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Nontyphoidal Salmonella is a major contributor to the global burden of foodborne disease, with invasive infections contributing substantially to illnesses and deaths. We analyzed notifiable disease surveillance data for invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease (iNTS) in Queensland, Australia. We used Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios by gender, age group, and geographical area over 2007–2016. There were 995 iNTS cases, with 945 (92%) confirmed by blood culture. Salmonella Virchow accounted for 254 (25%) of 1,001 unique iNTS isolates. Invasive NTS disease notification rates peaked among infants, during the summer months, and in outback Queensland where the notification rate (95% CI) was 17.3 (14.5–20.1) cases per 100,000 population. Overall, there was a 6,5% annual increase (p<0.001) in iNTS disease incidence. In conclusion, high iNTS rates among males, infants, and the elderly require investigation of household level risk factors for NTS infection. Controlling Salmonella Virchow infections is a public health priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Playground Shade Index (PSI) is introduced as a design metric for assessing the shade and solar ultraviolet (UV) protection provided by eight different cloth weave shade structures currently utilized in public playgrounds across a regional city located in southern Queensland, Australia. The PSI, expressing the ratio of available ambient solar UV exposure relative to the UV exposure received by a shaded 184 m2 playground surface over a whole day in midsummer and midwinter, is used to determine the best design and aspect of all eight existing structures. Unlike subjective shade audits that may only consider the type of shade structure, the number and characteristics of surrounding trees, and surface materials available at a given site, the PSI considers, in addition to previous factors, the available sky fraction and the direct solar UV contribution underneath the shade structure over a full day. By considering the in situ UV protection characteristics of the shade structure, the PSI has demonstrated its value as a robust design metric. Of the eight shade structure styles examined, this research presents the most likely structure best suited for UV protection over the two solar UV extremes in summer and winter, including optimal structure aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Background: b Nontyphoidal Salmonella is a major contributor to the global burden of foodborne disease, with invasive infections contributing substantially to illnesses and deaths. B Methods and materials: b We analyzed notifiable disease surveillance data for invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease (iNTS) in Queensland, Australia. Increasing incidence of invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella infections in Queensland, Australia, 2007-2016. [Extracted from the article]

Measurements of anatomical UV exposure distribution were made using miniaturized polysulfone dosimeters over a four year period between 2005 and 2008 in Toowoomba, Australia (28° S, 152° E). Anatomical UV exposures were expressed relative to the horizontal plane ambient UV. The UV exposures were compared with existing data detailing the anatomical distribution of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and solar keratoses (SK). Surface UV exposures to unprotected skin surfaces have been presented for each of the face, neck, arm, hand and leg assessing a total of 1453 body sites (2491 measurements). Measured exposures are presented for the human facial region to a resolution of 5 mm. The median anatomical UV expressed relative to the horizontal plane ambient UV for each of the face, neck, forearm, hand and leg regions of the body varied from 26%, 23%, 13%, 30% and 12% respectively in the 0°–30° SZA range; 39%, 36%, 17%, 35% and 23% in the 30°–50° SZA range; and 48%, 59%, 41%, 42% and 47% in the 50°–80° SZA range. Detailed positions of UV exposure measured over the face, neck, arm, hand and leg were more closely related to NMSC incidence data for the face and upper limbs. Further analysis with existing facial BCC and SK density data did not however show a direct relationship with the measured UV exposures highlighting the importance of other factors influencing the causation and localisation of facial NMSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A technique has been developed to represent erythemally effective ultraviolet radiation exposure within a school environment. The technique models the erythemally effective exposure onto a horizontal plane representation of a mapped school environment located in Hervey Bay (25° S, 153° E), Australia. The input parameters used to model the ultraviolet exposures received within the school playground included the measured sky view, ground albedo and standing surface albedo. Estimates of the erythemally effective ultraviolet exposure received within the school playground during morning tea and lunch time meal breaks during a winter and summer school day are presented. The influence of tree shade and building structure was found to vary significantly with solar zenith angle modelled over the winter and summer