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Summary: This paper describes advances made to aerial surveys of macropods in New South Wales and Queensland. Regular aerial surveys of macropods across large areas of Australia's arid and semi‐arid rangelands were established as a response to concerns for the species' conservation. They became integral to the harvest management of the four macropod species – Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), Western Grey Kangaroo (M. fuliginosus), Red Kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) and Common Wallaroo (O. robustus). Harvest quotas are set as a proportion of population size, requiring absolute estimates of abundance. Counts were made in strip transects from fixed‐wing aircraft, but required correction for animals that are missed. In New South Wales and Queensland, counts are now made using line transect sampling, providing survey‐specific correction. Helicopters are used in more rugged and timbered areas and where Common Wallaroo can be more frequently found and harvested. Mark‐recapture distance sampling is used in more open country that can be surveyed using fixed‐wing aircraft and improves the accuracy of density estimates by accounting for animals missed on the transect line. Macropod populations are likely to be surveyed in the future by airborne imagery and by drones, but the technology needs further development. Spatial models could usefully provide small‐scale density estimates and address non‐random sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an ethnographic exploration of the assertion of a 'Barkindji style' art: why this matters and to whom it matters. Focusing particularly on the Darling River area of Wilcannia and on the period from the 1980s to the present, the increasing interest in art-making by local Aboriginal people is considered. Through a dialogue with artists, artworks, and others, the work examines the changing form, design and content of art and the rote of art in defining ideas of Barkindji Aboriginal culture and tradition. Invocations by key cultural brokers to produce work that is seen to 'belong to us' is explored in terms of the cultural, political, and personal work that this involves; particularly as this intersects with ideas of artistic freedoms versus artistic direction by cultural brokers. The paper discusses the personal considerations and tensions that come to bear in the processes connected with production of art and its making. In so doing, this paper engages with, and extends, the work of Tacon et al. (2003), Cooper (1994), Kleinert (1994) and Morphy (2001) as this pertains to art 'styles' and material culture from what is widely referred to as south-eastern Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Radiation therapy treatment for breast cancer may negatively impact patients' health‐related quality of life. Evidence suggests exercise and nutrition interventions may be beneficial to patients experiencing compromised health‐related quality of life. This study investigates whether radiation oncology practitioners support the implementation of a tailored exercise and nutrition intervention for patients and explores their interest in participating in training for exercise and nutrition as interventions. Methods: Data were collected by an online survey, deployed to public and private radiation oncology departments, across three Australian states (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland). The survey was completed between June and August 2020. Radiation oncologists, radiation oncology registrars, radiation therapists and radiation oncology nurses completed the survey. The survey included demographics, patient assessment and questions regarding the radiation oncology practitioners' use of exercise and nutrition as interventions. Results: Of 192 practitioners targeted, 76 completed the survey, for a response rate of 40%. Of 76 respondents, 42% 'sometimes' recommended exercise and 41% 'sometimes' recommended nutrition as health‐related quality of life interventions to their patients. The majority indicated they would benefit from more training in these subjects, with 58% for exercise and 55% for nutrition. 47 per cent of respondents thought patients would benefit from a tailored exercise and nutrition programme and 62% agreed they would refer patients to a programme if it were available. Conclusions: Radiation oncology practitioners reported they need training in exercise and nutrition to better understand how this can benefit the health‐related quality of life of breast cancer patients. Also, the findings indicate that if such an exercise and nutrition intervention were readily available, practitioners would refer patients who may benefit from this intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the causal impact of internal migration on housing prices across 82 Statistical Areas Level 3 regions in Queensland, Australia from 2014–2019. The primary findings are: (i) an annual increase in the inflow of migrants equal to 1 per cent of a region's initial population leads to a 0.6 to 0.7 per cent annual increase in Queensland's house prices across different empirical specifications; (ii) this effect differs between the Greater Brisbane metropolitan area and Rest of State areas; (iii) migration from New South Wales fails to produce a significant influence on house price growth in Queensland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined rates of suicide and hospitalization with psychiatric diagnoses after sleeve gastrectomy compared with gastric bypass and restrictive procedures (gastric banding/gastroplasty). Methods: This was a longitudinal retrospective cohort study comprising all patients who underwent primary bariatric surgery in New South Wales or Queensland, Australia, between July 2001 and December 2020. Hospital admission records, death registration, and cause of death records (if applicable) within these dates were extracted and linked. Primary outcome was death by suicide. Secondary outcomes were admissions with self‐harm; substance‐use disorder, schizophrenia, mood, anxiety, behavioral, and personality disorders; any of these; and psychiatric inpatient admission. Results: A total of 121,203 patients were included, with median follow‐up of 4.5 years per patient. There were 77 suicides, with