Search

Importance: The associations of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and its constituents with spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) remain understudied. Identifying subpopulations at increased risk characterized by socioeconomic status and other environmental factors is critical for targeted interventions., Objective: To examine associations of PM2.5 and its constituents with sPTB., Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted from 2008 to 2018 within a large integrated health care system, Kaiser Permanente Southern California. Singleton live births with recorded residential information of pregnant individuals during pregnancy were included. Data were analyzed from December 2023 to March 2024., Exposures: Daily total PM2.5 concentrations and monthly data on 5 PM2.5 constituents (sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, organic matter, and black carbon) in California were assessed, and mean exposures to these pollutants during pregnancy and by trimester were calculated. Exposures to total green space, trees, low-lying vegetation, and grass were estimated using street view images. Wildfire-related exposure was measured by the mean concentration of wildfire-specific PM2.5 during pregnancy. Additionally, the mean exposure to daily maximum temperature during pregnancy was calculated., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was sPTB identified through a natural language processing algorithm. Discrete-time survival models were used to estimate associations of total PM2.5 concentration and its 5 constituents with sPTB. Interaction terms were used to examine the effect modification by race and ethnicity, educational attainment, household income, and exposures to green space, wildfire smoke, and temperature., Results: Among 409 037 births (mean [SD] age of mothers at delivery, 30.3 [5.8] years), there were positive associations of PM2.5, black carbon, nitrate, and sulfate with sPTB. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) per IQR increase were 1.15 (95% CI, 1.12-1.18; P < .001) for PM2.5 (IQR, 2.76 μg/m3), 1.15 (95% CI, 1.11-1.20; P < .001) for black carbon (IQR, 1.05 μg/m3), 1.09 (95% CI, 1.06-1.13; P < .001) for nitrate (IQR, 0.93 μg/m3), and 1.06 (95% CI, 1.03-1.09; P < .001) for sulfate (IQR, 0.40 μg/m3) over the entire pregnancy. The second trimester was the most susceptible window; for example, aORs for total PM2.5 concentration were 1.07 (95% CI, 1.05-1.09; P < .001) in the first, 1.10 (95% CI, 1.08-1.12; P < .001) in the second, and 1.09 (95% CI, 1.07-1.11; P < .001) in the third trimester. Significantly higher aORs were observed among individuals with lower educational attainment (eg, less than college: aOR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.12-1.21 vs college [≥4 years]: aOR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.06-1.14; P = .03) or income (<50th percentile: aOR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.14-1.21 vs ≥50th percentile: aOR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.09-1.16; P = .02) or who were exposed to limited green space (<50th percentile: aOR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.15-1.23 vs ≥50th percentile: aOR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.09-1.15; P = .003), more wildfire smoke (≥50th percentile: aOR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.23 vs <50th percentile: aOR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.09-1.16; P = .009), or extreme heat (aOR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.42-1.59 vs mild temperature: aOR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.09-1.14; P < .001)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, exposures to PM2.5 and specific PM2.5 constituents during pregnancy were associated with increased odds of sPTB. Socioeconomic status and other environmental exposures modified this association.

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) has been associated with biological, emotional, social, and environmental factors. However, evidence regarding the effect of temperature on PPD is extremely limited., Objectives: We aimed to examine the associations between postpartum temperature exposure and PPD., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from Kaiser Permanente Southern California electronic health records from 1 January 2008 through 31 December 2018. PPD was first assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (score ≥ 10 ) during the first year of the postpartum period and further identified by using both diagnostic codes and prescription medications. Historical daily ambient temperatures were obtained from the 4 -km resolution gridMET dataset (https://www.climatologylab.org/gridmet.html) and linked to participants' residential addresses at delivery. Postpartum temperature exposures were measured by calculating various temperature metrics during the period from delivery to PPD diagnosis date. A time-to-event approach with a discrete-time logistic regression was applied to estimate the association between temperature exposure and time to PPD. Effect modification by maternal characteristics and other environmental factors was examined., Results: There were 46,114 (10.73%) PPD cases among 429,839 pregnancies ( mean ± standard deviation age = 30.22 ± 5.75 y). Increased PPD risks were positively associated with exposure to higher mean temperature [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) per interquartile range increment: 1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 1.09] and diurnal temperature range ( aOR = 1.08 ; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.10); the associations were stronger for maximum temperature compared with minimum temperature. The temperature-related PPD risks were greater among African American, Asian, and Hispanic mothers and among mothers ≥ 25 years of age compared with their counterparts. We also observed higher effects of temperature on PPD among mothers exposed to higher air pollution or lower green space levels and among mothers with lower air conditioning penetration rates., Conclusion: Maternal exposure to higher temperature and diurnal temperature variability during the postpartum period was associated with an increased risk of PPD. Effect modification by maternal age, race/ethnicity, air pollution, green space, and air conditioning penetration was identified. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14783.

Long-term, large-scale experimental studies provide critical information about how global change influences communities. When environmental changes are severe, they can trigger abrupt transitions from one community type to another leading to a regime shift. From 2014 to 2016, rocky intertidal habitats in the northeast Pacific Ocean experienced extreme temperatures during a multi-year marine heatwave (MHW) and sharp population declines of the keystone predator Pisaster ochraceus due to sea star wasting disease (SSWD). Here we measured the community structure before, during and after the MHW onset and SSWD outbreak in a 15-year succession experiment conducted in a rocky intertidal meta-ecosystem spanning 13 sites on four capes in Oregon and northern California, United States. Kelp abundance declined during the MHW due to extreme temperatures, while gooseneck barnacle and mussel abundances increased due to reduced predation pressure after the loss of Pisaster from SSWD. Using several methods, we detected regime shifts from substrate- or algae-dominated to invertebrate-dominated alternative states at two capes. After water temperatures cooled and Pisaster population densities recovered, community structure differed from pre-disturbance conditions, suggesting low resilience. Consequently, thermal stress and predator loss can result in regime shifts that fundamentally alter community structure even after restoration of baseline conditions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Observations from the California Current System (CalCS) indicate that the long-term trend in ocean acidification (OA) and the naturally occurring corrosive conditions for the CaCO 3 mineral aragonite (saturation state Ω < 1) have a damaging effect on shelled pteropods, a keystone group of calcifying organisms in the CalCS. Concern is heightened by recent findings suggesting that shell formation and developmental progress are already impacted when Ω falls below 1.5. Here, we quantify the impact of low Ω conditions on pteropods using an individual-based model (IBM) with life-stage-specific mortality, growth, and behavior in a high-resolution regional hindcast simulation of the CalCS between 1984 and 2019. Special attention is paid to attributing this impact to different processes that lead to such low Ω conditions, namely natural variability, long-term trend, and extreme events. We find that much of the observed damage in the CalCS, and specifically >70% of the shell CaCO 3 loss, is due to the pteropods' exposure to naturally occurring low Ω conditions as a result of their diel vertical migration (DVM). Over the hindcast period, their exposure to damaging waters (Ω < 1.5) increases from 9% to 49%, doubling their shell CaCO 3 loss, and increasing their mortality by ~40%. Most of this increased exposure is due to the shoaling of low Ω waters driven by the long-term trend in OA. Extreme OA events amplify this increase by ~40%. Our approach can quantify the health of pteropod populations under shifting environmental conditions, and attribute changes in fitness or population structure to changes in the stressor landscape across hierarchical time scales., (© 2024 The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The combined effects of Indigenous fire stewardship and lightning ignitions shaped historical fire regimes, landscape patterns, and available resources in many ecosystems globally. The resulting fire regimes created complex fire-vegetation dynamics that were further influenced by biophysical setting, disturbance history, and climate. While there is increasing recognition of Indigenous fire stewardship among western scientists and managers, the extent and purpose of cultural burning is generally absent from the landscape-fire modeling literature and our understanding of ecosystem processes and development. In collaboration with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, we developed a transdisciplinary Monte Carlo simulation model of cultural ignition location, frequency, and timing to simulate spatially explicit cultural ignitions across a 264,399-ha landscape within Karuk Aboriginal Territory in northern California. Estimates of cultural ignition parameters were developed with Tribal members and knowledge holders using existing interviews, historical maps, ethnographies, recent ecological studies, contemporary maps, and generational knowledge. Spatial and temporal attributes of cultural burning were explicitly tied to the ecology of specific cultural resources, fuel receptivity, seasonal movement patterns, and spiritual practices. Prior to colonization, cultural burning practices were extensive across the study landscape with an estimated 6972 annual ignitions, averaging approximately 6.5 ignitions per Indigenous fire steward per year. The ignition characteristics we document align closely with data on historical fire regimes and vegetation but differ substantially from the location and timing of contemporary ignitions. This work demonstrates the importance of cultural burning for developing and maintaining the ecosystems present at the time of colonization and underscores the need to work collaboratively with Indigenous communities to restore ecocultural processes in these systems., (© 2024 The Authors. Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Ecological Society of America. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

