Physical Activity Traits From Wrist Sensors Correlate With Clinical Status in Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension

ABSTRACT Physical activity (PA) estimated by a wearable sensor may reflect clinical status in pediatric pulmonary hypertension (PH). Prior studies used research‐grade hip‐anchored sensors or commercial wrist sensors with proprietary scoring algorithms. Wrist sensors may offer better acceptability in children; however, their ability to detect associations between PA and clinical characteristics is unknown. Youth 8–18 years with PH [Groups 1–4, functional class (FC) I‐II] and healthy controls wore a GENEActiv accelerometer on the non‐dominant wrist for 14 days. Raw acceleration data were processed using the open‐source GGIR R‐package. Participants completed a 6‐min walk distance (6MWD) and quality‐of‐life questionnaire. Muscle mass and strength were assessed by densitometry and handgrip dynamometry. The most recent cardiac testing was extracted from the medical record. Groups were compared by Fisher's exact test, unpaired t ‐test, or Wilcoxon rank sum test. Multivariate regression models assessed for associations between PA and clinical metrics. Thirty PH participants (median 13.9 years, 57% female, 57% Group 1, 50% FC I) and 29 controls were included. Total PA was similar. PH participants demonstrated fewer and shorter bouts of moderate‐to‐vigorous PA ≥ 10 min and more time spent at lower PA intensities. In PH participants, muscle mass was positively associated with PA but 6MWD was negatively associated with PA. PA was not associated with quality of life. Within the PH group, worse PA traits were associated with lower FC and worse clinical testing. Wrist sensors reveal deficits in PA traits including reduced moderate‐to‐vigorous activity bouts and lower intensity gradients in pediatric PH.

What Happens When Early Childhood Science Teachers Value Student Authorship?

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of generative learning environments on early childhood students’ language development and scientific understanding through the lens of student authorship. Focusing on three second‐grade teachers, we explore how generative and replicative practices influence the degree of multimodality in students’ science writing. Prior research indicates that learning environments characterized by knowledge generation encourage students to leverage their linguistic and cognitive resources and promote the development of representational fluency. However, few studies on this topic have been conducted with early childhood students. Findings of the current multiple case study reveal that students in generative environments tend to express their scientific ideas through more diverse modalities (i.e., representational and extensional rather than decorational) than those in replicative environments. Further, educators who adhere to replicative practices overlook the potential of students’ varied linguistic resources, which reinforces educational inequities for marginalized students. The study underscores the necessity for early childhood educators to deepen their knowledge of language as an epistemic tool and value student authorship opportunities in science.

Bayesian Group Fused Priors for Deciphering Environmental Regulation of Abscission

ABSTRACT Abscission, the shedding of organismal parts, depends on physiological events whose optimal timing is crucial for species survival. Environmental variations impact species development, particularly abscission processes across multiple developmental stages, identifying which environmental factors modulate abscission and when is essential in the context of climate change. Treating environmental variables as time series‐groups of temporally correlated variables raises statistical challenges for selecting relevant groups (environmental variables) and their correlated components (time periods). We address these objectives by introducing the Bayesian fused and fusion priors through a general parameterization. We highlight a trade‐off between priors used on differences versus coefficients, demonstrating that horseshoe‐type priors on both differences and coefficients, with appropriate parameterizations, achieve effective selection, estimation and algorithmic stability regardless of group number or size. Our study focuses on fruit abscission in oil palms, which affects bunch harvest timing. Abscission disruption can impact oil yield and quality, consequently affecting economic returns. This application, based on experimental data from Benin, illustrates how our proposed priors successfully select both environmental variables and developmental stages involved in bunch harvest timing.

