Estimating the distribution of reedbed in Britain demonstrates challenges of remotely sensing rare land cover types at large spatial scales.

Common Reed Phragmites australis, globally one of the mostly widely distributed wetland plants, is important for biodiversity and for humans. However, like most wetland plant communities, reedbed has rarely been mapped at large geographical scales, restricting the information available to study reed's range dynamics or inform its management. Using Sentinel-2 data and machine learning, we aimed to produce the first published remotely-sensed reedbed map of Britain; however, accuracy as assessed by field validation was relatively low (AUC = 0.

Synchronous timing of return to breeding sites in a long-distance migratory seabird with ocean-scale variation in migration schedules.

Background: Migratory birds generally have tightly scheduled annual cycles, in which delays can have carry-over effects on the timing of later events, ultimately impacting reproductive output. Whether temporal carry-over effects are more pronounced among migrations over larger distances, with tighter schedules, is a largely unexplored question.

Methods: We tracked individual Arctic Skuas Stercorarius parasiticus, a long-distance migratory seabird, from eight breeding populations between Greenland and Siberia using light-level geolocators.

Flight heights obtained from GPS versus altimeters influence estimates of collision risk with offshore wind turbines in Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus.

The risk posed by offshore wind farms to seabirds through collisions with turbine blades is greatly influenced by species-specific flight behaviour. Bird-borne telemetry devices may provide improved measurement of aspects of bird behaviour, notably individual and behaviour specific flight heights. However, use of data from devices that use the GPS or barometric altimeters in the gathering of flight height data is nevertheless constrained by a current lack of understanding of the error and calibration of these methods.

Spring arrival of the common cuckoo at breeding grounds is strongly determined by environmental conditions in tropical Africa.

Failure to adapt migration timing to changes in environmental conditions along migration routes and at breeding locations can result in mismatches across trophic levels, as occurs between the brood parasitic common cuckoo and its hosts. Using satellite tracking data from 87 male cuckoos across 11 years, we evaluate why the cuckoo has not advanced its arrival to the UK. Across years, breeding ground arrival was primarily determined by timing of departure from stopover in West Africa before northward crossing of the Sahara.

Quantifying the impacts of predation by Great Black-backed Gulls Larus marinus on an Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica population: Implications for conservation management and impact assessments.

The management of predator-prey conflicts can be a key aspect of species conservation. For management approaches to be effective, a robust understanding of the predator-prey relationship is needed, particularly when both predator and prey are species of conservation concern. On the Isle of May, Firth of Forth, Scotland, numbers of breeding Great Black-backed Gulls Larus marinus, a generalist predator, have been increasing since the 1980s, which has led to increasing numbers of sympatrically breeding Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica being predated during the breeding season.

The importance of population contextual data for large-scale biomonitoring using an apex predator: The Tawny Owl (Strix aluco).

Top predators are often used as sentinel species in contaminant monitoring due to their exposure and vulnerability to persistent, bioaccumulative and, in some cases, biomagnificable contaminants. Some of their ecological traits can vary in space and time, and are known to influence the contamination levels and therefore information on ecological traits should be used as contextual data for correct interpretation of large-scale contaminant spatial patterns. These traits can explain spatiotemporal variation in contaminant exposure (traits such as diet and dispersal distances) or contaminant impacts (traits such as population trend and clutch size).

Rare and declining bird species benefit most from designating protected areas for conservation in the UK.

There have been recent renewed commitments to increase the extent of protected areas to combat the growing biodiversity crisis but the underpinning evidence for their effectiveness is mixed and causal connections are rarely evaluated. We used data gathered by three large-scale citizen science programmes in the UK to provide the most comprehensive assessment to date of whether national (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and European (Special Protection Areas/Special Areas of Conservation) designated areas are associated with improved state (occurrence, abundance), change (rates of colonization, persistence and trend in abundance), community structure and, uniquely, demography (productivity) on a national avifauna, while controlling for differences in land cover, elevation and climate. We found positive associations with state that suggest these areas are well targeted and that the greatest benefit accrued to the most conservation-dependent species since positive associations with change were largely restricted to rare and declining species and habitat specialists.

Immersion challenge model for Flavobacterium psychrophilum infection of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) fry.

Flavobacterium psychrophilum is the causative agent of bacterial cold-water disease (CWBD) and rainbow trout fry syndrome (RTFS), which affect salmonids. To better understand this pathogen and its interaction with the host during infection, including to support the development of resistant breeds and new vaccines and treatments, there is a pressing need for reliable and reproducible immersion challenge models that more closely mimic natural routes of infection. The aim of this present study was to evaluate a challenge model developed previously for rainbow trout for use in Atlantic salmon.

Human and mouse muscle transcriptomic analyses identify insulin receptor mRNA downregulation in hyperinsulinemia-associated insulin resistance.

Hyperinsulinemia is commonly viewed as a compensatory response to insulin resistance, yet studies have demonstrated that chronically elevated insulin may also drive insulin resistance. The molecular mechanisms underpinning this potentially cyclic process remain poorly defined, especially on a transcriptome-wide level. Transcriptomic meta-analysis in >450 human samples demonstrated that fasting insulin reliably and negatively correlated with INSR mRNA in skeletal muscle.

A review of constraints and solutions for collecting raptor samples and contextual data for a European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility.

