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In seasonal environments, breeding events must be synchronized with resource peaks to ensure production and growth of offspring. As changes in climate may affect trophic levels differentially, we hypothesized that a lack of synchrony between chick hatch and resource peaks could decrease growth rates in chicks of shorebirds nesting in the High Arctic. To test this hypothesis, we compared growth curves of chicks hatching in synchrony with peak periods of food abundance to those hatching outside of these peak periods. We also tested for changes in lay dates of shorebirds in the Canadian Arctic using recent and historical data. Mean daily temperatures during the laying period increased since the 1950s by up to 1.5°C, and changes in lay dates were apparent for three shorebird species, yet differences in median lay dates between 1954 and 2005-2008 were only significant for White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis (Viellot, 1819)). During 20052008, there was only 1 year of relatively high synchrony between hatch and resource peaks. Asynchrony between hatch and peaks in Tipulidae biomass reduced growth rates in chicks of Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii (Coues, 1861)). As anticipated changes in climate may decouple phenological events, the effects of asynchrony on growth rates of arctic-nesting birds warrant further investigation. Key words: phenology, mismatch, shorebirds, arthropods, Tipulidae. Dans les milieux saisonniers, les evenements de reproduction doivent etre synchronises avec les pointes de ressources pour assurer la production et la croissance de la progeniture. Comme l'incidence des changements climatiques peut varier selon les niveaux trophiques, nous avons postule que l'absence de synchronisme entre l'eclosion des oisillons et les pointes de ressources pourrait entrainer une reduction des taux de croissance des oisillons d'oiseaux de rivage qui nichent dans l'Extreme Arctique. Pour verifier cette hypothese, nous avons compare les courbes de croissance d'oisillons eclos durant des periodes de pointe d'abondance de nourriture a celles d'oisillons eclos en dehors de ces periodes. Nous avons egalement verifie la presence d'eventuels changements aux dates de ponte d'oiseaux de rivage de l'Arctique canadien a l'aide de donnees recentes et historiques. Si les temperatures moyennes quotidiennes durant la periode de ponte ont connu une augmentation allant jusqu'a 1,5°C depuis les annees 1950 et que des changements apparents aux dates de ponte ont ete notes pour trois especes d'oiseaux de rivage, les variations des dates de ponte medianes de 1954 a 2005-2008 n'etaient significatives que pour le becasseau a croupion blanc (Calidris fuscicollis (Viellot, 1819)). De 2005 a 2008, il n'yaeu qu'une seule annee ou le synchronisme entre l'eclosion et les pointes de ressources etait relativement eleve. L'asynchronisme entre l'eclosion et les pointes de biomasse de tipulides s'est traduit par une diminution des taux de croissance d'oisillons de becasseaux de Baird (Calidris bairdii (Coues, 1861)). Comme les changements climatiques prevus pourraient causer le decouplage d' evenements phenologiques, un examen plus approfondi des effets de l' asynchronisme sur les taux de croissance des oiseaux qui nichent dans l'Arctique serait opportun. Mots-cles : phenologie, decalage, oiseaux de rivage, arthropodes, tipulides. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction In seasonal environments, it is critical for birds to synchronize breeding events with peaks in resource availability to ensure adequate resources for the production and growth of offspring. In [...]

Sampling for glass eels of the shortfinned eel, Anguilla australis, was conducted in a number of estuaries in south-eastern Australia using glass eel and stow nets during the winter and spring months of 1994 and 1995. Preliminary modelling of the invasion of A. australis glass eels was undertaken by determining correlations between Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) of glass eels and water temperature, electrical conductivity, lunar phase and height of high tide. Low (< 10000 µS/cm) electrical conductivity, medium (10-14°C) water temperature and high (>0m AHD) tide height showed significant correlation with high CPUE, but lunar phase (as moon age in days) did not. There appears to be some scope for predicting the invasion of A. australis glass eels into south-eastern Australian estuaries using temperature and electrical conductivity as key criteria for determining when glass eel fishing should commence. Such information is expected to contribute to the development of a commercial glass eel fishery in south-eastern Australia.

