The metabolic syndrome is common in older adults and may be modified by the diet. The aim of this study was to examine associations between a posteriori dietary patterns and the metabolic syndrome in an older New Zealand population. The REACH study (Researching Eating, Activity, and Cognitive Health) included 366 participants (aged 65–74 years, 36 % male) living independently in Auckland, New Zealand. Dietary data were collected using a 109-item FFQ with demonstrated validity and reproducibility for assessing dietary patterns using principal component analysis. The metabolic syndrome was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III. Associations between dietary patterns and the metabolic syndrome, adjusted for age, sex, index of multiple deprivation, physical activity, and energy intake were analysed using logistic regression analysis. Three dietary patterns explained 18 % of dietary intake variation – ‘Mediterranean style’ (salad/leafy cruciferous/other vegetables, avocados/olives, alliums, nuts/seeds, shellfish and white/oily fish, berries), ‘prudent’ (dried/fresh/frozen legumes, soya-based foods, whole grains and carrots) and ‘Western’ (processed meat/fish, sauces/condiments, cakes/biscuits/puddings and meat pies/hot chips). No associations were seen between ‘Mediterranean style’ (OR = 0·75 (95 % CI 0·53, 1·06), P = 0·11) or ‘prudent’ (OR = 1·17 (95 % CI 0·83, 1·59), P = 0·35) patterns and the metabolic syndrome after co-variate adjustment. The ‘Western’ pattern was positively associated with the metabolic syndrome (OR = 1·67 (95 % CI 1·08, 2·63), P = 0·02). There was also a small association between an index of multiple deprivation (OR = 1·04 (95 % CI 1·02, 1·06), P < 0·001) and the metabolic syndrome. This cross-sectional study provides further support for a Western dietary pattern being a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome in an older population.

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) are sites identified as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations on the basis of an internationally agreed set of criteria. We present the first review of the development and spread of the IBA concept since it was launched by BirdLife International (then ICBP) in 1979 and examine some of the characteristics of the resulting inventory. Over 13,000 global and regional IBAs have so far been identified and documented in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems in almost all of the world’s countries and territories, making this the largest global network of sites of significance for biodiversity. IBAs have been identified using standardised, data-driven criteria that have been developed and applied at global and regional levels. These criteria capture multiple dimensions of a site’s significance for avian biodiversity and relate to populations of globally threatened species (68.6% of the 10,746 IBAs that meet global criteria), restricted-range species (25.4%), biome-restricted species (27.5%) and congregatory species (50.3%); many global IBAs (52.7%) trigger two or more of these criteria. IBAs range in size from < 1 km2 to over 300,000 km2 and have an approximately log-normal size distribution (median = 125.0 km2, mean = 1,202.6 km2). They cover approximately 6.7% of the terrestrial, 1.6% of the marine and 3.1% of the total surface area of the Earth. The launch in 2016 of the KBA Global Standard, which aims to identify, document and conserve sites that contribute to the global persistence of wider biodiversity, and whose criteria for site identification build on those developed for IBAs, is a logical evolution of the IBA concept. The role of IBAs in conservation planning, policy and practice is reviewed elsewhere. Future technical priorities for the IBA initiative include completion of the global inventory, particularly in the marine environment, keeping the dataset up to date, and improving the systematic monitoring of these sites.

The Taipan galaxy survey (hereafter simply ‘Taipan’) is a multi-object spectroscopic survey starting in 2017 that will cover 2π steradians over the southern sky (δ ≲ 10°, |b| ≳ 10°), and obtain optical spectra for about two million galaxies out to z < 0.4. Taipan will use the newly refurbished 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory with the new TAIPAN instrument, which includes an innovative ‘Starbugs’ positioning system capable of rapidly and simultaneously deploying up to 150 spectroscopic fibres (and up to 300 with a proposed upgrade) over the 6° diameter focal plane, and a purpose-built spectrograph operating in the range from 370 to 870 nm with resolving power R ≳ 2000. The main scientific goals of Taipan are (i) to measure the distance scale of the Universe (primarily governed by the local expansion rate, H0) to 1% precision, and the growth rate of structure to 5%; (ii) to make the most extensive map yet constructed of the total mass distribution and motions in the local Universe, using peculiar velocities based on improved Fundamental Plane distances, which will enable sensitive tests of gravitational physics; and (iii) to deliver a legacy sample of low-redshift galaxies as a unique laboratory for studying galaxy evolution as a function of dark matter halo and stellar mass and environment. The final survey, which will be completed within 5 yrs, will consist of a complete magnitude-limited sample (i ⩽ 17) of about 1.2 × 106 galaxies supplemented by an extension to higher redshifts and fainter magnitudes (i ⩽ 18.1) of a luminous red galaxy sample of about 0.8 × 106 galaxies. Observations and data processing will be carried out remotely and in a fully automated way, using a purpose-built automated ‘virtual observer’ software and an automated data reduction pipeline. The Taipan survey is deliberately designed to maximise its legacy value by complementing and enhancing current and planned surveys of the southern sky at wavelengths from the optical to the radio; it will become the primary redshift and optical spectroscopic reference catalogue for the local extragalactic Universe in the southern sky for the coming decade.

