Recent Events Research Articles

Snag dynamics and surface fuel loads in the Sierra Nevada: Predicting the impact of the 2012–2016 drought

Forest die-backs linked to extreme droughts are expected to increase as the climate dries and warms. An example is the 2012–2016 hotter drought in California that induced widespread tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada, California. The sudden increase in snags (i.e., standing dead trees) raised immediate concerns about their impact on wildfire hazard and longer-term questions about their effect on ecosystem structure and function. We quantified the likely progression of snag fall and fuel succession following the recent extensive mortality event in the southern Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest. Our results used data from a long-term demography study to project trends in surface fuel loads at three study sites in Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. In the short term (2017–2021), fine woody debris and litter + duff significantly increased across all three sites (>145 % and >55 %, respectively); coarse woody debris increased significantly at one site (48.6 %); and total fuel loads increased significantly at two of the three sites (38 % and 69 %). Snag longevity increased with size, with the relationship varying by species. Yellow pine was a notable outlier: size played a small role in influencing its fall rates. Overall, species-specific snag fall rates in the southern Sierra Nevada were 20 % to 40 % slower than previously reported. By 2040, projected median cumulative inputs of biomass from future snag fall range from 49.4 Mg ha−1 to 136.1 Mg ha-1across our three sites, which exceeds the amounts currently present (47.17–89.97 Mg ha−1) and is well above estimates of historical coarse woody debris amounts in the Sierra Nevada (17.7 Mg ha -1). These results provide a robust empirical basis to refine the snag fall algorithm in vegetation simulation models. Options to manage the impact of extreme number of snags and their large surface combustible biomass include salvage operations and prescribed burning, with both methods having operational, financial, and legal limitations that need to be considered.

Longitudinal profile of estrogen-related thrombotic biomarkers after cessation of combined hormonal contraceptives

AbstractThe persistence of risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) due to combined hormonal contraceptives (CHCs), after their cessation, is unknown but important to guide clinical practice. The objective of this prospective cohort study was to define the time until normalization of estrogen-related thrombotic biomarkers after CHC cessation. We enrolled women aged 18 to 50 years who had decided to stop their CHC, excluding those with a personal history of VTE, anticoagulation, or pregnancy. The study started before cessation of CHC, with 6 visits afterwards (at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 12 weeks after cessation). Primary outcomes were normalized sensitivity ratios to activated protein C (nAPCsr) and to thrombomodulin (nTMsr), with sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) as a secondary end point. We also included control women without CHC. Among 66 CHC users, from baseline until 12 weeks, average levels of nAPCsr, nTMsr, and SHBG decreased from 4.11 (standard deviation [SD], 2.06), 2.53 (SD, 1.03), and 167 nmol/L (SD, 103) to 1.27 (SD, 0.82), 1.11 (SD, 0.58), and 55.4 nmol/L (SD, 26.7), respectively. On a relative scale, 85.8%, 81.3%, and 76.2% of the decrease from baseline until 12 weeks was achieved at 2 weeks and 86.7%, 85.5%, and 87.8% at 4 weeks after CHC cessation, respectively. Levels were not meaningfully modified throughout the study period among 28 control women. In conclusion, CHC cessation is followed by a rapid decrease in estrogen-related thrombotic biomarkers. Two to 4 weeks of cessation before planned major surgery or withdrawal of anticoagulants in patients with VTE appears sufficient for the majority of women. The trial is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT03949985.

Antepartum Depression and Its Clinico-Social Correlates: A Cross Sectional Study in a Tertiary Hospital of North India.

