Fauna Passes on Mona Vale Road: Update
January 27, 2016 - Pittwater Natural Heritage Association (PNHA)
Will the young Swamp Wallaby be able to cross Mona Vale Road?
Update on the RMS proposal to upgrade and widen a 3.2km section of Mona Vale Road East between Ingleside and Mona Vale:
Thanks to those PNHA members who made a submission in response to the Review of Environmental Factors (REF) which was displayed in July and August 2015. Our voices do make a difference.
156 submissions were made, many commenting on issues related to biodiversity and water quality. The PNHA submission focused on fauna connectivity, making the point that we need more fauna crossings on Mona Vale Road east than the one proposed by RMS and that these crossings must be located so that they align with dedicated fauna corridors through the Ingleside precinct.
Although the RMS did not fully address our concerns, they have agreed that in addition to the one fauna underpass planned for the vicinity of Narrabeen Creek, they will investigate the upgrade of existing pipe culverts near Ingleside Road to create more fauna underpasses.
The agreement by RMS to investigate more locations for fauna underpasses indicates that we have made some headway. However it is still not good enough and we will continue campaigning for survival of our native wildlife in Katandra and Ingleside Chase Reserve. Our next step is to meet with Planning Minister Rob Stokes and senior staff from Department of Planning and Environment.
WetlandCare Australia and Conservation Volunteers Australia invite photographers of all ages to enter the Wetlands in Focus photography prize.
Join us in celebrating and sharing Australia’s wonderful wetlands and waterways!
It’s easy and free to enter and get involved – just capture your favorite Australian wetland flora (plant), fauna (animal) or landscape on camera, and submit your shot in the easy to use form on the Wetland Care Australia website.
There’s even a category for photos of wetland volunteers in action, the perfect way to showcase the hard work and dedication of wetland carers around the nation.
All entries will be publicly displayed, with Entrant’s Name, Entry Title, Artists Statement and category entered into, on the WetlandCare Australia Facebook page where you and all your friends can vote for the People’s Choice Prize by liking your fave photo.
Wetlands in Focus is dedicated to spreading the word about Australia’s amazing wetlands and the fantastic people like you who care about them.
Entries are open right up to the end of February 2016, which will be a month of wetland celebrations and events, marking World Wetlands Day.
Entries close February 29 2016, voting for the People's Choice closes March 3 2016.
World Wetlands Day falls on February 2nd each year and commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance on the 2nd February 1971.
The theme for World Wetlands Day 2016 is Wetlands for our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods
There will be wetland themed events happening in locations around Australia during February 2016, watch this space for more details!
For Prize Details and to Enter visit the Wetland Care Australia website.
EDIBLE WEEDS TOUR
Sunday, February 7, 2016: 10:00am – 11:00pm
Naturalist Diego Bonetto will introduce you to the wonders and possibilities of edible weeds on a two hour urban tour on the northern beaches. Building on the knowledge acquired while growing up on a farm in Italy, Diego introduces people to the ever-present food and medicine plants that surround us. To some plantain, dandelion, chickweed and sow-thistle are a nuisance, to others they are a delicious salad and a seasonal treat. Learn about the most common species growing in your garden, along the green belts and in parks and reserves. Find out how they have been used for food, craft and natural remedies and discover ways to safely harvest from the urban 'wild' and enrich your diet with vitamins and minerals.
Please be quick to register as we are set to a maximum of 25 people for our exclusive Permaculture Northern Beaches weed tour.
$25 non-members, $20 members.
Bookings are essential contact: Cathy.natoli@hotmail.com
Hypercapnia - why intoxicated fish isn’t as funny as it sounds
UNSW TV
High concentrations of CO2 in seawater can cause fish to become intoxicated - a phenomena known as hypercapnia. UNSW’s Ben McNeil and Tristan Sasse explain how a rise in our oceans’ CO2 levels could have huge implications for global fisheries and marine ecosystems.
UNSW researchers have found that carbon dioxide concentrations in seawater could reach levels high enough to make fish “intoxicated” and disoriented many decades earlier than previously thought, with serious implications for the world’s fisheries.
The UNSW study, published in the journal Nature, is the first global analysis of the impact of rising carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels on natural variations in carbon dioxide concentrations in the world’s oceans.
“Our results were staggering and have massive implications for global fisheries and marine ecosystems across the planet,” says lead author, Dr Ben McNeil, of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre. See: www.ccrc.unsw.edu.au
“High concentrations of carbon dioxide cause fish to become intoxicated – a phenomenon known as hypercapnia. Essentially, the fish become lost at sea. The carbon dioxide affects their brains and they lose their sense of direction and ability to find their way home. They don’t even know where their predators are.