A powerful way to predict how ecological communities will respond to future climate change is to test how they have responded to the climate of the past. We used climate oscillations including the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Pacific Gyre Oscillation, and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and variation in upwelling, air temperature, and sea temperatures to test the sensitivity of nearshore rocky intertidal communities to climate variability. Prior research shows that multiple ecological processes of key taxa (growth, recruitment, and physiology) were sensitive to environmental variation during this time frame. We also investigated the effect of the concurrent sea star wasting disease outbreak in 2013-2014. We surveyed nearly 150 taxa from 11 rocky intertidal sites in Oregon and northern California annually for up to 14-years (2006-2020) to test if community structure (i.e., the abundance of functional groups) and diversity were sensitive to past environmental variation. We found little to no evidence that these communities were sensitive to annual variation in any of the environmental measures, and that each metric was associated with < 8.6% of yearly variation in community structure. Only the years elapsed since the outbreak of sea star wasting disease had a substantial effect on community structure, but in the mid-zone only where spatially dominant mussels are a main prey of the keystone predator sea star, Pisaster ochraceus. We conclude that the established sensitivity of multiple ecological processes to annual fluctuations in climate has not yet scaled up to influence community structure. Hence, the rocky intertidal system along this coastline appears resistant to the range of oceanic climate fluctuations that occurred during the study. However, given ongoing intensification of climate change and increasing frequencies of extreme events, future responses to climate change seem likely., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Gravem 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: Epidemiological findings regarding the association of particulate matter ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) exposure with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) are inconsistent; evidence for HDP risk related to PM2.5 components, mixture effects, and windows of susceptibility is limited. We aimed to investigate the relationships between HDP and exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy., Methods and Findings: A large retrospective cohort study was conducted among mothers with singleton pregnancies in Kaiser Permanente Southern California from 2008 to 2017. HDP were defined by International Classification of Diseases-9/10 (ICD-9/10) diagnostic codes and were classified into 2 subcategories based on the severity of HDP: gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia and eclampsia (PE-E). Monthly averages of PM2.5 total mass and its constituents (i.e., sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, organic matter, and black carbon) were estimated using outputs from a fine-resolution geoscience-derived model. Multilevel Cox proportional hazard models were used to fit single-pollutant models; quantile g-computation approach was applied to estimate the joint effect of PM2.5 constituents. The distributed lag model was applied to estimate the association between monthly PM2.5 exposure and HDP risk. This study included 386,361 participants (30.3 ± 6.1 years) with 4.8% (17,977/373,905) GH and 5.0% (19,381/386,361) PE-E cases, respectively. In single-pollutant models, we observed increased relative risks for PE-E associated with exposures to PM2.5 total mass [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) per interquartile range: 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.04, 1.10] p < 0.001], black carbon [HR = 1.12 (95% CI [1.08, 1.16] p < 0.001)] and organic matter [HR = 1.06 (95% CI [1.03, 1.09] p < 0.001)], but not for GH. The population attributable fraction for PE-E corresponding to the standards of the US Environmental Protection Agency (9 μg/m3) was 6.37%. In multi-pollutant models, the PM2.5 mixture was associated with an increased relative risk of PE-E ([HR = 1.05 (95% CI [1.03, 1.07] p < 0.001)], simultaneous increase in PM2.5 constituents of interest by a quartile) and PM2.5 black carbon gave the greatest contribution of the overall mixture effects (71%) among all individual constituents. The susceptible window is the late first trimester and second trimester. Furthermore, the risks of PE-E associated with PM2.5 exposure were significantly higher among Hispanic and African American mothers and mothers who live in low- to middle-income neighborhoods (p < 0.05 for Cochran's Q test). Study limitations include potential exposure misclassification solely based on residential outdoor air pollution, misclassification of disease status defined by ICD codes, the date of diagnosis not reflecting the actual time of onset, and lack of information on potential covariates and unmeasured factors for HDP., Conclusions: Our findings add to the literature on associations between air pollution exposure and HDP. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting that specific air pollution components, mixture effects, and susceptible windows of PM2.5 may affect GH and PE-E differently., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Sun 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 nearshore waters of the Northern California Current support an important seasonal foraging ground for Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) gray whales. We examine gray whale distribution, habitat use, and abundance over 31 years (1992-2022) using standardized nearshore (< 5 km from shore) surveys spanning a large swath of the PCFG foraging range. Specifically, we generated density surface models, which incorporate detection probability into generalized additive models to assess environmental correlates of gray whale distribution and predict abundance over time. We illustrate the importance of coastal upwelling dynamics, whereby increased upwelling only yields higher gray whale density if interspersed with relaxation events, likely because this combination optimizes influx and retention of nutrients to support recruitment and aggregation of gray whale prey. Several habitat features influence gray whale distribution, including substrate, shelf width, prominent capes, and river estuaries. However, the influence of these features differs between regions, revealing heterogeneity in habitat preferences throughout the PCFG foraging range. Predicted gray whale abundance fluctuated throughout our study period, but without clear directional trends, unlike previous abundance estimates based on mark-recapture models. This study highlights the value of long-term monitoring, shedding light on the impacts of variable environmental conditions on an iconic nearshore marine predator., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Northern California Current is a highly productive marine upwelling ecosystem that is economically and ecologically important. It is home to both commercially harvested species and those that are federally listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Recently, there has been a global shift from single-species fisheries management to ecosystem-based fisheries management, which acknowledges that more complex dynamics can reverberate through a food web. Here, we have integrated new research into an end-to-end ecosystem model (i.e., physics to fisheries) using data from long-term ocean surveys, phytoplankton satellite imagery paired with a vertically generalized production model, a recently assembled diet database, fishery catch information, species distribution models, and existing literature. This spatially-explicit model includes 90 living and detrital functional groups ranging from phytoplankton, krill, and forage fish to salmon, seabirds, and marine mammals, and nine fisheries that occur off the coast of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. This model was updated from previous regional models to account for more recent changes in the Northern California Current (e.g., increases in market squid and some gelatinous zooplankton such as pyrosomes and salps), to expand the previous domain to increase the spatial resolution, to include data from previously unincorporated surveys, and to add improved characterization of endangered species, such as Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca). Our model is mass-balanced, ecologically plausible, without extinctions, and stable over 150-year simulations. Ammonium and nitrate availability, total primary production rates, and model-derived phytoplankton time series are within realistic ranges. As we move towards holistic ecosystem-based fisheries management, we must continue to openly and collaboratively integrate our disparate datasets and collective knowledge to solve the intricate problems we face. As a tool for future research, we provide the data and code to use our ecosystem model., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.)

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a major pregnancy complication affecting approximately 14.0% of pregnancies around the world. Air pollution exposure, particularly exposure to PM 2.5 , has become a major environmental issue affecting health, especially for vulnerable pregnant women. Associations between PM 2.5 exposure and adverse birth outcomes are generally assumed to be the same throughout a large geographical area. However, the effects of air pollution on health can very spatially in subpopulations. Such spatially varying effects are likely due to a wide range of contextual neighborhood and individual factors that are spatially correlated, including SES, demographics, exposure to housing characteristics and due to different composition of particulate matter from different emission sources. This combination of elevated environmental hazards in conjunction with socioeconomic-based disparities forms what has been described as a "double jeopardy" for marginalized sub-populations. In this manuscript our analysis combines both an examination of spatially varying effects of a) unit-changes in exposure and examines effects of b) changes from current exposure levels down to a fixed compliance level, where compliance levels correspond to the Air Quality Standards (AQS) set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guideline values. Results suggest that exposure reduction policies should target certain "hotspot" areas where size and effects of potential reductions will reap the greatest rewards in terms of health benefits, such as areas of southeast Los Angeles County which experiences high levels of PM 2.5 exposures and consist of individuals who may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution on the risk of GDM., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Significant mortality and morbidity in pregnant women and their offspring are linked to premature rupture of membranes (PROM). Epidemiological evidence for heat-related PROM risk is extremely limited. We investigated associations between acute heatwave exposure and spontaneous PROM., Methods: We conducted this retrospective cohort study among mothers in Kaiser Permanente Southern California who experienced membrane ruptures during the warm season (May-September) from 2008 to 2018. Twelve definitions of heatwaves with different cut-off percentiles (75th, 90th, 95th, and 98th) and durations (≥ 2, 3, and 4 consecutive days) were developed using the daily maximum heat index, which incorporates both daily maximum temperature and minimum relative humidity in the last gestational week. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted separately for spontaneous PROM, term PROM (TPROM), and preterm PROM (PPROM) with zip codes as the random effect and gestational week as the temporal unit. Effect modification by air pollution (i.e., PM 2.5 and NO 2 ), climate adaptation measures (i.e., green space and air conditioning [AC] penetration), sociodemographic factors, and smoking behavior was examined., Results: In total, we included 190,767 subjects with 16,490 (8.6%) spontaneous PROMs. We identified a 9-14% increase in PROM risks associated with less intense heatwaves. Similar patterns as PROM were found for TPROM and PPROM. The heat-related PROM risks were greater among mothers exposed to a higher level of PM 2.5 during pregnancy, under 25 years old, with lower education and household income level, and who smoked. Even though climate adaptation factors were not statistically significant effect modifiers, mothers living with lower green space or lower AC penetration were at consistently higher heat-related PROM risks compared to their counterparts., Conclusion: Using a rich and high-quality clinical database, we detected harmful heat exposure for spontaneous PROM in preterm and term deliveries. Some subgroups with specific characteristics were more susceptible to heat-related PROM risk., 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 © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: This study examines whether the "Emission Reduction Plan for Ports and Goods Movement" in California reduced air pollution exposures and emergency room visits among California Medicaid enrollees with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease., Method: We created a retrospective cohort of 5608 Medicaid enrollees from ten counties in California with data from 2004 to 2010. We grouped the patients into two groups: those living within 500 m of goods movement corridors (ports and truck-permitted freeways), and control areas (away from the busy truck or car permitted highways). We created annual air pollution surfaces for nitrogen dioxide and assigned them to enrollees' home addresses. We used a quasi-experimental design with a difference-in-differences method to examine changes before and after the policy for cohort beneficiaries in the two groups., Results: The reductions in nitrogen dioxide exposures and emergency room visits were greater for enrollees in goods movement corridors than those in control areas in post-policy years. We found that the goods movement actions were associated with 14.8% (95% CI, -24.0% to -4.4%; P = 0.006) and 11.8% (95% CI, -21.2% to -1.2%; P = 0.030) greater reduction in emergency room visits for the beneficiaries with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respectively, in the third year after California's emission reduction plan., Conclusion: These findings indicate remarkable health benefits via reduced emergency room visits from the significantly improved air quality due to public policy interventions for disadvantaged and susceptible populations., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Climate warming in recent decades has negatively impacted forest health in the western United States. Here, we report on potential early warning signals (EWS) for drought-related mortality derived from measurements of tree-ring growth (ring width index; RWI) and carbon isotope discrimination (∆ 13 C), primarily focused on ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Sampling was conducted in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, near the epicenter of drought severity and mortality associated with the 2012-2015 California drought and concurrent outbreak of western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis). At this site, we found that widespread mortality was presaged by five decades of increasing sensitivity (i.e., increased explained variation) of both tree growth and ∆ 13 C to Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). We hypothesized that increasing sensitivity of tree growth and ∆ 13 C to hydroclimate constitute EWS that indicate an increased likelihood of widespread forest mortality caused by direct and indirect effects of drought. We then tested these EWS in additional ponderosa pine-dominated forests that experienced varying mortality rates associated with the same California drought event. In general, drier sites showed increasing sensitivity of RWI to PDSI over the last century, as well as higher mortality following the California drought event compared to wetter sites. Two sites displayed evidence that thinning or fire events that reduced stand basal area effectively reversed the trend of increasing hydroclimate sensitivity. These comparisons indicate that reducing competition for soil water and/or decreasing bark beetle host tree density via forest management-particularly in drier regions-may buffer these forests against drought stress and associated mortality risk. EWS such as these could provide land managers more time to mitigate the extent or severity of forest mortality in advance of droughts. Substantial efforts at deploying additional dendrochronological research in concert with remote sensing and forest modeling will aid in forecasting of forest responses to continued climate warming., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

