CDC50A is required for aminophospholipid transport and cell fusion in mouse C2C12 myoblasts.

Myoblast fusion is essential for the formation of multinucleated muscle fibers and is promoted by transient changes in the plasma membrane lipid distribution. However, little is known about the lipid transporters regulating these dynamic changes. Here, we show that proliferating myoblasts exhibit an aminophospholipid flippase activity that is downregulated during differentiation. Deletion of the P4-ATPase flippase subunit CDC50A (also known as TMEM30A) results in loss of the aminophospholipid flippase activity and compromises actin remodeling, RAC1 GTPase membrane targeting and cell fusion. In contrast, deletion of the P4-ATPase ATP11A affects aminophospholipid uptake without having a strong impact on cell fusion. Our results demonstrate that myoblast fusion depends on CDC50A and may involve multiple CDC50A-dependent P4-ATPases that help to regulate actin remodeling.

Promoting inclusive metrics of success and impact to dismantle a discriminatory reward system in science.

Success and impact metrics in science are based on a system that perpetuates sexist and racist "rewards" by prioritizing citations and impact factors. These metrics are flawed and biased against already marginalized groups and fail to accurately capture the breadth of individuals' meaningful scientific impacts. We advocate shifting this outdated value system to advance science through principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We outline pathways for a paradigm shift in scientific values based on multidimensional mentorship and promoting mentee well-being. These actions will require collective efforts supported by academic leaders and administrators to drive essential systemic change.

Multiscale stability of an intertidal kelp (Postelsia palmaeformis) near its northern range edge through a period of prolonged heatwaves.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Climate change, including gradual changes and extreme weather events, is driving widespread species losses and range shifts. These climatic changes are felt acutely in intertidal ecosystems, where many organisms live close to their thermal limits and experience the extremes of both marine and terrestrial environments. A recent series of multiyear heatwaves in the northeast Pacific Ocean might have impacted species even towards their cooler, northern range edges. Among them, the high intertidal kelp Postelsia palmaeformis has traits that could make it particularly vulnerable to climate change, but it is critically understudied. METHODS: In 2021 and 2022, we replicated in situ and aerial P. palmaeformis surveys that were conducted originally in 2006 and 2007, in order to assess the state of northern populations following recent heatwaves. Changes in P. palmaeformis distribution, extent, density and morphometrics were assessed between these two time points over three spatial scales, ranging from 250 m grid cells across the entire 167 km study region, to within grid cells and the individual patch. KEY RESULTS: We found evidence consistent with population stability at all three scales: P. palmaeformis remained present in all 250 m grid cells in the study region where it was previously found, and neither the extent within cells nor the patch density changed significantly between time points. However, there was evidence of slight distributional expansion, increased blade lengths and a shift to earlier reproductive timing. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that apparent long-term stability of P. palmaeformis might be attributable to thermal buffering near its northern range edge and from the wave-exposed coastlines it inhabits, which may have decreased the impacts of heatwaves. Our results highlight the importance of multiscale assessments when examining changes within species and populations, in addition to the importance of dispersal capability and local conditions in regulating the responses of species to climate change.

Health-related complications during follow-up and their impact on blood cancer survivors - results from the 'Aftercare in Blood Cancer Survivors' (ABC) study.

Introduction Blood cancer survivors are at increased risk for medical complications. Methods Our questionnaire-based study involved 1,551 blood cancer survivors with a ≥3-year interval since the last intense treatment. Its goal was to quantify health-related complications during follow-up and assess their impact on the patients' lives. Results 20.4% of responding survivors reported a disease relapse, most often in indolent lymphomas. Second primary malignancies occurred in 14.1%, primarily in lymphoma and allogeneic transplantation survivors. The most frequent malignancy was basal cell carcinoma of the skin, but myeloid malignancies, melanoma, bladder, head-and-neck, and thyroid cancer also appeared disproportionately frequent. An increased infection rate was reported by 43.7%, most often after allogeneic transplantation. New cardiovascular diseases were reported by 30.2%, with a high rate of thromboembolic events in multiple myeloma and myeloproliferative diseases. Polyneuropathies were reported by 39.1%, most often by survivors with a history of multiple myeloma or aggressive lymphoma. Disease relapse was perceived as the highest burden, followed by second primary malignancy, increased infection frequency, and polyneuropathy. In each area investigated, the range of perceived severities was wide. Conclusions Health-related complications are frequent during blood cancer follow-up, with significant repercussions on the patients' lives.

