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Although the theoretical foundations of the modern field of cultural evolution have been in place for over 50 y, laboratory experiments specifically designed to test cultural evolutionary theory have only existed for the last two decades. Here, we review the main experimental designs used in the field of cultural evolution, as well as major findings related to the generation of cultural variation, content- and model-based biases, cumulative cultural evolution, and nonhuman culture. We then identify methodological advances that demonstrate the iterative improvement of cultural evolution experimental methods. Finally, we focus on one common critique of cultural evolution experiments, the appropriate individual learning control condition needed to demonstrate cumulative culture, and present an original experimental investigation relevant to this critique. Participants completed a combinatorial innovation task allowing for cumulative improvement over time in one of four commonly used experimental designs/conditions: social learners in chains, social learners in groups, individual learners experiencing an extended session lasting the same accumulated time as an entire chain or group, and individual learners experiencing repeated sessions adding up to the same total time. We found that repeated individual learning resulted in superior performance to any other condition. We discuss these findings in light of the relevance of the specific criticism of previous experimental studies that purport to have demonstrated cumulative culture. We also use our findings to discuss the broad trade-offs that participants face when learning individually and socially in different contexts, including variable acquisition costs, redundancy of effort in groups, and cognitive and motivational fatigue., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Changes in land use, a warming climate and increased drought have amplified wildfire frequency and magnitude globally. Subsequent rainfall in wildfire-scarred watersheds washes ash into aquatic systems, increasing water pH and exposing organisms to environmental alkalinization. In this study, 15 or 20 °C-acclimated Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) yearlings were exposed to an environmentally-relevant ash concentration (0.25 % w/v), increasing water pH from ∼8.1 to ∼9.2. Salmon experienced significant disturbance to blood plasma pH (pH e ) and red blood cell intracellular pH (RBC pH i ) within 1 h, but recovered within 24 h. Impacts on plasma ion concentrations were relatively mild, and plasma glucose increased by 2- to 4-fold at both temperatures. Temperature-specific differences were observed: 20 °C salmon recovered their pH e more rapidly, perhaps facilitated by higher basal metabolism and anaerobic metabolic H + production. Additionally, 20 °C salmon experienced dramatically greater spikes in plasma total ammonia, [NH 3 ] and [NH 4 ] after 1 h of exposure that decreased over time, whereas 15 °C salmon experienced a gradual nitrogenous waste accumulation. Despite pH + ] after 1 h of exposure that decreased over time, whereas 15 °C salmon experienced a gradual nitrogenous waste accumulation. Despite pH e recovery and non-lethal nitrogenous waste levels, we observed 20 % and 33 % mortality in 15 and 20 °C treatments within 12 h of exposure, respectively. The mortalities cannot be explained by high water pH alone, nor was it likely to be singularly attributable to a heavy metal or organic compound released from ash input. This demonstrates post-wildfire ash input can induce lethal yet previously unexplored physiological disturbances in fish, and further highlights the complex interaction with warmer temperatures typical of wildfire-scarred landscapes.i recovery and non-lethal nitrogenous waste levels, we observed 20 % and 33 % mortality in 15 and 20 °C treatments within 12 h of exposure, respectively. The mortalities cannot be explained by high water pH alone, nor was it likely to be singularly attributable to a heavy metal or organic compound released from ash input. This demonstrates post-wildfire ash input can induce lethal yet previously unexplored physiological disturbances in fish, and further highlights the complex interaction with warmer temperatures typical of wildfire-scarred landscapes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No competing interests declared., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An increase in scholarly publishing has been accompanied by a proliferation of potentially illegitimate publishers (PIP), commonly known as "predatory publishers". These PIP often engage in fraudulent practices and publish articles that are not subject to the same scrutiny as those published in journals from legitimate publishers (LP). This places academics at risk, in particular students who utilize journal articles for learning and assignments. This analysis sought to characterise PIP in physiology, as this has yet to be determined, and identify overlaps in lists of PIP and LP used to provide guidance on legitimacy of journals. Searching seven databases (2 of PIP, 5 of LP), this analysis identified 67 potentially illegitimate journals (PIJ) that explicitly include "physiology" in their titles, with 8801 articles being published in them. Of these articles, 39% claimed to be indexed in GoogleScholar, and 9% were available on PubMed. This resulted in 17 publications 'infiltrating' PubMed and attracting >100 citations in the process. Overlap between lists of PIP and LP was present, with eight PIJ occurring in both LP and PIP lists. Two of these journals appeared to be 'phishing' journals, and six were genuine infiltrations into established databases; indicating that LP lists cannot be solely relied upon as proof a journal is legitimate. This analysis indicates that physiology is not immune to the threat of PIP, and that future work is required by educators to ensure students do not fall prey to their use.