Background: Epidemiological findings are inconsistent regarding the associations between air pollution exposure during pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Several limitations exist in previous studies, including potential outcome and exposure misclassification, unassessed confounding, and lack of simultaneous consideration of air pollution mixtures and particulate matter (PM) constituents., Objectives: To assess the association between GDM and maternal residential exposure to air pollution, and the joint effect of the mixture of air pollutants and PM constituents., Methods: Detailed clinical data were obtained for 395,927 pregnancies in southern California (2008-2018) from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) electronic health records. GDM diagnosis was based on KPSC laboratory tests. Monthly average concentrations of fine particulate matter < 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ), <10 μm (PM 10 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), and ozone (O 3 ) were estimated using kriging interpolation of Environmental Protection Agency's routine monitoring station data, while PM 2.5 constituents (i.e., sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, organic matter and black carbon) were estimated using a fine-resolution geoscience-derived model. A multilevel logistic regression was used to fit single-pollutant models; quantile g-computation approach was applied to estimate the joint effect of air pollution and PM component mixtures. Main analyses adjusted for maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, median family household income, pre-pregnancy BMI, smoking during pregnancy, insurance type, season of conception and year of delivery., Results: The incidence of GDM was 10.9% in the study population. In single-pollutant models, we observed an increased odds for GDM associated with exposures to PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO 2 and PM 2.5 constituents. The association was strongest for NO 2 [adjusted odds ratio (OR) per interquartile range: 1.176, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.147-1.205)]. In multi-pollutant models, increased ORs for GDM in association with one quartile increase in air pollution mixtures were found for both kriging-based regional air pollutants (NO 2 , PM 2.5 , and PM 10 , OR = 1.095, 95% CI: 1.082-1.108) and PM 2.5 constituents (i.e., sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, organic matter and black carbon, OR = 1.258, 95% CI: 1.206-1.314); NO 2 (78%) and black carbon (48%) contributed the most to the overall mixture effects among all krigged air pollutants and all PM 2.5 constituents, respectively. The risk of GDM associated with air pollution exposure were significantly higher among Hispanic mothers, and overweight/obese mothers., Conclusion: This study found that exposure to a mixture of ambient PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO 2 , and PM 2.5 chemical constituents was associated with an increased risk of GDM. NO 2 and black carbon PM 2.5 contributed most to GDM risk., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Genetic diversity underpins species conservation and management goals, and ultimately determines a species' ability to adapt. Using freshwater environmental DNA (eDNA) samples, we examined mitochondrial genetic diversity using multigene metabarcode sequence data from four Oncorhynchus species across 16 sites in Oregon and northern California. Our multigene metabarcode panel included targets commonly used in population genetic NADH dehydrogenase 2 (ND2), phylogenetic cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and eDNA (12S ribosomal DNA) screening. The ND2 locus showed the greatest within-species haplotype diversity for all species, followed by COI and then 12S rDNA for all species except Oncorhynchus kisutch. Sequences recovered for O. clarkii clarkii were either identical to, or one mutation different from, previously characterized haplotypes (95.3% and 4.5% of reads, respectively). The greatest diversity in O. c. clarkii was among coastal watersheds, and subsets of this diversity were shared with fish in inland watersheds. However, coastal streams and the Umpqua River watershed appear to harbour unique haplotypes. Sequences from O. mykiss revealed a disjunction between the Willamette watershed and southern watersheds suggesting divergent histories. We also identified similarities between populations in the northern Deschutes and southern Klamath watersheds, consistent with previously hypothesized connections between the two via inland basins. Oncorhynchus kisutch was only identified in coastal streams and the Klamath River watershed, with most diversity concentrated in the coastal Coquille watershed. Oncorhynchus tshawytscha was only observed at one site, but contained multiple haplotypes at each locus. The characterization of genetic diversity at multiple loci expands the knowledge gained from eDNA sampling and provides crucial information for conservation actions and genetic management., (© 2021 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: In 2006, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and local air quality management districts implemented an Emission Reduction Plan for Ports and Goods Movement program (referred to hereinafter as GM policy actions) (CARB 2006). The GM policy actions comprise approximately 200 actions with an estimated investment value of $6 to $10 billion. These actions targeted the major sources and polluters related to goods movements, such as highways; ports and railyard trucks; ship fuel and shore power; cargo equipment; and locomotives. These actions aimed to reduce total statewide domestic GM emissions to 2001 levels or lower by the year 2010; to reduce the statewide diesel particulate matter (DPM) health risk from GM by 85% by the year 2020; and to reduce the nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emissions from international GM in the South Coast Air Basin by 30% from projected 2015 levels and 50% from projected 2020 levels. The years 2006 and 2007 marked an important milestone in starting to regulate GM polluters and adopting stricter standards for traffic-related air pollution., This project aimed to examine the impact of the GM policy actions on reductions in ambient air pollution and subsequent improvements in health outcomes of Medi-Cal fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries with chronic conditions in 10 counties in California. Specifically, we examined whether the GM policy actions reduced air pollution near GMC corridors more than in control areas. We subsequently assessed whether there were greater decreases in emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalizations for enrollees with chronic conditions who lived in the GM corridors (GMCs) than for those who lived in other areas., Methods: The study used a quasi-experimental design. We defined areas within 500 m of truck-permitted freeways and ports as GMCs. We further defined non-goods movement corridors (NGMCs) as locations within 500 m of truck-prohibited freeways or 300 m of a connecting roadway, and areas out of GMCs and NGMCs as controls (CTRLs). We defined years 2004-2007 as the pre-policy period and years 2008-2010 as the post-policy period. We developed linear mixed-effects land use regression models and created annual air pollution surfaces for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), and ozone (O 3 ) across California for years 2004-2010 at a spatial resolution of 30 m, then assigned them to enrollees' home addresses., We used a retrospective cohort of 23,000 California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) FFS adult beneficiaries living in 10 California counties with six years of data (September 1, 2004, to August 31, 2010). Cohort beneficiaries had at least one of four chronic conditions, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, and heart disease., We used a difference-in-differences (DiD) model to assess whether air pollutant concentration and health care utilization (ER visits and hospitalizations) for cohort beneficiaries declined more for those living in intervention corridors (GMCs, NGMCs) than those living in CTRLs. All the models controlled for age, sex, language spoken, race/ethnicity, number of comorbidities in baseline years, county, time-varying health indicator variables, and several neighborhood variables., To facilitate interpretation, we calculated the DiD estimates in each of the three years after the policy intervention. The DiD was used to assess the causal impact of regulatory policy on reductions of air pollution, as well as for the improvements in health outcomes., We explored whether improvements in health outcomes were due to the air pollution reduction by using a multi- level mediation model, in which the effect of GM actions on health outcomes was mediated through the effect of actual air pollution reductions in the post-policy years. We used the Generalized Structural Equation Models for the estimation and combined the effects of NO 2 and PM 2.5 in the model. To further verify the causal inferences of the GM actions on reductions of exposures and improvements in health outcomes, we performed sensitivity analyses with propensity score weighting., Results: We observed statistically significant reductions in pollutant NO 2 and PM 2.5 concentrations for enrollees in all 10 counties. The enrollees in GMCs experienced greater reductions in NO 2 and PM 2.5 from the pre- to the post-policy periods than those in CTRLs. Greater reductions were also observed among beneficiaries living in NGMCs versus those in CTRLs, but those reductions were smaller than among beneficiaries living in GMCs. For O 3 concentrations, an opposite trend was observed., Furthermore, we observed significantly greater reductions in ER visits for patients with asthma and COPD living in GMCs than those in CTRLS in the post-policy years. For example, we saw in the DiD modeling results there were 170 fewer ER visits for 1,000 beneficiaries with asthma per year in GMCs if the regionwide trend in the CTRL group was considered not related to the GM policy. Similarly, among the beneficiaries with COPD, there were 180 fewer ER visits per 1,000 patients estimated in the GMCs for the third year after the implementation of the policy., We also observed greater reductions in ER visits among those with asthma, when comparing NGMCs with CTRLs, but reductions were smaller than comparisons between GMCs and CTRLs. The ER visits for those with COPD, diabetes, and the total sample in NGMCs also had downward trends in the post-policy year in comparison with those in CTRLs but the differences were not statistically significant; similar phenomena were also observed for the ER visits among those with diabetes and heart diseases and in the total sample when GMCs versus CTRLs and GMCs versus NGMCs were compared. Although hospitalizations also decreased more in GMCs than in NGMCs and more in NGMCs than in CTRLs in the post-policy period, results were not statistically significant., Using the mediation models, we observed 0.129 more reductions in the expected number of ER visits among individuals with asthma for a composite reduction in one unit NO 2 and one unit PM 2.5 (DiD = -0.129, P < 0.05) from the pre-policy years to the post-policy years. The reductions in NO 2 and PM 2.5 due to policy change estimated by the mediation model are essentially the same as shown in the respective DiD models. Mediation analyses suggested that the effects of GM policy interventions on health improvements were largely due to exposure reductions. Finally, sensitivity analyses with propensity scores produced similar DiD results., Conclusions: This project has produced empirical evidence that air pollution control actions reduced pollution exposures among disadvantaged and susceptible populations. More importantly, our findings suggest that the reductions in air pollution led to health outcome improvements among low-income people with chronic conditions. Our investigation also contributed to scientific methods for assessing the health effects of long-term, large-scale, and complex regulatory actions with routinely collected pollutants and medical claims data. Therefore, the results strongly support both short-term and long-term efforts to improve air quality for all members of society and future studies on the impact of air pollution control policies., (© 2021 Health Effects Institute. All rights reserved.)

