The 45thAnnual Report of the California Bird Records Committee: 2019 Records

From its last report through 2019, the California Bird Records Committee reached decisions on 204 records involving 225 individuals of 62 species and one species group, endorsing 176 records of 197 individuals. These include the first accepted state record of the Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus), bringing California’s total list of accepted species to 676, of which 13 represent established introductions. Other especially notable records detailed in this report include the state’s third Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), third Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula), fourth and fifth Red-flanked Bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus), a significant incursion of Cassin’s Sparrows (Peucaea cassinii) into the eastern Mojave Desert, and the first Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) in 30 years.

Influence of environmental factors on the interannual variability of macrozoobenthos of the floodplain lakes

The changes in depth, temperature, water conductivity, and dissolved oxygen concentration in six floodplain lakes are described in regard to the dynamics of spring flooding and overgrowth by macrophytes. The influence of these factors on the composition and structure of macrozoobenthos communities is analyzed. The observed number of species refers to 60% of the theoretically predicted, which allows us to assume that the fauna has been identified sufficiently enough to analyze the interannual changes. Six families of invertebrates, which form together 55% of the fauna, are the richest in species number. The distribution of species by families also confirms enough data on the fauna representing in the obtained and analyzed samples. Abundance of only two species depend significantly on environmental characteristics; the taxonomic and trophic groups exhibit more links to the environment. Totally, 45 mutually associated species (43.7% of the total list) have been identified; they form 8 groups that are characterized by connectivity of the species composition ranging as 0.28–1.0 link/species, the average connectivity strength of 0.67–0.80, and the strength of species connectivity of 0.38–0.84 (the last index is proposed for the first time). Groups of mutually associated species may be defined as “faunistic cores of communities” confined to certain lakes and/or years of study. According to the redundancy analysis with multidimensional scaling ordination, the environmental factors affect the quantitative characteristics and overall taxonomic richness of communities. The indices, describing the structure of communities, do not depend on the analyzed factors, which is also confirmed by correlation analysis.

Biomorphological structure of the flora of the ancient settlements of the Lower Dnipro

The biomorphological analysis of the flora of eighteen ancient settlements of the Lower Dnipro as a potential "islands" of steppe biodiversity has been introducing. Based on the most commonly used linear systems of life forms by K. Ranquier and by V.M Golubev there have been presented the results of the analysis of biomorphs. In addition to the main biomorph, the following characteristics were taken into account: multiplicity of fruiting, main types of vegetation, type of underground shoots, type of aboveground shoots, type of root system. Domination in the general spectrum of life forms of the studied flora of herbaceous plants was determined (455 species or 86.8 % of the total number), among which perennials made up the majority (259 species or 49.4 %). The second and third groups are occupied by annuals (148 species or 28.2 % of the total) and biannuals (48 species or 9.2 % of the total), respectively. According to the multiplicity of fruiting, the participation of polycarpics (328 species; 62.6 %) is significant. However, it should be noted, that the high share of herbaceous monocarpics (196 species; 37.4 %) can be explained by the invasion of adventitious species from neighboring agricultural fields and existing settlements. By type of vegetation, summer-green species represent almost half of the total list of flora (231 species), while that of the group of summer and winter green plants was represented by 168 species or 32 %. By type of aboveground shoots, the predominance is given to semi-rosette species (276 species; 52.7 %), and by type of underground shoots - to caudex (201 species; 38.4 %) and plants without rhizomes (196; 37.4 %). Our study confirmed that biomorphological structure of the flora of ancient settlements are quite typical for the flora of the steppe zone and the flora of the Holarctic in general, as evidenced by the predominance in the respective spectra of perennial grasses, hemicryptophytes, polycarpics, plants with caudex type of underground shoots and rod type. Transformation of the zonal spectrum as a result of anthropogenic impact is manifested in a significant percentage of trees, annuals, monocarpics and species of rhizome structure.

Incidence, nature and causes of avoidable significant harm in primary care in England: retrospective case note review

ObjectiveTo estimate the incidence of avoidable significant harm in primary care in England; describe and classify the associated patient safety incidents and generate suggestions to mitigate risks of ameliorable factors contributing to the incidents.DesignRetrospective case note review. Patients with significant health problems were identified and clinical judgements were made on avoidability and severity of harm. Factors contributing to avoidable harm were identified and recorded.SettingPrimary care.ParticipantsThirteen general practitioners (GPs) undertook a retrospective case note review of a sample of 14 407 primary care patients registered with 12 randomly selected general practices from three regions in England (total list size: 92 255 patients).Main outcome measuresThe incidence of significant harm considered at least ‘probably avoidable’ and the nature of the safety incidents.ResultsThe rate of significant harm considered at least probably avoidable was 35.6 (95% CI 23.3 to 48.0) per 100 000 patient-years (57.9, 95% CI 42.2 to 73.7, per 100 000 based on a sensitivity analysis). Overall, 74 cases of avoidable harm were detected, involving 72 patients. Three types of incident accounted for more than 90% of the problems: problems with diagnosis accounted for 45/74 (60.8%) primary incidents, followed by medication-related problems (n=19, 25.7%) and delayed referrals (n=8, 10.8%). In 59 (79.7%) cases, the significant harm could have been identified sooner (n=48) or prevented (n=11) if the GP had taken actions aligned with evidence-based guidelines.ConclusionThere is likely to be a substantial burden of avoidable significant harm attributable to primary care in England with diagnostic error accounting for most harms. Based on the contributory factors we found, improvements could be made through more effective implementation of existing information technology, enhanced team coordination and communication, and greater personal and informational continuity of care.

