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Background Current models of care for ulcerative colitis ( UC) across healthcare systems are inconsistent with a paucity of existing guidelines or supportive tools for outpatient management. Aims This study aimed to produce and evaluate evidence-based outpatient management tools for UC to guide primary care practitioners and patients in clinical decision-making. Methods Three tools were developed after identifying current gaps in the provision of healthcare services for patients with UC at a Clinical Insights Meeting in 2013. Draft designs were further refined through consultation and consolidation of feedback by the steering committee. Final drafts were developed following feasibility testing in three key stakeholder groups (gastroenterologists, general practitioners and patients) by questionnaire. The tools were officially launched into mainstream use in Australia in 2014. Results Three quarters of all respondents liked the layout and content of each tool. Minimal safety concerns were aired and those, along with pieces of information that were felt to be omitted, that were reviewed by the steering committee and incorporated into the final documents. The majority (over 80%) of respondents felt that the tools would be useful and would improve outpatient management of UC. Conclusion Evidence-based outpatient clinical management tools for UC can be developed. The concept and end-product have been well received by all stakeholder groups. These tools should support non-specialist clinicians to optimise UC management and empower patients by facilitating them to safely self-manage and identify when medical support is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Despite the growing view that biodiversity provides a unifying theme in river ecology, global perspectives on richness in riverine landscapes are limited. As a result, there is little theory or quantitative data on features that might have influenced global patterns in riverine richness, nor are there clear indications of which riverine landscapes are important to conservation at the global scale. As conspicuous elements of the vertebrate fauna of riverine landscapes, we mapped the global distributions of all of the world's specialist riverine birds and assessed their richness in relation to latitude, altitude, primary productivity and geomorphological complexity (surface configuration). 2. Specialist riverine birds, typical of high-energy riverine landscapes and dependent wholly or partly on production from river ecosystems, occur in 16 families. They are represented by an estimated 60 species divided equally between the passerines and non-passerines. Major radiation has occurred among different families on different continents, indicating that birds have evolved several times into the niches provided by riverine landscapes. 3. Continental richness varies from four species in Europe to 28 in Asia, with richness on the latter continent disproportionately larger than would be expected from a random distribution with respect to land area. Richness is greatest in mountainous regions at latitudes of 20–40°N in the riverine landscapes of the Himalayan mountains, where 13 species overlap in range. 4. Family, genus and species richness in specialist riverine birds all increase significantly with productivity and surface configuration (i.e. relief). However, family richness was the best single predictor of the numbers of species or genera. In keeping with the effect of surface configuration, river-bird richness peaks globally at 1300–1400 m altitude, and most species occur typically on small, fast rivers where they feed predominantly on... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Wetlands provide vital ecosystem services such as water quality improvements, and are important sites of biodiversity conservation. Their optimal use and management depends, in part, on vegetation management and the quality and quantity of the water flowing through them. The South-finger wetland, situated on a Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust wetland visitor centre at Slimbridge, UK, receives waters of high nutrient concentrations from the wildfowl collection. The nutrient removal functioning of three constructed beds was compared and related to variations in input nutrient concentrations and hydraulic loading over 1 year (October 2005–October 2006). None of the beds removed nitrate, orthophosphate or total phosphorus over the year as a whole. The beds planted with Iris and mixed vegetation were found to remove the greatest proportion of ammonium, and increased nitrate concentrations in the water to a lesser extent than the Phragmites bed. Nutrient functioning in all three beds varied in a non-linear manner in relation to input nutrient concentrations and water residency time. Possible reasons for the differences in functioning between nitrogen and phosphorus, vegetation types and between seasons are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]