Tipping points and interactive effects of chronic human disturbance and acute heat stress on coral diversity.

Multiple anthropogenic stressors co-occur ubiquitously in natural ecosystems. However, multiple stressor studies often produce conflicting results, potentially because the nature and direction of stressor interactions depends upon the strength of the underlying stressors. Here, we first examine how coral α- and ß-diversities vary across sites spanning a gradient of chronic local anthropogenic stress before and after a prolonged marine heatwave. Developing a multiple stressor framework that encompasses non-discrete stressors, we then examine interactions between the continuous and discrete stressors. We provide evidence of additive effects, antagonistic interactions (with heatwave-driven turnover in coral community composition diminishing as the continuous stressor increased), and tipping points (at which the response of coral Hill-richness to stressors changed from additive to near synergistic). We show that community-level responses to multiple stressors can vary, and even change qualitatively, with stressor intensity, underscoring the importance of examining complex, but realistic continuous stressors to understand stressor interactions and their ecological impacts.

Macroalgae exhibit diverse responses to human disturbances on coral reefs.

Scientists and managers rely on indicator taxa such as coral and macroalgal cover to evaluate the effects of human disturbance on coral reefs, often assuming a universally positive relationship between local human disturbance and macroalgae. Despite evidence that macroalgae respond to local stressors in diverse ways, there have been few efforts to evaluate relationships between specific macroalgae taxa and local human-driven disturbance. Using genus-level monitoring data from 1205 sites in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, we assess whether macroalgae percent cover correlates with local human disturbance while accounting for factors that could obscure or confound relationships. Assessing macroalgae at genus level revealed that no genera were positively correlated with all human disturbance metrics. Instead, we found relationships between the division or genera of algae and specific human disturbances that were not detectable when pooling taxa into a single functional category, which is common to many analyses. The convention to use percent cover of macroalgae as an indication of local human disturbance therefore likely obscures signatures of local anthropogenic threats to reefs. Our limited understanding of relationships between human disturbance, macroalgae taxa, and their responses to human disturbances impedes the ability to diagnose and respond appropriately to these threats.

Effective fisheries management instrumental in improving fish stock status.

Marine fish stocks are an important part of the world food system and are particularly important for many of the poorest people of the world. Most existing analyses suggest overfishing is increasing, and there is widespread concern that fish stocks are decreasing throughout most of the world. We assembled trends in abundance and harvest rate of stocks that are scientifically assessed, constituting half of the reported global marine fish catch. For these stocks, on average, abundance is increasing and is at proposed target levels. Compared with regions that are intensively managed, regions with less-developed fisheries management have, on average, 3-fold greater harvest rates and half the abundance as assessed stocks. Available evidence suggests that the regions without assessments of abundance have little fisheries management, and stocks are in poor shape. Increased application of area-appropriate fisheries science recommendations and management tools are still needed for sustaining fisheries in places where they are lacking.

Microclimate predicts kelp forest extinction in the face of direct and indirect marine heatwave effects.

Marine heatwaves threaten the persistence of kelp forests globally. However, the observed responses of kelp forests to these events have been highly variable on local scales. Here, we synthesize distribution data from an environmentally diverse region to examine spatial patterns of canopy kelp persistence through an unprecedented marine heatwave. We show that, although often overlooked, temperature variation occurring at fine spatial scales (i.e., a few kilometers or less) can be a critical driver of kelp forest persistence during these events. Specifically, though kelp forests nearly all persisted toward the cool outer coast, inshore areas were >3°C warmer at the surface and experienced extensive kelp loss. Although temperatures remained cool at depths below the thermocline, kelp persistence in these thermal refugia was strongly constrained by biotic interactions, specifically urchin populations that increased during the heatwave and drove transitions to urchin barrens in deeper rocky habitat. Urchins were, however, largely absent from mixed sand and cobble benthos, leading to an unexpected association between bottom substrate and kelp forest persistence at inshore sites with warm surface waters. Our findings demonstrate both that warm microclimates increase the risk of habitat loss during marine heatwaves and that biotic interactions modified by these events will modulate the capacity of cool microclimates to serve as thermal refugia.

