The Maghreb (north-west Africa) played an important role during the Palaeolithic and later in connecting the western Mediterranean from the Phoenician to Islamic periods. Yet, knowledge of its later prehistory is limited, particularly between c. 4000 and 1000 BC. Here, the authors present the first results of investigations at Oued Beht, Morocco, revealing a hitherto unknown farming society dated to c. 3400–2900 BC. This is currently the earliest and largest agricultural complex in Africa beyond the Nile corridor. Pottery and lithics, together with numerous pits, point to a community that brings the Maghreb into dialogue with contemporaneous wider western Mediterranean developments.

TikTok is a global social media platform popular with young people, encouraging viewers to engage with user-generated video content (through likes, shares and comments) and mimic displayed behaviours (by creating similar videos or content). It is therefore a powerful and engaging tool that has potential for the widespread dissemination of information (or misinformation) and to influence behaviours. Social media is saturated with the promotion of ‘diet culture’ and has a strong influence on the eating behaviours of young people (1,2). This is concerning as childhood and adolescence are critical periods of growth requiring optimal nutrition (3). This study aimed to investigate how dieting is portrayed on TikTok and consider the potential implications for public health. A cross-sectional descriptive content analysis was undertaken of 50 videos from each of the five most popular diet-related hashtags (#diet, #whatieatinaday, #wieiad, #dietitian, #diettips). A codebook was developed to analyse the body-related content referenced (weight measurement, calories, body image, body checking, body comparisons over time) and collect the engagement for each video (likes, comments and shares). Overall, the 250 videos contributed to a total of 197.2 million likes (M = 789,051.0, SD = 923,335.0), 126,7251 comments (M = 5,069.0, SD = 9,315.3), and 3.8 million shares (M = 15,423.2, SD = 41,271.3). Most videos featured adults (n = 205, 82%), and only a small number of videos featured identifiable children or adolescents (n = 16, 6.4%). The information and advice regarding diets and eating behaviours came from two types of sources: 'experts’ and regular creators sharing their personal experience. Almost half of the videos were educational or instructional (n = 116, 46.4%), of which 74 (63.8%) were posted by users who claimed expert status. The most common titles by those claiming to be experts were “dietitian” (n = 43, 58.1%), “health and wellness coach” (n = 7, 9.5%), “doctor” (MD; n = 6, 8.1%), “fitness trainer” (n = 6, 8.1%), and “nutritionist” (n = 3, 4.1%). Of the videos that specifically mentioned a certain diet, the most common diets were low calorie (n = 32, 12.8%), vegan (n = 14, 5.6%), self-reported healthy eating (n = 12, 4.8%), and fasting (n = 10, 4.0%). The use of humour was the only feature significantly associated with engagement. Health professionals are presented with a unique opportunity to widely and positively influence the public by utilising the popularity of TikTok amongst young people to disseminate evidence-based information and promote healthy eating behaviours. Our findings suggest that experts using authentic, humorous, and engaging personas would be more likely to be popular on this platform.

A ‘Blackout Rage Gallon’ (borg) is a dangerous new alcohol consumption trend popular with young people. It involves creating a customised, individual alcoholic beverage by replacing half the water in a four litre (gallon) jug with alcohol (usually spirits), flavourings, electrolytes and caffeinated energy drinks or caffeine supplements. The most prevalent ‘recipe’ calls for the addition of 750ml of alcohol. The ‘blackout’ part of the name refers to the intent of one person to consume the borg in one session, thereby encouraging risky alcohol use. Indeed, there have been reports in popular media of multiple hospitalisations attributed to consumption of borgs at college events in the United States. Part of the attraction of the trend is to label the borg with a clever name, usually incorporating the term ‘borg’. The trend has gained traction recently on TikTok, which has become an important, yet unregulated, source of information for the public including young people(1). We investigated TikTok videos associated with the hashtag #borg to better understand this dangerous new phenomenon. We identified and analysed highly viewed TikTok videos (n = 105) for engagement, techniques, characteristics of featured individuals, and the portrayal of alcohol and risky drinking behaviours. Alcohol was visible in three quarters of the videos analysed (n = 78), and consumed in one third (n = 34). The average amount of alcohol present was well in excess of safe drinking guidelines (865ml) One quarter of videos (n = 25) promoted alleged benefits such as control of volume of consumption, protection from drink spiking, and mitigation of side effects due to addition of electrolytes and water. Alarmingly, only 9 videos included a warning about potential harms of the borg or alcohol in general. Indeed, videos discussing potential harms and benefits tended to encourage the use of borg, for example ‘I’m on board with the borg’. Our study found the borg TikTok trend encourages risky drinking in a fun and entertaining way, supporting previous studies where the majority of content was positively portraying a product or behaviour(2). As there is an association between viewing alcohol-related content on social media and alcohol use(3), there is an urgent need for social media content restrictions to limit the visibility of risky alcohol consumption, particularly to underage users.

