Neighborhood environments underpin screen time intervention success in children: Evidence from a study of greenspace and community programming across 130 US communities.

The goal of this study was to understand how neighborhood greenspace access may support or hinder the effectiveness of community programs and policies (CPPs) aimed at reducing racial and ethnic inequities in screen time among 4598 US children. We found higher CPP intensity was significantly associated with fewer screen time behaviors in high greenspace neighborhoods, but not neighborhoods with low or moderate greenspace. Moreover, there were significant differences in greenspace access by neighborhood-level race and ethnicity. Implementing CPPs without regard for racial and ethnic greenspace inequities may be an underlying cause in the perpetuation of inequities in childhood screen time.

PLK-1 regulates MEX-1 polarization in the C. elegans zygote.

The one-cell C. elegans embryo undergoes an asymmetric cell division during which germline factors such as the RNA-binding proteins POS-1 and MEX-1 segregate to the posterior cytoplasm, leading to their asymmetric inheritance to the posterior germline daughter cell. Previous studies found that the RNA-binding protein MEX-5 recruits polo-like kinase PLK-1 to the anterior cytoplasm where PLK-1 inhibits the retention of its substrate POS-1, leading to POS-1 segregation to the posterior. In this study, we tested whether PLK-1 similarly regulates MEX-1 polarization. We find that both the retention of MEX-1 in the anterior and the segregation of MEX-1 to the posterior depend on PLK kinase activity and on the interaction between MEX-5 and PLK-1. Human PLK1 directly phosphorylates recombinant MEX-1 on 9 predicted PLK-1 sites in vitro, four of which were identified in previous phosphoproteomic analysis of C. elegans embryos. The introduction of alanine substitutions at these four PLK-1 phosphorylation sites (MEX-1(4A)) significantly weakened the inhibition of MEX-1 retention in the anterior, thereby weakening MEX-1 segregation to the posterior. In contrast, mutation of a predicted CDK1 phosphorylation site had no effect on MEX-1 retention or on MEX-1 segregation. MEX-1(4A) mutants are viable and fertile but display significant sterility and fecundity defects at elevated temperatures. Taken together with our previous findings, these findings suggest PLK-1 phosphorylation drives both MEX-1 and POS-1 polarization during the asymmetric division of the zygote.

Stochastic diffusion using mean-field limits to approximate master equations.

Stochastic diffusion is the noisy and uncertain process through which dynamics like epidemics, or agents like animal species, disperse over a larger area. Understanding these processes is becoming increasingly important as we attempt to better prepare for potential pandemics and as species ranges shift in response to climate change. Unfortunately, modeling of stochastic diffusion is mostly done through inaccurate deterministic tools that fail to capture the random nature of dispersal or else through expensive computational simulations. In particular, standard tools fail to fully capture the heterogeneity of the area over which this diffusion occurs. Rural areas with low population density require different epidemic models than urban areas; likewise, the edges of a species range require us to explicitly track low integer numbers of individuals rather than vague averages. In this work, we introduce a series of new tools called "mean-FLAME" models that track stochastic dispersion using approximate master equations that explicitly follow the probability distribution of an area of interest over all of its possible states, up to states that are active enough to be approximated using a mean-field model. In one limit, this approach is locally exact if we explicitly track enough states, and in the other limit collapses back to traditional deterministic models if we track no state explicitly. Applying this approach, we show how deterministic tools fail to capture the uncertainty around the speed of nonlinear dynamical processes. This is especially true for marginal areas that are close to unsuitable for diffusion, like the edge of a species range or epidemics in small populations. Capturing the uncertainty in such areas is key to producing accurate forecasts and guiding potential interventions.