school meal break times with horizontal plane exposures predicted to vary from between 0 and 7 SED at different locations within the playground. The technique presented provides a method that can be followed to examine the effect of surrounding buildings and surface structures of real environments on the predicted horizontal plane ultraviolet exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia has one of the highest rates of incidence and mortality due to skin cancer in the world. Exposure to the sun also has a beneficial side. The beneficial effects are relatively few, but they are essential to a person's well being. It is well known that exposure to small amounts of UV radiation are beneficial for the human body and important in the production of vitamin D3. This investigation will give students the opportunity to measure erythemal UV radiation in full sun and in the shade to determine how this can be potentially beneficial. An important outcome of this investigation will be to illustrate that some exposure to sunlight is necessary for long-term human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an investigation to provide students with the opportunity to study the physics of electromagnetic radiation, particularly UV radiation, and the way it interacts with different environments. The protective ability of shade structures is generally misunderstood, and this investigation will give students the basic knowledge that, even though shade structures protect the human body from direct UV radiation, it is now the diffuse UV radiation that is significant in the shade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinsonia aculeata L. (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae), native to the Americas, is a designated Weed of National Significance in Australia. The leaf‐feeding geometrid moth species, Eueupithecia cisplatensis Prout (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), was identified as a potential biological control agent of P. aculeata following native range surveys in Argentina. After importation into quarantine for host specificity assessment, this species was identified as a cryptic species complex of two morphologically similar species. The new species, Eueupithecia vollonoides Hausmann (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), was subsequently described. The biology and host range of both moth species were examined to determine their suitability as biological control agents. Host specificity was evaluated in the native range, by surveying insects found on closely related plant species, and in the laboratory, by no‐choice larval development tests. Native range surveys and laboratory assays revealed a high level of specificity to P. aculeata by both Eueupithecia species. Of the 71 plant species from the Fabaceae family that were tested, E. cisplatensis completed development on only one non‐target species, Parkinsonia praecox. This plant species is not present in Australia, and no Eueupithecia species were found to use P. praecox in the field in its native range. Hence, the risk of non‐target effects if these species were to be released in Australia was considered to be low. One mitochondrial (COI) gene region and two nuclear (28S and CAD) gene regions were tested for their ability to differentiate between the two cryptic species. COI haplotypes from E. cisplatensis and E. vollonoides belong to two divergent haplotype groups and can reliably distinguish either species from the other. Some 28S and CAD gene haplotypes are shared at low frequencies, perhaps because of rare or historical hybridisation or incomplete lineage sorting, thus cannot reliably discriminate between the species. This pattern of mito‐nuclear discordance requires further elucidation using population genetics studies to determine its biological significance. Based on the results of host specificity tests, E. cisplatensis and E. vollonoides were approved for release in Australia in May 2013 and May 2014, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risk of keratinocyte skin cancer, malignant melanoma and ultraviolet radiation (UVR)‐induced eye disease is disproportionately higher in Australia and New Zealand compared to equivalent northern hemisphere latitudes. While many teachers are aware of the importance of reinforcing sun safety messages to students, many may not be aware of the considerable personal exposure risk while performing outdoor duties in locations experiencing high to extreme ambient UVR year‐round. Personal erythemally effective exposure of classroom teachers in tropical Townsville (19.3°S) was measured to establish seasonal extremes in exposure behavior. Mean daily personal exposure was higher in winter (91.2 J m‐2, 0.91 Standard Erythema Dose [SED]) than summer (63.3 J m−2, 0.63 SED). The range of exposures represents personal exposures that approximate current national guidelines for Australian workers at the study latitude of approximately 1.2 SED (30 J m−2 effective to the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection). Similar proportions of teachers spent more than 1 h outdoors per day in winter (28.6%) and summer (23.6%) as part of their teaching duties with seasonal differences having little effect on the time of exposure. Personal exposures