Aging of nanosized titanium dioxide modulates the effects of dietary copper exposure on Daphnia magna - an assessment over two generations.

Nanosized titanium dioxide (nTiO2) is widely used in products, warranting its discharge from various sources into surface water bodies. However, nTiO2 co-occurs in surface waters with other contaminants, such as metals. Studies with nTiO2 and metals have indicated that the presence of natural organic matter (NOM) can mitigate their toxicity to aquatic organisms. In addition, "aging" of nTiO2 can affect toxicity. However, it is a research challenge, particularly when addressing sublethal responses from dietary exposure over multiple generations. We, therefore exposed the alga Desmodesmus subspicatus to nTiO2 (at concentrations of 0.0, 0.6 and 3.0 mg nTiO2/L) in nutrient medium aged for 0 or 3 days with copper (Cu) at concentrations of 0 and 116 µg Cu/L and with NOM at concentrations equivalent to 0 and 8 mg total organic carbon (TOC) per litre. Subsequently, the exposed alga was fed to Daphnia magna for 23 days over two generations and survival, reproduction and body length were assessed as endpoints of toxicity. In parallel, Cu accumulation and depuration from D. magna were measured. The results indicate that the reproduction of D. magna was the most sensitive parameter in this study, being reduced by 30% (at both parental (F0) and filial (F1) generations) and 50% (at F0 but not F1) due to the dietary Cu exposure in combination with nTiO2 for 0 and 3 days aging, respectively. There was no relationship between the effects observed on reproduction and Cu body burden in D. magna. Moreover, D. magna from the F1 generation showed an adaptive response to Cu in the treatment with 3.0 mg nTiO2/L aged for 3 days, potentially due to epigenetic inheritance. Unexpectedly, the presence of NOM hardly changed the observed effects, pointing towards the function of algal exopolymeric substances or intracellular organic matter, rendering the NOM irrelevant. Ultimately, the results indicate that the transferability of the impacts observed during the F0 to the responses in the F1 generation is challenging due to opposite effect directions. Additional mechanistic studies are needed to unravel this inconsistency in the responses between generations and to support the development of reliable effect models.

Trends of Total Applied Pesticide Toxicity in German Agriculture.

Expressing temporal changes in the use of pesticides, based not only on amounts (masses) but also on their toxicity for different species groups, was proposed as a sensible approach for evaluating potential environmental risks. Here, we calculated the total applied toxicity (TAT) between 1995 and 2019 for Germany, mapped it, and compared it to the US TAT and other risk indicators. Results show that the German TAT for terrestrial vertebrates decreased over time by about 20%. The TAT increased by a factor of three for fishes, largely due to insecticides, by a factor of two for soil organisms, largely due to fungicides and insecticides, and, to a lower extent, for terrestrial plants, solely due to herbicides. Other species groups showed no trends in TAT, which for pollinators likely results from neonicotinoid use restrictions. Many TAT trends from Germany and the US differ, partly due to different insecticide and fungicide uses. TAT, SYNOPS risk indicators, and the EU Harmonized Risk Indicators, currently being used to assess the German National Action Plan's goal to reduce risks by 30% by 2023, lead to clearly different risk perceptions. Validated approaches are needed for evaluation of risk quantifications at the national scale.

The multidimensional prognostic index in hospitalized older adults: practicability with regard to time needs.

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is decisive in patient-centered medicine of the aged individual, yet it is not systematically used. AIM: The aim of this study was to provide precise practice-relevant time expenditure data for the Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI), a questionnaire-based frailty assessment tool. METHODS: MPI was determined in ninety older multimorbid adults in three geriatric departments (cohorts 1, 2 and 3). The time needed to perform the MPI (tnpMPI) was recorded in minutes. Follow-up data were collected after 6 months. RESULTS: The median tnpMPI was 15.0 min (IQR 7.0) in the total collective. In the last visited cohort 3, the median was 10.0 min and differed significantly from cohorts 1 and 2 with medians of 15.5 and 15.0 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate, that MPI, as a highly informative frailty tool of individualized medicine, can be performed in an adequately practicable time frame.

A temporal perspective on aquatic subsidy: Bti affects emergence of Chironomidae.

