Motivating parents to protect their children from wildfire smoke: the impact of air quality index infographics.

Background. Wildfire smoke events are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Children are especially vulnerable to health effects even at moderate smoke levels. However, it is unclear how parents respond to Air Quality Indices (AQIs) frequently used by agencies to communicate air pollution health risks. Methods. In an experiment (3 × 2 × 2 factorial design), 2,100 parents were randomly assigned to view one of twelve adapted AQI infographics that varied by visual (table, line, gauge), index type (AQI [0-500], AQHI [1-11+]), and risk level (moderate, high). Participants were told to imagine encountering the infographic in a short-term exposure scenario. They reported worry about wildfire smoke, intentions to take risk-mitigating actions (e.g., air purifier use), and support for various exposure reduction policies. Subsequently, participants were told to imagine encountering the same infographic daily during a school week in a long-term exposure scenario and again reported worry, action intentions, and policy support. Results. Parents' responses significantly differentiated between risk levels that both pose a threat to children's health; worry and action intentions were much higher in the high-risk group than the moderate-risk group in both short-exposure (F = 748.68 p<.001; F = 411.59, p<.001) and long-exposure scenarios (F = 470.51, p<.001; F = 212.01, p<.001). However, in the short-exposure scenario, when shown the AQHI [1-11+] with either the line or gauge visuals, parents' action intentions were more similar between moderate- and high-risk level groups (3-way interaction, F = 6.03, p = .002). Conclusions. These results suggest some index formats such as the AQHI-rather than the AQI-may better attune parents to moderate levels of wildfire smoke being dangerous to children's health. Our research offers insights for agencies and officials seeking to improve current public education efforts during wildfire smoke events and speaks to the critical need to educate parents and help them act short-term and long-term to protect children's health.

Bornean tropical forests recovering from logging at risk of regeneration failure.

Active restoration through silvicultural treatments (enrichment planting, cutting climbers and liberation thinning) is considered an important intervention in logged forests. However, its ability to enhance regeneration is key for long-term recovery of logged forests, which remains poorly understood, particularly for the production and survival of seedlings in subsequent generations. To understand the long-term impacts of logging and restoration we tracked the diversity, survival and traits of seedlings that germinated immediately after a mast fruiting in North Borneo in unlogged and logged forests 30-35 years after logging. We monitored 5119 seedlings from germination for ~1.5 years across a mixed landscape of unlogged forests (ULs), naturally regenerating logged forests (NR) and actively restored logged forests via rehabilitative silvicultural treatments (AR), 15-27 years after restoration. We measured 14 leaf, root and biomass allocation traits on 399 seedlings from 15 species. Soon after fruiting, UL and AR forests had higher seedling densities than NR forest, but survival was the lowest in AR forests in the first 6 months. Community composition differed among forest types; AR and NR forests had lower species richness and lower evenness than UL forests by 5-6 months post-mast but did not differ between them. Differences in community composition altered community-weighted mean trait values across forest types, with higher root biomass allocation in NR relative to UL forest. Traits influenced mortality ~3 months post-mast, with more acquisitive traits and relative aboveground investment favoured in AR forests relative to UL forests. Our findings of reduced seedling survival and diversity suggest long time lags in post-logging recruitment, particularly for some taxa. Active restoration of logged forests recovers initial seedling production, but elevated mortality in AR forests lowers the efficacy of active restoration to enhance recruitment or diversity of seedling communities. This suggests current active restoration practices may fail to overcome barriers to regeneration in logged forests, which may drive long-term changes in future forest plant communities.

