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Weedy plants pose a major threat to food security, biodiversity, ecosystem services and consequently to human health and wellbeing. However, many currently used weed management approaches are increasingly unsustainable. To address this knowledge and practice gap, in June 2014, 35 weed and invasion ecologists, weed scientists, evolutionary biologists and social scientists convened a workshop to explore current and future perspectives and approaches in weed ecology and management. A horizon scanning exercise ranked a list of 124 pre-submitted questions to identify a priority list of 30 questions. These questions are discussed under seven themed headings that represent areas for renewed and emerging focus for the disciplines of weed research and practice. The themed areas considered the need for transdisciplinarity, increased adoption of integrated weed management and agroecological approaches, better understanding of weed evolution, climate change, weed invasiveness and finally, disciplinary challenges for weed science. Almost all the challenges identified rested on the need for continued efforts to diversify and integrate agroecological, socio-economic and technological approaches in weed management. These challenges are not newly conceived, though their continued prominence as research priorities highlights an ongoing intransigence that must be addressed through a more system-oriented and transdisciplinary research agenda that seeks an embedded integration of public and private research approaches. This horizon scanning exercise thus set out the building blocks needed for future weed management research and practice; however, the challenge ahead is to identify effective ways in which sufficient research and implementation efforts can be directed towards these needs.

Anton Pottegård,1 Kasper Bruun Kristensen,1 Mette Reilev,1 Lars Christian Lund,1 Martin Thomsen Ernst,1 Jesper Hallas,1,2 Reimar Wernich Thomsen,3 Christian Fynbo Christiansen,3 Henrik Toft Sørensen,3,4 Nanna Borup Johansen,5 Henrik Støvring,1,6 Steffen Christensen,7 Marianne Kragh Thomsen,8 Anders Husby,9 Marianne Voldstedlund,10 Jesper Kjær,11 Nikolai C Brun5 1Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; 2Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 3Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 4Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 5Department of Medical Evaluation and Biostatistics, Danish Medicines Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark; 6Department of Public Health – Biostatistics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; 7Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 8Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 9Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; 10Infection Preparedness, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; 11Data Analytics Center, Danish Medicines Agency, Copenhagen, DenmarkCorrespondence: Anton PottegårdClinical Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, JB Winsløws Vej 19, 2, Odense DK-5000, DenmarkTel +45 28913340Email apottegaard@health.sdu.dkBackground: To facilitate research on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a prospective cohort of all Danish residents tested for SARS-CoV-2 in Denmark is established.Data Structure: All Danish residents tested by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 in Denmark are included. The cohort is identified using the Danish Microbiology Database. Individual-level record linkage between administrative and health-care registries is facilitated by the Danish Civil Registration System. Information on outcomes related to SARS-CoV-2 infection includes hospital admission, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, and death and is retrieved from the five administrative Danish regions, the Danish National Patient Registry, and the Danish Register of Causes of Death. The Patient Registry further provides a complete hospital contact history of somatic and psychiatric conditions and procedures. Data on all prescriptions filled at community pharmacies are available from the Danish National Prescription Registry. Health-care authorization status is obtained from the Danish Register of Healthcare Professionals. Finally, selected laboratory values are obtained from the Register of Laboratory Results for Research. The cohort is governed by a steering committee with representatives from the Danish Medicines Agency, Statens Serum Institut, the Danish Health Authority, the Danish Health Data Authority, Danish Patients, the Faculties of Health Sciences at the Danish universities, and Danish regions. The steering committee welcomes suggestions for research studies and collaborations. Research proposals will be prioritized based on timeliness and potential clinical and public health implications. All research protocols assessing specific hypotheses for medicines will be made publicly available using the European Union electronic Register of Post-Authorisation Studies.Conclusion: The Danish COVID-19 cohort includes all Danish residents with an RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2. Through individual-level linkage with existing Danish health and administrative registries, this is a valuable data source for epidemiological research on SARS-CoV-2.Keywords: Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, epidemiology, follow-up, database, prognosis, prospective cohort

Background: Recently, the application of meditative practices to the treatment of depressive disorders has met with increasing clinical and scientific interest, owing to a lower side-effect burden, potential reduction of polypharmacy, and theoretical considerations that such interventions may target some of the cognitive roots of depression. Objective: We aimed to determine the state of the evidence supporting this application. Methods: Randomized controlled trials of techniques meeting the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality definition of meditation, for participants having clinically diagnosed depressive disorders, not currently in remission, were selected. Meditation therapies were separated into praxis (i.e., how they were applied) components, and trial outcomes were reviewed. Results: 18 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were identified, encompassing 7 distinct techniques and 1173 patients. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy comprised the largest proportion of studies. Studies including patients having acute major depressive episodes (. n = 10 studies), and those with residual subacute clinical symptoms despite initial treatment (. n = 8), demonstrated moderate to large reductions in depression symptoms within the group, and relative to control groups. There was significant heterogeneity of techniques and trial designs. Conclusions: A substantial body of evidence indicates that meditation therapies may have salutary effects on patients having clinical depressive disorders during the acute and subacute phases of treatment. Owing to methodologic deficiencies and trial heterogeneity, large-scale, randomized controlled trials with well-described comparator interventions and measures of expectation are needed to clarify the role of meditation in the depression treatment armamentarium.

