Nick Crofts, Anne M. Mijch, and Fiona K. Judd. "HIV Risk Behaviour and HIV Testing of Psychiatric Patients in Melbourne." Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 31, no. 4 (August 1997): 566–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/00048679709065079.
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Objectives: Patients with chronic mental illnesses constitute an important risk group for HIV infection overseas. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of risk behaviours associated with HIV transmission and factors associated with HIV testing in psychiatric patients in Melbourne. Methods: Inpatients and outpatients completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire which covered demographics, psychiatric diagnosis, risk behaviour, and HIV education and testing. Results: Of 145 participants, 60% were male and 55.2% had schizophrenia. Injecting drug use (IDU) was reported by 15.9%, a figure approximately 10 times that found in other population surveys. Most patients reported sex in the last decade and over 20% had multiple sexual partners in the last year. Of males, 12.6% reported sex with another male (9.2% anal sex); 19.0% of females reported sex with a bisexual male. Nearly half of the males reported sex with a prostitute, 2.5 times that in a population sample. Only 15.9% reported ever having someone talk to them specifically about HIV and its transmission, although one-third had been tested for HIV. In multivariate analysis, male-male sex, paying for sex, and IDU were associated with HIV testing, but those whose primary language was not English were less likely to be tested. Those who had received HIV education were more likely to have used a condom last time they had sex (OR 4.52, 95%C11.49–14.0). Conclusions: This study provides evidence that those with serious mental illness in Victoria have higher rates of participation in risk behaviour for HIV infection than those in the general community. Attention to HIV education and prevention in this group has been inappropriately scant; strategies to encourage safer behaviour are urgently needed.
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Zhang, Hua, Bridget H.-H. Hsu-Hage, and Mark L. Wahlqvist. "Longitudinal changes in nutrient intakes in the Melbourne Chinese Cohort Study." Public Health Nutrition 5, no. 3 (June 2002): 433–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/phn2001259.
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AbstractObjective:To assess longitudinal changes in the consumption of nutrients and the impact of socio-economic factors on diet transition in the Melbourne Chinese Health Study (MCHS) cohort.Design:Longitudinal study including two phases: baseline (1989/90) and follow-up (1995/97).Settings:Melbourne metropolitan areas in Victoria, Australia.Study subjects and method:Two hundred and sixty-two Chinese men and women aged 25 years and over, recruited at baseline, who had completed the both baseline and follow-up food-frequency questionnaires.Results:Women increased their daily intakes of energy (+549 kJ), protein (+7.8 g), fat (+7.3 g) and dietary fibre (+5.6 g) whereas men decreased their daily consumption of carbohydrate (-38.5 g) over an average period of 8 years. Energy contributions from protein and fat rose while that from carbohydrate dropped for all cohort subjects. Increased intakes of riboflavin, β-carotene and iron were observed in men, while an increased consumption of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and minerals (except sodium) was observed in women. Socio-economic factors such as education, family income levels and occupational categories appeared to have a far more powerful influence on changes in individual daily nutrient intakes than age or length of stay in Australia. Changes in nutrient intake in women were less affected by sociodemographic variables.Conclusion:The observed changes in nutrient intakes indicated a progressive approach towards the Australian Recommended Dietary Intakes within this Chinese cohort population.
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Hogan, Fiona E., Marian Weaving, and Gregory R. Johnston. "Isolation and characterisation via 454 sequencing of microsatellites from the tawny frogmouth, Podargus strigoides (Class Aves, Family Podargidae)." Australian Journal of Zoology 60, no. 2 (2012): 133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/zo12062.
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We isolated 24 novel polymorphic microsatellite markers from the tawny frogmouth, a nocturnal bird endemic to Australia, which has successfully adapted to urban environments. Initially, 454 shotgun sequencing was used to identify 733 loci with primers designed. Of these, we trialled 30 in the target species of which all amplified a product of expected size. Subsequently, all 30 of these loci were screened for variation in 25 individuals, from a single population in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Twenty-eight loci were polymorphic with observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.03 to 0.96 (mean 0.58) and the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 18 (average of 6.5); we confirmed that 24 loci conformed to Hardy–Weinberg expectations. The 24 loci identified here will be sufficient to unequivocally identify individuals and will be useful in understanding the reproductive ecology, population genetics and the gene flow amongst localities in urban environments where this bird thrives.
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Buultjens, Andrew H., Koen Vandelannoote, Conor J. Meehan, Miriam Eddyani, Bouke C. de Jong, Janet A. M. Fyfe, Maria Globan, et al. "Comparative Genomics Shows ThatMycobacterium ulceransMigration and Expansion Preceded the Rise of Buruli Ulcer in Southeastern Australia." Applied and Environmental Microbiology 84, no. 8 (February 9, 2018): e02612-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.02612-17.
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ABSTRACTSince 2000, cases of the neglected tropical disease Buruli ulcer, caused by infection withMycobacterium ulcerans, have increased 100-fold around Melbourne (population 4.4 million), the capital of Victoria, in temperate southeastern Australia. The reasons for this increase are unclear. Here, we used whole-genome sequence comparisons of 178M. ulceransisolates obtained primarily from human clinical specimens, spanning 70 years, to model the population dynamics of this pathogen from this region. Using phylogeographic and advanced Bayesian phylogenetic approaches, we found that there has been a migration of the pathogen from the east end of the state, beginning in the 1980s, 300 km west to the major human population center around Melbourne. This move was then followed by a significant increase inM. ulceranspopulation size. These analyses inform our thinking around Buruli ulcer transmission and control, indicating thatM. ulceransis introduced to a new environment and then expands, rather than it being from the awakening of a quiescent pathogen reservoir.IMPORTANCEBuruli ulcer is a destructive skin and soft tissue infection caused byMycobacterium ulceransand is characterized by progressive skin ulceration, which can lead to permanent disfigurement and long-term disability. Despite the majority of disease burden occurring in regions of West and central Africa, Buruli ulcer is also becoming increasingly common in southeastern Australia. Major impediments to controlling disease spread are incomplete understandings of the environmental reservoirs and modes of transmission ofM. ulcerans. The significance of our research is that we used genomics to assess the population structure of this pathogen at the Australian continental scale. We have then reconstructed a historical bacterial spread and modeled demographic dynamics to reveal bacterial population expansion across southeastern Australia. These findings provide explanations for the observed epidemiological trends with Buruli ulcer and suggest possible management to control disease spread.
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Reed, Richard. "The relationship between house prices and demographic variables." International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis 9, no. 4 (October 3, 2016): 520–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijhma-02-2016-0013.
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Purpose The process for examining the value of house prices in an urban city has given limited attention, if any, to demographic variables associated with urban geography. Although the disciplines of property/real estate and demography have moved closer, little progress has been made when modelling house prices using population-related data in the field of urban geography to explain the level of house prices. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes an innovative model to examine the influence of population variables on the level of house prices. It used a two-stage approach as follows: principal components analysis (PCA) identified social dimensions from a range of demographic variables, which were then retained for further analysis. This information was sourced from two Australian Bureau of Statistics censuses undertaken involving all Melbourne residents during 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011; multiple regression analysis examined the relationship between the retained factor scores from the PCA (as independent variables) and established residential house prices (as the dependent variable). Findings The findings confirm the demographic profile of each household, which is directly related to their decisions about housing location and house prices. Based on a case study of Melbourne, Victoria, it was demonstrated that households with specific demographic characteristics are closely related to a certain level of house prices at the suburban level. Originality/value This is an innovative study which has not been previously undertaken for an extended period of time to facilitate an analysis of change over time.