Emerging aquatic insects serve as one link between aquatic and adjacent riparian food webs via the flux of energy and nutrients. These insects provide high-quality subsidy to terrestrial predators. Thus, any disturbance of emergence processes may cascade to higher trophic levels and lead to effects across ecosystem boundaries. One stressor with potential impact on non-target aquatic insects, especially on non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae), is the widely used mosquito control agent Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti). In a field experiment, we investigated emerging insect communities from Bti-treated (three applications, maximum field rate) and control floodplain pond mesocosms (FPMs) over 3.5 months for changes in their composition, diversity as well as the emergence dynamics and the individual weight of emerged aquatic insects over time. Bti treatments altered community compositions over the entire study duration - an effect mainly attributed to an earlier (∼10 days) and reduced (∼26%) peak in the emergence of Chironomidae, the dominant family (88% of collected individuals). The most reasonable explanation for this significant alteration is less resource competition caused by a decrease in chironomid larval density due to lethal effects of Bti. This is supported by the higher individual weight of Chironomidae emerging from treated FPMs (∼21%) during Bti application (April - May). A temporal shift in the emergence dynamics can cause changes in the availability of prey in linked terrestrial ecosystems. Consequently, terrestrial predators may be affected by a lack of appropriate prey leading to bottom-up and top-down effects in terrestrial food webs. This study indicates the importance of a responsible and elaborated use of Bti and additionally, highlights the need to include a temporal perspective in evaluations of stressors in aquatic-terrestrial meta-ecosystems.

Nitrogen retention in stream biofilms - A potential contribution to the self-cleaning capacity.

Surface waters are under increasing pressure due to human activities, such as nutrient emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Using the retention of nitrogen (N) released from WWTPs as a proxy, we assessed the contribution of biofilms grown on inorganic and organic substrates to the self-cleaning capacity of second-order streams within the biosphere reserve Vosges du Nord/Palatinate forest (France/Germany). The uptake of N from anthropogenic sources, which is enriched with the heavy isotope 15N, into biofilms was assessed up- and downstream of WWTPs after five weeks of substrate deployment. Biofilms at downstream sites showed a significant positive linear relationship between δ15N and the relative contribution of wastewater to the streams' discharge. Furthermore, δ15N substantially increased in areas affected by WWTP effluent (∼8.5‰ and ∼7‰ for inorganic and organic substrate-associated biofilms, respectively) and afterwards declined with increasing distance to the WWTP effluent, approaching levels of upstream sections. The present study highlights that biofilms contribute to nutrient retention and likely the self-cleaning capacity of streams. This function seems, however, to be limited by the fact that biofilms are restricted in their capacity to process excessive N loads with large differences between individual reaches (e.g., δ15N: -3.25 to 12.81‰), influenced by surrounding conditions (e.g., land use) and modulated through climatic factors and thus impacted by climate change. Consequently, the impact of WWTPs located close to the source of a stream are dampened by the biofilms' capacity to retain N only to a minor share and suggest substantial N loads being transported downstream.

Assessing Effects of Genetically Modified Plant Material on the Aquatic Environment Using higher-tier Studies.

Genetically modified organisms are used extensively in agriculture. To assess potential side effects of genetically modified (GM) plant material on aquatic ecosystems, only a very small number of higher-tier studies have been performed. At the same time, these studies are particularly important for comprehensive risk assessment covering complex ecological relationships. Here we evaluate the methods of experimental higher-tier effect studies with GM plant material (or Bt toxin) in comparison to those well-established for pesticides. A major difference is that nominal test concentrations and thus dose-response relationships cannot easily be produced with GM plant material. Another important difference, particularly to non-systemic pesticides, is that aquatic organisms are exposed to GM plant material primarily through their feed. These and further differences in test requirements, compared with pesticides, call for a standardisation for GM-specific higher-tier study designs to assess their potentially complex effects in the aquatic ecosystems comprehensively.

Pesticide Mixtures in Surface Waters of Two Protected Areas in Southwestern Germany.

Pesticides enter non-target surface waters as a result of agricultural activities and may reach water bodies in protected areas. We measured in southwestern Germany pesticide concentrations after heavy rainfalls in streams of a drinking water protection area near Hausen (Freiburg) and in the catchment of the Queich (Landau), which originates from the biosphere reserve Palatinate Forest. On average, 32 (n = 21) and 21 (n = 10) pesticides were detected per sample and event in the area of Hausen (n = 56) and in the Queich catchment (n = 17), respectively. The majority of pesticides detected in > 50% of all samples were fungicides, with fluopyram being detected throughout all samples. Aquatic invertebrates exhibited highest risks with 16.1% of samples exceeding mixture toxicity thresholds, whereas risks were lower for aquatic plants (12.9%) and fish (6.5%). Mixture toxicity threshold exceedances indicate adverse ecological effects to occur at half of sites (50%). This study illustrates the presence of pesticide mixtures and highlights ecological risks for aquatic organisms in surface waters of protected areas in Germany.