The physical location of liquor stores near schools can strongly influence the chances of youth accessing and consuming alcohol(1). As children transit to and from school, it is feasible that the presence of liquor stores near schools could also increase their exposure to alcohol advertising. Cumulative exposure to advertising influences alcohol attitudes, intentions and alcohol use(2), so reducing children’s exposure to alcohol advertising is important to delay the initiation of drinking and reduce future harms. As this has not yet been investigated in Australia, the aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of a liquor store near a school was associated with an increased prevalence of outdoor alcohol advertising in Perth, Western Australia. We identified all outdoor alcohol advertising within a 500m radius (audit zone) of 64 randomly selected primary and secondary schools from low and high socio-economic areas across metropolitan Perth. We recorded the size, type, setting, and location of each advertisement during field data collection. Each zone was categorised by the presence or absence of at least one liquor store within the school audit zone, and results compared across these stratifications. Over half (56%) of the 64 school audit zones had at least one alcohol advertisement. On average, there were 5.9 alcohol advertisements per zone. School audit zones that contained a liquor store (59%) had over thirty times the average number of alcohol advertisements compared with audit zones that did not contain a liquor store (9.7 vs 0.3). The majority of all the alcohol advertisements identified (63%) were located outside a liquor outlet as opposed to other food businesses (2%), along the roadside (31%), on a bus shelter (3%) or on/outside another business (0.5%). Our findings that Perth schools with a liquor store nearby had more outdoor alcohol advertising within a 500m radius, compared with schools without a nearby liquor store, were independent of school type (primary or secondary) or the socio-economic status of the area. This poses significant concerns about the exposure of underage populations to outdoor alcohol advertising, and the resultant influence on alcohol use. These results underscore the necessity for policy interventions to mitigate children’s exposure to alcohol marketing, especially during the daily school commute, by regulating the location of liquor stores and alcohol promotion near schools. It will be important to incorporate the voices of children when developing future policies to assert their right to be consulted, heard and appropriately influence their environments.

We prove the Singer conjecture for varieties with semismall Albanese map and residually finite fundamental group.

The spread of herbicide-resistant weeds is considered a major problem for rice production in California, and there is a need for new herbicides. Tetflupyrolimet is a new herbicide with a novel dihydroorotate dehydrogenase–inhibiting site of action that has strong activity on grasses. Three field studies were conducted at the California Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, CA, in 2022 and 2023 to (1) determine control of watergrass species and bearded sprangletop with tetflupyrolimet, (2) characterize the effects of tetflupyrolimet combined with other herbicides on weed control and rice, and (3) determine the response of rice cultivars to tetflupyrolimet. In the first study, tetflupyrolimet was applied at preemergence (PRE) or at the 1- to 2-leaf stage of rice (POST) at 0.1, 0.125, or 0.15 kg ai ha−1 followed by carfentrazone. Tetflupyrolimet provided ≥99% control of watergrass species and 100% bearded sprangletop control regardless of the rate or application timing, while showing no crop injury symptoms or yield reduction. In the second study, tetflupyrolimet was applied PRE or POST at 0.1 or 0.15 kg ai ha−1 followed by herbicides labeled for use in California rice production. Tetflupyrolimet provided ≥98% control of watergrass species, which was better than the grower standard treatment, and ≥97% control of bearded sprangletop. In the third study, tetflupyrolimet was applied PRE or POST at 0.125, 0.15, 0.25, or 0.3 kg ai ha−1 followed by carfentrazone. The six California rice cultivars evaluated, ‘M-105’, ‘M-206’, ‘M-209’, ‘M-211’, ‘L-208’, and ‘CM-203’, did not show any trend of crop injury caused by tetflupyrolimet. Overall, tetflupyrolimet provided a high level of control of watergrass species and bearded sprangletop without causing visual rice injury or yield reductions, regardless of rice cultivar, when applied alone or in combination with commonly used sedge and broadleaf herbicides in California water-seeded rice.