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Grundstein, Andrew, Marshall Shepherd, Paul Miller, and Stefanie Ebelt Sarnat. "The Role of Mesoscale-Convective Processes in Explaining the 21 November 2016 Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma Event in Melbourne, Australia." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 56, no. 5 (May 2017): 1337–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jamc-d-17-0027.1.
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AbstractA major thunderstorm asthma epidemic struck Melbourne and surrounding Victoria, Australia, on 21 November 2016, which led to multiple deaths, a flood of residents seeking medical attention for respiratory problems, and an overwhelmed emergency management system. This case day had all the classic ingredients for an epidemic, including high rye grass pollen concentrations, a strong multicellular thunderstorm system moving across the region, and a large population of several million people in the vicinity of Melbourne. A particular characteristic of this event was the strong, gusty winds that likely spread the pollen grains and/or allergenic contents widely across the region to increase population exposure. This exploratory case study is the first to examine the usefulness of low-to-middle-atmospheric thermodynamic information for anticipating epidemic thunderstorm asthma outbreaks by allowing the forecast of strong downdraft winds. The authors investigated the utility of several mesoscale products derived from atmospheric soundings such as downdraft convective available potential energy (DCAPE) and indices for predicting surface wind gusts such as microburst wind speed potential index (MWPI) and a wind gust index (GUSTEX). These results indicate that DCAPE levels reached “high” to “very high” thresholds for strong downdraft winds in the lead-up to the thunderstorm, and the MWPI and GUSTEX indices accurately predicted the high maximum surface wind observations. This information may be useful for diagnostic and prognostic assessment of epidemic thunderstorm asthma and in providing an early warning to health practitioners, emergency management officials, and residents in affected areas.
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Swamikannu, X., D. Radulescu, R. Young, and R. Allison. "A comparative analysis: storm water pollution policy in California, USA and Victoria, Australia." Water Science and Technology 47, no. 7-8 (April 1, 2003): 311–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2003.0704.
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Urban drainage systems historically were developed on principles of hydraulic capacity for the transport of storm water to reduce the risk of flooding. However, with urbanization the percent of impervious surfaces increases dramatically resulting in increased flood volumes, peak discharge rates, velocities and duration, and a significant increase in pollutant loads. Storm water and urban runoff are the leading causes of the impairment of receiving waters and their beneficial uses in Australia and the United States today. Strict environmental and technology controls on wastewater treatment facilities and industry for more than three decades have ensured that these sources are less significant today as the cause of impairment of receiving waters. This paper compares the approach undertaken by the Environmental Protection Authority Victoria for the Melbourne metropolitan area with the approach implemented by the California Environmental Protection Agency for the Los Angeles area to control storm water pollution. Both these communities are largely similar in population size and the extent of urbanization. The authors present an analysis of the different approaches contrasting Australia with the USA, comment on their comparative success, and discuss the relevance of the two experiences for developed and developing nations in the context of environmental policy making to control storm water and urban runoff pollution.
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Kirkwood, Keith. "The SNAP Platform: social networking for academic purposes." Campus-Wide Information Systems 27, no. 3 (June 29, 2010): 118–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10650741011054429.
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PurposeThis paper aims to introduce an enterprise‐wide Web 2.0 learning support platform – SNAP, developed at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.Design/methodology/approachPointing to the evolution of the social web, the paper discusses the potential for the development of e‐learning platforms that employ constructivist, connectivist, and participatory pedagogies and actively engage the student population. Social networking behaviours and peer‐learning strategies, along with knowledge management through guided folksonomies, provide the back‐bone of a social systems approach to learning support.FindingsThe development of a cloud‐based read‐write enterprise platform can extend the responsiveness of the learning institution to its students and to future e‐learning innovations.Originality/valueThe full potential of e‐learning platforms for the development of learning communities of practice can now be increasingly realised. The SNAP Platform is a step in this direction.
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De Gruyter, Chris, Tayebeh Saghapour, Liang Ma, and Jago Dodson. "How does the built environment affect transit use by train, tram and bus?" Journal of Transport and Land Use 13, no. 1 (November 23, 2020): 625–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2020.1739.
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While much research has explored the influence of the built environment on public transport use, little focus has been given to how this influence varies by public transport mode. Using a case study of Melbourne, this study assesses the influence of the built environment and other characteristics (transit service quality, demand management and socio-demographics) on commuting by train, tram and bus. Key findings indicate that the built environment has a significant influence, but with notable differences between individual public transport modes. Commuting by tram was found to have the strongest association with the explanatory variables, while bus had the weakest explanatory power. Differences in the geographical coverage of public transport services in Melbourne play a key role in explaining the influence of the built environment. Population density is positively associated with tram use, which operates in older, higher density environments, but is negatively associated with train and bus use. Furthermore, the association with land-use mix is only significant for train and tram use, as buses tend to operate in areas with greater land-use homogeneity. When focused on inner Melbourne only, the influence of the built environment is diluted, while distance to public transport becomes more significant. The findings have important implications for practice, not only in terms of improving transit demand forecasting but also in targeting changes to the built environment to leverage higher transit ridership by mode.
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McMillan, Alison. "Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma." Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 34, s1 (May 2019): s7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1049023x19000335.
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Introduction:On November 21 and 22 of 2016, Victoria witnessed an unprecedented epidemic thunderstorm asthma emergency event in size acuity and impact. This scenario was never exercised nor contemplated. The event resulted in a 73% increase in calls to the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority and 814 ambulance cases in the six hours from 6 pm on November 21, 2016. A 58% increase in people presented to public hospital emergency departments in Melbourne and Geelong on November 21 and 22, 2016 (based on the three-year average). 313 calls were made to the nurse on call from people with breathing, respiratory, and allergy problems (compared to an average of 63 calls for the previous month). Tragically, ten deaths are linked to this event.Methods:A substantial amount of work has been completed, much of which goes towards addressing the Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommendations following a review of the event, including: Release of an epidemic thunderstorm asthma campaign and education programs which were rolled out across Victoria for the community and health professionals from September through November 2017;Development of a new epidemic thunderstorm asthma forecasting system on 1 October 2017 and updated warning protocols during the 2017 grass pollen season;Implementation of a Real-time Health Emergency Monitoring System to alert the department of demands on public hospital emergency departments on the system; andIntroduction of a new State Health Emergency Response Plan in October 2017 to improve coordination and communications before and during a health emergency.Discussion:The presentation will concentrate on the lessons learned more than two years down the track from the event in November 2016.
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Atwell, R., I. Correa‐Velez, and S. Gifford. "Ageing Out of Place: Health and Well‐Being Needs and Access to Home and Aged Care Services for Recently Arrived Older Refugees in Melbourne, Australia." International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care 3, no. 1 (July 1, 2007): 4–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17479894200700002.