A restauração ativa por meio de tratamentos silviculturais (plantio de enriquecimento, corte de trepadeiras e desbaste) é considerada uma intervenção importante em florestas com exploração de madeira. No entanto, sua capacidade de melhorar a regeneração, essencial para a recuperação de longo prazo das florestas exploradas, permanece pouco compreendida, especialmente no que diz respeito à produção e sobrevivência de mudas em gerações subsequentes. Para compreender os impactos de longo prazo da exploração madeireira e da restauração, acompanhamos a diversidade, sobrevivência e características de plântulas que germinaram imediatamente após uma frutificação em massa no norte de Bornéu, em florestas com e sem exploração de madeira, 30-35 anos após o fim da extração. Monitoramos 5119 mudas desde a germinação por aproximadamente 1,5 anos em uma paisagem mista de florestas não exploradas (UL), florestas exploradas em regeneração natural (NR) e florestas exploradas restauradas ativamente por meio de tratamentos silviculturais de reabilitação (AR), 15-27 anos após a restauração. Medimos 14 traços funcionais de folhas, raízes e alocação de biomassa em 399 mudas de 15 espécies. Logo após a frutificação, as florestas UL e AR apresentaram densidades de mudas mais altas do que as florestas NR, mas a sobrevivência foi mais baixa nas florestas AR nos primeiros seis meses. A composição da comunidade diferiu entre os tipos de floresta; as florestas AR e NR teviram menor riqueza de espécies e menor equidade do que as florestas UL 5-6 meses após a frutificação, mas não diferiram entre si. As diferenças na composição da comunidade alteraram os valores de média ponderada pela comunidade das características entre os tipos de floresta com maior alocação de biomassa radicular nas florestas NR em relação às florestas UL. As características influenciaram a mortalidade aproximadamente 3 meses após a frutificação, com traços mais aquisitivos maior investimento em biomassa relativa acima do solo nas florestas AR em relação às florestas UL. Nossas descobertas de redução na sobrevivência e diversidade de plântulas sugerem que há longos retardos no recrutamento após o fim da exploração de madeira, particularmente para alguns táxons. A restauração ativa de florestas exploradas recupera a produção inicial de plântulas, mas a mortalidade elevada nas florestas AR diminui a eficácia da restauração ativa no melhorio do recrutamento e da diversidade das comunidades de mudas. Isso sugere que as práticas atuais de restauração ativa podem não superar as barreiras à regeneração em florestas exploradas, o que pode levar a mudanças de longo prazo nas comunidades florestais no futuro.

Clearing the air: evaluating institutions' social media health messaging on wildfire and smoke risks in the US Pacific Northwest.

BACKGROUND: Wildfire smoke contributes substantially to the global disease burden and is a major cause of air pollution in the US states of Oregon and Washington. Climate change is expected to bring more wildfires to this region. Social media is a popular platform for health promotion and a need exists for effective communication about smoke risks and mitigation measures to educate citizens and safeguard public health. METHODS: Using a sample of 1,287 Tweets from 2022, we aimed to analyze temporal Tweeting patterns in relation to potential smoke exposure and evaluate and compare institutions' use of social media communication best practices which include (i) encouraging adoption of smoke-protective actions; (ii) leveraging numeric, verbal, and Air Quality Index risk information; and (iii) promoting community-building. Tweets were characterized using keyword searches and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. Descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out. RESULTS: 44% of Tweets in our sample were authored between January-August 2022, prior to peak wildfire smoke levels, whereas 54% of Tweets were authored during the two-month peak in smoke (September-October). Institutional accounts used Twitter (or X) to encourage the adoption of smoke-related protective actions (82% of Tweets), more than they used it to disseminate wildfire smoke risk information (25%) or promote community-building (47%). Only 10% of Tweets discussed populations vulnerable to wildfire smoke health effects, and 14% mentioned smoke mitigation measures. Tweets from Washington-based accounts used significantly more verbal and numeric risk information to discuss wildfire smoke than Oregon-based accounts (p = 0.042 and p = 0.003, respectively); however, Tweets from Oregon-based accounts on average contained a higher percentage of words associated with community-building language (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This research provides practical recommendations for public health practitioners and researchers communicating wildfire smoke risks on social media. As exposures to wildfire smoke rise due to climate change, reducing the environmental disease burden requires health officials to leverage popular communication platforms, distribute necessary health-related messaging rapidly, and get the message right. Timely, evidence-based, and theory-driven messaging is critical for educating and empowering individuals to make informed decisions about protecting themselves from harmful exposures. Thus, proactive and sustained communications about wildfire smoke should be prioritized even during wildfire "off-seasons."

