Stepwise non-pharmaceutical interventions and health system changes implemented as part of the COVID-19 response have had implications on the incidence, diagnosis, and reporting of other communicable diseases. Here, we established the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak response on gastrointestinal (GI) infection trends using routinely collected surveillance data from six national English laboratory, outbreak, and syndromic surveillance systems using key dates of governmental policy to assign phases for comparison between pandemic and historic data. Following decreases across all indicators during the first lockdown (March–May 2020), bacterial and parasitic pathogens associated with foodborne or environmental transmission routes recovered rapidly between June and September 2020, while those associated with travel and/or person-to-person transmission remained lower than expected for 2021. High out-of-season norovirus activity was observed with the easing of lockdown measures between June and October 2021, with this trend reflected in laboratory and outbreak systems and syndromic surveillance indicators. Above expected increases in emergency department (ED) attendances may have reflected changes in health-seeking behaviour and provision. Differential reductions across specific GI pathogens are indicative of the underlying routes of transmission. These results provide further insight into the drivers for transmission, which can help inform control measures for GI infections.

Antimicrobial surface coatings function as a contact biocide and are extensively used to prevent the growth and transmission of pathogens on environmental surfaces. Currently, scientists and researchers are intensively working to develop antimicrobial, antiviral coating solutions that would efficiently impede/stop the contagion of COVID-19 via surface contamination. Herein we present a flavonoid-based antimicrobial surface coating fabricated by laser processing that has the potential to eradicate COVID-19 contact transmission. Quercetin-containing coatings showed better resistance to microbial colonization than antibiotic–containing ones.

This article examines several documentary films made by and about the Russian oil industry in the period from 2003 to 2016, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which they portray intersections between oil and post-Soviet “life.” It divides these films into two major sub-genres: the corporate documentary (2003-present) and the conspiracy documentary (most widespread after about 2012). Corporate documentaries have been instrumental in fashioning new, post-Soviet links between the oil industry and everyday life, especially through “commodity chain” documentaries shown widely on television and in other media. The conspiracy films of the 2010s then extended these commodity chains into the realm of shadowy international cabals and, in some cases, fantastic alien worlds. Together, these sub-genres speak to the cultural imagination of life in Russia as a petrostate, complete with agents and victims, usable pasts and presents, and a variety of energopolitical subject positions that viewers might inhabit and shift among. Although oil documentaries and science fiction generated around the world have long imagined non-hydrocarbon energy futures for humankind, recent Russian oil documentaries in both sub-genres envision a world in which oil and human life will become ever more tightly enmeshed.

Subglacial hydrology plays a key role in many glaciological processes, including ice dynamics via the modulation of basal sliding. Owing to the lack of an overarching theory, however, a variety of model approximations exist to represent the subglacial drainage system. The Subglacial Hydrology Model Intercomparison Project (SHMIP) provides a set of synthetic experiments to compare existing and future models. We present the results from 13 participating models with a focus on effective pressure and discharge. For many applications (e.g. steady states and annual variations, low input scenarios) a simple model, such as an inefficient-system-only model, a flowline or lumped model, or a porous-layer model provides results comparable to those of more complex models. However, when studying short term (e.g. diurnal) variations of the water pressure, the use of a two-dimensional model incorporating physical representations of both efficient and inefficient drainage systems yields results that are significantly different from those of simpler models and should be preferentially applied. The results also emphasise the role of water storage in the response of water pressure to transient recharge. Finally, we find that the localisation of moulins has a limited impact except in regions of sparse moulin density.

Rapid germination and root growth have been identified as important plant characteristics for establishment in arid environments. This study evaluates germination, radicle elongation, and root growth rates of two annual grasses, two forage species, and yellow starthistle. Yellow starthistle germination, radicle elongation, and root growth were faster than those of medusahead and hedgehog dogtailgrass. Subterranean clover possessed rapid seedling growth characteristics similar to those of yellow starthistle, whereas Palestine orchardgrass was most delayed.

Management of perennial weeds is a major concern in reduced-tillage cropping systems. Field research was conducted at Nashua, IA, from 1977 through 1990 to evaluate the long-term impacts of tillage and cropping patterns on perennial weed populations in corn and soybean production. Continuous corn and a corn/soybean rotation were conducted utilizing moldboard plow, chisel plow, ridge tillage, and no-tillage systems. The research area was free of established perennial weed species at the initiation of the experiment in 1977. Hemp dogbane was observed by 1980, with the greatest densities in no-tillage. By 1990, continuous corn had greater hemp dogbane densities with no-tillage than other tillage system by crop rotation treatments. American germander densities were not affected by tillage systems in 1980 and 1981, but by 1990, corn/soybean rotations had greater densities in moldboard plow than other tillage systems. Field bindweed developed primarily in the corn/soybean rotations with the greatest densities occurring in no-tillage. Greater and more diverse populations of perennial weeds developed in reduced-tillage systems than in the moldboard plow system. However, practices used to control annual weeds and environmental factors interacted with tillage to regulate perennial weed populations.

Laboratory batch equilibrium studies were conducted to evaluate the sorption-desorption behavior of imazethapyr and its major plant metabolite, 5-hydroxyimazethapyr, in three Minnesota soils. Sorption of both compounds on all soils was low, and pH did not significantly influence sorption in the range of 4,8 to 7.1. Less 5-hydroxyimazethapyr was sorbed than imazethapyr on the same soil. Once sorbed, both compounds were only partially desorbable from all soils. Significant hysteresis and formation of nonextractable residues indicate that the small amount of chemical sorbed is bound to selective surfaces with strong bonds. Webster clay loam had greater irreversibility than Waukegen silt loam and Estherville sandy loam soil. The hysteresis observed in desorption may be responsible for the difference between mobility estimations made from laboratory sorption studies and the limited mobility observed in field experiments.

