Characterising the nature of ocean-surface heterogeneity extracted from hypertemporal Earth Observation data

The ongoing temporal data "explosion" in Earth Observation imagery presents the oceanographic community with opportunities to analyse 30+ year archives of ocean surface measurements. While multiple hyper-temporal analysis tools exist for terrestrial applications, unsupervised data-driven methods are needed to extract and identify spatio-temporal ocean surface patterns. In particular, heterogeneity mapping of the ocean surface is needed to underpin time series analysis of satellite-derived ocean parameters, such as sea surface temperature and chlorophyll. Ultimately, derived products must be of benefit to the oceanographic and marine ecology communities, with clear meaningful guidance on their contents and how to interpret them. The Ocean-surface Heterogeneity MApping (OHMA) algorithm was developed to extract annual heterogeneity summaries from hyper-temporal datasets of GHRSST multi-sensor SST data. The OHMA algorithm produces a classification ensemble relying on optimised iterations of ISODATA classification. The ensembles highlight spatio-temporally homogeneous and heterogeneous ocean regions. The approach is entirely data-driven to meet current limitations when working with hyper-temporal ocean data, and to overcome challenges of obtaining ocean surface in-situ data which drive more supervised approaches. The OHMA map is validated for 2011 using measures of in-situ spatio-temporal heterogeneity from transect data. This approach can help optimise in-situ sampling efforts, with significant cost savings. It is critical to provide guidance to oceanographic and ecology users on how to interpret the features an OHMA map presents. Efforts undertaken to clarify interpretation of an OHMA map, through comparing the heterogeneity features highlighted in the OHMA outputs to SST front summaries derived from SST data, clearly demonstrated that heterogeneous regions cannot be explained primarily by the presence and magnitude of SST fronts. The spatio-temporal characteristics of other mesoscale features, such as eddies and surface currents, may also influence the features expressed in an OHMA output which are of interest to end user communities. Measuring the contribution of the various mesoscale features to a region's heterogeneity, therefore requires a multi-feature (and therefore multi-variable) synergistic approach

Genome‐wide association mapping of Fusarium langsethiae infection and mycotoxin accumulation in oat (Avena sativa L.)

Fusarium langsethiae is a symptomless pathogen of oat panicles that produces T‐2 and HT‐2 mycotoxins, two of the most potent trichothecenes produced by Fusarium fungi in cereals. In the last few years, the levels of these mycotoxin in oat grain has increased and the European commission have already recommended a maximum level for of 1000 μg kg−1 for unprocessed oat for human consumption. The optimal and most sustainable way of combating infection and mycotoxin contamination is by releasing resistant oat varieties. Here the objective was to determine if we could identify any genomic loci associated with either the accumulation of F. langsethiae DNA or mycotoxins in the grain. In each of two years, field trials were conducted wherein 190 spring oat varieties were inoculated with a mixture of three isolate of the pathogen. Mycotoxins were quantified using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Varieties were genotyped using 16,863 genotyping by sequencing markers. Genome‐wide association studies associated 5 SNPs in the linkage group Mr06 with T‐2 + HT‐2 mycotoxin accumulation. Markers were highly correlated, and a single QTL was identified. The marker avgbs_6K_95238.1 mapped within genes showing similarity to lipase, lipase‐like or lipase precursor mRNA sequences and zinc‐finger proteins. These regions have previously been shown to confer a significant increase in resistance to Fusarium species

The Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) study protocol: a cross-sectional, lifespan, multidisciplinary examination of healthy cognitive ageing.