Negative news dominates fast and slow brain responses and social judgments even after source credibility evaluation.

Remedies to counter the impact of misinformation are in high demand, but little is known about the neuro-cognitive consequences of untrustworthy information and how they can be mitigated. In this preregistered study, we investigated the effects of social-emotional headline contents on social judgments and brain responses and whether they can be modulated by explicit evaluations of the trustworthiness of the media source. Participants (N = 30) evaluated -and clearly discerned- the trustworthiness of news sources before they were exposed to person-related news headlines. Despite this intervention, social judgments and brain responses were dominated largely by emotional headline contents. Results suggest differential effects of source credibility might depend on headline valence. Electrophysiological indexes of fast emotional and arousal-related brain responses, as well as correlates of slow evaluative processing were enhanced for persons associated with positive headline contents from trusted sources, but not when positive headlines stemmed from distrusted sources. In contrast, negative headlines dominated fast and slow brain responses unaffected by explicit source credibility evaluations. These results provide novel insights into the brain mechanisms underlying the "success" of emotional news from untrustworthy sources, suggesting a pronounced susceptibility to negative information even from distrusted sources that is reduced for positive contents. The differential pattern of responses to misinformation in mind and brain sheds light on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the processing of misinformation and possible strategies to avoid their potentially detrimental effects.

Effects of climate-change-driven gradual and acute temperature changes on shark and ray species.

Climate change is altering distributions and abundances of marine species through both gradual and acute changes in temperature and productivity. Due to their high mobility and metabolic rates, elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) are likely to redistribute across latitudes and depths as they thermoregulate, but little is known about their responses to these climatic changes, which could vary widely across this diverse group of species. Here, we assessed how species with differing mobility and ecology responded to gradual changes in daily sea surface temperature (SST) and acute temperature anomalies, caused by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), at Cocos Island, Costa Rica, the site of multiple marine heatwaves. We used generalized linear mixed models to analyse 34,342 records of relative abundance or frequency of occurrence for seven shark and ray species collected in 27 years (1993-2019) by a dive company. We compared effect sizes for SST and the Oceanic Niño Index across the different species, which vary widely in body size and mobility. Large, mobile species responded strongly but inconsistently to temperature. For scalloped hammerhead sharks Sphyrna lewini, a 1℃ rise in SST reduced counts by over 14%, and dropped the occurrence of their large schools by almost one-fifth (19.4%). Mobula ray occurrence also declined substantially with a few degrees rise in SST, whereas tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier occurrence sharply increased. These species also had divergent responses to the ENSO: S. lewini and G. cuvier were sighted with greater frequency during La Niña events, and their abundance dropped considerably during El Niño events-over a twofold decline between a strong La Niña and strong El Niño for S. lewini. In contrast, Mobula rays showed little response to ENSO. The smaller and sedentary Triaenodon obesus exhibited the weakest response of all species to both SST and the ENSO, reflecting its lower metabolic rates and mobility. Climate change will continue to impact elasmobranchs, even for smaller and more localized species, with the potential to impact the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs). Our results compel further work on the diversity of elasmobranch responses to environmental change.

Increased diversity and concordant shifts in community structure of coral-associated Symbiodiniaceae and bacteria subjected to chronic human disturbance.

