Optogenetic control of Nodal signaling patterns.

A crucial step in early embryogenesis is the establishment of spatial patterns of signaling activity. Tools to perturb morphogen signals with high resolution in space and time can help reveal how embryonic cells decode these signals to make appropriate fate decisions. Here, we present new optogenetic reagents and an experimental pipeline for creaHng designer Nodal signaling patterns in live zebrafish embryos.

Widespread synchronous decline of Mediterranean-type forest driven by accelerated aridity.

Large-scale, abrupt ecosystem change in direct response to climate extremes is a critical but poorly documented phenomenon. Yet, recent increases in climate-induced tree mortality raise concern that some forest ecosystems are on the brink of collapse across wide environmental gradients. Here we assessed climatic and productivity trends across the world's five Mediterranean forest ecosystems from 2000 to 2021 and detected a large-scale, abrupt forest browning and productivity decline in Chile (>90% of the forest in <100 days), responding to a sustained, acute drought.

Supporting Nature-Based Solutions via Nature-Based Thinking across European and Latin American cities.

Nature-Based Solutions concepts and practices are being used worldwide as part of attempts to address societal challenges but have also been criticised for not dealing with deeper transformations needed to face urgent issues including biodiversity loss, climate change and inclusion. In this paper, we explore how an inclusive, integrated and long-sighted approach, emphasising a more radical integration of nature within cities, might support the transformations needed to endure major contemporary challenges. Addressing important emerging critiques of Nature-Based Solutions, we consider the potential of a more incisive form of Nature-Based Thinking (NBT) in cities, based on more holistic perspectives.

Mentored student research: A case study evaluation of benefits and best practices.

Efforts to mentor undergraduates in research require time, energy, and resources but can yield significant benefits. A review of education research on undergraduate research is presented followed by a case study of how technical and educational principles from the literature have been implemented and practiced in a new underwater acoustics lab. This case study involves the students who have joined this lab over its first three years.

An action framework for the participatory assessment of nature-based solutions in cities.

Impact assessment is a key step in mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions (NBS). Yet, it remains unclear if and how assessment frameworks influence urban planning, design and management. We contend that the potential of current NBS assessment frameworks is not fully exploited due to: (1) limited contextualisation of monitoring and assessment to place-specific contexts and (2) the depoliticisation of co-production.

Integrating solutions to adapt cities for climate change.

Record climate extremes are reducing urban liveability, compounding inequality, and threatening infrastructure. Adaptation measures that integrate technological, nature-based, and social solutions can provide multiple co-benefits to address complex socioecological issues in cities while increasing resilience to potential impacts. However, there remain many challenges to developing and implementing integrated solutions.

Loneliness in mid-life and older adults from ethnic minority communities in England and Wales: measure validation and prevalence estimates.

We investigated the prevalence of loneliness among 1206 adults aged 40 + from six minority communities in England and Wales: Black Caribbean, Black African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese. Replicating the approach from the previous studies, we demonstrate robust acceptability, reliability and validity for both the six-item De Jong Gierveld (DJG) and single-item loneliness scales in our six ethnic groups. The prevalence of loneliness using a single-item question (loneliness reported as often/always) ranges from 5% (Indian) to 14% (Chinese) compared with approximately 5% for the general population aged 40 + in Britain.

Diagnosis Race: Troubling Etiologies in Claudia Rankine's .

"Diagnosis Race" provides an analysis of poet Claudia Rankine's representations of "John Henryism" and "weathering," public health terms for persistent disparities in health outcomes for African Americans, regardless of socio-economic status and education level. I argue that Rankine's experimental multi-media collections Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) and Citizen: An American Lyric (2014) create a necessary new genre for our times: a "public lyric" that works to place the individual or "private" injured Black body in the public square, expose the deleterious effects of racial bias on the mental and physical health of many Black Americans, and uncover harmful bias behind even the most well-meaning diagnostic language.

A global horizon scan of the future impacts of robotics and autonomous systems on urban ecosystems.

Technology is transforming societies worldwide. A major innovation is the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), which have the potential to revolutionize cities for both people and nature. Nonetheless, the opportunities and challenges associated with RAS for urban ecosystems have yet to be considered systematically.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use and perceptions of urban green space: An international exploratory study.

Urban green space (UGS) is an essential element in the urban environment, providing multiple ecosystem services as well as beneficial effects on physical and mental health. In a time of societal crisis these effects may be amplified, but ensuring that they are maintained requires effective planning and management - which is a complex challenge given the rapid changes in modern society and the need for continual adaptation. This study aims to identify the drivers that normally attract visitors to UGS, and to assess the effects of social isolation on the usage and perception of UGS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reluctant educators and self-advocates: Older trans adults' experiences of health-care services and practitioners in seeking gender-affirming services.

Background: Trans-identifying individuals experience unique barriers and challenges in negotiating health-care systems due to the cisnormative attitudes and practices which obstruct the receipt of trans-inclusive care. To date, there has been little exploration of older trans consumers' experiences of contemporary health-care services when seeking to transition medically in later life.

Objectives: Qualitative findings are presented from a study of trans ageing and trans-related health and social care needs in Wales, UK (2016-18).

