Herbicides have been placed in global Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) herbicide groups based on their sites of action (e.g., acetolactate synthase–inhibiting herbicides are grouped in HRAC Group 2). A major driving force for this classification system is that growers have been encouraged to rotate or mix herbicides from different HRAC groups to delay the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds, because in theory, all active ingredients within a herbicide group physiologically affect weeds similarly. Although herbicide resistance in weeds has been studied for decades, recent research on the biochemical and molecular basis for resistance has demonstrated that patterns of cross-resistance are usually quite complicated and much more complex than merely stating, for example, a certain weed population is Group 2-resistant. The objective of this review article is to highlight and describe the intricacies associated with the magnitude of herbicide resistance and cross-resistance patterns that have resulted from myriad target-site and non–target site resistance mechanisms in weeds, as well as environmental and application timing influences. Our hope is this review will provide opportunities for students, growers, agronomists, ag retailers, regulatory personnel, and research scientists to better understand and realize that herbicide resistance in weeds is far more complicated than previously considered when based solely on HRAC groups. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of cross-resistance patterns among weed species and populations may assist in managing herbicide-resistant biotypes in the short term by providing growers with previously unconsidered effective control options. This knowledge may also inform agrochemical company efforts aimed at developing new resistance-breaking chemistries and herbicide mixtures. However, in the long term, nonchemical management strategies, including cultural, mechanical, and biological weed management tactics, must also be implemented to prevent or delay increasingly problematic issues with weed resistance to current and future herbicides.

Background: Smoking is the leading cause of preventable morbidity worldwide and therefore developing effective smoking cessation strategies is a public health priority. However, what brain networks support maintenance of smoking cessation in the long term remains unexplored. Methods: We analyzed the baseline resting-state fMRI data acquired in 23 smokers (Mage = 61.52 ± 3.7) who were followed longitudinally in a cohort of cognitively normal older adults. Self-reported smoking status and amount were recorded at baseline and repeated after 4 years. We investigated the effect of smoking behaviour change on functional brain connectivity using seed-to-voxel approach. We examined a-priori regions of interest (ROIs) including the reward network (ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) and ventral striatum) and the right insula. These ROIs are promising target mechanisms given prior behavioural research linking it to smoking cessation. Results: Our results revealed that reduced smoking was associated with reduced connectivity between ventral striatum and middle frontal gyrus and enhanced connectivity between right insula and middle temporal gyrus (voxel p <0.001, cluster p<0.05 FDR corrected). However, change in smoking did not reveal any significant effects in the vMPFC. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that successful smoking behaviour change is associated with altered reward network and insular functional connectivity in the long term.

We measured the parameter reproducibility and radial electron density profile of capillary discharge waveguides with diameters of 650 $\mathrm{\mu} \mathrm{m}$ to 2 mm and lengths of 9 to 40 cm. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, 40 cm is the longest discharge capillary plasma waveguide to date. This length is important for $\ge$10 GeV electron energy gain in a single laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration stage. Evaluation of waveguide parameter variations showed that their focusing strength was stable and reproducible to $<0.2$% and their average on-axis plasma electron density to $<1$%. These variations explain only a small fraction of laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration electron bunch variations observed in experiments to date. Measurements of laser pulse centroid oscillations revealed that the radial channel profile rises faster than parabolic and is in excellent agreement with magnetohydrodynamic simulation results. We show that the effects of non-parabolic contributions on Gaussian pulse propagation were negligible when the pulse was approximately matched to the channel. However, they affected pulse propagation for a non-matched configuration in which the waveguide was used as a plasma telescope to change the focused laser pulse spot size.

The classification of mood disorders lacks precision and consequently there has been no recent meaningful advance in their treatment. By virtue of its therapeutic specificity, lithium responsivity offers an opportunity to diagnose a definitive subtype of mood disorders that may provide a platform for the development of targeted therapy.

An understanding of genetic variation and structure of pest populations has the potential to improve the efficiency of measures to control them. Genetic analysis was undertaken at five microsatellite loci in four native Australian and 14 introduced New Zealand populations of the common brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula in order to document these parameters. Genetic variation in New Zealand populations, and phylogenetic relationships among Australian and New Zealand populations, were largely predicted by the recorded introduction history. Populations on the two main islands of New Zealand had only slightly lower genetic diversity than did Australian populations, except that allelic richness on the South Is. was significantly lower. Diversity was higher in North Is. than in South Is. populations (although not significantly so) and mainland New Zealand populations as a group were significantly more diverse than offshore islands that represented secondary population size bottlenecks. In phylogenetic analyses South Is. and offshore island populations grouped with Tasmania, while North Is. populations grouped either with mainland Australia or were intermediate between the two Australian sources. This scheme was supported by admixture coefficients showing that North and South Is./offshore island populations were largely mainland Australian and Tasmanian in origin, respectively. Population structure differed markedly between the North and South Islands: populations were typically more genetically differentiated on the former than the latter, which also showed significant isolation-by-distance. Substantial linkage disequilibrium in most sampled New Zealand but no Australian population between microsatellite loci Tv16 and Tv27 suggests they may be physically linked.

