Post-acute COVID-19 neuropsychiatric symptoms are not associated with ongoing nervous system injury

A proportion of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 experience a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms months after infection, including cognitive deficits, depression and anxiety. The mechanisms underpinning such symptoms remain elusive. Recent research has demonstrated that nervous system injury can occur during COVID-19. Whether ongoing neural injury in the months after COVID-19 accounts for the ongoing or emergent neuropsychiatric symptoms is unclear. Within a large prospective cohort study of adult survivors who were hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, we analysed plasma markers of nervous system injury and astrocytic activation, measured 6 months post-infection: neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein and total tau protein. We assessed whether these markers were associated with the severity of the acute COVID-19 illness and with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, the General Anxiety Disorder assessment for anxiety, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for objective cognitive deficit and the cognitive items of the Patient Symptom Questionnaire for subjective cognitive deficit) at 6 months and 1 year post-hospital discharge from COVID-19. No robust associations were found between markers of nervous system injury and severity of acute COVID-19 (except for an association of small effect size between duration of admission and neurofilament light) nor with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms. These results suggest that ongoing neuropsychiatric symptoms are not due to ongoing neural injury

Temporal and spatial distribution of chlorophyll-a in surface waters of the Scotia Sea as determined by both shipboard measurements and satellite data

Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations in surface waters were measured at 137 hydrographic stations occupied by four research vessels participating in the CCAMLR 2000 Survey and the values were compared to estimates from data acquired by the SeaWiFS satellite. The Chl-a concentrations measured on board ship ranged from 0.06 to 14.6 mg m(-3), a range that includes most surface Chl-a concentrations during mid-summer in the Southern Ocean. Owing to persistent cloud cover over much of the Southern Ocean, it was necessary to acquire multi-day composites of satellite data in order to obtain reliable estimates of Chl-a at each of the hydrographic stations. The correlation between the median value for the eight-day composites and the Chl-a concentrations measured on board ship had an R-2 value of 0.82, with the satellite data under-estimating the values obtained on board ship at high Chl-a concentrations and slightly overestimating the shipboard data at Chl-a concentrations of < 0.2 mg m(-3). For Chl-a concentrations of < 1.0 mg m(-3), the ratio of the satellite estimates divided by the shipboard values was 0.89 +/- 0.45 (n = 50). As the mean Chl-a concentration in most pelagic Antarctic waters is close to 0.5 mg m(-3), satellite estimates for Chl-a concentrations in surface waters are thus close to shipboard measurements, and offer the advantage of providing synoptic maps of Chl-a distribution over extensive areas of the Southern Ocean. Satellite Chl-a images for the months preceding (December 1999) and following (February 2000) the CCAMLR 2000 Survey cruises showed that the general pattern of Chl-a concentration in the Scotia Sea and adjoining waters was similar in all three months, but that the phytoplankton biomass was generally lowest in December, reached maximal values in January, and started to decline in February. in contrast, Chl-a concentrations in Drake Passage declined progressively from early December through February

Plant species radiations: where, when, why?

The spatial and temporal patterns of plant species radiations are largely unknown. I used a nonlinear regression to estimate speciation and extinction rates from all relevant dated clades. Both are surprisingly high. A high species richness can be the result of either little extinction, thus preserving the diversity that dates from older radiations (a ‘mature radiation’), or a ‘recent and rapid radiation’. The analysis of radiations from different regions (Andes, New Zealand, Australia, southwest Africa, tropics and Eurasia) revealed that the diversity of Australia may be largely the result of mature radiations. This is in sharp contrast to New Zealand, where the flora appears to be largely the result of recent and rapid radiations. Mature radiations are characteristic of regions that have been climatically and geologically stable throughout the Neogene, whereas recent and rapid radiations are more typical of younger (Pliocene) environments. The hyperdiverse Cape and Neotropical floras are the result of the combinations of mature as well as recent and rapid radiations. Both the areas contain stable environments (the Amazon basin and the Cape Fold Mountains) as well as dynamic landscapes (the Andes and the South African west coast). The evolution of diversity can only be understood in the context of the local environment