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Background: Australia has one of the highest incidences of colorectal cancer (CRC) worldwide. The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) is a best-practice, organised screening programme, but uptake is low (40.9%) and increasing participation could reduce morbidity and mortality associated with CRC. Endorsement by GPs is strongly associated with increasing screening uptake. Aim: This study (SMARTscreen) aimed to test whether a multi-intervention short message service (SMS) sent by general practices to 50–60-year-old patients who were due to receive the NBCSP kit would increase NBCSP uptake, by comparing it with usual care. Design and setting: A stratified cluster randomised controlled trial was undertaken, involving 21 Australian general practices in Western Victoria, Australia. Method: For intervention practices, people due to receive the NBCSP kit within a 6-month study period were sent an SMS just before receiving the kit. The SMS included a personalised message from the person's general practice endorsing the kit, a motivational narrative video, an instructional video, and a link to more information. Control practices continued with usual care, comprising at-home testing with a faecal immunochemical test (FIT) through the NBCSP. The primary outcome was the between-arm percentage difference in uptake of FIT screening within 12 months from randomisation, which was estimated using generalised linear model regression. Results: In total, 39.2% (1143/2914) of people in 11 intervention practices and 23.0% (583/2537) of people in 10 control practices had a FIT result in their electronic health records — a difference of 16.5% (95% confidence interval = 2.02 to 30.9). Conclusion: The SMS intervention increased NBCSP kit return in 50–60-year-old patients in general practice. This finding informed a larger trial — SMARTERscreen — to test this intervention in a broader Australian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the problem of sedimentation slowly filling dams and reservoirs is innate to the structures, it is especially significant in Mediterranean climates that rely on reservoir storage to mitigate out-of-phase water availability and demand. Reservoirs and their impounding structures have significant impacts on in-stream and riparian ecosystems. Several preventative and mitigation measures have been designed by engineers to limit sediment accumulation and the ecological impacts of reservoirs. Dam removal has been documented to have significant environmental benefits for restoration of aquatic ecosystems and native fisheries but may also lead to eroded floodplains, impaired downstream habitat and loss of flood control capacity. The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes goals and guidance designating “heavily modified water bodies” and achieving “good ecological potential,” but definitions of these terms are not clearly defined. In addition, sediment management is not explicitly addressed in WFD guidance, thus contributing to limited guidance on how reservoir sedimentation should be managed in Mediterranean climates. As a European Union member state and a Mediterranean-climate country, surface water and reservoir management in Portugal is undergoing several changes through actions to achieve WFD goals. We examine how WFD management guidance for reservoirs and their ecological status is currently being considered throughout Europe and in Portugal specifically.

The Chorro Flats Floodplain Reconnection project in Morro Bay, California is referred to as a successful restoration project because of the thorough planning process and consideration of geomorphic processes in the project design. The Chorro Flats project was part of a suite of projects in the Chorro Creek watershed intended to reduce the sediment load into Morro Bay, a highly productive estuary threatened by an increased rate of infill. In this paper, we present a post-project appraisal one decade after construction. We evaluate the project through several research questions that examine floodplain reconnection, sediment capture, geomorphic changes, and post-project monitoring. Due to a convergence of fortuitous factors and thorough planning, the project achieved sediment capture through floodplain reconnection. In addition, the project achieved its secondary goals to develop in-stream habitat and a healthy riparian zone. We found that monitoring efforts were difficult to replicate, and that continued monitoring of the project is essential to evaluate the lifespan of the project and potential downstream impacts.

Chronic low-frequency stimulation has been used as a model for investigating responses of skeletal muscle fibres to enhanced neuromuscular activity under conditions of maximum activation. Fast-to-slow isoform shifting of markers of the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the contractile apparatus demonstrated successful fibre transitions prior to studying the effect of chronic electro-stimulation on the expression of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Comparative immunoblotting revealed that the α- and δ-subunits of the receptor were increased in 10–78 day stimulated specimens, while an associated component of the surface utrophin–glycoprotein complex, β-dystroglycan, was not drastically changed in stimulated fast skeletal muscle. Previous studies have shown that electro-stimulation induces degeneration of fast glycolytic fibres, trans-differentiation leading to fast-to-slow fibre transitions and activation of muscle precursor cells. In analogy, our results indicate a molecular modification of the central functional unit of the post-synaptic muscle surface within existing neuromuscular junctions and/or during remodelling of nerve–muscle contacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]