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Aim: Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location: Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Palms (Arecaceae). Methods: We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co-occurring non-palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results: On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long-term climate stability. Life-form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non-tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above-ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions: Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.

Correction for "Phylogenetic classification of the world's tropical forests, " by J. W. Ferry Slik, Janet Franklin, Víctor Arroyo- Rodríguez, Richard Field, Salomon Aguilar, Nikolay Aguirre, Jorge Ahumada, Shin-Ichiro Aiba, Luciana F. Alves, Anitha K, Andres Avella, Francisco Mora, Gerardo A. Aymard C., Selene B?ez, Patricia Balvanera, Meredith L. Bastian, Jean-François Bastin, Peter J. Bellingham, Eduardo van den Berg, Polyanna da Conceição Bispo, Pascal Boeckx, Katrin Boehning-Gaese, Frans Bongers, Brad Boyle, Fabian Brambach, Francis Q. Brearley, Sandra Brown, Shauna-Lee Chai, Robin L. Chazdon, Shengbin Chen, Phourin Chhang, George Chuyong, Corneille Ewango, Indiana M. Coronado, Jurgi Crist?bal-Azkarate, Heike Culmsee, Kipiro Damas, H. S. Dattaraja, Priya Davidar, Saara J. DeWalt, Hazimah Din, Donald R. Drake, Alvaro Duque, Giselda Durigan, Karl Eichhorn, Eduardo Schmidt Eler, Tsutomu Enoki, Andreas Ensslin, Adand? Belarmain Fandohan, Nina Farwig, Kenneth J. Feeley, Markus Fischer, Olle Forshed, Queila Souza Garcia, Satish Chandra Garkoti, Thomas W. Gillespie, Jean- Francois Gillet, Christelle Gonmadje, Iñigo Granzow-de la Cerda, Daniel M. Griffith, James Grogan, Khalid Rehman Hakeem, David J. Harris, Rhett D. Harrison, Andy Hector, Andreas Hemp, J?rgen Homeier, M. Shah Hussain, Guillermo Ibarra-Manríquez, I. Faridah Hanum, Nobuo Imai, Patrick A. Jansen, Carlos Alfredo Joly, Shijo Joseph, Kuswata Kartawinata, Elizabeth Kearsley, Daniel L. Kelly, Michael Kessler, Timothy J. Killeen, Robert M. Kooyman, Yves Laumonier, Susan G. Laurance, William F. Laurance, Michael J. Lawes, Susan G. Letcher, Jeremy Lindsell, Jon Lovett, Jose Lozada, Xinghui Lu, Anne Mette Lykke, Khairil Bin Mahmud, Ni Putu Diana Mahayani, Asyraf Mansor, Andrew R. Marshall, Emanuel H. Martin, Darley Calderado Leal Matos, Jorge A.Meave, Felipe P. L. Melo, Zhofre Huberto Aguirre Mendoza, Faizah Metali, Vincent P. Medjibe, Jean Paul Metzger, Thiago Metzker, D. Mohandass, Miguel A. Munguía-Rosas, Rodrigo Muñoz, Eddy Nurtjahy, Eddie Lenza de Oliveira, Onrizal, Pia Parolin, Marc Parren, N. Parthasarathy, Ekananda Paudel, Rolando Perez, Eduardo A. P?rez-García, Ulf Pommer, Lourens Poorter, Lan Qi, Maria Teresa F. Piedade, Jos? Roberto Rodrigues Pinto, Axel Dalberg Poulsen, John R. Poulsen, Jennifer S. Powers, Rama Chandra Prasad, Jean-Philippe Puyravaud, Orlando Rangel, Jan Reitsma, Diogo S. B. Rocha, Samir Rolim, Francesco Rovero, Andes Rozak, Kalle Ruokolainen, Ervan Rutishauser, Gemma Rutten, Mohd. NizamMohd. Said, Felipe Z. Saiter, Philippe Saner, Braulio Santos, João Roberto dos Santos, Swapan Kumar Sarker, Christine B. Schmitt, Jochen Schoengart, Mark Schulze, Douglas Sheil, Plinio Sist, Alexandre F. Souza, Wilson Roberto Spironello, Tereza Sposito, Robert Steinmetz, Tariq Stevart, Marcio Seiji Suganuma, Rahayu Sukri, Aisha Sultana, Raman Sukumar, Terry Sunderland, Supriyadi, H. S. Suresh, Eizi Suzuki, Marcelo Tabarelli, Jianwei Tang, Ed V. J. Tanner, Natalia Targhetta, Ida Theilade, Duncan Thomas, Jonathan Timberlake, M?rcio de Morisson Valeriano, Johan van Valkenburg, Tran Van Do, Hoang Van Sam, John H. Vandermeer, Hans Verbeeck, Ole Reidar Vetaas, Victor Adekunle, Simone A. Vieira, Campbell O.Webb, Edward L. Webb, Timothy Whitfeld, Serge Wich, John Williams, Susan Wiser, FlorianWittmann, Xiaobo Yang, C. Yves Adou Yao, Sandra L. Yap, Rakan A. Zahawi, Rahmad Zakaria, and Runguo Zang, which was first published February 5, 2018; 10.1073/pnas.1714977115 (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115:1837-1842). The authors note that, due to a printer's error, an author name published incorrectly. The author name Lan Qi should instead appear as Lan Qie. The online version has been corrected.

