Background: To test the hypothesis that 0.01% atropine eyedrops are a safe and effective myopia-control approach in Australian children.Methods: Children (6-16 years; 49% Europeans, 18% East Asian, 22% South Asian, and 12% other/mixed ancestry) with documented myopia progression were enrolled into this single-centre randomised, parallel, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial and randomised to receive 0.01% atropine (n = 104) or placebo (n = 49) eyedrops (2:1 ratio) instilled nightly over 24 months (mean index age = 12.2 ± 2.5 and 11.2 ± 2.8 years, respectively). Outcome measures were the changes in spherical equivalent (SE) and axial length (AL) from baseline.Samantha Sze-Yee Lee and Gareth Lingham contributed equally to this study.

The IVI-VLV is a valid and reliable VRQoL measure in persons with severe vision loss, and its measurement is almost unaffected by participants' self-perceived general or mental health. The IVI-VLV can be used as an outcome measure in trials attempting sight restoration.

These results suggest that emotional health and lack of depression are important determinants for quality and value of life.

BackgroundThere is very little information available on a national level as to the number of people exposed to specific asthmagens in workplaces.MethodsWe conducted a national telephone survey in Australia to investigate the prevalence of current occupational exposure to 277 asthmagens, assembled into 27 groups. Demographic and current job information were obtained. A web-based tool, OccIDEAS, was used to collect job task information and assign exposure to each asthmagen group.ResultsIn the Australian Workplace Exposure Study – Asthma (AWES- Asthma) we interviewed 4878 participants (2441 male and 2437 female). Exposure to at least one asthmagen was more common among men (47 %) than women (40 %). Extrapolated to the Australian population, approximately 2.8 million men and 1.7 million women were estimated to be exposed. Among men, the most common exposures were bioaerosols (29 %) and metals (27 %), whilst the most common exposures among women were latex (25 %) and industrial cleaning and sterilising agents (20 %).ConclusionsThis study provides information about the prevalence of exposure to asthmagens in Australian workplaces which will be useful in setting priorities for control and prevention of occupational asthma.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12890-016-0212-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.