Summary Of Background Data. People with chronic neck pain respond variably to exercise therapy. The likely success of exercise for chronic neck pain cannot be predicted. Study Design. This prospective study tested the relationship between patient characteristics assessed prior to intervention and response to an exercise program for chronic neck pain. Objectives. To investigate whether responders differed from non-responders with respect to presenting characteristics. Method. Data were collected on 336 consecutive patients receiving physiotherapy for chronic neck pain. Subject age, sex, duration of symptoms, compensation status, Neck Disability Index (NDI) item and total scores, cervical spine range of movement and isometric strength were assessed prior to treatment. Response to therapy was defined as a change of 14/100 or more NDI points. Subjects received a progressive, concentric/ eccentric, strengthening program using computerized equipment designed for cervical spine assessment and rehabilitation. Logistic regression formulae for predicting outcome at the completion of the program were developed on one sample (n = 122) data and tested on another (n = 214). Results. In the first sample, NDI scores and item responses predicted response or non-response with approximately 70% accuracy. When tested on the second sample, a prediction model using NDI item scores predicted responders (positive predictive value 56%) and non-responders (negative predictive value 74%) with considerable loss of responder prediction accuracy. Participants with low initial NDI scores (higher functional ability) appeared to benefit less from the exercise program. Conclusions. Functionally able patients may benefit less from exercise for chronic neck pain than those with greater functional limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared sleep-related problems to be a public health epidemic. With the advent of biometric sleep tracking technology taking the sleep lab into the field, the study of human sleep is now global, and these new datasets show contrasting findings. Previous reports suggest sleep in small-scale, non-industrial societies to be short and fragmented yet characterized by greater circadian rhythmicity. However, the role of circadian rhythm indicators in understanding global variations in human sleep patterns remains unclear. We examine population-level sleep studies ( n = 54) using polysomnography and actigraphy to test the sleep restriction epidemic hypothesis, which posits that labour demands and technological disruption in large-scale, industrial societies have reduced sleep duration. We used an actigraphy-generated circadian function index from both non-industrial and industrial societies ( n = 866) to test the circadian mismatch hypothesis, which suggests that poor chronohygiene in regulated environments misaligns circadian rhythms in industrial societies. In rejection of the sleep restriction epidemic hypothesis, our results show that industrial societies experience the longest, most efficient sleep, whereas in support of the circadian mismatch hypothesis, sleepers in non-industrial societies are characterized by the greatest circadian function.

For birds breeding in the Arctic, nest success is affected by the timing of nest initiation, which is partially determined by local conditions such as snow cover. However, conditions during the non-breeding season can carry over to affect the timing of breeding. We used tracking and breeding data from 248 individuals of 8 species and subspecies of Arctic-breeding shorebirds to estimate how the timing of nest initiation is related to local conditions like snowmelt phenology versus prior conditions, measured by the timing and speed of migration. Using path analysis, our global model showed that local and prior conditions have similar effect sizes (Standardised Path Coefficients ± SE of 0.44 ± 0.07 and 0.43 ± 0.07 for snowmelt and arrival timing, respectively), suggesting that both influence the timing of breeding and therefore potentially reproductive output. However, the importance of each variable varied across species. Individuals that arrived later to the breeding grounds did not leave the wintering grounds later, but instead took longer to migrate, potentially reflecting differences in flight speed or time spent at stopover sites. We hypothesise that this may be due to reduced habitat quality at some stopover sites or an inability to adjust their departure timing or migration speed to match the advancing spring phenology in the North. Individuals that migrated longer distances also arrived and nested later. Our results highlight the benefits and potential conservation implications of using a full annual cycle approach to assess the factors influencing reproductive timing of birds., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2025 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We identified a cluster of mpox exposures among key populations in Kenya through retrospective serologic screening. We identified strong seropositivity among sex workers and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. These findings demonstrate the need for increased mpox surveillance among mpox-endemic and mpox-endemic-adjacent regions in Africa.

