Development of an agenda for research and action on climate change and health in the Caribbean.

This paper delineates the development of the Caribbean Research for Action Agenda which aims to empower Caribbean Small Island Developing States to reduce their vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change on health. The Caribbean Research for Action Agenda emerged from collaboration between nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and multilateral agencies that organized a conference on climate change and health in the Caribbean. This Agenda was formulated by prioritizing research areas, synthesizing evidence from conference presentations and scientific literature, and holding consultations with stakeholders and experts.

Distinct Behavioral Profiles and Neuronal Correlates of Heroin Vulnerability Versus Resiliency in a Multi-Symptomatic Model of Heroin Use Disorder in Rats.

Objective: The behavioral and diagnostic heterogeneity within the opioid use disorder (OUD) diagnosis is not readily captured in current animal models, limiting the translational relevance of the mechanistic research that is conducted in experimental animals. The authors hypothesized that a nonlinear clustering of OUD-like behavioral traits would capture population heterogeneity and yield subpopulations of OUD vulnerable rats with distinct behavioral and neurocircuit profiles.

Methods: Over 900 male and female heterogeneous stock rats, a line capturing genetic and behavioral heterogeneity present in humans, were assessed for several measures of heroin use and rewarded and non-rewarded seeking behaviors.

Advancing paleoanthropology beyond default nulls.

While we are sympathetic with Stibbard-Hawkes' approach, we disagree with the proposal to switch to a "cognitively modern" null for all species. We argue in favor of a more evidence-driven approach, inspired by recent debates in comparative cognition. Ultimately, parsing the contributions of different genetic and extra-genetic factors in human evolution is more promising than setting a priori nulls.

A Two-in-One Strategy to Simultaneously Boost the Site Density and Turnover Frequency of Fe-N-C Oxygen Reduction Catalysts.

Site density and turnover frequency are the two fundamental kinetic descriptors that determine the oxygen reduction activity of iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) catalysts. However, it remains a grand challenge to simultaneously optimize these two parameters in a single Fe-N-C catalyst. Here we show that treating a typical Fe-N-C catalyst with ammonium iodine (NH4I) vapor via a one-step chemical vapor deposition process not only increases the surface area and porosity of the catalyst (and thus enhanced exposure of active sites) via the etching effect of the in-situ released NH3, but also regulates the electronic structure of the Fe-N4 moieties by the iodine dopants incorporated into the carbon matrix.

Data characterizing a panel of biodegradable cross-linked polyester implants for sustained delivery of an anti-viral drug.

Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) is currently administered orally to patients for treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus infection and as a part of a combination therapy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. A long-acting delivery system could provide several advantages as a formulation strategy for this drug including improved patient adherence, convenience, more consistent drug levels and potentially fewer side effects. To date, the vast majority of polymer-based long-acting delivery systems have been prepared from poly(lactide--glycolide) [1].