A backward cycling programme for people with Parkinson's disease: a feasibility and preliminary results study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of backward cycling for people with Parkinson's disease. Secondary objectives were to assess changes in gait and balance following a 6-week program. DESIGN: A single-group prospective pre-test, post-test study with 1-month follow-up. SUBJECTS/PATIENTS: Twenty-six people with Parkinson's disease (mean age: 69 (7.74) years, gender: 83% males, time since diagnosis: 6 (4.44) years). METHODS: Participants pedaled backward on a stationary bicycle for 30 minutes at moderate intensity twice a week for 6 weeks. Feasibility was assessed by acceptability, suitability, and burden. Data collected at pre- and post-intervention with 1-month follow-up included backward stepping response variables, forward/backward gait variables, Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (MBT), and 6 Minute Walk Test. RESULTS: There was a high retention rate (95.8%) and adherence rate (100%) with one adverse event and minimal burden. Significant improvements were seen in step count and excursion distance during backward stepping responses, forward and backward gait velocity, forward step length, and the Mini-BESTest. CONCLUSION: Backward cycling was a feasible intervention for people with Parkinson's disease, demonstrating low burden with high retention and adherence rates, and it is a safe exercise with the potential for benefits in gait and balance variables.

Environmental microplastic interact with heavy metal in polluted soil from mine site in the North of Tunisia: Effects on heavy metal accumulation, growth, photosynthetic activities, and biochemical responses of alfalfa plants (Medicago saliva L.).

As emerging persistent pollutants, microplastic (MPs) pollution attracted increasing attention worldwide since it is posing several environmental concerns. MPs interact with heavy metals in soil and may provoke damages on soil properties and ultimately impaired plants and human health. The present study aims to evaluate alfalfa plants (Medicago sativa) response after exposure to heavy metal polluted soils from mine site in the North of Tunisia in presence of environmental microplastic. For that, soils were sampled from two sites of Jebel Ressass mine in addition to a control soil. Plants were exposed to the three soils in presence of two increasing rates of microplastics D1 (1 mg/kg of soil) and D2 (100 mg/kg of soil) for 60 days. After harvest, agronomic parameters, chlorophyll content as well as heavy metal accumulation in plants were analyzed. Furthermore, oxidative status was evaluated in terms of malondialdehyde accumulation (MDA), catalase (CAT) activities and glutathion-S-transferase (GST). Overall, our finding highlights that MPs disrupted agronomic parameters and the photosynthetic activities of alfalfa plants. Additionally, our results revealed that the presence of MPs in polluted soils cause an increase on heavy metal accumulation in alfalfa shoots. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that the combined exposure to MPs and heavy metal induced oxidative stress in alfalfa plants by increasing CAT activity and MDA accumulation. The present investigation highlights the ecological risks of microplastics in terrestrial environment.

Blood volume reduction due to rapid plasma loss after birth in preterm piglets.

BACKGROUND: Understanding changes in blood volume after preterm birth is critical to preventing cardiovascular deterioration in preterm infants. The aims were to determine if blood volume is higher in preterm than term piglets and if blood volume changes in the hours after birth. METHODS: Paired blood volume measurements were conducted in preterm piglets (98/115d gestation, ~28wk gestation infant) at 0.5-5 h (n = 12), 0.5-9 h (n = 44) and 5-11 h (n = 7) after birth, and in a term cohort at 0.5-9 h (n = 40) while under intensive care. RESULTS: At 30 min after birth, blood volume was significantly lower in preterm piglets compared to term piglets. By 9 h after birth, blood volume had reduced by 18% in preterm piglets and 13% in term piglets. By 5-9 h after birth, preterm piglets had significantly lower blood volumes than at term (61 ± 10 vs. 76 ± 11 mL/kg). CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to clinical resources, preterm piglets have a lower blood volume than at term. Substantial reductions in blood volume after birth leave some preterm piglets hypovolemic. If this also occurs in preterm infants, this may have important clinical consequences. Modern studies of blood volume changes after birth are essential for improving preterm outcomes. IMPACT: Preterm piglets do not have a higher blood volume than their term counterparts, in contrast to current clinical estimates. Rapid reduction in blood volume after birth leads to hypovolemia in some preterm piglets. There is a critical need to understand blood volume changes after birth in preterm infants in order to improve clinical management of blood volume.