Purpose: The physical environment of correctional facilities promote infectious disease transmission and outbreaks. The purpose of this study is to compare the COVID-19 burden between the correctional facility (incarcerated individuals and staff members) and non-correctional facility population in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic., Design/methodology/approach: All individuals in Ontario with a laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 between 15 January 2020 and 31 December 2022 and entered into the provincial COVID-19 data were included. Cases were classified as a correctional facility case (living or working in a correctional facility) or a non-correctional facility case. COVID-19 vaccination status was obtained from the provincial COVID-19 vaccine registry. Statistics Canada census data were used to calculate COVID-19 incidence and hospitalization rates for incarcerated cases and the non-correctional facility population., Findings: Between 15 January 2020 and 31 December 2022, there were 1,550,045 COVID-19 cases in Ontario of which 8,292 (0.53%) cases were reported in correctional (63.8% amongst incarcerated individuals, 18.6% amongst staff and 17.7% amongst an unknown classification) and 1,541,753 (99.47%) were non-correctional facility cases. Most cases in correctional facilities were men (83.8%) and aged 20-59 years (93.1%). COVID-19 incidence and hospitalization rates were generally higher among incarcerated individuals compared to the non-correctional facility population throughout the study period. COVID-19 incidence peaked in January 2022 for both the correctional facility population (21,543.8 per 100,000 population) and the non-correctional facility population (1915.1 per 100,000 population). The rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations peaked for the correctional facility population aged 20-59 in March 2021 (70.7 per 100,000 population) and in April 2021 for the non-correctional facility population aged 20-59 (19.8 per 100,000 population). A greater percentage of incarcerated individuals (73.0%) were unvaccinated at time of their COVID-19 diagnosis compared to the non-correctional facility population (49.3%). Deaths amongst correctional facility cases were rare (0.1%, 6 / 8,292) compared to 1.0% of non-correctional facility cases ( n = 15,787 / 1,541,753)., Originality/value: During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals incarcerated in correctional facilities in Ontario had higher COVID-19 incidence and hospitalization rates compared to the non-correctional facility population. These results support prioritizing incarcerated individuals for public health interventions to mitigate COVID-19 impacts in correctional facilities., (© Authors.)

Background: The design of HIV prevention programs for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) are informed by data on who is at highest risk and where they can be reached. Places (hotspots) associated with selling sex are an established outreach strategy for sex work (SW) programs but could be used to reach other AGYW at high risk., Setting: This study took place in Mombasa, Kenya., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, bio-behavioural survey among (N = 1193) sexually active AGYW aged 14-24 years recruited at hotspots. We compared HIV prevalence by subgroup (SW; transactional sex, TS; and non-transactional sex), stratified by hotspot type (venues and nonvenues). We examined whether associations between HIV prevalence and hotspot/subgroup remained after adjustment for individual-level risk factors, and estimated HIV prevalence ratio with and without adjustment for these individual-level factors., Results: Overall HIV prevalence was 5.6%, 5.3% in venues and 7.3% in nonvenues. Overall SW HIV prevalence was 2-fold higher than among participants engaged in nontransactional sex. After adjusting for age and individual-level risk factors, HIV prevalence was 2.72 times higher among venue-based SWs (95% confidence interval: 1.56 to 4.85) and 2.11 times higher among nonvenue AGYW not engaged in SW (95% confidence interval: 0.97 to 4.30) compared with venue-based AGYW not engaged in SW., Conclusion: AGYW who sell sex remain at high risk of HIV across types of hotspots. The residual pattern of elevated HIV burden by AGWY subgroup and hotspot type suggests that unmeasured, network-level factors underscore differential risks. As such, hotspots constitute a "place" to reach AGYW at high risk of HIV., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Seasonally abundant arthropods are a crucial food source for many migratory birds that breed in the Arctic. In cold environments, the growth and emergence of arthropods are particularly tied to temperature. Thus, the phenology of arthropods is anticipated to undergo a rapid change in response to a warming climate, potentially leading to a trophic mismatch between migratory insectivorous birds and their prey. Using data from 19 sites spanning a wide temperature gradient from the Subarctic to the High Arctic, we investigated the effects of temperature on the phenology and biomass of arthropods available to shorebirds during their short breeding season at high latitudes. We hypothesized that prolonged exposure to warmer summer temperatures would generate earlier peaks in arthropod biomass, as well as higher peak and seasonal biomass. Across the temperature gradient encompassed by our study sites (>10°C in average summer temperatures), we found a 3-day shift in average peak date for every increment of 80 cumulative thawing degree-days. Interestingly, we found a linear relationship between temperature and arthropod biomass only below temperature thresholds. Higher temperatures were associated with higher peak and seasonal biomass below 106 and 177 cumulative thawing degree-days, respectively, between June 5 and July 15. Beyond these thresholds, no relationship was observed between temperature and arthropod biomass. Our results suggest that prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures can positively influence prey availability for some arctic birds. This positive effect could, in part, stem from changes in arthropod assemblages and may reduce the risk of trophic mismatch., (© 2024 His Majesty the King in Right of Canada and The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)