The researchers established five transects spaced 400 meters apart, running systematically from the upper to the lower slope of the forest. A total of 48 plots, each measuring 20 by 20 meters, were positioned at 100-meter intervals along these transects. Within the plots, the team recorded species abundance, cover, diameter at breast height, height, and a range of environmental variables.

The data were analyzed using R statistical packages, yielding measures of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, evenness, density, frequency, and the importance value index. The diversity and evenness of woody species in Getete Forest came out at 3.34 and 0.83, respectively. Among the recorded species, 5.26 percent were identified as endemic to Ethiopia, while 3.51 percent were classified as near-endemic.

Eight families were equally represented in the survey, each with three species, or 5.26 percent of the total: Lamiaceae, Rubiaceae, Oleaceae, Myrtaceae, Fabaceae, Anacardiaceae, Asteraceae, and Solanaceae. The total density of woody plant individuals with a diameter at breast height of at least 2 centimeters was 1,839.06 individuals per hectare. The diameter distribution of the vegetation formed an inverted "J" shape, a pattern in which many small individuals taper off into relatively few large ones.

The study reports this as a measured observation of the forest's size-class distribution. The authors also tested which environmental variables tracked variation in species composition across the forest. Altitude and aspect were significantly associated with compositional differences, at a significance threshold of p less than 0.05.

Alongside the ecological measurements, the study documented pressures on the forest. Getete Forest supports diverse indigenous and endemic woody plants, but it is subject to anthropogenic pressures including grazing, agricultural expansion, and tree cutting. The findings highlight the need for coordinated conservation actions involving government institutions, local communities, forest protection personnel, and other stakeholders.

The authors frame such coordination as the route to reducing anthropogenic threats, strengthening forest protection and monitoring, conserving biodiversity, and promoting the sustainable use of forest resources. As a single-forest assessment, the study documents the composition, structure, and environmental associations of one dry afromontane patch in central Ethiopia; its contribution lies in filling a documented information gap for a forest patch where woody plant diversity, regeneration, and environmental relationships had not previously been characterized in detail.

Subject of Research: Woody species diversity, floristic composition, vegetation structure, and environmental associations in Getete dry afromontane forest, Central Ethiopia

Article Title: Woody species diversity, floristic composition, vegetation structure, and environmental associations in Getete dry afromontane forest, Central Ethiopia

Article References: Abebe, M., & Lulekal, E. (2026). Woody species diversity, floristic composition, vegetation structure, and environmental associations in Getete dry afromontane forest, Central Ethiopia. BMC Plant Biology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-10260-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12870-026-10260-y

Keywords: Woody, species, diversity, floristic, composition, vegetation, structure, environmental, associations, Getete, afromontane, forest

Short-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have expanded rapidly as replacements for older, long-chain PFAS, but the authors argue that assumptions of aquatic safety are increasingly challenged by emerging fish toxicity data and by the realities of environmental persistence and exposure. Their analysis draws on fish models to assess how each compound behaves biologically, from bioaccumulation to molecular disruption.

PFHxA, a short-chain perfluorocarboxylic acid, emerges as generally less bioaccumulative than many long-chain analogs. Even so, the review finds it can still elicit biologically meaningful neurobehavioral and molecular alterations in fish, with effects depending on life stage and exposure scenario. That nuance matters, the authors suggest, because lower bioaccumulation alone does not rule out pathway-specific harm during sensitive developmental windows.

HFPO-DA, widely known as a replacement for perfluorooctanoic acid, shows a different pattern. Across fish development studies, the compound displays signs consistent with endocrine and metabolic disturbance, including endpoints tied to the thyroid axis as well as transcriptomic and metabolomic disruptions. The review presents these findings as evidence of biological activity in fish development, without claiming equivalence to the toxicity profiles of the compounds it replaced.

TFA stands apart on different grounds altogether. As an ultrashort terminal transformation product, it is characterized by exceptional persistence and high mobility in the environment. The review highlights evidence of increasing environmental burdens and notes that thresholds for long-term ecological effects remain unresolved, making TFA less a question of acute toxicity and more one of accumulating, poorly bounded exposure.

To situate these three compounds within the broader short-chain PFAS spectrum, the comparison also considers other short-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids, particularly PFBA, PFPeA, and PFHpA. This framing clarifies that the selected chemicals occupy distinct positions along gradients of chain length, structure, persistence, and biological activity rather than forming a uniform class with uniform risk.

