Natural history of trees

Courtney Pedersen and Charles Robb's A Natural History of Trees was a installation mounted at Blindside ARI in Melbourne's CBD in 2012. The work took the form of a pine-panelled room containing a pair of life-sized tree trunks composed entirely of stacks of cut paper discs. A faux bois stool reinforced the sense of artificiality. Claustrophic and precarious, the installation was simultaneously a response to the complexity of our relationship with nature and place, and an evocation of the precarious quality of the collaborative process. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by writer/curator, Jane O'Neill.

Natural history of corneal nerve morphology in mild neuropathy associated with type 1 diabetes : Development of a potential measure of diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Purpose To investigate longitudinal changes of subbasal nerve plexus (SNP) morphology and its relationship with conventional measures of neuropathy in individuals with diabetes. Methods A cohort of 147 individuals with type 1 diabetes and 60 age-balanced controls underwent detailed assessment of clinical and metabolic factors, neurologic deficits, quantitative sensory testing, nerve conduction studies and corneal confocal microscopy at baseline and four subsequent annual visits. The SNP parameters included corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), branch density (CNBD) and fiber length (CNFL) and were quantified using a fully-automated algorithm. Linear mixed models were fitted to examine the changes in corneal nerve parameters over time. Results At baseline, 27% of the participants had mild diabetic neuropathy. All SNP parameters were significantly lower in the neuropathy group compared to controls (P<0.05). Overall, 89% of participants examined at baseline also completed the final visit. There was no clinically significant change to health and metabolic parameters and neuropathy measures from baseline to the final visit. Linear mixed model revealed a significant linear decline of CNFD (annual change rate, -0.9 nerve/mm2, P=0.01) in the neuropathy group compared to controls, which was associated with age (β=-0.06, P=0.04) and duration of diabetes (β=-0.08, P=0.03). In the neuropathy group, absolute changes of CNBD and CNFL showed moderate correlations with peroneal conduction velocity and cold sensation threshold, respectively (rs, 0.38 and 0.40, P<0.05). Conclusion This study demonstrates dynamic small fiber damage at the SNP, thus providing justification for our ongoing efforts to establish corneal nerve morphology as an appropriate adjunct to conventional measures of DPN.

The biology and natural history of Tripogon loliiformis (Poaceae, Chloridoideae), an Australian resurrection grass

Tripogon loliiformis is a desiccation-tolerant grass that occurs throughout mainland Australia. There has been recent interest in this species as a model system for understanding desiccation tolerance in a native grass at the structural, molecular and physiological levels. However, not much is known about the biology and natural history of this species, despite its widespread geographic distribution and remarkable capability of withstanding prolonged drying. We provide an overview of the genus by consolidating information from a wide variety of sources. We report a variety of new and interesting observations on the general biology, ecology and desiccation response of T. loliiformis and conclude by highlighting areas for future research.