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The COVID-19 pandemic caused by worldwide infection with SARS-CoV-2 has established itself as one of the most disruptive infectious disease events in recorded history. The impact of this pandemic has [...], * Context.--Autopsies performed on COVID-19 patients have provided critical information about SARS-CoV-2's tropism, mechanisms of tissue injury, and spectrum of disease. Objective.--To provide an updated database of postmortem disease in COVID-19 patients, assess relationships among clinical and pathologic variables, evaluate the accuracy of death certification, and correlate disease variables to causes of death. Design.--The 272 postmortem examinations reported in this paper were submitted by 14 pathologists from 9 medical or forensic institutions across the United States. The study spans the eras of the 3 principal COVID-19 strains and incorporates surveyed demographic, clinical, and postmortem data from decedents infected with SARS-CoV-2, including primary and contributing causes of death. It is the largest database of its kind to date. Results.--Demographics of the decedents reported here correspond well to national statistics. Primary causes of death as determined by autopsy and official death certificates were significantly correlated. When specifically cited disease conditions found at autopsy were correlated with COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 deaths, only lung findings characteristic of SARS-CoV-2 infection or the absence of lung findings were significantly associated. Conclusions.--Changes in hospitalization and disease likely stem from longer lifespans after COVID-19 diagnosis and alteration in treatment approaches. Although Omicron variants preferentially replicate in the upper airways, autopsied patients who died of COVID-19 in that time period showed the same lung damage as earlier decedents. Most importantly, findings suggest that there are still unelucidated risk factors for death from COVID-19 including possibly genetic susceptibility. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2024;148:e386-e393; doi: 10.5858/arpa.2023-0380-OA)

Despite southern South America being recognized as a hotspot for deep convective storms, little is known about the socioenvironmental impacts of high-impact weather (HIW) events. Although there have been past efforts to collect severe weather reports in the region, they have been highly fragmented among and within countries, sharing no common protocol, and limited to a particular phenomenon, a very specific region, or a short period of time. There is a pressing need for a more comprehensive understanding of the present risks linked to HIW events, specifically deep convective storms, on a global scale as well as their variability and potential future evolution in the context of climate change. A database of high-quality and systematic HIW reports and associated socioenvironmental impacts is essential to understand the regional atmospheric conditions leading to hazardous weather, to quantify its predictability, and to build robust early warning systems. To tackle this problem and following successful initiatives in other regions of the world, researchers, national weather service members, and weather enthusiasts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay have embarked on a multinational collaboration to generate a standardized database of reports of HIW events principally associated with convective storms and their socioenvironmental impacts in South America. The goal of this paper is to describe this unprecedented initiative over the region, to summarize first results, and to discuss the potential applications of this collaboration. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The South American Meteorological Hazards and their Impacts Database represents a collaborative multinational initiative aimed at systematically gathering data on high-impact weather events. Cross-border information exchange and collaborative efforts between national weather services, the academic sector, users, and weather enthusiasts will improve multihazard-impact-based forecasts and risk management strategies in the region. KEYWORDS: Hail; Severe storms; Tornadoes; Wind gusts; Convective storms; Operational forecasting, 1. Introduction Many studies have recognized southern South America (south of 15[degrees]S; Fig. 1) as a worldwide hotspot for strong deep moist convection (e.g., Zipser et al. 2006; Romatschke and [...]

