Toxinology in Australia's colonial era: A chronology and perspective of human envenomation in 19th century Australia

The medical management of those envenomed by snakes, spiders and poisonous fish in Australia featured extensively in the writings 19th century doctors, expeditioners and anthropologists. Against the background of this introduced medical doctrine there already existed an extensive tradition of Aboriginal medical lore; techniques of heat treatment, suction, incision and the application of plant-derived pharmacological substances featured extensively in the management of envenomed victims. The application of a hair-string or grass-string ligature, suctioning of the bite-site and incision were practised in a variety of combinations. Such evolved independently of and pre-dated such practices, which were promoted extensively by immigrant European doctors in the late 19th century. Pacific scientific toxinology began in the 17th century with Don Diego de Prado y Tovar's 1606 account of ciguatera. By the end of the 19th century more than 30 papers and books had defined the natural history of Australian elapid poisoning. The medical management of snakebite in Australia was the focus of great controversy from 1860 to 1900. Dogmatic claims of the supposed antidote efficacy of intravenous ammonia by Professor G.B. Halford, and that of strychnine by Dr. Augustus Mueller, claimed mainstream medical attention. This era of potential iatrogenic disaster and dogma was brought to a conclusion by the objective experiments of Joseph Lauterer and Thomas Lane Bancroft in 1890 in Brisbane; and by those of C.J. Martin (from 1893) and Frank Tidswell (from 1898), both of Sydney. The modern era of Australian toxinology developed as a direct consequence of Calmette's discovery, in Paris in 1894, of immune serum, which was protective against snakebite. We review the key contributors and discoveries of toxinology in colonial Australia.

Using nitrogen stable isotope ratios ( d15N) of macroalgae to monitor changes in the extent of sewage impacts in Moreton Bay, Australia

During the past decade the use of stable isotopes to investigate transport pathways of nutrients in aquatic ecosystems has contributed new understanding and knowledge to many aspects of ecology; from the trophic structure of food webs to the spatial extent of nutrient discharges. At the same time aquatic monitoring programs around the world have become more interested in quantifying ecosystem health rather than simply measuring the physical and chemical properties of water (nutrients, pH, temperature and turbidity). A novel technique was initiated in 1998 as part of the development of the Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program in S.E. Queensland Australia (EHMP) using changes in the 15N value of the red macroalgae Catenella nipae, to indicate regions impacted by sewage nitrogen. Sewage plume mapping, using the 15N of C. nipae, has demonstrated that over the past 5 years there has been a large reduction in the magnitude and spatial extent of 15N enrichment at sites close to sewage treatment plants (STPs) discharging into Moreton Bay. This presentation will discuss how the 15N signatures of the C. nipae in the plume at the mouth of the Brisbane River have declined since it was first sampled in 1998 and will evaluate causes that may be responsible for these variations. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate how environmental conditions influence the 15N signature of C, nipae over the incubation period. These data will be used to discuss the observed in situ decline in 15N in an attempt to determine if the reduction can be attributed solely to improvements in the wastewater discharge.

The wonderful possibilities of the future: Town planning and greater Brisbane

The 'greater city' movement in the 1920s in Australia was profoundly influenced by the growing town planning movement of the time. Brisbane was the only major metropolitan city in which local government amalgamations occurred, leading to a 'greater Brisbane' in 1925. The paper tries to identify reasons why, despite the close connection between the greater city movement and the early town planning movement, there was no formal town plan in place in Brisbane until 1965.

Morphometrics of seagrasses at species level, Moreton Bay, Australia determined from core samples collected in 2012-2013

Seagrass meadows are important marine carbon sinks, yet they are threatened and declining worldwide. Seagrass management and conservation requires adequate understanding of the physical and biological factors determining carbon content in seagrass sediments. Here, we identified key factors that influence carbon content in seagrass meadows across several environmental gradients in Moreton Bay, SE Queensland. Sampling was conducted in two regions: (1) Canopy Complexity, 98 sites on the Eastern Banks, where seagrass canopy structure and species composition varied while turbidity was consistently low; and (2) Turbidity Gradient, 11 locations across the entire bay, where turbidity varied among sampling locations. Sediment organic carbon content and seagrass structural complexity (shoot density, leaf area, and species specific characteristics) were measured from shallow sediment and seagrass biomass cores at each location, respectively. Environmental data were obtained from empirical measurements (water quality) and models (wave height). The key factors influencing carbon content in seagrass sediments were seagrass structural complexity, turbidity, water depth, and wave height. In the Canopy Complexity region, carbon content was higher for shallower sites and those with higher seagrass structural complexity. When turbidity varied along the Turbidity Gradient, carbon content was higher at sites with high turbidity. In both regions carbon content was consistently higher in sheltered areas with lower wave height. Seagrass canopy structure, water depth, turbidity, and hydrodynamic setting of seagrass meadows should therefore be considered in conservation and management strategies that aim to maximize sediment carbon content.