The COST Action 'European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility' (ERBFacility) aims to develop pan-European raptor biomonitoring in support of better chemicals management in Europe, using raptors as sentinel species. This presents a significant challenge involving a range of constraints that must be identified and addressed. The aims of this study were to: (1) carry out a comprehensive review of the constraints that may limit the gathering in the field of raptor samples and contextual data, and assess their relative importance across Europe; and (2) identify and discuss possible solutions to the key constraints that were identified.

Measuring nest incorporation of anthropogenic debris by seabirds: An opportunistic approach increases geographic scope and reduces costs.

Data on the prevalence of anthropogenic debris in seabird nests can be collected alongside other research or through community science initiatives to increase the temporal and spatial scale of data collection. To assess the usefulness of this approach, we collated data on nest incorporation of debris for 14 seabird species from 84 colonies across five countries in northwest Europe. Of 10,274 nests monitored 12% contained debris, however, there was large variation in the proportion of nests containing debris among species and colonies.

Electrochemical monitoring of alcohol in sweat.

Rapid, periodic monitoring and detection of ethanol (EtOH) after consumption via a non-invasive measurement has been an area of increased research in recent years. Current point-of-care or on-site detection strategies rely on single use sensors which are inadequate for monitoring during a longer period. A low cost, portable and novel approach is developed here for real-time monitoring over several days utilising electrochemical techniques.

Novel approach reveals genomic landscapes of single-strand DNA breaks with nucleotide resolution in human cells.

Single-strand breaks (SSBs) represent the major form of DNA damage, yet techniques to map these lesions genome-wide with nucleotide-level precision are limited. Here, we present a method, termed SSiNGLe, and demonstrate its utility to explore the distribution and dynamic changes in genome-wide SSBs in response to different biological and environmental stimuli. We validate SSiNGLe using two very distinct sequencing techniques and apply it to derive global profiles of SSBs in different biological states.

Correction to: Progress on bringing together raptor collections in Europe for contaminant research and monitoring in relation to chemicals regulation.

The correct affiliation of Sabrina Lo Brutto is shown in this paper.

Longevity-related molecular pathways are subject to midlife "switch" in humans.

Emerging evidence indicates that molecular aging may follow nonlinear or discontinuous trajectories. Whether this occurs in human neuromuscular tissue, particularly for the noncoding transcriptome, and independent of metabolic and aerobic capacities, is unknown. Applying our novel RNA method to quantify tissue coding and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), we identified ~800 transcripts tracking with age up to ~60 years in human muscle and brain.

A methodological systematic review of meta-ethnography conduct to articulate the complex analytical phases.

Background: Decision making in health and social care requires robust syntheses of both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Meta-ethnography is a seven-phase methodology for synthesising qualitative studies. Developed in 1988 by sociologists in education Noblit and Hare, meta-ethnography has evolved since its inception; it is now widely used in healthcare research and is gaining popularity in education research.

Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: the eMERGe reporting guidance.

Aims: The aim of this study was to provide guidance to improve the completeness and clarity of meta-ethnography reporting.

Background: Evidence-based policy and practice require robust evidence syntheses which can further understanding of people's experiences and associated social processes. Meta-ethnography is a rigorous seven-phase qualitative evidence synthesis methodology, developed by Noblit and Hare.

Contrasting effects of acute and chronic stress on the transcriptome, epigenome, and immune response of Atlantic salmon.

Stress experienced during early life may have lasting effects on the immune system, with impacts on health and disease dependent on the nature and duration of the stressor. The epigenome is especially sensitive to environmental stimuli during early life and represents a potential mechanism through which stress may cause long-lasting health effects. However, the extent to which the epigenome responds differently to chronic vs acute stressors is unclear, especially for non-mammalian species.

A multicriteria resource allocation model for the redesign of services following birth.

Background: Many healthcare services are under considerable pressure to reduce costs while improving quality. This is particularly true in the United Kingdom's National Health Service where postnatal care is sometimes viewed as having a low priority. There is much debate about the service's redesign and the reallocation of resources, both along care pathways and between groups of mothers and babies with different needs.

A coding and non-coding transcriptomic perspective on the genomics of human metabolic disease.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS), relying on hundreds of thousands of individuals, have revealed >200 genomic loci linked to metabolic disease (MD). Loss of insulin sensitivity (IS) is a key component of MD and we hypothesized that discovery of a robust IS transcriptome would help reveal the underlying genomic structure of MD. Using 1,012 human skeletal muscle samples, detailed physiology and a tissue-optimized approach for the quantification of coding (>18,000) and non-coding (>15,000) RNA (ncRNA), we identified 332 fasting IS-related genes (CORE-IS).

Impacts of the Invasive European Red Ant (Myrmica rubra (L.): Hymenoptera; Formicidae) on a Myrmecochorous System in the Northeastern United States.

We investigated the impact of an invasive ant species from Europe, Myrmica rubra (L.), on a myrmecochorous system (seeds dispersed by ants) in its invaded range in North America. We assessed: 1) how M.

Framing the conversation: use of PRECIS-2 ratings to advance understanding of pragmatic trial design domains.

Background: There continues to be debate about what constitutes a pragmatic trial and how it is distinguished from more traditional explanatory trials. The NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaborative Project, which includes five trials and a coordinating unit, has adopted the Pragmatic-Explanatory Continuum Indicator Summary (PRECIS-2) instrument. The purpose of the study was to collect PRECIS-2 ratings at two points in time to assess whether the tool was sensitive to change in trial design, and to explore with investigators the rationale for rating shifts.