A 2018 Horizon Scan of Emerging Issues for Global Conservation and Biological Diversity.

This is our ninth annual horizon scan to identify emerging issues that we believe could affect global biological diversity, natural capital and ecosystem services, and conservation efforts. Our diverse and international team, with expertise in horizon scanning, science communication, as well as conservation science, practice, and policy, reviewed 117 potential issues. We identified the 15 that may have the greatest positive or negative effects but are not yet well recognised by the global conservation community. Themes among these topics include new mechanisms driving the emergence and geographic expansion of diseases, innovative biotechnologies, reassessments of global change, and the development of strategic infrastructure to facilitate global economic priorities

A Multicenter Study of the Validity and Reliability of Responses to Hand Cold Challenge as Measured by Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging and Thermography:outcome measures for systemic sclerosis-related Raynaud's phenomenon

Objective: Reliable and objective outcome measures to facilitate clinical trials of novel treatments for systemic sclerosis (SSc)–related Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) are badly needed. Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and thermography are noninvasive measures of perfusion that have shown excellent potential. This multicenter study was undertaken to determine the reliability and validity of a hand cold challenge protocol using LSCI, standard thermography, and low‐cost cell phone/mobile phone thermography (henceforth referred to as mobile thermography) in patients with SSc‐related RP. Methods: Patients with RP secondary to SSc were recruited from 6 UK tertiary care centers. The patients underwent cold challenge on 2 consecutive days. Changes in cutaneous blood flow/skin temperature at each visit were imaged simultaneously using LSCI, standard thermography, and mobile thermography. Measurements included area under the curve (AUC) for reperfusion/rewarming and maximum blood flow rate/skin temperature after rewarming (MAX). Test–retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Estimated latent correlations (estimated from multilevel models, taking values between −1 and 1; denoted as rho values) were used to assess the convergent validity of LSCI and thermography. Results: In total, 159 patients (77% with limited cutaneous SSc) were recruited (84% female, median age 63.3 years). LSCI and standard thermography both had substantial reliability, with ICCs for the reperfusion/rewarming AUC of 0.67 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.54, 0.76) and 0.68 (95% CI 0.58, 0.80), respectively, and ICCs for the MAX of 0.64 (95% CI 0.52, 0.75) and 0.72 (95% CI 0.64, 0.81), respectively. Very high latent correlations were present for the AUCs of LSCI and thermography (ρ = 0.94; 95% CI 0.87, 1.00) and for the AUCs of standard and mobile thermography (ρ = 0.98; 95% CI 0.94, 1.00). Conclusion: This is the first multicenter study to examine the reliability and validity of cold challenge using LSCI and thermography in patients with SSc‐related RP. LSCI and thermography both demonstrated good potential as outcome measures. LSCI, standard thermography, and mobile thermography had very high convergent validity

A Horizon Scan to Support Chemical Pollution–Related Policymaking for Sustainable and Climate‐Resilient Economies

While chemicals are vital to modern society through materials, agriculture, textiles, new technology, medicines, and consumer goods, their use is not without risks. Unfortunately, our resources seem inadequate to address the breadth of chemical challenges to the environment and human health. Therefore, it is important we use our intelligence and knowledge wisely to prepare for what lies ahead. The present study used a Delphi‐style approach to horizon‐scan future chemical threats that need to be considered in the setting of chemicals and environmental policy, which involved a multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and multinational panel of 25 scientists and practitioners (mainly from the United Kingdom, Europe, and other industrialized nations) in a three‐stage process. Fifteen issues were shortlisted (from a nominated list of 48), considered by the panel to hold global relevance. The issues span from the need for new chemical manufacturing (including transitioning to non‐fossil‐fuel feedstocks); challenges from novel materials, food imports, landfills, and tire wear; and opportunities from artificial intelligence, greater data transparency, and the weight‐of‐evidence approach. The 15 issues can be divided into three classes: new perspectives on historic but insufficiently appreciated chemicals/issues, new or relatively new products and their associated industries, and thinking through approaches we can use to meet these challenges. Chemicals are one threat among many that influence the environment and human health, and interlinkages with wider issues such as climate change and how we mitigate these were clear in this exercise. The horizon scan highlights the value of thinking broadly and consulting widely, considering systems approaches to ensure that interventions appreciate synergies and avoid harmful trade‐offs in other areas. We recommend further collaboration between researchers, industry, regulators, and policymakers to perform horizon scanning to inform policymaking, to develop our ability to meet these challenges, and especially to extend the approach to consider also concerns from countries with developing economies