Maternal depression, the second leading cause of disease burden in women worldwide is often under-diagnosed and untreated. It can have consequences for pregnancy outcomes and child health. (1) To estimate the prevalence of antepartum depression among females attending antenatal clinic of a tertiary hospital. (2) To determine its obstetric and clinico-social correlates. A cross-sectional study was conducted in antenatal clinic by consecutive sampling of 300 pregnant women. We included those in third trimester, aged 18-40years and giving informed consent and excluded those with pre-diagnosed mental disorders. Pre-tested structured questionnaire and Edinburgh postnatal depression scale used. Score ≥ 10 indicated possible antepartum depression (APD). Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis applied using IBM SPSS version 22.0. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Prevalence of possible APD was 23.3%. It was higher among urban females (25.3%) than rural (17.7%) but the difference was not statistically significant. APD increased with increasing maternal age. Other socio-demographic and obstetric factors were not associated significantly with APD. History of recent stressful life event, domestic violence, marital conflict, lack of support from husband, and preference of male child were found to be the significant correlates. More than one out of five antenatal females had possible antepartum depression, but none had sought treatment for the same. Antenatal women of higher age and those afflicted with social pathologies are more at risk. Screening for APD should be included in the maternal and child health care programme to address this hidden 'iceberg' disease.

Evaluating the extent and impact of the extreme Storm Gloria on Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows

Extreme storms can trigger abrupt and often lasting changes in ecosystems by affecting foundational (habitat-forming) species. While the frequency and intensity of extreme events are projected to increase under climate change, its impacts on seagrass ecosystems remain poorly documented. In January 2020, the Spanish Mediterranean coast was hit by Storm Gloria, one of the most devastating recent climate events in terms of intensity and duration. We conducted rapid surveys of 42 Posidonia oceanica meadows across the region to evaluate the extent and type of impact (burial, unburial and uprooting). We investigated the significance of oceanographic (wave impact model), geomorphological (latitude, depth, exposure), and structural (patchiness) factors in predicting impact extent and intensity. The predominant impact of Storm Gloria was shoot unburial. More than half of the surveyed sites revealed recent unburial, with up to 40 cm of sediment removed, affecting over 50 % of the meadow. Burial, although less extensive, was still significant, with 10–80 % of meadow cover being buried under 7 cm of sediment, which is considered a survival threshold for P. oceanica. In addition, we observed evident signs of recently dead matte in some meadows and large amounts of detached drifting shoots on the sea bottom or accumulated as debris on the beaches. Crucially, exposed and patchy meadows were much more vulnerable to the overall impact than sheltered or continuous meadows. Given how slow P. oceanica is able to recover after disturbances, we state that it could take from decades to centuries for it to recoup its losses. Seagrass ecosystems play a vital role as coastal ecological infrastructure. Protecting vulnerable meadows from anthropogenic fragmentation is crucial for ensuring the resilience of these ecosystems in the face of the climate crisis.

A new genus and species of toad from Mount Kenya illuminates East African montane biogeography

Abstract Discoveries of new species can greatly impact our understanding of the biogeography of a region. For example, groups of amphibian lineages restricted to the Afrotemperate forests of Tanzania and Ethiopia are indicative of a shared biogeographical history of this highly discontinuous ecosystem. Curiously, many of these lineages are absent from the geographically intermediate Kenyan highlands. This phylogeographical interval is generally considered to be attributable to the younger, volcanic origins of much of the Kenyan highlands, and thus an amphibian fauna that is derived largely from recent colonization events rather than comprising older relicts. Contrasting with this view, here we report on the discovery of a single specimen of Bufonidae (true toad) from Mount Kenya. The specimen belongs to a species new to science and deserves recognition at the generic level owing to its notable molecular phylogenetic and morphological divergences from other described taxa. It is most closely related to the Tanzanian genera Churamiti and Nectophrynoides. The discovery of this new toad and its association with Afrotemperate species is significant because it links Kenya to the biogeographically more ancient Tanzanian mountains and supports the potential longevity of the Afrotemperate forests in Kenya. Broadly, it highlights that we are still adding major branches to the phylogeny of anurans.