Given inconsistencies in reporting methods and general lack of documentation, the creation of a unified tornado database across the world has been an elusive target for severe weather climatology purposes and historical interest. Previous online tornado documentation has also often been inconsistent or is now defunct. Many individual countries or continents maintain tornado information through either government-sponsored or independent organizations. The Tornado Archive was developed to create a first-of-its-kind digitized synthesis of worldwide tornado documentation, using the most complete sources of information available for regions known to be tornadically active. Spatial and temporal trends in tornado occurrence and reporting can be visualized through an interactive user interface with a variety of filtering methods and environmental reanalysis datasets, such as the fifth major global reanalysis produced by ECMWF (ERA5). The additional data introduced using Thomas Grazulis' Significant Tornadoes may be beneficial for tornado climatology studies over the United States. The Tornado Archive is also intended to be a collaborative exercise, with clear data attribution and open avenues for augmentation, and the creation of a common data model to store the tornado information will assist in maintaining and updating the database. In this work, we document the methods necessary for creating the Tornado Archive database, provide broader climatological analysis of spatiotemporal patterns in tornado occurrence, and outline potential use cases for the data. We also highlight its key limitations and emphasize the need for further international standardization of tornado documentation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Historical records of tornado occurrence across the world are dispersed among various sources and are sometimes difficult to access. We combined data from a wide variety of sources into a standardized database of over 100 000 tornadoes. This includes all recorded United States significant tornadoes from 1680 to 1949, which we digitized from a print volume. We hope our database will allow for analyses of tornado climatology to be more easily performed. We also developed an online interface which will allow researchers and laypersons alike to explore the data. KEYWORDS: Tornadoes; Climatology; Databases, 1. Introduction Records of tornado occurrence are currently spread among individual countries and regional research groups, with varying quality, standards, and temporal coverage. Thus, it is difficult to draw conclusions [...]

Children with language disorders have difficulty producing clear communication that coordinates multiple aspects of language including morphology, syntax, semantic knowledge, lexical choice, and the pragmatic constraints of the communication context. [...], Purpose: This exploratory study sought to establish the psychometric stability of a dynamic norming system using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) databases. Dynamic norming is the process by which clinicians select a subset of the normative database sample matched to their individual client's demographic characteristics. Method: The English Conversation and Student-Selected Story (SSS) Narrative databases from SALT were used to conduct the analyses in two phases. Phase 1 was an exploratory examination of the standard error of measure (SEM) of six clinically relevant transcript metrics at predetermined sampling intervals to determine (a) whether the dynamic norming process resulted in samples with adequate stability and (b) the minimum sample size required for stable results. Phase 2 was confirmatory, as random samples were taken from the SALT databases to simulate clinical comparison samples. These samples were examined (a) for stability of SEM estimations and (b) to confirm the sample size findings from Phase 1. Results: Results of Phase 1 indicated that the SEMs for the six transcript metrics across both databases were low relative to each metric's scale. Samples as small as 40-50 children in the Conversation database and 20-30 children in the SSS Narrative database resulted in stable SEM estimations. Phase 2 confirmed these findings, indicating that age bands as small as [+ or -]4 months from a given center-point resulted in stable estimations provided there were approximately 35 children or more in the comparison sample. Conclusion: Psychometrically stable comparison samples can be achieved using SALT's dynamic norming system that are much smaller than the standard sample size recommended in most tests of children's language.

