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Aging, often considered a result of random cellular damage, can be accurately estimated using DNA methylation profiles, the foundation of pan-tissue epigenetic clocks. Here, we demonstrate the development of universal pan-mammalian clocks, using 11,754 methylation arrays from our Mammalian Methylation Consortium, which encompass 59 tissue types across 185 mammalian species. These predictive models estimate mammalian tissue age with high accuracy (r > 0.96). Age deviations correlate with human mortality risk, mouse somatotropic axis mutations and caloric restriction. We identified specific cytosines with methylation levels that change with age across numerous species. These sites, highly enriched in polycomb repressive complex 2-binding locations, are near genes implicated in mammalian development, cancer, obesity and longevity. Our findings offer new evidence suggesting that aging is evolutionarily conserved and intertwined with developmental processes across all mammals.

Homophilous behaviour plays a central role in the formation of human friendships. Individuals form social ties with others that show similar phenotypic traits, independently of relatedness. Evidence of such homophily can be found in bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, where females that use marine sponges as foraging tools often associate with other females that use sponges. 'Sponging' is a socially learned, time-consuming behaviour, transmitted from mother to calf. Previous research illustrated a strong female bias in adopting this technique. The lower propensity for males to engage in sponging may be due to its incompatibility with adult male-specific behaviours, particularly the formation of multi-level alliances. However, the link between sponging and male behaviour has never been formally tested. Here, we show that male spongers associated significantly more often with other male spongers irrespective of their level of relatedness. Male spongers spent significantly more time foraging, and less time resting and travelling, than did male non-spongers. Interestingly, we found no difference in time spent socializing. Our study provides novel insights into the relationship between tool use and activity budgets of male dolphins, and indicates social homophily in the second-order alliance composition of tool-using bottlenose dolphins.

Creative approaches at the interface of ecology, statistics, mathematics, informatics, and computational science are essential for improving our understanding of complex ecological systems. For example, new information technologies, including powerful computers, spatially embedded sensor networks, and Semantic Web tools, are emerging as potentially revolutionary tools for studying ecological phenomena. These technologies can play an important role in developing and testing detailed models that describe real-world systems at multiple scales. Key challenges include choosing the appropriate level of model complexity necessary for understanding biological patterns across space and time, and applying this understanding to solve problems in conservation biology and resource management. Meeting these challenges requires novel statistical and mathematical techniques for distinguishing among alternative ecological theories and hypotheses. Examples from a wide array of research areas in population biology and community ecology highlight the importance of fostering synergistic ties across disciplines for current and future research and application. © 2005 American Institute of Biological Sciences.