Specialization in mutualisms is thought to be a major driver of diversification, but few studies have explored how novel specialization evolves, or its relation to the evolution of other niche axes. A fundamental question is whether generalist interactions evolve to become more specialized (i.e., oscillation hypothesis) or if partner switches evolve without any change in niche breadth (i.e., musical chairs hypothesis). We examined alternative models for the evolution of specialization by estimating the mutualistic, climatic, and edaphic niche breadths of sister plant species, combining phylogenetic, environmental, and experimental data on Acmispon strigosus and Acmispon wrangelianus genotypes across their overlapping ranges in California. We found that specialization along all three niche axes was asymmetric across species, such that the species with broader climatic and edaphic niches, Acmispon strigosus, was also able to gain benefit from and invest in associating with a broader set of microbial mutualists. Our data are consistent with the oscillation model of specialization, and a parallel narrowing of the edaphic, climatic, and mutualistic dimensions of the host species niche. Our findings provide novel evidence that the evolution of specialization in mutualism is accompanied by specialization in other niche dimensions., (© 2021 The Authors. Evolution © 2021 The Society for the Study of Evolution.)

A 2013 outbreak of respiratory disease in bighorn sheep from California's Mojave Desert metapopulation caused high mortality in at least one population. Subsequent PCR and strain-typing indicate widespread infection of a single strain of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae throughout this region. Serosurvey of archived samples showed that some populations have had antibodies to M. ovipneumoniae since at least 1986, although pre-2013 strain-type data are unavailable., (© Wildlife Disease Association 2021.)

Background: Air pollution-attributable disease burdens reported at global, country, state, or county levels mask potential smaller-scale geographic heterogeneity driven by variation in pollution levels and disease rates. Capturing within-city variation in air pollution health impacts is now possible with high-resolution pollutant concentrations., Objectives: We quantified neighborhood-level variation in air pollution health risks, comparing results from highly spatially resolved pollutant and disease rate data sets available for the Bay Area, California., Methods: We estimated mortality and morbidity attributable to nitrogen dioxide ( NO 2 ), black carbon (BC), and fine particulate matter [PM ≤ 2.5 μ m in aerodynamic diameter ( PM 2.5 )] using epidemiologically derived health impact functions. We compared geographic distributions of pollution-attributable risk estimates using concentrations from a ) mobile monitoring of NO 2 and BC; and b ) models predicting annual NO 2 , BC and PM 2.5 concentrations from land-use variables and satellite observations. We also compared results using county vs. census block group (CBG) disease rates., Results: Estimated pollution-attributable deaths per 100,000 people at the 100 -m grid-cell level ranged across the Bay Area by a factor of 38, 4, and 5 for NO 2 [ mean = 30 (95% CI: 9, 50)], BC [ mean = 2 (95% CI: 1, 2)], and PM 2.5 , [ mean = 49 (95% CI: 33, 64)]. Applying concentrations from mobile monitoring and land-use regression (LUR) models in Oakland neighborhoods yielded similar spatial patterns of estimated grid-cell-level NO 2 -attributable mortality rates. Mobile monitoring concentrations captured more heterogeneity [mobile monitoring mean = 64 (95% CI: 19, 107) deaths per 100,000 people; LUR mean = 101 (95% CI: 30, 167)]. Using CBG-level disease rates instead of county-level disease rates resulted in 15% larger attributable mortality rates for both NO 2 and PM 2.5 , with more spatial heterogeneity at the grid-cell-level [ NO 2 CBG mean = 41 deaths per 100,000 people (95% CI: 12, 68); NO 2 county mean = 38 (95% CI: 11, 64); PM 2.5 CBG mean = 59 (95% CI: 40, 77); and PM 2.5 county mean = 55 (95% CI: 37, 71)]., Discussion: Air pollutant-attributable health burdens varied substantially between neighborhoods, driven by spatial variation in pollutant concentrations and disease rates. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7679.

Resource managers in the Pacific Northwest (USA) actively thin second-growth forests to accelerate the development of late-successional conditions and seek to expand these restoration thinning treatments into riparian zones. Riparian forest thinning, however, may impact stream temperatures-a key water quality parameter often regulated to protect stream habitat and aquatic organisms. To better understand the effects of riparian thinning on shade, light, and stream temperature, we employed a manipulative field experiment following a replicated Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design in three watersheds in the redwood forests of northern California, USA. Thinning treatments were intended to reduce canopy closure or basal area within the riparian zone by up to 50% on both sides of the stream channel along a 100-200 m stream reach. We found that responses to thinning ranged widely depending on the intensity of thinning treatments. In the watersheds with more intensive treatments, thinning reduced shade, increased light, and altered stream thermal regimes in thinned and downstream reaches. Thinning shifted thermal regimes by increasing maximum temperatures, thermal variability, and the frequency and duration of elevated temperatures. These thermal responses occurred primarily during summer but also extended into spring and fall. Longitudinal profiles indicated that increases in temperature associated with thinning frequently persisted downstream, but downstream effects depended on the magnitude of upstream temperature increases. Model selection analyses indicated that local changes in shade as well as upstream thermal conditions and proximity to upstream treatments explained variation in stream temperature responses to thinning. In contrast, in the study watershed with less intensive thinning, smaller changes in shade and light resulted in minimal stream temperature responses. Collectively, our data shed new light on the stream thermal responses to riparian thinning. These results provide relevant information for managers considering thinning as a viable restoration strategy for second-growth riparian forests., Competing Interests: The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: Green Diamond Resource Company provided salaries for DAR, JDG, and seasonal field technicians, as well as material supplies used for data collection. Green Diamond helped guide initial study questions addressed, the study design implemented, assisted with data collection, and had the opportunity to review the manuscript for accuracy. JDG is also the owner of Groom Analytics, LLC. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare.