There are relatively few publications that assess capacity decline in enough commercial cells to quantify cell-to-cell variation, but those that do show a surprisingly wide variability. Capacity curves cross each other often, a challenge for efforts to measure the state of health and predict the remaining useful life (RUL) of individual cells. We analyze capacity fade statistics for 24 commercial pouch cells, providing an estimate for the time to 5% failure. Our data indicate that RUL predictions based on remaining capacity or internal resistance are accurate only once the cells have already sorted themselves into “better” and “worse” ones. Analysis of our failure data, using maximum likelihood techniques, provide uniformly good fits for a variety of definitions of failure with normal and with 2- and 3-parameter Weibull probability density functions, but we argue against using a 3-parameter Weibull function for our data. pdf fitting parameters appear to converge after about 15 failures, although business objectives should ultimately determine whether data from a given number of batteries provides sufficient confidence to end lifecycle testing. Increased efforts to make batteries with more consistent lifetimes should lead to improvements in battery cost and safety.

Background: Extant literature compellingly demonstrates the prevalence and importance of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in youth adjudicated for the perpetration of sexual offences. Most of this research is limited to a count derived from a checklist of 10 dichotomous (never/ever) variables., Objective: Given the preponderance of evidence supporting the presence of adversity, it is necessary to now extend our understanding to the investigation of the onset, frequency, and temporal ordering of adverse experiences to examine potential implications for life outcomes and points of intervention., Participants and Setting: This paper focuses on the experiences of 20 Australian adolescents who were adjudicated for sexual offences and had experienced severely adverse childhoods characterised by abuse, neglect, maltreatment, dysfunctional households, caregiver inconsistency, and residential instability., Method: An ACE Matrix was created for each participant and the onset, frequency, and duration of each ACE was plotted to facilitate visualisation of their experience of abuse and maltreatment over time., Results: Our results revealed frequent changes in accommodation and primary caregiver and a striking concentration of abuse and neglect before the participants had started primary school., Conclusions: Early detection of ACEs, appropriate and timely intervention, as well as identification and prevention of unintended collateral consequences of justice system involvement for adolescents is discussed., (Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Differences in habitat use impose ecological constraints which in turn lead to functional and morphological differences through adaptation. In fact, a convergent evolutionary pattern is evident when species exhibit similar responses to similar environments. In this study we examine how habitat use influences the evolution of body shape in lizards from the family Lacertidae. We divided our species set into two categories: ground-dwellers and climbers, which encompasses the verticality and horizontality aspects of the habitat. We performed phylogenetic comparative analyses employing 186 species and seven linear morphological traits. Our results show contrasting patterns between head and limb shape, which are considered distinct functional blocks. We observed differences in forelimb proportions, but not in hindlimb length, contrary to what was documented in other lizard groups, demonstrating a novel axis in the limb-locomotion-habitat relationship in this family. In addition, a clear effect of habitat use on head shape was detected. We observed that climbing species present on average flatter heads than ground-dwelling species, as well as different evolutionary trajectories. These findings suggest the complex interplay between habitat use and morphological evolution in lizards, highlighting how distinct selective pressures drive divergent adaptations in different functional traits., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: Acute and chronic calcium pyrophosphate (CPP) crystal arthritis is characterized by the presence of synovial CPP crystals within a clinically inflamed joint. CPP crystals may be situated intracellularly or extracellularly; however, the clinical significance of their location remains understudied. The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to assess the relevance of the CPP crystal location in diagnosing acute/chronic CPP crystal arthritis., Methods: Data were collected from Waikato District Health Board to identify a study population with synovial fluid samples positive for CPP crystals. The cohort was stratified into 2 groups based on crystal location: intracellular and extracellular. The proportions of acute/chronic CPP crystal arthritis cases were compared between these groups. Acute/chronic CPP crystal arthritis was diagnosed when synovial CPP crystals were present, with objective evidence of joint inflammation and no other alternative diagnosis. Further analysis was made with respect to demographics, other laboratory results, and cartilage calcification., Results: This study included 134 patients: 108 with intracellular CPP crystals and 26 with extracellular CPP crystals. Acute/chronic CPP crystal arthritis was diagnosed in 85% of cases in the intracellular and 50% in the extracellular group ( P < 0.001). Following exclusion of septic arthritis cases, acute/chronic CPP crystal arthritis was diagnosed in 97% of patients in the intracellular group and in 62% of those in the extracellular group ( P < 0.001)., Conclusion: The presence of intracellular CPP crystals is more strongly associated with acute/chronic CPP crystal arthritis than with extracellular CPP crystals alone., (Copyright © 2024 by the Journal of Rheumatology.)