Pathogenic variants in either the mitochondrial or nuclear genomes are associated with a diverse group of human disorders characterized by impaired mitochondrial function. Within this group, an increasing number of families have been identified, where Mendelian genetic disorders implicate defective mitochondrial RNA biology. The PDE12 gene encodes the poly(A)-specific exoribonuclease, involved in the quality control of mitochondrial non-coding RNAs. Here, we report that disease-causing PDE12 variants in three unrelated families are associated with mitochondrial respiratory chain deficiencies and wide-ranging clinical presentations in utero and within the neonatal period, with muscle and brain involvement leading to marked cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficiency in muscle and severe lactic acidosis. Whole exome sequencing of affected probands revealed novel, segregating bi-allelic missense PDE12 variants affecting conserved residues. Patient-derived primary fibroblasts demonstrate diminished steady-state levels of PDE12 protein, whilst mitochondrial poly(A)-tail RNA sequencing (MPAT-Seq) revealed an accumulation of spuriously polyadenylated mitochondrial RNA, consistent with perturbed function of PDE12 protein. Our data suggest that PDE12 regulates mitochondrial RNA processing and its loss results in neurological and muscular phenotypes., Competing Interests: Disclosure and competing interests statement. MM is a founder, shareholder and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Pretzel Therapeutics, Inc. LVH is director of NextGenSeek Ltd. The remaining authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) and coxsackievirus A6 (CVA6) primarily cause hand, foot and mouth disease and have emerged to cause potential fatal neurological and systemic manifestations. However, limited surveillance data collected through passive surveillance systems hampers characterization of their epidemiological dynamics. We fit a series of catalytic models to age-stratified seroprevalence data for EV-A71 and CVA6 collected in England at three time points (2006, 2011 and 2017) to estimate the force of infection (FOI) over time and assess possible changes in transmission. For both serotypes, model comparison does not support the occurrence of important changes in transmission over the study period, and we find that a declining risk of infection with age and / or seroreversion are needed to explain the seroprevalence data. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the increased number of reports of CVA6 during 2006-2017 is unlikely to be explained by changes in surveillance. Therefore, we hypothesize that the increased number of CVA6 cases observed since 2011 must be explained by increased virus pathogenicity. Further studies of seroprevalence data from other countries would allow to confirm this. Our results underscore the value of seroprevalence data to unravel changes in the circulation dynamics of pathogens with weak surveillance systems and large number of asymptomatic infections., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Kamau 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.)

Background: Poverty can have significant impacts on health and wellbeing. However, asking patients about their broader socio-economic circumstances is not routine within primary care consultations., Aim: To understand healthcare professionals' experiences of communicating with patients about their socio-economic circumstances and how a bespoke training programme supported these conversations in routine consultations., Design & Setting: Healthcare professionals from 30 GP practices across England received training to improve understanding and communication with patients about the ways that poverty impacted their mental health., Method: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 49 GPs and allied health professionals to understand barriers and enablers to communication around poverty and the impact of the training on their consultation practice., Results: Health professionals often lacked confidence in discussing socio-economic issues and welcomed information on how to do this sensitively. Asking questions relating to poverty-related stresses was felt to lead to better understanding around the causes of mental distress, avoidance of problematic assumptions and inappropriate antidepressant prescribing and to enable more coordinated and appropriate support from practice teams., Conclusion: Asking patients about their socio-economic circumstances can facilitate provision of appropriate support., (Copyright © 2024, The Authors.)

Although rare neurodevelopmental conditions have a large Mendelian component 1 , common genetic variants also contribute to risk 2,3 . However, little is known about how this polygenic risk is distributed among patients with these conditions and their parents nor its interplay with rare variants. It is also unclear whether polygenic background affects risk directly through alleles transmitted from parents to children, or whether indirect genetic effects mediated through the family environment 4 also play a role. Here we addressed these questions using genetic data from 11,573 patients with rare neurodevelopmental conditions, 9,128 of their parents and 26,869 controls. Common variants explained around 10% of variance in risk. Patients with a monogenic diagnosis had significantly less polygenic risk than those without, supporting a liability threshold model 5 . A polygenic score for neurodevelopmental conditions showed only a direct genetic effect. By contrast, polygenic scores for educational attainment and cognitive performance showed no direct genetic effect, but the non-transmitted alleles in the parents were correlated with the child's risk, potentially due to indirect genetic effects and/or parental assortment for these traits 4 . Indeed, as expected under parental assortment, we show that common variant predisposition for neurodevelopmental conditions is correlated with the rare variant component of risk. These findings indicate that future studies should investigate the possible role and nature of indirect genetic effects on rare neurodevelopmental conditions, and consider the contribution of common and rare variants simultaneously when studying cognition-related phenotypes., Competing Interests: Competing interests: M.E.H. is a cofounder of, consultant to and holds shares in Congenica, a genetics diagnostic company and is also a consultant to AstraZeneca Centre for Genomics Research., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Electronic Risk Assessment Tools (eRATs) are intended to improve early primary care cancer diagnosis. eRATs which interrupt a consultation to suggest a possibility of a cancer diagnosis, could impact clinical appraisal and the experience of the consultation. This study explores this issue using data collected within the context of the ERICA trial., Aim: To explore experiences of General Practitioners (GPs) who used the ERICA eRATs, and how the tool impacted their perception of risk and diagnostic thinking, and communication of this to patients., Design & Setting: Qualitative interviews with GPs from English General Practices undertaking the ERICA trial., Method: Participants were purposefully sampled from practices participating in the intervention arm of the ERICA trial. 18 GPs undertook semi-structured interviews via MS Teams. Thematic Analysis was used to explore their perspectives the impact of eRATs on consultations, diagnostic thinking related to cancer and other conditions, and how this information is communicated to patients., Results: Three themes were developed: 1) eRATs were perceived as "Additional Armour", offering a layer of protection against missing a cancer diagnosis, the defence coming at a cost of anxiety and complexity of consultation; 2) eRATs were seen as another actor in the consultation, separate from clinician and patient, and challenging GP autonomy; and 3) GPs were conflicted about whether the numerical eRAT outputs were helpful when communicating with patients., Conclusion: eRATs are appreciated as a defence against missing a cancer diagnosis. This defence comes at a cost and challenges GP's freedom in communication and decision making., (Copyright © 2024, The Authors.)