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Recently arrived older refugees in resettlement countries are a particularly vulnerable population who face many risks to their health and well‐being, and many challenges in accessing services. This paper reports on a project undertaken in Victoria, Australia to explore the needs of older people from 14 recently arrived refugee communities, and the barriers to their receiving health and aged care. Findings from consultations with community workers and service providers highlight the key issues of isolation, family conflict and mental illness affecting older refugees, and point to ways in which policy‐makers and service providers can better respond to these small but deserving communities.
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Kong, Fabian Y. S., Jane S. Hocking, Chris Kyle Link, Marcus Y. Chen, and Margaret E. Hellard. "Sex and sport: sexual risk behaviour in young people in rural and regional Victoria." Sexual Health 7, no. 2 (2010): 205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/sh09071.
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Background: To determine the prevalence of chlamydia and understand sexual risk behaviour in 16–29 year olds in rural Victoria through a chlamydia testing program undertaken at local sporting clubs. Methods: Young people were recruited from the Loddon Mallee region of Victoria, Australia between May and September 2007. After a night of sporting practice, participants provided a first pass urine sample and completed a brief questionnaire about sexual risk behaviour. Those positive for chlamydia were managed by telephone consultation with a practitioner from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. Results: A total of 709 young people participated (77% male, 23% female) in the study; 77% were sexually active. Overall chlamydia prevalence in sexually active participants was 5.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.4–7.3); 7.4% in females (95% CI: 3.5–13.6) and 4.5% in males (95% CI: 2.7–6.9). Approximately 60% of males and 20% of females consumed alcohol at high ‘Risky Single Occasion Drinking’ levels at least weekly and 60% had used an illicit drug in their lifetime. Nearly 45% reported having sex in the past year when they usually wouldn’t have because they were too drunk or high. Sexually transmissible infection (STI) knowledge was generally poor and only 25% used a condom the last time they had sex. Conclusion: Chlamydia prevalence was high in our study population. Many participants had poor knowledge about STIs and low condom use. These findings combined with high levels of risky alcohol use and having sex while intoxicated highlights the need for programs in rural and regional Victoria that combine both STI testing and prevention and education programs.
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North, Sue. "Privileged knowledge, privileged access: early universities in Australia." History of Education Review 45, no. 1 (June 6, 2016): 88–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/her-04-2014-0028.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that Australia’s first two universities were connected to class status. It challenges the idea that these universities extended the “educational franchise” at their outset, by interrogating the characteristics of the student population in comparison with the characteristics of the population in the colonies. It looks at the curricula within the university system to show it is always “interested”, never neutral – it may be unique to the social, cultural, political and economic location of each university, but ultimately it benefits those who hold power in these locations. Design/methodology/approach – This research involves empirical analysis of characteristics of university students in Australia in the 1850s, including country of birth, religion, age, previous education and fathers’ occupation, as well as population demographics from the censuses that took place in the colonies of NSW and Victoria at that time. It also involves an analysis of the sociology of knowledge in nineteenth century Australian universities in light of this empirical data. Findings – Socio-political influences on the establishment of the first universities in Australia highlight the power of conferring legitimacy to particular areas of knowledge and to whom this knowledge was made available. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to using the student data for the first three years of enrolment because in order to make comparisons between the student population and the population of the colonies, the student data needed to be from a time as close to the population census as possible. The Sydney census was in 1851, so student data from the University of Sydney was 1852-1854. The Melbourne census was in 1854, so student data from the University of Melbourne was 1855-1857. Originality/value – Australian historiography suggests that early universities in Australia were open to all, regardless of background. This paper challenges this orthodoxy through empirical findings and theoretical analysis.
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Perry, Alison R., and Margaret A. Shaw. "Evaluation of functional outcomes (speech, swallowing and voice) in patients attending speech pathology after head and neck cancer treatment(s): development of a multi-centre database." Journal of Laryngology & Otology 114, no. 8 (August 2000): 605–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1258/0022215001906516.
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Since April 1997, in Melbourne, Australia, speech pathologists have collaborated to establish a prospective database of functional outcomes of speech, swallowing and voice for patients undergoing head and neck cancer treatments.Staff at eight acute care hospitals, all of which offer speech pathology for head and neck cancer services in Victoria, are contributing data, collated centrally, in an agreed pro forma.Early results are given (after 12 months’ data collection). The implications for clinically-based research, and the future potential for benchmarking outcomes – by expansion of the rehabilitation database beyond the current participating sites – is discussed.This paper outlines the rationale of establishing the database is multicentred, and explores some of the complexities involved, including the challenges inherent in long-term accurate data collection in the head and neck cancer patient population. This work represents the development of an appropriate, usable tool for data collection on functional outcomes.
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Long, K., AJ Robley, and K. Lovett. "Immediate post-release survival of eastern barred bandicoots Perameles gunnii at Woodlands Historic Park, Victoria, with reference to fox activity." Australian Mammalogy 27, no. 1 (2005): 17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/am05017.
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On mainland Australia, eastern barred bandicoots (Perameles gunnii) are now restricted to a single wild population at Hamilton in western Victoria, and recovery efforts are focussed on establishing new populations at reintroduction sites. The success in founding these populations has been variable, and post-release survival has not been accurately quantified. It is believed that predation by the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is largely responsible for post-release loss of P. gunnii, despite the implementation of predator control programs at release sites. An intensive fox control program was established to protect 10 released P. gunnii at Woodlands Historic Park, near Melbourne. Monitoring of fox activity was undertaken prior to and after the release in an attempt to better understand the effectiveness of control operations. Seven bandicoots were known to be alive at the conclusion of the study five weeks after their release (and an additional animal was trapped four months later), with weight loss appearing to be an important factor in determining post-release survival. Despite constant levels of bait-take by V. vulpes, fox activity measured from sand-pads remained high. We hypothesise that the presence of suitable refugia is allowing the persistence of a low-density bandicoot population at Woodlands despite constant, high levels of fox activity.
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Macgregor, Paul. "Chinese Political Values in Colonial Victoria: Lowe Kong Meng and the Legacy of the July 1880 Election." Journal of Chinese Overseas 9, no. 2 (2013): 135–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/17932548-12341257.
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AbstractLowe Kong Meng (Liu Guangming 劉光眀, 1831-1888),1 pre-eminent merchant and community leader of gold-rush Melbourne, was active in Australian politics, self-regarded as a British subject yet engaged with the Qing dynasty and was likely the first overseas Chinese awarded rank in the Chinese imperial service. Victoria’s mid-1880 election was a watershed: the immediate aftermath was the re-introduction of regulations penalising Chinese, after over 15 years of free immigration and no official discrimination. After the election it was claimed that Lowe Kong Meng persuaded Victoria’s Chinese to vote for the government, but was it in his interests to do so? This article examines the nature of Lowe Kong Meng’s engagement in European and Chinese political activity in the colony, as well as the extent of his leadership in Chinese colonial and diasporic life and explores how much he could have used that leadership to influence electoral outcomes. The article also examines how Lowe Kong Meng and the wider Chinese population of the colony brought changing political agendas to Victoria and developed these agendas through their colonial experiences.
