Search

Background: Melanoma of the skin is the most dangerous skin cancer in the world, though the numbers of reported new cases and melanoma-related deaths are low. Objective: This study evaluated the global incidence, mortality, risk factors and temporal trends by age, sex and locations of melanoma skin cancer. Patients and Methods: Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CI5) volumes I–XI; the Nordic Cancer Registries (NORDCAN); the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program; and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) mortality database were accessed for worldwide incidence and mortality rates. Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) was calculated using a Joinpoint regression to examine trends. Results: Age-standardized rates of cancer incidence and mortality were 3.4 and 0.55 per 100,000 worldwide in 2020. Australia and New Zealand reported the highest incidence and mortality rates. Associated risk factors included higher prevalence of smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, obesity and metabolic diseases. Increasing incidence trends were observed mostly in European countries, whilst mortality displayed an overall decreasing trend. For both sexes in the age group 50 years and above, a significant increase in incidence trend was observed. Conclusions: Although mortality rates and trends were found to decrease, global incidence has increased, especially in older age groups and males. Whilst incidence increase may be attributed to improved healthcare infrastructure and cancer detection methods, the growing prevalence of lifestyle and metabolic risk factors in developed countries should not be discounted. Future research should explore underlying variables behind epidemiological trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Floodplains are complex adaptive ecosystems that provide an array of ecosystem services. Despite the growing focus on resilience as a fundamental feature of floodplain ecosystems, and as an aim in floodplain management, few studies have quantified the resilience of floodplain landscapes over meaningful timescales. Objectives: This study examines the resilience of floodplain vegetation communities over medium (decadal) and long term (multi-decadal) times scales through an analysis of the spatial organisation of different vegetation communities. The floodplain vegetation landscape is conceived as having two basins of attraction represented by; (1). Natural vegetation, which incorporates two domains of flood dependent (FD) and non-flood dependent (NFD) vegetation communities; and, (2). Cleared vegetation (CL). Methods: We examine change in the spatial organisation of vegetation communities on the Yanga floodplain, located on the Murrumbidgee River, Australia, over a forty-year period (1965–2005). Detailed vegetation community maps, constructed from orthorectified aerial photographs for the years 1965, 1973, 1997 and 2005, were used. Results: Substantial changes in the extent and spatial configuration of vegetation communities occurred over the 40-year period. Many changes were bidirectional transitions between FD and NFD vegetation communities, representing transitions in response to variations in flood frequency. However, the predominant unidirectional transition of the FD and NFD vegetation communities were to CL. Conclusions: The dynamic character of the Yanga Floodplain vegetation landscape is shown by 91 detectable transitions among vegetation community types. Despite large areas of the floodplain vegetation landscape having undergone persistent community change, some areas of the floodplain display resilience over the 40-year period. This suggests floodplain vegetation communities are well adapted to substantial changes in environmental conditions as a result of episodic flooding and drying. However, large net changes and an increase in CL, which did not revert back to previous vegetation community types, suggest a transition to a different basin of attraction, and a loss of system resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil seed banks are an important component of plant community diversity in ephemeral wetlands, allowing many species to persist through unpredictable periods of flood and drought. Spatial variation of extant vegetation in such habitats commonly reflects patterns of flood history and often varies predictably between broadly differing hydro-geomorphic habitat types. Here we investigate whether spatial variation of soil seed banks is similarly controlled by fluvial processes at this scale. Results are presented from a seedling emergence trial using samples collected from a range of habitat types, and at different scales within these, in the ephemeral Narran Lakes system in semi-arid Australia. Composition and structure of soil seed banks varied significantly between habitat types reflecting broad differences in flood frequency. As predicted, germinable seed abundance was found to be highest in intermediately flooded habitats. Variability in soil seed bank composition at a local scale was also found to be influenced by hydrology with greater spatial heterogeneity evident in the river channel as well as amongst the least frequently inundated riparian and floodplain habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the demonstrated utility of the Australian River Assessment Scheme (AUSRIVAS) to provide national-scale information on the biological condition of rivers, there is no commensurate scheme that can provide standardised information on physical habitat. Existing habitat assessment methods are not suitable for implementation on a national scale, so we present a new habitat assessment protocol that incorporates favorable elements of existing methods. Habitat Predictive Modelling forms the basis for the protocol because it can predict the occurrence of local-scale features from large-scale data, uses the reference condition concept, can be modified to incorporate a range of biologically and geomorphologically relevant variables, and employs a rapid survey approach. However, the protocol has been augmented with geomorphological variables and incorporates principles of hierarchy and geomorphological river zonation. There are four sequential components to the implementation of the protocol: reference site selection, data collection, predictive model construction and assessment of test sites using the predictive models. Once implemented, the habitat assessment protocol will provide a standardised tool for the assessment of river habitat condition at a variety of governance levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]