The density of wood is a key indicator of the carbon investment strategies of trees, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here we analyse information from 1.1 million forest inventory plots alongside wood density data from 10,703 tree species to create a spatially explicit understanding of the global wood density distribution and its drivers. Our findings reveal a pronounced latitudinal gradient, with wood in tropical forests being up to 30% denser than that in boreal forests. In both angiosperms and gymnosperms, hydrothermal conditions represented by annual mean temperature and soil moisture emerged as the primary factors influencing the variation in wood density globally. This indicates similar environmental filters and evolutionary adaptations among distinct plant groups, underscoring the essential role of abiotic factors in determining wood density in forest ecosystems. Additionally, our study highlights the prominent role of disturbance, such as human modification and fire risk, in influencing wood density at more local scales. Factoring in the spatial variation of wood density notably changes the estimates of forest carbon stocks, leading to differences of up to 21% within biomes. Therefore, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of terrestrial biomass distribution and how environmental changes and disturbances impact forest ecosystems., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Evidence-based interventions are needed to promote engagement in physical activity. Audio-visual stimuli are frequently employed to enhance the exercise experience. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of research that examines the qualities of technological devices that are employed. Using the Embodiment-Presence-Interactivity Cube (Flavián et al., 2019) as a guiding conceptual framework, the aim of this registered report was to examine how each dimension of the cube (i.e., embodiment, presence and interactivity) influenced a range of exercise-related affective and perceptual variables. A counterbalanced within-subjects design was employed (N = 24). Participants completed 20-min exercise bouts on a cycle ergometer under four conditions: Television, augmented reality, 360° video and virtual reality. A repeated-measures ANOVA indicated a significant Condition × Timepoint interaction for affective valence (p = 0.046), with greater embodiment offered by technological devices leading to more positive responses. Analyses also indicated main effects of condition for exercise enjoyment, remembered pleasure and forecasted pleasure, with greater presence of technological devices leading to more positive responses. Technologies that combine high levels of embodiment, presence and interactivity (e.g., virtual reality) appear to yield several benefits in terms of in-task (e.g., affective valence) and post-task (e.g., remembered pleasure) responses for exercise conducted at ventilatory threshold., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Whole-body vibration (WBV) is prevalent in labour-related activities and can have adverse effects on the health and performance of the individuals exposed. However, evidence regarding the extent to which human functionality is affected following occupational WBV exposure has not been collated. The current systematic review sought to synthesize existing literature and assess the strength and direction of evidence regarding the acute after-effects of occupational WBV exposure on cognition, visual function, postural stability, and motor control. We conducted a comprehensive search of AMED, CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMED, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, SPORTDiscus, APA PsychInfo, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, HMIC, Global Health, ProQuest Central, Scopus, Web of Science, and the US National Technical Information Service on April 26, 2023. Studies that quantified vibration exposure and measured acute changes in cognition, visual function, postural stability, and motor control from baseline to post-vibration were considered without date restriction. Out of the 2663 studies identified, 32 were eligible for inclusion. Based on the Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Exposure (ROBINS-E) tool, the studies demonstrated low (66%), moderate (25%) and high risk of bias (9%). The findings indicate that after exposure to WBV, postural stability either deteriorates or remains unchanged. Inconsistent effects of WBV on cognition were reported, while visual function and motor control showed no pronounced changes following WBV. This might be attributed to assessment limitations such as learning effects in neuropsychological and motor tasks, and non-functional measures of vision employed. There was a lack of consistency in the characterization of vibration exposure and the assessment of associated effects on functional performance. Current evidence is therefore insufficient to provide definitive guidance for updating occupational health and safety regulations regarding WBV. However, this review highlights the potential for WBV to jeopardize post-exposure human performance and, consequently, safety. The completion of the review was supported by a UKRI EPSRC training grant. The review has been registered on PROSPERO (ref CRD42023391075)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The ability to adapt our locomotion in a feedforward (i.e., "predictive") manner is crucial for safe and efficient walking behavior. Equally important is the ability to quickly deadapt and update behavior that is no longer appropriate for the given context. It has been suggested that anxiety induced via postural threat may play a fundamental role in disrupting such deadaptation. We tested this hypothesis, using the "broken escalator" phenomenon: Fifty-six healthy young adults walked onto a stationary walkway ("BEFORE" condition, 5 trials), then onto a moving walkway akin to an airport travelator ("MOVING" condition, 10 trials), and then again onto the stationary walkway ("AFTER" condition, 5 trials). Participants completed all trials while wearing a virtual reality headset, which was used to induce postural threat-related anxiety (raised clifflike drop at the end of the walkway) during different phases of the paradigm. We found that performing the locomotor adaptation phase in a state of increased threat disrupted subsequent deadaptation during AFTER trials: These participants displayed anticipatory muscular activity as if expecting the platform to move and exhibited inappropriate anticipatory forward trunk movement that persisted during multiple AFTER trials. In contrast, postural threat induced during AFTER trials did not affect behavioral or neurophysiological outcomes. These findings highlight that actions learned in the presence of postural threat-induced anxiety are strengthened, leading to difficulties in deadapting these behaviors when no longer appropriate. Given the associations between anxiety and persistent maladaptive gait behaviors (e.g., "overly cautious" gait, functional gait disorders), the findings have implications for the understanding of such conditions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Safe and efficient locomotion frequently requires movements to be adapted in a feedforward (i.e., "predictive") manner. These adaptations are not always correct, and thus inappropriate behavior must be quickly updated. Here we showed that increased threat disrupts this process. We found that locomotor actions learned in the presence of postural threat-induced anxiety are strengthened, subsequently impairing one's ability to update (or "deadapt") these actions when they are no longer appropriate for the current context.