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Kong, F., C. Kyle-Link, J. Hocking, and M. Hellard. "11. SEX AND SPORT: A COMMUNITY BASED PROJECT OF CHLAMYDIA TESTING AND TREATMENT IN RURAL AND REGIONAL VICTORIA." Sexual Health 4, no. 4 (2007): 288. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/shv4n4ab11.
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Chlamydia is the most common notifiable infectious disease in Australia with the number of notifications increasing 92% over the past 5 years. The "Sex and Sport" Project is piloting a community based chlamydia testing and treatment program reaching young people in a specific community setting, sporting clubs. This multifaceted approach utilises health education, population screening and collection of data on risk taking behaviour as the first steps in enhancing health and shaping future service provisions. The project's primary aim is to assess the feasibility of an outreach testing and treatment program. Secondary aims are to measure the prevalence of chlamydia and assess sexual risk behaviour in this population. Strong community collaborations and integration into local health services through the Primary Care Partnerships is important in the project's sustainability; in particular key community members respected by sporting clubs needed to be identified, capacity developed to deliver effective health promotion messages and improve young people's access to sexual health services. Additionally, local knowledge has guided overall program implementation and provides opportunities for capacity building to regionally based services. For example, poor access to sexual health services is being addressed by the participants being able to access services via telephone consultation with Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. Approximately 1000 Victorians aged 16-25 years from the Loddon Mallee region of Victoria will be tested between June and September 2007. This paper will report on the feasibility, challenges and possible solutions in establishing a community based outreach testing and treatment program.
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Ruth, Denise, Rosalind Hurworth, and Nabil Sulaiman. "Moving towards meaningful local population health data: The service provider perspective." Australian Journal of Primary Health 11, no. 2 (2005): 113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/py05029.
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Increasingly, primary care services are required to use data to assess their local population's health needs and plan services. This paper reports focus group discussions of service providers' perceived current practice, issues and needs related to obtaining and using data for planning services in two local government areas of Melbourne. Six groups were conducted with nominees from two municipal councils, four divisions of general practice, three community health services, three hospital networks and eight community organizations. Two groups were conducted with planners and data providers from the Department of Human Services, Victoria. The 66 participants had a broad range of experience in using data to assess local population health needs. Participants reported that issues limiting the use of data related to: access to data (lack of awareness, contacting the right person, poor communication between data providers and users, resource constraints, lack of central access); gaps in data; quality of data (inconsistent definitions and collection, currency, ties to funding); applicability of data (unfriendly format, problems with aggregated versus small area data, non-matching data sets, lack of contextual information); and support for data use in local population health planning. If local population needs assessment is to lead to better health outcomes, service providers need access to high quality data presented in formats that are applicable to their communities. They also need practicable planning methods, skills training and support in using data for local population needs assessment and service planning.
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Moore, Benjamin D., Graeme Coulson, and Sarah Way. "Habitat selection by adult female eastern grey kangaroos." Wildlife Research 29, no. 5 (2002): 439. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr01057.
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We determined patterns of habitat selection in the winter–spring period by adult female eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) at Yan Yean Reservoir Catchment near Melbourne, Victoria, during 1994–95. We assessed habitat selection at two levels by radio-tracking 11 adult female kangaroos. The 95% isopleth harmonic mean home-range size (mean = 62.3 ha) was the smallest recorded for female eastern grey kangaroos. No range encompassed all of the habitat types available in the study area, and the mix and rankings of habitats selected at this level varied amongst individuals when compared by compositional analysis with available habitats. Selection of habitats at the within-range level also varied among individuals and differed between night and day for many individuals, but not for the population mean. Individuals selected strongly for good foraging habitat within their ranges. In particular, grassy clearings were used by all individuals and were selected strongly by day, night or at both times.
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Chappill, J., PY Ladiges, and D. Boland. "Eucalyptus Aromaphloia Pryor & Willis ̵1 a Redefinition of Geographical and Morphological Boundaries." Australian Journal of Botany 34, no. 4 (1986): 395. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt9860395.
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Adult and seedling morphological data collected for 37 populations referred to Eucalyptus aromaphloia Pryor & Willis have been analysed using a range of multivariate classification and ordination techniques. The analysis of adult leaf, bud and fruit morphology revealed only a subtle pattern of geographical variation of limited diagnostic significance. Differentiation in terms of seedling morphology was more marked, and four groups were identified. A relatively high incidence of character segregation in progeny from individual trees was observed and.the implications of this are discussed. Two of the four groups encompass seedlings with non-glaucous, narrow juvenile leaves and round stems. The first group comprises populations from the Little Desert and the Grampian Ranges west of the Mt William Range. The juvenile leaves are linear, sessile for many nodes and often become falcate after 15-20 nodes. The second group is a single population from east of Rylstone, north-west of Sydney. The juvenile leaves are lanceolate and become petiolate but not falcate after the 15th leaf node. This population was previously referred to E. corticosa L. Johnson. The third group is similar to the type of E. aromaphloia and populations were found only in west- central Victoria, from the Mt William Range in the Grampians east to the Brisbane Range near Melbourne. Seedlings are characterised by round stems and ovate, glaucous juvenile leaves that are sessile or subsessile for many leaf nodes. Thus E. aromaphloia s. str. has a more restricted distribution than previously described. The fourth group comprises populations from eastern Victoria where the juvenile leaves are non- glaucous, broad-lanceolate, distinctly petiolate by the 11th node and the stems are often square.
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Young, Jesse T., Cheneal Puljević, Alexander D. Love, Emilia K. Janca, Catherine J. Segan, Donita Baird, Rachel Whiffen, Stan Pappos, Emma Bell, and Stuart A. Kinner. "Staying Quit After Release (SQuARe) trial protocol: a randomised controlled trial of a multicomponent intervention to maintain smoking abstinence after release from smoke-free prisons in Victoria, Australia." BMJ Open 9, no. 6 (June 2019): e027307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027307.
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IntroductionSmoke-free policies have been introduced in prisons internationally. However, high rates of relapse to smoking after release from prison indicate that these policies typically result in short-term smoking cessation only. These high rates of relapse, combined with a lack of investment in relapse prevention, highlight a missed opportunity to improve the health of a population who smoke tobacco at two to six times the rate of the general population. This paper describes the rationale and design of a randomised controlled trial, testing the effectiveness of a caseworker-delivered intervention promoting smoking cessation among former smokers released from smoke-free prisons in Victoria, Australia.Methods and analysisThe multicomponent, brief intervention consists of behavioural counselling, provision of nicotine spray and referral to Quitline and primary care to promote use of government-subsidised smoking cessation pharmacotherapy. The intervention is embedded in routine service delivery and is administered at three time points: one prerelease and two postrelease from prison. Control group participants will receive usual care. Smoking abstinence will be assessed at 1 and 3 months postrelease, and confirmed with carbon monoxide breath testing. Linkage of participant records to survey and routinely collected administrative data will provide further information on postrelease use of health services and prescribed medication.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained from the Corrections Victoria Research Committee, the Victorian Department of Justice Human Research Ethics Committee, the Department of Human Services External Request Evaluation Committee and the University of Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee. Results will be submitted to major international health-focused journals. In case of success, findings will assist policymakers to implement urgently needed interventions promoting the maintenance of prison-initiated smoking abstinence after release, to reduce the health disparities experienced by this marginalised population.Trial registration numberACTRN12618000072213; Pre-results.
