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Buffalograss [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.] use as a turf in the northern USA is limited to a certain extent by its extended winter dormancy. A mixture of buffalograss with cool-season turf-grasses might extend the turf's green appearance and enhance quality. Research was conducted to determine the effects of overseeding fine- leaved fescue (Festuca spp.) in buffalograss turf on turfgrass color and quality and the effects of species, seeding rate and date, and core cultivation on fine-leaved fescue establishment in buffalograss turf. Hard rescue (F. longifolia Thuill.), blue rescue (F. ovina L. var. glauca Lam.), and Chewings rescue (F. rubra L. ssp. commutata Gaud.); seeding rates (10, 20, and 30 g m-2); seeding dates (fall, spring, or split fall-spring); and core cultivation (single or double pass).were evaluated for species composition, turfgrass quality, color, and green cover at the John Seatun Anderson Turfgrass Research Facility located near Mead, NE. Buffalograss turf overseeded with blue rescue in fall had the highest turfgrass quality, color, and green cover ratings. Fall overseeding resulted in the highest shoot density values. Spring overseedings were below acceptable levels. Botanical composition of the mixfures overseeded in fall reached 75 to 80% rescue and 20 to 25% buffalograss after 2 yr. Seeding rate effect was linear with each increment between 10 g m-2 and 30 g m-2 increasing fine-leaved rescue shoot density, tudgrass quality, color, and green cover. Blue fescue- buffalograss mixtures overseeded in the fall exhibited 80% green cover when buffalograss was dormant. Turfgrass green cover in the mixture was extended by 2 months when compared to buffalograss monostands growing in areas adjacent to the study. The results of this study support the use of fine-leaved rescue and buffalograss mixtures to extend turfgrass green appearance and enhance quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Data were essential to public health decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet no single data source was adequate for Tribes in Montana and Wyoming. We outlined data access, availability, and limitations for COVID-19 pandemic surveillance response to improve future data exchange., Materials and Methods: The Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center (RMTEC) used various data sources to deliver data on the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations at local, state, and regional levels to inform Tribes in Montana and Wyoming. RMTEC reviewed state, federal, and public datasets and then attached a score to each dataset for completeness of demographic information, including race, geographic level, and refresh rate., Results: The RMTEC COVID-19 response team shared data weekly on the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations distributed and the percentage of the population vaccinated with Tribal health departments in Montana and Wyoming. The Indian Health Service Epidemiology Data Mart dataset scored the highest (24 of 30), followed by datasets from Montana (18 of 30) and Wyoming (22 of 30). Publicly available datasets scored low largely due to data aggregation across larger geographic areas and lack of demographic variables., Practice Implications: The absence of data on race and ethnicity from publicly available data and lack of access to real-time data limited RMTEC's ability to provide Tribal-specific updates on COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations to Tribal health departments. RMTEC should be fully funded to provide the necessary resources for data management and the capacity to respond to data requests from Tribal health departments and their programs to address current and future pandemics. Federal and state agencies should also be educated on Tribal Epidemiology Centers' public health authority status to improve access to infectious disease data among those agencies.

In recent years, marijuana use on U.S. college campuses reached the highest point while the perceptions of risk and social disapproval registered the lowest since the early 1980s. However, little attention has been paid to the sources of the marijuana-related messages and their relationships with marijuana knowledge and confidence in knowledge, proximate protective/risk factors. To fill this gap, a convenience sample of students ( N = 249) on a campus located in a U.S. recreational marijuana legal state were surveyed to identify their marijuana information sources and explore the relationships among the sources, confidence in marijuana knowledge, and objective knowledge. Peers/media were the most important sources and they were used more than other sources. Use of peers/media sources was related to lower health knowledge and higher confidence in knowledge. Although students named parents and education/science sources as important, these were less frequently used than siblings, the sources they named as the least important. This study advanced our understanding of the various sources of marijuana information used by U.S. college students and the relationships between the information sources and confidence in knowledge and objective knowledge, two emerging risk/protective factors in the era of marijuana deregulation.