Many antibiotics that are used in healthcare, farming, and aquaculture end up in environments with different spatial structures that might promote heterogeneity in the emergence of antibiotic resistance. However, the experimental evolution of microbes at sub-inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics has been mainly carried out at the population level which does not allow capturing single-cell responses to antibiotics. Here, we investigate and compare the emergence of resistance to ciprofloxacin in Escherichia coli in well-mixed and structured environments using experimental evolution, genomics, and microfluidics-based time-lapse microscopy. We discover that resistance to ciprofloxacin and cross-resistance to other antibiotics is stronger in the well-mixed environment due to the emergence of target mutations, whereas efflux regulator mutations emerge in the structured environment. The latter mutants also harbor sub-populations of persisters that survive high concentrations of ciprofloxacin that inhibit bacterial growth at the population level. In contrast, genetically resistant bacteria that display target mutations also survive high concentrations of ciprofloxacin that inhibit their growth via population-level antibiotic tolerance. These resistant and tolerant bacteria keep doubling while shrinking in size in the presence of ciprofloxacin and regain their original size after antibiotic removal, which constitutes a newly discovered phenotypic response. This new knowledge sheds light on the diversity of strategies employed by bacteria to survive antibiotics and poses a stepping stone for understanding the link between mutations at the population level and phenotypic single-cell responses., Importance: The evolution of antimicrobial resistance poses a pressing challenge to global health with an estimated 5 million deaths associated with antimicrobial resistance every year globally. Here, we investigate the diversity of strategies employed by bacteria to survive antibiotics. We discovered that bacteria evolve genetic resistance to antibiotics while simultaneously displaying tolerance to very high doses of antibiotics by doubling while shrinking in size.

Plastic self-adaptation, nonlinear recurrent dynamics and multi-scale memory are desired features in hardware implementations of neural networks, because they enable them to learn, adapt, and process information similarly to the way biological brains do. In this work, these properties occurring in arrays of photonic neurons are experimentally demonstrated. Importantly, this is realized autonomously in an emergent fashion, without the need for an external controller setting weights and without explicit feedback of a global reward signal. Using a hierarchy of such arrays coupled to a backpropagation-free training algorithm based on simple logistic regression, a performance of 98.2% is achieved on the MNIST task, a popular benchmark task looking at classification of written digits. The plastic nodes consist of silicon photonics microring resonators covered by a patch of phase-change material that implements nonvolatile memory. The system is compact, robust, and straightforward to scale up through the use of multiple wavelengths. Moreover, it constitutes a unique platform to test and efficiently implement biologically plausible learning schemes at a high processing speed., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

There is growing evidence that rising global temperatures resulting from climate change may exacerbate the toxic effect of pollutants and heterotherms, including fish, in which homestatic mechanisms are directly influenced by environmental temperature will be most affected. Pharmaceuticals discharged into the environment are potentially harmful to wildlife as many of their drug targets are conserved across divergent phyla. Oxidative stress (OS) is a major mechanism by which many pharmaceutical contaminants can induce toxicity but this has received little consideration in the context of effects in wildlife. Further, these mechanisms are relatively poorly understood, particularly regarding multiple stressor interactions. We used transgenic TG(EpRE:mCherry) zebrafish, developed in our laboratory for detecting OS, as our experimental model. We show that the oxidative effects of high concentrations of pharmaceuticals from three different therapeutic classes (paracetamol, diclofenac and doxorubicin) are increased at temperatures elevated by 2-5 °C above those for zebrafish standard husbandry and relevant to their current natural environment (and predicted under the IPCC 2023 scenarios for intermediate to very high greenhouse gas emissions). These OS responses were primarily seen in the pronephros, liver, and gastrointestinal tract. The increase in OS at the increased water temperature may have resulted from the elevated temperature acting as a direct additive physiological stressor to the OS imposed by the drugs and/or via the temperature increasing the chemicals oxidative effect. For paracetamol, it appeared that the elevated responses at the higher temperature of 33 °C were in part due to an increase in uptake of the drug. Our data illustrate that risk assessments for chemicals inducing OS in fish (and likely other heterotherms) should consider the influence of temperature to ensure environmental protection in future environments., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Discarded fishing nets, a major source of marine litter, significantly threaten the marine environment and contribute to plastic pollution due to the synthetic polymers they contain. Though Bangladesh is a maritime country with 0.5 million of fishers dependent on coastal and marine fishing, there have been no studies to date on the plastic pollution impact of fishing nets. This study demonstrates the fishing nets