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Sep 2024 DOI 10.14302/issn.2769-2264.jw-24-5269
S. Speer MiltonCorresponding author
Significantly decreased rainfall run-off into the dams that feed the Darling River in eastern Australia during the Millennium (1997–2009) and Tinderbox (2017 –2019) Droughts coincided with reduced river levels along the Darling River. The rainfall reduction was due to accelerated global warming since the mid-late 1990s. During this period, unmonitored river water extraction from the streams that feed the Darling River was diverted to crops, on-farm dams, and to storage in the Menindee Lake system. This practice exacerbated the effect of the two droughts because streamflow that reaches the Darling River ceased in several upstream rivers, and in the Darling River. Using Darling River height levels, before and after the mid-late 1990s, it is shown that global warming is the key factor reducing Darling River levels in the last 53 years, even allowing for river water diversion and extraction. Between the periods 1972-1997 and 1998-2024 the Darling River mean heights, in the towns of Bourke, Wilcannia and Menindee, were all found to drop by statistically significant amounts. The catchment area rainfall has found to be decreasing due to global warming induced atmospheric circulation changes. Reducing water extraction either before or after it reaches the Darling River is unlikely to stop the short-medium term decline in Darling River levels.
Jan 2019 DOI 10.14302/issn.2474-7785.jarh-19-2608
W. Harvey PeterCorresponding author
Conjoint Clinical Professor, Deakin University, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health
In the light of various complaints about the quality of care provided by and operation of aged care facilities across Australia, the Commonwealth Government has announced a Royal Commission into the activities of the sector. As the proportion of Australians over 65 continues to grow with the ageing of the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation, more Australians are seeking secure aged care arrangements to meet their increasingly complex living and healthcare needs. We hear much comment today about the concept of healthy ageing and the importance of older people staying connected to and active in their communities. Not only does this ongoing connectivity support better lifestyles and health status, it provides an avenue for older people to contribute to the support of others once their more formal working lives are concluded. Unfortunately, the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of ageing in Australia is strained and it appears that much about the operations of the aged care sector today is less than satisfactory. While some well-funded retirees can afford comfortable and fulfilling living arrangements, many others are left in less ideal circumstances. With aged care organisations currently building the next generation of ‘hotel’ style living arrangements for cashed up self-funded retirees, others are being left behind financially and in terms of the quality of their care. At the same time, maltreatment and abuse of residents is coming to light, as in the ‘Oakden Nursing Home’ situation in South Australia, for example. Consequently, the Federal Government has now launched a formal inquiry into the activities of organisations running aged care facilities in Australia. The inquiry is designed to assess the operation of this industry with a focus on the economics of aged care centres, the quality of care, the food and recreational activities provided and the challenge of staffing these facilities to keep residents safe and well as they age in dignity.
Aug 2018 DOI 10.14302/issn.2575-1212.jvhc-18-2167
Buckley PetraCorresponding author
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2650, Australia.
