The microbiological and sustainability effects of washing anaesthesia breathing circuits less frequently

In the presence of single-use airway filters, we quantified anaesthetic circuit aerobic microbial contamination rates when changed every 24 h, 48 h and 7 days. Microbiological samples were taken from the interior of 305 anaesthetic breathing circuits over a 15-month period (3197 operations). There was no significant difference in the proportion of contaminated circuits when changed every 24 h (57/105 (54%, 95% CI 45–64%)) compared with 48 h (43/100 (43%, 95% CI 33–53%, p = 0.12)) and up to 7 days (46/100 (46%, 95% CI 36–56%, p = 0.26)). Median bacterial counts were not increased at 48 h or 7 days provided circuits were routinely emptied of condensate. Annual savings for one hospital (six operating theatres) were $AU 5219 (£3079, €3654, $US 4846) and a 57% decrease in anaesthesia circuit steriliser loads associated with a yearly saving of 2760 kWh of electricity and 48 000 l of water. Our findings suggest that extended circuit use from 24 h up to 7 days does not significantly increase bacterial contamination, and is associated with labour, energy, water and financial savings.

13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival: Episodes Australian Photography Now

Curated group exhibition entitled Episodes: Australian Photography Now, part of the Dong Gang International Photo Festival

13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival 2014

Curated group exhibition entitled Episodes: Australian Photography Now, part of the Dong Gang International Photo Festival.
An exhibition book produced by the Dong Gang Museum of Photography for the Dong Gang International Photo Festival. Special Exhibition curated by Natalie King and Olivia Poloni entitled Episodes: Australian Photography Now featuring the following artists: Patrick Pound, Christian Thompson, Destiny Deacon and Virginia Fraser, Martin Smith, Michael Cook, Paul Knight, Polixeni Papapetrou, Polly Borland,Tracey Moffatt, Trent Parke, William Yang.

Diagnosis of the redox levels of TCNQF4 compounds using vibrational spectroscopy

The vibrational spectroscopy of TCNQF4, TCNQF41- and TCNQF42- has been investigated by means of density functional theory. Band assignments in infrared and Raman spectra have been clarified and a series of diagnostics developed for redox level characterisation of TCNQF4 compounds. In the C£C stretching region (1460-1600 cm-1), TCNQF40 and TCNQF 41- show two bands, with the more energetic being at 1600 cm-1 in TCNQF40 and at approximately 1535 cm-1 in TCNQF41-; in TCNQF42- both modes absorb below 1500 cm-1, often merging to give a single band. In the C-F and endocyclic C-C stretching region (1290 and 1360 cm-1), TCNQF40 and TCNQF41- show strong bands, whereas TCNQF42- absorbs weakly or not at all. (Additional bands, e.g. from co-crystallised solvent molecules, may complicate this region.) In the nitrile stretching region (2000-2250 cm-1), modes are highly sensitive to nitrile coordination by metal cations. All three redox levels can produce bands above 2200 cm -1, however bands below 2150 cm-1 are usually due to TCNQF42-. This sensitivity to coordination is likely to affect the spectra of many organic molecular ions. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Ex Libris - the book in contemporary art: cover image

Catalogue and exhibition essay for Ex Libris. Essay by Lisa Sullivan, curator Geelong Gallery. Catalogue cover image by Patrick Pound, detail from 'From Darkness to Light.

Spring 1883: Art Fair at the Windsor Hotel

Exhibition of three works by Patrick Pound as part of the Spring 1883 exhibition. Art works entitled: 'Spring Street' a collection of vintage postcards each showing the street the exhibition hotel is located on, the 'Collector' a collection of John Fowles' novel the 'Collector' in numerous editions, and 'The Apartment' a collage of a derelict apartment block. These works were exhibited by Hamish McKay Gallery.The brainchild of Melbourne gallerists Vasili Kaliman (Station), Geoff Newton (Neon Parc), and Vikki McInnes (Sarah Scout Presents), SPRING 1883, the exhibition took place at Melbourne’s historic Hotel Windsor from August 14-17, 2014.The fair drew on the traditions of New York’s hotel-based Gramercy Park Fair and presented the best of contemporary art practice from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States.“Providing a boutique site for dialogue and interaction between galleries, artists and collectors, the fair will create a new energy for the contemporary art market in Australia”

To collect is to gather your thoughts through things (spellcheck wants to change curating to crating)

