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Background: Australia has one of the highest skin cancer rates in the world. 'SunSmart' is a multi-component, internationally recognised community-wide skin cancer prevention program implemented in Melbourne, Australia, since summer 1988-1989. Following recent reductions in melanoma rates among younger Australian cohorts, the extent of behaviour change and the potential contribution of prevention programs to this decline in melanoma rates are of interest. Sun protection is a multifaceted behaviour. Measures previously applied to monitor change over time in preventive behaviour for this population focused on individual behaviours. The omission of multiple behaviours that reduce exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) may have led to underestimates of behaviour change, meriting further analysis of long-term trends to contribute to this debate.Methods and Findings: A population-based survey was conducted in Melbourne in the summer before SunSmart commenced (1987-1988) and across summers in 3 subsequent decades (1988-2017). During summer months, residents (14-69 years) were recruited to cross-sectional weekly telephone interviews assessing their tanning attitudes, sun protection behaviour, and sunburn incidence on the weekend prior to interview. Quotas were used to ensure the sample was proportional to the population by age and sex, while younger respondents were oversampled in some years. The majority of the respondents reported their skin was susceptible to sunburn. Changes in sun protection behaviour were analysed for N = 13,285 respondents in multivariable models, cumulating surveys within decades (1987-1988: N = 1,655; 1990s: N = 5,258; 2000s: N = 3,385; 2010s: N = 2,987) and adjusting for relevant ambient weather conditions and UV levels on weekend dates. We analysed specific and composite behaviours including a novel analysis of the use of maximal sun protection, which considered those people who stayed indoors during peak UV hours together with those people well-protected when outdoors. From a low base, use of sun protection increased rapidly in the decade after SunSmart commenced. The odds of use of at least 1 sun protection behaviours on summer weekends was 3 times higher in the 1990s than pre-SunSmart (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 3.04, 95% CI 2.52-3.68, p < 0.001). There was a smaller increase in use of maximal sun protection including shade (AOR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.44-1.97, p < 0.001). These improvements were sustained into the 2000s and continued to increase in the 2010s. Inferences about program effects are limited by the self-reported data, the absence of a control population, the cross-sectional study design, and the fact that the survey was not conducted in all years. Other potential confounders may include increasing educational attainment among respondents over time and exposure to other campaigns such as tobacco and obesity prevention.Conclusions: With an estimated 20-year lag between sun exposure and melanoma incidence, our findings are consistent with SunSmart having contributed to the reduction in melanoma among younger cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone of the Sydney Basin occur in the headwaters of Sydney’s drinking water catchments and are listed as endangered ecosystems, yet they have suffered habitat losses and degradation due to human impacts such as urbanisation. Despite ongoing efforts to restore and better protect upland swamps, they remain poorly understood, potentially hindering the effectiveness of management efforts. Essential to overall ecosystem function and the provision of services for human and environmental benefit are the microbial component of wetland ecosystems. In the case of these swamps, the microbes, have not yet been studied. Here, we investigated differences in the microbial community of upland swamps in urbanised catchments compared to swamps from natural catchments in the Blue Mountains. A total of twelve swamps were sampled, six from within urbanised catchments and six with intact vegetation catchments, to compare sediment conditions and microbial community and genes expression and abundances. Catchment impervious area and number of stormwater drains entering a swamp, indicators for urbanisation, positively correlated with the pH and ammonium concentration of swamp sediment. Community analysis of the 16S rRNA gene (T-RFLP, qPCR) revealed the elevated pH of urbanised swamps coincided with changes to the abundance of bacteria and archaea. Furthermore, RT-qPCR revealed genes involved in carbon cycling (mcrA & pmoA) were more likely to be found in urbanised swamps. Taken together, our results indicate that urbanisation of the Blue Mountains is impacting the environmental services provided by the microbial community of upland swamps in the Sydney Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian ports serve diverse and extensive activities, such as shipping, tourism and fisheries, which may all impact the quality of port water. In this work water quality monitoring at different ports using a range of water quality evaluation indices was applied to assess the port water quality. Seawater samples at 30 stations in the year 2016–2017 from six ports in NSW, Australia, namely Port Jackson, Botany, Kembla, Newcastle, Yamba and Eden, were investigated to determine the physicochemical and biological variables that affect the port water quality. The large datasets obtained were designed to determine the Water Quality Index, Heavy metal Evaluation Index, Contamination Index and newly developed Environmental Water Quality Index. The study revealed medium water quality index and high and medium heavy metal evaluation index at three of the study ports and high contamination index in almost all study ports. Low level dissolved oxygen and higher level of total dissolved solids, turbidity, fecal coliforms, copper, iron, lead, zinc, manganese, cadmium and cobalt are mainly responsible for the poor water qualities of the port areas. Good water quality at the background samples indicated that various port activities are the likely cause for poor water quality inside the port area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many studies on the effects of heat on mental health, few studies have examined humidity. In order to investigate the relationship among heat, humidity and mental health, we matched data from the Social, Economic and Environmental Factors (SEEF) project with gridded daily temperature and water vapour pressure data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Logit models were employed to describe the associations among heat (assessed using temperature, °C), humidity (assessed using vapour pressure, hPa) and two measures of mental health, (i) high or very high distress (assessed using K10 scores ≥ 22) and (ii) having been treated for depression or anxiety. We found a one-unit increase in temperature and vapour pressure was associated with an increase in the occurrence of high or very high distress by 0.2% (p < 0.001, 99% CI: 0.1–0.3%) and 0.1% (p < 0.001, 99% CI: 0.0–0.3%) respectively. However, when humidity rose to the 99th percentile of the sample, the estimated marginal effect of heat was more than doubled (0.5%, p < 0.001, 99% CI: 0.2–0.7%). Neither heat nor humidity was related to having been treated for depression or anxiety in the last month. Humidity compounds the negative association between hot weather and mental health and thus should be taken into account when reforming the health care system to respond to the challenge of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]