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Mcbride, L. J. "Spinal Anaesthesia—Early Australian Experience." Anaesthesia and Intensive Care 33, no. 1_suppl (June 2005): 39–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0310057x0503301s06.
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Australia in 1902 was a fledgling colony in its second year of Federation with a population of around 3.7 million. European settlement had been largely confined to the coastal margins of this enormous land mass, although some bold adventurers in search of gold and farmland had struggled their way into the interior. Horsham, situated 300 km northwest of Melbourne in the state of Victoria, was founded in June 1849. By 1902 the town, with a population of around 2500, had grown to boast a hospital, two doctors, a pharmacist and a dentist. It was at the Horsham Hospital on January 7, 1902 that Dr Robert Ritchie performed Australia's first recorded spinal anaesthetic. Ritchie performed a lumbar puncture at the L3–4 level, injected 2 ml of 2% cocaine solution and waited for a total of 20 minutes before realising that the sensation the patient was feeling when he pinched him was pressure, not pain. The 78-year-old man with a gangrenous right leg, prostatic obstruction and congestive cardiac failure was laid supine, and had his right leg amputated through the thigh while being administered brandy and water. Strychnine injections were administered four hourly postoperatively. The adoption of the technique of spinal anaesthesia spread quickly in Australia despite communication difficulties at that time.
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Levesque, Jean-Frederic, John J. M. O'Dowd, Éidín M. Ní Shé, Jan-Willem Weenink, and Jane Gunn. "Scoping of models to support population-based regional health planning and management: comparison with the regional operating model in Victoria, Australia." Australian Health Review 41, no. 2 (2017): 162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah15198.
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Objective The aim of the present study was to try to understand the breadth and comprehensiveness of a regional operating model (ROM) developed within the Victorian Department of Health’s North West Metropolitan Region office in Melbourne, Australia. Methods A published literature search was conducted, with additional website scanning, snowballing technique and expert consultation, to identify existing operating models. An analytical grid was developed covering 16 components to evaluate the models and assess the exhaustiveness of the ROM. Results From the 34 documents scoped, 10 models were identified to act as a direct comparator to the ROM. These concerned models from Australia (n = 5) and other comparable countries (Canada, UK). The ROM was among the most exhaustive models, covering 13 of 16 components. It was one of the few models that included intersectoral actions and levers of influence. However, some models identified more precisely the planning tools, prioritisation criteria and steps, and the allocation mechanisms. Conclusions The review finds that the ROM appears to provide a wide coverage of aspects of planning and integrates into a single model some of the distinctive elements of the other models scoped. What is known about the topic? Various jurisdictions are moving towards a population-based approach to manage public services with regard to the provision of individual medical and social care. Various models have been proposed to guide the planning of services from a population health perspective. What does this paper add? This paper assesses the coverage of attributes of operating models supporting a population health planning approach to the management of services at the regional or local level. It provides a scoping of current models proposed to organise activities to ensure an integrated approach to the provision of services and compares the scoped models to a model recently implemented in Victoria, Australia. What are the implications for practitioners? This paper highlights the relative paucity of operating models describing in concrete terms how to manage medical and social services from a population perspective and encourages organisations that are accountable for securing population health to clearly articulate their own operating model. It outlines strengths and potential gaps in current models.
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Connors, Matthew G., Honglei Chen, Haokun Li, Adam Edmonds, Kimberley A. Smith, Colin Gell, Kelly Clitheroe, et al. "Citizen scientists track a charismatic carnivore: Mapping the spread and impact of the South African Mantis (Miomantidae, Miomantis caffra) in Australia." Journal of Orthoptera Research 31, no. 1 (May 19, 2022): 69–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/jor.31.79332.
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The recent integration of citizen science with modern technology has greatly increased its applications and has allowed more people than ever to contribute to research across all areas of science. In particular, citizen science has been instrumental in the detection and monitoring of novel introduced species across the globe. This study provides the first records of Miomantis caffra Saussure, 1871, the South African Mantis, from the Australian mainland and uses records from four different citizen science and social media platforms in conjunction with museum records to track the spread of the species through the country. A total of 153 wild mantises and oothecae were observed across four states and territories (New South Wales, Norfolk Island, Victoria, and Western Australia) between 2009 and 2021. The large number of observations of the species in Victoria and the more recent isolated observations in other states and territories suggest that the species initially arrived in Geelong via oothecae attached to plants or equipment, likely from the invasive population in New Zealand. From there it established and spread outwards to Melbourne and eventually to other states and territories, both naturally and with the aid of human transport. We also provide a comparison of M. caffra to similar native mantises, specifically Pseudomantis albofimbriata (Stål, 1860), and comment on the potential impact and further spread of the species within Australia. Finally, we reiterate the many benefits of engaging directly with citizen scientists in biodiversity research and comment on the decision to include them in all levels of this research investigation.
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Campbell, Sharon, Paul Fox-Hughes, Penelope Jones, Tomas Remenyi, Kate Chappell, Christopher White, and Fay Johnston. "Evaluating the Risk of Epidemic Thunderstorm Asthma: Lessons from Australia." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 5 (March 7, 2019): 837. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050837.
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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. Using a case–control approach, we analyzed emergency presentations in Tasmania’s public hospitals from 2002 to 2017. Cases were defined as days when asthma presentations exceeded four standard deviations from the mean, and controls as days when asthma presentations were less than one standard deviation from the mean. Four controls were randomly selected for each case. Independently, a meteorologist identified the dates of potential high-risk thunderstorm events. No case days coincided with thunderstorms during the study period. ETA was assessed as a very low risk to the Tasmanian population, with these findings informing risk prioritization and resource allocation. This approach may be scaled and applied in other settings to determine local ETA risk. Furthermore, the identification of hazards using this method allows for critical analysis of existing public health systems.
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Burrell, Sam, Lenka A. Vodstrcil, Christopher K. Fairley, Alex Kilner, Catriona S. Bradshaw, Marcus Y. Chen, and Eric P. F. Chow. "Hepatitis A vaccine uptake among men who have sex with men from a time-limited vaccination programme in Melbourne in 2018." Sexually Transmitted Infections 96, no. 2 (July 25, 2019): 110–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2019-054132.