"To collect is to gather your thoughts through things (spellcheck wants to change curating to crating)"This paper unpacks the collection as artwork, will briefly look at how artists have put ideas of collecting and curating to the test, and will investigate some of the established ideas around this tradition, rethinking how artworks, which perform as collections, might make trouble for the work of curating and collecting, and making sense of things—as if on a dare

The photographer's shadow

The 'Photographer's Shadow' was acquired by the Auckland City Art Gallery (Chartwell Collection)

The afterlife of found photographs

The world is scattered with unhinged vernacular snaps. EBay is a giant and ever-changing album of examples for sale. Each of these photos is past its original use. Found photographs are at once replete with life and hearsed in death. Adding to this, the analogue vernacular snap is itself a type of photography that is essentially past its use-‐by date. If photography is the medium of record, what are we to make of these recently redundant records? Do they capture Benjamin’s idea of the dialectic at a standstill or just mum in her pyjamas? They concertina time and make trouble for it — and us. This paper will look at what might be made of found photographs: what meanings might be gleaned from them, and what we might find in the accumulation of details. We will closely look at examples that press the limits of photographic representation as if on a dare.

Economic evaluation of a group-based exercise program for falls prevention among the older community-dwelling population

BACKGROUND: Falls among older people are of growing concern globally. Implementing cost-effective strategies for their prevention is of utmost importance given the ageing population and associated potential for increased costs of fall-related injury over the next decades. The purpose of this study was to undertake a cost-utility analysis and secondary cost-effectiveness analysis from a healthcare system perspective, of a group-based exercise program compared to routine care for falls prevention in an older community-dwelling population.

METHODS: A decision analysis using a decision tree model was based on the results of a previously published randomised controlled trial with a community-dwelling population aged over 70. Measures of falls, fall-related injuries and resource use were directly obtained from trial data and supplemented by literature-based utility measures. A sub-group analysis was performed of women only. Cost estimates are reported in 2010 British Pound Sterling (GBP).

RESULTS: The ICER of GBP£51,483 per QALY for the base case analysis was well above the accepted cost-effectiveness threshold of GBP£20,000 to £30,000 per QALY, but in a sensitivity analysis with minimised program implementation the incremental cost reached GBP£25,678 per QALY. The ICER value at 95% confidence in the base case analysis was GBP£99,664 per QALY and GBP£50,549 per QALY in the lower cost analysis. Males had a 44% lower injury rate if they fell, compared to females resulting in a more favourable ICER for the women only analysis. For women only the ICER was GBP£22,986 per QALY in the base case and was below the cost-effectiveness threshold for all other variations of program implementation. The ICER value at 95% confidence was GBP£48,212 in the women only base case analysis and GBP£23,645 in the lower cost analysis. The base case incremental cost per fall averted was GBP£652 (GBP£616 for women only). A threshold analysis indicates that this exercise program cannot realistically break even.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that this exercise program is cost-effective for women only. There is no evidence to support its cost-effectiveness in a group of mixed gender unless the costs of program implementation are minimal. Conservative assumptions may have underestimated the true cost-effectiveness of the program.

Guardian: game of editions

In 2013 The Guardian launched its third online iteration as 'Guardian Australia' - complementing "Guardian US' and Guardian UK'. Via these three digital editions the Guardian has expanded its global readership, which is one of its strategies to strengthen its future viability in the digital and mobile news sphere. The Guardian's journalists, while gathering news from around the world, now report in to the different news hubs. In the three main newsrooms, the journalists also create particular stories for their niche audiences in Australia, the USA and the UK. This paper examines the editorial content the Guardian has created on the back of digital disruption. Two months' worth of 'Editor's Picks' from across the three platforms are analysed to reveal how much the Guardian is promoting new, distinctive, locally created content versus how much it draws on material written by journalists from the other editions. This content is compared to data derived from interviewing those in charge of the three editions (Editor in chief Kath Viner, Guardian Australia Editor Emily Wilson and Guardian US Editor Lee Glendinning) plus interviews with other senior managers of the news organisation. In mid-2015 a fourth online edition of the Guardian began rolling out - Guardian International. This edition is not geo-specific and will instead promote and aggregate international news gathered from the other editions on its digital 'front page'. In January 2016 the Guardian announced it planned to cut annual costs by £53.6m due to rising losses: a move that will almost certainly involve staff redundancies. Later in the same month, Guardian Australia's editor, Emily Wilson, said in a public forum that the operations in Sydney and New York would be 'completely insulated' from these cuts. This paper explores the Guardian's global digital strategy during this difficult era for media that straddle the legacy and digital worlds.