Background: Providing timely access to care has been a long-standing priority for the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Recent strategies to reduce long wait times have focused on purchasing community care by a fee-for-service model. Whether outsourcing Veterans Affairs (VA) specialty care to the community improves access is unclear., Objectives: We compared time from referral to treatment among Veterans whose care was provided by VA versus community care purchased by the VA, using obstructive sleep apnea as an example condition., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of Northern California Veterans seeking sleep apnea care through the San Francisco VA Healthcare System between 2012 and 2018. We used multivariable linear regression with propensity score matching to investigate the relationship between time to care delivery and care setting (VA provided vs. VA-purchased community care). A total of 1347 Northern California Veterans who completed sleep apnea testing within the VA and 88 Veterans who completed sleep apnea testing in the community had complete data for analysis., Results: Among Northern California Veterans with obstructive sleep apnea, outsourcing of care to the community was associated with longer time from referral to therapy (mean±SD, 129.6±82.8 d with VA care vs. 252.0±158.8 d with community care, P<0.001) and greater loss to follow-up., Conclusions: These findings suggest that purchasing community care may lead to care fragmentation and not improve wait times nor improve access to subspecialty care for Veterans., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that pregnant women engage in at least 20 to 30 min of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week. Regular exercise during pregnancy is associated with many benefits for the mother and the developing fetus; yet, a large number of pregnant women do not engage in the recommended amounts. This study aimed to investigate barriers to and interventions for physical activity among pregnant WIC participants in Southern California., Methods: We conducted four focus groups (FGs) with pregnant low-income women aged 18 years or older in either their second or third trimester. FGs were conducted at a WIC center in Southern California. The FGs were held according to language (English vs. Spanish-speaking) and BMI category (normal weight vs. overweight and obese). A total of 28 women participated. We used ATLAS. ti. to analyze the focus group transcripts. The study adhered to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research., Results: The mean age of focus group participants was 28.9 years (SD = 6.6), and the majority were Latina. Intrapersonal barriers to physical activity were fatigue and lack of energy, pain and swelling, lack of childcare, medical restrictions and safety concerns, lack of knowledge about exercise safety, and lack of time. Interpersonal barriers included concerns and lack of support from partners and families, conflicting advice from friends and neighbors, and lack of advice on safe exercise from physicians. Women in all four groups suggested a community-based intervention where they can mingle with each other and share their challenges and concerns. Other suggestions to interventions differed among groups and reflected the women's experiences and backgrounds. Specifically, to promote education, English-speaking women preferred a brochure while Spanish-speaking women preferred a video. Overweight women emphasized including children in their exercise activities to promote healthy behavior in youth., Conclusions: Interventions should be tailored to pregnant women's needs. Primary care providers should provide reassurance and information to pregnant women and their partners on the type and frequency of safe exercise.

Background: Labor after cesarean (LAC) is an alternative to planned repeat cesarean delivery. The effect of hospital-level factors on LAC frequency and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) has been relatively understudied. It was our goal to determine if hospital frequency of LAC (number of women undergoing LAC/number of women with previous uterine scars) is associated with increased VBAC and associated outcomes among women undergoing LAC., Methods: We analyzed 43,331 term, singleton births to women who experienced LAC in California from 2007 to 2010. We conducted multivariable logistic regressions of infant and maternal outcomes for women at hospitals with high LAC frequency (≥median) compared with low LAC frequency (

Population and land management relies on understanding population regulation and growth, which may be impacted by variation in population growth parameters within and among populations. We explored the interactions between variation in carrying capacity (K), intrinsic population growth rate (r), and strength of density dependence (β) within and among elk (Cervus elaphus) herds in a small part of the geographic range of the species. We also estimated stochastic fluctuations in abundance around K for each herd. We fit linear Ricker growth models using Bayesian statistics to seven time series of elk population survey data. Our results indicate that K and β varied among herds, and that r and β varied temporally within herds. We also found that herds with smaller K had less stochastic fluctuation in abundances around K, but higher temporal variation in β within herds. Population regulation and the rate of return to the equilibrium abundance is often understood in terms of β, but ecological populations are dynamic systems, and temporal variation in population growth parameters may also influence regulation. Population models which accommodate variation both within and among herds in population growth parameters are necessary, even in mild climates, to fully understand population dynamics and manage populations.

Recapture and recycling of irrigation water is often required to meet enormous water demands at horticultural nurseries. We tested four water types associated with a recycled irrigation system at a commercial container nursery in southern California for presence of oomycete plant pathogens from July 2015 to December 2017. These water types included: the main source of water originating from a reservoir, retention water from an on-site collection pond, irrigation water received by different growing areas within the nursery, and irrigation runoff captured in polyethylene sheet-lined runoff channels. The genera Phytophthora, Pythium, and Phytopythium together contributed more than 85% of the total oomycete population detected in the recycled irrigation system. The Phytophthora and Pythium genera were represented by member species from nine (1-4, 6-10) and eight (A, B, D-F, H-J) different sub-generic clades, respectively. Incoming water sourced from the reservoir was found to harbor known plant pathogens such as Phytophthora citricola-complex, P. capsici-cluster, P. tropicalis,P citrophthora-cluster, P. nemorosa-cluster, P. riparia, P. cryptogea-complex, P. parsiana-cluster, P. sp. nov. aff. kernoviae, Pythium dissotocum-complex, Py. oligandrum-cluster, Py. irregulare, and Phytopythium litorale. Runoff water showed the highest oomycete species richness and frequency of detection with both filtration and leaf baiting methods. In addition to plant pathogens, oomycete fish pathogens such as Aphanomyces laevis, Pythium chondricola-complex, Pythium flevoense-complex, and Saprolegnia diclina-complex were also detected in greater abundance in the recycled irrigation water. The oomycete species richness in the runoff water was correlated with several environmental parameters such as soil temperature. Greater oomycete richness in incoming water was associated with higher soil temperatures, whereas richness in runoff declines with increasing soil temperature, likely suggesting connections to weather-dependent nursery operations., 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 © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Blue whales need to time their migration from their breeding grounds to their feeding grounds to avoid missing peak prey abundances, but the cues they use for this are unknown. We examine migration timing (inferred from the local onset and cessation of blue whale calls recorded on seafloor-mounted hydrophones), environmental conditions (e.g., sea surface temperature anomalies and chlorophyll a), and prey (spring krill biomass from annual net tow surveys) during a 10 year period (2008-2017) in waters of the Southern California Region where blue whales feed in the summer. Colder sea surface temperature anomalies the previous season were correlated with greater krill biomass the following year, and earlier arrival by blue whales. Our results demonstrate a plastic response of blue whales to interannual variability and the importance of krill as a driving force behind migration timing. A decadal-scale increase in temperature due to climate change has led to blue whales extending their overall time in Southern California. By the end of our 10-year study, whales were arriving at the feeding grounds more than one month earlier, while their departure date did not change. Conservation strategies will need to account for increased anthropogenic threats resulting from longer times at the feeding grounds.

The myxozoan parasite Ceratonova shasta is an important pathogen that infects multiple species of Pacific salmonids. Ongoing genetic surveillance has revealed stable host-parasite relationships throughout the parasite's endemic range. We applied Bayesian phylogenetics to test specific hypotheses about the evolution of these host-parasite relationships within the well-studied Klamath River watershed in Oregon and California, USA. The results provide statistical support that different genotypes of C. shasta are distinct lineages of one species, which is related to two other Ceratonova species in the same ecosystems; Ceratonova X in speckled dace and C. gasterostea in threespine stickleback. Furthermore, we found strong support for the hypothesis that C. shasta type 0 in native steelhead trout and type I in Chinook salmon each evolved with a specialist host adaptation strategy, while C. shasta type II in coho salmon resulted from a generalist host adaptation strategy. Inferred date and host species of the most recent common ancestor of extant Klamath basin types indicate that it occurred between 14,000 and 21,000 years ago, and most likely infected a native steelhead or rainbow trout host., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ceratonova shasta is the etiological agent of myxozoan-associated enteronecrosis in North American salmonids. The parasite's life cycle involves waterborne spores and requires both a salmonid fish and a freshwater fabriciid annelid. The success and survival of annelids can be enhanced by flow moderation by dams, and through the erosion of fine sediments into stream channels following wildfires. In this study, the presence of C. shasta environmental/ex-host DNA (eDNA) in river water and substrate samples collected from areas affected by recent fire activity in California, USA, was investigated. Additionally, DNA loads in the environment were compared to C. shasta infection in sentinel-exposed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Significant associations between C. shasta detection in environmental samples and location within a wildfire perimeter (p = 0.002), between C. shasta detection in sentinel fish and exposure location within a wildfire perimeter (p = 0.015), and between C. shasta detection in fish and locations where water temperature was above the median (p < 0.001) were observed. Additionally, a higher prevalence of C. shasta infection in fish was detected where C. shasta was also detected in environmental samples (p < 0.001). Results suggest that pathogen eDNA sampling can be used as a non-invasive, rapid, specific, and sensitive method for establishing risk of C. shasta infection in wild populations. Knowledge of the complete life cycle of the target parasite, including ecology of each host, can inform the choice of eDNA sampling strategy. Environmental DNA sampling also revealed a novel species of Ceratonova, not yet observed in a host.

Bearded sprangletop (Leptochloa fusca spp. fasicularis) is a problematic weed in California rice (Oryza sativa) production. Historically, bearded sprangletop is controlled with clomazone in California rice fields. The continuous use of clomazone and lack of crop rotation in rice fields resulted in resistance to clomazone in several bearded sprangletop. The objective of this research was to determine the clomazone mechanism of resistance of two bearded sprangletop populations in California rice by investigating clomazone absorption, translocation, and metabolism under controlled environmental conditions in two resistant (CRBS1 and CRBS2) and one susceptible (S) populations. Absorption and translocation of 14 C-clomazone were similar in R and S. Clomazone metabolism, as determined by inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes with malathion and determining clomazone metabolites profile, was different between S and R 3 days after treatment. Bearded sprangletop pretreated with malathion was 2-fold more sensitive to clomazone than when treated with clomazone alone, suggesting that cytochrome P450-mediated clomazone metabolism might be involved in the mechanism of resistance. An HPLC-MS/MS analysis revealed differences in clomazone metabolism between R and S biotypes. Hydroxymethylclomazone was the most abundant metabolite found in R plants with three and five-fold more abundant in CRBS1 and CRBS2, respectively, when compared to S plants. 5-ketoclomazone, the known toxic metabolite of clomazone, accumulated 2-fold more in S plants than in R plants at 72 h after treatment. This research shows that clomazone is metabolized differently between R and S populations of bearded sprangletop and that P450 monooxidation is likely involved in the mechanism of resistance., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Variants of the Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) cause high losses of Pacific oysters globally, including in Tomales Bay, California, USA. A suite of new variants, the OsHV-1 microvariants (μvars), cause very high mortalities of Pacific oysters in major oyster-growing regions outside of the United States. There are currently no known Pacific oysters in the United States that are resistant to OsHV-1 as resistance has yet to be evaluated in these oysters. As part of an effort to begin genetic selection for resistance to OsHV-1, 71 families from the Molluscan Broodstock Program, a US West Coast Pacific oyster breeding program, were screened for survival after exposure to OsHV-1 in Tomales Bay. They were also tested in a quarantine laboratory in France where they were exposed to a French OsHV-1 microvariant using a plate assay, with survival recorded from three to seven days post-infection., Results: Significant heritability for survival were found for all time points in the plate assay and in the survival phenotype from a single mortality count in Tomales Bay. Genetic correlations between survival against the French OsHV-1 μvar in the plate assay and the Tomales Bay variant in the field trait were weak or non-significant., Conclusions: Future breeding efforts will seek to validate the potential of genetic improvement for survival to OsHV-1 through selection using the Molluscan Broodstock Program oysters. The lack of a strong correlation in survival between OsHV-1 variants under this study's exposure conditions may require independent selection pressure for survival to each variant in order to make simultaneous genetic gains in resistance.