associated with marine litter in two coastal locations of Bangladesh, Charfesson and Cox's Bazar. Fishing net samples were collected from local net shops and semi-structured interviews were taken of the shop owners to gather information about available fishing nets. This was complemented by photo-quadrat surveys to document waste fishing net materials on the shore in both locations. Among the 17 net samples, there were 12 types of gill nets, which showed a wide range of variation in price, material types, and longevity. Through the FTIR analysis, we identified the presence of Nylon 6, Polyethylene, Polyvinyl chloride, Polypropylene and Polyethylene terephthalate in the collected fishing net samples. Photoquadrat surveys found that fishing nets are related to plastic pollution in coastal areas. This study addressed the knowledge gap regarding the diversity and chemical characteristics of fishing nets and the resulting litter in Bangladesh., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The fungal phytopathogen Zymoseptoria tritici, causal agent of the economically damaging Septoria tritici blotch of wheat, is different from most foliar fungal pathogens in that its germination occurs slowly and apparently randomly after arrival on the leaf surface and is followed by a potentially prolonged period of epiphytic growth and even reproduction, during which no feeding structures are formed by the fungus. Thus, understanding the cues for germination and the mechanisms that underpin survival in low-nutrient environments could provide key new avenues for disease control., Results: In this work, we examine survival, culturability and virulence of spores following transfer from a high nutrient environment to water. We find that a sub-population of Z. tritici spores can survive and remain virulent for at least 7 weeks in water alone, during which time multicellular structures split to single cells. The fungus relies heavily on stored lipids; however, if cell suspensions in water are dried, the cells survive without lipid utilisation. Changes in gene expression in the first hours after suspension in water reflect adaptation to stress, while longer term starvation (7 days) induces changes particularly in primary metabolism and cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene expression. Importantly, we also found that Z. tritici spores are equally or better able to survive in soil as in water, and that rain-splash occurring 49 days after soil inoculation can transfer cells to wheat seedlings growing in inoculated soil and cause Septoria leaf blotch disease., Conclusions: Z. tritici blastospores can survive in water or soil for long periods, potentially spanning the intercrop period for UK winter wheat. They rely on internal lipid stores, with no external nutrition, and although a large proportion of spores do not survive for such an extended period, those that do remain as virulent as spores grown on rich media. Thus, Z. tritici has exceptional survival strategies, which are likely to be important in understanding its population genetics and in developing novel routes for Septoria leaf blotch control., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Understanding the role of flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) in the genetic mechanisms of insecticide resistance is essential for developing effective management strategies against the rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis . In this study, we identified five FMO genes in C. suppressalis , examined their expression patterns, and revealed overexpression of FMO3B and FMO3C in field populations resistant to multiple insecticides, including chlorantraniliprole and spinetoram. Functional characterization using transgenic Drosophila indicated that FMO3B and FMO3C do not confer resistance to abamectin or methoxyfenozide but do mediate resistance to chlorantraniliprole and spinetoram. Knockdown of FMO3B and FMO3C increased sensitivity to these insecticides in C. suppressalis . Molecular docking studies indicated direct binding of chlorantraniliprole and spinetoram to these FMOs, underscoring their role in metabolic resistance. These findings indicate that FMOs are key enzymes in the metabolic resistance of C. suppressalis to chlorantraniliprole and spinetoram, enhancing our understanding of insecticide resistance and aiding the development of management strategies.

Background: In England, the number of takeaway food outlets ('takeaways') has been increasing for over two decades. Takeaway management zones around schools are an effective way to restrict the growth of new takeaways but their impacts on population health have not been estimated., Methods: To model the impact of takeaway management zones on health, we used estimates of change in and exposure to takeaways (across home, work, and commuting buffers) based on a previous evaluation suggesting that 50% of new outlets were prevented from opening because of management zones. Based on previous cross-sectional findings, we estimated changes in body mass index (BMI) from changes in takeaway exposure, from 2018 to 2040. We used PRIMEtime, a proportional multistate lifetable model, and BMI change to estimate the impact of the intervention, in a closed-cohort of adults (25-64 years), on incidence of 12 non-communicable diseases, obesity prevalence, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and healthcare costs saved by 2040 in six local authorities (LAs) across the rural-urban spectrum in England (Wandsworth, Manchester, Blackburn with Darwen, Sheffield, North Somerset, and Fenland)., Results: By 2031, compared to no intervention, reductions in outlet exposure ranged from 3 outlets/person in Fenland to 28 outlets/person in Manchester. This corresponded to mean per person reductions in BMI of 0.08 and 0.68 kg/m 2 , respectively. Relative