Comparative Healthcare Research Outcomes of Novel Surgery in prostate cancer (IP4-CHRONOS): A prospective, multi-centre therapeutic phase II parallel Randomised Control Trial.

Introduction: Focal therapy (FT) targets individual areas of cancer within the prostate, providing oncological control with minimal side-effects. Early evidence demonstrates encouraging short-medium-term outcomes. With no randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing FT to radical therapies, Comparative Healthcare Research Outcomes of Novel Surgery in prostate cancer (CHRONOS) will compare the cancer control of these two strategies.

Intraoperative biomechanics of lumbar pedicle screw loosening following successful arthrodesis.

Unlabelled: Pedicle screw loosening has been implicated in recurrent back pain after lumbar spinal fusion, but the degree of loosening has not been systematically quantified in patients. Instrumentation removal is an option for patients with successful arthrodesis, but remains controversial. Here, we quantified pedicle screw loosening by measuring screw insertion and/or removal torque at high statistical power (beta = 0.

Assessing the drivers shaping global patterns of urban vegetation landscape structure.

Vegetation is one of the main resources involve in ecosystem functioning and providing ecosystem services in urban areas. Little is known on the landscape structure patterns of vegetation existing in urban areas at the global scale and the drivers of these patterns. We studied the landscape structure of one hundred cities around the globe, and their relation to demography (population), socioeconomic factors (GDP, Gini Index), climate factors (temperature and rain) and topographic characteristics (altitude, variation in altitude).

The other side of the coin: Harm due to the non-use of health-related data.

Introduction: It is widely acknowledged that breaches and misuses of health-related data can have serious implications and consequently they often carry penalties. However, harm due to the omission of health data usage, or data non-use, is a subject that lacks attention. A better understanding of this 'other side of the coin' is required before it can be addressed effectively.

Data Safe Havens and Trust: Toward a Common Understanding of Trusted Research Platforms for Governing Secure and Ethical Health Research.

In parallel with the advances in big data-driven clinical research, the data safe haven concept has evolved over the last decade. It has led to the development of a framework to support the secure handling of health care information used for clinical research that balances compliance with legal and regulatory controls and ethical requirements while engaging with the public as a partner in its governance. We describe the evolution of 4 separately developed clinical research platforms into services throughout the United Kingdom-wide Farr Institute and their common deployment features in practice.

On moving targets and magic bullets: Can the UK lead the way with responsible data linkage for health research?

Purpose: To provide an overview of essential elements of good governance of data linkage for health-related research, to consider lessons learned so far and to examine key factors currently impeding the delivery of good governance in this area. Given the considerable hurdles which must be overcome and the changing landscape of health research and data linkage, a principled, proportionate, risk-based approach to governance is advocated.

Discussion: In light of the considerable value of data linkage to health and well-being, the United Kingdom aspires to design and deliver good governance in health-related research.

The training effect of short term enhancement from complex pairing on horizontal and vertical countermovement and drop jump performance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the chronic effect of a contrast training program designed to elicit an acute short term enhancement (STE) effect during training. A matched pairs training study design was implemented with a contrast (STE affected) and complex (control) training group completing a seven week training intervention. Twenty subjects participated.

Global drivers and tradeoffs of three urban vegetation ecosystem services.

Our world is increasingly urbanizing which is highlighting that sustainable cities are essential for maintaining human well-being. This research is one of the first attempts to globally synthesize the effects of urbanization on ecosystem services and how these relate to governance, social development and climate. Three urban vegetation ecosystem services (carbon storage, recreation potential and habitat potential) were quantified for a selection of a hundred cities.

Relationship between vertical and horizontal jump variables and muscular performance in athletes.

This study investigated the relationship between vertical and horizontal measures in bilateral and unilateral countermovement jump, drop jump and squat jump (SJ), and sprinting speed and muscle architecture of both the vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius. Subjects (n = 17) completed a 30-m sprint test, muscle stiffness test; ultrasound measures, and a jump testing session. Measures of horizontal peak and mean force, in both bilateral and unilateral jumps, tended to have greater relationships to sprint speeds (R = 0.

A support network typology for application in older populations with a preponderance of multigenerational households.

This paper considers the support networks of older people in populations with a preponderance of multigenerational households and examines the most vulnerable network types in terms of loneliness and isolation. Current common typologies of support networks may not be sensitive to differences within and between different cultures. This paper uses cross-sectional data drawn from 590 elders (Gujaratis, Punjabis and Sylhetis) living in the United Kingdom and South Asia.

A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers.

Urbanization contributes to the loss of the world's biodiversity and the homogenization of its biota. However, comparative studies of urban biodiversity leading to robust generalities of the status and drivers of biodiversity in cities at the global scale are lacking. Here, we compiled the largest global dataset to date of two diverse taxa in cities: birds (54 cities) and plants (110 cities).

Removal of mercury from an alumina refinery aqueous stream.

Digestion condensate is formed as a by-product of the alumina refinery digestion process. The solution exhibits a high pH and is chemically reducing, containing many volatile species such as water, volatile organics, ammonia, and mercury. Because digestion condensate is chemically unique, an innovative approach was required to investigate mercury removal.