The 16-8-, 8-5-, 5-2-, 2-1-, 1-0.5-, 0.5-0.3-, 0.3-0.1-, and <0.1-μm size fractions were centrifuged from a Georgia (U.S.A.) sedimentary kaolin and a hydrothermal kaolin from the Sasso mine (Italy) and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetry (TGA) together with the corresponding whole rocks. All size fractions of the Georgia sample consisted dominantly of well-crystallized, fine-grained kaolinite, associated with minor quantities of smectite. Some halloysite-like elongate particles were noted by SEM in the intermediate size fractions, minor amounts of quartz were identified in the coarsest size fractions, and < 1% noncrystalline material and traces of organic material were suspected in the finest size fraction. The crystallinity of the kaolinite as measured by XRD and IR varied moderately with size. IR suggested that nacrite-like stacking disorder increased with decreasing size for particles < 5 μm in size.

In the Sasso sample kaolinite dominated all size fractions and was accompanied by dickite in the coarse and by halloysite in the fine size fractions. Regular mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S) was present in all size fractions and dominated in the finest. Abundant quartz and traces of alunite were identified in the whole rock and coarsest size fractions. The kaolinite in this sample showed marked variation in stacking order and crystallinity, as shown by changes in XRD, IR, and DTA patterns.

The observed compositional and structural variations in the size fractions of the Georgia sedimentary kaolin are small, as expected from formational environment, which was characterized by low temperatures and relative stable genetic conditions. The much more marked differences in composition within the size fractions of the Sasso hydrothermal kaolin are likely a result of the broad range of temperatures and fluid chemistry of its formational environment. The sequence dickite-well-crystallized kaolinite-kaolinite-halloysite is probably temperature-dependent.

Data compilations expand the scope of research; however, data citation practice lags behind advances in data use. It remains uncommon for data users to credit data producers in professionally meaningful ways. In paleontology, databases like the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) enable assessment of patterns and processes spanning millions of years, up to global scale. The status quo for data citation creates an imbalance wherein publications drawing data from the PBDB receive significantly more citations (median: 4.3 ± 3.5 citations/year) than the publications producing the data (1.4 ± 1.3 citations/year). By accounting for data reuse where citations were neglected, the projected citation rate for data-provisioning publications approached parity (4.2 ± 2.2 citations/year) and the impact factor of paleontological journals (n = 55) increased by an average of 13.4% (maximum increase = 57.8%) in 2019. Without rebalancing the distribution of scientific credit, emerging “big data” research in paleontology—and science in general—is at risk of undercutting itself through a systematic devaluation of the work that is foundational to the discipline.

Background: Antibiotics alone are often insufficient to treat recurrent C. difficile infection (rCDI) because they have no activity against C. difficile spores that germinate within a disrupted microbiome. SER-109, an investigational, oral, microbiome therapeutic comprised of purified Firmicutes spores, was designed to reduce rCDI through microbiome repair. We report an integrated efficacy analysis through week 24 for SER-109 from phase 3 studies, ECOSPOR III and ECOSPOR IV. Methods: ECOSPOR III was a randomized, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial conducted at 56 US or Canadian sites that included 182 participants with ≥2 CDI recurrences, confirmed via toxin EIA testing. Participants were stratified by age (<65 years or ≥65 years) and antibiotic regimen (vancomycin, fidaxomicin) and were randomized 1:1 to placebo or SER-109 groups. ECOSPOR IV was an open-label, single-arm study conducted at 72 US or Canadian sites including 263 participants with rCDI enrolled in 2 cohorts: (1) rollover participants from ECOSPOR III who experienced on-study recurrence diagnosed by toxin EIA (n = 29) and (2) participants with ≥1 CDI recurrence (diagnosed by PCR or toxin EIA), inclusive of the current episode (n = 234). In both studies, the investigational product was administered orally as 4 capsules over 3 consecutive days following symptom resolution after standard-of-care antibiotics. The primary efficacy end point was rCDI (recurrent toxin-positive diarrhea requiring treatment) through week 8. Other end points included CDI recurrence rates and safety through 24 weeks. Results: These 349 participants received at least 1 dose of SER-109 in ECOSPOR III or ECOSPOR IV (mean age 64.2; 68.8% female). Overall, 77 participants (22.1%) enrolled with their first CDI recurrence. Four participants received blinded SER-109 in ECOSPOR III followed by a second dose of open-label SER-109 in ECOSPOR IV. Overall, the proportion of participants who received any dose of SER-109 with rCDI at week 8 was 9.5% (33 of 349; 95% CI, 6.6 %–13.0%), and the CDI recurrence rate remained low through 24 weeks (15.2%, 53 of 349; 95% CI, 11.6%–19.4%), corresponding to sustained clinical response rates of 90.5% (95% CI, 87.0%–93.4%) and 84.8% (95% CI, 80.6%–88.4%), respectively (Fig. 1). Most rollover participants (25 of 29, 86.2%) were from the placebo arm; 13.8% had rCDI by week 8. Conclusions: In this integrated analysis, the rates of rCDI were low and durable in participants who received the investigational microbiome therapeutic SER-109, with sustained clinical response rates of 90.5% and 84.8% at weeks 8 and 24, respectively. These data further support the potential benefit of microbiome repair with SER-109 following antibiotics for rCDI to prevent recurrence in high-risk patients.