A cohort of Pony Club horses was observed for 13 months with data collected from owner-kept diaries and monthly property visits. All horses studied had access to pasture for all or part of the day. Whilst paddock size was seldom limiting, pasture degradation was evident and observed pasture mass and composition varied greatly. Horses’ body weight indices and body condition scores also varied greatly, closely matching seasonal variations in pasture mass. Increments in bodyweight varied in a non-linear fashion with body condition score. Most horses experienced additional year-round hand-fed supplementation and half of the study horses recorded body condition scores greater than 3.5 out of 5. This suggests that the owners of Pony Club horses did not rely on pasture as the sole source of nutrition, even though, based on estimated energy demands, well-managed pasture can meet the energy requirements of Pony Club horses. Furthermore, the fact that owners appeared not to make horse feeding decisions based on body condition score resulting in obesity, raises health and welfare concerns in this cohort of horses. The inappropriate feeding of supplements observed during times of high pasture growth was a concern. Whilst the ideal pasture for Pony Club horses has not been described, it is likely to differ to those considered ideal for broodmares and other livestock because of these unique health risks associated with high levels of non-structural carbohydrate content in improved pasture species. This study highlights the need to educate owners about recognising unhealthy body conditions of horses and better managing pastures and pasture access to reduce the risk of obesity related disorders, whilst at the same time reducing pasture degradation and supplemental feed costs
Sep 2016 DOI 10.14302/issn.2474-9273.jbtm-16-1189
Martin KarenCorresponding author
School of Population Health (M431), The University of Western Australia
Objectives: This pilot study explored post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and moderate to severe psychological distress in a small sample of urban community-living adolescents seeking asylum in Australia. The study also examined the relationships between post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and psychological distress and school and family support and connectedness. Method: A cross-sectional survey examined PTSS (Abbreviated PTSD Checklist), psychological distress (Kessler-5) and school connectedness (California Healthy Kids Survey)53 in 27 adolescents seeking asylum (ages 12-17, mean 15.4) attending two independent secondary schools in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. Results: In the sample, 63.0% (n=17, 1 missing) of adolescents exceeded the PTSS threshold (i.e. screened positive for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) and 66.7% (n=18) exceeded the Kessler -5 threshold indicating moderate to severe psychological distress. Overall, 51.9 % (n=14, 1 missing) of adolescents screened above both thresholds suggesting co-occurrence of PTSD and moderate to severe psychological distress. Boys (x̄=15.0, SD=2.9) experienced higher psychological distress scores than girls (x̄=12.1, SD=4.5; p=0.071). Higher perceived support by an adult in school (r=0.13), and at home (r=0.28) were weakly associated with lower PTSS. Less time in Australia was weak-moderately associated with higher psychological distress (r=0.35). Weak associations between higher psychological distress and age (r=0.17) and those who felt more supported by an adult at home (r=0.17) were detected. Conclusion: Approximately two thirds of this group of community-living adolescents who were seeking asylum experienced post- traumatic stress symptoms or psychological distress; and more than one half experienced both. These pilot research findings suggest that adolescents who are seeking asylum and living in the Australian community are at risk of experiencing PTSD and moderate to severe psychological distress; research incorporating larger samples and longitudinal measurement is required. Screening, clinical assessment and examination of the immediate and long term impact, as well as implementation and evaluation of evidence-based mental health interventions, within these populations is also recommended.
Aug 2016 DOI 10.14302/issn.2474-9273.jbtm-16-1175
Yeh Pi-MingCorresponding author
RN. Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Health Professionals, Missouri Western State University, USA.
Objective: To examine the relationships between Australian nursing students’ anxiety, depression, personality and family interaction with psychological well-being and suicidal ideation. Participants: A sample of 201 nursing students completed a series of structured questionnaires in an Australian University. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive research design was used. After explanation of this study, 201 nursing students voluntarily participated. Six reliable and structured questionnaires were used to do data collection. SPSS was used for data analysis including descriptive data, Pearson Correlation, and Stepwise Multiple Regression. Results: Anxiety and depression were positively associated with suicidal ideation and had negative relationships with psychological well-being. Positive personality and family interaction were positively associated with psychological well-being and negatively with suicidal ideation. Parents’ harsh discipline had a negative relationship with the nursing students’ psychological well-being. Conclusions: Depression, personality, and positive family interaction were significant predictors of Australian nursing students’ psychological well-being. Anxiety, depression, and harsh discipline were significant predictors of suicidal ideation
Jan 2015 DOI 10.14302/issn.2379-7835.ijn-14-536
Su XiaoCorresponding author
Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, College of Health and Biomedicine,Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria 8001, Australia.
The risk levels of chronic diseases are increasing among Asian migrants in Western countries compared to their origin-country counterparts. This study evaluates the impact of an 8-week nutrition and lifestyle intervention on cardio-metabolic risk factors in Korean migrants living in Melbourne, Australia. Thirty participants aged 32-62 years completed the program. Self-reported food intake and physical activity, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, and biomarkers of cardio-metabolic risk were assessed. An initial training session and four consequent nutrition advice sessions were provided for all participants. There was a significant reduction in the waist and hip circumferences. Positive changes were also observed in plasma lipid profiles, calcium intake and frequency of physical activities. These findings demonstrate that a culturally appropriate nutrition and lifestyle intervention can be successfully delivered to reduce the cardio-metabolic risk factors and improve the health and wellbeing of Korean adult migrants.