Evaluating clinical reasoning in first year DPT students using a script concordance test.

BACKGROUND: A script concordance test (SCT) provides a series of clinical vignettes to assess clinical reasoning in uncertainty. Appraised throughout health education literature, SCTs are cognitive assessments of clinical reasoning, though their use in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) entry-level education has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to develop and explore the reliability and validity of a SCT for first year DPT students. METHODS: The SCT was developed and implemented over four phases. During phases one and two, DPT program faculty consulted on course content from the first-year curriculum. Thirty clinical vignettes with three follow-up questions each were constructed. The SCT was pilot tested with five clinicians in phase three to assess question clarity. During phase four, the SCT was administered to students and a reference panel via Qualtrics. First year DPT students (n = 44) and reference panel physical therapists with at least two years of experience and advanced certification (n = 15) completed the SCT. Internal consistency was analyzed using Cronbach's Alpha. Differences between student and reference panel percent-correct scores were analyzed with a t-test. Relationships between student SCT scores and academic records were explored with Spearman's Rho. RESULTS: The SCT had an internal consistency of 0.74. A significant difference in scores was found between the students [mean 58.5 (+/-5.31)] and reference panel [65.8 (+/-4.88), p < .01]. No significant correlations between student SCT scores and academic records were found. CONCLUSIONS: The developed SCT was reliable and demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency among test items. The SCT successfully differentiated between groups, with the reference panel demonstrating statistically significant higher percent-correct scores compared to students. SCTs may provide means to measure clinical reasoning in DPT students and lead to novel pedagogical approaches to enhance clinical reasoning.

A test of Conserving Nature's Stage: protecting a diversity of geophysical traits can also support a diversity of species at a landscape scale.

Conserving Nature's Stage (CNS) is a concept from conservation planning that promotes the protection of areas encompassing a broad range of enduring geophysical traits to provide long-term habitat for diverse species. The efficacy of using enduring geophysical characteristics as surrogates for biodiversity, independent of non-geophysical features and when considering finer resolution area selections, has yet to be investigated. Here, we evaluated CNS using 33 fine-scale inventories of vascular plant, non-vascular plant, invertebrate or vertebrate species from 13 areas across three continents. For each inventory, we estimated a continuous multidimensional surrogate defined from topographic and soil estimates of the surveyed plots. We assessed surrogate effectiveness by comparing the species representation of surrogate selected plots to the representation from plots picked randomly and using species information. We then used correlation coefficients to assess the link between the performance and qualities of the inventories, surroundings and surrogates. The CNS surrogate showed positive performance for 24 of the 33 inventories, and among these tests, represented 28 more species than random and 83% of the total number of species on average. We also found a small number of weak correlations between performance and environmental variability, as well as qualities of the surrogate. Our study demonstrates that prioritizing areas for a variety of geophysical characteristics will, in most cases, promote the representation of species. Our findings also point to areas for future research that might enhance CNS surrogacy. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

The status and future of essential geodiversity variables.

Rapid environmental change, natural resource overconsumption and increasing concerns about ecological sustainability have led to the development of 'Essential Variables' (EVs). EVs are harmonized data products to inform policy and to enable effective management of natural resources by monitoring global changes. Recent years have seen the instigation of new EVs beyond those established for climate, oceans and biodiversity (ECVs, EOVs and EBVs), including Essential Geodiversity Variables (EGVs). EGVs aim to consistently quantify and monitor heterogeneity of Earth-surface and subsurface abiotic features, including geology, geomorphology, hydrology and pedology. Here we assess the status and future development of EGVs to better incorporate geodiversity into policy and sustainable management of natural resources. Getting EGVs operational requires better consensus on defining geodiversity, investments into a governance structure and open platform for curating the development of EGVs, advances in harmonizing in situ measurements and linking heterogeneous databases, and development of open and accessible computational workflows for global digital mapping using machine-learning techniques. Cross-disciplinary collaboration and partnerships with governmental and private organizations are needed to ensure the successful development and uptake of EGVs across science and policy. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

Floor-to-Stand Performance Among People Following Stroke.