Successful treatment of pulmonary abscesses caused by Neisseria species in two cats

Abstract Two cats from separate households presented to a veterinary referral hospital with signs of fever, malaise and respiratory distress. Both cats underwent thoracic radiography, which revealed multilobar pulmonary nodular changes. To further characterise the pulmonary parenchymal disease, computed tomography was performed, and lung samples were obtained via fine needle aspirates in both cats, as well as an endotracheal wash in one cat. Cytology yielded mixed inflammation, while cultures identified the presence of Neisseria animaloris . Following antibiotic therapy, both cats demonstrated complete resolution of clinical signs, consistent with full recovery. Despite the potential for severe clinical illness and widespread pulmonary involvement marked by sepsis and respiratory compromise, pulmonary Neisseria infections in cats can be successfully treated with medical management. Due to their nodular pulmonary pattern, Neisseria infections may be mistaken for pulmonary neoplasia and can result in euthanasia if necessary diagnostics are not undertaken.

Hypospadias in a newborn puppy

Lessons From Uganda's Earth Observation‐Based Disaster Risk Financing Program

Abstract Earth observation (EO) technologies are increasingly driving parametric insurance and risk financing for climate disasters, yet few operational programs demonstrate effective integration within national government systems. Uganda's Disaster Risk Financing Program (2016–2020) provides a rare example of satellite‐triggered financing operating at scale. Using MODIS vegetation indices to trigger drought response, the $14 million program supported over 452,000 people. It generated $11.1 million in immediate emergency aid savings, achieving a total return on investment of approximately 2.9 and an Internal Economic Rate of Return of 28.2%. This commentary synthesizes lessons from program implementation, highlighting that institutional and financial barriers, rather than technical limitations, now constrain the scaling of this EO‐driven climate resilience mechanism. While the program successfully integrated satellite data with transparent triggers and financial instruments, its sustainability depended on financial commitment extending beyond experimental phases. As climate risks intensify globally, Uganda's experience demonstrates that data‐triggered financing can operate within government institutions, but successful replication requires prioritizing institutional architecture and sustained financing over technical perfection.

Net CO 2 Emissions From Dry Inland Waters Persist in the Presence of Vegetation

Abstract Many inland waters are shrinking due to shifts in climate and water diversion for human uses. As they dry out, their exposed sediments emit large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to the atmosphere. However, current global estimates of CO 2 emissions from dry inland waters are derived exclusively from bare sediment dark‐chamber measurements that do not account for the colonization of desiccated areas by vegetation. To understand the impact of vegetation on CO 2 emissions from dry sediments, we analyzed 164 dry inland water bodies across five climatic regions and five inland water body types (lakes, ponds, reservoirs, streams and wetlands). On average, within vegetated zones, vegetation occupied 47 ± 35% in measured biomass quadrants. Light‐induced decreases in instantaneous CO 2 emissions in vegetated dry sediments were lower (mean ± SD = −3.7 ± 12.9 mmol CO 2 m −2  hr −1 ) than increases during dark conditions (14.7 ± 20.1 mmol CO 2 m −2  hr −1 ). Diel (24‐hr) CO 2 emissions from dry, vegetated sediments (mean ± SD = 100 ± 261 mmol CO 2 m −2  d −1 ) were 25% lower than in bare sediments (133 ± 245 mmol CO 2 m −2  d −1 ). These results indicate that vegetation can partially off‐set sediment respiration, although the magnitude of this effect is insufficient to switch dry beds from net sources to net sinks of carbon.

Global Imaging of the Mantle Transition Zone Using SS Precursors Shows Lower Mantle Convection Patterns that are Broadly Linked to Tectonics