Diverse mobile genetic elements shaped the evolution of Streptomyces virulence

Mobile genetic elements can innovate bacteria with new traits. In plant pathogenic Streptomyces, frequent and recent acquisition of integrative and conjugative or mobilizable genetic elements is predicted to lead to the emergence of new lineages that gained the capacity to synthesize Thaxtomin, a phytotoxin neccesary for induction of common scab disease on tuber and root crops. Here, we identified components of the Streptomyces -potato pathosystem implicated in virulence and investigated them as a nested and interacting system to reevaluate evolutionary models. We sequenced and analysed genomes of 166 strains isolated from over six decades of sampling primarily from field-grown potatoes. Virulence genes were associated to multiple subtypes of genetic elements differing in mechanisms of transmission and evolutionary histories. Evidence is consistent with few ancient acquisition events followed by recurrent loss or swaps of elements carrying Thaxtomin A-associated genes. Subtypes of another genetic element implicated in virulence are more distributed across Streptomyces . However, neither the subtype classification of genetic elements containing virulence genes nor taxonomic identity was predictive of pathogenicity on potato. Last, findings suggested that phytopathogenic strains are generally endemic to potato fields and some lineages were established by historical spread and further dispersed by few recent transmission events. Results from a hierarchical and system-wide characterization refine our understanding by revealing multiple mechanisms that gene and bacterial dispersion have had on shaping the evolution of a Gram-positive pathogen in agricultural settings.

Slowing taxon cycle can explain biodiversity patterns on islands: Insights into the biogeography of the tropical South Pacific from molecular data

AbstractIslands in the tropical Pacific Ocean are renowned for high biodiversity and endemism despite having relatively small landmasses. However, our knowledge of how this biodiversity is formed remains limited. The taxon cycle, where well‐dispersed, earlier colonizers become displaced from coastal to inland habitats by new waves of colonizers, producing isolated, range‐restricted species, has been proposed to explain current biodiversity patterns. Here, we integrate the outcomes of phylogenetic studies in the region to investigate the sources, age, number of colonizations, and diversification of 16 archipelagos in the tropical and subtropical South Pacific. We then evaluate whether the results support the taxon cycle as a plausible mechanism for these observations. We find that most species in the Pacific arrived less than 5 Mya from geographically close sources, suggesting that colonization by new taxa is a frequent and ongoing process. Therefore, our findings are broadly consistent with the theory of the Taxon Cycle, which posits that ongoing colonization results in the gradual displacement of established lineages. Only the oldest archipelagos, New Caledonia and Fiji, do not conform to this trend, having proportionally less recent colonization events, suggesting that the taxon cycle may slow on older islands. This conclusion is further validated by New Caledonia having lower diversification rate estimates than younger islands. We found that diversification rates across archipelagos are negatively correlated with area and age. Therefore, a taxon cycle that slows with island age appears to be a suitable concept for understanding the dynamic nature and biodiversity patterns of the Pacific Islands.

Risk Management, Expectations and Global Finance

Abstract What impact do past experiences have on the expectation formation of banks? This article analyses the risk management of Germany’s largest bank during the 1970 and 1980s. In this period, financial deregulation and globalization increased the likelihood of credit defaults and forced banks to implement new strategies of risk assessment. The Herstatt failure of 1974 triggered a series of new regulations, partly based on initiatives of the banks themselves. After the sovereign debt crisis of the 1980s, banks introduced a comprehensive strategy of country-risk assessment. They systematically professionalized their information resources and integrated risk and liability management. Economic forecasting was often based on historical data used for the classification and diversification of risks. However, learning from past experiences had limitations, as recent events were often overrated. This had the effect that the banks’ country risk assessment focused mainly on developing countries while the industrial world was not included in the schemes. This might explain why many banks have continually underestimated the financial risks present in developed countries since the 1990s.

Monolingualism and the novel: It’s complicated…?

In the first issue of the Journal of Literary Multilingualism, we collected together a range of scholars assessing and debating the field of Literary Multilingualism Studies, but we also realised that a single issue could only scratch the surface of this dynamic and growing field of study. Moreover, we were aware of some absences and blind spots and of the need to be constantly revising, questioning and examining the field. This forum, appearing in each issue of the journal, aims to continue the conversation started in Issue 1: it is a space for shorter, more informal reflections on the field and its future, in forms that might include position papers, dialogues between scholars, roundtable discussions, responses to articles within the journal, and responses to recent multilingualism conferences or events. We welcome proposals for Forum contributions, particularly from marginalised perspectives or on neglected aspects of literary multilingualism. Please contact us directly to discuss ideas. For this first forum, we asked David Gramling, who has recently spoken about ‘breaking up’ with multilingualism, how his attitude to the field has changed in recent years, and why. We also asked him to think of the direction Literary Multilingualism Studies should take in the future, in terms of its objects, its theories, and the genres it treats.