Objective: To understand knowledge, current practices, barriers and facilitators for pharmacists prescribing emergency contraception (EC)., Study Design: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among California community pharmacists. We distributed the online survey, consisting of 34 close-ended questions, to members of the California Pharmacists Association via its email listserve., Results: We collected a survey response rate of 7%. Although 95% of respondents were aware of the statewide protocol allowing pharmacists to prescribe EC, only 36% of respondents reported prescribing EC in the previous year. Prescribing practices within the past year differed by type of pharmacy. We found no correlation between EC knowledge and prescribing practices. The most frequently reported facilitators of EC prescribing by pharmacists were the statewide protocol, a continuing education training program, and patient need or demand for EC. The most reported barriers to prescribing EC were lack of payment for pharmacist patient care services by insurers, increased responsibility or liability concerns, and time constraints. When asked about their intention to prescribe in the upcoming year, responses differed based on whether or not their pharmacies currently stocked EC., Conclusion: This exploratory study identifies key facilitators, such as the statewide protocol, and key barriers, such as lack of payment by insurance companies for pharmacist services., Implications: The findings of this study could guide future multi-component implementation strategies such as academic detailing that specifically address concerns about increased responsibility, liability and time constraints. In addition, payment for pharmacist services could be addressed at a policy level since this was a barrier to pharmacist EC prescribing., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phytophthora ramorum , the cause of sudden oak death (SOD), kills tanoak ( Notholithocarpus densiflorus ) trees in southwestern Oregon and California. Two lineages of P. ramorum are now found in wildland forests of Oregon (NA1 and EU1). In addition to the management of SOD in forest ecosystems, disease resistance could be used as a way to mitigate the impact of P. ramorum . The objectives of this study were to (i) characterize the variability in resistance of N. densiflorus among families using lesion length; (ii) determine whether lineage, isolate, family, or their interactions significantly affect variation in lesion length; and (iii) determine whether there are differences among isolates and among families in terms of lesion length. The parameters isolate nested within lineage (isolate[lineage]) and family × isolate(lineage) interaction explained the majority of the variation in lesion length. There was no significant difference between the NA1 and EU1 lineages in terms of mean lesion length; however, there were differences among the six isolates. Lesions on seedlings collected from surviving trees at infested sites were smaller, on average, than lesions of seedlings collected from trees at noninfested sites ( P = 0.0064). The results indicate that there is potential to establish a breeding program for tanoak resistance to SOD and that several isolates of P. ramorum should be used in an artificial inoculation assay.

Loss of biological diversity through population extinctions is a global phenomenon that threatens many ecosystems. Managers often rely on databases of rare species locations to plan land use actions and conserve at-risk taxa, so it is crucial that the information they contain is accurate and dependable. However, small population sizes, long gaps between surveys, and climate change may be leading to undetected extinctions of many populations. We used repeated survey records for a rare but widespread orchid, Cypripedium fasciculatum (clustered lady's slipper), to model population extinction risk based on elevation, population size, and time between observations. Population size and elevation were negatively associated with extinction, while extinction probability increased with time between observations. We interpret population losses at low elevations as a potential signal of climate change impacts. We used this model to estimate the probability of persistence of populations across California and Oregon, and found that 39%-52% of the 2415 populations reported in databases from this region are likely extinct. Managers should be aware that the number of populations of rare species in their databases is potentially an overestimate, and consider resurveying these populations to document their presence and condition, with priority given to older reports of small populations, especially those at low elevations or in other areas with high vulnerability to climate or land cover change., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objectives : Non-fatal injuries in the high risk US Dungeness crab fishery have been under-documented, despite their potential for lost work time and income, long-term disability, and early unwanted retirement. The Fishermen Led Injury Prevention Program (FLIPP) characterized injuries in this fishery, in order to identify work hazards and inform injury control measures. Methods : The FLIPP injury survey was completed by 426 fishermen in 23 Washington, Oregon, and California fishing ports prior to the 2015-2016 Dungeness crab season; 413 (97%) provided injury information for this analysis. Participants indicated whether they had been injured in the previous 12 months, described the injury, any treatments received, and whether the injury limited their ability to work. Results : Participants were mostly male (98%), more than half (56.6%) worked as deckhands, and reported considerable fishing experience (median = 14 years, interquartile range 5-27). Eighty-nine fishermen (21.5%) reported an injury incident in the past year, of which 49 (55.1%) were limiting. The 89 incidents yielded 102 injuries, of which nearly two-thirds were sprains/strains (23, 22.5%), surface wounds/bruises (17, 15.0%), cuts (18, 17.6%), or punctures (11, 10.8%). More severe injuries, including eight fractures, were rare. The majority of injuries received either no treatment (27, 26.5%) or first aid (35, 34.3%); clinical care was less common (22, 21.6%), and emergency care rare (3, 2.9%). Conclusion : One in five Dungeness crab fishermen reported an injury incident in the previous year. Most injuries were not severe and did not result in clinical care, but approximately half were work-limiting. Control measures must account for the remote and resource-limited workplace in commercial fishing.

Avian species host diverse communities of microorganisms which have important roles in the life of birds, including increased metabolism, protection from disease, and immune system development. Along with high human populations and a diversity of human uses of coastal zones, anthropogenic food sources are becoming increasingly available to some species, including gulls. Anthropogenic associations increase the likelihood of encountering foreign or pathogenic bacteria. Diseases in birds caused by bacteria are a substantial source of avian mortality; therefore, it is essential to characterize the microbiome of seabirds. Here, we determined both core and environmentally derived microbial communities of breeding western gulls (Larus occidentalis) from six colonies in California and Oregon. Using DNA extracted from bacterial swabs of the bill, cloaca, and feet of gulls, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed targeting the V4 region. We identified a total of 8542 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) from 75 gulls. Sixty-eight OTUs were identified in gulls from all six colonies with the greatest representation from phyla's of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. Overall, microbial richness based on Chao's Abundance-based Coverage Estimator (ACE) index was similar for all colonies (mean = 2347 OTUs) with the smallest coastal colonies having the highest richness (mean = 2626 OTUs) and the largest colonies, located farther off-shore, having the lowest (mean = 2068 OTUs). This survey represents the most in-depth assessment to date of microbes associated with western gulls, and the first study to identify both species-specific and environmentally derived bacteria across multiple populations.

Objective: Regional primary health care system capacity may affect the demand for psychiatric visits to the emergency department (ED). In the United States, community health centers (CHCs), which serve low-income regions regardless of individuals' ability to pay, expanded primary care services by over 70% in the past decade. No research, however, evaluates whether this expansion affects overall psychiatric ED visits. This hypothesis is tested in 143 U.S. counties that expanded CHC services., Methods: For the years 2006 through 2011, 18.84 million psychiatric outpatient ED visits were aggregated by county-year for the 143 U.S. counties with a participating CHC. The rate of psychiatric ED cases in a county-year is the dependent variable. Two independent variables were examined: total patients seen at CHCs and total patients receiving mental health services at CHCs. Fixed-effects regression methods controlled for county effects, year effects, and other health care and sociodemographic factors., Results: Psychiatric ED visits fell below expected levels in county-years where the volume of overall CHC patients rose (coefficient=-0.059; standard error=0.027, p=0.03). Findings indicate no relation between the volume of mental health patients seen at CHCs and psychiatric ED visits., Conclusions: An increase in general primary health care to an underserved population, in the form of CHCs, corresponds with a decline in psychiatric ED visits. This result coheres with a recent Medicaid expansion experiment in which increased access to general primary care reduced the prevalence of undiagnosed and untreated depression. Findings, if replicated, may hold policy implications for regional health systems.