Emerging Midges Transport Pesticides from Aquatic to Terrestrial Ecosystems: Importance of Compound- and Organism-Specific Parameters.

Emerging aquatic insects have the potential to retain aquatic contaminants after metamorphosis, potentially transporting them into adjacent terrestrial food webs. It is unknown whether this transfer is also relevant for current-use pesticides. We exposed larvae of the nonbiting midge, Chironomus riparius, to a sublethal pulse of a mixture of nine moderately polar fungicides and herbicides (logKow 2.5-4.7) at three field relevant treatment levels (1.2-2.5, 17.5-35.0, or 50.0-100.0 µg/L). We then assessed the pesticide bioaccumulation and bioamplification over the full aquatic-terrestrial life cycle of both sexes including the egg laying of adult females. By applying sensitive LC-MS/MS analysis to small sample volumes (∼5 mg, dry weight), we detected all pesticides in larvae from all treatment levels (2.8-1019 ng/g), five of the pesticides in the adults from the lowest treatment level and eight in the higher treatment levels (1.5-3615 ng/g). Retention of the pesticides through metamorphosis was not predictable based solely on pesticide lipophilicity. Sex-specific differences in adult insect pesticide concentrations were significant for five of the pesticides, with greater concentrations in females for four of them. Over the duration of the adults' lifespan, pesticide concentrations generally decreased in females while persisting in males. Our results suggest that a low to moderate daily dietary exposure to these pesticides may be possible for tree swallow nestlings and insectivorous bats.

Trophic Dynamics of Mercury in the Baltic Archipelago Sea Food Web: The Impact of Ecological and Ecophysiological Traits.

We investigated trophic dynamics of Hg in the polluted Baltic Archipelago Sea using established trophic magnification (TMFs) and biomagnification factors (BMFs) on a comprehensive set of bird, fish, and invertebrate species. As different ecological and ecophysiological species traits may affect trophic dynamics, we explored the effect of food chain (benthic, pelagic, benthopelagic) and thermoregulatory strategy on trophic total Hg (THg) dynamics, using different approaches to accommodate benthopelagic species and normalize for trophic position (TP). We observed TMFs and most BMFs greater than 1, indicating overall THg biomagnification. We found significantly higher pelagic TMFs (3.58-4.02) compared to benthic ones (2.11-2.34) when the homeotherm bird species were excluded from models, but not when included. This difference between the benthic and pelagic TMFs remained regardless of how the TP of benthopelagic species was modeled, or whether TMFs were normalized for TP or not. TP-corrected BMFs showed a larger range (0.44-508) compared to BMFs representing predator-prey concentration ratios (0.05-82.2). Overall, the present study shows the importance of including and evaluating the effect of ecological and ecophysiological traits when investigating trophic contaminant dynamics.

Legacy and emerging organohalogenated compounds in feathers of Eurasian eagle-owls (Bubo bubo) in Norway: Spatiotemporal variations and associations with dietary proxies (δ13C and δ15N).

The occurrence of organohalogenated compounds (OHCs) in wildlife has received considerable attention over the last decades. Among the matrices used for OHCs biomonitoring, feathers are particularly useful as they can be collected in a minimally or non-invasive manner. In this study, concentrations of various legacy OHCs -polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)-, as well as emerging OHCs -per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and organophosphate ester flame retardants (OPEs)- were determined in feathers of 72 Eurasian eagle-owls (Bubo bubo) from Norway, with the goal of studying spatiotemporal variation using a non-invasive approach. Molted feathers were collected at nest sites from northern, central and southern Norway across four summers (2013-2016). Additionally, two museum-archived feathers from 1979 to 1989 were included. Stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) were used as dietary proxies. In total, 11 PFAS (sum range 8.25-215.90 ng g-1), 15 PCBs (4.19-430.01 ng g-1), 6 OCPs (1.48-220.94 ng g-1), 5 PBDEs (0.21-5.32 ng g-1) and 3 OPEs (4.49-222.21 ng g-1) were quantified. While we observed large variation in the values of both stable isotopes, suggesting a diverse diet of the eagle-owls, only δ13C seemed to explain variation in PFAS concentrations. Geographic area and year were influential factors for δ15N and δ13C. Considerable spatial variation was observed in PFAS levels, with the southern area showing higher levels compared to northern and central Norway. For the rest of OHCs, we observed between-year variations; sum concentrations of PCBs, OCPs, PBDEs and OPEs reached a maximum in 2015 and 2016. Concentrations from 1979 to 1989 were within the ranges observed between 2013 and 2016. Overall, our data indicate high levels of legacy and emerging OHCs in a top predator in Norway, further highlighting the risk posed by OHCs to wildlife.