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ObjectivesIn 2017, an outbreak of hepatitis A among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) was reported in Victoria, Australia. In 2018, the Victorian government implemented a free hepatitis A vaccination programme targeting all Victorian MSM. This study aimed to determine hepatitis A vaccine uptake among MSM in a sexual health clinic in Melbourne.MethodsAll MSM attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) in 2018 were included. Chart review was performed to determine the proportion of men vaccinated for at least one dose of hepatitis A and to examine why men did not receive the vaccine. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine the factors associated with vaccine uptake. Vaccine uptake was defined as receipt of at least one dose of hepatitis A vaccine.ResultsOf the 9582 MSM who attended MSHC in 2018, 61.3% (95% CI 60.3% to 62.2%) self-reported already being immune to hepatitis A. Of the 3713 remaining eligible men, 62.7% (95% CI 61.1% to 64.2%) received at least one dose of the hepatitis A vaccine on the day of attendance. Compared with MSM not living with HIV and not taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), MSM taking PrEP (adjusted OR 1.28; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.62) were more likely to receive the vaccine. 1386 men (37.3%) did not receive the vaccine and 55.4% were not offered the vaccine by their treating clinician. 300 men (21.6%) were identified as non-immune after serological testing but did not return for vaccination. By the end of 2018, 85.5% of MSHC attendees (8196/9582) were immune to hepatitis A.ConclusionThe critical vaccination threshold for hepatitis A has been estimated at >70%. Continuation of the targeted hepatitis A vaccination programme will improve immunity among the MSM population to prevent ongoing transmission and the likelihood of future outbreaks.
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CUTCHER, Z., E. WILLIAMSON, S. E. LYNCH, S. ROWE, H. J. CLOTHIER, and S. M. FIRESTONE. "Predictive modelling of Ross River virus notifications in southeastern Australia." Epidemiology and Infection 145, no. 3 (November 21, 2016): 440–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0950268816002594.
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SUMMARYRoss River virus (RRV) is a mosquito-borne virus endemic to Australia. The disease, marked by arthritis, myalgia and rash, has a complex epidemiology involving several mosquito species and wildlife reservoirs. Outbreak years coincide with climatic conditions conducive to mosquito population growth. We developed regression models for human RRV notifications in the Mildura Local Government Area, Victoria, Australia with the objective of increasing understanding of the relationships in this complex system, providing trigger points for intervention and developing a forecast model. Surveillance, climatic, environmental and entomological data for the period July 2000–June 2011 were used for model training then forecasts were validated for July 2011–June 2015. Rainfall and vapour pressure were the key factors for forecasting RRV notifications. Validation of models showed they predicted RRV counts with an accuracy of 81%. Two major RRV mosquito vectors (Culex annulirostris and Aedes camptorhynchus) were important in the final estimation model at proximal lags. The findings of this analysis advance understanding of the drivers of RRV in temperate climatic zones and the models will inform public health agencies of periods of increased risk.
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Voo, Veronica Tsin Fong, Jim Stankovich, Terence J. O’Brien, Helmut Butzkueven, and Mastura Monif. "Vitamin D status in an Australian patient population: a large retrospective case series focusing on factors associated with variations in serum 25(OH)D." BMJ Open 10, no. 3 (March 2020): e032567. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032567.
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ObjectivesTo investigate whether sex, age, medical specialty and seasonal variations in serum concentration of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) are evident among an Australian patient population.DesignRetrospective study analysing the results of serum 25(OH)D lab tests and vitamin D supplementation from Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) between 2014 and 2017.SettingTertiary healthcare centre in Victoria, Australia.Participants30 023 patients (inpatient and outpatient) who had their serum 25(OH)D levels measured at RMH between 2014 and 2017.Main outcome measuresSerum 25(OH)D levels stratified according to patients’ sex, age and medical specialty admitted to, as well as the season and year (2014 to 2017) 25(OH)D level was measured.ResultsMean serum 25(OH)D level of study population was 69.9 nmol/L (95% CI 69.5 to 70.2). Only 40.2% patients in this cohort were sufficient in vitamin D (>75 nmol/L). On average, 25(OH)D levels in male patients were 6.1 units (95% CI 5.4 to 6.9) lower than in females. Linear regression analysis found that 25(OH)D levels increased by 0.16 unit (95% CI 0.14 to 0.18) for every year increase in age. One-way analysis of variance showed patients from neurology had the highest average 25(OH)D level, 76.8 nmol/L (95% CI 74.2 to 79.3) compared with other medical specialties. Mean 25(OH)D level during winter, 64.9 nmol/L (95% CI 64.2 to 65.6) was significantly lower compared with other seasons despite supplementation. Average 25(OH)D level measured in 2014, 71.5 nmol/L (95 CI% 70.8 to 72.2) was significantly higher than levels measured in 2016–2017.ConclusionsThere is a sex, age, medical specialty, seasonal and yearly variation in vitamin D status in an Australian patient population. The association between low vitamin D status and winter despite supplementation suggests other interventions are required to boost serum 25(OH)D levels.
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MacLean, Sarah. "Out-of-Home Care As an Institutional Risk Environment for Volatile Substance Use." Children Australia 37, no. 1 (March 2012): 23–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cha.2012.4.
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The exploratory study of meanings of volatile substance use (VSU) on which this article draws (involving 28 young people living in Melbourne, Victoria, Australa, aged from 13 to 24 years, each with experience of VSU, and 14 expert workers) was not designed to investigate any relationship between VSU and living in out-of-home care while subject to protective orders. However, when asked about their lives at the time they commenced or intensified VSU, 8 participants were adamant that living in out-of-home care was a significant factor. Two narratives reiterated by these young people are identified in the article: first that VSU is part of life in out-of-home care, and second that VSU ceases to be appropriate after leaving care. Young people who are living in out-of-home care report substantially higher levels of VSU than occur across the general population. This article shows how narrative accounts (even when expressed by small numbers of participants) provide insight into how VSU and other drug use may become embedded in particular institutional settings through assuming meanings and utility for users that are specific to these environments. While previous literature on the aetiology of VSU generally emphasises individual or familial risk factors, this article argues that out-of-home care may function, at least in some instances, as an institutional ‘risk environment’ for VSU and that this should be further explored through future research. Adjusting models of care may offer new strategies for responding to this form of drug use.
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Tracy, Jane M. "People with an intellectual disability in the discourse of chronic and complex conditions: an invisible group?" Australian Health Review 33, no. 3 (2009): 478. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ah090478.
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TO THE EDITOR: Goddard et al, authors of ?People with an intellectual disability in the discourse of chronic and complex conditions: an invisible group??1 are to be congratulated for raising discussion about one of the most vulnerable groups in Australia with respect to their receipt of optimal health care. The authors conclude that ?developing interventions and strategies to increase the knowledge of health care workers . . . caring for people with intellectual disabilities will likely improve the health care needs of this population and their families?. In relation to this identified need for health professional education and training in the care of people with intellectual disabilities, we would like to draw the attention of your readers to some work undertaken by the Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria (CDDHV) to address this issue. The CDDHV works to improve the health and health care of people with developmental disabilities through a range of educational, research and clinical activities. In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the need for health professional education in this area. Moreover, as people with disabilities often have chronic and complex health and social issues, focusing on their health care provides a platform for interprofessional education and a springboard for understanding the essential importance and value of interprofessional practice. Recently, the CDDHV has taken a lead role in developing a teaching and learning resource that focuses both on the health care of people with disabilities and on the importance and value of interprofessional practice. This resource promotes and facilitates interprofessional learning, and develops understanding of the health and health care issues experienced by people with disabilities and those who support them. ?Health and disability: partnerships in action? is a new video-based teaching and learning package, produced through an interprofessional collaboration between health professionals from medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, paramedic practice, health science, social work, speech pathology, dietetics and dentistry. Those living with a disability are the experts on their own experience and so their direct involvement in and contribution to the education of health care professionals is essential. The collaboration between those featured in the video stories and health professionals has led to the development of a powerful resource that facilitates students and practitioners developing insights into the health and health care issues encountered by people with developmental disabilities. We also believe that through improving their understanding of, and health provision to, people with disabilities and those who support them, health professionals will acquire valuable attitudes, knowledge and skills applicable to many other patients in their practice population. Jane M Tracy Education Director Centre for Developmental Disability Health Victoria Melbourne, VIC
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Zengin, Ayse, Cat Shore-Lorenti, Marc Sim, Louise Maple-Brown, Sharon Lee Brennan-Olsen, Joshua R. Lewis, Jennifer Ockwell, Troy Walker, David Scott, and Peter Ebeling. "Why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians fall and fracture: the codesigned Study of Indigenous Muscle and Bone Ageing (SIMBA) protocol." BMJ Open 12, no. 4 (April 2022): e056589. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056589.