AIMS: In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a majority of higher education to shift content delivery formats to allow for social distancing to decrease spread of the virus. The purpose of this investigation was to discover physical therapy students' perceived impact from changing from a synchronous videoconferencing format to a more hybrid program format. METHODS: A qualitative case study design bounded by the time of switching formats due to the pandemic was chosen (March 2020 through September 2020). Physical therapy students participated in an agreement survey (n=38) and semi-structured interviews (n=12). Survey and interview data were coded and analyzed to form categories and themes of discovered perspectives. RESULTS: Students' perceived proficiency of hands-on skill was negatively affected. Cross-campus student and faculty interactions improved. Students felt changing formats would not result in detrimental effects on their overall learning nor on their career potential as physical therapists. DISCUSSION: Educators in entry-level professional physical therapy programs utilizing distance-education models should consider and adjust timing of hands-on skill instruction to match didactic content to encourage better connection and clinical application. Distance-learning educators should foster more interaction with students who may feel isolated. Interaction between distance-separated cohorts can reduce feelings of competition and inequality between campus locations and create improved learning communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the viability of using forced allocation as a mechanism to alleviate capacity challenges through scenarios of varying allowable citrus throughput at the Port of Durban. Rule-based resource allocation techniques are used to divide the allowable citrus throughput at the constrained port between production regions by setting quotas. The allocation model framework minimises the impact of the forced allocation on the citrus export cold chain by setting the quotas as constraints in an integer programming (IP) formulation of a minimum cost transportation problem (TP) for the system. The results show that forced allocation is feasible under at least one resource allocation technique for four of the scenarios tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jillian Kallman Price,1 Leyla de Avila,1 Maria Stepanova,1– 3 Ali A Weinstein,4 Huong Pham,1 Wisna’odom Keo,1 Andrei Racila,1 Suzannah Gerber,1 Brian P Lam,1– 3 Lynn H Gerber,1,3,* Zobair M Younossi1– 3,* 1Betty and Guy Beatty Center for Integrated Research, Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA, USA; 2Center for Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church, VA, USA; 3Inova Medicine, Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA, USA; 4Department of Global and Community Health, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jillian Kallman Price, Research Investigator, Outcomes Research, Beatty Liver and Obesity Research Program, Center for Integrated, Research, Department of Medicine, Inova Health System, Claude Moore Health Education and Research Building, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, 3300, Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA, 22042, USA, Tel +1-703-776-3032, Fax +1-703- 776-4386, Email Jillian.Price@inova.orgIntroduction: Post-acute SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) symptoms are often persistent, disruptive, and difficult to treat effectively. Fatigue is often among the most frequently reported symptoms and may indicate a more challenging road to recovery.Purpose: To describe the natural history, symptomology, and risk profile of long-term post-acute SARS-CoV-2.Patients and Methods: Participants treated for SARS-CoV-2 within a large, community health system in the US were enrolled prospectively in a longitudinal, observational PASC study examining participants at enrollment and 6 months. Medical history, symptom reporting, validated measures of cognition, and patient-reported outcomes (PROs), were performed for all participants and repeated during study follow-up visits.Results: A total of 323 participants completed baseline evaluations. Sixty one participants indicated clinically significant fatigue (23.1% at baseline); a representative sample of 141 enrollees also completed a baseline Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) in-depth fatigue reporting questionnaire, 37 had severe fatigue. The severely fatigued (FACIT-F ≤ 29.7) were significantly younger, female, had more anxiety and depression, had a higher resting heart rate, reported more sick days, and were less physically active post-COVID. They were more likely to have a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (13.5% vs 2.9%) but less likely to have a history of cancer (8.1% vs 23.1). Participants who were severely fatigued reported health, diet, weight, and sleep were worse than those not severely fatigued post-COVID (p = 0.02 to 0.0002). Fatigue was significantly correlated with impairment of all PROs administered after COVID-19 infection.Conclusion: Fatigue is a common symptom post-COVID-19 infection and is associated with lower reported well-being and function. Those with severe fatigue tended to be younger and female and have a past medical history of anxiety, depression, kidney disease, and more sedentary lifestyles.Keywords: symptom severity, functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-fatigue, FACIT-F, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, recovery

