Differential Response to Soil Salinity in Endangered Key Tree Cactus: Implications for Survival in a Changing Climate

Understanding reasons for biodiversity loss is essential for developing conservation and management strategies and is becoming increasingly urgent with climate change. Growing at elevations <1.4 m in the Florida Keys, USA, the endangered Key tree cactus (Pilosocereus robinii) experienced 84 percent loss of total stems from 1994 to 2007. The most severe losses of 99 and 88 percent stems occurred in the largest populations in the Lower Keys, where nine storms with high wind velocities and storm surges, occurred during this period. In contrast, three populations had substantial stem proliferation. To evaluate possible mortality factors related to changes in climate or forest structure, we examined habitat variables: soil salinity, elevation, canopy cover, and habitat structure near 16 dying or dead and 18 living plants growing in the Lower Keys. Soil salinity and elevation were the preliminary factors that discriminated live and dead plants. Soil salinity was 1.5 times greater, but elevation was 12 cm higher near dead plants than near live plants. However, distribution-wide stem loss was not significantly related to salinity or elevation. Controlled salinity trials indicated that salt tolerance to levels above 40 mM NaCl was related to maternal origin. Salt sensitive plants from the Lower Keys had less stem growth, lower root:shoot ratios, lower potassium: sodium ratios and lower recovery rate, but higher δ 13C than a salt tolerant lineage of unknown origin. Unraveling the genetic structure of salt tolerant and salt sensitive lineages in the Florida Keys will require further genetic tests. Worldwide rare species restricted to fragmented, low-elevation island habitats, with little or no connection to higher ground will face challenges from climate change-related factors. These great conservation challenges will require traditional conservation actions and possibly managed relocation that must be informed by studies such as these

Interventions for drug-using offenders with co-occurring mental health problems

Background This review represents one from a family of three reviews focusing on interventions for drug‐using offenders. Many people under the care of the criminal justice system have co‐occurring mental health problems and drug misuse problems; it is important to identify the most effective treatments for this vulnerable population. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of interventions for drug‐using offenders with co‐occurring mental health problems in reducing criminal activity or drug use, or both. This review addresses the following questions. • Does any treatment for drug‐using offenders with co‐occurring mental health problems reduce drug use? • Does any treatment for drug‐using offenders with co‐occurring mental health problems reduce criminal activity? • Does the treatment setting (court, community, prison/secure establishment) affect intervention outcome(s)? • Does the type of treatment affect treatment outcome(s)? Search methods We searched 12 databases up to February 2019 and checked the reference lists of included studies. We contacted experts in the field for further information. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials designed to prevent relapse of drug use and/or criminal activity among drug‐using offenders with co‐occurring mental health problems. Data collection and analysis We used standard methodological procedures as expected by Cochrane . Main results We included 13 studies with a total of 2606 participants. Interventions were delivered in prison (eight studies; 61%), in court (two studies; 15%), in the community (two studies; 15%), or at a medium secure hospital (one study; 8%). Main sources of bias were unclear risk of selection bias and high risk of detection bias. Four studies compared a therapeutic community intervention versus (1) treatment as usual (two studies; 266 participants), providing moderate‐certainty evidence that participants who received the intervention were less likely to be involved in subsequent criminal activity (risk ratio (RR) 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53 to 0.84) or returned to prison (RR 0.40, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.67); (2) a cognitive‐behavioural therapy (one study; 314 participants), reporting no significant reduction in self‐reported drug use (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.46 to 1.32), re‐arrest for any type of crime (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.09), criminal activity (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.05), or drug‐related crime (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.36), yielding low‐certainty evidence; and (3) a waiting list control (one study; 478 participants), showing a significant reduction in return to prison for those people engaging in the therapeutic community (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.79), providing moderate‐certainty evidence. One study (235 participants) compared a mental health treatment court with an assertive case management model versus treatment as usual, showing no significant reduction at 12 months' follow‐up on an Addictive Severity Index (ASI) self‐report of drug use (mean difference (MD) 0.00, 95% CI ‐0.03 to 0.03), conviction for a new crime (RR 1.05, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.22), or re‐incarceration to jail (RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.62 to 1.01), providing low‐certainty evidence. Four studies compared motivational interviewing/mindfulness and cognitive skills with relaxation therapy (one study), a waiting list control (one study), or treatment as usual (two studies). In comparison to relaxation training, one study reported narrative information on marijuana use at three‐month follow‐up assessment. Researchers reported a main effect < .007 with participants in the motivational interviewing group, showing fewer problems than participants in the relaxation training group, with moderate‐certainty evidence. In comparison to a waiting list control, one study reported no significant reduction in self‐reported drug use based on the ASI (MD ‐0.04, 95% CI ‐0.37 to 0.29) and on abstinence from drug use (RR 2.89, 95% CI 0.73 to 11.43), presenting low‐certainty evidence at six months (31 participants). In comparison to treatment as usual, two studies (with 40 participants) found no significant reduction in frequency of marijuana use at three months post release (MD ‐1.05, 95% CI ‐2.39 to 0.29) nor time to first arrest (MD 0.87, 95% CI ‐0.12 to 1.86), along with a small reduction in frequency of re‐arrest (MD ‐0.66, 95% CI ‐1.31 to ‐0.01) up to 36 months, yielding low‐certainty evidence; the other study with 80 participants found no significant reduction in positive drug screens at 12 months (MD ‐0.7, 95% CI ‐3.5 to 2.1), providing very low‐certainty evidence. Two studies reported on the use of multi‐systemic therapy involving juveniles and families versus treatment as usual and adolescent substance abuse therapy. In comparing treatment as usual, researchers found no significant reduction up to seven months in drug dependence on the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) score (MD ‐0.22, 95% CI ‐2.51 to 2.07) nor in arrests (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.70 to 1.36), providing low‐certainty evidence (156 participants). In comparison to an adolescent substance abuse therapy, one study (112 participants) found significant reduction in re‐arrests up to 24 months (MD 0.24, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.28), based on low‐certainty evidence. One study (38 participants) reported on the use of interpersonal psychotherapy in comparison to a psychoeducational intervention. Investigators found no significant reduction in self‐reported drug use at three months (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.30 to 1.50), providing very low‐certainty evidence. The final study (29 participants) compared legal defence service and wrap‐around social work services versus legal defence service only and found no significant reductions in the number of new offences committed at 12 months (RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.07 to 6.01), yielding very low‐certainty evidence. Authors' conclusions Therapeutic community interventions and mental health treatment courts may help people to reduce subsequent drug use and/or criminal activity. For other interventions such as interpersonal psychotherapy, multi‐systemic therapy, legal defence wrap‐around services, and motivational interviewing, the evidence is more uncertain. Studies showed a high degree of variation, warranting a degree of caution in interpreting the magnitude of effect and the direction of benefit for treatment outcomes