Adaptive management of marine protected areas (MPAs) requires developing methods to evaluate whether monitoring data indicate that they are performing as expected. Modeling the expected responses of targeted species to an MPA network, with a clear timeline for those expectations, can aid in the development of a monitoring program that efficiently evaluates expectations over appropriate time frames. Here, we describe the expected trajectories in abundance and biomass following MPA implementation for populations of 19 nearshore fishery species in California. To capture the process of filling in the age structure truncated by fishing, we used age-structured population models with stochastic larval recruitment to predict responses to MPA implementation. We implemented both demographically open (high larval immigration) and closed (high self-recruitment) populations to model the range of possible trajectories as they depend on recruitment dynamics. From these simulations, we quantified the time scales over which anticipated increases in abundance and biomass inside MPAs would become statistically detectable. Predicted population biomass responses range from little change, for species with low fishing rates, to increasing by a factor of nearly seven, for species with high fishing rates before MPA establishment. Increases in biomass following MPA implementation are usually greater in both magnitude and statistical detectability than increases in abundance. For most species, increases in abundance would not begin to become detectable for at least 10 years after implementation. Overall, these results inform potential indicator metrics (biomass), potential indicator species (those with a high fishing : natural mortality ratio), and time frame (>10 yr) for MPA monitoring assessment as part of the adaptive management process., (© 2019 by the Ecological Society of America.)

This study presents land-use regression (LUR) models for submicron particulate matter (PM 1 ) components from an urban area. Models are presented for mass concentrations of inorganic species (SO 4 , NO 3 , NH 4 ), organic aerosol (OA) factors, and total PM 1 . OA is source-apportioned using positive matrix factorization (PMF) of data collected from aerosol mass spectrometry deployed on a mobile laboratory. PMF yielded a three-factor solution: cooking OA (COA), hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), and less-oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA). This study represents the first time that LUR has been applied to source-resolved OA factors. We sampled a roughly 20 km 2 area of West Oakland, California, USA, over 1 month (mid-July to mid-August, 2017). The road network of the sampling domain was comprehensively sampled each day using a randomized driving route to minimize temporal and spatial bias. Mobile measurements were aggregated both spatially and temporally for use as discrete spatial observations for LUR model building. LUR model performance was highest for those species with more spatial variability (primary OA factors: COA R 2 = 0.80, HOA R 2 = 0.67) and lowest for secondary inorganic species (SO 4 R 2 = 0.47, NH 4 R 2 = 0.43) that were more spatially homogeneous. Notably, the stepwise selective LUR algorithm largely selected predictors for primary OA factors that correspond to the associated land-use categories (e.g., cooking land-use variables were selected in cooking-related PM models). This finding appears to be robust, as we demonstrate the predictive link between land-use variables and the corresponding source-resolved PM 1 components through a subsampling analysis.

Understanding the relative roles of species interactions and environmental factors in structuring communities has historically focused on local scales where manipulative experiments are possible. However, recent interest in predicting the effects of climate change and species invasions has spurred increasing attention to processes occurring at larger spatial and temporal scales. The "meta-ecosystem" approach is an ideal framework for integrating processes operating at multiple scales as it explicitly considers the influence of local biotic interactions and regional flows of energy, materials, and organisms on community structure. Using a comparative-experimental design, we asked (1) what is the relative importance of local biotic interactions and oceanic processes in determining rocky intertidal community structure in the low zone within the Northern California Current System, and (2) what factors are most important in regulating this structure and why? We focused on functional group interactions between macrophytes and sessile invertebrates and their consumers (grazers, predators), how these varied across spatial scales, and with ocean-driven conditions (upwelling, temperature) and ecological subsidies (nutrients, phytoplankton, sessile invertebrate recruits). Experiments were conducted at 13 sites divided across four capes in Oregon and northern California. Results showed that biotic interactions were variable in space and time but overall, sessile invertebrates had no effect on macrophytes while macrophytes had weakly negative effects on sessile invertebrates. Consumers, particularly predators, also had weakly negative effects on both functional groups. Overall, we found that 40-49% of the variance in community structure at the local scale was explained by external factors (e.g., spatial scale, time, upwelling, temperature, ecological subsidies) vs. 19-39% explained by functional group interactions. When individual functional group interaction strengths were used, only 2-3% of the variation was explained by any one functional group while 28-54% of the variation was explained by external factors. We conclude that community structure in the low intertidal zone is driven primarily by external factors at the regional scale with local biotic interactions playing a secondary role., (© 2019 by the Ecological Society of America.)

Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich) is a globally distributed, freshwater parasitic ciliate that infects wild and cultured fishes. It has a direct, temperature-dependent life cycle that enables rapid multiplication when hosts are plentiful and environmental conditions are favorable. Accurate detection is central to the control of Ich infections and prevention of host mortality, particularly in wild systems where chemical treatments are not feasible. In the Klamath River, California, USA, the parasite threatens pre-spawning adult salmon Oncorhynchus spp. Currently, Ich is monitored by lethal sampling of fish hosts and visual quantification of parasite load. This method is insensitive to light infections, contributes to pre-spawn mortality of wild salmon, and does not allow for population-level disease risk assessments. We developed and applied an alternate sampling method based on molecular analysis of water samples for parasite DNA. We sequenced the small subunit ribosomal DNA (ssrDNA) of Ich isolates collected from the Klamath River, and then developed and validated a novel qPCR assay (SYTO9) that targets Ich ssrDNA. Our assay has better specificity than previously published assays, with strong linearity, efficiency and repeatability. The limit of detection was 50 copies of ssrDNA, equivalent to ~2 theronts in a sample. We found that Ich abundance in environmental water samples collected from the lower Klamath River from July to October, 2014 through 2016, related to observed parasite load on salmon sampled concurrently, indicating that the qPCR assay could be a useful monitoring tool for Ich in the Klamath River, with applications beyond the region.

In terrestrial systems, the green wave hypothesis posits that migrating animals can enhance foraging opportunities by tracking phenological variation in high-quality forage across space (i.e., "resource waves"). To track resource waves, animals may rely on proximate cues and/or memory of long-term average phenologies. Although there is growing evidence of resource tracking in terrestrial migrants, such drivers remain unevaluated in migratory marine megafauna. Here we present a test of the green wave hypothesis in a marine system. We compare 10 years of blue whale movement data with the timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom resulting in increased prey availability in the California Current Ecosystem, allowing us to investigate resource tracking both contemporaneously (response to proximate cues) and based on climatological conditions (memory) during migrations. Blue whales closely tracked the long-term average phenology of the spring bloom, but did not track contemporaneous green-up. In addition, blue whale foraging locations were characterized by low long-term habitat variability and high long-term productivity compared with contemporaneous measurements. Results indicate that memory of long-term average conditions may have a previously underappreciated role in driving migratory movements of long-lived species in marine systems, and suggest that these animals may struggle to respond to rapid deviations from historical mean environmental conditions. Results further highlight that an ecological theory of migration is conserved across marine and terrestrial systems. Understanding the drivers of animal migration is critical for assessing how environmental changes will affect highly mobile fauna at a global scale., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This study measured the degree of behavioral responses in blue whales ( Balaenoptera musculus ) to controlled noise exposure off the southern California coast. High-resolution movement and passive acoustic data were obtained from non-invasive archival tags ( n =42) whereas surface positions were obtained with visual focal follows. Controlled exposure experiments (CEEs) were used to obtain direct behavioral measurements before, during and after simulated and operational military mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS), pseudorandom noise (PRN) and controls (no noise exposure). For a subset of deep-feeding animals ( n =21), active acoustic measurements of prey were obtained and used as contextual covariates in response analyses. To investigate potential behavioral changes within individuals as a function of controlled noise exposure conditions, two parallel analyses of time-series data for selected behavioral parameters (e.g. diving, horizontal movement and feeding) were conducted. This included expert scoring of responses according to a specified behavioral severity rating paradigm and quantitative change-point analyses using Mahalanobis distance statistics. Both methods identified clear changes in some conditions. More than 50% of blue whales in deep-feeding states responded during CEEs, whereas no changes in behavior were identified in shallow-feeding blue whales. Overall, responses were generally brief, of low to moderate severity, and highly dependent on exposure context such as behavioral state, source-to-whale horizontal range and prey availability. Response probability did not follow a simple exposure-response model based on received exposure level. These results, in combination with additional analytical methods to investigate different aspects of potential responses within and among individuals, provide a comprehensive evaluation of how free-ranging blue whales responded to mid-frequency military sonar., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2019. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Personal exposure to pesticides has not been well characterized, especially among adolescents. We used silicone wristbands to assess pesticide exposure in 14 to 16 year old Latina girls (N = 97) living in the agricultural Salinas Valley, California, USA and enrolled in the COSECHA (CHAMACOS of Salinas Examining Chemicals in Homes and Agriculture) Study, a youth participatory action study in an agricultural region of California. We determined pesticide concentrations (ng/g/day) in silicone wristbands worn for one week using gas chromatography electron capture detection and employed gas chromatography mass spectrometry to determine the presence or absence of over 1500 chemicals. Predictors of pesticide detections and concentrations were identified using logistic regression, Wilcoxon rank sum tests, and Tobit regression models. The most frequently detected pesticides in wristbands were fipronil sulfide (87%), cypermethrin (56%), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) (56%), dacthal (53%), and trans-permethrin (52%). Living within 100 m of active agricultural fields, having carpeting in the home, and having an exterminator treat the home in the past six months were associated with higher odds of detecting certain pesticides. Permethrin concentrations were lower for participants who cleaned their homes daily (GM: 1.9 vs. 6.8 ng/g/day, p = 0.01). In multivariable regression models, participants with doormats in the entryway of their home had lower concentrations (p < 0.05) of cypermethrin (87%), permethrin (99%), fipronil sulfide (69%) and DDE (75%). The results suggest that both nearby agricultural pesticide use and individual behaviors are associated with pesticide exposures., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The role of gene expression in adaptation to differing thermal environments has been assayed extensively. Yet, in most natural systems, analyses of gene expression reveal only one level of the complexity of regulatory machineries. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs which are key components of many gene regulatory networks, and they play important roles in a variety of cellular pathways by modulating post-transcriptional quantities of mRNA available for protein synthesis. The characterization of miRNA loci and their regulatory dynamics in nonmodel systems are still largely understudied. In this study, we examine the role of miRNAs in response to high thermal stress in the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus. Allopatric populations of this species show varying levels of local adaptation with respect to thermal regimes, and previous studies showed divergence in gene expression between populations from very different thermal environments. We examined the transcriptional response to temperature stress in two populations separated by only 8 km by utilizing RNA-seq to quantify both mRNA and miRNA levels. Using the currently available genome sequence, we first describe the repertoire of miRNAs in T. californicus and assess the degree to which transcriptional response to temperature stress is governed by miRNA activity. The two populations showed large differences in the number of genes involved, the magnitude of change in commonly used genes and in the number of miRNAs involved in transcriptional modulation during stress. Our results suggest that an increased level of regulatory network complexity may underlie improved survivorship under thermal stress in one of the populations., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Commercial fishing is a hazardous occupation in the United States (US). Injury surveillance data relies heavily on US Coast Guard reports, which capture injuries severe enough to require reporting. The reports do not incorporate the fishermen's perspective on contributing factors to injuries and staying safe while fishing., Materials and Methods: We conducted a pre-season survey of Dungeness crab fishermen during 2015 to 2016. Community researchers administered surveys to fishermen. Respondents reported their opinions about factors contributing to injuries and staying safe, which were grouped into similar themes by consen- sus. Descriptive statistics were calculated to explore the number of injuries, crew position, age, and years of experience. Chi-square tests compared perceptions of injury causation, staying safe, and other factors., Results: Four hundred twenty-six surveys were completed. Injury causation perceptions were sorted into 17 categories, and staying safe perceptions were sorted into 13 categories. The most frequently cited causes of injury were heavy workload (86, 21.9%), poor mental focus (78, 19.9%), and inexperience (56, 14.3%). The most frequently cited factors in staying safe while fishing were awareness (142, 36.1%), good and well-maintained fishing gear/vessel (41, 10.4%), and best marine practices (39, 9.9%). Opinions were not significantly associated with experiencing an injury in the past while fishing, but some opinions were significantly associated with crew position, age, and years of experience., Conclusions: The perceptions of fishermen can be evaluated further and incorporated into training or intervention development. The fishermen-led approach of this project lends itself to developing injury pre- vention strategies that are effective, realistic and suitable. The resources available at FLIPPresources.org, such as informational sheets for new fishermen, sample crew agreements, and first aid kit resources, supply workers in this fishery with real solutions for issues they identified through their survey responses.

