The Mallee Fire and Biodiversity Project

Fire is a widespread disturbance and an important ecological process in semi-arid mallee ecosystems of southern Australia. Understanding the effects of fire on plants and animals is a key challenge for the conservation and management of biodiversity in this ecosystem. Commenctngin2006, the Mallee Fire and Biodiversity Project is investigating the effects of fire on range of taxa (vascular plants, invertebrates, reptiles, birds and mammals), with a focus on the influence of the properties of 'fire mosaics' on biota. A 'whole of landscape' design was employed, in which the flora and fauna were sampled in 28 study landscapes, each4 km in diameter (12.5 km2) across a 104,000 km2 area of the Murray Mallee region of Victoria, SA and NSW. Here, we summarise some key results and outputs from this project to date. These include: detailed maps of fire history and major vegetation types; a method for predicting the age of mallee vegetation; novel information about the distribution of fire age-classes in the region; and changes to vegetation structure and in the occurrence of reptile, bird and mammal species over a century-long post-fire time-frame. We also present an overview of the effects of fire mosaics (extent of particular age classes, diversity of fire age-classes) on the richness of some mallee fauna. A wealth of knowledge has been developed through the Mallee Fire and Biodiversity Project that will assist the management of mallee ecosystems in southern Australia for the future.

Leg muscle pH following sprint running

In an effort to compare the disturbances in leg muscle pH during sprint running, muscle biopsies were obtained from the gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis muscles of six healthy men (three endurance-trained and three nonendurance-trained) before and after a treadmill sprint run (TSR) to fatigue (54-105 s) at roughly 125% of their aerobic capacities. Following the TSR, repeated blood samples were taken from a hand vein and later analyzed for pH, PCO2, and lactic acid (HLa). The muscle specimens were analyzed in duplicate for pH and HLa. Resting-muscle pH was 7.03 +/- 0.02 (means +/- SE) and 7.04 +/- 0.01 for the gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis muscles, respectively. At the termination of the TSR, the pH in these muscles was 6.88 +/- 0.05 and 6.86 +/- 0.03, respectively. After a 400-m timed run on the track, the pH in the gastrocnemius of four of the subjects averaged 6.63 +/- 0.03, while blood pH and HLa were 7.10 +/- 0.03 and 12.3 mM, respectively. Although no differences in pH and HLa were observed between the vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius muscles at the end of the treadmill trial, it is speculated that the lesser disturbance in acid-base balance seen in endurance performers may have been due to a lesser production of metabolites in their running musculature when compared to nonendurance performers.

The missing evidence: a systematic review of patients' experiences of adverse events in health care

PURPOSE: Preventable patient harm due to adverse events (AEs) is a significant health problem today facing contemporary health care. Knowledge of patients' experiences of AEs is critical to improving health care safety and quality. A systematic review of studies of patients' experiences of AEs was conducted to report their experiences, knowledge gaps and any challenges encountered when capturing patient experience data. DATA SOURCES: Key words, synonyms and subject headings were used to search eight electronic databases from January 2000 to February 2015, in addition to hand-searching of reference lists and relevant journals. STUDY SELECTION: Titles and abstracts of publications were screened by two reviewers and checked by a third. Full-text articles were screened against the eligibility criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: Data on design, methods and key findings were extracted and collated. RESULTS: Thirty-three publications demonstrated patients identifying a range of problems in their care; most commonly identified were medication errors, communication and coordination of care problems. Patients' income, education, health burden and marital status influence likelihood of reporting. Patients report distress after an AE, often exacerbated by receiving inadequate information about the cause. Investigating patients' experiences is hampered by the lack of large representative patient samples, data over sufficient time periods and varying definitions of an AE. CONCLUSION: Despite the emergence of policy initiatives to enhance patient engagement, few studies report patients' experiences of AEs. This information must be routinely captured and utilized to develop effective, patient-centred and system-wide policies to minimize and manage AEs.