“We’ve shown that if atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution continues to rise, fish and other marine creatures in CO2 hotpots in the Southern, Pacific and North Atlantic oceans will experience episodes of hypercapnia by the middle of this century – much sooner than had been predicted, and with more damaging effects than thought.
“By 2100, creatures in up to half the world’s surface oceans are expected to be affected by hypercapnia.”
The study is by Dr McNeil and Dr Tristan Sasse of the UNSW School of Mathematics and Statistics.
Ocean hypercapnia is predicted to occur when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations exceed 650 parts per million.
The UNSW scientists utilised a global database of seawater carbon dioxide concentrations collected during the past 30 years as part of a variety of oceanographic programs.
“We then devised a numerical method to work out the natural monthly peaks and troughs in carbon dioxide concentrations during the year across the surface of the world’s oceans, based on these observations,” says Dr Sasse.
“This allowed us to predict for the first time that these natural oscillations will be amplified by up to tenfold in some regions of the ocean by the end of the century, if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations continue to rise.”
To help accelerate this important area of research, the UNSW scientists have also offered prizes to other researchers who can improve on their results.
“Predicting the onset of hypercapnia is difficult, due to a lack of global ocean measurements of carbon dioxide concentrations,” says Dr McNeil.
“We are challenging other scientists with innovative predictive approaches to download the dataset we used, employ their own numerical methods and share their final predictions, to see if they can beat our approach.”
The competition and prizes are outlined on the thinkable.org website, of which Dr McNeil is founder.
Avalon Boomerang Bags 2016 Workshops
It was great to see some of our regular volunteers yesterday at our first workshop of the year - thanks everyone for showing up and kicking off the year in style. There will be no workshop next Tuesday 26th January due to Australia Day, however, we look forward to seeing you all at the next workshop on Tuesday 2nd February 11:30am- 5pm.
For those of you unable to come to workshops there are many other ways to get involved, just let us know you're willing by leaving a comment or sending us a message.
Pictured is a Boomerang Bag Box as will be provided around Avalon Shopping area full of our Boomerang Bags to "Borrow and Bring Back" Workshops are every Tuesday in Avalon Rec. Centre.
Pittwater Council Environment Events and Workshops February 2016
Detox your home!
13th Feb 2016: 10am - 11:30am
Save money and reduce the number of chemicals in your home
Get inspired to clean your home without the nasty chemicals. With a range of different options this workshop will give you advice on how to choose the right products and how to make your own green cleaners. Get expert advice on how to keep your home clean and green.
Where: Coastal Environment Centre, Lake Park Road, North Narrabeen.
Bookings Essential! • Online • In person: Coastal Environment Centre, Lake Park Road, North Narrabeen • Phone: 1300 000 232 (Reception - Option 1)
Native Bee Workshop
7th Feb 2016
Two session times are available.
Do you want to learn more about native bees? Pittwater Council will be holding workshops on native bees and how to keep them. Native bees are a fantastic part of our environment and are very seldom seen.
Learn about how these communities of native bees live, breed and forage for food. Find out how and what you need to do, grow and avoid in your garden to ensure a healthy hive. Can you tell the difference between a fruit fly and a Stingless Bee?
Tim Heard, native bee expert will be presenting his very popular workshop on keeping native bees. You will learn how to identify and keep native bees as well as how to extract honey from the hives.
Cost: $20. This cost will include a copy of Tim Heard's latest publication.
Where: Coastal Environment Centre, Lake Park Road, North Narrabeen.
The following sessions are being conducted:
• Session 1: 9am - 12noon
• Session 2: 1 - 4pm
Bookings Essential! • Online • In person: Coastal Environment Centre, Lake Park Road, North Narrabeen • Phone: 1300 000 232 (Reception - Option 1)
Birding Morning
14th Feb 2016: 7am - 9am
Come for a morning with the birds.
We will take you for a fantastic guided walk to learn more about our feathered friends. Our birding mornings are guided by local experts and are a great opportunity to get a better look at out local bird life. A great activity for those people interested to learn more as well as passionate birdwatchers.
Where: Deep Creek Reserve. Meet point provided on booking (select Birding Walk).
Bookings Essential! • Online • In person: Coastal Environment Centre, Lake Park Road, North Narrabeen • Phone: 1300 000 232 (Reception - Option 1)
Ingleside Escarpment Walk
21st Feb 2016: 9am - 12pm
A stunning bushland reserve with a beautiful waterfall.