Bushfire Management Strategies: Current Practice, Technological Advancement and Challenges

Bushfires are classified as catastrophic disasters capable of inflicting significant destruction. The key detrimental consequences of bushfires include the loss of human lives, trauma within communities, economic losses and environmental damage. For example, the estimated economic loss from the September 2019 to March 2020 bushfires in New South Wales (Australia) was about AUD 110 billion, including more than 3000 burned houses. There has been a notable increase in both the frequency and intensity of bushfires, as clearly demonstrated by recent bushfire events. Bushfires are an intricate phenomenon that transpires across various spatial and temporal scales. Further, the changing circumstances of landscapes, vegetation patterns, weather conditions and ecosystems account for the complexity. Therefore, continual attention is essential for the development of bushfire management strategies. In this context, this paper undertakes a comprehensive literature review of bushfire management strategies, encompassing aspects such as bushfire prediction, detection, suppression and prevention. Based on the review, a bushfire management framework is proposed that can eliminate or successfully mitigate the consequences of bushfires. Further, the paper delves into the domains of fire weather conditions, the initiation of bushfires and the adverse consequences stemming from these fires. Both terrestrial and aerial remote sensing methods have proven to be effective in predicting and detecting bushfires. Nevertheless, a simple unique solution cannot be proposed for bushfire management. Changing weather conditions, topography and the geographic mix of asset types need to be considered when deciding on bushfire management strategies and their breadth and depth of application.

Innovations in the Sphere of Regulatory Provision of Russian Culture, Information Security, Copyright Protection, Development of Librarianship

The article presents information about recent organizational solutions and events in the sphere of preservation and development of Russian Culture information security for children, copyright protection, development and integration of libraries into united national system, including new regions of the Russian Federation; international relations and cooperation of the main libraries of Russia, Belarus and China.

Sociodemographic and health risk factors associated with health-related quality of life among adults living in Puerto Rico in 2019: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundPuerto Rico, a US territory, faces numerous challenges adversely affecting public health, including poverty, a fragile healthcare system, inadequate infrastructure, a debt crisis, and vulnerability to climate change-related natural disasters. The impact of these factors on the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) measure has not been comprehensively evaluated. Only two studies have assessed HRQoL, with the latest conducted in 2011, prior to recent events that could affect public health. This study aimed to assess the HRQoL and associated sociodemographic and health risk factors among adults living in Puerto Rico in 2019.MethodsPrevalence and 95% confidence intervals were used to describe HRQoL and its associations with sociodemographic and health-related variables among adults living in Puerto Rico who answered the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey (n = 4,944) in 2019. Multivariable logistic regression models were developed to identify which of these variables were more likely to be associated with each of the four core HRQoL questions (HRQoL-4), expressed as prevalence odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals adjusted for potential confounders.ResultsThrough a comprehensive multivariable analysis, we uncovered significant risk factors – increasing number of chronic conditions, advanced age, and low income – associated with poor HRQoL among adults living in Puerto Rico. Specifically, our findings suggest that individuals with an increasing number of chronic conditions were more likely to report poor HRQoL across all 4 domains. As the number of reported chronic conditions increases by one, the odds of reporting having: fair/poor general health increased by a factor of 2.24 (POR: 2.24, 95% CI: 2.08–2.41), physical health impairment increased by a factor of 1.93 (POR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.78–2.08), mental health impairment increased by a factor of 1.90 (POR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.78–2.02) and activity limitation increased by a factor of 1.27 ( POR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.13–1.42). Advancing age was associated with all domains of poor HRQoL, except for the mental health domain for which we observed higher rates of poor HRQoL among the younger population (POR: 4.76, 95% CI: 2.4–9.1).ConclusionThis paper shows that the prevalence of poor HRQoL has not improved compared to the only previous study of HRQoL of Puerto Rico in the last decade. We also found that poor HRQoL is associated with having multiple chronic conditions in adults living in Puerto Rico. This may be a consequence of a decline in health services after natural disasters and socioeconomic downturns on the island. The study emphasizes the need for targeted interventions and ongoing monitoring of the population’s HRQoL over time to reach vulnerable subgroups, especially those with chronic conditions, advanced age, and low income, in order to reduce health disparities in Puerto Rico.