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Airborne Double station observation of the 2011 Draconids

International audienceThe first European airborne meteor observation campaign occurred on October 8, 2011 for the exceptional outburst of the Draconids meteors shower, presumably caused by the 1900 trail. In this paper, we describe our double station observation from the two planes, as well as the results

Airborne Double station observation of the 2011 Draconids

International audienceThe first European airborne meteor observation campaign occurred on October 8, 2011 for the exceptional outburst of the Draconids meteors shower, presumably caused by the 1900 trail. In this paper, we describe our double station observation from the two planes, as well as the results

Airborne Double station observation of the 2011 Draconids

International audienceThe first European airborne meteor observation campaign occurred on October 8, 2011 for the exceptional outburst of the Draconids meteors shower, presumably caused by the 1900 trail. In this paper, we describe our double station observation from the two planes, as well as the results

Spectroscopic Observations of the 2011 Draconids Meteor Shower

International audienc

Strain typing of Mycoplasma cynos isolates from dogs with respiratory disease

The association of Mycoplasma cynos with canine infectious respiratory disease is increasingly being recognised. This study describes the strain typing of 14 M. cynos isolates cultured from trachea and bronchoalveolar lavage samples of six dogs with respiratory disease, from two separate kennels in the United Kingdom. The genetic similarity of the isolates was investigated using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Most of the isolates from four dogs housed at a rehoming kennel were genetically similar and some isolates from different dogs were indistinguishable by both PFGE and RAPD. These isolates were cultured from dogs with non-overlapping stays in the kennel, which may indicate maintenance of some strains within kennels. A small number of isolates showed Much greater genetic heterogeneity and were genetically distinct from the main group of M. cynos strains. There was also a high degree of similarity of the M. cynos type strain (isolated from a dog with respiratory disease in Denmark in 1971) to at least one of the United Kingdom isolates using PFGE analysis, which may suggest possible conservation of pathogenic strains of M. cynos. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Tropical storms and hurricanes affecting <i>Pilosocereus</i> populations in the Florida Keys.

<p>Note that storm category, wind gust, rainfall, and storm surge values are all specific to the lower Florida Keys. Some of the storms achieved higher values in other locations. Note that storms like Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma may have been particularly damaging not only because of their wind speeds, but because little fresh water washed away salt accumulated from the storm surges after the events. TS = tropical storm; H1 = Hurricane 1 category, sustained winds 64–82 knots; H2 = Hurricane 2 category, sustained winds 83–95 knots; NR = not reported <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0032528#pone.0032528-National1" target="_blank">[16]</a>.</p