for teachers peaked during both seasons near school meal break times at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standardised assessments comparing the surveyed shade quality characteristics of twenty-one trees currently established and growing in public parks and playgrounds in Queensland, Australia are presented for informing local government, shade designers and municipal planners. Assessments focus on the ultraviolet protection of individual tree canopies which are reported in terms of the Shade Protection Index (SPI) and Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) assessed at fine temporal resolution and averaged over a full calendar year. The UPF and SPI are used to determine tree species best suited for optimal shade with respect to twenty-six regional cities spanning 17 ∘ in latitude. This assessment included all local coastal districts from Bamaga (− 10.89 ∘ S, 142.39 ∘ E) to Southport (− 27.97 ∘ S, 153.42 ∘ E) showing a general (species dependent) decline in ultraviolet protection with increasing southerly latitude. Survey tree species are ranked and listed in order of best ultraviolet protection for respective localities enabling the quality of protection provided by living tree canopies to be compared across a range of environments. • Solar UV protection characteristics are listed for 21 trees. • Trees are ranked in order of protection for 26 Queensland municipalities. • The quality of tree shade decreases with increasing latitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecast models of solar radiation incorporating cloud effects are useful tools to evaluate the impact of stochastic behaviour of cloud movement, real-time integration of photovoltaic energy in power grids, skin cancer and eye disease risk minimisation through solar ultraviolet (UV) index prediction and bio-photosynthetic processes through the modelling of solar photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). This research has developed deep learning hybrid model (i.e., CNN-LSTM) to factor in role of cloud effects integrating the merits of convolutional neural networks with long short-term memory networks to forecast near real-time (i.e., 5-min) PPFD in a sub-tropical region Queensland, Australia. The prescribed CLSTM model is trained with real-time sky images that depict stochastic cloud movements captured through a total sky imager (TSI-440) utilising advanced sky image segmentation to reveal cloud chromatic features into their statistical values, and to purposely factor in the cloud variation to optimise the CLSTM model. The model, with its competing algorithms (i.e., CNN, LSTM, deep neural network, extreme learning machine and multivariate adaptive regression spline), are trained with 17 distinct cloud cover inputs considering the chromaticity of red, blue, thin, and opaque cloud statistics, supplemented by solar zenith angle (SZA) to predict short-term PPFD. The models developed with cloud inputs yield accurate results, outperforming the SZA-based models while the best testing performance is recorded by the objective method (i.e., CLSTM) tested over a 7-day measurement period. Specifically, CLSTM yields a testing performance with correlation coefficient r = 0.92, root mean square error RMSE = 210.31 μ mol of photons m−2 s−1, mean absolute error MAE = 150.24 μ mol of photons m−2 s−1, including a relative error of RRMSE = 24.92% MAPE = 38.01%, and Nash Sutcliffe's coefficient ENS = 0.85, and Legate and McCabe's Index LM = 0.68 using cloud cover in addition to the SZA as an input. The study shows the importance of cloud inclusion in forecasting solar radiation and evaluating the risk with practical implications in monitoring solar energy, greenhouses and high-value agricultural operations affected by stochastic behaviour of clouds. Additional methodological refinements such as retraining the CLSTM model for hourly and seasonal time scales may aid in the promotion of agricultural crop farming and environmental risk evaluation applications such as predicting the solar UV index and direct normal solar irradiance for renewable energy monitoring systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triathletes present an extreme case of modelled behaviour in outdoor sport that favours enhanced exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation. This research presents personal solar ultraviolet exposures, measured using all-weather polysulphone film dosimeters, to triathletes during the distinct swimming, cycling and running stages of competitive Sprint, Olympic and Ironman events conducted within Australia and New Zealand. Measurements of exposure are made for each triathlon stage using film dosimeters fixed at a single site to the headwear of competing triathletes. Exposures are expressed relative to the local ambient and as absolute calibrated erythemally effective values across a total of eight triathlon courses (two Ironman, one half Ironman, one Olympic-distance, and four Sprint events). Competitor exposure results during training are also presented. Exposures range from between 0.2 to 6.8 SED/h (SED: standard erythema dose) depending upon the time of year, the local time of each event and cloud conditions. Cycle stage exposures can exceed 20 SED and represent the highest exposure