Come and join us for a walk through Ingleside Chase Reserve which is Pittwater's largest continuous piece of bushland. It contains many beautiful plant communities and threatened fauna.
The walk will commence at Irrawong-Epworth Reserve and climb to Ingleside Park. At the park we will have a morning tea break and then head back down. The track is 1.5km one-way and is a little steep in parts so although we will be taking it at a gentle pace a reasonable level of fitness is required.
Where: Irrawong and Ingleside Chase Reserve. Meeting point provided on booking.
Bookings Essential! • Online • In person: Coastal Environment Centre, Lake Park Road, North Narrabeen • Phone: 1300 000 232 (Reception - Option 1)
SICK AND INJURED NATIVE ANIMALS
Hot and dry conditions that summer is known for means our native animals suffer. If you come across a native animal that is sick or injured please call one of the following rescue groups:
Sydney Wildlife 02 9413 4300
WIRES 1300 094 737
Award-winning environmental education program launches classroom version for teachers
Media release: 28 January 2016
Fun bug hunts, playground prowls, invertebrate investigations and Aboriginal bush lessons are just a few schoolyard activities from a new environmental online learning portal called WilderQuest Learning (WQL) that has been launched today for primary school teachers and their students.
NSW Deputy Chief Executive National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Michael Wright praised the new free online education portal, developed by NPWS with support from NSW Environmental Trust, which meets the new NSW and Australian Curriculum learning outcomes.
“Australian children are already big fans of WilderQuest’s online games and exciting virtual environments, guided by much-loved characters Ranger Sam, Ranger Pip, Pug and Spot,” Mr Wright said.
“Now with the new WilderQuest Learning Portal for teachers, it means WilderQuest’s unique environmental and science lessons on Australia’s native wildlife and landscapes will be brought-to-life inside classrooms and in playgrounds across NSW and Australia.
“Teachers can sign-up to download the 10 week teacher programs, full of fun and educational classroom activities, digital challenges, citizen science investigations and environmental games which inspire kids to love and care for nature.”
Over 400 teachers from 330 individual schools have already registered for WilderQuest Learning after being invited by NPWS to trial the new portal and provide feedback prior to its launch.
School teacher Carolyn Taylor from Holy Family Merewether School in Newcastle commends WQL’s environmental lesson plans and online resources for educators.
“Children love new digital technologies and they are critical to learning in the 21st century. So it’s great I can use WilderQuest Learning to plan lessons that encourage children to explore and play outside in nature,” said Ms Taylor.
Aboriginal knowledge and culture is also presented by local knowledge holders from around NSW both online and during visits to national parks.
The WilderQuest Learning Portal has been designed for stages 1, 2 & 3 (K-6). The 10 week teacher programs prescribe online classroom activities, outdoor learning and park visits, linked to both NSW and Australian curricula in Science, Geography and History with a focus on Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Capability and the recently adopted Australian Cross-Curricular Priorities.
Key features the students will see include a NSW map providing live weather information to their personalised ‘Cubby’ and six environments from desert, alpine, woodlands, rainforest, town and coast to explore as well as photographic games and beautifully shot landscape videos.
Over the next three years, further innovative WilderQuest Learning resources will be added to the Learning Portal including new online Aboriginal cultural education resources for the Aboriginal WilderQuest Campfire, due to launch February 2017.
Visit WilderQuest Learning here:www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/wilderquest-learning
UWS and International research finds aridity will impact carbon storage, plant productivity
29 January 2016
Two landmark studies by Western Sydney University and an international team of scientists have revealed increasing aridity worldwide could significantly impact the diversity of crucial microorganisms and key ecosystem services such as plant productivity and soil carbon sequestration.
Drylands occupy about 41 percent of the earth's surface, and are home to 38 percent of the world's population. Climate models predict the proportion of drylands will further expand by 10% by 2100 due to overgrazing, erosion and climate change. Yet there remains a lack of knowledge about how this will affect existing ecosystem services.
In a world first, an international team of scientists has studied 80 dryland sites in every continent except Antarctica in an attempt to map the future of the diverse, thriving microbial communities living in soils across the world.
The first study, led by Professor Fernando Maestre (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain) and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, found that as soil became more arid, there was a corresponding reduction in the abundance and diversity of bacteria.
In the second study, published in Nature Communications, scientists investigated how microbial diversity loss affected the crucial ecological functions of drylands. They also conducted a national survey in Scotland covering multiple ecosystem types typically found in temperate ecosystems. Using these two independent databases, the international team of researchers found that microbial diversity is vital to maintaining the capability of ecosystems to provide multiple functions and services simultaneously. Even when accounting for impacts such as climate, soil abiotic factors and spatial predictors of ecosystem functions, the positive effects of microbial diversity were maintained.