Herbicide-Induced Shifts in the Periphyton Community Composition Indirectly Affect Feeding Activity and Physiology of the Gastropod Grazer Physella acuta.

Herbicides are well known for unintended effects on freshwater periphyton communities. Large knowledge gaps, however, exist regarding indirect herbicide impacts on primary consumers through changes in the quality of periphyton as a food source (i.e., diet-related effects). To address this gap, the grazer Physella acuta (Gastropoda) was fed for 21 days with periphyton that grew for 15 days in the presence or absence of the herbicide diuron (8 µg/L) to quantify changes in the feeding rate, growth rate, and energy storage (neutral lipid fatty acids; NLFAs) of P. acuta. Periphyton biomass, cell viability, community structure, and FAs served as proxies for food quality that support a mechanistic interpretation of the grazers' responses. Diuron changed the algae periphyton community and fatty acid profiles, indicating alterations in the food quality, which could explain differences in the snails' feeding rate compared to the control. While the snails' growth rate was, despite an effect size of 55%, not statistically significantly changed, NLFA profiles of P. acuta were altered. These results indicate that herbicides can change the food quality of periphyton by shifts in the algae composition, which may affect the physiology of grazers.

Responsiveness and interpretability of commonly used outcome assessments of mobility capacity in older hospital patients with cognitive spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: In older hospital patients with cognitive spectrum disorders (CSD), mobility should be monitored frequently with standardised and psychometrically sound measurement instruments. This study aimed to examine the responsiveness, minimal important change (MIC), floor effects and ceiling effects of commonly used outcome assessments of mobility capacity in older patients with dementia, delirium or other cognitive impairment. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study that included acute older hospital patients with CSD (study period: 02/2015-12/2015), the following mobility assessments were applied: de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI), Hierarchical Assessment of Balance and Mobility (HABAM), Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment, Short Physical Performance Battery, 4-m gait speed test, 5-times chair rise test, 2-min walk test, Timed Up and Go test, Barthel Index mobility subscale, and Functional Ambulation Categories. These assessments were administered shorty after hospital admission (baseline) and repeated prior to discharge (follow-up). Global rating of mobility change scales and a clinical anchor of functional ambulation were used as external criteria to determine the area under the curve (AUC). Construct- and anchor-based approaches determined responsiveness. MIC values for each instrument were established from different anchor- and distribution-based approaches. RESULTS: Of the 63 participants (age range: 69-94 years) completing follow-up assessments with mild (Mini Mental State Examination: 19-24 points; 67%) and moderate (10-18 points; 33%) cognitive impairment, 25% were diagnosed with dementia alone, 13% with delirium alone, 11% with delirium superimposed on dementia and 51% with another cognitive impairment. The follow-up assessment was performed 10.8 ± 2.5 (range: 7-17) days on average after the baseline assessment. The DEMMI was the most responsive mobility assessment (all AUC > 0.7). For the other instruments, the data provided conflicting evidence of responsiveness, or evidence of no responsiveness. MIC values for each instrument varied depending on the method used for calculation. The DEMMI and HABAM were the only instruments without floor or ceiling effects. CONCLUSIONS: Most outcome assessments of mobility capacity seem insufficiently responsive to change in older hospital patients with CSD. The significant floor effects of most instruments further limit the monitoring of mobility alterations over time in this population. The DEMMI was the only instrument that was able to distinguish clinically important changes from measurement error. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00005591). Registered February 2, 2015.

Multiple Stressors in Aquatic Ecosystems: Sublethal Effects of Temperature, Dissolved Organic Matter, Light and a Neonicotinoid Insecticide on Gammarids.