OBJECTIVES: Studies have examined floor-to-stand performance in varied adult populations both quantitatively and qualitatively. Despite an elevated risk of falls and inability to independently return to stand after a fall, few have examined the ability to stand from the floor in patients recovering from stroke. There were 2 objectives of the study: to identify the relationships between floor-to-stand performance using a timed supine-to-stand test (TSS) and physical performance measures of gait, balance, and balance confidence among persons in the subacute phase after stroke; and to analyze descriptive strategies used in the completion of the TSS. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was implemented. Fifty-eight adults (mean age = 59.2 [standard deviation (SD) = 13.9] years; 34 [58.6%] men) who were in the subacute phase after ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke and who could stand from the floor with no more than supervision completed the TSS and physical performance assessments. RESULTS: The median time to complete the TSS in our sample was 13.0 (interquartile range = 15.5) seconds. TSS time was significantly correlated with physical performance tests, including the Timed "Up & Go" Test (ρ = 0.70), gait speed (ρ = -0.67), Dynamic Gait Index (ρ = -0.52), and Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ρ = -0.43). Thirty-two percent of the variance in TSS time was attributed to Timed "Up & Go" Test time and the use of the quadruped position to transition to standing. Participants who used a gait device were more likely to use a chair during rise to stand. CONCLUSION: The TSS demonstrates concurrent validity with physical performance measures. IMPACT: Findings serve to improve functional mobility examination after stroke and to formulate effective treatment interventions to improve floor-to-stand performance.

Operationalizing cultural adaptation to climate change: contemporary examples from United States agriculture.

It has been proposed that climate adaptation research can benefit from an evolutionary approach. But related empirical research is lacking. We advance the evolutionary study of climate adaptation with two case studies from contemporary United States agriculture. First, we define 'cultural adaptation to climate change' as a mechanistic process of population-level cultural change. We argue this definition enables rigorous comparisons, yields testable hypotheses from mathematical theory and distinguishes adaptive change, non-adaptive change and desirable policy outcomes. Next, we develop an operational approach to identify 'cultural adaptation to climate change' based on established empirical criteria. We apply this approach to data on crop choices and the use of cover crops between 2008 and 2021 from the United States. We find evidence that crop choices are adapting to local trends in two separate climate variables in some regions of the USA. But evidence suggests that cover cropping may be adapting more to the economic environment than climatic conditions. Further research is needed to characterize the process of cultural adaptation, particularly the routes and mechanisms of cultural transmission. Furthermore, climate adaptation policy could benefit from research on factors that differentiate regions exhibiting adaptive trends in crop choice from those that do not. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'.

Functional Degeneracy in Paracoccus denitrificans Pd1222 Is Coordinated via RamB, Which Links Expression of the Glyoxylate Cycle to Activity of the Ethylmalonyl-CoA Pathway.