Detection of Occurrent Somatic Hypermutation and Associated Gene Expression Profile in Single B Cells

Introduction Somatic Hypermutation (SHM) is an endogenous mutator mechanism in B lymphocytes that preferentially targets the immunoglobulin V(D)J coding region and facilitates antibody affinity maturation. The exact frequency and impact of SHM in individual B cells remains elusive, as previous quantifications only considered cumulative outcomes at population level. We therefore employed single-cell RNA sequencing on primary follicular lymphoma (FL) cells, a B-cell malignancy retaining the germinal center (GC) B-cell phenotype, to identify and quantify individual SHM events. This approach allowed us to detect neovariants, defined as single nucleotide differences that originate from recent SHM events, and to explore the gene expression profiles of the B lymphoma cells with neovariants, particularly focusing on genes and pathways effectuating SHM. Methods We collected and processed samples from 12 follicular lymphoma (FL) and five chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients as non-germinal center controls. Single cell whole cDNA libraries were prepared by 10X Genomics. Immunoglobulin gene single cell libraries were prepared by enrichment with semi-nested amplification using 3′ constant domain primers followed by 10X Genomics prep. Both single cell libraries were sequenced in paired-end mode on Illumina HiSeq 4000. We developed a customized method to preprocess scBCR data designed specifically for highly mutated FL BCR sequences. To ensure data quality and validity of putative neovariants, we applied a comprehensive filtering system, including stringent thresholds in terms of numbers of individual immunoglobulin (IG) mRNA molecules sequenced as defined by their UMI, and reads per position obtained from the median of the estimator's distribution, base quality scores, exclusion of cell doublets, position within the V(D)J region, and proportion of cell-level variants. Based on a reported IG mRNA half-life of 3 h and assuming a first-order decay, the filtering criteria implied that detected neovariants were created between 1 and 7 hours prior to the time of sampling. Results A median of 1112 cells (range: 215-16432) per case were analyzed. 1239 IG neovariants were detected in a total of 334 FL cells in 7 of the 12 FL cases. Neovariants were undetectable in control CLL cells. A remarkably high proportion (95,4%) of neovariants were found within known AID motifs (WRCY, WA, and RCG), suggesting active AID involvement in the hypermutation process. The observed fractions of FL cells carrying recent SHM events indicated initiation of FL pathophysiology at least 11,2 months prior to sampling. To further evaluate the role of AID, we compared gene expression profiles between FL cells with and without neovariants. The results demonstrated not only higher expression of AID but as well of pathways involved in SHM. Mismatch repair (hsa03430, 9 enriched genes with p.adjust &amp;lt; 0.001) and base excision repair (hsa03410, 17 enriched genes with p.adjust = 0.01), together with DNA replication (hsa03030, 14 enriched genes with p.adjust &amp;lt; 0.001), were the three most prominent pathways with upregulated genes. In cells with detectable neovariants, the MLH1/MSH2 genes, associated with the recognition of the deamination process, as well as POLH gene, which is involved in error-prone mutations in MMR, were highly expressed. Overall, we observed a more prominent expression of genes related to MMR than BER in cells with neovariants supported by a higher normalized enrichment score (NES) in MMR (MMR:1.93 and BER:1.6). This suggests not only an active SHM process but also potential interplay between AID and MMR in driving SHM in FL. Conclusions Here we report for the first time quantitative detection of ongoing somatic hypermutation at single cell level in FL. Based on the lifespan of IG mRNA, simultaneous detection of two IG mRNA transcripts differing by one (or a few) nucleotides only within a single cell permits to estimate the timing when this SHM event occurred. The detection of this phenomenon in 58% of FL samples and its association with AID expression suggests that AID-induced mutagenesis might be acting at a much higher rate than expected. Quantification of SHM at the single-cell level should facilitate the understanding of the cellular heterogeneity and dynamics in physiological GC reactions but also may offer novel insights into the AID-dependent shaping of the genomic landscape of germinal center B-cell neoplasms.