BACKGROUND: As greater numbers of us are living longer, it is increasingly important to understand how we can age healthily. Although old age is often stereotyped as a time of declining mental abilities and inflexibility, cognitive neuroscience reveals that older adults use neural and cognitive resources flexibly, recruiting novel neural regions and cognitive processes when necessary. Our aim in this project is to understand how age-related changes to neural structure and function interact to support cognitive abilities across the lifespan. METHODS/DESIGN: We are recruiting a population-based cohort of 3000 adults aged 18 and over into Stage 1 of the project, where they complete an interview including health and lifestyle questions, a core cognitive assessment, and a self-completed questionnaire of lifetime experiences and physical activity. Of those interviewed, 700 participants aged 18-87 (100 per age decile) continue to Stage 2 where they undergo cognitive testing and provide measures of brain structure and function. Cognition is assessed across multiple domains including attention and executive control, language, memory, emotion, action control and learning. A subset of 280 adults return for in-depth neurocognitive assessment in Stage 3, using functional neuroimaging experiments across our key cognitive domains.Formal statistical models will be used to examine the changes that occur with healthy ageing, and to evaluate age-related reorganisation in terms of cognitive and neural functions invoked to compensate for overall age-related brain structural decline. Taken together the three stages provide deep phenotyping that will allow us to measure neural activity and flexibility during performance across a number of core cognitive functions. This approach offers hypothesis-driven insights into the relationship between brain and behaviour in healthy ageing that are relevant to the general population. DISCUSSION: Our study is a unique resource of neuroimaging and cognitive measures relevant to change across the adult lifespan. Because we focus on normal age-related changes, our results may contribute to changing views about the ageing process, lead to targeted interventions, and reveal how normal ageing relates to frail ageing in clinicopathological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.The Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) research was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant number BB/H008217/1).This is the final published version of the article. It first appeared from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12883-014-0204-

Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletins

Use Case Title: Harmful Algal Blooms Environmental matrix of interest (Air, Ice, Mar. Water, etc.): Marine Study Regions: Shelf Seas in Norway, Ireland and Spain Dissemination Method: Web Providing near real-time and forecast information for the aquaculture industry along Europe’s Atlantic coast is of vital importance in mitigating the effects of HABs. In this task, In-situ and satellite data will be amalgamated in a decision support system. In-situ data include oceanographic data e.g. water column structure, current speeds, biological samples (e.g. algal toxins, phytoplankton cell counts, barcoding) and hydrographic and biogeochemical information where possible. The In-situ data will be used to inform and validate biophysical models and to produce circulation forecasts for the coming three to five days. These data will undergo expert interpretation to produce an early warning bulletin to the aquaculture industry in Spain, Norway and Ireland. The bulletin will be distributed over a specified production season to fish farmers and shellfish production facilities so that husbandry and harvesting techniques can reflect the prevailing HAB conditions at any point in time

Cognitive Diversity in a Healthy Aging Cohort: Cross-Domain Cognition in the Cam-CAN Project.

Objective: Studies of "healthy" cognitive aging often focus on a limited set of measures that decline with age. The current study argues that defining and supporting healthy cognition requires understanding diverse cognitive performance across the lifespan. Method: Data from the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) cohort was examined across a range of cognitive domains. Performance was related to lifestyle including education, social engagement, and enrichment activities. Results: Results indicate variable relationships between cognition and age (positive, negative, or no relationship). Principal components analysis indicated maintained cognitive diversity across the adult lifespan, and that cognition-lifestyle relationships differed by age and domain. Discussion: Our findings support a view of normal cognitive aging as a lifelong developmental process with diverse relationships between cognition, lifestyle, and age. This reinforces the need for large-scale studies of cognitive aging to include a wider range of both ages and cognitive tasks.The Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) research was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant number BB/H008217/1)

AtlantOS fitness for HAB Bulletins

Assessment of the observing system fitness for HAB warning bulletin in the Atlanti

Tropical root responses to global changes:A synthesis

Tropical ecosystems face escalating global change. These shifts can disrupt tropical forests' carbon (C) balance and impact root dynamics. Since roots perform essential functions such as resource acquisition and tissue protection, root responses can inform about the strategies and vulnerabilities of ecosystems facing present and future global changes. However, root trait dynamics are poorly understood, especially in tropical ecosystems. We analyzed existing research on tropical root responses to key global change drivers: warming, drought, flooding, cyclones, nitrogen (N) deposition, elevated (e) CO2, and fires. Based on tree species‐ and community‐level literature, we obtained 266 root trait observations from 93 studies across 24 tropical countries. We found differences in the proportion of root responsiveness to global change among different global change drivers but not among root categories. In particular, we observed that tropical root systems responded to warming and eCO2 by increasing root biomass in species‐scale studies. Drought increased the root: shoot ratio with no change in root biomass, indicating a decline in aboveground biomass. Despite N deposition being the most studied global change driver, it had some of the most variable effects on root characteristics, with few predictable responses. Episodic disturbances such as cyclones, fires, and flooding consistently resulted in a change in root trait expressions, with cyclones and fires increasing root production, potentially due to shifts in plant community and nutrient inputs, while flooding changed plant regulatory metabolisms due to low oxygen conditions. The data available to date clearly show that tropical forest root characteristics and dynamics are responding to global change, although in ways that are not always predictable. This synthesis indicates the need for replicated studies across root characteristics at species and community scales under different global change factors

