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Introduction. La pratique régulière d'activité physique est associée à un grand nombre d'avantages pour la santé chez les jeunes. Bien que des études antérieures aient fait ressortir des différences dans la pratique de l'activité physique chez les jeunes selon l'identité de genre et l'orientation sexuelle, ces facteurs ont été peu étudiés chez les adolescents canadiens. Méthodologie. Les données de l'Enquête canadienne sur la santé des enfants et des jeunes de 2019 ont été utilisées pour évaluer la prévalence de la participation à des sports organisés, le temps passé à pratiquer des sports organisés, l'activité physique totale et l'utilisation du transport actif pour se rendre à l'école en fonction de l'identité de genre (cisgenre ou non cisgenre) chez les adolescents de 12 à 17 ans et de l'attirance sexuelle (hétérosexuelle ou non hétérosexuelle) chez les adolescents de 15 à 17 ans. Résultats. Aucune différence n'a été constatée entre les adolescents canadiens cisgenres et non cisgenres sur le plan du nombre moyen de minutes d'activité physique totale par semaine. Le nombre hebdomadaire moyen de minutes passées à pratiquer des sports organisés était nettement plus faible chez les adolescents non cisgenres (qui représentent 0,5 % de la population) que chez les adolescents cisgenres. Certaines données indiquent que les adolescents non cisgenres étaient plus nombreux que les autres adolescents à utiliser le transport actif pour se rendre à l'école, mais leur puissance statistique est insuffisante pour faire ressortir des différences significatives. Les adolescents canadiens ayant déclaré tout type d'attirance non hétérosexuelle (et qui représentent 21,2 % de la population, incluant les jeunes avec une attirance principalement hétérosexuelle) étaient moins nombreux que les adolescents ayant déclaré une attirance exclusivement hétérosexuelle à faire de l'activité physique régulièrement et à participer à des sports organisés. Les écarts étaient plus marqués chez les garçons que chez les filles. Les garçons ayant déclaré une attirance non hétérosexuelle étaient plus nombreux que ceux ayant déclaré une attirance hétérosexuelle à utiliser le transport actif pour se rendre à l'école. Conclusion. Les adolescents non cisgenres et les adolescents ayant déclaré une attirance non hétérosexuelle participaient moins que les autres adolescents à des sports organisés, mais ils semblent être plus nombreux à utiliser le transport actif. L'atténuation des barrières à la pratique de sports organisés pourrait accroître l'activité physique dans ces groupes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of biochar technology for soil amendment is largely based on evidence about soil fertility and crop productivity gains made in the Amazonian Black Earth (term preta). However, the uncertainty of production gains at realistic application rates of biochars and lack of knowledge about other benefits and other concerns may have resulted in poor uptake of biochar technology in Australia so far. In this review, we identify important opportunities as well as challenges in the adoption of biochar technology for broadacre farming and other sectors in Australia. The paper highlights that for biochar technology to be cost-effective and successful, we need to look beyond carbon sequestration and explore other opportunities to value-add to biochar. Therefore, some emerging and novel applications of biochar are identified. We also suggest some priority research areas that need immediate attention in order to realise the full potential of biochar technology in agriculture and other sectors in Australia. Additional keywords: biochar characterisation, contaminants, herbicide efficacy, heavy metals, nitrous oxide, plant growth media, regulations., Introduction Biochar is a carbon (C)-rich, solid material produced by thermal decomposition of organic material or biomass in the absence, or under limited supply, of oxygen (Lehmann and Joseph 2009). [...]

Introduction: The use of motorized scooters is gaining popularity in Canada and elsewhere. This study aims to summarize characteristics of injuries related to use of motorized scooters using data from the electronic Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (eCHIRPP) and to analyze trends. The eCHIRPP collects information associated with the injury event and clinical information related to treatment (the injured body part, the nature of the injury, injury intent and treatment received) from 11 pediatric and 9 general hospitals across Canada. Results: A free-text search using keywords identified 523 cases related to motorized scooter injuries between January 2012 and December 2019. Most of the injuries reported were among males (62.7%). Fracture/dislocation was the most frequent injury (36.9%), and 14.3% of all patients were admitted to hospital. Joinpoint regression showed a statistically significant increase in injuries related to motorized scooter use between 2012 and 2017 (annual percent change of 18.4%). Conclusion: Study findings indicate the need for continued preventive efforts and improved educational messages on safe riding and the importance of the use of protective equipment to prevent injuries among riders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of banded biochar application on dryland wheat production and fertiliser use in 4 experiments in Western Australia and South Australia suggest that biochar has the potential to reduce fertiliser requirement while crop productivity is maintained, and biochar additions can increase crop yields at lower rates of fertiliser use. Banding was used to minimise wind erosion risk and place biochar close to crop roots. The biochars/metallurgical chars used in this study were made at relatively high temperatures from woody materials, forming stable, low-nutrient chars. The results suggest that a low biochar application rate (~1 t/ha) by banding may provide significant positive effects on yield and fertiliser requirement. Benefits are likely to result from improved crop nutrient and water uptake and crop water supply from increased arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonisation during dry seasons and in low P soils, rather than through direct nutrient or water supply from biochars. Financial analysis using farm cash flow over 12 years suggests that a break- even total cost of initial biochar use can range from AU$40 to 190/ha if the benefits decline linearly to nil over 12 years, taking into account a P fertiliser saving of 50% or a yield increase of 10%, or both, assuming long-term soil fertility is not compromised. Accreditation of biochar for carbon trading may assist cost reduction. Additional keywords: biochar, economics, fertilser, mycorrhiza, nutrition, water supply, wheat., Introduction Fluctuating fertiliser prices over the last decade and sharp increases in prices in 2007/08 highlight the need to develop more efficient fertiliser strategies, or alternative and less-expensive sources to [...]

Abstract Background Biofuels produced from biomass are considered to be promising sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. The conversion of lignocellulose into fermentable sugars for biofuels production requires the use of enzyme cocktails that can efficiently and economically hydrolyze lignocellulosic biomass. As many fungi naturally break down lignocellulose, the identification and characterization of the enzymes involved is a key challenge in the research and development of biomass-derived products and fuels. One approach to meeting this challenge is to mine the rapidly-expanding repertoire of microbial genomes for enzymes with the appropriate catalytic properties. Results Semantic technologies, including natural language processing, ontologies, semantic Web services and Web-based collaboration tools, promise to support users in handling complex data, thereby facilitating knowledge-intensive tasks. An ongoing challenge is to select the appropriate technologies and combine them in a coherent system that brings measurable improvements to the users. We present our ongoing development of a semantic infrastructure in support of genomics-based lignocellulose research. Part of this effort is the automated curation of knowledge from information on fungal enzymes that is available in the literature and genome resources. Conclusions Working closely with fungal biology researchers who manually curate the existing literature, we developed ontological natural language processing pipelines integrated in a Web-based interface to assist them in two main tasks: mining the literature for relevant knowledge, and at the same time providing rich and semantically linked information.