Metabolic degeneracy describes the phenomenon that cells can use one substrate through different metabolic routes, while metabolic plasticity, refers to the ability of an organism to dynamically rewire its metabolism in response to changing physiological needs. A prime example for both phenomena is the dynamic switch between two alternative and seemingly degenerate acetyl-CoA assimilation routes in the alphaproteobacterium Paracoccus denitrificans Pd1222: the ethylmalonyl-CoA pathway (EMCP) and the glyoxylate cycle (GC). The EMCP and the GC each tightly control the balance between catabolism and anabolism by shifting flux away from the oxidation of acetyl-CoA in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle toward biomass formation. However, the simultaneous presence of both the EMCP and GC in P. denitrificans Pd1222 raises the question of how this apparent functional degeneracy is globally coordinated during growth. Here, we show that RamB, a transcription factor of the ScfR family, controls expression of the GC in P. denitrificans Pd1222. Combining genetic, molecular biological and biochemical approaches, we identify the binding motif of RamB and demonstrate that CoA-thioester intermediates of the EMCP directly bind to the protein. Overall, our study shows that the EMCP and the GC are metabolically and genetically linked with each other, demonstrating a thus far undescribed bacterial strategy to achieve metabolic plasticity, in which one seemingly degenerate metabolic pathway directly drives expression of the other. IMPORTANCE Carbon metabolism provides organisms with energy and building blocks for cellular functions and growth. The tight regulation between degradation and assimilation of carbon substrates is central for optimal growth. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of metabolic control in bacteria is of importance for applications in health (e.g., targeting of metabolic pathways with new antibiotics, development of resistances) and biotechnology (e.g., metabolic engineering, introduction of new-to-nature pathways). In this study, we use the alphaproteobacterium P. denitrificans as model organism to study functional degeneracy, a well-known phenomenon of bacteria to use the same carbon source through two different (competing) metabolic routes. We demonstrate that two seemingly degenerate central carbon metabolic pathways are metabolically and genetically linked with each other, which allows the organism to control the switch between them in a coordinated manner during growth. Our study elucidates the molecular basis of metabolic plasticity in central carbon metabolism, which improves our understanding of how bacterial metabolism is able to partition fluxes between anabolism and catabolism.

A Systematic Appraisal of Conflicts of Interest and Researcher Allegiance in Clinical Studies of Dry Needling for Musculoskeletal Pain Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and methods of conflicts of interest (COI) reporting in published dry needling (DN) studies and to determine the frequency of researcher allegiance (RA). METHODS: A pragmatic systematic search was undertaken to identify DN studies that were included in systematic reviews. Information regarding COI and RA were extracted from the full text of the published DN reports, and study authors were sent a survey inquiring about the presence of RA. A secondary analysis also was undertaken based on study quality/risk of bias scores that were extracted from the corresponding systematic reviews and study funding extracted from each DN study. RESULTS: Sixteen systematic reviews were identified, containing 60 studies of DN for musculoskeletal pain disorders, 58 of which were randomized controlled trials. Of the DN studies, 53% had a COI statement. None of these studies disclosed a COI. Nineteen (32%) authors of DN studies responded to the survey. According to the RA survey, 100% of DN studies included at least 1 RA criterion. According to the data extraction, 1 RA criterion was met in 45% of the DN studies. The magnitude of RA per study was 7 times higher according to the surveys than in the published reports. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that COI and RA might be underreported in studies of DN. In addition, authors of DN studies might be unaware of the potential influence of RA on study results and conclusions. IMPACT: Improved reporting of COI/RA might improve credibility of results and help identify the various factors involved in complex interventions provided by physical therapists. Doing so could help optimize treatments for musculoskeletal pain disorders provided by physical therapists.

Post-acute immunological and behavioral sequelae in mice after Omicron infection.

Progress in understanding long COVID and developing effective therapeutics is hampered in part by the lack of suitable animal models. Here we used ACE2-transgenic mice recovered from Omicron (BA.1) infection to test for pulmonary and behavioral post-acute sequelae. Through in-depth phenotyping by CyTOF, we demonstrate that naïve mice experiencing a first Omicron infection exhibit profound immune perturbations in the lung after resolving acute infection. This is not observed if mice were first vaccinated with spike-encoding mRNA. The protective effects of vaccination against post-acute sequelae were associated with a highly polyfunctional SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response that was recalled upon BA.1 breakthrough infection but not seen with BA.1 infection alone. Without vaccination, the chemokine receptor CXCR4 was uniquely upregulated on multiple pulmonary immune subsets in the BA.1 convalescent mice, a process previously connected to severe COVID-19. Taking advantage of recent developments in machine learning and computer vision, we demonstrate that BA.1 convalescent mice exhibited spontaneous behavioral changes, emotional alterations, and cognitive-related deficits in context habituation. Collectively, our data identify immunological and behavioral post-acute sequelae after Omicron infection and uncover a protective effect of vaccination against post-acute pulmonary immune perturbations.