Whether and to which extent the effects of chemicals in the environment interact with other factors remains a scientific challenge. Here we assess the combined effects of temperature (16 vs. 20°C), light conditions (darkness vs. 400 lx), dissolved organic matter (DOM; 0 vs. 6 mg/L) and the model insecticide thiacloprid (0 vs. 3 µg/L) in a full-factorial experiment on molting and leaf consumption of Gammarus fossarum. Thiacloprid was the only factor significantly affecting gammarids' molting. While DOM had low effects on leaf consumption, temperature, light and thiacloprid significantly affected this response variable. The various interactions among these factors were not significant suggesting additivity. Only the interaction of the factors temperature and thiacloprid suggested a tendency for antagonism. As most stressors interacted additively, their joint effects may be predictable with available models. However, synergistic interactions are difficult to capture while being central for securing ecosystem integrity.

The Fungicide Tebuconazole Confounds Concentrations of Molecular Biomarkers Estimating Fungal Biomass.

Due to their ecological importance, fungi are suitable indicator organisms for anthropogenic stress. To estimate fungal biomass, the fungal membrane molecule ergosterol is often quantified as a proxy. Estimates based on ergosterol may, however, be distorted by exposure to demethylase inhibiting (DMI) fungicides, interfering with sterol synthesis. To test this hypothesis, we exposed ten fungal species to the DMI fungicide tebuconazole and measured concentrations of ergosterol and DNA per unit dry mass of the fungal hyphae. The latter served as alternative biomass proxy that is not specifically targeted by tebuconazole. Effects of tebuconazole on ergosterol concentrations were species-specific, while concentrations were on average reduced by 13%. In contrast, DNA concentrations were on average increased by 13%. We demonstrate that DMI fungicides - at close to field relevant levels - can distort fungal biomass estimation, complicating the use of this endpoint for environmental management.

Insecticide Risk in US Surface Waters: Drivers and Spatiotemporal Modeling.

Although pesticide contamination in agricultural surface waters is a common phenomenon, large-scale studies dealing with the responsible drivers are rare. We used data from 259 publications reporting 5830 individual water or sediment concentrations of 32 insecticides and their metabolites in 644 US surface waters to determine the factors driving insecticide risks, that is, exceedance of regulatory threshold levels (RTLs). Multiple linear regressions (R2 adj. = 49.6-76.5) revealed that toxicity-normalized agricultural insecticide use (i.e. use divided by toxicity) was the most important driver. Burst rainfall erosivity and irrigation practices also had risk-promoting effects, whereas time, catchment size, and sampling interval had risk-demoting effects. A regression model (R2 adj. = 62.2, n = 1833) for small, medium, and large running waters was validated and used for risk mapping at the national scale, highlighting multiple regions, where the comparison of predicted insecticide concentrations with their RTLs indicate adverse conditions for aquatic organisms. Particularly in smaller streams, risks were most pronounced with an average RTL exceedance frequency of 27.7% in all grid cells (n = 9968). Finally, mixture toxicity was mainly (about 76.7%) explained by the most toxic compound in the mixture, causing ∼95.7% of RTL exceedances. Identifying the factors, which drive exposure for all relevant insecticide classes, and subsequently mapping these risks for surface waters of various sizes across the U.S., will support future risk management.

Fungicides: An Overlooked Pesticide Class?

Fungicides are indispensable to global food security and their use is forecasted to intensify. Fungicides can reach aquatic ecosystems and occur in surface water bodies in agricultural catchments throughout the entire growing season due to their frequent, prophylactic application. However, in comparison to herbicides and insecticides, the exposure to and effects of fungicides have received less attention. We provide an overview of the risk of fungicides to aquatic ecosystems covering fungicide exposure (i.e., environmental fate, exposure modeling, and mitigation measures) as well as direct and indirect effects of fungicides on microorganisms, macrophytes, invertebrates, and vertebrates. We show that fungicides occur widely in aquatic systems, that the accuracy of predicted environmental concentrations is debatable, and that fungicide exposure can be effectively mitigated. We additionally demonstrate that fungicides can be highly toxic to a broad range of organisms and can pose a risk to aquatic biota. Finally, we outline central research gaps that currently challenge our ability to predict fungicide exposure and effects, promising research avenues, and shortcomings of the current environmental risk assessment for fungicides.