Aedes mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), principle vectors of several arboviruses, typically lay eggs in man‐made water‐filled containers located near human dwellings. Given the widespread emergence of insecticide resistance, stable and biofriendly alternatives for mosquito larviciding are needed. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that inactivated yeast interfering RNA tablets targeting key larval developmental genes can be used to facilitate effective larvicidal activity while also promoting selective gravid female oviposition behaviour. Here we examined the efficacy of transferring this technology toward development of lure‐and‐kill ovitraps targeting Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) female mosquitoes. Insectary, simulated field and semi‐field experiments demonstrated that two mosquito‐specific yeast interfering RNA pesticides induce high levels of mortality among larvae of both species in treated large volume containers. Small‐scale field trials conducted in Trinidad, West Indies demonstrated that large volume ovitrap containers baited with inactivated yeast tablets lure significantly more gravid females than traps containing only water and were highly attractive to both A. aegypti and A. albopictus females. These studies indicate that development of biorational yeast interfering RNA‐baited ovitraps may represent a new tool for control of Aedes mosquitoes, including deployment in existing lure‐and‐kill ovitrap technologies or traditional container larviciding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jillian Kallman Price,1 Lynn H Gerber,1,2 Maria Stepanova,1– 3 Leyla de Avila,1 Ali A Weinstein,4 Huong Pham,1 Fatema Nader,1 Mariam Afendy,1 Kathy Terra,3 Patrick Austin,1 Wisna’odom Keo,1 Andrei Racila,1 James Michael Estep,1 Suzannah Gerber,1 Manisha Verma,1 Pegah Golabi,1 Brian P Lam,1– 3 Zobair Younossi1– 3 1Betty and Guy Beatty Center for Integrated Research, Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA, USA; 2Inova Medicine, Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA, USA; 3Center for Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Falls Church, VA, USA; 4Department of Global and Community Health, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USACorrespondence: Jillian Kallman Price, Research Investigator, Outcomes Research, Beatty Liver and Obesity Research Program, Center for Integrated Research, Department of Medicine, Inova Health System, Claude Moore Health Education and Research Building, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, 3300 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA, 22042, USA, Tel +1-703-776-3032, Fax +1-703- 776-4386, Email Jillian.Price@inova.orgIntroduction: Many with post-acute SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) have persistent symptoms impacting physical and cognitive function, decreased health and health-related life quality. Monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment was available to acutely infected patients which might improve these outcomes.Purpose: To compare patient perception of PASC symptoms for those receiving bamlanivimab or casirivimab and imdevimab (mAbs) to those not receiving this treatment (non-mAbs). To compare changes between these groups in symptoms, function and quality of life over a 6-month follow-up.Patients and Methods: Consented adults > 28 days post-infection with positive SARS-CoV-2 qPCR or antigen test and SARS-CoV-2 infection between March of 2020 and July of 2022 were enrolled. This prospective, repeated measure observational study reports baseline through 6-month follow-up. Extensive sociodemographic data, detailed medical history, COVID-19 symptom history, and standardized measures of well-being, depression, anxiety, stigma, cognition, symptom assessment, distress, and health status were collected.Results: 323 participants [101 mAb, 221 non-mAb, 52.7± 15.5 years, 47.7% male, body mass index (BMI) 31.4± 8.4] were analyzed. Fewer symptoms at baseline were reported in mAb versus non-mAb participants (1.06± 1.31 vs 1.78± 2.15, respectively p=0.0177) 6 months: (0.911± 1.276 mAb vs.1.75± 2.22 non-mAb, p=0.0427). Both groups showed significant within-group decreases in symptom number (52 to 21 mAb, 126 to 63 non-mAb) and symptom burden (p=0.0088 mAb, p< 0.00001 non-mAb). mAb patients had significantly shorter infection-to-baseline interval (days) (120.4± 55.3 mAb vs 194.0± 89.3 non-mAb, p< 0.00001); less frequent history of myocardial infarction (0.0 vs 3.9%, p=0.0464); headache (2.0% vs.11.8%, p=0.0046), rash (3.1% vs 9.9%, p=0.0377), and miscellaneous muscle complaints (2.0% vs 12.3%, p=0.0035), plus significantly better 6-month mood. (2.2% vs 13.2%, p=0.0390).Conclusion: mAb treated participants had reduced symptom burden and consistently reported fewer symptoms than non-mAb at all time points despite less time since acute illness. Both groups reported a statistically significant decrease in symptoms by 6-month visit with no statistically significant differences between them at follow-up.Keywords: monoclonal antibodies, patient-reported outcomes, symptom burden, recovery, COVID-19

The South African National Road Traffic Act stipulates a legal vehicle height of 4.3 metres. The standard flat deck trailer fleet used in South Africa, combined with the international standard high cube container stands at 4.5 metres, thus breaching this limit. The complexity of the transport system involves aspects of road infrastructure, transport haulage equipment, road safety, and export economies of scale, leaving this issue unresolved for a decade. A stakeholder analysis, industry survey, analytic hierarchy process method, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine the best outcome from a risk and financial perspective. The research outcome indicates that legislation should be adjusted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]