Concept for intrathecal delivery of brain recording and stimulation device.

Neurological disorders are common, yet many neurological diseases don't have efficacious treatments. The protected nature of the brain both anatomically and physiologically through the blood brain barrier (BBB) make it exceptionally hard to access. Recent advancements in interventional approaches, like the Stentrode™, have opened the possibility of using the cerebral vasculature as a highway for minimally invasive therapeutic delivery to the brain. Despite the immense success that the Stentrode™ has faced recently, it is limited to major cerebral vasculature and exists outside the BBB, making drug eluting configurations largely ineffective. The present study seeks to identify a separate anatomical pathway for therapeutic delivery to the deep brain using the ventricular system. The intrathecal route, in which drug pumps and spinal cord stimulators are delivered through a lumbar puncture, is a well-established route for delivering therapies to the spinal cord as high as C1. The present study identifies an extension of this anatomical pathway through the foramen of Magendie and into the brains ventricular system. To test this pathway, a narrow self-expanding electrical recording device was manufactured and its potential to navigate the ventricular system was assessed on human anatomical brain samples. While the results of this paper are largely preliminary and a substantial amount of safety and efficacy data is needed, this paper identifies an important anatomical pathway for delivery of therapeutic and diagnostics tools to the brain that is minimally invasive, can access limbic structures, and is within the BBB.

Amnesia after Repeated Head Impact Is Caused by Impaired Synaptic Plasticity in the Memory Engram.

Subconcussive head impacts are associated with the development of acute and chronic cognitive deficits. We recently reported that high-frequency head impact (HFHI) causes chronic cognitive deficits in mice through synaptic changes. To better understand the mechanisms underlying HFHI-induced memory decline, we used TRAP2/Ai32 transgenic mice to enable visualization and manipulation of memory engrams. We labeled the fear memory engram in male and female mice exposed to an aversive experience and subjected them to sham or HFHI. Upon subsequent exposure to natural memory recall cues, sham, but not HFHI, mice successfully retrieved fearful memories. In sham mice the hippocampal engram neurons exhibited synaptic plasticity, evident in amplified AMPA:NMDA ratio, enhanced AMPA-weighted tau, and increased dendritic spine volume compared with nonengram neurons. In contrast, although HFHI mice retained a comparable number of hippocampal engram neurons, these neurons did not undergo synaptic plasticity. This lack of plasticity coincided with impaired activation of the engram network, leading to retrograde amnesia in HFHI mice. We validated that the memory deficits induced by HFHI stem from synaptic plasticity impairments by artificially activating the engram using optogenetics and found that stimulated memory recall was identical in both sham and HFHI mice. Our work shows that chronic cognitive impairment after HFHI is a result of deficiencies in synaptic plasticity instead of a loss in neuronal infrastructure, and we can reinstate a forgotten memory in the amnestic brain by stimulating the memory engram. Targeting synaptic plasticity may have therapeutic potential for treating memory impairments caused by repeated head impacts.

A temporally and spatially explicit, data-driven estimation of airborne ragweed pollen concentrations across Europe.

Ongoing and future climate change driven expansion of aeroallergen-producing plant species comprise a major human health problem across Europe and elsewhere. There is an urgent need to produce accurate, temporally dynamic maps at the continental level, especially in the context of climate uncertainty. This study aimed to restore missing daily ragweed pollen data sets for Europe, to produce phenological maps of ragweed pollen, resulting in the most complete and detailed high-resolution ragweed pollen concentration maps to date. To achieve this, we have developed two statistical procedures, a Gaussian method (GM) and deep learning (DL) for restoring missing daily ragweed pollen data sets, based on the plant's reproductive and growth (phenological, pollen production and frost-related) characteristics. DL model performances were consistently better for estimating seasonal pollen integrals than those of the GM approach. These are the first published modelled maps using altitude correction and flowering phenology to recover missing pollen information. We created a web page (http://euragweedpollen.gmf.u-szeged.hu/), including daily ragweed pollen concentration data sets of the stations examined and their restored daily data, allowing one to upload newly measured or recovered daily data. Generation of these maps provides a means to track pollen impacts in the context of climatic shifts, identify geographical regions with high pollen exposure, determine areas of future vulnerability, apply spatially-explicit mitigation measures and prioritize management interventions.