ARMED to ESCAPE COVID-19 : the impact of COVID-19 on a mixed methods feasibility study of a weight management, education and physical function programme for patients with knee osteoarthritis at the primary/secondary care interface

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to test the feasibility of running a trial to compare the effectiveness of a combined weight management and physical function programme for patients with knee osteoarthritis ARMED (Arthritis Rehabilitation through the Management of Exercise and Diet) with usual care ESCAPE pain (Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain using Exercise). The COVID-19 pandemic interruption allowed additional measurement of the qualitative ‘lived in’ experiences of this patient group during the pandemic and also their appetite for virtual health. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two patients with knee osteoarthritis were recruited from a combined primary/secondary care waiting list and were allocated to either a six-week intervention group (ARMED) or to the six-week usual care ESCAPE pain group (Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritic Pain using Exercise) group. RESULTS: The intervention programme was interrupted after three weeks by COVID-19. Fifteen patients were reassessed after the first stage. The average attendance was 92% with 6 patients attending all sessions, 5 attending 5/6, 1 attending 4/6 and 2 attending 3/6. One subject dropped out and 15/16 patients completed all outcome measurements. All patients completed the KOOS knee score and the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well Being Scale to evaluate anxiety and depression. There was a statistically significant improvement in pain, activities of daily living, quality of life and mental health and well-being scores from time one to time 2. The mean weight, BMI and waist measurements were reduced also from time one to time 2, but these failed to reach significance. The semi-structured interviews provided rich information on enablers and barriers to coping in lockdown, benefits of the ARMED programme to increasing physical activity and weight management and enablers and barriers to redesigning the programme for online delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of preliminary data from this feasibility study supports the three-week intervention combining education, exercise and weight management in this patient group even during a pandemic. Based on the results of the qualitative interviews, we have now redesigned our programme to present it virtually. We hope to present the results of our virtual feasibility study later in 2021

Perceptual and conceptual processing of visual objects across the adult lifespan

Abstract: Making sense of the external world is vital for multiple domains of cognition, and so it is crucial that object recognition is maintained across the lifespan. We investigated age differences in perceptual and conceptual processing of visual objects in a population-derived sample of 85 healthy adults (24–87 years old) by relating measures of object processing to cognition across the lifespan. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was recorded during a picture naming task to provide a direct measure of neural activity, that is not confounded by age-related vascular changes. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate neural responsivity for each individual, namely the capacity to represent visual or semantic information relating to the pictures. We find that the capacity to represent semantic information is linked to higher naming accuracy, a measure of task-specific performance. In mature adults, the capacity to represent semantic information also correlated with higher levels of fluid intelligence, reflecting domain-general performance. In contrast, the latency of visual processing did not relate to measures of cognition. These results indicate that neural responsivity measures relate to naming accuracy and fluid intelligence. We propose that maintaining neural responsivity in older age confers benefits in task-related and domain-general cognitive processes, supporting the brain maintenance view of healthy cognitive ageing

Distinct components of cardiovascular health are linked with age-related differences in cognitive abilities

Cardiovascular ageing contributes to cognitive impairment. However, the unique and synergistic contributions of multiple cardiovascular factors to cognitive function remain unclear because they are often condensed into a single composite score or examined in isolation. We hypothesized that vascular risk factors, electrocardiographic features and blood pressure indices reveal multiple latent vascular factors, with independent contributions to cognition. In a population-based deep-phenotyping study (n = 708, age 18–88), path analysis revealed three latent vascular factors dissociating the autonomic nervous system response from two components of blood pressure. These three factors made unique and additive contributions to the variability in crystallized and fluid intelligence. The discrepancy in fluid relative to crystallized intelligence, indicative of cognitive decline, was associated with a latent vascular factor predominantly expressing pulse pressure. This suggests that higher pulse pressure is associated with cognitive decline from expected performance. The effect was stronger in older adults. Controlling pulse pressure may help to preserve cognition, particularly in older adults. Our findings highlight the need to better understand the multifactorial nature of vascular aging