Parabolic avalanche scaling in the synchronization of cortical cell assemblies.

Neurons in the cerebral cortex fire coincident action potentials during ongoing activity and in response to sensory inputs. These synchronized cell assemblies are fundamental to cortex function, yet basic dynamical aspects of their size and duration are largely unknown. Using 2-photon imaging of neurons in the superficial cortex of awake mice, we show that synchronized cell assemblies organize as scale-invariant avalanches that quadratically grow with duration. The quadratic avalanche scaling was only found for correlated neurons, required temporal coarse-graining to compensate for spatial subsampling of the imaged cortex, and suggested cortical dynamics to be critical as demonstrated in simulations of balanced E/I-networks. The corresponding time course of an inverted parabola with exponent of χ = 2 described cortical avalanches of coincident firing for up to 5 s duration over an area of 1 mm2. These parabolic avalanches maximized temporal complexity in the ongoing activity of prefrontal and somatosensory cortex and in visual responses of primary visual cortex. Our results identify a scale-invariant temporal order in the synchronization of highly diverse cortical cell assemblies in the form of parabolic avalanches.

Universality and context-specificity in early executive function development.

A renewed interest in early executive function (i.e., EF or the conscious control of thought and behavior) development has led several research groups to suggest that EF may be emerging and is less coordinated (e.g., showing few relations between tasks) in the first few years (Devine et al., 2019; Gago Galvagno et al., 2021; Johansson et al., 2016; Miller & Marcovitch, 2015; Ribner et al., 2022). This potentially universal development in EF does not exclude the possibility that EF may also differ across context (e.g., Gago Galvagno et al., 2021; Lohndorf et al., 2019; Tran et al., 2015) reflecting unique strengths and development built within one's sociocultural environment. The present paper explores potential universal and context-specific early EF developments by focusing on three aims: (1) reviewing work on EF within the first two years of life that may speak to potential universality in the measurement, structure, growth, stability, and conceptualization of early EF (2) reviewing research that may speak to how the sociocultural context may play a role in context-specific development within early EF and (3) examining potential developmental EF frameworks for understanding universal and context-specific developments of early EF within context.

Exploring Delay to Follow-Up in a Rural Multidisciplinary Cleft Clinic.

BACKGROUND: Oral clefts require longitudinal multidisciplinary care with follow-up visits at regular intervals throughout a patient's childhood, and delayed care can be detrimental. Although loss to follow-up is commonly studied, this metric does not account for patients that do return to care, but months or years later than recommended. The aim of this study was to explore and determine risk factors for delay to follow-up (DTFU) in a cleft clinic at a rural academic center. METHODS: Medical records from the multidisciplinary cleft clinic at a single rural tertiary care institution between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019, were reviewed. The primary outcome was DTFU, measured as the difference in days between recommended and actual follow-up dates for a given visit. RESULTS: A cohort of 282 patients was analyzed, with a total of 953 visits. A total of 71% of patients experienced at least 1 delay in follow-up of 30 days or longer, and 50% had at least 1 delay of 90 days or longer. Out of all visits, the mean DTFU was 73 days (around 2.5 months). For 23% of patients, at least half their visits were delayed by more than 90 days, whereas 11% experienced a delay of more than 90 days with every visit. Patients who failed to show up to at least 1 appointment had significantly higher risk of DTFU ( P < 0.0001). Driving distance, driving time, SES, stage of cleft care, and cleft phenotype were not correlated with DTFU. For canceled appointments, 50.5% of recorded cancellation reasons were patient driven. CONCLUSIONS: Delay to follow-up in a multidisciplinary cleft clinic was prevalent in this rural cohort, with half of patients experiencing delays of 3 months or longer, and about 1 in 9 experiencing this delay with every visit. Delay to follow-up identifies patients with consistently high rates of delay in care, which could eventually lead to targeted interventions to increase compliance. Delay to follow-up may be a new and valuable measure of cleft care compliance that can be easily implemented by other institutions. Further investigation is needed to determine the relationship between delay and clinical outcomes in cleft patients.