While recent years have seen rapid growth in the number of galaxy peculiar velocity measurements, disagreements remain about the extent to which the peculiar velocity field - a tracer of the large-scale distribution of mass - agrees with both ΛCDM expectations and with velocity field models derived from redshift surveys. The 6dF Galaxy Survey includes peculiar velocities for nearly 9 000 early-type galaxies (6dFGSv), making it the largest and most homogeneous galaxy peculiar velocity sample to date. We have used the 6dFGS velocity field to determine the amplitude and scale of large-scale cosmic flows in the local universe and test standard cosmological models. We also compare the galaxy density and peculiar velocity fields to establish the distribution of dark and luminous matter and better constrain key cosmological parameters such as the redshift-space distortion parameter.

The 6dF Galaxy Survey is measuring around 150 000 redshifts and 15 000 peculiar velocities from galaxies over the southern sky at |b| > 10°. When complete, it will be the largest survey of its kind by more than an order of magnitude. Here we describe the characteristics of the Second Incremental Data Release and provide an update of the survey. This follows earlier data made public in 2002 December and 2004 March. A total of 83 014 sources now have their spectra, redshifts, and near-infrared and optical photometry available online and searchable through an Structured Query Language database at www-wfau.roe.ac.uk/6dFGS/.

The Taurus Tunable Filter (TTF) is a tunable narrowband interference filter covering wavelengths from 6300 Å to the sensitivity drop-off of conventional CCDs (∼9600 Å), although a blue ‘arm’ (4000–6500 Å) is to be added by the end of 1997. The TTF offers monochromatic imaging at the Cassegrain foci of both the Anglo-Australian and William Herschel Telescopes, with an adjustable passband of between 6 and 60 Å. In addition, frequency switching with the TTF can be synchronised with movement of charge (charge shuffling) on the CCD, which has important applications to many astrophysical problems. Here we review the different modes of TTF and suggest their use for follow-up narrowband imaging to the AAO/UKST Galactic Plane Hα Survey.

The Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) has provided a uniform photometric catalog to search for previously unknown red active galactic nuclei (AGN) and Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs).We have extended the search to the southern equatorial sky by obtaining spectra for 1182 AGN candidates using the six degree field (6dF) multifibre spectrograph on the UK Schmidt Telescope. These were scheduled as auxiliary targets for the 6dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. The candidates were selected using a single color cut of J – Ks > 2 to Ks ≲ 15.5 and a galactic latitude of lbl > 30°. 432 spectra were of sufficient quality to enable a reliable classification. 116 sources (∼27%) were securely classified as type I AGN, 20 as probable type I AGN, and 57 as probable type II AGN. Most of them span the redshift range 0.05 < z < 0.5 and only 8 (∼6%) were previously identified as AGN or QSOs. Our selection leads to a significantly higher AGN identification rate amongst local galaxies (>20%) than in any previous (mostly blue-selected) galaxy survey. A small fraction of the type I AGN could have their optical colors reddened by optically thin dust with AV < 2 mag relative to optically selected QSOs. A handful show evidence of excess far-infrared (IR) emission. The equivalent width (EW) and color distributions of the type I and II AGN are consistent with AGN unified models. In particular, the EW of the [Oiii] emission line weakly correlates with optical–near-IR color in each class of AGN, suggesting anisotropic obscuration of the AGN continuum. Overall, the optical properties of the 2MASS red AGN are not dramatically different from those of optically-selected QSOs. Our near-IR selection appears to detect the most near-IR luminous QSOs in the local universe to z≃0.6 and provides incentive to extend the search to deeper near-IR surveys.

We develop a robust Bayesian model to derive peculiar velocities and Fundamental Plane (FP) distances for a subsample of 9000 galaxies from the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS). These galaxies form the basis of 6dFGSv, the largest and most uniform galaxy peculiar-velocity sample to date. We perform a Bayesian analysis of the data set as a whole, determining cosmological parameters from the peculiar-velocity field (e.g., fitting β and the bulk flow), by comparing to the field predicted from the redshift survey and assuming that the galaxy distribution traces the matter distribution.

The 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) is an all-southern-sky galaxy survey, including 125,000 redshifts and a Fundamental Plane (FP) subsample of 10,000 peculiar velocities. This makes 6dFGS the largest peculiar-velocity sample to date. We have fitted the FP with a tri-variate Gaussian model using a maximum-likelihood approach, and derive the Bayesian probability distribution of the peculiar velocity for each of the 10,000 galaxies. We fit models of the velocity field, including comparisons to the field predicted from the redshift-survey density field, to derive the values of the redshift-space distortion parameter β, the bulk flow and the residual bulk flow in excess of that predicted from the density field. We compare these results to those derived by other authors and discuss the cosmological implications.

We have measured Fundamental Plane (FP) parameters in the 2MASS J, H and K passbands for 10,000 ellipticals, lenticulars and early-type spiral bulges in the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) – a spectroscopic survey of the southern sky with |b| > 10° (Jones et al. 2009). 6dFGS provides a large near-infrared-selected sample of galaxies for accurately determining the NIR FP and investigating the trends in the FP with stellar population, morphology and environment.