Apr 2023 DOI 10.14302/issn.2576-6694.jbbs-22-4417
Mostafa M. Sabra SherifaCorresponding author
United States of America (USA), Australia, and Canada recommending children computer-use should be imperfect. It obligated a strong influence on children’s lives. The problem was for stuck in the computer-use for a long time per day. The goal was to follow child-health in the Arab-community to notice its influence on the child-health. The method was through a arithmetical study by sending Internet questionnaire and receiving the parents' advice. The results were in the 500 parent answers and 14 comments. The first was "You have a child up to 13 years old?"; 83.6%. The second was "Your child used a computer?"; 80.8%. The third was "Your child used the computer for a long time?"; 67.9%. The fourth was "The computer caused a health problem for your child?"; 70.3%. The fifth was "The computer caused your child mental disorder?"; 68.5%. The sixth was "The computer caused your child trouble seeing?"; 77.2%. The seventh was "The computer caused your child trouble sleeping?"; 72.0%. The eighth 8 was "The computer caused your child feeding problem?"; 69.5%. The ninth was "The computer caused your child family relationship problem?", 72.0%. The tenth was "Prevent your child from using the computer to protect his health?"; 79.0%. It was concluded that the extent of the harms of child computer-use from a health and psychological point. They have young and sensitive tissues. The computer-use affected them, child-health. It was recommended the parents instructions will protect children from the computer-use for long periods. That will reduce child-health and psychological problems.
Mar 2022 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4108
Isea RaúlCorresponding author
Fundación Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Hoyo de la Puerta, Baruta, Venezuela.
In this work we present how it is possible to visualize the different coronavirus outbreaks from the calculation of the mantissa from the daily record of cases by Covid-19.This curve can also indicate the speed of propagation of the disease from the calculated infection rate. These conclusions are derived from the respective calculations in four different countries: Australia, Brazil, Italy, and Venezuela.
Feb 2021 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-3732
Isea RaúlCorresponding author
Fundación Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Hoyo de la Puerta, Baruta, Venezuela.
This paper resolves analytically a mathematical model that reproduces the transmission of Covid-19 in three interactive populations, i.e. from the initial source of contagion associated with the bat population, subsequently transmitted to unknown host (usually associate with pangolins). The host were sent and distributed to Seafood Market in Wuhan (defined reservoir), and finally infected to the human population. The model is based on a system of ten differential equations reproducing all the possible infection scenarios among all of them, that is: (1) there is no infection in any of the three populations, (2) only the population of bats is infected, (3) only the pangolins, (4) only the human people. Later, combinations between them, this is: (5) both the bat and pangolin populations, (6) bats and humans, (7) pangolins and humans, and finally, (8) all the previous populations. In each scenario, I deduced the critical points as well as the eigenvalues that indicate the equilibrium conditions. Finally, it is demonstrated the validity of the model with the data corresponding to the second wave of infections in Australia.
Aug 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-20-3498
Isea RaúlCorresponding author
Fundación Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Hoyo de la Puerta, Baruta. Venezuela.
The paper proposes a new visualization scheme for the registry of Covid-19 cases by calculating the mantissa of the registered ones, so there is no need of performing complicated mathematical calculations. As an example, six countries are randomly selected: Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Portugal and Venezuela. The results show that China is the only country that keeps the epidemic under control, while Australia begins a new outbreak after having previously controlled the epidemic. Colombia and Portugal show a very similar behavior of registered cases and, finally, we can see that Venezuela, Brazil, Portugal, and Colombia present a growth of cases that may trigger new outbreaks in the future. Results are obtained from data registered at Johns Hopkins University until July 18th, 2020.