"The study has a clear message for scientists, policy makers, and organizations involved in management and conservation policies," says the first author of Nature Communication paper Dr Manuel Delgado Baquerizo, from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University.
"Losses in microbial diversity derived from human activities and climate change will reduce ecosystem functions and services, such as food and fiber production, climate regulation, and nutrient cycling."
Senior author Professor Brajesh Singh, from the Global Centre for Land-Based Innovation at Western Sydney University, says the studies have severe consequences for the global population.
"90% of human settlements in dryland are based in developing countries, posing serious challenges to food security, carbon sequestration and desertification," he says.
"For example, it is estimated that severe degradation in 10-20 % of global drylands could affect about 250 million people, which will impact the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN."
Professor Singh says the studies clearly indicate the need to develop new approaches to protect soil biodiversity to ensure the multifunctionality of terrestrial ecosystems is preserved for future generations.
"To reduce projected loss in key ecosystem services, further expansion and deterioration in terrestrial ecosystems need to be minimised," he says.
"This will require a coordinated approach to slow down the rate of climate change, in combination with changes to land use patterns to reduce overgrazing by local populations."
Australian Developed Online insomnia treatment also prevents depression
Senior Australian of the Year award for emergency medicine pioneer
25 January 2016 - by Amy Coopes: UNSW
New drugs, killer bugs, one-punch deaths and terror threats – if it happens in Sydney, Gordian Fulde sees it first.
Head of St Vincent Hospital's emergency department, UNSW Associate Professor Gordian Fulde, centre. Photo courtesy St VIncent's Hospital.
After 30 years on the frontlines of one of Australia’s busiest emergency rooms, UNSW Associate Professor Gordian Fulde is something of a household name. The star of hit reality series Kings Cross ER, Fulde is also an outspoken advocate on the social issues that see his waiting room overflow, weekend after weekend: Mental health and homelessness, drugs and alcohol, a casual violence that would have been unthinkable three decades ago.
But behind every sensational headline and political point scored, there is a human face, and Fulde, who on Monday was named Senior Australian of the Year for his ongoing contribution to the community, has seen them all.
“We have the most rich, most powerful people sometimes even in the world, and at the same time the most socially powerless and disenfranchised,” says Fulde, Director of Emergency at St Vincent’s Hospital and a conjoint associate professor at UNSW.
“They can be in one bed to the next and it’s absolutely brilliant. And we treat them all the same.”
Emergency medicine hasn’t always been so glamorous.
If there’s a new recreational drug, chances are we will see it first. If there is a trend in heart attacks, kidney stones, pneumonia, or whatever, we’re the first to sense something’s not right.
Fulde knew from “well before the age of 10” that he wanted to follow his German-born parents into medicine. His father was a cardiothoracic surgeon and his mother a pathologist.
After training at the University of Sydney, Fulde went into general surgery where, as fate would have it, he took a job at Sutherland Hospital requiring him to also oversee the emergency department (ED), known back then as casualty or ‘cas’.
“Traditionally, emergency was the pits,” he says. “In terms of appeal, it was up there with the toilets and roach motels.”
There was no triage system, no career path, nothing. The bells and whistles of modern emergency medicine were little more than science fiction. Yet Fulde found himself falling under the ED’s spell, spending less and less time in the operating theatre until eventually, he decided to put the scalpel down.
“My mother never forgave me, but I knew I’d found what I really wanted to do.”
When the very first emergency medicine exams were held in the UK, Fulde was the third person in the world to sign up – and the first to pass.
He’s long been a “St Vincent's boy” – his father had ties to the hospital and a young Fulde did his internship there. In 1982, he was appointed the hospital’s Director of Emergency.
A pioneer of the field, Fulde went on to found the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, cementing its place as a standalone specialty.
“I am the only person standing, let alone working, from that era,” says Fulde.
“It was a significant thing, a pretty cool thing to have been a part of. And I’m still here.”
Every morning at 8 o'clock – even on the days he is not rostered on the floor – Fulde leads ward rounds, receiving a handover from overnight staff on the patients who occupy the ED’s 50 or so beds.
This particular Monday there’s the full spectrum: facial fractures from weekend assaults, a pedestrian hit by a car, UTIs and appendicitis, an international rugby player with heart trouble. In one of the padded isolation rooms, someone is coming down from an ice binge.