fraction of any triathlon (average = 32%). The next highest stage exposure occurred during the swim (average = 28%), followed by the run (average = 26%). During an Ironman, personal competitor exposures exceed 30 SED, making triathlon a sporting discipline with potentially the highest personal ultraviolet exposure risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport is an integral and enduring part of many societies, such as Australia. Participation in outdoor sports, such as tennis, comes with a very real risk of dangerous solar ultraviolet exposure which can result in erythema (sunburn), serious conditions such as skin cancer, including melanoma, and eye conditions such as cataracts and pterygium. This study remotely assesses the effective ultraviolet exposures in response to the increased sun safety awareness at a major summertime tennis tournament in Australia. The assessment only uses publicly accessible data and information. It was found that tournament organizers have effectively adopted sun‐safe protocols into the uniform policy that the court officials (judges and ball kids) are mandated to follow. The combination of sun‐participant geometry and the photoprotection provided by uniforms significantly reduced the ambient ultraviolet exposure, which was recorded to be as high as 9.9 SED h−1, to just 1.0 and 0.5 SED h−1 for ball kids and judges, respectively, compared to up to 2.0 SED h−1 for players. Even though caution is needed against complacency with sun safety, with the need for the court officials and the players to still apply sunscreen, the court officials provided persistent visual role modeling of sun‐safe behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melanoma skin cancer rates in Queensland exceed the national Australian incidence rate, which together with New Zealand are recognized as the world's highest. Incidence is especially high among younger members of the population. In this study, the sun‐protective behaviors of urban Queenslanders (n = 752) going about their day‐to‐day activities during a midweek noon time hourly period were observed on a summer's day in central Brisbane (27.47°S, 153.03°E), Australia. Observed sun protection practices were poor, given the time of year and peak solar noon period of the study. More individuals (n = 249; 33.1%) were seen wearing sunglasses than a hat (n = 101; 13.4%). Ninety‐three individuals were actively engaging with mobile phones (phone in hand). A further 231 individuals (30.7%) were observed with a mobile phone on them. Opportunities to modify group behavior based on mobile phone sun protection notifications and to engage with "at risk" members of the Queensland population are considered from the variable codependencies examined in this study, including the influence of social group size, observed sun protection and mobile phone use. Our preliminary findings suggest that mobile phones provide an underutilized opportunity for delivering tailored skin cancer prevention messaging. Sun‐protective behaviours and mobile phone use of urban Queenslanders during a midweek noon time hourly period were observed on a summer's day in central, Brisbane, Australia. Our findings suggest that mobile phones provide an under‐utilized opportunity for delivering tailored skin cancer prevention messaging to young people and suggest that a sizeable proportion of funding for mass media public awareness campaigns should be directed towards this approach in favor of traditional electronic media outlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More timely and accurate air quality forecasting could contribute to better public health protection and air pollution prevention. Particulates are a significant indicator for measuring the degree of air pollution. This paper reports on research to model an early warning tool for coarse particulates when assessing the impact of the 12 satellite-derived and ground-based meteorological pollutants out of 30 pollutants considered using hourly Australian data from January 2018–December 2020. A one-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN) was integrated with a one-directional fully gated recurrent unit (GRU) to forecast consecutive hours' air quality. The CNN model acts as a spatial feature extractor, whereas the new generation GRU makes it computationally efficient. The resultant hybrid ' CNN-GRU' is then comprehensively benchmarked outperforming an ensemble of six other deep learning models. The proposed model's efficacy is indicated at the four most air polluted Australian postcodes in the testing phase. A detailed error analysis with visual and statistical metrics for air quality forecasting ascertains the proposed model's countermeasure to reduce harm and loss. The practical tool is immensely beneficial and can be widely deployed to the regions of public health concern where air pollution is a significant hazard. [Display omitted] • A novel early warning hybrid PM10 forecasting framework designed for Australia. • 30 satellite and ground-based meteorological pollutants were considered with 7 modeling approaches. • CNN integrated with GRU outperformed the other models. • Early warning AI model show potential in the health, environment sector, and decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]