Financial support: This study was funded by Seres Therapeutics.

Disclosure: None

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) often recurs in patients aged ≥65 years and those with comorbidities. Clinical trials often exclude patients with history of immunosuppression, malignancy, renal insufficiency, or other comorbidities. In a phase 3 trial (ECOSPOR III), SER-109 was superior to placebo in reducing recurrent CDI (rCDI) risk at week 8 and was well tolerated. We report integrated safety data for SER-109 in a broad patient population through week 24 from phase 3 studies: ECOSPOR III and ECOSPOR IV. Methods: ECOSPOR III was a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in participants with ≥2 CDI recurrences randomized 1:1 to placebo or SER-109. ECOSPOR IV was an open-label, single-arm study conducted in 263 patients with rCDI enrolled in 2 cohorts: (1) rollover participants from ECOSPOR III with on-study recurrence and (2) participants with ≥1 CDI recurrence, inclusive of the current episode. In both studies, the investigational product was administered as 4 oral capsules over 3 days. Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were collected through week 8; serious TEAEs and TEAEs of special interest (ie, bacteremia, abscess, meningitis) were collected through week 24. Results: In total, 349 participants received SER-109 in ECOSPOR III and/or ECOSPOR IV (mean age 64.2; 68.8% female). Chronic diseases included cardiac disease (31.2%), immunocompromised or immunosuppressed (21.2%), diabetes (18.9% ), and renal impairment or failure (13.2%). Overall, 221 (63.3%) of 349 participants who received SER-109 experienced TEAEs through week 24. Most were mild to moderate and gastrointestinal. The most common (>5% of participants) treatment related TEAEs were flatulence, abdominal pain and distension, decreased appetite, constipation, nausea, fatigue, and diarrhea. No participants experienced a treatment-related TEAE leading to study withdrawal. Invasive infections were observed in 28 participants (8%); those with identified pathogens were unrelated to SER-109 species, and all were deemed unrelated to treatment by the investigators. There were 11 deaths (3.2%) and 48 participants (13.8%) with serious TEAEs, none of which were deemed treatment related. There were no clinically important differences in the safety profile across subgroups of sex, race, prior antibiotic regimen, or number of CDI recurrences. No safety signals were observed in participants with renal impairment or failure, diabetes, cardiac disease, or immunocompromised or immunosuppressed individuals. Conclusions: In this integrated analysis of phase 3 trials, SER-109, an investigational microbiome therapeutic, was well tolerated in this vulnerable patient population with prevalent comorbidities. No infections, nor those with identified pathogens, were attributed to SER-109 or product species. This safety profile might be expected because this purified product is composed of spore-forming Firmicutes normally abundant in the healthy microbiome.

Financial support: This study was funded by Seres Therapeutics.

Disclosures: None

Understanding the types of movements exhibited by a threatened species is paramount for creating conservation and management strategies. The Campo Miner (Geositta poeciloptera) is a threatened obligate grassland bird endemic to the South American Cerrado. Literature disagrees about its movement ecology, with authors suggesting strategies as contradictory as residency and nomadism. The species requires short and sparse grass cover to breed and seems to be associated with fires, tracking recently burned grassland patches. We studied the movement ecology of marked Campo Miners for seven years, integrating our results with information from citizen science data, museum specimens, and the literature. After investigating every main movement strategy exhibited by bird populations, we found no evidence of regular migration in the species (e.g. altitudinal, short- or long-distance). The Campo Miner is a resident species with territorial behaviour restricted to the breeding season, which apparently results in seasonal variation in its detectability, biasing our perception about its seasonal abundance and distribution. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding local movements in the species, which predicts that Campo Miners: (1) establish their territories at the beginning of the breeding season in patches of suitable habitat; (2) stop defending their territories after the breeding season; (3) stay during the non-breeding season in their home ranges, also wandering across neighbouring home ranges; (4) abandon their home ranges if the grass cover becomes high and dense or when a better quality habitat patch becomes available, using fires as a cue for locating recently burned patches that will soon