Trees structure the Earth's most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations 1-6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth's 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories 7 , we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world's most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system 1 . Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests 2-5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced 6 and satellite-derived approaches 2,7,8 to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151-363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139 Gt C) of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87 Gt C) of potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea 2,3,9 that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Despite early promise, cognitive training research has failed to deliver consistent real-world benefits and questions have been raised about the experimental rigour of many studies. Several meta-analyses have suggested that there is little to no evidence for transfer of training from computerised tasks to real-world skills. More targeted training approaches that aim to optimise performance on specific tasks have, however, shown more promising effects. In particular, the use of inhibition training for improving shoot/don't-shoot decision-making has returned positive far transfer effects. In the present work, we tested whether an online inhibition training task could generate near and mid-transfer effects in the context of response inhibition tasks. As there has been relatively little testing of retention effects in the literature to date, we also examined whether any benefits would persist over a 1-month interval. In a pre-registered, randomised-controlled trial, participants (n = 73) were allocated to either an inhibition training programme (six training sessions of a visual search task with singleton distractor) or a closely matched active control task (that omitted the distractor element). We assessed near transfer to a Flanker task, and mid-transfer to a computerised shoot/don't-shoot task. There was evidence for a near transfer effect, but no evidence for mid-transfer. There was also no evidence that the magnitude of training improvement was related to transfer task performance. This finding adds to the growing body of literature questioning the effectiveness of cognitive training. Given previous positive findings, however, there may still be value in continuing to explore the extent to which cognitive training can capitalise on near or mid-transfer effects for performance optimisation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Harris et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The final fixation to a target in far-aiming tasks, known as the quiet eye, has been consistently identified as an important perceptual-cognitive variable for task execution. Yet, despite a number of proposed mechanisms it remains unclear whether the fixation itself is driving performance effects or is simply an emergent property of underpinning cognitions. Across two pre-registered studies, novice golfers (n = 127) completed a series of golf putts in a virtual reality simulation to examine the function of the quiet eye in the absence of visual information. In experiment 1 participants maintained a quiet eye fixation even when all visual information was occluded. Visual occlusion did significantly disrupt motor skill accuracy, but the effect was relatively small (89cm vs 105cm radial error, std. beta = 0.25). In experiment 2, a 'noisy eye' was induced using covertly moving fixation points, which disrupted skill execution (p = .04, BF = 318.07, std. beta = -0.25) even though visual input was equivalent across conditions. Overall, the results showed that performers persist with a long pre-shot fixation even in the absence of visual information, and that the stillness of this fixation confers a functional benefit that is not merely related to improved information extraction., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Harris et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, evergreen and deciduous trees. To address these gaps, we conducted a global, ground-sourced assessment of forest leaf-type variation by integrating forest inventory data with comprehensive leaf form (broadleaf vs needle-leaf) and habit (evergreen vs deciduous) records. We found that global variation in leaf habit is primarily driven by isothermality and soil characteristics, while leaf form is predominantly driven by temperature. Given these relationships, we estimate that 38% of global tree individuals are needle-leaved evergreen, 29% are broadleaved evergreen, 27% are broadleaved deciduous and 5% are needle-leaved deciduous. The aboveground biomass distribution among these tree types is approximately 21% (126.4 Gt), 54% (335.7 Gt), 22% (136.2 Gt) and 3% (18.7 Gt), respectively. We further project that, depending on future emissions pathways, 17-34% of forested areas will experience climate conditions by the end of the century that currently support a different forest type, highlighting the intensification of climatic stress on existing forests. By quantifying the distribution of tree leaf types and their corresponding biomass, and identifying regions where climate change will exert greatest pressure on current leaf types, our results can help improve predictions of future terrestrial ecosystem functioning and carbon cycling., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The Linnean nomenclatural system dominates in taxonomy, despite various ethical issues being raised regarding the rules applied to this approach. Some recent proposals to adapt the system have been dismissed as destabilizing by many taxonomists. However, simple rule changes and amendments to address these issues could be implemented without excessive disruption., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests No interests are declared., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Polymicrogyria is the most commonly diagnosed cortical malformation and is associated with neurodevelopmental sequelae including epilepsy, motor abnormalities, and cognitive deficits. Polymicrogyria frequently co-occurs with other brain malformations or as part of syndromic diseases. Past studies of polymicrogyria have defined heterogeneous genetic and nongenetic causes but have explained only a small fraction of cases., Objective: To survey germline genetic causes of polymicrogyria in a large cohort and to consider novel polymicrogyria gene associations., Design, Setting, and Participants: This genetic association study analyzed panel sequencing and exome sequencing of accrued DNA samples from a retrospective cohort of families with members with polymicrogyria. Samples were accrued over more than 20 years (1994 to 2020), and sequencing occurred in 2 stages: panel sequencing (June 2015 to January 2016) and whole-exome sequencing (September 2019 to March 2020). Individuals seen at multiple clinical sites for neurological complaints found to have polymicrogyria on neuroimaging, then referred to the research team by evaluating clinicians, were included in the study. Targeted next-generation sequencing and/or exome sequencing were performed on probands (and available parents and siblings) from 284 families with individuals who had isolated polymicrogyria or polymicrogyria as part of a clinical syndrome and no genetic diagnosis at time of referral from clinic, with sequencing from 275 families passing quality control., Main Outcomes and Measures: The number of families in whom genetic sequencing yielded a molecular diagnosis that explained the polymicrogyria in the family. Secondarily, the relative frequency of different genetic causes of polymicrogyria and whether specific genetic causes were associated with co-occurring head size changes were also analyzed., Results: In 32.7% (90 of 275) of polymicrogyria-affected families, genetic variants were identified that provided satisfactory molecular explanations. Known genes most frequently implicated by polymicrogyria-associated variants in this cohort were PIK3R2, TUBB2B, COL4A1, and SCN3A. Six candidate novel polymicrogyria genes were identified or confirmed: de novo missense variants in PANX1, QRICH1, and SCN2A and compound heterozygous variants in TMEM161B, KIF26A, and MAN2C1, each with consistent genotype-phenotype relationships in multiple families., Conclusions and Relevance: This study's findings reveal a higher than previously recognized rate of identifiable genetic causes, specifically of channelopathies, in individuals with polymicrogyria and support the utility of exome sequencing for families affected with polymicrogyria.