The Numeniini is a tribe of 13 wader species (Scolopacidae, Charadriiformes) of which seven are Near Threatened or globally threatened, including two Critically Endangered. To help inform conservation management and policy responses, we present the results of an expert assessment of the threats that members of this taxonomic group face across migratory flyways. Most threats are increasing in intensity, particularly in non-breeding areas, where habitat loss resulting from residential and commercial development, aquaculture, mining, transport, disturbance, problematic invasive species, pollution and climate change were regarded as having the greatest detrimental impact. Fewer threats (mining, disturbance, problematic native species and climate change) were identified as widely affecting breeding areas. Numeniini populations face the greatest number of non-breeding threats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, especially those associated with coastal reclamation; related threats were also identified across the Central and Atlantic Americas, and East Atlantic flyways. Threats on the breeding grounds were greatest in Central and Atlantic Americas, East Atlantic and West Asian flyways. Three priority actions were associated with monitoring and research: to monitor breeding population trends (which for species breeding in remote areas may best be achieved through surveys at key non-breeding sites), to deploy tracking technologies to identify migratory connectivity, and to monitor land-cover change across breeding and non-breeding areas. Two priority actions were focused on conservation and policy responses: to identify and effectively protect key non-breeding sites across all flyways (particularly in the East Asian- Australasian Flyway), and to implement successful conservation interventions at a sufficient scale across human-dominated landscapes for species’ recovery to be achieved. If implemented urgently, these measures in combination have the potential to alter the current population declines of many Numeniini species and provide a template for the conservation of other groups of threatened species.

Leaf cytoarchitecture was evaluated by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and cell viability was monitored by fluorescence after treatment of velvetleaf with defined concentrations and droplet sizes of formulated glyphosate and blended tallowamine surfactant. In response to droplets of formulated glyphosate larger than in field sprays but useful for studying structural change, we observe that the leaf epidermis thins and flattens within 1.5 h, the epidermal, mesophyll, and vascular cells at the contact site exhibit localized cytolysis by 6 h, and cytolysis and pycnosis remain restricted to the contact site at 24 h. Using endogeneous fluorescence as a marker for nonviable cells, it was determined that cellular changes are directly correlated with droplet size and that the changes are minimal after exposure to spray sizes and concentrations of formulated glyphosate and blended tallowamine typically used in the field. The results show that, at field use concentrations, the effect of formulated glyphosate and blended tallowamine on leaf cytoarchitecture is modest and localized but sufficient to allow herbicide entry.

We examined the effect of a postemergence application of fluazifop-P on root uptake, translocation, and metabolism of 14C-terbacil in ‘Kent’ strawberry. Fluazifop-P had no effect on uptake of 14C-terbacil from a nutrient solution over 48 h, nor did it affect the proportional distribution of 14C-label in the plants. The 14C-label was readily translocated to the foliage where it tended to accumulate in vascular tissue. Fluazifop-P reduced the overall conversion of 14C-terbacil to metabolites by about 50%. Thin layer chromatography of methanol extracts of leaflets, petioles, crowns, and roots separated the 6-hydroxymethyl derivative, and several unidentified metabolites, including a major water-soluble metabolite at the origin. At least 50% of the latter could be converted to the 6-hydroxymethyl metabolite by β-glucosidase, but other metabolites could be separated in other solvent systems. The levels of metabolites were generally two- to threefold higher in plants treated with terbacil alone than in those pretreated with fluazifop-P. Therefore, we conclude that the interaction observed between these herbicides in the field results from fluazifop-P inhibiting detoxification of terbacil by strawberry.

Theory suggests that early experiences may calibrate the “threshold activity” of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis in childhood. Particularly challenging or particularly supportive environments are posited to manifest in heightened physiological sensitivity to context. Using longitudinal data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), we tested whether links between maternal sensitivity and hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis activity aligned with these predictions. Specifically, we tested whether the magnitude of the within-person relation between maternal sensitivity and children's cortisol levels, a proxy for physiological sensitivity to context, was especially pronounced for children who typically experienced particularly low or high levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Our results were consistent with these hypotheses. Between children, lower levels of mean maternal sensitivity (7–24 months) were associated with higher mean cortisol levels across this period (measured as a basal sample collected at each visit). However, the magnitude and direction of the within-person relation was contingent on children's average levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Increases in maternal sensitivity were associated with contemporaneous cortisol decreases for children with typically low-sensitive mothers, whereas sensitivity increases were associated with cortisol increases for children with typically high-sensitive mothers. No within-child effects were evident at moderate levels of maternal sensitivity.

Kues and Batten (2001, p. 30, fig. 6.17–6.20) described several distinctive, minute, low-spired gastropod specimens from the Desmoinesian (Middle Pennsylvanian) Flechado Formation of north-central New Mexico, assigning them questionably to Lunulazona Sadlick and Nielsen, 1963 because of the strongly developed collabral elements similar to those of that genus. These shells, consisting of three or four inflated whorls, are at most 1 mm in height and the later whorls bear conspicuous, sharp, widely spaced collabral ribs that bend strongly across a wide, slightly flattened band interpreted as a peripheral selenizone. While recognizing these specimens as a distinct, unnamed taxon, Kues and Batten (2001) believed that they likely represent juveniles of an as yet unrecognized larger species of gastropod with a different mature morphology.