Someone thinks you have stolen their parking spot and they will scratch your car, or punch your head in. Thirty years ago, that was unthinkable. Now women get assaulted, and no one is surprised.
A middle-aged commuter cyclist is wheeled in on an ambulance gurney clutching what Fulde refers to as the Green Trumpet – a whistle containing the inhalable painkiller penthrox. His collarbone is visibly deformed, and later scans reveal broken ribs and internal injuries.
“It’s not fair is it?” Fulde says to the man as he is whisked past.
“Not at my age” replies the cyclist with a wan smile.
Straddling the outskirts of the CBD and Sydney’s red light district, St Vincents’ ED is the canary in the coalmine, says Fulde. As central Sydney’s trauma centre, it sees more misadventure than many other emergency departments.
Located in Darlinghurst, on the road to Kings Cross, it also has a reputation for “sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, perhaps unfairly, given the lion’s share of work is with the sick and elderly.
In the 1980s and '90s, the hospital was on the front lines of Sydney’s AIDS epidemic, and more recently was designated the city’s SARS responder. It is fully equipped for a natural disaster or extremist attack. During the Lindt café siege Fulde’s teams were on standby to receive the first wave of victims.
“If there’s a new recreational drug, chances are we will see it first. If there is a trend in heart attacks, kidney stones, pneumonia, or whatever, we’re the first to sense something’s not right.”
Though use of the stimulant drug ice gets a lot of media and political attention, Fulde says alcohol remains the number one culprit in substance-related emergency presentations.
But a new culture of violence is what troubles Fulde most.
“Someone thinks you have stolen their parking spot and they will scratch your car, or punch your head in,” he says. “Thirty years ago, that was unthinkable – I had nuns walking around. Now women get assaulted, and no one is surprised.”
As soon as Fulde finishes with one patient, another arrives. Emergency medicine moves at frenetic pace, with minutes or even seconds crucial to a successful outcome. Fulde typically does 10 things simultaneously and at speed, often forgetting to eat breakfast or lunch. He says emergency is not for everybody.
“You have to be a people person, and really cope with anything that’s thrown at you,” he says.
Burnout is a real concern, and the stress and shift work can end in divorce, drinking or worse.
Patients who leave home thinking today will be like any other day can, and do, die, leaving Fulde with grieving families who never had a chance to say goodbye.
“There is no real training that will help you ... And that’s the really horrible part,” he says.
Every emergency physician has their triggers and coping mechanisms. As a father of two daughters, Fulde would go home after treating a young female patient and hug his children extra tight.
“Has it made me say live every day to the fullest? No. It comes down to your philosophy of fate, or religion, or superstition,” he says.
“The key is to appreciate what you’ve got – love, your family – that can really sustain you.”
Fulde’s wife of more than 30 years, medical administrator Lesley Forster, is the head of the UNSW Rural Clinical School. He credits her with teaching him how to navigate the pot-holed world of hospital politics, which continues to be a family affair – both their daughters are also UNSW-trained doctors at St Vincents.
Perhaps surprisingly, Fulde says the memories that stay with you aren’t necessarily the most dramatic ones.
The stakes can be high, but so too the rewards. There are few areas of medicine where you can make such a profound difference to nearly everyone you see.
“Those people who die in front of your eyes, who you form a human relationship with, they stay with you. As they should.”
The stakes can be high, but so too the rewards. There are few areas of medicine where you can make such a profound difference to nearly everyone you see, Fulde says.
And it’s not all about life and death. Fulde says he’s constantly amazed by the sexual misadventures that present to the ED.
“We routinely see the most unbelievable stuff, even my most seasoned staff say ‘wow, this is different’,” he says. But he immediately evokes the Vegas clause: what happens in the ED stays in the ED.
Fulde’s mantra is a simple one: Prime Minister or pauper, you are first and foremost a patient. It’s a pragmatism that has won him friends in all quarters.
“You treat everybody the same, as though they were a loved one, and you play everybody down the wicket,” he says.” I’ve got no axe to grind.”
Survey finds 'Southern Horizon' the favourite alternative Australian flag design
26 January 2016: University of Western Sydney (UWS)
'Southern Horizon' flag design
A public survey into alternative Australian flag designs by Dr Benjamin T. Jones from Western Sydney University has attracted over eight thousand responses, with the 'Southern Horizon' the favourite option.
As part of a larger Australian Research Council funded project looking at Australian national symbols, six popular alternative flag designs were presented to survey participants between 16 December and 25 January.
The 'Southern Horizon' was the most popular choice, with 31 per cent of the vote, with the 'Reconciliation Flag' placing second at 28 per cent.