Abstract Central to our understanding of mantle convection and inner Earth material transport is the mantle transition zone. Mantle transition zone thicknesses can reveal key constraints on the locations and degree of material transport between the upper mantle and lower mantle. Therefore, it's essential for our knowledge of geochemical reservoirs, hydration cycles, and the evolution of the Earth. We use SS precursors to image the mantle transition zone discontinuities using a newly developed method and seismic data from 1990–2021, providing excellent global data coverage. We also test a variety of different migration models. The major features are robust regardless of the choice of migration model. We find a thickened mantle transition zone (by 5–20 km) beneath subduction zones, coincident with the locations of high‐velocity anomalies from tomography models. The mantle transition zone is thinned by 5–10 km beneath oceans, although thinning is not necessarily focused beneath hotspot regions. The thinning and thickening also correspond to shear velocity anomalies that would be predicted for thermal perturbations. The 660 topographies are generally consistent with mantle transition zone thickness variations, whereas the 410 topographies do not show relationships with mantle transition zone thickness. This is likely because convection processes are more complex than simple vertical upwelling at hotspots and downwelling at subduction zones, and/or because material transfer at the 410 occurs at smaller lateral scales than resolved by our study.

Present‐Day Tectonic and Non‐Tectonic Crustal Deformation of and Around the Indian Plate From GNSS and GRACE Measurements

Abstract We use continuous Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements from >1600 sites on and around the Indian subcontinent, including 64 sites in the Indian plate interior, to estimate site motions and their seasonal variations. Stations in the Himalayan and Indo‐Burmese plate boundary zones exhibit rapid velocities (15–20 mm/year with respect to the Indian plate) and correspondingly higher strain rates (70–100 ηstrain/year). We find that the southern part of the plate interior is more stable, with residual motions <1 mm/year. Although the northern part of the plate interior appears more deformable (∼2 mm/year), there is no clear fragmentation of the Indian plate. The southern part exhibits a low shear strain of ∼1 ηstrain/year, while the northwestern India region, referred to as the Rajputana block lying west of the Aravalli Delhi Fold Belt (ADFB), consistently shows a higher shear strain rate of >2 ηstrain/year and higher southward motion with respect to the region to the east. Such a motion is consistent with sinistral shear along the ADFB and ∼north‐south contraction across the Kachchh failed rift in the south, explaining the higher earthquake productivity in Gujarat. Long‐term vertical rates on the Indian plate are low except in the northwestern region where Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) measurements show negative equivalent water height changes and GNSS measurements record uplift, caused by the depletion of groundwater storage. Seasonal variations in the GNSS and GRACE data distinctly show the influence of hydrological loading on land movement. After the monsoon, the entire hydrological load seems to be centered in the Indo‐Gangetic plains and the central‐east India region.

Consistent Spectral Reflectance Signatures of Photosystem II Thermal Tolerance (T crit ) in Contrasting Foundation Tree Species

Abstract Photosystem II (PSII) is among the most thermally sensitive components of photosynthesis, and emerging evidence suggests that plants in diverse biomes face an increasing risk of PSII damage under future climate change. However, uncertainties in the distribution and drivers of PSII thermal tolerance (T crit ) limit our ability to predict thermal risk in plant communities across spatial scales. Here, we evaluate whether intraspecific variation in T crit corresponds to leaf reflectance spectra (400–2,500 nm) to identify mechanisms associated with T crit in field conditions and assess the potential of its estimation using remote sensing platforms. We measured T crit using temperature response curves of minimal fluorescence ( F o ) along with corresponding leaf reflectance spectra in two foundation tree species: Populus fremontii (US Southwest) and Metrosideros polymorpha (Hawai'i). P. fremontii was sampled under both moderate (<40°C) and extreme (>45°C) heat. Consistent spectral signatures of T crit emerged across species and sampling conditions, with the strongest signatures in P. fremontii under extreme heat. In P. fremontii, spectra captured up to roughly half of T crit variation and allowed T crit estimation ( R 2  = 0.24–0.30; RMSE < 1.0°C) and classification of high‐versus low‐T crit (71%–77% accuracy). Across both species, T crit tended to increase with spectral indices reflecting higher chlorophyll content and lower carotenoids, nonphotochemical quenching, and leaf water content. These findings suggest that variation in PSII thermal tolerance is linked to fundamental biochemical properties of leaves, which are reflected in their optical traits. As climate extremes intensify, spectral screening and scaling of T crit via remote sensing may support improved conservation, management, and risk assessment in vulnerable ecosystems.