Single Neuron Modeling Identifies Potassium Channel Modulation as Potential Target for Repetitive Head Impacts.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and repetitive head impacts can result in a wide range of neurological symptoms. Despite being the most common neurological disorder in the world, repeat head impacts and TBI do not have any FDA-approved treatments. Single neuron modeling allows researchers to extrapolate cellular changes in individual neurons based on experimental data. We recently characterized a model of high frequency head impact (HFHI) with a phenotype of cognitive deficits associated with decreases in neuronal excitability of CA1 neurons and synaptic changes. While the synaptic changes have been interrogated in vivo, the cause and potential therapeutic targets of hypoexcitability following repetitive head impacts are unknown. Here, we generated in silico models of CA1 pyramidal neurons from current clamp data of control mice and mice that sustained HFHI. We use a directed evolution algorithm with a crowding penalty to generate a large and unbiased population of plausible models for each group that approximated the experimental features. The HFHI neuron model population showed decreased voltage gated sodium conductance and a general increase in potassium channel conductance. We used partial least squares regression analysis to identify combinations of channels that may account for CA1 hypoexcitability after HFHI. The hypoexcitability phenotype in models was linked to A- and M-type potassium channels in combination, but not by any single channel correlations. We provide an open access set of CA1 pyramidal neuron models for both control and HFHI conditions that can be used to predict the effects of pharmacological interventions in TBI models.

Validation of the Combination Gleason Score as an Independent Favorable Prognostic Factor in Prostate Cancer Treated With Dose-Escalated Radiation Therapy.

PURPOSE: Prognostic factors for prostate cancer include tumor, node, metastases stage, pretreatment prostate-specific antigen, and pathology (via Gleason score [GS] or grade group). Of these, GS yields the largest effect on prostate cancer specific mortality. It was previously determined that those with cores with a mix of higher and lower GS at biopsy (which was termed a "ComboGS") had decreased risk for prostate cancer specific mortality after either surgical or radiation treatment. We validate the effect of ComboGS in an independent cohort of patients with prostate cancer treated with definitive dose-escalated radiation therapy (DE-RT) at 2 institutions. METHODS AND MATERIALS: DE-RT was administered to 2539 men, of which 687 men had a ComboGS. To further ascertain the ComboGS effect we employed the modified Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (mCAPRA) score. Rates of biochemical event-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival were compared across CAPRA scores, with and without modification, and the prognostic value of the CAPRA scores was compared using Harrel's concordance index. RESULTS: On univariate analysis in Gleason 7 to 10 patients the presence of ComboGS improved 10-year biochemical event-free survival from 76.6% to 82.4% (hazard ratio [HR], 0.75; confidence interval [CI], 0.59-0.96; P = .021), 10-year distant metastasis-free survival from 89.3% to 93.2% (HR, 0.57; CI, 0.39-0.85; P = .005), 10-year prostate cancer specific survival from 93.9% to 97.4% (HR, 0.39; CI, 0.21-0.7; P = .001), and 10-year overall survival from 65.7% to 75.6% (HR, 0.69; CI, 0.57-0.83; P < .001). Multivariable analysis also supported that ComboGS is protective for biochemical failure (HR, 0.64; CI, 0.50-0.83; P < .001), distant metastasis (HR, 0.42; CI, 0.28-0.63; P < .001), death from prostate cancer (HR, 0.32; CI, 0.17-0.58; P < .001), and overall mortality (HR, 0.65; CI, 0.54-0.79; P < .001). Additionally, adjusting the mCAPRA score for ComboGS decreased the risk of biochemical failure by nearly 30% (HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.55-0.88; P = .003) and by 50% (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.37-0.80; P = .002) for distant metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: ComboGS is a useful and readily available independent prognostic factor for all clinical endpoints evaluated. Moreover, the ComboGS can be used in conjunction with the extensively validated CAPRA scoring to better risk stratify patients being treated with definitive DE-RT for GS 7 to 10 disease.