no evidence of difference in rates by surgery type (rates [95% CI] per 100,000 person years: 9.6 [5.0–18.4] restrictive, 10.8 [8.4–13.9] sleeve gastrectomy, 20.4 [9.7–42.8] gastric bypass; p = 0.18). Rates of admission with self‐harm declined after restrictive and sleeve procedures. Admission with anxiety disorders, any psychiatric diagnosis, and as a psychiatric inpatient increased after sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass, but not restrictive procedures. Admissions with substance‐use disorder increased after all surgery types. Conclusions: Variable associations between bariatric surgeries and hospitalization with psychiatric diagnoses might indicate distinct vulnerabilities among patient cohorts or that differing anatomical and/or functional changes may contribute to effects on mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: To identify patterns in the temporal dynamics and spatial organization of kangaroo subpopulations that are commercially harvested, we fitted multivariate autoregressive state‐space (MARSS) models to time series of kangaroo abundance from the main harvest zones of eastern Australia (1990–2019 for New South Wales and 1984–2019 for Queensland). We found that the responses of most populations to process variation, that is variation due to environmental or demographic stochasticity were correlated and that populations responded synchronously to environmental changes. Furthermore, we examined the influence of the covariates lagged rainfall, Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and harvest rate on kangaroo abundance. We found that lagged rainfall had a positive influence, SOI and harvest rate had negative influences but the influence of covariates was not consistent across species or between subpopulations. In terms of population spatial structure, the analysis identified two subpopulations of Red Kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) in New South Wales and four subpopulations of grey kangaroos (a combination of Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) and Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)), which appeared to be associated with a rainfall gradient from east‐west. In Queensland, separate subpopulations were identified in each of the three main harvest management zones for both Red Kangaroo and Eastern Grey Kangaroo. The implications of these results for the management of commercially harvested kangaroos are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruit bats (Family: Pteropodidae) are animals of great ecological and economic importance, yet their populations are threatened by ongoing habitat loss and human persecution. A lack of ecological knowledge for the vast majority of Pteropodid species presents additional challenges for their conservation and management.In Australia, populations of flying‐fox species (Genus: Pteropus) are declining and management approaches are highly contentious. Australian flying‐fox roosts are exposed to management regimes involving habitat modification, through human–wildlife conflict management policies, or vegetation restoration programs. Details on the fine‐scale roosting ecology of flying‐foxes are not sufficiently known to provide evidence‐based guidance for these regimes, and the impact on flying‐foxes of these habitat modifications is poorly understood.We seek to identify and test commonly held understandings about the roosting ecology of Australian flying‐foxes to inform practical recommendations and guide and refine management practices at flying‐fox roosts.We identify 31 statements relevant to understanding of flying‐fox roosting structure and synthesize these in the context of existing literature. We then contribute a contemporary, fine‐scale dataset on within‐roost structure to further evaluate 11 of these statements. The new dataset encompasses 13‐monthly repeat measures from 2,522 spatially referenced roost trees across eight sites in southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.We show evidence of sympatry and indirect competition between species, including spatial segregation of black and grey‐headed flying‐foxes within roosts and seasonal displacement of both species by little red flying‐foxes. We demonstrate roost‐specific annual trends in occupancy and abundance and provide updated demographic information including the spatial and temporal distributions of males and females within roosts.Insights from our systematic and quantitative study will be important to guide evidence‐based recommendations on restoration and management and will be crucial for the implementation of priority recovery actions for the preservation of these species in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variation among 348 isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vasinfectum (Fov) collected from diseased cotton plants in 31 fields in six cotton-growing regions in New South Wales and Queensland in 2002 and 2004 was analysed using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). Twenty-eight haplotypes were identified based on 146 polymorphic bands generated with four EcoRI and MseI and four HindIII and MseI primer combinations. The haplotypes separated into two distinct groups (37% similarity), with 21 in group I and seven in group II. The two unique vegetative compatibility groups of Fov known to occur in Australia (VCG 01111 and VCG 01112) were correlated to the two AFLP groups, with both VCG 01111 reference isolates being included in group I and both VCG 01112 reference isolates in group II. Group I was widespread, occurring in all regions sampled and all but one of the fields, while group II was limited to three fields in the Boggabilla region. Group I was further divided into two subgroups. The two haplotypes in subgroup I-B (I-20 and I-21) may represent the emergence of a new form of Fov based on their marked genetic discrimination from the subgroup I-A haplotypes. No spatial population differentiation was discernible at the national level, as only 3·9% of total genetic variation was attributed to differences among regions ( P = 0·4868). When each region was analysed separately, clear differentiation was found in the Boggabilla region, with 86·3% of total genetic variation resulting from differences among fields ( P < 0·0001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]