Review of psychological studies of vandalism of children and adolescents as the basis for designing prevention programs in the educational environment

Introduction. The article provides an overview of Russian and foreign studies of vandalism among children and adolescents, which is carried out in order to highlight the personal and environmental determinants of vandal activity of students, as well as to determine the possibilities of taking them into account when developing methods for preventing vandal behavior.Materials and Methods. Analysis, generalization and structuring of research results, theoretical material and practical recommendations on the problem of vandal behavior of young people.Results. The total list of publications was 1499 russian and foreign works. 44 articles were selected for analysis in accordance with the issued criteria. The content of these works allows us to characterize the essence of vandalism and its types, age, gender and personal predictors of vandalism, protective and provocative factors of vandalism in the educational and family environment, as well as directions for its prevention.Discussion and Conclusions. The analysis will provide an opportunity to consider vandalism as a form of aggressive behavior of children and adolescents and to outline the prospects for the development of a program to prevent vandalism among students. As a research perspective, the need for a more detailed empirical study of situational factors and socio-psychological determinants that act as a trigger for vandal behavior, as well as taking into account Russian sociocultural conditions, is highlighted.

Determinants of primary care workforce variation in England

BackgroundThe General Practice Forward View (GPFV) outlined how the government plans to attain a strengthened model of general practice. A key component of this proposal is an expansion of the workforce by employing a varied range of practitioners, in other words ‘skill mix’. A significant proportion of this investment focuses on increasing the number of ‘new’ roles such as clinical pharmacists, physiotherapists, physician associates, and paramedics.AimThe aim of this study is to examine what practice characteristics are associated with the current employment of these ‘new’ roles.MethodThe study uses practice level workforce data (2015–2019), publicly available from NHS Digital. The authors model FTE of specific workforce groups (for example, advanced nurse) as a function of deprivation, practice rurality, patient demographics (total list size and percentage of patients aged >65 years) and FTEs from other staff groups.ResultsAlthough analysis is ongoing, initial estimation suggests that the employment of ‘new’ roles has occurred in larger practices (in terms of list size), in practices with a higher proportion of patients living in deprived areas and practices with a larger proportion of patients aged >65 years. FTE for advanced nurses is negatively associated with GP FTE.ConclusionA negative correlation between advanced nurse FTE and GP FTE is potentially suggestive of substitution between roles, deliberate or otherwise. For example, practices may employ ‘new’ roles if they are unable to recruit GPs or they may recruit staff to free up GP time. Further work is needed to confirm these findings and to explore the reasons behind practice employment decisions.

Effects of water levels on species diversity of silica-scaled chrysophytes in large tributaries of Lake Baikal

Large tributaries of Lake Baikal considered as a “hotspot” for silica-scaled chrysophytes diversity. Here we presented the updated species composition of silica-scaled chrysophytes and ecological parameters of their habitat in the Barguzin and Selenga River tributaries and delta in a high water level period. The number of registered taxa was significantly lower compared to the low water conditions (23 versus 66 species) and included the following genera with a given number of species: Chrysosphaerella – 1; Paraphysomonas – 2; Clathromonas – 1; Spiniferomonas – 3; Mallomonas – 9; Synura – 7. Mallomonas guttata and Synura borealis were identified in Russian waters for the first time. Thus, the corrected total list of silica-scaled chrysophytes in the Baikal Region includes 79 taxa. Though, the high water level reduced the total number of silica-scaled chrysophyte taxa, it made the water ecosystem more dynamic by enriching it with the entirely new species for this region.

Gene Prioritization through Consensus Strategy, Enrichment Methodologies Analysis, and Networking for Osteosarcoma Pathogenesis

Osteosarcoma is the most common subtype of primary bone cancer, affecting mostly adolescents. In recent years, several studies have focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of this sarcoma; however, its molecular etiology has still not been determined with precision. Therefore, we applied a consensus strategy with the use of several bioinformatics tools to prioritize genes involved in its pathogenesis. Subsequently, we assessed the physical interactions of the previously selected genes and applied a communality analysis to this protein–protein interaction network. The consensus strategy prioritized a total list of 553 genes. Our enrichment analysis validates several studies that describe the signaling pathways PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK as pathogenic. The gene ontology described TP53 as a principal signal transducer that chiefly mediates processes associated with cell cycle and DNA damage response It is interesting to note that the communality analysis clusters several members involved in metastasis events, such as MMP2 and MMP9, and genes associated with DNA repair complexes, like ATM, ATR, CHEK1, and RAD51. In this study, we have identified well-known pathogenic genes for osteosarcoma and prioritized genes that need to be further explored.