The cornerstone of obesity treatment is behavioural weight management, resulting in significant improvements in cardio-metabolic and psychosocial health. However, there is ongoing concern that dietary interventions used for weight management may precipitate the development of eating disorders. Systematic reviews demonstrate that, while for most participants medically supervised obesity treatment improves risk scores related to eating disorders, a subset of people who undergo obesity treatment may have poor outcomes for eating disorders. This review summarises the background and rationale for the formation of the Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration. The EDIT Collaboration will explore the complex risk factor interactions that precede changes to eating disorder risk following weight management. In this review, we also outline the programme of work and design of studies for the EDIT Collaboration, including expected knowledge gains. The EDIT studies explore risk factors and the interactions between them using individual-level data from international weight management trials. Combining all available data on eating disorder risk from weight management trials will allow sufficient sample size to interrogate our hypothesis: that individuals undertaking weight management interventions will vary in their eating disorder risk profile, on the basis of personal characteristics and intervention strategies available to them. The collaboration includes the integration of health consumers in project development and translation. An important knowledge gain from this project is a comprehensive understanding of the impact of weight management interventions on eating disorder risk.

Two introduced carnivores, the European red fox Vulpes vulpes and domestic cat Felis catus, have had extensive impacts on Australian biodiversity. In this study, we collate information on consumption of Australian birds by the fox, paralleling a recent study reporting on birds consumed by cats. We found records of consumption by foxes on 128 native bird species (18% of the non-vagrant bird fauna and 25% of those species within the fox’s range), a smaller tally than for cats (343 species, including 297 within the fox’s Australian range, a subset of that of the cat). Most (81%) bird species eaten by foxes are also eaten by cats, suggesting that predation impacts are compounded. As with consumption by cats, birds that nest or forage on the ground are most likely to be consumed by foxes. However, there is also some partitioning, with records of consumption by foxes but not cats for 25 bird species, indicating that impacts of the two predators may also be complementary. Bird species ≥3.4 kg were more likely to be eaten by foxes, and those <3.4 kg by cats. Our compilation provides an inventory and describes characteristics of Australian bird species known to be consumed by foxes, but we acknowledge that records of predation do not imply population-level impacts. Nonetheless, there is sufficient information from other studies to demonstrate that fox predation has significant impacts on the population viability of some Australian birds, especially larger birds, and those that nest or forage on the ground.

Sera from an age-stratified sample of 1810 people from the Caribbean island of St Lucia were tested for antibodies against varicella-zoster virus. The results indicate that very few infections occur in childhood, which agrees with clinical survey data from other tropical countries, but contrasts with the observed high case rate in children in temperate countries. The alternative hypotheses which may explain these results are discussed, and it is suggested that high ambient temperatures interfere with the transmission of the virus. Irrespective of the cause, the pattern of varicella incidence observed has important implications for any vaccination policy adopted in tropical countries.

As part of a study investigating the carbon balance of a blanket bog, we made an assessment of the spatial variation of radiocarbon concentrations in the surface layers of a small area of peatland in the north of England. The peat depth at which bomb-14C content was the highest varied considerably between cores sampled from across the site. At several sampling locations, 14C levels >100% Modern were confined to the surface 8 cm, whereas bomb 14C was evident at 1 site, located only meters away, to a depth of at least 12–16 cm. Using the layer where 14C levels first exceeded 100% Modern as a chronological reference layer, we estimated the carbon accumulation rate over the last 50 yr for the surface peat at each site (range ∼20 to ∼125 g C m2 yr-1). Our results show that although carbon accumulation over the last 50 yr was similar across the site, variation in the depth to which bomb 14C was evident implied considerable variation in the vertical peat growth rate.

A method for collecting an isotopically representative sample of CO2 from an air stream using a zeolite molecular sieve is described. A robust sampling system was designed and developed for use in the field that includes reusable molecular sieve cartridges, a lightweight pump, and a portable infrared gas analyzer (IRGA). The system was tested using international isotopic standards (13C and 14C). Results showed that CO2 could be trapped and recovered for both δ13C and 14C analysis by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), respectively, without any contamination, fractionation, or memory effect. The system was primarily designed for use in carbon isotope studies of ecosystem respiration, with potential for use in other applications that require CO2 collection from air.

Dengue and Japanese encephalitis flaviviruses cause severe disease and are hyperendemic in southern Vietnam. This study assesses associations between sociodemographic factors and flavivirus seroprevalence in this region. Sera were collected from 308 community and hospital-based subjects between April 1996 and August 1997 and tested with an indirect ELISA. The factors associated with seroprevalence were assessed using multivariate logistic regression. In this first report of adjusted prevalence odds ratios (POR) for flavivirus infection in Vietnam, seropositivity was associated with increasing age in children (multiple regression coefficients for a child compared to an adult =−4·975 and for age in children = 0·354) and residence in the city compared to surrounding rural districts. The association with age indicates that subjects were most likely to have acquired infection in early childhood. This is key to the design of Vietnamese health education and immunization programmes.

Regions of the brain involved in language and attention were studied using [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose in PET. In nine chronic DSM–III schizophrenic patients who had persistent auditory hallucinations, ten who had recovered from hallucinations and ten normal controls. In none of the regions examined was metabolic activity significantly different in hallucinating patients compared with that in other groups. However, a pattern of seven significant correlations of metabolic activity between language regions and between frontal and parietal cortex characterised the hallucinating but not the other groups. Three of the seven correlations were significantly greater in hallucinating patients than in the two other groups, and six were greater in hallucinating patients than controls. Metabolism in Broca's region and its right-hemisphere homologue correlated positively and significantly in the hallucinating group, as it did in anterior cingulate and left superior temporal areas, and in right frontal and parietal areas. Hallucination ratings correlated with metabolism in the anterior cingulate region.

We have found that 4 new, bright IRAS quasars, out of 7 observed, have strong, non-variable, wavelength-dependent polarization. Three show degrees of polarization, pλ, increasing from infrared to UV wavelengths (Fig. 1), which implies a combination of a polarized, scattered spectrum and a much redder, unpolarized spectrum. Detailed IR and optical polarimetry and spectrophotometry of one, IRAS 13349+2438 (Wills et al.), shows a polarized flux spectrum, pλxFλ, (continuum and Pa α, Hα, and Hβ broad hydrogen lines) typical of unreddened, luminous quasars. This suggests that the path of scattered light from a central, luminous quasar is low in dust and that the polarization of the scattered spectrum is wavelength independent. The latter is most easily explained by electron scattering although the data do not exclude dust scattering. When this polarized flux spectrum is subtracted from the total spectrum, we are left with a very reddened line and continuum spectrum, E(B-V) = 0.3 to 0.7, which we attribute to the same luminous quasar seen through a thick dusty torus. The angle of polarization is parallel to the major axis of the r-band image, presumed to be that of the host galaxy. If the torus is in the plane of the galaxy, the axial ratio suggests a viewing angle of 40° to the plane of the torus. Fig. 2 illustrates the geometry. The appearance of the quasar at optical and UV wavelengths will depend strongly on viewing angle, suggesting that present samples of quasars selected by colours, optical flux density, or quasi-stellar appearance, may be seriously biased, with important consequences for studies of the space density and evolution of AGN.