'Reconciliation Flag' design
Dr Jones says the survey result mirrors the recent flag referendum (opens in new window) in New Zealand, where the winning alternative design, the 'Silver Fern', maintained the blue background and red stars of the current national flag.
"Those who support a new Australian flag design fall primarily into two categories; those who want a neutral design with some link to the current flag, and those who want a completely new design with specific recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples," he says.
"Similar to New Zealand, the winning design in this survey, the 'Southern Horizon' flag, maintains the blue backdrop of the Australian flag, as well as the Southern Cross and the Federation Star. There are minimal changes beyond the removal of the Union Jack."
Key findings of the survey include:
While 8,140 people took part in the survey, only 6,427 choose a favorite alternative design. This can be interpreted as a protest vote from those who want to keep the current flag, and from those who favour a design not included in the survey.
88 per cent of participants identified as Australian with British, Irish or European heritage. 3 per cent identified as Aboriginal of Torres Strait Islander.
64 per cent of respondents believed the Australian flag should change, compared with 36 per cent who believed it should remain the same.
The Eureka Flag polled well and came in third, with 15 per cent of the vote, however many commentators specifically rejected the Eureka design for its negative association with unions and extreme right-wing groups.
The most common responses when asked what elements should be in a new Australian flag were "simplicity", "Southern Cross", and "Green and Gold"
Most participants who favoured a new flag suggested they would support any design that did not have a Union Jack, even if it was not their favourite.
Dr Jones says the response to the survey has been enthusiastic, and a government-run alternative flag poll would provide a fair and democratic way to fully explore the issue.
"Australia has never had a truly democratic process to choose a national flag. The 1901 competition for a flag of government — not a national flag — required a British element and British approval," he says.
"The winning design, the 'Blue Ensign', became the national flag only in 1954 when the Queen assented to Prime Minister Robert Menzies' Flags Act. The people were not involved."
"The response to this survey shows a proper national conversation on the Australian flag and a democratic vote is long overdue."
Maj. Gen. Orme Awarded Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)
Tuesday, 26 January 2016: The Hon Stuart Robert MP, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister for Human Services, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Stuart Robert today congratulated Deputy President of the Repatriation Commission Major General Craig Orme AM CSC on being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in this year’s Australia Day Honours.
During his 37-year military career, General Orme’s operational experience included deployments in Malaysia, Iran, Kuwait and US Central Command, as well as in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The DSC acknowledges his distinguished command and leadership in warlike operations as Commander Joint Task Force 633 on Operations SLIPPER and OKRA from September 2013 to December 2014.
Upon leaving the Australian Defence Force (ADF) a year ago, General Orme joined the Repatriation Commission, which is part of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) portfolio.
“General Orme’s highly impressive career is characterised by his service,” Mr Robert said.
"As an Army officer, he defended the nation. Now—equipped with an understanding and firsthand experience of the issues faced by contemporary veterans—he looks after the interests of others who have served, and their families.”
Mr Robert said General Orme was well placed to play a key role in DVA’s efforts to continuously improve the way the organisation conducts business and interacts with members of the veteran community.
“General Orme is committed to ensuring DVA continues to help veterans and their families lead productive, satisfying lives after they leave the ADF,” Mr Robert said.
"In the past 12 months, General Orme has been heavily involved in work to introduce online claims forms, develop a single dispute resolution pathway for claims, update IT systems and reduce claims processing times.”
The Minister said that approximately six per cent of DVA staff are Reservists or former members of the ADF, so they have personal experience of the needs of clients.
Some of the support and services available through DVA include compensation, rehabilitation, employment assistance programs, innovative online mental health resources, and treatment for a range of conditions.
Top: Maj Gen Craig Orme AM, CSC, Deputy President Repatriation Commission. Image courtesy Department of Veterans' Affairs (Australia)
150 lives saved each year in NSW hospitals thanks to sepsis awareness program
25 January 2016 - by Dan Wheelan: UNSW
Patients presenting with sepsis in NSW hospitals are receiving life-saving treatment earlier thanks to a program that has transformed the way emergency departments respond to the condition, a UNSW study shows.
Sepsis – an inflammatory response to an infection which can led to septic shock and organ dysfunction – is one of the most common reasons for a patient's health to deteriorate in hospital, and was involved in 17.5% of all in-hospital deaths in NSW in 2009.
The SEPSIS KILLS program was introduced into emergency departments in 2011, after the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission founds significant delays in the recognition and management of sepsis in NSW hospitals.