Purpose: Understanding the factors influencing parasite diversification, their distribution and infection patterns among hosts provides valuable information on the impact of parasitism on natural populations and the dynamics and evolution of disease outbreaks. In this study, we investigated prevalence and intensity of infection by blood parasites, the diversity, distribution, host specificity and infection patterns of apicomplexan parasites in lizards of Morocco., Methods: Samples from lizard specimens were collected between 2019 and 2021 from different prospected localities in Morocco. In total, 1500 lizards were collected, and their blood and tail tips were screened for blood parasites., Results: Using a PCR approach, we detected two distinct apicomplexan parasite groups (haemogregarines and haemococcidians) and also Stramenopiles (Proteromonas). A significant difference was identified between hosts families, with no agamids or skinks infected and with particularly high infection rates in lacertids. Twenty-four samples were sequenced and included in a phylogenetic assessment. Two samples of Atlantolacerta andreanskyi were infected with unidentified species of Proteromonas. Three samples were infected with haemococcidians, including two samples with Schellackia and another sample with Lankesterella, more closely related to others isolated from bird hosts. These are the first reports of Lankesterella and Proteromonas in these lizards from Morocco. Nineteen different isolates of the complex of Hepatozoon/Karyolysus were identical or very similar to previously sequenced parasites from North Africa and Iberian Peninsula and included new host species., Conclusion: Our results highlight the need for future research on the vectors involved in transmission that may influence the ecology and distribution patterns of these parasites. Given that Morocco is a hot spot of endemicity and reptile richness, our results are relevant not only in the context of their taxonomy, but can also have implications for conservation., (© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences.)

Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting the spread of invasive species 1,2 . Tree invasions in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they have the potential to transform ecosystems and economies 3,4 . Here, leveraging global tree databases 5-7 , we explore how the phylogenetic and functional diversity of native tree communities, human pressure and the environment influence the establishment of non-native tree species and the subsequent invasion severity. We find that anthropogenic factors are key to predicting whether a location is invaded, but that invasion severity is underpinned by native diversity, with higher diversity predicting lower invasion severity. Temperature and precipitation emerge as strong predictors of invasion strategy, with non-native species invading successfully when they are similar to the native community in cold or dry extremes. Yet, despite the influence of these ecological forces in determining invasion strategy, we find evidence that these patterns can be obscured by human activity, with lower ecological signal in areas with higher proximity to shipping ports. Our global perspective of non-native tree invasion highlights that human drivers influence non-native tree presence, and that native phylogenetic and functional diversity have a critical role in the establishment and spread of subsequent invasions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Coralsnakes of the genus Micrurus are a diverse group of venomous snakes ranging from the southern United States to southern South America. Much uncertainty remains over the genus diversity, and understanding Micrurus systematics is of medical importance. In particular, the widespread Micrurus nigrocinctus spans from Mexico throughout Central America and into Colombia, with a number of described subspecies. This study provides new insights into the phylogenetic relationships within M. nigrocinctus by examining sequence data from a broad sampling of specimens from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The recovered phylogenetic relationships suggest that M. nigrocinctus is a species complex originating in the Pliocene and composed of at least three distinct species-level lineages. In addition, recovery of highly divergent clades supports the elevation of some currently recognized subspecies to the full species rank while others may require synonymization., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Immersive technologies, like virtual and mixed reality, pose a novel challenge for our sensorimotor systems as they deliver simulated sensory inputs that may not match those of the natural environment. These include reduced fields of view, missing or inaccurate haptic information, and distortions of 3D space; differences that may impact the control of motor actions. For instance, reach-to-grasp movements without end-point haptic feedback are characterised by slower and more exaggerated movements. A general uncertainty about sensory input may also induce a more conscious form of movement control. We tested whether a more complex skill like golf putting was also characterized by more consciously controlled movement. In a repeated-measures design, kinematics of the putter swing and postural control were compared between (i) real-world putting, (ii) VR putting, and (iii) VR putting with haptic feedback from a real ball (i.e., mixed reality). Differences in putter swing were observed both between the real world and VR, and between VR conditions with and without haptic information. Further, clear differences in postural control emerged between real and virtual putting, with both VR conditions characterised by larger postural movements, which were more regular and less complex, suggesting a more conscious form of balance control. Conversely, participants actually reported less conscious awareness of their movements in VR. These findings highlight how fundamental movement differences may exist between virtual and natural environments, which may pose challenges for transfer of learning within applications to motor rehabilitation and sport., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Z-drugs are nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics used for sleep initiation and maintenance; these drugs increase the risk of fall-related injuries in older adults. The American Geriatrics Society's Beers criteria classifies Z-drugs as high-risk and strongly recommends avoiding prescribing Z-drugs to older adults due to adverse effects. The study objectives were to determine the prevalence of Z-drug prescribing among Medicare Part D patients and identify state or specialty-dependent prescribing differences. This study also aimed to determine prescribing patterns of Z-drugs to Medicare patients., Methods: Z-drug prescription data was extracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services State Drug Utilization Data for 2018. For all 50 states, the number of prescriptions per 100 Medicare enrollees and days-supply per prescription was determined. The percentage of total prescriptions prescribed by each specialty and the average number of prescriptions per provider within each specialty was also determined., Results: Zolpidem was the most prescribed Z-drug (95.0%). Prescriptions per 100 enrollees were significantly high in Utah (28.2) and Arkansas (26.7) and significantly low in Hawaii (9.3) relative to the national average (17.5). Family medicine (32.1%), internal medicine (31.4%), and psychiatry (11.7%) made up the largest percentages of total prescriptions. The number of prescriptions per provider was significantly high among psychiatrists., Discussion: Contrary to the Beers criteria, Z-drugs are prescribed to older adults at high rates., Competing Interests: BJP was part of an osteoarthritis research team from 2019–2021 supported by Pfizer and Eli Lilly. He receives research support from the Geisinger Academic Clinical Research Center. The other authors have no financial or personal disclosures., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Sengers syndrome (OMIM# 212350) is a rare autosomal recessive mitochondrial disease caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in the AGK gene, which encodes the acylglycerol kinase enzyme. The syndrome was originally defined as a "triad" of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, cataracts, and lactic acidosis, with or without skeletal myopathy. The clinical manifestation of Sengers Syndrome exhibits substantial heterogeneity, with mild and severe/infantile forms reported. Further, biallelic AGK pathogenic variants have also been identified in a familial case of non-syndromic isolated cataract (OMIM# 614691), expanding our understanding of the gene's influence beyond the originally defined syndrome. In this study, we provide a systematic review of molecularly confirmed cases with biallelic AGK pathogenic variants (Supplementary Table 1). Our analysis demonstrates the variable expressivity and penetrance of the central features of Sengers syndrome, as follows: cataracts (98%), cardiomyopathy (88%), lactic acidosis (adjusted 88%), and skeletal myopathy (adjusted 74%) (Table 1). Furthermore, we investigate the associations between genotype, biochemical profiles, and clinical outcomes, with a particular focus on infantile mortality. Our findings reveal that patients carrying homozygous nonsense variants have a higher incidence of infant mortality and a lower median age of death (p = 0.005 and p = 0.02, Table 2a). However, the location of pathogenic variants within the AGK domains was not significantly associated with infantile death (p = 0.62, Table 2b). Additionally, we observe a borderline association between the absence of lactic acidosis and longer survival (p = 0.053, Table 2c). Overall, our systematic review sheds light on the diverse clinical manifestations of AGK-related disorders and highlights potential factors that influence its prognosis. These provide important implications for the diagnosis, treatment, and counseling of affected individuals and families., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The control of eye gaze is critical to the execution of many skills. The observation that task experts in many domains exhibit more efficient control of eye gaze than novices has led to the development of gaze training interventions that teach these behaviours. We aimed to extend this literature by i) examining the relative benefits of feed-forward (observing an expert's eye movements) versus feed-back (observing your own eye movements) training, and ii) automating this training within virtual reality. Serving personnel from the British Army and Royal Navy were randomised to either feed-forward or feed-back training within a virtual reality simulation of a room search and clearance task. Eye movement metrics - including visual search, saccade direction, and entropy - were recorded to quantify the efficiency of visual search behaviours. Feed-forward and feed-back eye movement training produced distinct learning benefits, but both accelerated the development of efficient gaze behaviours. However, we found no evidence that these more efficient search behaviours transferred to better decision making in the room clearance task. Our results suggest integrating eye movement training principles within virtual reality training simulations may be effective, but further work is needed to understand the learning mechanisms., Competing Interests: The author(s) declare(s) that the contents of the article are in agreement with the ethics described in http://biblio.unibe.ch/portale/elibrary/BOP/jemr/ethics.html and that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright (©) 2023 David Harris, Mark Wilson, Martin Jones, Toby de Burgh, Daisy Mundy, Tom Arthur, Mayowa Olonilua, Samuel Vine.)

Introduction: Whilst the disruptive effects of anxiety on attention and performance have been well documented, the antecedents to anxiety in motivated performance scenarios are less well understood. We therefore sought to understand the cognitive appraisals that mediate the relationship between pressurised performance situations and the onset of anxiety., Methods: We tested the effects of performance pressure and error feedback on appraisals of the probability and cost of failure, the experience of anxiety, and subsequent impacts on visual attention, movement kinematics, and task performance during a virtual reality interception task., Results: A series of linear mixed effects models indicated that failure feedback and situational pressure influenced appraisals of the probability and cost of failure, which subsequently predicted the onset of anxious states. We did not, however, observe downstream effects on performance and attention., Discussion: The findings support the predictions of Attentional Control Theory Sport, that (i) momentary errors lead to negative appraisals of the probability of future failure; and (ii) that appraisals of both the cost and probability of future failure are important predictors of anxiety. The results contribute to a better understanding of the precursors to anxiety and the feedback loops that may maintain anxious states., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Harris, Arthur, Vine, Rahman, Liu, Han and Wilson.)