A growing body of evidence shows that aboveground and belowground communities and processes are intrinsically linked, and that feedbacks between these subsystems have important implications for community structure and ecosystem functioning. Almost all studies on this topic have been carried out from an empirical perspective and in specific ecological settings or contexts. Belowground interactions operate at different spatial and temporal scales. Due to the relatively low mobility and high survival of organisms in the soil, plants have longer lasting legacy effects belowground than aboveground. Our current challenge is to understand how aboveground–belowground biotic interactions operate across spatial and temporal scales, and how they depend on, as well as influence, the abiotic environment. Because empirical capacities are too limited to explore all possible combinations of interactions and environmental settings, we explore where and how they can be supported by theoretical approaches to develop testable predictions and to generalise empirical results. We review four key areas where a combined aboveground–belowground approach offers perspectives for enhancing ecological understanding, namely succession, agro-ecosystems, biological invasions and global change impacts on ecosystems. In plant succession, differences in scales between aboveground and belowground biota, as well as between species interactions and ecosystem processes, have important implications for the rate and direction of community change. Aboveground as well as belowground interactions either enhance or reduce rates of plant species replacement. Moreover, the outcomes of the interactions depend on abiotic conditions and plant life history characteristics, which may vary with successional position. We exemplify where translation of the current conceptual succession models into more predictive models can help targeting empirical studies and generalising their results. Then, we discuss how understanding succession may help to enhance managing arable crops, grasslands and invasive plants, as well as provide insights into the effects of global change on community re-organisation and ecosystem processes.

Christian Fynbo Christiansen,1 Morten Hylander Møller,2 Henrik Nielsen,1 Steffen Christensen3 1Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, 2Department of Intensive Care 4131, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, 3Department of Intensive Care, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark Aim of database: The aim of this database is to improve the quality of care in Danish intensive care units (ICUs) by monitoring key domains of intensive care and to compare these with predefined standards. Study population: The Danish Intensive Care Database (DID) was established in 2007 and includes virtually all ICU admissions in Denmark since 2005. The DID obtains data from the Danish National Registry of Patients, with complete follow-up through the Danish Civil Registration System. Main variables: For each ICU admission, the DID includes data on the date and time of ICU admission, type of admission, organ supportive treatments, date and time of discharge, status at discharge, and mortality up to 90 days after admission. Descriptive variables include age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index score, and, since 2010, the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II. The variables are recorded with 90%–100% completeness in the recent years, except for SAPS II score, which is 73%–76% complete. The DID currently includes five quality indicators. Process indicators include out-of-hour discharge and transfer to other ICUs for capacity reasons. Outcome indicators include ICU readmission within 48 hours and standardized mortality ratios for death within 30 days after admission using case-mix adjustment (initially using age, sex, and comorbidity level, and, since 2013, using SAPS II) for all patients and for patients with septic shock. Descriptive data: The DID currently includes 335,564 ICU admissions during 2005–2015 (average 31,958 ICU admissions per year). Conclusion: The DID provides a valuable data source for quality monitoring and improvement, as well as for research. Keywords: critical care, databases, health care quality, intensive care

The 'very old intensive care patients' (abbreviated to VOPs; greater than 80 years old) are probably the fastest expanding subgroup of all intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Up until recently most ICU physicians have been reluctant to admit these VOPs. The general consensus was that there was little survival to gain and the incremental life expectancy of ICU admission was considered too small. Several publications have questioned this belief, but others have confirmed the poor long-term mortality rates in VOPs. More appropriate triage (resource limitation enforced decisions), admission decisions based on shared decision-making and improved prediction models are also needed for this particular patient group. Here, an expert panel proposes a research agenda for VOPs for the coming years., Author(s): H. Flaatten [sup.1] [sup.2], D. W. de Lange [sup.3], A. Artigas [sup.4], D. Bin [sup.5], R. Moreno [sup.6], S. Christensen [sup.7], G. M. Joynt [sup.8], Sean M. Bagshaw [sup.9], [...]