White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Body Feathers Document Spatiotemporal Trends of Perfluoroalkyl Substances in the Northern Environment.

We reconstructed the first long-term (1968-2015) spatiotemporal trends of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) using archived body feathers of white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) from the West Greenland (n = 31), Norwegian (n = 66), and Central Swedish Baltic coasts (n = 50). We observed significant temporal trends of perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (∑PFCAs) in all three subpopulations. Concentrations of FOSA and PFOS had started decreasing significantly since the mid-1990s to 2000 in the Greenland and Norwegian subpopulations, consistent with the 3M phase-out, though in sharp contrast to overall increasing trends observed in the Swedish subpopulation. Moreover, ∑PFCA concentrations significantly increased in all three subpopulations throughout the study periods. These temporal trends suggest on-going input of PFOS in the Baltic and of ∑PFCAs in all three regions. Considerable spatial variation in PFAS concentrations and profiles was observed: PFOS concentrations were significantly higher in Sweden, whereas FOSA and ∑PFCA concentrations were similar among the subpopulations. PFOS dominated the PFAS profiles in the Swedish and Norwegian subpopulations, in contrast to the domination of FOSA and ∑PFCAs in the Greenland one. Our spatiotemporal observations underline the usefulness of archived bird of prey feathers in monitoring spatiotemporal PFAS trends and urge for continued monitoring efforts in each of the studied subpopulations.

Reliability of mobility measures in older medical patients with cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND: Mobility is a key indicator of physical functioning in older people, but there is limited evidence of the reliability of mobility measures in older people with cognitive impairment. This study aimed to examine the test-retest reliability and measurement error of common measurement instruments of mobility and physical functioning in older patients with dementia, delirium or other cognitive impairment. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in a geriatric hospital. Older acute medical patients with cognitive impairment, indicated by a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of ≤24 points, were assessed twice within 1 day by a trained physiotherapist. The following instruments were applied: de Morton Mobility Index, Hierarchical Assessment of Balance and Mobility, Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment, Short Physical Performance Battery, 4-m gait speed, 5-times chair rise test, 2-min walk test, timed up and go test, Barthel Index mobility subscale and Functional Ambulation Categories. As appropriate, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Cohen's kappa, standard error of measurement, limits of agreement and minimal detectable change (MDC) values were estimated. RESULTS: Sixty-five older acute medical patients with cognitive impairment participated in the study (mean age: 82 ± 7 years; mean MMSE: 20 ± 4, range: 10 to 24 points). Some participants were physically or cognitively unable to perform the gait speed (46%), 2-min walk (46%), timed up and go (51%) and chair rise (75%) tests. ICC and kappa values were above 0.9 in all instruments except for the gait speed (ICC = 0.86) and chair rise (ICC = 0.72) measures. Measurement error is reported for each instrument. The absolute limits of agreement ranged from 11% (de Morton Mobility Index and Hierarchical Assessment of Balance and Mobility) to 35% (chair rise test). CONCLUSIONS: The test-retest reliability is sufficient (> 0.7) for group-comparisons in all examined instruments. Most mobility measurements have limited use for individual monitoring of mobility over time in older hospital patients with cognitive impairment because of the large measurement error (> 20% of scale width), even though relative reliability estimations seem sufficient (> 0.9) for this purpose. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register ( DRKS00005591 ). Registered 2 February 2015.

Effects of a Systemic Pesticide Along an Aquatic Tri-Trophic Food Chain.

Systemic pesticides, such as the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, can be introduced into aquatic ecosystems through contaminated plant material, which is the basis for detrital (brown) aquatic food-webs. With the aim of exemplarily assessing for indirect effects on the level of predators, we first offered imidacloprid contaminated and uncontaminated alder leaves to the stonefly shredder Protonemura sp. for 72 h. Shredder survival, leaf decomposition, body length and biomass were all between 20% and 50% lower under imidacloprid exposure compared to uncontaminated conditions, indicating physiological implications. Subsequently, these shredders were provided as prey to stonefly predators (Isoperla sp.) kept in cages in a stream. Predator biomass and length decreased by up to 11% and 4.3%, respectively, when feeding on imidacloprid exposed prey. Our study hence suggests that plant material contaminated with systemic pesticides can exert adverse effects in aquatic predators when preying on shredders consuming such leaves, which warrants a further consideration of this pathway.