Prostate cancer malignancy detection and localization from mpMRI using auto-deep learning as one step closer to clinical utilization.

Automatic diagnosis of malignant prostate cancer patients from mpMRI has been studied heavily in the past years. Model interpretation and domain drift have been the main road blocks for clinical utilization. As an extension from our previous work we trained on a public cohort with 201 patients and the cropped 2.5D slices of the prostate glands were used as the input, and the optimal model were searched in the model space using autoKeras. As an innovative move, peripheral zone (PZ) and central gland (CG) were trained and tested separately, the PZ detector and CG detector were demonstrated effective in highlighting the most suspicious slices out of a sequence, hopefully to greatly ease the workload for the physicians.

A Rare Cardiac Cavernous Hemangioma Treated with Radiotherapy.

Background: Although cardiac hemangiomas, as rare benign cardiac tumors, have been described in previous case reports, the role of radiation therapy in an unresectable cardiac hemangioma in adult has not been reported. We present a case report of a rare unresectable cardiac cavernous hemangioma treated with radiotherapy. Case Presentation. A 45-year-old female with new onset of coughing and worsening shortness of breath was found to have a biopsy proven cardiac cavernous hemangioma. Surgery was aborted due to excessive bleeding, and she was then treated with radiotherapy. A total dose of 30 Gy in 15 fractions was given using intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to the mass with a modified 1 cm margin. Complete clinical symptomatic relief was achieved with reduction of the mass posttreatment. Ten-year follow-up revealed a stable, reduced hemangioma with no recurrence of symptoms. Conclusions: This is a rare example of cardiac hemangioma that developed in the right ventricle and compressed several major vessels. Radiotherapy may be safely used for treatment of unresectable cardiac hemangioma.

The relative and attributable risks of cardia and non-cardia gastric cancer associated with Helicobacter pylori infection in China: a case-cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori infection is a major cause of non-cardia gastric cancer (NCGC), but its causal role in cardia gastric cancer (CGC) is unclear. Moreover, the reported magnitude of association with NCGC varies considerably, leading to uncertainty about population-based H pylori screening and eradication strategies in high-risk settings, particularly in China, where approximately half of all global gastric cancer cases occur. Our aim was to assess the associations of H pylori infection, both overall and for individual infection biomarkers, with the risks of NCGC and CGC in Chinese adults. METHODS: A case-cohort study was done in adults from the prospective China Kadoorie Biobank study, aged 30-79 years from ten areas in China (Qingdao, Haikou, Harbin, Suzhou, Liuzhou, Henan, Sichuan, Hunan, Gansu, and Zhejiang), and included 500 incident NCGC cases, 437 incident CGC cases, and 500 subcohort participants who were cancer-free and alive within the first two years since enrolment in 2004-08. H pylori biomarkers were measured in stored baseline plasma samples using a sensitive immunoblot assay (HelicoBlot 2.1), with adapted criteria to define H pylori seropositivity. Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for NCGC and CGC associated with H pylori infection. These values were used to estimate the number of gastric cancer cases attributable to H pylori infection in China. FINDINGS: Of the 512 715 adults enrolled in the China Kadoorie Biobank between June, 2004, and July, 2008, 500 incident NCGC cases, 437 incident CGC cases, and 500 subcohort participants were selected for analysis. The seroprevalence of H pylori was 94·4% (95% CI 92·4-96·4) in NGCG, 92·2% (89·7-94·7) in CGC, and 75·6% (71·8-79·4) in subcohort participants. H pylori infection was associated with adjusted HRs of 5·94 (95% CI 3·25-10·86) for NCGC and 3·06 (1·54-6·10) for CGC. Among the seven individual infection biomarkers, cytotoxin-associated antigen had the highest HRs for both NCGC (HR 4·41, 95% CI 2·60-7·50) and CGC (2·94, 1·53-5·68). In this population, 78·5% of NCGC and 62·1% of CGC cases could be attributable to H pylori infection. H pylori infection accounted for an estimated 339 955 cases of gastric cancer in China in 2018. INTERPRETATION: Among Chinese adults, H pylori infection is common and is the cause of large numbers of gastric cancer cases. Population-based mass screening and the eradication of H pylori should be considered to reduce the burden of gastric cancer in high-risk settings. FUNDING: Cancer Research UK, Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, National Key Research and Development Program of China, and National Natural Science Foundation of China.