Assembly rules of reef corals are flexible along a steep climatic gradient

Coral reefs, one of the world's most complex and vulnerable ecosystems, face an uncertain future in coming decades as they continue to respond to anthropogenic climate change, overfishing, pollution, and other human impacts. Traditionally, marine macroecology is based on presence/absence data from taxonomic checklists or geographic ranges, providing a qualitative overview of spatial shifts in species richness that treats rare and common species equally. As a consequence, regional and long-term shifts in relative abundances of individual taxa are poorly understood. Here we apply a more rigorous quantitative approach to examine large-scale spatial variation in the species composition and abundance of corals on midshelf reefs along the length of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a biogeographic region where species richness is high and relatively homogeneous. We demonstrate that important functional components of coral assemblages "sample" space differently at 132 sites separated by up to 1740 km, leading to complex latitudinal shifts in patterns of absolute and relative abundance. The flexibility in community composition that we document along latitudinal environmental gradients indicates that climate change is likely to result in a reassortment of coral reef taxa rather than wholesale loss of entire reef ecosystems

Phenotypic profiling data for elucidating genomic gaps

<p>Dataset 1. Raw OD600 growth curves (raw_od_curves.csv).</p> <p>MAPs optical density measurements from the plate reader for 96 wells. Numbered headers indicate the time (hrs) and the column contents indicate the OD600 measurement.</p> <p>Dataset 2. Parameters for logistic curves (curve_logistic_parameters.csv).</p> <p>Lag, maximum growth rate, and carrying capacity parameters for the 96 wells. Sum-squared error and growth level are included.</p> <p>Dataset 3. C.sedlakii KBase phenotypes (c.sedlakii_phenotypes.csv).</p> <p>Phenotype csv file required for KBase phenotype simulations. This file specifies media data object name, the KBase workspace, and growth. The gene knockout and additional compound columns were not used and set to none.</p

Phenotypic profiling data for elucidating genomic gaps

<p>Dataset 1. Raw OD600 growth curves (raw_od_curves.csv).</p><p>MAPs optical density measurements from the plate reader for 96 wells. Numbered headers indicate the time (hrs) and the column contents indicate the OD600 measurement.</p><p>Dataset 2. Parameters for logistic curves (curve_logistic_parameters.csv).</p><p>Lag, maximum growth rate, and carrying capacity parameters for the 96 wells. Sum-squared error and growth level are included.</p><p>Dataset 3. C.sedlakii KBase phenotypes (c.sedlakii_phenotypes.csv).</p><p>Phenotype csv file required for KBase phenotype simulations. This file specifies media data object name, the KBase workspace, and growth. The gene knockout and additional compound columns were not used and set to none.</p><p>Dataset 4. (C. sedlakii_nogapfill.sbml)</p><p>The initial metabolic model of Citrobacter sedlakii built solely from the functional annotations.</p><p>Dataset 5.  (C.sedlakii_ArgonneLB_gapfill.sbml)</p><p>The initial metabolic model of Citrobacter sedlakii with reactions identified by the gap-fill algorithm on the LB media condition.</p><p>Dataset 6. (C.sedlakii_MAP_gapfill.sbml)</p><p>The LB-gap-filled model with reactions identified by the gap-fill algorithm on the MAPs media conditions.</p

A Genomics Education Alliance

<p>Genomics has emerged as a critical area of research for the life sciences, generating new social and scientific perspectives. Low-cost sequencing and advances in computing have accelerated genomics research at a pace that leaves educators at the undergraduate level struggling to keep up. We present a call to action, advocating for creation of a Genomics Education Alliance (GEA) – a global, sustainable, community-driven organization that can coalesce disparate efforts to deliver on the educational and scientific promise of genomics in the 21^st century. Addressing the emerging challenges in human health, agriculture, and climate will depend on training the next generation of biology students to be data-savvy scientists. Genome annotation and analysis, as a stand-alone effort or in conjunction with wet-bench investigation, has proven to be an effective way to a) introduce large numbers of biology students to bioinformatics, and b) provide students with a course-based research experiences (CUREs). GEA can implement and maintain an up-to-date framework, including accessible tools and research problems, to support undergraduate education, promoting CURE-based approaches and addressing barriers (e.g. technological, training, pedagogical) that educators face in bringing genomics to undergraduates at scale. We invite the community of researchers and educators working in genomics and related fields to join us in shaping this alliance with the aim of achieving transformative change in life science education. </p