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Objective Preliminary remission criteria for gout have been developed. However, the patient experience of gout remission has not been described. This qualitative study aimed to understand the patient experience of gout remission and views about the preliminary gout remission criteria. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted. All participants had gout, had not had a gout flare in the preceding 6 months, and were on urate‐lowering medication. Participants were asked to discuss their experience of gout remission and views about the preliminary remission criteria. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using a reflexive thematic approach. Results Twenty participants with gout (17 male participants, median age 63 years) were interviewed. Four key themes of the patient experience of remission were identified: 1) minimal or no gout symptoms (absence of pain due to gout flares, good physical function, smaller or no tophi), 2) freedom from dietary restrictions, 3) gout is “not on the mind”, and 4) multifaceted management strategies to maintain remission (regular urate‐lowering therapy, exercise, healthy eating). Participants believed that the preliminary remission criteria contained all relevant domains but considered that the pain and patient global assessment domains overlapped with the gout flares domain. Participants regarded 12 months as a more suitable time frame than 6 months to measure remission. Conclusion Patients experience gout remission as a return to normality with minimal or no gout symptoms, dietary freedom, and absence of mental load. Patients use a range of management strategies to maintain gout remission.

Abstract Planktonic Foraminifera are unique paleo-environmental indicators through their excellent fossil record in ocean sediments. Their distribution and diversity are affected by different environmental factors including anthropogenically forced ocean and climate change. Until now, historical changes in their distribution have not been fully assessed at the global scale. Here we present the FORCIS (Foraminifera Response to Climatic Stress) database on foraminiferal species diversity and distribution in the global ocean from 1910 until 2018 including published and unpublished data. The FORCIS database includes data collected using plankton tows, continuous plankton recorder, sediment traps and plankton pump, and contains ~22,000, ~157,000, ~9,000, ~400 subsamples, respectively (one single plankton aliquot collected within a depth range, time interval, size fraction range, at a single location) from each category. Our database provides a perspective of the distribution patterns of planktonic Foraminifera in the global ocean on large spatial (regional to basin scale, and at the vertical scale), and temporal (seasonal to interdecadal) scales over the past century.

Urate-lowering therapies for the management of gout lead to a reduction in serum urate levels, monosodium urate crystal deposition, and the clinical features of gout, including painful and disabling gout flares, chronic gouty arthritis, and tophi. Thus, disease remission is a potential goal of urate-lowering therapy. In 2016, preliminary gout remission criteria were developed by a large group of rheumatologists and researchers with expertise in gout. The preliminary gout remission criteria were defined as: serum urate < 0.36 mmol/L (6 mg/dL); an absence of gout flares; an absence of tophi; pain due to gout < 2 on a 0–10 scale; and a patient global assessment < 2 on a 0–10 scale over a 12-month period. In this critical review, we describe the development of the preliminary gout remission criteria, the properties of the preliminary gout remission criteria, and clinical studies of gout remission in people taking urate-lowering therapy. We also describe a future research agenda for gout remission.

Field surveys were conducted along 140°E in the Southern Ocean north of Terre Adelie during three cruises: the KH cruise by RV Hakuho Maru, and TC1 and TC2 cruises by RV Tangaroa during the austral summers of 2002 and 2003. Macrozooplankton were sampled using a Rectangular Midwater Trawl (RMT 8: mesh size: 4.5mm; effective mouth area: 8m2) along each transect. Macrozooplankton communities were separated by the Southern Boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (SB-ACC) based on cluster analysis. North of the SB-ACC, macrozooplankton assemblages comprised species of the northern oceanic community characterized by Salpa thompsoni, Euphausia frigida and Themisto gaudichaudii, while south of the SB-ACC, macrozooplankton assemblages were numerically dominated by Euphausia superba and/or Euphausia crystallorophias. It is suggested that the SB-ACC functions as the major biogeographic barrier to separate the macrozooplankton communities, and the contributions of macro- and meso-zooplankton to total zooplankton abundance varies seasonally as well as regionally in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean crossing the SB-ACC.

BackgroundSooty (Puffinus griseus) and short-tailed (P. tenuirostris) shearwaters are abundant seabirds that range widely across global oceans. Understanding the foraging ecology of these species in the Southern Ocean is important for monitoring and ecosystem conservation and management.Methodology/principal findingsTracking data from sooty and short-tailed shearwaters from three regions of New Zealand and Australia were combined with at-sea observations of shearwaters in the Southern Ocean, physical oceanography, near-surface copepod distributions, pelagic trawl data, and synoptic near-surface winds. Shearwaters from all three regions foraged in the Polar Front zone, and showed particular overlap in the region around 140 degrees E. Short-tailed shearwaters from South Australia also foraged in Antarctic waters south of the Polar Front. The spatial distribution of shearwater foraging effort in the Polar Front zone was matched by patterns in large-scale upwelling, primary production, and abundances of copepods and myctophid fish. Oceanic winds were found to be broad determinants of foraging distribution, and of the flight paths taken by the birds on long foraging trips to Antarctic waters.Conclusions/significanceThe shearwaters displayed foraging site fidelity and overlap of foraging habitat between species and populations that may enhance their utility as indicators of Southern Ocean ecosystems. The results highlight the importance of upwellings due to interactions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current with large-scale bottom topography, and the corresponding localised increases in the productivity of the Polar Front ecosystem.