A conspiracy theory perspective on the influence of political events on tourism: a longitudinal study of Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This study investigated the role of conspiracy beliefs associated with political events in affecting tourists’ intention to visit an event-related destination. Based on a series of recent political events in Hong Kong, two surveys were conducted in 2020 and 2023. The results showed that conspiracy theories have a diminishing negative impact on tourists’ intention to visit over time, according to a comparison of findings based on longitudinal datasets. Political engagement partially mediated the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and a negative intention to visit. Younger or ethnic minority respondents were found to be more likely to hold conspiracy beliefs.

Childhood adversity predicts stronger premenstrual mood worsening, stress appraisal and cortisol decrease in women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.

Lifetime traumatic events are prevalent in women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and predict stronger premenstrual symptom intensities. Less is known about the unique effects of childhood adversity on PMDD. This study aims to investigate the menstrual cycle related course of mood, stress appraisal and cortisol activity over time and the effects of childhood adversity - by controlling for recent stressful life events - on the cyclicity of these outcomes. Fifty-two women with PMDD completed questionnaires on childhood adversity and stressful life events during the past 12 months. Momentary negative and positive affect, stress appraisal, and saliva-cortisol were assessed within an Ambulatory Assessment (AA) design over four consecutive days during both the follicular and the late luteal phase. This AA was repeated after five months, resulting in two measurement bursts. Women with PMDD showed expected cycle related variations in mood and stress appraisal, whereby these effects weakened over time. No cortisol cyclicity was identified. Higher childhood adversity was linked to stronger increases in negative affect and stress appraisal, and stronger decreases in positive affect from the follicular toward the late luteal phase. Women with higher childhood adversity exhibited lower cortisol levels during the late luteal phase compared to the follicular phase whereas no such cyclicity was found in women with lower childhood adversity. Childhood adversity appears to show independent deteriorating effects on premenstrual mood worsening and stress appraisal in women with PMDD. The observed cortisol cyclicity in women with higher childhood adversity may point to different neuroendocrine subtypes of PMDD in relation to childhood trauma and requires further systematic research.

The Canadian Study of Arterial Inflammation in Patients with Diabetes and Recent Vascular Events, Evaluation of Colchicine Effectiveness (CADENCE): protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BackgroundInflammation is a key mediator in the development and progression of the atherosclerotic disease process as well as its resultant complications, like myocardial infarction (MI), stroke and cardiovascular (CV) death,...

AN AI SYSTEM FOR FAKE NEWS DETECTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Recent political events have led to an increase in the popularity and spread of fakenews. As the far-reaching impact of the spread of fake news has shown, people are inconsistent, if not poor, at detecting fake news. Therefore, efforts have been made to automate the process of detecting fake news. Among the most widespread attempts of this kind are “blacklists” of sources and authors who cannot be trusted. While these tools are useful for creating a more comprehensive end-to-end solution, we must consider the more difficult cases where credible sources and authors publish fake news. The aim of this project was therefore to create a tool to use machine learning to detect linguistic patterns that characterize false and real information. The results of this project show that machine learning can be useful in this task. We have developed a model that captures many intuitive clues about true and false news, as well as an application that visualizes the classification decision.

The sensitivity and specificity of the WHO's ICOPE screening tool, and the prevalence of loss of intrinsic capacity in older adults: A scoping review.

