Publications by authors named "M Christie"

Aquatic ecosystems are highly dynamic environments vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. High-economic-value fisheries are one of many ecosystem services affected by these disturbances, and it is critical to accurately characterize the genetic diversity and effective population sizes of valuable fish stocks through time. We used genome-wide data to reconstruct the demographic histories of economically important yellow perch () populations.

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Animals are predicted to shrink and shape-shift as the climate warms, declining in size, while their appendages lengthen. Determining which types of species are undergoing these morphological changes, and why, is critical to understanding species responses to global change, including potential adaptation to climate warming. We examine body size and bill length changes in 25 shorebird species using extensive field data (> 200,000 observations) collected over 46 years (1975-2021) by community scientists.

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Article Synopsis
  • Demographic rescue involves adding individuals to endangered populations to boost their numbers and prevent extinction, but its effectiveness is uncertain in the presence of diseases.
  • A study was conducted using an aquatic crustacean, Daphnia dentifera, and a fungus pathogen, Metschnikowia bicuspidata, to investigate how pathogens affect demographic rescue outcomes.
  • Results showed that while adding healthy individuals temporarily increased population size, populations with infected individuals ultimately had significantly lower abundance compared to those with no intervention, highlighting the risks of introducing diseased organisms during rescue efforts.*
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Higher prevalence of multiple sclerosis at higher latitudes is associated with reduced sunlight during childhood. Alterations in inflammatory Th17 and regulatory T cells (Treg) are associated with autoimmunity. In Hobart, Australia (latitude 42.

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Background: Immunotherapy has demonstrated limited activity in prostate cancer to date. This likely reflects an immune suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), with previous studies suggesting low PD-L1 expression and a sparse immune cell infiltrate. We aimed to further characterise the immune TME in primary prostate cancer and correlate immune subset densities with clinical outcomes.

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