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Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients living in regional or remote Queensland are often disadvantaged by limited access to IBD specialist care. Telehealth clinics could potentially address this disparity and improve patient outcomes. Aim We report the impact of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) IBD telehealth clinics from March 2011 to December 2017 including patient satisfaction and healthcare activity. Methods Patient satisfaction surveys were collected prospectively between March 2011 and March 2012. Healthcare activity was assessed through occasions of service (OOS), number of enrolled patients on biologics and IBD related admissions to RBWH. Results Overall, 3764 OOS were completed including 576 new patient and 3188 follow up visits. Mean age at first telehealth visit was 44 years (range:16‐87). The IBD telehealth clinics were well accepted with 99% of the first 153 patients surveyed choosing to continue with telehealth and 94% rated the telehealth experience as very good or excellent. The net number of patients under active review increased from 125 patients in 2011 to 345 patients in 2017. Enrolled patients on biologics also increased from 9 patients in 2011 to 63 patients in 2017. There was an initial dip in annual IBD related admissions to RBWH in 2011 but these have progressively increased over time although the average length of inpatient stay annually has remained stable. Conclusion The RBWH IBD telehealth clinics have shown that telemedicine is well received and can be used successfully to deliver IBD specialist care to patients living in regional or remote areas. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Natural wetlands are known to play an important role in pollutant remediation, such as remediating acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned mine sites. However, many aspects of the microbiological mechanisms underlying AMD remediation within wetlands are poorly understood, including the role and composition of associated microbial communities. We have utilized an AMD-polluted river-wetland system to perform rRNA sequence analysis of microbial communities that play a role in biogeochemical activities that are linked to water quality improvement. Next-generation sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons from river and wetland sediment samples identified variation in bacterial community structure and diversity on the basis of dissolved and particulate metal concentrations, sediment metal concentrations and other water chemistry parameters (pH and conductivity), and wetland plant presence. Metabolic reconstruction analysis allowed prediction of relative abundance of microbial metabolic pathways and revealed differences between samples that cluster on the basis of the severity of AMD pollution. Global metabolic activity was predicted to be significantly higher in unpolluted and wetland sediments in contrast to polluted river sediments, indicating a metabolic stress response to AMD pollution. This is one of the first studies to explore microbial community structure dynamics within a natural wetland exposed to AMD and our findings indicate that wetland ecosystems play critical roles in maintaining diversity and metabolic structure of sediment microbial communities subject to high levels of acidity and metal pollution. Moreover, these microbial communities arepredicted to be important for the remediation action of the wetland.

A collection of folklore and local history stories from Kilmacrennan (school) (Kilmacrenan, Co. Donegal), collected as part of the Schools' Folklore Scheme, 1937-1938 under the supervision of teacher Anna B. McMahon., Béaloideas -- Cures -- Saint Colmcille -- Proverbs -- Finding of Doon Well -- Lough a Salt -- Cardinal Logue -- Signs of Rain / Russell, Violet -- Guesses -- Folklore / Peoples, James -- Squire of Tirargus -- Bull's Track / Gamble, Martha -- Boxty Bread / Robinson, Tommy -- My Favourite Supper / Stewart, Maude -- Folklore, Supported by funding from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Ireland), University College Dublin, and the National Folklore Foundation (Fondúireacht Bhéaloideas Éireann), 2014-2016.