Background. While there is a growing body of evidence on the efficacy of psychological interventions for schizophrenia, this meta-analysis improves upon previous systematic and meta-analytical reviews by including a wider range of randomized controlled trials and providing comparisons against both standard care and other active interventions.

Method. Literature searches identified randomized controlled trials of four types of psychological interventions: family intervention, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), social skills training and cognitive remediation. These were then subjected to meta-analysis on a variety of outcome measures. This paper presents results relating to the first two.

Results. Family therapy, in particular single family therapy, had clear preventative effects on the outcomes of psychotic relapse and readmission, in addition to benefits in medication compliance. CBT produced higher rates of ‘important improvement’ in mental state and demonstrated positive effects on continuous measures of mental state at follow-up. CBT also seems to be associated with low drop-out rates.

Conclusions. Family intervention should be offered to people with schizophrenia who are in contact with carers. CBT may be useful for those with treatment resistant symptoms. Both treatments, in particular CBT, should be further investigated in large trials across a variety of patients, in various settings. The factors mediating treatment success in these interventions should be researched.

Background. Social skills training and cognitive remediation are psychological techniques with considerable face validity for the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia and their consequences. This paper provides a meta-analytical review of these treatments. It includes an appreciable number of randomized controlled trials, using comparisons against both standard care and other active interventions. However, the assessment of particular outcomes sometimes had to be based on single studies.

Method. A detailed search strategy was used to identify randomized controlled trials of social skills training and cognitive remediation, primarily employing electronic databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that met predefined criteria were then subjected to meta-analysis on a variety of outcome measures.

Results. There was no clear evidence for any benefits of social skills training on relapse rate, global adjustment, social functioning, quality of life or treatment compliance. Cognitive remediation had no benefit on attention, verbal memory, visual memory, planning, cognitive flexibility or mental state.

Conclusions. Social skills training and cognitive remediation do not appear to confer reliable benefits for patients with schizophrenia and cannot be recommended for clinical practice.

Background. Most research on syndromes of chronic fatigue has been conducted in clinical settings and is therefore subject to selection biases. We report a population-based incidence study of chronic fatigue (CF) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Methods. Questionnaires assessing fatigue and emotional morbidity were sent to 695 adult men and women who had replied to a postal questionnaire survey 1 year earlier. Possible CFS cases, subjects with probable psychiatric disorder and normal controls were interviewed.

Results. Baseline fatigue score, the level of emotional morbidity and a physical attribution for fatigue were risk factors for developing CF. However, after adjusting for confounding, pre-morbid fatigue score was the only significant predictor. A minority of CF subjects, all female, had consulted their general practitioner; higher levels of both fatigue and emotional morbidity were associated with consultation. Possible CFS cases reported similar rates of current and past psychiatric disorder to psychiatric controls, but after controlling for fatigue or a diagnosis of neurasthenia the current rates were more similar to those of normal controls. Two new cases of CFS were confirmed.

Conclusions. Both fatigue and emotional morbidity are integral components of chronic fatigue syndromes. The demographic and psychiatric associations of CFS in clinical studies are at least partly determined by selection biases. Given that triggering and perpetuating factors may differ in CFS, studies that examine the similarities and differences between chronic fatigue syndromes and psychiatric disorder should consider both the stage of the illness and the research setting.

Hearing changes in patients treated with gentamicin have been prospectively investigated. A group of patients who had a similar spectrum of clinical conditions but did not receive gentamicin have been studied as a control group. The audiometric technique was first validated by recording audiograms from health volunteers, once in an anechoic chamber and twice in a ward. It was concluded that changes in threshold <20 db. should not be regarded as significant when measured in a ward.

In the gentamicin-treated group an initial audiogram was not a reliable measure of the patient's normal hearing because of the influence of their clinical condition. Twenty-one of the control patients were elective admissions to hospital and had their hearing first tested when they were clinically well. There was a 24 per cent incidence of unexplained hearing abnormalities—similar to the incidence of hearing loss in the gentamicin-treated group at follow-up. It was concluded that aminoglycoside auditory toxicity should not be assessed retrospectively.

The incidence of hearing changes in the control and gentamicin-treated groups were similar. Possible causes of hearing loss in surgical patients are discussed and recommendations are made for the conduct of future studies of drug-induced auditory toxicity.