High-frequency data from the U.S. Census Bureau during the COVID-19 pandemic: small vs. new businesses.

Small businesses experienced very sharp declines in activity, business sentiment, and expectations early in the pandemic. While there has been some recovery since then, multiple indicators of small business performance remained substantially in the negative range early in 2021. These findings are from a unique high frequency, real time, survey of small employer businesses, the Census Bureau's Small Business Pulse Survey (SBPS). In contrast, results from the high frequency, real time, Business Formation Statistics (BFS) show there has been a surge in new business applications following an initial decline. Most of these applications are for likely nonemployers; however, there has also been a surge in new applications for likely employers, especially in Retail Trade (and especially Non-store Retailers). We compare and contrast the patterns from these two new high frequency data products that provide novel insights into the distinct patterns of dynamics for existing small businesses relative to new business formations.

The role of psychological research in understanding and responding to links between climate change and conflict.

The impact of climate change on social conflict and violence is of increasing concern. The significant risk that climate change poses for human conflict has driven scholars to investigate the processes underlying the relationship. Although climate change may not directly cause conflict, heat waves and extreme weather events could amplify interpersonal violence, and climate change consequences (i.e. economic deprivation and migration) could also intensify intergroup conflict. However, psychological research is weakly integrated with this literature, and interdisciplinary efforts are needed to uncover the underpinnings of the relationship between climate change and conflict. In particular, psychological research on intergroup threat, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and culture can provide valuable insights into understanding and responding to climate-induced conflict.

Habitat loss, predation pressure and episodic heat-shocks interact to impact arthropods and photosynthetic functioning of microecosystems.

Ecosystems face multiple, potentially interacting, anthropogenic pressures that can modify biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Using a bryophyte-microarthropod microecosystem we tested the combined effects of habitat loss, episodic heat-shocks and an introduced non-native apex predator on ecosystem function (chlorophyll fluorescence as an indicator of photosystem II function) and microarthropod communities (abundance and body size). The photosynthetic function was degraded by the sequence of heat-shock episodes, but unaffected by microecosystem patch size or top-down pressure from the introduced predator. In small microecosystem patches without the non-native predator, Acari abundance decreased with heat-shock frequency, while Collembola abundance increased. These trends disappeared in larger microecosystem patches or when predators were introduced, although Acari abundance was lower in large patches that underwent heat-shocks and were exposed to the predator. Mean assemblage body length (Collembola) was reduced independently in small microecosystem patches and with greater heat-shock frequency. Our experimental simulation of episodic heatwaves, habitat loss and non-native predation pressure in microecosystems produced evidence of individual and potentially synergistic and antagonistic effects on ecosystem function and microarthropod communities. Such complex outcomes of interactions between multiple stressors need to be considered when assessing anthropogenic risks for biota and ecosystem functioning.

Evolutionary trait-based approaches for predicting future global impacts of plant pathogens in the genus Phytophthora.