Background: Host-gut microbiota interactions are complex and can have a profound impact on the ecology and evolution of both counterparts. Several host traits such as systematics, diet and social behavior, and external factors such as prey availability and local environment are known to influence the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota., Methods: In this study, we investigate the influence of systematics, sex, host size, and locality/habitat on gut microbiota diversity in five lizard species from two different sites in Portugal: Podarcis bocagei and Podarcis lusitanicus , living in syntopy in a rural area in northern Portugal (Moledo); the invasive Podarcis siculus and the native Podarcis virescens , living in sympatry in an urbanized environment (Lisbon); and the invasive Teira dugesii also living in an urban area (Lisbon). We also infer the potential microbial transmission occurring between species living in sympatry and syntopy. To achieve these goals, we use a metabarcoding approach to characterize the bacterial communities from the cloaca of lizards, sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA., Results: Habitat/locality was an important factor explaining differences in gut bacterial composition and structure, with species from urbanized environments having higher bacterial diversity. Host systematics ( i.e. , species) influenced gut bacterial community structure only in lizards from the urbanized environment. We also detected a significant positive correlation between lizard size and gut bacterial alpha-diversity in the invasive species P. siculus , which could be due to its higher exploratory behavior. Moreover, estimates of bacterial transmission indicate that P. siculus may have acquired a high proportion of local microbiota after its introduction. These findings confirm that a diverse array of host and environmental factors can influence lizards' gut microbiota., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2023 Vasconcelos et al.)

Haemogregarines (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina) are the most common and widespread reptilian blood parasites. Haemogregarina stepanowi was the first haemogregarine described from a reptile, the European pond turtle Emys orbicularis , and initial assessments indicated it was widespread across different pond turtle host species across much of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. However, recent molecular assessments have indicated the presence of multiple genetically distinct forms in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, and extensive mixed infections which may be associated with a negative impact on the hosts. Here, we screened two native species, E. orbicularis and Mauremys rivulata , and the introduced Trachemys scripta from Serbia and North Macedonia for haemogregarines by amplifying and sequencing part of the 18S rRNA gene of these parasites, and used a standard DNA barcoding approach to identify leeches, the final host, attached to pond turtles. Our results again demonstrate the occurrence of considerable diversity of parasites in the analysed pond turtle species, and that T. scripta are likely infected by local haemogregarine parasites, and not those that are found in its native range. Leeches were identified as Placobdella costata, part of a lineage from Northern Europe. Mixed infections within pond turtles were again common. Current haemogregarine taxonomy does not reflect the genetic diversity identified, and a full taxonomic reassessment is needed.

The mutation profile of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (lineage BA.1) variant posed a concern for naturally acquired and vaccine-induced immunity. We investigated the ability of prior infection with an early SARS-CoV-2 ancestral isolate (Australia/VIC01/2020, VIC01) to protect against disease caused by BA.1. We established that BA.1 infection in naïve Syrian hamsters resulted in a less severe disease than a comparable dose of the ancestral virus, with fewer clinical signs including less weight loss. We present data to show that these clinical observations were almost absent in convalescent hamsters challenged with the same dose of BA.1 50 days after an initial infection with ancestral virus. These data provide evidence that convalescent immunity against ancestral SARS-CoV-2 is protective against BA.1 in the Syrian hamster model of infection. Comparison with published pre-clinical and clinical data supports consistency of the model and its predictive value for the outcome in humans. Further, the ability to detect protection against the less severe disease caused by BA.1 demonstrates continued value of the Syrian hamster model for evaluation of BA.1-specific countermeasures., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Ryan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The golden Syrian hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus ) is now commonly used in preclinical research for the study of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the assessment of vaccines, drugs and therapeutics. Here, we show that hamsters inoculated via the intranasal route with the same infectious virus dose of prototypical SARS-CoV-2 administered in a different volume present with different clinical signs, weight loss and viral shedding, with a reduced volume resulting in reduced severity of disease similar to that obtained by a 500-fold reduction in the challenge dose. The tissue burden of the virus and the severity of pulmonary pathology were also significantly affected by different challenge inoculum volumes. These findings suggest that a direct comparison between the severity of SARS-CoV-2 variants or studies assessing the efficacy of treatments determined by hamster studies cannot be made unless both the challenge dose and inoculation volume are matched when using the intranasal route. Additionally, analysis of sub-genomic and total genomic RNA PCR data demonstrated no link between sub-genomic and live viral titres and that sub-genomic analyses do not provide any information beyond that provided by more sensitive total genomic PCR.

During dynamic and time-constrained sporting tasks performers rely on both online perceptual information and prior contextual knowledge to make effective anticipatory judgments. It has been suggested that performers may integrate these sources of information in an approximately Bayesian fashion, by weighting available information sources according to their expected precision. In the present work, we extended Bayesian brain approaches to anticipation by using formal computational models to estimate how performers weighted different information sources when anticipating the bounce direction of a rugby ball. Both recreational (novice) and professional (expert) rugby players (n = 58) were asked to predict the bounce height of an oncoming rugby ball in a temporal occlusion paradigm. A computational model, based on a partially observable Markov decision process, was fitted to observed responses to estimate participants' weighting of online sensory cues and prior beliefs about ball bounce height. The results showed that experts were more sensitive to online sensory information, but that neither experts nor novices relied heavily on prior beliefs about ball trajectories in this task. Experts, but not novices, were observed to down-weight priors in their anticipatory decisions as later and more precise visual cues emerged, as predicted by Bayesian and active inference accounts of perception., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Island biogeography theories predict that characteristics such as island size, age, and isolation interplay in host-parasite dynamics. In this study, we analyzed haemogregarines of the Aegean wall lizard, Podarcis erhardii , to investigate how island characteristics relate to parasite prevalence and intensity. A previous assessment of 19 Greek island populations suggested that isolation time and host population density were key predictors of haemogregarines. Here, by combining microscopy and genetic techniques, we extend this previous study to four additional islands: Syros, Folegandros, Santorini and Nea Kameni. We also recorded the prevalence of ticks and mites, definitive hosts for these parasites. The genetically identified haemogregarines are part of a clade with parasites from other lizard species, including some considered as Karyolysus , but others assigned to Hepatozoon . The prevalence of these parasites differed significantly between islands, while their intensity did not. The presence of ticks was associated with endoparasite prevalence, and males were more frequently infected by haemogregarines than females. Combining our data with that of the previous study, we found no significant impact of the island age and area on parasite prevalence. We also confirmed the presence of the unrelated parasite genus Schellackia through microscopy and DNA sequencing, which is the first record of this genus in this host species. Our results further highlight the complexity of host-parasite systems.