The program educates staff to recognise risk factors, signs and symptoms of sepsis, resuscitate patients with rapid intravenous fluids and antibiotics and then refer them to senior clinicians and teams.
This program saves lives and should be rolled out across Australia.
Researchers from UNSW Australia and the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) collected data from 13, 567 patients from 2011–2013, to assess the success of the program.
The results of the study are published today in the Medical Journal of Australia.
They found the proportion of sepsis patients receiving intravenous antibiotics within 60 minutes of triage increased from 29.3% to 52.2% over the period.
The research found the number of sepsis patients being treated immediately or within 10 minutes of arrival increased. At the same time, there was a decrease in mortality from 19.3% in 2009–2011 to 14.1% in 2013, and there were also significant declines in time spent on the intensive care ward and total length of stay in hospital.
Chief clinical epidemiologist and senior author of the study, UNSW Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, praised the collaboration of the state’s emergency department clinicians involved in the program.
“Some 70% of sepsis comes through our emergency departments. The commitment of emergency department staff to the program saved an additional 150 lives each year through their adherence to the SEPSIS KILLS program,” Professor McLaws said.
“I am pleased that patients with sepsis are now being treated with the same urgency as those with stroke, heart attack and trauma.This program saves lives and should be rolled out across Australia.”
Since the conclusion of the study, NSW public hospitals have begun extending the SEPSIS KILLS program to inpatient areas and wards.
Top: Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death in hospital patients worldwide. It causes more deaths than prostate cancer, breast cancer and HIV/AIDS combined (Photo: iStock).
Trove now on Facebook
Thursday January 28th, 2016
Hello world, Trove is expanding its social media horizons with a foray into Facebook. If you’ve not heard of us before, Trove is the National Library of Australia’s discovery service which brings together the Library's digital content with records from collecting institutions around Australia. We’ve got pictures, music, manuscripts, archived websites, journals, newspapers, books, biographies and a whole lot more, all brought together into one online service.
We look forward to sharing stories and Trove news with you, as well as hearing about your experiences with Trove. If you ever have any questions about Trove, just click on the ‘Ask Trove!’ button on our Facebook page and fill in our enquiry form.
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TroveAustralia
Trove helps you find and use resources relating to Australia. It's more than a search engine. Trove brings together content from libraries, museums, archives and other research organisations and gives you tools to explore and build.
Trove is many things: a community, a set of services, an aggregation of metadata, and a growing repository of full text digital resources.
Trove is the result of collaboration between the National Library, Australia's State and Territory libraries and hundreds of cultural institutions around Australia, working together to create a legacy of Australia’s knowledge for now and into the future.
Best of all, Trove is yours. As you edit, comment, tag or contribute content you are helping to build a better service for everyone.
Website: trove.nla.gov.au
Cats domesticated in China earlier than 3000 BC
January 25, 2016
Side view of a domestic cat skull from the Neolithic site of Wuzhuangguoliang (Shaanxi, 3200-2800 BC). Credit: © J.-D. Vigne, CNRS/MNHN
Were domestic cats brought to China over 5,000 years ago? Or were small cats domesticated in China at that time? There was no way of deciding between these two hypotheses until a team from the 'Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements' laboratory (CNRS/MNHN), in collaboration with colleagues from the UK and China, succeeded in determining the species corresponding to cat remains found in agricultural settlements in China, dating from around 3500 BC. All the bones belong to the leopard cat, a distant relation of the western wildcat, from which all modern domestic cats are descended. The scientists have thus provided evidence that cats began to be domesticated in China earlier than 3,000 BC. This scenario is comparable to that which took place in the Near East and Egypt, where a relationship between humans and cats developed following the birth of agriculture.
Their findings are published on 22 January 2016 in the journal PLOS ONE.
The cat is the most common domestic animal in the world today, with over 500 million individuals. All of today's domestic cats descend from the African and Near Eastern form of the wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica). According to work published in 2004, humans and cats first started to form a close relationship in the Near East from 9000 to 7000 BC, following the birth of agriculture.
In 2001, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing discovered cat bones in agricultural settlements in northern China (Shaanxi province) dating from around 3500 BC. Was this evidence of a relationship between small Chinese cats and humans in the fourth millennium BC in China? Or was it the result of the arrival in China of the first domestic cats from the Near East? There was no way of deciding between these two hypotheses without identifying the species to which the bones belonged. Although there are no less than four different forms of small cat in China, the subspecies from which modern cats are descended (Felis silvestris lybica) has never been recorded there.