The World Health Organization has developed the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) program, a public health strategy to maintain older adults' functional abilities and promote healthier aging. The approach comprises a 5-step pathway. Step 1 is the screening for impairment in functions, and Step 2 is an in-depth evaluation to confirm the presence and severity of functional impairment. These initial two steps are crucial to determine the subsequent plan of care (Step 3) and follow-up (Step 4). The fifth step encompasses actions to support families and caregivers and to engage communities. This review gathers data from the literature on the prevalence of positive screenings regarding intrinsic capacity detected by the program's first-step screening tool, and on currently available results regarding the instrument's sensitivity and specificity. Electronic searches were conducted in the PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and SciElo databases, the medRxiv platform, and recent human aging scientific events, looking for research analyzing the ICOPE screening instrument. Studies reporting data on the prevalence of positive screenings for loss of intrinsic capacity using the proposed screening tool and/or findings on the instrument's sensitivity and specificity were included. A total of 7 publications with participants aged 50years or more were selected. The prevalence of at least one impairment in intrinsic capacity detected by the instrument varied among the studies from 17.1% to 94.3%. Sensitivity ranged from 26.4% to 100% and specificity from 22% to 96%, depending on the setting and the assessed domain. Currently available data are heterogeneous, and different results were found among the studies due to diverse settings and methodologies. The evidence on the ICOPE screening tool's performance in different populations is still scarce and reinforces the need for further research worldwide.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of a mind-body resiliency program for fear of cancer recurrence: Qualitative findings.

503 Background: Up to 70% of cancer survivors have elevated fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). Behavioral approaches are promising for managing FCR but lack testing in a scalable, synchronous, remotely-delivered, group format. This NCCIH-funded pilot RCT tested an adapted mind-body resiliency program (IN FOCUS) in comparison to a usual care control (UC; referral to virtual, cancer support groups). Methods: Adult survivors of any non-metastatic cancer (N=64) were recruited from two Boston-area academic medical centers (July 2021-March 2022). Inclusion criteria included primary treatment, elevated FCR (FCR Inventory severity≥16), English fluency, no undertreated serious mental illness, and access to Zoom. Survivors were randomized (1:1) to either 8 sessions of IN FOCUS or UC. Individual exit interviews were conducted virtually with high rates of completion (91% IN FOCUS, 94% UC). Open-ended questions probed survivors on study enjoyableness, convenience, helpfulness, odds of future skill use, satisfaction, and FCR. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using hybrid deductive/inductive coding by three coders (MM, ET, DH) with a senior coder (GY) for resolving discrepancies. Themes were iteratively collapsed and expanded through consensus. Results: Survivors randomized to IN FOCUS found group delivery (i.e., hearing insights from others, sharing similar cancer experiences) and learning a variety of new skills (i.e., positive psychology such as appreciations and humor, relaxation/breathing, CBT and health behaviors) as the most enjoyable and helpful aspects. Some survivors voiced challenges with scheduling, limited time for group discussion, and length of sessions. Homework was helpful yet challenging for survivors to implement independently. Virtual delivery and electronic materials were identified as most convenient, but some wished the manual was less dense and printed as a hard copy. Survivors valued the group facilitator’s rapport, empathy, and group diversity in terms of cancer diagnosis, but desired more diversity in age, race, and gender. IN FOCUS survivors described reductions in FCR, primarily attributed to cognitive (i.e., self-efficacy, changed perspective) and health behavior changes. However, several IN FOCUS survivors reported having no change in FCR, due to needing more time to incorporate skills or recent health events. UC survivors described benefits from reading study surveys, which prompted survivors to reflect on their psychosocial functioning, and coping skills. Conclusions: The IN FOCUS intervention and study materials were well-received and participants appreciated the integration of a variety of skills, in particular positive psychology followed by relaxation, CBT, and health behavior skills. Findings will guide future optimization and efficacy testing with heterogenous cancer survivors with FCR. Clinical trial information: NCT04876599 .

Relevance of molecular systematics in insect pest management

Relevance of molecular systematics in insect pest management