Advances in assistive exoskeleton technology, and a boom in related scientific literature, prompted a need to review the potential use of exoskeletons in defence and security. A systematic review examined the evidence for successful augmentation of human performance in activities deemed most relevant to military tasks. Categories of activities were determined a priori through literature scoping and Human Factors workshops with military stakeholders. Workshops identified promising opportunities and risks for integration of exoskeletons into military use cases. The review revealed promising evidence for exoskeletons' capacity to assist with load carriage, manual lifting, and working with tools. However, the review also revealed significant gaps in exoskeleton capabilities and likely performance levels required in the use case scenarios. Consequently, it was recommended that a future roadmap for introducing exoskeletons to military environments requires development of performance criteria for exoskeletons that can be used to implement a human-centred approach to research and development.

We study an individual's propensity for rational thinking; the avoidance of cognitive biases (unconscious errors generated by our mental simplification methods) using a novel augmented reality (AR) platform. Specifically, we developed an odd-one-out (OOO) game-like task in AR designed to try to induce and assess confirmatory biases. Forty students completed the AR task in the laboratory, and the short form of the comprehensive assessment of rational thinking (CART) online via the Qualtrics platform. We demonstrate that behavioural markers (based on eye, hand and head movements) can be associated (linear regression) with the short CART score - more rational thinkers have slower head and hand movements and faster gaze movements in the second more ambiguous round of the OOO task. Furthermore, short CART scores can be associated with the change in behaviour between two rounds of the OOO task (one less and one more ambiguous) - hand-eye-head coordination patterns of the more rational thinkers are more consistent in the two rounds. Overall, we demonstrate the benefits of augmenting eye-tracking recordings with additional data modalities when trying to understand complicated behaviours., Competing Interests: The author(s) declare(s) that the contents of the article are in agreement with the ethics described in http://biblio.unibe.ch/portale/elibrary/BOP/jemr/ethics.html and that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

In this study, we examined the relationship between physiological encoding of surprise and the learning of anticipatory eye movements. Active inference portrays perception and action as interconnected inference processes, driven by the imperative to minimise the surprise of sensory observations. To examine this characterisation of oculomotor learning during a hand-eye coordination task, we tested whether anticipatory eye movements were updated in accordance with Bayesian principles and whether trial-by-trial learning rates tracked pupil dilation as a marker of 'surprise'. Forty-four participants completed an interception task in immersive virtual reality that required them to hit bouncing balls that had either expected or unexpected bounce profiles. We recorded anticipatory eye movements known to index participants' beliefs about likely ball bounce trajectories. By fitting a hierarchical Bayesian inference model to the trial-wise trajectories of these predictive eye movements, we were able to estimate each individual's expectations about bounce trajectories, rates of belief updating, and precision-weighted prediction errors. We found that the task-evoked pupil response tracked prediction errors and learning rates but not beliefs about ball bounciness or environmental volatility. These findings are partially consistent with active inference accounts and shed light on how encoding of surprise may shape the control of action., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Molecular tools can be used to estimate the phylogeny of species and to identify cryptic diversity, but their use for parasites has lagged behind that of free-ranging organisms. As an example, in North Africa there is minimal molecular data available for helminth parasites of lizards. In this work we used two molecular markers (the nuclear 18S rRNA and the mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit 1) to investigate the diversity of nematodes of the family Pharyngodonidae parasitizing three genera of lizards from Morocco ( Chalcides , Quedenfeldtia and Tarentola ) and to explore their co-evolutionary history. Morphological assessments indicated that members of three genera were present: Spauligodon , Thelandros , and Parapharyngodon . Phylogenetic analysis of 18S rRNA sequences indicated the monophyly of the genus Spauligodon , and that some lineages could be distinguished, including Spauligodon auziensis from the host species Tarentola mauritanica , and another unnamed lineage from hosts of the genus Chalcides . However, with this slow-evolving marker some species could not be distinguished. The genus Thelandros was not monophyletic, although relationships were not strongly supported. Analysis of the faster evolving mitochondrial marker clearly separated various species of Spauligodon , as well as distinct unnamed lineages identified in the host genus Chalcides and the host Quedenfeldtia moerens ., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest Authors state no conflict of interest., (© 2022 O. Er-Rguibi, D. J. Harris, A. Aglagane, E. M. Laghzaoui, L. Kimdil, A. Abbad, E.H. El Mouden, published by Sciendo.)