To try to settle the question, a collaboration of scientists principally from CNRS, the French Natural History Museum (MNHN), the University of Aberdeen, the Chinese Academy of Social Science and the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology undertook a geometric morphometric analysis, which, in the absence of ancient DNA, is the only way of differentiating the bones of such small cats, which have very similar morphologies whose differences are often imperceptible using conventional techniques. The scientists analyzed the mandibles of five cats from Shaanxi and Henan dating from 3500 to 2900 BC. Their work clearly determined that the bones all belonged to the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). Still very widespread in Eastern Asia today, this wildcat, which is a distant relation of the western wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), is well-known for its propensity to frequent areas with a strong human presence. Just as in the Near East and Egypt, leopard cats were probably attracted into Chinese settlements by the proliferation of rodents who took advantage of grain stores.
These conclusions show that a process comparable to the one that took place in the Near East and in Egypt developed independently in China following the birth of agriculture in the eighth millennium BC. In China it was the leopard cat (P. bengalensis) and not the western wildcat (F. silvestris) that started to form a relationship with humans. Cat domestication was, at least in three regions of the world, therefore closely connected to the beginnings of agriculture.
Nevertheless, domestic cats in China today are not descended from the leopard cat but rather from its relation F. silvestris lybica. The latter therefore replaced the leopard cat in Chinese settlements after the end of the Neolithic. Did it arrive in China with the opening of the Silk Road, when the Roman and Han empires began to establish tenuous links between East and West? This is the next question that needs to be answered.
Jean-Denis Vigne, Allowen Evin, Thomas Cucchi, Lingling Dai, Chong Yu, Songmei Hu, Nicolas Soulages, Weilin Wang, Zhouyong Sun, Jiangtao Gao, Keith Dobney, Jing Yuan. Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). PLOS ONE, 2016; 11 (1): e0147295 DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0147295
Scientists preserve the endangered ghost orchid
January 26, 2016
The rare and often-poached Ghost Orchid is seen on a tree in Southwest Florida. UF/IFAS scientists are preserving this endangered consumer favorite. Credit: Courtesy, UF/IFAS
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers believe they're on the verge of helping conserve the popular but endangered Ghost Orchid, a plant that's often poached.
"We've successfully developed procedures to culture plants from seeds in the lab and then successfully acclimatize them into our greenhouse," said Michael Kane, professor of environmental horticulture at UF/IFAS. "We've also obtained a high survival and vigorous re-growth rate when they're planted back into the wild."
This rare orchid is unique for several reasons. First, it resembles a ghost when its white flower moves at night; hence, it is known as the Ghost Orchid. It is also leafless, and its roots attach to the bark of the host tree.
About 2,000 ghost orchids remain in Florida, all the more reason to step up efforts to stabilize the current populations, Kane said. The Ghost Orchid also grows in the Bahamas and Cuba. However, researchers are learning that these populations are thriving in very different environmental conditions than those in South Florida.
UF/IFAS scientists are trying to give ghost orchids the best chance to survive after they're planted back in the native environment. Until now, there's only been non-scientific information on ways to grow the Ghost Orchid, Kane said. There's no information on how to reliably produce them in a lab or reintroduce them into nature.
Kane and doctoral student Hoang Nguyen are trying to change that trend. For three years, Kane and Nguyen, with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have worked to bring Ghost Orchid seeds back from Southwest Florida to a propagation lab at the UF campus in Gainesville to see if they can germinate the seed under sterile conditions on a gelled medium and then transfer the plants into a greenhouse.
Their latest results showed they could develop a successful seed culture technique for the Ghost Orchid so they can replant it in the wild. Orchid seeds in the wild won't germinate unless they are infected with a mycorrhizal fungus, Kane said. The UF/IFAS researchers worked with Larry Zettler, biology professor and director of the Orchid Recovery Program at Illinois College, to stimulate seed germination in the lab.
The scientists' work has been so successful that Nguyen won the outstanding research poster contest at last June's meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology. Their study is currently being considered for publication.
Recently, they brought some of the plants back to their native habitat in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Collier County, Florida, and about 70 out of 80 of these Ghost Orchids have survived and are vigorously growing, Nguyen said. They are seeing similar results with Ghost Orchids planted later at the Naples Botanical Garden.
"For orchid conservation, this is big," Kane said. "We are very excited."
Ghost orchids became more famous through a popular book, "Orchid Thief," about a man arrested for stealing them from trees in a forest in Collier County, near the Everglades. The book was made into a 2002 movie, titled "Adaptation," with Meryl Streep.
The above is reprinted from materials provided by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. The original item was written by Brad Buck.
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