to no intervention, obesity prevalence was estimated to be reduced in both sexes in all LAs, including by 2.3 percentage points (PP) (95% uncertainty interval:2.9PP, 1.7PP) to 1.5PP (95%UI:1.9PP, 1.1PP) in males living in Manchester and Wandsworth by 2040, respectively. Model estimates showed reductions in incidence of disease, including type II diabetes (e.g. 964 (95% UI: 1565, 870) fewer cases/100,000 population for males in Manchester)), cardiovascular diseases, asthma, certain cancers, and low back pain. Savings in healthcare costs (millions) ranged from £1.65 (95% UI: £1.17, £2.25)/100,000 population in North Somerset to £2.02 (95% UI: £1.39, £2.83)/100,000 population in Wandsworth. Gains in QALYs/100,000 person were broadly similar across LAs., Conclusions: Takeaway management zones in England have the potential to meaningfully contribute towards reducing obesity prevalence and associated healthcare burden in the adult population, at the local level and across the rural-urban spectrum., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable. Consent for publication Not applicable. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Understanding storm impacts on marine vertebrate demography requires detailed meteorological data in tandem with long-term population monitoring. Yet most studies use storm proxies such as the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI), potentially obfuscating a mechanistic understanding of current and future risk. Here, we investigate the impact of extratropical cyclones by extracting north Atlantic winter storm characteristics (storm number, intensity, clustering and wave conditions) and relating these with long-term overwinter adult survival of three long-lived sympatric seabirds which winter at sea-common guillemot Uria aalge, Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica and razorbill Alca torda. We used multidecadal mark-recapture analysis (1970s-2020s) to estimate survival while correcting for resighting probability, combined with spatially explicit environmental data from geolocation-derived wintering areas, to determine the impact of different storm characteristics (i.e., number, intensity, duration, gap between storms, wave height and wind speed), as well as broad-scale climatic conditions (NAOI and sea surface temperature [SST]). All three species experienced rapid population growth over the study period. Guillemot and razorbill survival was lower during stormier winters, with an additive effect of summer SST for guillemots, and a negative interaction with population size for razorbills. Puffin survival was negatively correlated with winter SST, and the lowest puffin survival coincided with intense winter storms and a large seabird wreck in 2013/14. The number of days with wind speed >30 and 35 ms -1 negatively impacted razorbill and guillemot survival, respectively, and puffin survival was higher when gaps between storms were longer. Our results suggest negative but divergent storm impacts on these closely related sympatric breeders, which may be compounded by warmer seas and density-dependence as these populations return to their previously much larger sizes. We tentatively suggest that frequent, long-lasting storms with strong winds are likely to have the greatest negative impact on auk survival. Moreover, we highlight the possibility of tipping points, where only the most extreme storms, that may become more frequent in the future, have measurable impacts on seabird survival, and no effect of NAOI., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.)

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has significant socio-economic and welfare impacts on the cattle industry in parts of the world. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, disease control is complicated by the presence of infection in wildlife, principally the European badger. Control strategies tend to be applied to whole populations, but better identification of key sources of transmission, whether individuals or groups, could help inform more efficient approaches. Mechanistic transmission models can be used to better understand key epidemiological drivers of disease spread and identify high-risk individuals and groups if they can be adequately fitted to observed data. However, this is a significant challenge, especially within wildlife populations, because monitoring relies on imperfect diagnostic test information, and even under systematic surveillance efforts (such as capture-mark-recapture sampling) epidemiological events are only partially observed. To this end we develop a stochastic compartmental model of bTB transmission, and fit this to individual-level data from a unique > 40-year longitudinal study of 2,391 badgers using a recently developed individual forward filtering backward sampling algorithm. Modelling challenges are further compounded by spatio-temporal meta-population structures and age-dependent mortality. We develop a novel estimator for the individual effective reproduction number that provides quantitative evidence for the presence of superspreader badgers, despite the population-level effective reproduction number being less than one. We also infer measures of the hidden burden of infection in the host population through time; the relative likelihoods of competing routes of transmission; effective and realised infectious periods; and longitudinal measures of diagnostic test performance. This modelling framework provides an efficient and generalisable way to fit state-space models to individual-level data in wildlife populations, which allows identification of high-risk individuals and exploration of important epidemiological questions about bTB and other wildlife diseases., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Konzen 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.)