Stay-green Drought Adaptation Trait Enhances Sorghum Production in Sub-tropical Australia, Central-Western India and Sub-Saharan Africa

Drought during grain filling is a common challenge for sorghum production in north-eastern Australia, central-western India, and sub-Saharan Africa. We show that the stay-green drought adaptation trait enhances sorghum grain yield under post-anthesis drought in these three regions. A positive relationship between stay-green and yield was generally found in breeding trials in north-eastern Australia that sampled 1668 unique hybrid combinations and 23 environments. Physiological studies in Australia also found that introgressing four individual stay-green (Stg1–4) quantitative trait loci (QTLs) into a senescent background reduced water demand before flowering and hence increased water supply during grain filling, resulting in higher grain yield relative to the senescent control. Studies in India found that various Stg QTLs affected both transpiration and transpiration efficiency, although these effects depended on the interaction between genetic background (S35 and R16) and individual QTLs. The yield variation unexplained by harvest index was related to transpiration efficiency in S35 (R2 = 0.29) and R16 (R2 = 0.72), and was related to total water extracted in S35 (R2 = 0.41) but not in R16. Finally, sixty-eight stay-green enriched lines were evaluated in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa during the 2013/14 season. Analysis of the data from Kenya indicates that stay-green and grain size were positively correlated at two sites: Kiboko (high yielding, r2=0.25) and Masongaleni (low yielding, r2=0.37). Together, these studies suggest that stay-green is a beneficial trait for sorghum production in the semi-arid tropics and is a consequence of traits altering the plant water budget.

Child injury in Brisbane South 1985-91: Implications for future injury surveillance

Specific childhood injury types are ranked by occurrence rate for mortality, hospital admission and emergency department attendance. Cases are drawn from the resident population of Brisbane South, 0-13 years of age, for the period 1 July 1985 to 30 June 1991. A total of 47,244 injuries, 7056 admissions and 99 deaths were analysed. The overall mortality rate was 12.6/100,000 per year (95% confidence interval (CI), 10.2-15.3), the overall admission rate was 911/100,000 per year (95% CI, 890-932) and the overall hospital attendance rate was 6013/100,000 per year (95% CI, 5958-6067). A fall was the most frequent injury mechanism for admissions and 65% of attendances involved injury in the child's own home. The surveillance data establish regional variation for childhood injury risk within Australia and identify an unexplained downward trend in head injury that requires further investigation. The future development of injury surveillance in Australia requires simplified coding which can be integrated into new computerized patient management information systems. Article in Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 30(2):114-22 · May 1994

Childhood drowning and near-drowning in Brisbane: The contribution of domestic pools

To describe the epidemiology of domestic swimming pool drowning and near-drowning in Brisbane and to examine the efficacy of a broad range of preventive options, including pool fences.A prospective, hospital-based, injury surveillance system to describe the epidemiology of drowning and near-drowning and a community survey to describe pool fencing.The surveillance questionnaire was completed at presentation in the Emergency Department by the parent, nurse and doctor. Personal interviews in households that were randomly selected by means of a stratified sampling scheme provided the pool fencing description.All 139 children suffering from an immersion injury resulting in presentation at a hospital in the catchment area of The Mater Children's Hospital were included. There were 204 households with a swimming pool in the 1024 households interviewed in the community survey.The 100 domestic pool drownings and near-drownings were equivalent to 15.5 incidents per year per 100,000 children aged 0-13 years and 64.9 per year per 100,000 for the critical 1-3 years age group. Of 72 children who gained unintended access to a domestic pool, 88.9% were less than 3 years of age and 52.8% were less than 2 years. All 10 of the children who drowned and five who were severely brain damaged (age range, 12-32 months) were in this group. The risk of a drowning or near-drowning involving unintended access to an unfenced pool is 3.76 times higher than the risk associated with a fenced pool (95% confidence limits for relative risk: 2.14, 6.62).Pool fences are an effective method of preventing child drownings and near-drownings. This effectiveness can be further improved if compliance with gate closure can be enhanced. This should be emphasised in health promotion accompanying the introduction of universal pool fencing. Article in The Medical journal of Australia 154(10):661-5 · June 1991