Both coral-associated bacteria and endosymbiotic algae (Symbiodiniaceae spp.) are vitally important for the biological function of corals. Yet little is known about their co-occurrence within corals, how their diversity varies across coral species, or how they are impacted by anthropogenic disturbances. Here, we sampled coral colonies (n = 472) from seven species, encompassing a range of life history traits, across a gradient of chronic human disturbance (n = 11 sites on Kiritimati [Christmas] atoll) in the central equatorial Pacific, and quantified the sequence assemblages and community structure of their associated Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities. Although Symbiodiniaceae alpha diversity did not vary with chronic human disturbance, disturbance was consistently associated with higher bacterial Shannon diversity and richness, with bacterial richness by sample almost doubling from sites with low to very high disturbance. Chronic disturbance was also associated with altered microbial beta diversity for Symbiodiniaceae and bacteria, including changes in community structure for both and increased variation (dispersion) of the Symbiodiniaceae communities. We also found concordance between Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial community structure, when all corals were considered together, and individually for two massive species, Hydnophora microconos and Porites lobata, implying that symbionts and bacteria respond similarly to human disturbance in these species. Finally, we found that the dominant Symbiodiniaceae ancestral lineage in a coral colony was associated with differential abundances of several distinct bacterial taxa. These results suggest that increased beta diversity of Symbiodiniaceae and bacterial communities may be a reliable indicator of stress in the coral microbiome, and that there may be concordant responses to chronic disturbance between these communities at the whole-ecosystem scale.

Direct and indirect effects of climate change-amplified pulse heat stress events on coral reef fish communities.

Climate change-amplified temperature anomalies pose an imminent threat to coral reef ecosystems. While much focus has been placed on the effects of heat stress on scleractinian corals-including bleaching, mortality, and loss of reef structural complexity-and many studies have documented changes to reef fish communities arising indirectly from shifts in benthic composition, the direct impacts of heat stress on reef fish are much less well understood. Here, we quantify the direct and indirect effects of heat stress on reef fishes, using underwater visual censuses of coral reef fish communities conducted before, during, and after the 2015-2016 El Niño-induced global coral bleaching event. Surveys took place at the epicenter of this event, at 16 sites on Kiritimati (Republic of Kiribati; central equatorial Pacific) spanning across a gradient of local human disturbance. We expected that heat stress would have both direct and indirect negative effects on the reef fish community, with direct effects resulting from physiological stress during the event and indirect effects manifesting afterward as a consequence of coral mortality, and that the ability of fish communities to recover following the heat stress would depend on levels of local human disturbance. We found that total reef fish biomass and abundance declined by >50% during heat stress, likely as a result of vertical migration of fish to cooler waters. One year after the cessation of heat stress, however, total biomass, abundance, and species richness had recovered to, or even exceeded, pre-heat stress levels. However, the biomass of corallivores declined by over 70% following severe coral loss, and reefs exposed to higher levels of local human disturbance showed impaired recovery following the heat stress. These findings enhance understanding of the projected impacts of climate change-associated marine heatwaves on reef fishes, and highlight the interacting effects of local and global stressors on this vital component of coral reef ecosystems.

Fertility preservation and fulfillment of parenthood after treatment of hematological malignancies: results from the 'Aftercare in Blood Cancer Survivors' (ABC) study.

PURPOSE: Treatment of hematological malignancies carries the risk of lasting sterility. We aimed to identify fertility-related unmet needs. METHODS: The 'Aftercare in Blood Cancer Survivors' study is a cohort study of hematological patients who were in treatment-free remission for ≥ 3 years or stable under continuous oral medication. Female patients age 18-45 years and male patients age 18-65 years without a history of pre-treatment infertility were asked to answer a structured questionnaire including questions addressing fertility issues. Multivariable analyses were performed to detect risk factors. RESULTS: Of 1562 study participants, 1031 met the inclusion criteria for the fertility sub-study. A high proportion of patients (72.4%) received information about the risk of losing fertility, but only a minority (15%) took steps to preserve it. Female and older patients were less likely to be informed. A post-treatment wish for parenthood was expressed by 19.3% of patients. It was strongly associated with childlessness at time of diagnosis and could be fulfilled by 29.4%. Fulfillment of desired parenthood increased with increasing time from diagnosis and was low after allogeneic transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Female and older hematological patients are less likely to be informed about fertility-related issues than other patients. With societal changes towards first parenthood at higher age, the proportion of patients desiring a child after treatment is likely to increase. Fulfillment of desired parenthood remains challenging, especially after allogeneic transplantation. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: In patients likely to express a wish for post-treatment parenthood, fertility-related issues should routinely be addressed before gonadotoxic treatment is started.