Jul 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-20-3453
Isea RaulCorresponding author
Fundación Instituto de Estudios Avanzados IDEA, Hoyo de la Puerta, Baruta, Venezuela
The present work analyzes the registered cases of Covid-19 throughout the world according the data registered at Johns Hopkins University. We selected 15 countries to analyze their data. In alphabetical order the countries are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, United States and Venezuela. With this information, three different studies were carried out. First, the data was validated using Benford's Law which is based on forensic techniques that allow us to guarantee the integrity of the information. Later, we calculated the value of the basic reproduction number (R0), ie., the number of secondary host infections caused by one primary host infection that helps us to determine if a country has an outbreak of Covid-19. Finally, we show that the best representation for the change in the number of cases in the time is to calculate the mantissa value, ie., the floating number obtained from the logarithm of the data.
May 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-20-3376
Isea RaulCorresponding author
Fundación Instituto de Estudios Avanzados IDEA, Hoyo de la Puerta, Baruta, Venezuela
The goal of this paper is to analyze the registered cases of people who have been infected with Covid-19 registered from throughout the world, using a digital forensic analysis technique that is based on Benford's Law. Twenty-three countries were randomly chosen for this analysis: China, India, Germany, Brazil, Venezuela, Netherlands, Italy, Colombia, Russia, Norway, South Africa, Portugal, Singapore, United Kingdom, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, Denmark, Ireland, France, Belgium, Australia and Croatia.. We calculate on the p-values based on Pearson χ2 and Mantissa Arc Test according to the results obtained with the first digit. If any country fails these two tests, a third proof will be carried out based on the Freedman-Watson test. The results indicated that results from Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Belgium and Chile are suspicions of data manipulation because the numbers fail the Benford’s Law according to the results obtained until April 30, 2020. However, it is necessary to carry out further studies in these countries in order to ensure that they countries manipulate or altered the information.
Mar 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2471-2175.jdrt-20-3274
L. Chiou WinCorresponding author
Chiou Consulting Inc, 8552 Johnston Road, Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527, United States
Pharmacodynamic modeling of sunscreens was performed using a new concept of Skin UV Index (SUI) on the exposed skin as a parameter to evaluate the potential effectiveness of sunscreens against sun damage. The SUI predicts the UV heat intensity on the skin surface in terms of the solar UV Index at the time of the study and is calculated by solar UV Index/sunscreen’s SPF. SUI numbers for sunscreen with SPF ranging from 2 to 100 under a solar UV Index of 10 was used for illustration. Based on guidelines from WHO, Australia and New Zealand, sunscreens yielding SUI < 3 are assumed to be effective against sun damage such as sunburn and melanoma. Based on the above assumption, sunscreens with SPF > 4 were found to be effective when sunscreens were evenly applied at 2 mg/cm2. Review of numerous studies suggests that missing applications may represent a major, seemingly unavoidable, SPF-independent factor causing unintended sunburns for sunbathers in the US and other countries with a temperate climate. This might in turn become a major factor for causing exponential increase in melanoma incidence rates observed in the last few decades. For example, in an SPF 30 sunscreen study all 25 participants suffered unintended sunburns after one week of sunbathing. Also, a mean missing application of 20% of the total exposed area and a mean missing of about 50% of the time were reported in two separate studies. Simulations were also performed with under-applications of 50% and 75%. The present simulations may provide a rationale of why routine use of a low SPF 8 sunscreen was reported to be effective against melanoma in a 2018 Australian study. Based on model simulations it is proposed that in the US, SPF 8 sunscreen and SPF 2 to 6 sunscreen may be adequate for routine, unintentional use for sun-sensitive populations and non-sun-sensitive populations, respectively.
Apr 2019 DOI 10.14302/issn.2641-5518.jcci-19-2700
S Lane AndrewCorresponding author
Cardiovascular Ultrasound Laboratory, Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Nepean Hospital, PO Box 63, Penrith NSW 2751
Rheumatic heart disease is becoming far less common in the developed world, and therefore expsoure to its complications are been seen less by clinicians. With the increasing ease of world travel, patients with less commonly seen medical conditions are increasingly presenting to Hospitals requiring management of their complications. We present a case of an elderly lady who was a tourist in Australia, who presented with complications of her rheumatic heart disease, and her subsequent radiological and echocardiographic investigations were a significant surpirse for her treating clinicians.