Understanding the magnitude and cause of variation in tree growth and forest productivity is central to sustainable forest management. Measurements of annual growth rings allow assessments of individual-tree, tree population, and forest ecosystem vulnerabilities to drought stress or other changing forest disturbance regimes (insects, diseases, fire), which can be used to identify areas at greatest risk of forest losses. Given a heightened demand for tree-ring data, we consolidated and synthesized tree-ring studies and datasets gathered over the past 30 years in Canada by scientists with the Canadian Forest Service and research partners. We incorporated these datasets into a data repository that currently contains tree-ring measurements from 40 206 tree samples from 4594 sites and 62 tree species from all Canadian provinces and territories. Through our synthesis, we demonstrate the value of such large ensembles of tree-ring data for identifying patterns in tree growth over large spatial scales by mapping pan-Canadian drought sensitivity. Overall, we found high coherence in the samples analyzed; low coherence was generally limited to data-poor regions and species. Drought sensitivity was widespread across species and regions: 34% of sampled trees displayed a significant positive relationship between annual growth increment and summer soil moisture index. Dependence upon water availability in species Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP, Pinus banksiana Lamb., Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon, and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco was more strongly expressed in the warmest regions of the species' range; for species Picea glauca (Moench) Voss and Populus tremuloides Michx., drought sensitivity was stronger in the driest regions. This unprecedented consolidation and synthesis of tree-ring data will enable new research initiatives (e.g., meta-analyses) aimed at improved understanding of the drivers, patterns, and implications of changes in tree growth, as well as facilitating new research collaborations in earth and environmental sciences. Among other things, there is a need for expanding the spatial distribution of sites across Canada's northern regions, increasing the number of samples collected from older stands and angiosperm species, and integrating datasets from studies that evaluate the effects of silvicultural experiments, including provenance and progeny trials, on tree growth. Key words: tree rings, multispecies database, annual growth responses, drought, Canada. II est essentiel de comprendre l'ampleur et la cause de la variation de la croissance des arbres et de la productivity des forets pour une gestion durable de celles-ci. Les mesures des cernes de croissance annuels permettent d'evaluer la vulnerabilite des arbres individuels, des populations d'arbres et des ecosystemes forestiers au stress de la secheresse ou a d'autres regimes changeants de perturbation des forets (insectes, maladies, incendies), ce qui peut etre utilise pour identifier les zones les plus exposees au risque de pertes forestieres. Compte tenu de la demande accrue de donnees sur les cernes de croissance des arbres, les auteurs ont consolide et synthetise les etudes et les ensembles de donnees sur les cernes de croissance d'arbres, recueillis au cours des 30 dernieres annees au Canada par les scientifiques du Service canadien des forets et des partenaires de recherche. lis ont integre ces ensembles de donnees dans un depot de donnees qui comprend actuellement les mesures des cernes de 40 206 echantillons d'arbres provenant de 4594 sites et de 62 especes d'arbres de toutes les provinces et territoires du Canada. Grace a cette synthese, les auteurs demontrent la valeur de ces grands ensembles de donnees sur les cernes de croissance des arbres pour identifier les patrons de croissance des arbres a de grandes echelles spatiales en cartographiant la sensibilite a la secheresse a l'echelle pancanadienne. Dans l'ensemble, ils ont constate une grande coherence dans les echantillons analyses; la faible coherence etait generalement limitee aux regions et aux especes pour lesquelles les donnees etaient insuffisantes. La sensibilite a la secheresse etait tres repandue parmi les especes et les regions : 34 % des arbres echantillonnes presentaient une relation positive significative entre l'augmentation annuelle de la croissance et l'indice d'humidite du sol en ete. La dependance a l'egard de la disponibilite de l'eau chez les especes Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP, Pinus banksiana Lamb., Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon et Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco etait plus fortement exprimee dans les regions les plus chaudes de l'aire de repartition des especes; pour les especes Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss et Populus tremuloides Michx., la sensibilite a la secheresse etait plus forte dans les regions les plus seches. Cette consolidation et cette synthese sans precedent des donnees sur les anneaux des arbres permettront de nouvelles initiatives de recherche (par exemple, des meta-analyses) visant a ameliorer la comprehension des facteurs, des patrons et des implications des changements dans la croissance des arbres, ainsi qu'a faciliter de nouvelles collaborations de recherche en sciences de la terre et en environnement. II est notamment necessaire d'elargir la repartition spatiale des sites dans les regions nordiques du Canada, d'augmenter le nombre d'echantillons preleves dans les vieux peuplements et les especes d'angiospermes, et d'integrer les ensembles de donnees provenant d'etudes qui evaluent les effets des experiences sylvicoles, y compris des essais de provenance et de descendance, sur la croissance des arbres. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: anneaux des arbres, base de donnees multiespeces, reponses de croissance annuelle, secheresse, Canada., 1. Introduction Tree rings--succeeding bands of light wood produced in the spring (earlywood) and dark wood formed at the end of the summer (latewood)--reflect the life history and environment of [...]

The impact that Industry 4.0, with interconnected cyber-physical systems, has on our materials, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities needs, has thrust advanced materials-related modeling and curat-ed, high-quality materials data into the [...]