Veno-Venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Adult Patients with Sickle Cell Disease and Acute Chest Syndrome: a Single-Center Experience.

Acute chest syndrome (ACS) in adult patients with sickle cell disease represents a leading cause of death. It is characterized by a new density on chest X-ray accompanied by fever and/or respiratory symptoms. Currently, 49 adult patients with sickle cell disease are registered at our department. By now, 12 patients (24.5%) suffered from ACS and two patients showed multiple/recurrent (>2) episodes. Death in one patient was related to acute respiratory failure secondary to ACS. In three patients with ACS, invasive mechanical ventilation and subsequent veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) was mandatory. Veno-venous ECMO was applied within 24 hours upon arrival to the intensive care unit (ICU). All patients were treated aggressively for ACS including exchange transfusions [packed red blood cell (pRBC) units 5-16] maintaining a Hb S threshold of <30.0% in addition to broad-spectrum antibiotics, resulting in a successful outcome following decannulation from VV-ECMO (49 hours, 251 hours, 30 min., and 98 hours, respectively). Limited information is presently available on the use of VV-ECMO in adult patients with sickle cell disease in the context of acute respiratory failure secondary to ACS. The adequate timing of the decision to place ECMO in critically ill adults with sickle cell disease, incapable of being treated by conventional mechanical ventilation secondary to very severe vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), might further reduce mortality rates while treating the underlying condition.

Differences in δ15 N and δ13 C between embryonic and maternal tissues of the ovoviviparous bluntnose sixgill shark Hexanchus griseus.

Stable nitrogen (δ15 N) and carbon (δ13 C) isotope ratios from muscle, liver and yolk were analysed from the mother and embryos of an ovoviviparous shark, Hexanchus griseus. Embryonic liver and muscle had similar δ15 N and δ13 C ratios or were depleted in heavy isotopes, compared to the same maternal somatic and reproductive yolk tissues, but no relationship existed between δ15 N or δ13 C and embryo length, as expected, because a switch to placental nourishment is lacking in this species. This study expands the understanding of maternal nourishment and embryonic stable isotope differences in ovoviviparous sharks.

Anthropogenic disturbance homogenizes seagrass fish communities.

Anthropogenic activities have led to the biotic homogenization of many ecological communities, yet in coastal systems this phenomenon remains understudied. In particular, activities that locally affect marine habitat-forming foundation species may perturb habitat and promote species with generalist, opportunistic traits, in turn affecting spatial patterns of biodiversity. Here, we quantified fish diversity in seagrass communities across 89 sites spanning 6° latitude along the Pacific coast of Canada, to test the hypothesis that anthropogenic disturbances homogenize (i.e., lower beta-diversity) assemblages within coastal ecosystems. We test for patterns of biotic homogenization at sites within different anthropogenic disturbance categories (low, medium, and high) at two spatial scales (within and across regions) using both abundance- and incidence-based beta-diversity metrics. Our models provide clear evidence that fish communities in high anthropogenic disturbance seagrass areas are homogenized relative to those in low disturbance areas. These results were consistent across within-region comparisons using abundance- and incidence-based measures of beta-diversity, and in across-region comparisons using incidence-based measures. Physical and biotic characteristics of seagrass meadows also influenced fish beta-diversity. Biotic habitat characteristics including seagrass biomass and shoot density were more differentiated among high disturbance sites, potentially indicative of a perturbed environment. Indicator species and trait analyses revealed fishes associated with low disturbance sites had characteristics including stenotopy, lower swimming ability, and egg guarding behavior. Our study is the first to show biotic homogenization of fishes across seagrass meadows within areas of relatively high human impact. These results support the importance of targeting conservation efforts in low anthropogenic disturbance areas across land- and seascapes, as well as managing anthropogenic impacts in high activity areas.

Environmental conditions and herbivore biomass determine coral reef benthic community composition: implications for quantitative baselines.

