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

Hillslope evolution by bedrock landslides

Bedrock landsliding is a dominant geomorphic process in a number of high-relief landscapes, yet is neglected in landscape evolution models. A physical model of sliding in beans is presented, in which incremental lowering of one wall simulates baselevel fall and generates slides. Frequent small slides produce irregular hillslopes, on which steep toes and head scarps persist until being cleared by infrequent large slides. These steep segments are observed on hillslopes in high-relief landscapes and have been interpreted as evidence for increases in tectonic or climatic process rates. In certain cases, they may instead reflect normal hillslope evolution by landsliding

Coral reefs as buffers during the 2009 South Pacific tsunami, Upolu Island, Samoa

The coral reef bordering the coastline of Samoa affected by the 29 September 2009tsunami provides a variety of ecosystem services — from nurseries for fisheries and inshore source of food for local communities, to aesthetics for tourists, and the width of the lagoon may have been a factor in reducing the onshore wave height. To understand the complex interactions between the onshore human population and the offshore coral, we formed an interdisciplinary survey team to document the effects the tsunami had on the nearshore coral reef, and how these changes might affect local inhabitants. The scale of reef damage varied from severe, where piles of freshly-killed coral fragments and mortality were present, to areas that exhibited little impact, despite being overrun by the tsunami. We found that many coral colonies were impacted by tsunami-entrained coral debris, which had been ripped up and deposited on the fore reef by repeated cyclones and storm waves. In other places, large surface area tabular coral sustained damage as the tsunami velocity increased as it was funneled through channels. Areas that lacked debris entrained by the waves as well as areas in the lee of islands came through relatively unscathed, with the exception of the delicate corals that lived on a sandy substrate. In the lagoon on the south coast with its steep topography, coral colonies were damaged by tsunami-generated debris from onshore entrained in the backwash. Despite the potential for severe tsunami-related damage, there were no noticeable decreases in live coral cover between successive surveys at two locations, although algal cover was higher with the increased nutrients mobilized by the tsunami. While there was an immediate decrease in fish takes in the month following the tsunami, when supporting services were likely impacted, both volume and income have rapidly increased to pre-tsunami levels. Long-term monitoring should be implemented to determine if nursery services were affected

A call for reducing tourism risk to environmental hazards in the Himalaya

As mountain tourism rapidly expands in remote landscapes, there is a critical need for improved disaster risk management to ensure the safety of tourists and industry workers, safeguard infrastructure designed to support tourism and service industries (e.g., transportation), as well as protect the local economies that have come to depend on tourism revenue. Drawing from recent disasters in the Himalaya, we present evidence that the promotion of safe and sustainable tourism is out of sync with the proliferation of inbound tourists who are prone to many types of environmental hazards. The key driver of this situation is commercialisation. Other factors include increased mobilities/access of tourists who are often unaware of or ill-prepared to cope with hazards; lack of regulations with respect to overcrowding, safety and building codes increased exposure to climate change phenomena; and limited disaster response capabilities, including responsibility at the local level. In this perspective we argue that this particularly complex situation is best addressed through the lens of a dynamic system, whereby strong leadership, increased regulation of access and participation, and enhanced professionalism via training are key leverage points in countering uncontrolled commercialisation that drives increased risk to known hazards. The inclusion of tourism into disaster risk management systems is also needed where hazard risks and tourist traffic are high, as tourists are part of the transient population who are often unfamiliar with local conditions and ill-prepared to cope with extreme adversity

Pathways to coastal resiliency: The Adaptive Gradients Framework

10.3390/su10082629Sustainability (Switzerland)108262