The distribution of the freshwater myxozoan parasite Ceratonova shasta in the Pacific Northwest of North America is limited to overlap in the ranges of its 2 hosts: the polychaete Manyunkia sp., and Pacific salmonids. Studies in the Klamath River (Oregon/California) and Deschutes River (Oregon), showed that the parasite population is comprised of multiple sympatric genotypes, some of which correlate with particular salmonid host species and with differences in clinical disease in those hosts. The 3 primary genotypes O, I, and II are defined by the number of a specific tri-nucleotide repeat in the internal transcribed spacer-1 region. To understand the spatial extent of host-parasite genotype patterns, we sequenced the parasite from 448 salmonid fishes from river basins in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia, Canada. We sampled intestinal tissues from 6 species of salmon and trout, both those that exist naturally with the parasite (sympatric) and those that do not naturally co-occur with the parasite and were exposed artificially in cages (allopatric). In most river basins we detected the same primary C. shasta genotypes that were described from the Klamath and Deschutes rivers, and we did not detect any novel primary genotypes. Host-parasite genotype patterns were consistent with previous data: genotype O was found in sympatric trout only; genotype I predominantly in Chinook salmon, and genotype II in all 6 fish species but dominant in coho salmon. Our findings of widespread, consistent host-parasite genotype patterns support the hypothesis that C. shasta has a long evolutionary history with salmonid fishes in the Pacific Northwest, and impels additional studies to determine if these parasite genotypes should be considered different species.

Because decisions related to contraceptive behavior are often made by young adults in the context of specific relationships, the relational context likely influences use of contraceptives. Data presented here are from in-person structured interviews with 536 Black, Hispanic, and White young adults from East Los Angeles, California. We collected partner-specific relational and contraceptive data on all sexual partnerships for each individual, on four occasions, over one year. Using three-level multinomial logistic regression models, we examined individual and relationship factors predictive of contraceptive use. Results indicated that both individual and relationship factors predicted contraceptive use, but factors varied by method. Participants reporting greater perceived partner exclusivity and relationship commitment were more likely to use hormonal/long-acting methods only or a less effective method/no method versus condoms only. Those with greater participation in sexual decision making were more likely to use any method over a less effective method/no method and were more likely to use condoms only or dual methods versus a hormonal/long-acting method only. In addition, for women only, those who reported greater relationship commitment were more likely to use hormonal/long-acting methods or a less effective method/no method versus a dual method. In summary, interactive relationship qualities and dynamics (commitment and sexual decision making) significantly predicted contraceptive use.

The retrospective pre-post design affords many benefits to program staff and, accordingly, has piqued renewed interest among applied program evaluators. In particular, the field has witnessed increasing application of a post-program-only data collection strategy in which only posttest and retrospective pretest data are collected. A post-program-only assessment strategy takes considerably less time than is required for collecting pre-program data and presumably has the added benefit of eliminating the impact of response-shift bias. Response-shift bias occurs when the knowledge, skills, or experiences participants gain through program participation leads them to interpret questionnaire items in a qualitatively different manner at pretest versus posttest. In this article, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses associated with administering retrospective pretest assessments and underscore the importance of thoroughly evaluating any application of a retrospective measurement strategy prior to its broader implementation. We provide a practical illustration of this evaluation process using a mixed-method study that assesses one measure of parenting education program effectiveness-the Parenting Skills Ladder., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Although California is home to the largest Hispanic/Latino population, few studies have compared smoking behavior trends of Hispanic/Latino nationality groups in California to the remaining United States, which may identify the impact of the states antitobacco efforts on these groups. This study compared smoking status, frequency, and intensity among Mexican Americans, Central/South Americans, and non-Hispanic Whites in California to the remaining United States in the 1990s and 2000s., Methods: Data were analyzed using the 1992-2011 Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement to report the estimated prevalence of smoking status, frequency, and intensity by decade, race/ethnicity, and state residence. Weighted logistic regression explored sociodemographic factors associated with never and heavy smoking (≥20 cigarettes per day)., Results: There were absolute overall increases from 6.8% to 9.6% in never smoking across all groups. Compared to the remaining United States, there was a greater decrease in heavy smoking among Mexican American current smokers in California (5.1%) and a greater increase in light and intermittent smokers among Central/South American current smokers in California (9.3%) between decades. Compared to those living in the remaining United States, smokers living in California had lower odds of heavy smoking (1990s: odds ratio [OR] = 0.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.62, 0.66; 2000s: 0.54, 95% CI = 0.52, 0.55)., Conclusions: California state residence significantly impacted smoking behaviors as indicated by significant differences in smoking intensity between California and the remaining United States among Hispanic/Latino nationality groups. Understanding smoking behaviors across Hispanic/Latino nationality groups in California and the United States can inform tobacco control and smoking prevention strategies for these groups., Implications: The present study explored the differences in smoking behaviors between Whites, Mexican Americans, and Central South/Americans living in California versus the rest of the United States in the 1990s and the 2000s. The results contribute to our current knowledge as there have been minimal efforts to provide disaggregated cigarette consumption information among Hispanic/Latino nationality groups. Additionally, by comparing cigarette consumption between those in California and the remaining United States, our data may provide insight into the impact of California's antitobacco efforts in reaching Hispanic/Latino subpopulations relative to the remaining US states, many of which have had less tobacco control policy implementation.

Myxobolus cerebralis is a myxozoan parasite and the etiological agent of whirling disease in salmonids. The parasite's life cycle involves waterborne spores and requires both a salmonid fish and the benthic freshwater oligochaete worm Tubifex tubifex (Oligochaeta: Tubificidae). Wildfires can lead to the erosion of fine sediments into stream channels and have been implicated as promoting environmental conditions that are suitable for the survival and success of T. tubifex, whose presence in turn can affect the prevalence of M. cerebralis. Analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) has the potential to be a powerful tool for evaluating the presence of microorganisms, for which direct observation is impossible. We investigated the presence of M. cerebraliseDNA in river water and river sediment samples collected from areas affected by recent fire activity in Plumas National Forest, California. We compared eDNA loads in the environment to M. cerebralis infection in T. tubifex and sentinel-exposed Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and the presence of T. tubifex lineages in the same environment. For the latter, we developed a multiplex quantitative PCR assay for detection of T. tubifex lineages I, III, and V. Lineage IIIT. tubifex and M. cerebralis (eDNA as well as DNA extracted from fish and worm tissues) were detected only in samples obtained from areas affected by the Moonlight wildfire. The association between M. cerebralis infection in sentinel-exposed fish and eDNA detection in environmental samples only approached significance at a P-value of 0.056. However, given the difference in relative effort between the two sampling methods (host versus nonhost environment), our data suggest that eDNA sampling of water and substrate is a promising approach for surveillance of myxozoan fish parasites., (© 2018 American Fisheries Society.)