Our ability to understand natural constraints on coral reef benthic communities requires quantitative assessment of the relative strengths of abiotic and biotic processes across large spatial scales. Here, we combine underwater images, visual censuses and remote sensing data for 1566 sites across 34 islands spanning the central-western Pacific Ocean, to empirically assess the relative roles of abiotic and grazing processes in determining the prevalence of calcifying organisms and fleshy algae on coral reefs. We used regression trees to identify the major predictors of benthic composition and to test whether anthropogenic stress at inhabited islands decouples natural relationships. We show that sea surface temperature, wave energy, oceanic productivity and aragonite saturation strongly influence benthic community composition; overlooking these factors may bias expectations of calcified reef states. Maintenance of grazing biomass above a relatively low threshold (~ 10-20 kg ha-1) may also prevent transitions to algal-dominated states, providing a tangible management target for rebuilding overexploited herbivore populations. Biophysical relationships did not decouple at inhabited islands, indicating that abiotic influences remain important macroscale processes, even at chronically disturbed reefs. However, spatial autocorrelation among inhabited reefs was substantial and exceeded abiotic and grazing influences, suggesting that natural constraints on reef benthos were superseded by unmeasured anthropogenic impacts. Evidence of strong abiotic influences on reef benthic communities underscores their importance in specifying quantitative targets for coral reef management and restoration that are realistic within the context of local conditions.

Marine Socio-Environmental Covariates: queryable global layers of environmental and anthropogenic variables for marine ecosystem studies.

Biophysical conditions, including climate, environmental stress, and habitat availability, are key drivers of many ecological processes (e.g., community assembly and productivity) and associated ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and fishery production). Furthermore, anthropogenic impacts such as coastal development and fishing can have drastic effects on the structure and function of marine ecosystems. Scientists need to account for environmental variation and human impacts to accurately model, manage, and conserve marine ecosystems. Although there are many types of environmental data available from global remote sensing and open-source data products, some are inaccessible to potential end-users because they exist as global layers in high temporal and spatial resolutions which require considerable computational power to process. Additionally, coastal locations often suffer from missing data or data quality issues which limit the utility of some global marine products for coastal sites. Herein we present the Marine Socio-Environmental Covariates dataset for the global oceans, which consists of environmental and anthropogenic variables summarized in ecologically relevant ways. The dataset includes four sets of environmental variables related to biophysical conditions (net primary productivity models corrected for shallow-water reflectance, wave energy including sheltered-coastline corrections) and landscape context (coral reef and land cover within varying radii). We also present two sets of anthropogenic variables, human population density (within varying radii) and distance to large population center, which can serve as indicators of local human impacts. We have paired global, summarized layers available for download with an online data querying platform that allows users to extract data for specific point locations with finer control of summary statistics. In creating these global layers and online platform, we hope to make the data accessible to a wide array of end-users with the goal of advancing marine ecosystem studies.

Fishing degrades size structure of coral reef fish communities.

Fishing pressure on coral reef ecosystems has been frequently linked to reductions of large fishes and reef fish biomass. Associated impacts on overall community structure are, however, less clear. In size-structured aquatic ecosystems, fishing impacts are commonly quantified using size spectra, which describe the distribution of individual body sizes within a community. We examined the size spectra and biomass of coral reef fish communities at 38 US-affiliated Pacific islands that ranged in human presence from near pristine to human population centers. Size spectra 'steepened' steadily with increasing human population and proximity to market due to a reduction in the relative biomass of large fishes and an increase in the dominance of small fishes. Reef fish biomass was substantially lower on inhabited islands than uninhabited ones, even at inhabited islands with the lowest levels of human presence. We found that on populated islands size spectra exponents decreased (analogous to size spectra steepening) linearly with declining biomass, whereas on uninhabited islands there was no relationship. Size spectra were steeper in regions of low sea surface temperature but were insensitive to variation in other environmental and geomorphic covariates. In contrast, reef fish biomass was highly sensitive to oceanographic conditions, being influenced by both oceanic productivity and sea surface temperature. Our results suggest that community size structure may be a more robust indicator than fish biomass to increasing human presence and that size spectra are reliable indicators of exploitation impacts across regions of different fish community compositions, environmental drivers, and fisheries types. Size-based approaches that link directly to functional properties of fish communities, and are relatively insensitive to abiotic variation across biogeographic regions, offer great potential for developing our understanding of fishing impacts in coral reef ecosystems.