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ObjectivesAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have a substantially greater fracture risk, where men are 50% and women are 26% more likely to experience a hip fracture compared with non-Indigenous Australians. Fall-related injuries in this population have also increased by 10%/year compared with 4.3%/year in non-Indigenous Australians. This study aims to determine why falls and fracture risk are higher in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.SettingAll clinical assessments will be performed at one centre in Melbourne, Australia. At baseline, participants will have clinical assessments, including questionnaires, anthropometry, bone structure, body composition and physical performance tests. These assessments will be repeated at follow-up 1 and follow-up 2, with an interval of 12 months between each clinical visit.ParticipantsThis codesigned prospective observational study aims to recruit a total of 298 adults who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and reside within Victoria, Australia. Stratified sampling by age and sex will be used to ensure equitable distribution of men and women across four age-bands (35–44, 45–54, 55–64 and 65+ years).Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome is within-individual yearly change in areal bone mineral density at the total hip, femoral neck and lumbar spine assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Within-individual change in cortical and trabecular volumetric bone mineral density at the radius and tibia using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography will be determined. Secondary outcomes include yearly differences in physical performance and body composition.Ethical approvalEthics approval for this study has been granted by the Monash Health Human Research Ethics Committee (project number: RES-19–0000374A).Trial registration numberACTRN12620000161921.
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Lewis, Patricia R., James B. Brown, Marilyn B. Renfree, and Roger V. Short. "The resumption of ovulation and menstruation in a well-nourished population of women breastfeeding for an extended period of time**Supported by National Health and Medical Research Council grant 840200, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Lalor Foundation, Wilmington, Delaware; Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Jack Brockoff Foundation, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; William Buckland Foundation, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; and Monash University Postdoctoral Fellowship." Fertility and Sterility 55, no. 3 (March 1991): 529–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0015-0282(16)54180-6.
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Davis, M., L. Hochberg, R. Zetterberg, and V. Pridmore. "Can Cross-Sector Partnerships Increase Breast Cancer Screening in Hard-to-Reach Migrant Populations?" Journal of Global Oncology 4, Supplement 2 (October 1, 2018): 142s. http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/jgo.18.20500.
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Background and context: BreastScreen Victoria (BSV) provides free breast screening to women aged 40+; targeting women aged 50-74. The program reduces breast cancer-related deaths by up to 28%. BSV aims to ensure equitable participation for all women in the target age; however there are large disparities in screening rates for different subpopulations. Emerging migrant women participate in breast screening at lower rates than the general population. These women face complex barriers including cultural factors, low health literacy, and access. BSV identified cross-sector partnerships, with local trusted organizations who engage with emerging migrant women, as an approach to tackle the multidimensional problems in screening inequalities. Aim: Through cross-sector partnerships BSV aims to bring together diverse skills, knowledge and resources for more effective health promotion outcomes, including: 1. Increasing awareness of breast screening in emerging migrant communities, 2. Providing a culturally safe environment for women to access breast screening. Strategy/Tactics: BSV partnered with organizations beyond the traditional health sector. One key partnership is with AMES Australia, who provide settlement services for refugees and migrants. The main approach of this model is two-way capacity building between organizations. BSV built the capacity of AMES to deliver BreastScreen's key messages, and promote screening to eligible women accessing their service. This included training for staff, resource development/sharing, and support. AMES built the capacity of BSV by providing insight into barriers for women they engage, and guidance adapting traditionally clinical environments ensuring cultural safety. To date BSV has undertaken screening initiatives with AMES in 2 Melbourne locations. Outcomes: - Migrant women are introduced to breast screening by a trusted organization - BSV's key messages are delivered in a culturally appropriate manner - Development of sustainable skills, structures and resources in both organizations - Utilization of AMES relationship with their clients to engage women who BSV may not reach -not on the Victorian Electoral Roll - 6 group bookings with specific languages groups - Familiar case worker and in person translator supporting group bookings - Engaging mainly first time screeners who may not have accessed a breast screen - Overcoming cultural, language, and health literacy barriers - Tailored appointments for groups and walk-ins. What was learned: A lack of tailored strategies to engage women in breast screening compounds barriers for migrant women. Cross-sector partnerships increase the efficiency of systems that impact health by making the best use of different but complementary resources. Collaborations, joint resourcing and planned action should be considered ongoing practice, particularly for disengaged populations, to address the many determinants of health that lie outside the reach of the health system.
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Nguyen, Hiep Duc, Merched Azzi, Stephen White, David Salter, Toan Trieu, Geoffrey Morgan, Mahmudur Rahman, et al. "The Summer 2019–2020 Wildfires in East Coast Australia and Their Impacts on Air Quality and Health in New South Wales, Australia." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 7 (March 29, 2021): 3538. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073538.
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The 2019–2020 summer wildfire event on the east coast of Australia was a series of major wildfires occurring from November 2019 to end of January 2020 across the states of Queensland, New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and South Australia. The wildfires were unprecedent in scope and the extensive character of the wildfires caused smoke pollutants to be transported not only to New Zealand, but also across the Pacific Ocean to South America. At the peak of the wildfires, smoke plumes were injected into the stratosphere at a height of up to 25 km and hence transported across the globe. The meteorological and air quality Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model is used together with the air quality monitoring data collected during the bushfire period and remote sensing data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellites to determine the extent of the wildfires, the pollutant transport and their impacts on air quality and health of the exposed population in NSW. The results showed that the WRF-Chem model using Fire Emission Inventory (FINN) from National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to simulate the dispersion and transport of pollutants from wildfires predicted the daily concentration of PM2.5 having the correlation (R2) and index of agreement (IOA) from 0.6 to 0.75 and 0.61 to 0.86, respectively, when compared with the ground-based data. The impact on health endpoints such as mortality and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases hospitalizations across the modelling domain was then estimated. The estimated health impact on each of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) census districts (SA4) of New South Wales was calculated based on epidemiological assumptions of the impact function and incidence rate data from the 2016 ABS and NSW Department of Health statistical health records. Summing up all SA4 census district results over NSW, we estimated that there were 247 (CI: 89, 409) premature deaths, 437 (CI: 81, 984) cardiovascular diseases hospitalizations and 1535 (CI: 493, 2087) respiratory diseases hospitalizations in NSW over the period from 1 November 2019 to 8 January 2020. The results are comparable with a previous study based only on observation data, but the results in this study provide much more spatially and temporally detailed data with regard to the health impact from the summer 2019–2020 wildfires.