Plant pathogens are introduced to new geographical regions ever more frequently as global connectivity increases. Predicting the threat they pose to plant health can be difficult without in-depth knowledge of behaviour, distribution and spread. Here, we evaluate the potential for using biological traits and phylogeny to predict global threats from emerging pathogens.We use a species-level trait database and phylogeny for 179 Phytophthora species: oomycete pathogens impacting natural, agricultural, horticultural and forestry settings. We compile host and distribution reports for Phytophthora species across 178 countries and evaluate the power of traits, phylogeny and time since description (reflecting species-level knowledge) to explain and predict their international transport, maximum latitude and host breadth using Bayesian phylogenetic generalised linear mixed models.In the best-performing models, traits, phylogeny and time since description together explained up to 90%, 97% and 87% of variance in number of countries reached, latitudinal limits and host range, respectively. Traits and phylogeny together explained up to 26%, 41% and 34% of variance in the number of countries reached, maximum latitude and host plant families affected, respectively, but time since description had the strongest effect.Root-attacking species were reported in more countries, and on more host plant families than foliar-attacking species. Host generalist pathogens had thicker-walled resting structures (stress-tolerant oospores) and faster growth rates at their optima. Cold-tolerant species are reported in more countries and at higher latitudes, though more accurate interspecific empirical data are needed to confirm this finding. Policy implications. We evaluate the potential of an evolutionary trait-based framework to support horizon-scanning approaches for identifying pathogens with greater potential for global-scale impacts. Potential future threats from Phytophthora include Phytophthora x heterohybrida, P. lactucae, P. glovera, P. x incrassata, P. amnicola and P. aquimorbida, which are recently described, possibly under-reported species, with similar traits and/or phylogenetic proximity to other high-impact species. Priority traits to measure for emerging species may be thermal minima, oospore wall index and growth rate at optimum temperature. Trait-based horizon-scanning approaches would benefit from the development of international and cross-sectoral collaborations to deliver centralised databases incorporating pathogen distributions, traits and phylogeny.

Making waves. Bridging theory and practice towards multiple stressor management in freshwater ecosystems.

Despite advances in conceptual understanding, single-stressor abatement approaches remain common in the management of fresh waters, even though they can produce unexpected ecological responses when multiple stressors interact. Here we identify limitations restricting the development of multiple-stressor management strategies and address these, bridging theory and practice, within a novel empirical framework. Those critical limitations include that (i) monitoring schemes fall short of accounting for theory on relationships between multiple-stressor interactions and ecological responses, (ii) current empirical modelling approaches neglect the prevalence and intensity of multiple-stressor interactions, and (iii) mechanisms of stressor interactions are often poorly understood. We offer practical recommendations for the use of empirical models and experiments to predict the effects of freshwater degradation in response to changes in multiple stressors, demonstrating this approach in a case study. Drawing on our framework, we offer practical recommendations to support the development of effective management strategies in three general multiple-stressor scenarios.

High-Frequency Head Impact Disrupts Hippocampal Neural Ensemble Dynamics.

We have recently shown that the cognitive impairments in a mouse model of high-frequency head impact (HFHI) are caused by chronic changes to synaptic physiology. To better understand these synaptic changes occurring after repeat head impact, we used Thy1-GcCAMP6f mice to study intracellular and intercellular calcium dynamics and neuronal ensembles in HFHI mice. We performed simultaneous calcium imaging and local field potential (LFP) recordings of the CA1 field during an early-LTP paradigm in acute hippocampal slice preparations 24 h post-impact. As previously reported, HFHI causes a decrease in early-LTP in the absence of any shift in the input-output curve. Calcium analytics revealed that HFHI hippocampal slices have similar numbers of active ROIs, however, the number of calcium transients per ROI was significantly increased in HFHI slices. Ensembles consist of coordinated activity between groups of active ROIs. We exposed the CA1 ensemble to Schaffer-collateral stimulation in an abbreviated LTP paradigm and observed novel coordinated patterns of post stimulus calcium ensemble activity. HFHI ensembles displayed qualitatively similar patterns of post-stimulus ensemble activity to shams but showed significant changes in quantitative ensemble inactivation and reactivation. Previous in vivo and in vitro reports have shown that ensemble activity frequently occurs through a similar set of ROIs firing in a repeating fashion. HFHI slices showed a decrease in such coordinated firing patterns during post stimulus ensemble activity. The present study shows that HFHI alters synaptic activity and disrupts neuronal organization of the ensemble, providing further evidence of physiological synaptic adaptation occurring in the brain after a high frequency of non-pathological head impacts.

Three New Digital Features From JOSPT in 2020.

The JOSPT editorial team details digital developments since the beginning of 2020: JOSPT's website redesign, the launches of the JOSPT Insights podcast and JOSPT blog, and the JOSPT Asks video series. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2020;50(9):471-472. doi:10.2519/jospt.2020.0107.