Long wait times, limited resources, and a lack of local options mean that many people with severe obesity cannot access treatment. Face-to-face group-based interventions have been found effective and can treat multiple people simultaneously, but are limited by service capacity. Digital group interventions could reduce wait times, but research on their effectiveness is limited. This systematic review aimed to examine the literature about online group-based interventions for adults with severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m 2 ). The review followed the PRISMA and PICOS frameworks. MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched. Two authors independently screened articles. Data extraction, analysis, and quality assessment (using RoB2 and MMAT) was shared between two authors. A meta-analysis was conducted on eligible studies; other results were descriptively analysed. 20 papers reporting on 15 studies were included. Most studies reported some evidence of weight loss, but evidence of weight-related behaviour change was mixed. A meta-analysis on four studies indicated that online, group-based interventions had a statistically significant impact on weight loss (p = 0.001; 95% CI -0.69 to -0.17) with a small-to-moderate effect size, compared to waitlist or standard care conditions. Online interventions were considered more convenient but lack of familiarity with the group or counsellor, accessibility issues, and time constraints hindered engagement. Technical support, incentives, and interactive forums to improve group cohesion could mitigate these barriers. The findings suggested that online, group-based interventions are feasible and potentially beneficial, but barriers such as internet accessibility, digital literacy, and unfamiliarity with group members need to be mitigated. Key recommendations to improve experience and impact include providing instructions and run-throughs, building group cohesion, and providing session and additional content throughout the intervention. Future studies should focus on the influence of specific intervention characteristics and investigate the effect of these interventions compared to face-to-face interventions. Registration: National Institute for Health Research, PROSPERO CRD42021227101; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021227101 ., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Menopause marks a major milestone in female reproductive ageing. It is characterized by the cessation of ovarian function and a concomitant decline in hormones such as oestradiol. Subsequently, females undergoing menopausal transition experience a progressive increase in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease risk. During menopause, reductions in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, endothelial dysfunction, increases in systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and impaired vascular remodelling may contribute towards an accelerated decline in the function of cerebral and peripheral vascular systems. Historically, hormone therapy (HT) has been used as a means of managing vascular disease risk and reducing menopause-associated vasomotor symptoms such as hot flushes, though some studies suggest regular exercise has the potential to be a promising alternative. Regular aerobic exercise during early postmenopause may slow vascular decline by improving NO and oestradiol bioavailability, promoting positive vascular remodelling and lowering systemic inflammation. However, exercise-mediated improvements in markers of vascular function are not consistently observed in oestradiol-deficient postmenopausal women. Emerging evidence suggests that due to the greater oestradiol bioavailability during early postmenopause, vascular adaptations to exercise may be enhanced during this stage, as opposed to late postmenopause. Subsequently it may be important to begin regular exercise in the years preceding and immediately following the final menstrual period to slow the progression of vascular disease risk during perimenopause and beyond. The present review will provide a summary of our current understanding of how vascular function is affected during menopause and the role of regular aerobic and resistance exercise training in managing vascular disease risk., (© 2024 The Author(s). Experimental Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society.)

Industrial pollution is a major driver of ecosystem degradation, but it can also act as a driver of contemporary evolution. As a result of intense mining activity during the Industrial Revolution, several rivers across the southwest of England are polluted with high concentrations of metals. Despite the documented negative impacts of ongoing metal pollution, brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) survive and thrive in many of these metal-impacted rivers. We used population genomics, transcriptomics, and metal burdens to investigate the genomic and transcriptomic signatures of potential metal tolerance. RADseq analysis of six populations (originating from three metal-impacted and three control rivers) revealed strong genetic substructuring between impacted and control populations. We identified selection signatures at 122 loci, including genes related to metal homeostasis and oxidative stress. Trout sampled from metal-impacted rivers exhibited significantly higher tissue concentrations of cadmium, copper, nickel and zinc, which remained elevated after 11 days in metal-free water. After depuration, we used RNAseq to quantify gene expression differences between metal-impacted and control trout, identifying 2042 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the gill, and 311 DEGs in the liver. Transcriptomic signatures in the gill were enriched for genes involved in ion transport processes, metal homeostasis, oxidative stress, hypoxia, and response to xenobiotics. Our findings reveal shared genomic and transcriptomic pathways involved in detoxification, oxidative stress responses and ion regulation. Overall, our results demonstrate the diverse effects of metal pollution in shaping both neutral and adaptive genetic variation, whilst also highlighting the potential role of constitutive gene expression in promoting metal tolerance., (© 2024 The Author(s). Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Machines powered by artificial intelligence have the potential to replace or collaborate with human decision-makers in moral settings. In these roles, machines would face moral tradeoffs, such as automated vehicles (AVs) distributing inevitable risks among road users. Do people believe that machines should make moral decisions differently from humans? If so, why? To address these questions, we conducted six studies (N = 6805) to examine how people, as observers, believe human drivers and AVs should act in similar moral dilemmas and how they judge their moral decisions. In pedestrian-only dilemmas where the two agents had to sacrifice one pedestrian to save more pedestrians, participants held them to similar utilitarian norms (Study 1). In occupant dilemmas where the agents needed to weigh the in-vehicle occupant against more pedestrians, participants were less accepting of AVs sacrificing their passenger compared to human drivers sacrificing themselves (Studies 1-3) or another passenger (Studies 5-6). The difference was not driven by reduced occupant agency in AVs (Study 4) or by non-voluntary occupant sacrifice in AVs (Study 5), but rather by the perceived social relationship between AVs and their users (Study 6). Thus, even when people adopt an impartial stance as observers, they are more likely to believe that AVs should prioritize serving their users in moral dilemmas. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for AV morality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Achieving net zero global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), with declining emissions of other greenhouse gases, is widely expected to halt global warming. CO 2 emissions will continue to drive warming until fully balanced by active anthropogenic CO 2 removals. For practical reasons, however, many greenhouse gas accounting systems allow some "passive" CO 2 uptake, such as enhanced vegetation growth due to CO 2 fertilisation, to be included as removals in the definition of net anthropogenic emissions. By including passive CO 2 uptake, nominal net zero emissions would not halt global warming, undermining the Paris Agreement. Here we discuss measures addressing this problem, to ensure residual fossil fuel use does not cause further global warming: land management categories should be disaggregated in emissions reporting and targets to better separate the role of passive CO 2 uptake; where possible, claimed removals should be additional to passive uptake; and targets should acknowledge the need for Geological Net Zero, meaning one tonne of CO 2 permanently restored to the solid Earth for every tonne still generated from fossil sources. We also argue that scientific understanding of net zero provides a basis for allocating responsibility for the protection of passive carbon sinks during and after the transition to Geological Net Zero., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in remote testing methods for quantifying individual differences in interoception, the perception of the body's internal state. Hampering the adoption of remote methods are concerns as to the quality of data obtained remotely. Using data from several studies, we sought to compare the performance of individuals who completed the Phase Adjustment Task-a new measure of cardiac interoceptive accuracy that can be administered via a smartphone application-supervised in a laboratory against those who completed the task remotely. Across a total sample of 205 individuals (119 remote and 86 laboratory), we observed no significant differences in task performance between the two groups. These results held when matching groups on demographic variables (e.g., age) and considering only individuals who had successfully completed a screener task. Overall, these data attest to the suitability of the Phase Adjustment Task for remote testing, providing an opportunity to collect larger and more diverse samples for future interoception research., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests JM and GB have completed paid consultancy work for Healios for work on interoception. No other authors reported conflicts of interest., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The emergence of insecticide resistance in the rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis , is a growing threat to the sustainable control of this important insect crop pest. Thus, monitoring of C. suppressalis populations for insecticide resistance and characterization of the underlying genetic mechanisms is essential to inform rational control decisions and the development of resistance management strategies. Here, we monitored 126 C. suppressalis field populations from China for resistance evolution to four major insecticides: 53 for chlorantraniliprole, 50 for abamectin, 74 for triazophos, and 76 for spinetoram. Moderate to high levels of resistance were observed to all four insecticides. Investigation of the underlying resistance mechanisms revealed multiple mutations in the ryanodine receptor (RyR) and acetylcholinesterase 1 (AChE1), leading to target-site resistance to chlorantraniliprole and triazophos, respectively. In contrast, the absence of mutations in the glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl) and α6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR α6) subunit suggested that nontarget site mechanisms contribute to the multiple-insecticide resistance phenotypes observed in C. suppressalis . In this regard, we revealed overexpression of the uridine 5'-diphospho-glycosyltransferase UGT33AF1 and cytochrome P450 CYP6AB45 in C. suppressalis field populations. Functional characterization using transgenic Drosophila demonstrated that UGT33AF1 confers resistance against multiple insecticides in vivo , whereas CYP6AB45 does not appear to contribute to resistance. Collectively, our findings reveal the current status of resistance of C. suppressalis to insecticides in China and uncover a diverse profile of resistance mechanisms in this species. These findings provide a foundation for the development of sustainable strategies to effectively manage and control this pest.

Our understanding of bird migration is heavily biased toward long-distance movements in the Northern Hemisphere, 1 , 2 the timing and direction of large-scale, multi-species seasonal movements remain critically understudied due to the complexity of movement in this region and a lack of research personnel and infrastructure. , 3 Here, we analyze data from a latitudinal transect of weather radars spanning the entire coastline of Eastern Australia to determine the magnitude, directions, timing, and variability of bird migration compared to that of Northern Hemisphere migration systems. Bird movements exhibited sequential seasonal peaks along a latitudinal gradient with seasonally contrasting flight directions, confirming that a structured bird migration system exists. Three features were distinct from Northern Hemisphere migrations. First, distinct movements occurred around sunrise with comparable magnitudes to nocturnal migration, likely representing a strong diurnal component to the bird movements. Second, migration intensity averaged 0.06 million birds km 4 , Finally, flight directions were more dispersed, and the timing and amount of migration were highly variable between years compared to Northern Hemisphere migration systems, perhaps in response to variable climate. 5 This first quantification of continental-scale movements in Australia revealed a distinctive migration system, and it suggests that much remains to be discovered about the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping animal migrations in the Southern Hemisphere.4 , 6 , 7 , 8 the timing and direction of large-scale, multi-species seasonal movements remain critically understudied due to the complexity of movement in this region and a lack of research personnel and infrastructure. 7 , 9 It is still unclear whether there are pronounced and structured mass movements resembling those in the Northern Hemisphere. 10 , 11 , 12 Here, we analyze data from a latitudinal transect of weather radars spanning the entire coastline of Eastern Australia to determine the magnitude, directions, timing, and variability of bird migration compared to that of Northern Hemisphere migration systems. Bird movements exhibited sequential seasonal peaks along a latitudinal gradient with seasonally contrasting flight directions, confirming that a structured bird migration system exists. Three features were distinct from Northern Hemisphere migrations. First, distinct movements occurred around sunrise with comparable magnitudes to nocturnal migration, likely representing a strong diurnal component to the bird movements. Second, migration intensity averaged 0.06 million birds km -1 in autumn, much lower than Northern Hemisphere migrations. 