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Kamat, Ashish M. "Commentary on “Risks of primary extracolonic cancers following colorectal cancer in lynch syndrome.” Win AK, Lindor NM, Young JP, Macrae FA, Young GP, Williamson E, Parry S, Goldblatt J, Lipton L, Winship I, Leggett B, Tucker KM, Giles GG, Buchanan DD, Clendenning M, Rosty C, Arnold J, Levine AJ, Haile RW, Gallinger S, Le Marchand L, Newcomb PA, Hopper JL, Jenkins MA, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, Melbourne School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia." Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations 31, no. 5 (July 2013): 716. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.urolonc.2013.03.013.
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May, Peter, Stephen Livesley, and Ian Shears. "Managing and Monitoring Tree Health and Soil Water Status During Extreme Drought in Melbourne, Victoria." Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 39, no. 3 (May 1, 2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2013.019.
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Drought can lead to mortality in urban tree populations. The City of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, manages a large population of trees that provide important ecosystem services and cultural heritage values. Between 1997 and 2009 Melbourne was affected by a serious drought resulting in significant tree health decline. Elms and planes in particular, were badly affected. This paper presents data from a survey of tree health status, and of studies of retrofitted buried drip line irrigation. A study of soil wetting in autumn of 2009 found that the use of drip irrigation had, in most cases, little or no effect on soil moisture levels and a modeled study of tree water use showed that water delivered by drip irrigation provided only a fraction of the water required by a mature tree. By contrast, drip irrigation in late winter was able to recharge soil moisture levels. Mechanisms responsible for the decline in tree health seen during the drought are discussed. While the drought has temporarily been alleviated, climate change scenarios for southern Australia suggest that increased rainfall variability and drought events will be more common. The experiences gained during the recent drought event provide useful information for urban tree managers planning for the future.
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Thornton, Lukar E., Ralf-Dieter Schroers, Karen E. Lamb, Mark Daniel, Kylie Ball, Basile Chaix, Yan Kestens, Keren Best, Laura Oostenbach, and Neil T. Coffee. "Operationalising the 20-minute neighbourhood." International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 19, no. 1 (February 12, 2022). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12966-021-01243-3.
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Abstract Background Recent rapid growth in urban areas and the desire to create liveable neighbourhoods has brought about a renewed interest in planning for compact cities, with concepts like the 20-minute neighbourhood (20MN) becoming more popular. A 20MN broadly reflects a neighbourhood that allows residents to meet their daily (non-work) needs within a short, non-motorised, trip from home. The 20MN concept underpins the key planning strategy of Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, however the 20MN definition has not been operationalised. This study aimed to develop and operationalise a practical definition of the 20MN and apply this to two Australian state capital cities: Melbourne (Victoria) and Adelaide (South Australia). Methods Using the metropolitan boundaries for Melbourne and Adelaide, data were sourced for several layers related to five domains: 1) healthy food; 2) recreational resources; 3) community resources; 4) public open space; and 5) public transport. The number of layers and the access measures required for each domain differed. For example, the recreational resources domain only required a sport and fitness centre (gym) within a 1.5-km network path distance, whereas the public open space domain required a public open space within a 400-m distance along a pedestrian network and 8 ha of public open space area within a 1-km radius. Locations that met the access requirements for each of the five domains were defined as 20MNs. Results In Melbourne 5.5% and in Adelaide 7.6% of the population were considered to reside in a 20MN. Within areas classified as residential, the median number of people per square kilometre with a 20MN in Melbourne was 6429 and the median number of dwellings per square kilometre was 3211. In Adelaide’s 20MNs, both population density (3062) and dwelling density (1440) were lower than in Melbourne. Conclusions The challenge of operationalising a practical definition of the 20MN has been addressed by this study and applied to two Australian cities. The approach can be adapted to other contexts as a first step to assessing the presence of existing 20MNs and monitoring further implementation of this concept.
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O'Donoghue, Brian, Linglee Downey, Scott Eaton, Nathan Mifsud, James B. Kirkbride, and Patrick McGorry. "Risk of psychotic disorders in migrants to Australia." Psychological Medicine, January 30, 2020, 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0033291719004100.
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Abstract Background Certain migrant groups are at an increased risk of psychotic disorders compared to the native-born population; however, research to date has mainly been conducted in Europe. Less is known about whether migrants to other countries, with different histories and patterns of migration, such as Australia, are at an increased risk for developing a psychotic disorder. We tested this for first-generation migrants in Melbourne, Victoria. Methods This study included all young people aged 15–24 years, residing in a geographically-defined catchment area of north western Melbourne who presented with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) to the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2016. Data pertaining to the at-risk population were obtained from the Australian 2011 Census and incidence rate ratios were calculated and adjusted for age, sex and social deprivation. Results In total, 1220 young people presented with an FEP during the 6-year study period, of whom 24.5% were first-generation migrants. We found an increased risk for developing psychotic disorder in migrants from the following regions: Central and West Africa (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] = 3.53, 95% CI 1.58–7.92), Southern and Eastern Africa (aIRR = 3.06, 95% CI 1.99–4.70) and North Africa (aIRR = 5.03, 95% CI 3.26–7.76). Migrants from maritime South East Asia (aIRR = 0.39, 95% CI 0.23–0.65), China (aIRR = 0.25, 95% CI 0.13–0.48) and Southern Asia (aIRR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.26–0.76) had a decreased risk for developing a psychotic disorder. Conclusion This clear health inequality needs to be addressed by sufficient funding and accessible mental health services for more vulnerable groups. Further research is needed to determine why migrants have an increased risk for developing psychotic disorders.
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Kelly, H. A., K. A. Grant, H. Gidding, and K. S. Carville. "Decreased varicella and increased herpes zoster incidence at a sentinel medical deputising service in a setting of increasing varicella vaccine coverage in Victoria, Australia, 1998 to 2012." Eurosurveillance 19, no. 41 (October 16, 2014). http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.es2014.19.41.20926.
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We performed an ecological study using sentinel consultation data from a medical deputising service to assess the impact of increasing coverage with childhood varicella vaccine on the incidence risk of varicella and zoster in the population served by the deputising service in Victoria, Australia from 1998 to 2012. Following a successful vaccination programme, the incidence of varicella in Australia was modelled to decrease and the incidence of zoster to increase, based on a theoretical decrease in boosting of zoster immunity following a decrease in wild varicella virus circulation due to vaccination. Incidence risks (consultation proportions for varicella and zoster) were directly age-standardised to the Melbourne population in 2000, when varicella vaccine was first available. Age-standardised varicella incidence risk peaked in 2000 and halved by 2012. Age-standardised zoster incidence risk remained constant from 1998 to 2002, but had almost doubled by 2012. The increase in zoster consultations largely reflected increases in people younger than 50 years-old. Although causality cannot be inferred from ecological studies, it is generally agreed that the decrease in varicella incidence is due to increasing varicella vaccine coverage. The possible indirect effect of the vaccine on zoster incidence is less clear and ongoing monitoring of zoster is required.