Pre-post evaluation of a weight management service for families with overweight and obese children, translated from the efficacious lifestyle intervention Parenting, Eating and Activity for Child Health (PEACH).

Parenting, Eating and Activity for Child Health (PEACH) is a multi-component lifestyle intervention for families with overweight and obese children. PEACH was translated from an efficacious randomised-controlled trial (RCT) and delivered at scale as PEACH Queensland (QLD) in Queensland, Australia. The aim of this study is to explore pre-post changes in parenting, and child-level eating, activity and anthropometry, in the PEACH QLD service delivery project. PEACH QLD enrolled 926 overweight/obese children (817 families). Pre-programme evaluation was completed for 752 children and paired pre-post-programme evaluation data were available for 388 children. At baseline, children with pre-post-programme data were (mean) 8·8 years old, and at follow-up were 9·3 years old, with mean time between pre-post-programme measures of 0·46 years. Outcomes reflected each domain of the PEACH programme: parenting, eating behaviour of the child and activity behaviours (means reported). Parents reported improvements in parenting self-efficacy (3·6 to 3·7, P=0·001). Children had improved eating behaviours: eating more daily serves of vegetables (2·0 to 2·6, P=0·001) and fewer non-milk sweetened beverages (0·9 to 0·6, P=0·001) and discretionary foods (2·2 to 1·5, P=0·001). Children spent more time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (86 to 105 min/d, P=0·001) and less time in sedentary screen-based behaviours (190 to 148 min/d, P=0·001). Consequently, there were significant improvements in mean BMIz (-0·112; P<0·001) and weight status (healthy weight/overweight/obese/morbidly obese prevalence from 0/22/33/45 % to 2/27/34/37 %, P<0·001). When delivered at scale, PEACH remains an effective family-based, multi-component, lifestyle weight management programme for overweight and obese children whose families engage in the programme.

Hendra virus: Epidemiology dynamics in relation to climate change, diagnostic tests and control measures.

Hendra virus (HeV) continues to pose a serious public health concern as spillover events occur sporadically. Terminally ill horses can exhibit a range of clinical signs including frothy nasal discharge, ataxia or forebrain signs. Early signs, if detected, can include depression, inappetence, colic or mild respiratory signs. All unvaccinated ill horses in areas where flying foxes exist, may potentially be infected with HeV, posing a significant risk to the veterinary community. Equivac® HeV vaccine has been fully registered in Australia since 2015 (and under an Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority special permit since 2012) for immunization of horses against HeV and is the most effective and direct solution to prevent disease transmission to horses and protect humans. No HeV vaccinated horse has tested positive for HeV infection. There is no registered vaccine to prevent, or therapeutics to treat, HeV infection in humans. Previous equine HeV outbreaks tended to cluster in winter overlapping with the foaling season (August to December), when veterinarians and horse owners have frequent close contact with horses and their bodily fluids, increasing the chance of zoonotic disease transmission. The most southerly case was detected in 2019 in the Upper Hunter region in New South Wales, which is Australia's Thoroughbred horse breeding capital. Future spillover events are predicted to move further south and inland in Queensland and New South Wales, aligning with the moving distribution of the main reservoir hosts. Here we (1) review HeV epidemiology and climate change predicted infection dynamics, (2) present a biosecurity protocol for veterinary clinics and hospitals to adopt, and (3) describe diagnostic tests currently available and those under development. Major knowledge and research gaps have been identified, including evaluation of vaccine efficacy in foals to assess current vaccination protocol recommendations.

Qualitative and quantitative assessment of the presence of ciguatoxin, P-CTX-1B, in Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) from waters in New South Wales (Australia).

Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) is a tropical disease caused by the consumption of fish contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs). Currently, the only feasible prevention methods for CFP are to avoid the consumption of fish of certain species from some regions, avoid larger fish of certain species, or avoid all fish caught from specific regions. Here, we quantified levels of P-CTX-1B in Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson), which is the main fish species that causes CFP in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, using LC-MS detection against a toxin standard. We found detectable P-CTX-1B in both flesh and liver tissues in fish from New South Wales (n = 71, 1.4% prevalence rate, with a confidence interval of 1%-4%, and 7% prevalence, 1%-12%, in flesh and liver, respectively). In the small sample of fish from Queensland, there was a 46% prevalence (19-73%, n = 13). Toxin levels found were 0.13 µg kg-1 to <0.1 µg kg-1 in flesh, and 1.39 µg kg-1 to <0.4 µg kg-1 in liver, indicating that liver tissue had a significantly higher concentration (∼5 fold) of P-CTX-1B. No apparent relationship was observed between the length or weight of S. commerson and the detection of P-CTX-1B in this study. Footnote.