11 , 12 , 13 Finally, flight directions were more dispersed, and the timing and amount of migration were highly variable between years compared to Northern Hemisphere migration systems, perhaps in response to variable climate. 7 This first quantification of continental-scale movements in Australia revealed a distinctive migration system, and it suggests that much remains to be discovered about the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping animal migrations in the Southern Hemisphere., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Mental health conditions constitute a major burden of disease for adolescents globally and can lead to significant adverse consequences. This systematic review aimed to identify if psychosocial interventions are effective in preventing mental health conditions in adolescents already experiencing emotional problems. We searched for randomized controlled trials comparing psychosocial interventions for preventing mental health conditions with care as usual in adolescents aged 10-19 who are experiencing symptoms of emotional problems. We searched PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, EMBASE, and ASSIA databases to identify studies. We found 82 eligible studies (n = 13,562 participants). Findings show that interventions can reduce mental health conditions and increase positive mental health. Across all reported time points, psychosocial interventions showed significant, small-to moderate-sized beneficial effects on preventing mental health conditions (SMD: -0.26, 95% CI [-0.42, -0.19] and small positive effects on positive mental health (SMD: 0.17, 95% CI [0.097, 0.29]. There were no statistically significant pooled findings suggesting that psychosocial interventions had either a positive or negative effect on self-harm or suicide; aggressive, disruptive and oppositional behavior; substance use; or school attendance. Despite the positive findings, a critical gap exists in the design of effective psychosocial interventions to reduce self-harm and suicide, and other risk behaviors in adolescents with symptoms of emotional problems., (Copyright © 2024 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The personal, social and economic burden of chronic pain is enormous. Tremendous research efforts are being directed toward understanding, preventing, and managing chronic pain. Yet patients with chronic pain, clinicians and the public are sometimes poorly served by an evidence architecture that contains multiple structural weaknesses. These include incomplete research governance, a lack of diversity and inclusivity, inadequate stakeholder engagement, poor methodological rigour and incomplete reporting, a lack of data accessibility and transparency, and a failure to communicate findings with appropriate balance. These issues span pre-clinical research, clinical trials and systematic reviews and impact the development of clinical guidance and practice. Research misconduct and inauthentic data present a further critical risk. Combined, they increase uncertainty in this highly challenging area of study and practice, drive the provision of low value care, increase costs and impede the discovery of more effective solutions. In this focus article, we explore how we can increase trust in pain science, by examining critical challenges using contemporary examples, and describe a novel integrated conceptual framework for enhancing the trustworthiness of pain science. We end with a call for collective action to address this critical issue. PERSPECTIVE: Multiple challenges can adversely impact the trustworthiness of pain research and health research more broadly. We present ENTRUST-PE, a novel, integrated framework for more trustworthy pain research with recommendations for all stakeholders in the research ecosystem, and make a call to action to the pain research community., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Marine invertebrates living in oxygen minimum zones (OMZ), where low pO 2 and high pCO 2 conditions co-occur, display physiological mechanisms allowing them to deal with these coupled stressors. We measured aerobic metabolic rate (MR a ) and the critical oxygen tension (P crit ), and calculated the oxygen supply capacity (α) of both the red (Grimothea monodon) and yellow (Grimothea johni) squat lobsters, under two pCO 2 scenarios (~414 and 1400 μatm). We also measured haemolymph pH, haemocyanin oxygen binding affinity (p 50 ), and haemolymph lactate content in both species under normoxia, low pCO 2 hypoxia and high pCO 2 hypoxia. Our results revealed that both species show extremely low P crit and P 50 values. The MR a increased under high pCO 2 condition in both species but hypoxia tolerance was not negatively impacted by pCO 2 . Furthermore, hypoxia tolerance is enhanced at high pCO 2 in the yellow squat lobster, and although not statically significant, α value follows the same trend. The red squat lobster has a better pH e regulation and lower reliance on anaerobic metabolism. While the yellow squat lobster had a poorer pH e regulation during high pCO 2 hypoxia, relying more on anaerobic metabolism. Our research suggests that elevated pCO 2 is crucial on respiratory processes in hypoxia tolerant organisms, ameliorating the effects of hypoxia alone. Learning from OMZ adapted species contribute to better predicting climate change consequences on these important ecosystems., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: People post-hip fracture have reported experiences of fragmented care and poor discharge planning, therefore improvements in patient flow are required. This study reports the challenges people face during the discharge process and offers potential solutions for improving the transition from hospital to home from the perspectives of patients, carers, and health professionals., Methods: This was a qualitative study embedded within a multi-centre, feasibility randomised controlled trial (HIP HELPER). We undertook semi-structured interviews with 10 patient-carer dyads (10 people with hip fracture; 10 unpaid carers) and eight health professionals (four physiotherapists, two occupational therapists, one nurse and one physiotherapy researcher) between November 2021 and March 2022. Data were analysed using the principles of Framework Analysis., Results: Participants identified challenges in the transition from hospital to home post-hip fracture surgery: ineffective communication, disjointed systems, untimely services and 'it's more than just the hip'. Possible solutions and insights to facilitate this transition included the need for reassurance, collaborative planning, and individualisation., Conclusion: The transition from hospital to home following hip fracture surgery can be a challenging experience for patients, and for friends and family who support them as carers, making them feel vulnerable, frustrated and uncertain. Enabling a coordinated, collaborative approach to discharge planning and early recovery provision is considered a positive approach to improving NHS care., Trial Registration: ISRCTN13270387. Registered 29th October 2020., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate North East—Newcastle & North Tyneside 1 Research Ethics Committee (20/NE/0213) Date: 14 October 2020. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Consent for publication Not required. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)