Background In early 2001 in Australia there was a sudden and dramatic decrease in heroin availability that occurred throughout the country that was evidenced by marked increases in heroin price and decreases in its purity. Aim This study examines the impact of this change in heroin supply on the following indicators of heroin use: fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses; treatment seeking for heroin dependence; injecting drug use; drug-specific offences; and general property offences. The study was conducted using data from three Australian States [New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (VIC) and South Australia (SA)]. Methods Data were obtained on fatal and non-fatal overdoses from hospital emergency departments (EDs), ambulance services and coronial systems; treatment entries for heroin dependence compiled by State health departments; numbers of needles and syringes distributed to drug users; and data on arrests for heroin-related incidents and property-related crime incidents compiled by State Police Services. Time-series analyses were conducted where possible to examine changes before and after the onset of the heroin shortage. These were supplemented with information drawn from studies involving interviews with injecting drug users. Results After the reduction in heroin supply, fatal and non-fatal heroin overdoses decreased by between 40% and 85%. Despite some evidence of increased cocaine, methamphetamine and benzodiazepine use and reports of increases in harms related to their use, there were no increases recorded in the number of either non-fatal overdoses or deaths related to these drugs. There was a sustained decline in injecting drug use in NSW and VIC, as indicated by a substantial drop in the number of needles and syringes distributed (to 1999 levels in Victoria). There was a short-lived increase in property crime in NSW followed by a sustained reduction in such offences. SA and VIC did not show any marked change in the categories of property crime examined in the study. Conclusions Substantial reductions in heroin availability have not occurred often, but in this Australian case a reduction had an aggregate positive impact in that it was associated with: reduced fatal and non-fatal heroin overdoses; reduced the apparent extent of injecting drug use in VIC and NSW; and may have contributed to reduced crime in NSW. All these changes provide substantial benefits to the community and some to heroin users. Documented shifts to other forms of drug use did not appear sufficient to produce increases in deaths, non-fatal overdoses or treatment seeking related to those drugs.

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Objectives: To examine national trampoline injury patterns and trends in the context of improved product safety standards and trampoline design modifications. Method: Review of National Hospital Morbidity data. Results: There were an average 1,737 trampoline injuries reported nationally each year from 2002 to 2011. Both injury frequency and rate grew. Statistically significant rate increases were observed among all age groups, although both are highest among children aged 5–9 years. From 2008/09 there is a possible decreasing trend among the 5–9 age group. Falls predominate and 81% of falls result in fracture. Non‐fall injuries increased annually as a proportion of all hospitalised injury although they did not comprise more than 2.4% in any one year. Conclusions: History provides no evidence of an observable effect of voluntary Australian Standards for trampoline safety on population rates for trampoline injury. The major design modification – netted enclosures – could contribute to the risk of injury by leading parents to falsely believe that a netted enclosure eradicates the risk of injury.

It was concluded that there are benefits in allowing parents to be present during anaesthetic induction. However, the potential negative effect of parental anxiety must be acknowledged before parents are allowed to accompany their child as a matter of course.

An olfactory stimulus and a visual stimulus were employed in a context-dependent memory study using a prose passage as the to-be-remembered item. Ninety-five university students (aged 17-35 years) learned the passage of prose in the presence of one of the stimuli and were then asked to recall the passage with the original context either reinstated or not reinstated. The results revealed a significant context-dependent memory effect for the olfactory cue but not for the visual cue. They demonstrate support for the effectiveness of odours as context cues and it is suggested that context-dependent memory processes may underlie the formation and retrieval of odour-evoked autobiographical memories.