An examination of Leapfrog safety measures and Magnet designation.

Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades and Magnet designation are two publicly available measures that serve as proxies for health care quality and safety. We examine whether hospitals with a better rating in one Leapfrog safety measure also have favorable ratings in other Leapfrog safety measures and whether Magnet-designated hospitals have better Leapfrog safety scores related to outcomes, processes, and structures than non-Magnet hospitals. Our study found that hospital-associated infections (HAIs) were not strongly correlated with one another, but Leapfrog safety process and structural measures were significantly and strongly correlated with one another, suggesting hospitals that invest in processes/structures to improve quality tend to do so across many dimensions. Also, Magnet-designated hospitals had higher Leapfrog grades for structural measures but not systematically better infection rates. Only one HAI (central line-associated bloodstream infections) had lower rates in Magnet hospitals than non-Magnet hospitals. These analyses suggest that improvements in process and structural measures do not necessarily translate into lower HAIs. Hospitals may need specific quality improvement strategies to target each HAI since HAIs are not strongly correlated with one another. Future research is needed to identify what process and structural measures can decrease HAIs and how this should be reflected in Magnet designation evaluation criteria.

Cryptic Diversity of Black Band Disease Cyanobacteria in Siderastrea siderea Corals Revealed by Chemical Ecology and Comparative Genome-Resolved Metagenomics.

Black band disease is a globally distributed and easily recognizable coral disease. Despite years of study, the etiology of this coral disease, which impacts dozens of stony coral species, is not completely understood. Although black band disease mats are predominantly composed of the cyanobacterial species Roseofilum reptotaenium, other filamentous cyanobacterial strains and bacterial heterotrophs are readily detected. Through chemical ecology and metagenomic sequencing, we uncovered cryptic strains of Roseofilum species from Siderastrea siderea corals that differ from those on other corals in the Caribbean and Pacific. Isolation of metabolites from Siderastrea-derived Roseofilum revealed the prevalence of unique forms of looekeyolides, distinct from previously characterized Roseofilum reptotaenium strains. In addition, comparative genomics of Roseofilum strains showed that only Siderastrea-based Roseofilum strains have the genetic capacity to produce lasso peptides, a family of compounds with diverse biological activity. All nine Roseofilum strains examined here shared the genetic capacity to produce looekeyolides and malyngamides, suggesting these compounds support the ecology of this genus. Similar biosynthetic gene clusters are not found in other cyanobacterial genera associated with black band disease, which may suggest that looekeyolides and malyngamides contribute to disease etiology through yet unknown mechanisms.

Using an intensive interdisciplinary telehealth model to treat pediatric feeding disorders.

The necessity of treatment using telehealth was apparent during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as many practitioners were forced to use telehealth as a primary mode of service delivery. Although the telehealth model has been studied for different populations, little is known about its success when applied with children with feeding disorders and complex medical histories. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using a telehealth model from the onset of treatment. All 5 children who participated engaged in low levels of acceptance and high levels of inappropriate mealtime behavior during baseline. Caregivers were taught to implement the treatment with high integrity using behavioral skills training. Procedural integrity increased posttraining, and as a result acceptance increased and inappropriate mealtime behavior decreased. Treatment gains maintained during follow up at 1 month and 1 year. These data are discussed in relation to alternative ways of providing treatment in locations where intensive feeding programs are not available.