The central conclusion is that short-chain fluorinated acids should not be interpreted through a single safety gradient. PFHxA, HFPO-DA, and TFA represent distinct but connected risk logics shaped by exposure persistence, internal-dose dynamics, and pathway-specific biological responses. A compound that accumulates less may still perturb behavior or molecular signaling, while one with exceptional persistence and mobility may pose growing concerns as its environmental burdens increase.

The authors outline future research priorities aimed at closing these gaps. They call for harmonized exposure verification, tissue-dose reporting, mixture-relevant experimental designs, and cross-life-stage endpoints that better predict population-relevant outcomes. Such measures, they argue, would allow the compounds to be compared more rigorously across studies.

For aquatic ecosystems, the review’s message is that the transition away from legacy PFAS has produced a chemically diverse successor generation whose hazards resist simple ranking. As environmental burdens of ultrashort and replacement fluorinated acids continue to rise, the fish toxicology evidence assembled here suggests that regulatory and monitoring frameworks will need to treat each compound on its own terms, accounting for persistence, internal dose, and the specific biological pathways each disrupts.

Subject of Research: Comparative fish toxicology of the short-chain fluorinated acids PFHxA, HFPO-DA, and TFA

Article Title: Comparative fish toxicology of perfluorohexanoic acid, hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid, and trifluoroacetic acid

Article References: Akhtar, M. S., & Zaman, W. (2026). Comparative fish toxicology of perfluorohexanoic acid, hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid, and trifluoroacetic acid. Ecotoxicology, 35(9), Article 188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-026-03173-x

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s10646-026-03173-x

Keywords: PFAS, PFHxA, HFPO-DA, TFA, fish toxicology, ecotoxicology, endocrine disruption, bioaccumulation, environmental persistence, short-chain fluorinated acids, thyroid axis, aquatic risk

Researchers combined the survey with semi-structured interviews, open-ended responses and institutional documents to examine how sustainability appears in curricula, teaching, governance and institutional practice. The analysis focused on perceived integration and the conditions associated with sustainability-education outcomes at this single institution. It was not designed to estimate national conditions in Saudi Arabia, and its results should not be interpreted as evidence of cause and effect.

The study found positive associations between perceived sustainability-education outcomes and four institutional features: curriculum integration, the effectiveness of digital tools, governance and leadership, and entrepreneurship-oriented training. Staff who regarded these elements as more effective or strongly developed tended to report better outcomes for sustainability education. Resource constraints and insufficient trainer preparation were negatively associated with those outcomes. The mixed evidence also converged on three implementation needs: explicit sustainability learning outcomes, systematic monitoring, and targeted trainer development.

Based on these findings, the researchers proposed a tentative implementation framework for local auditing and improvement. It specifies 12 measurable indicators, identifies data sources, assigns institutional owners and sets review cycles. The framework is a foundation for monitoring rather than a tested intervention, and the researchers state that it needs validation both within the institution and over time. The study’s single-institution scope and its reliance on staff perceptions limit generalization, while the associations do not establish whether any particular institutional feature produces stronger sustainability outcomes. The results therefore offer a structured basis for evaluating and refining sustainability integration in technical education, but they do not demonstrate a national shift in TVET practice or measure the educational benefits of the proposed framework.

Subject of Research: Institutional integration of environmental and economic sustainability in Saudi technical education

Article Title: Advancing environmental and economic sustainability in technical education: a mixed-methods approach in Saudi Arabia

Article References: Alghamdi, M. M., Awad, A., Ghonim, A., Yusuf, A. A., & Sayed, A. M. (2026). Advancing environmental and economic sustainability in technical education: a mixed-methods approach in Saudi Arabia. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-09228-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-09228-y

Keywords: technical education, TVET, Saudi Arabia, sustainability education, environmental economics, economic diversification, curriculum integration, trainer development, institutional governance, mixed-methods research, Advancing, environmental

The population-based investigation linked the Danish Twin Registry with the Danish National Patient Registry. Investigators used relevant ICD-8 and ICD-10 codes to identify rotator cuff tear diagnoses recorded between 1994 and 2014. They then estimated cumulative incidence and assessed whether a rotator cuff tear diagnosis in one twin was associated with the same diagnosis in the co-twin.

By age 70, the estimated cumulative incidence of receiving a rotator cuff tear diagnosis was 6.5% in men, with a 95% confidence interval of 6.0% to 7.2%. Among women, the corresponding estimate was 3.8%, with a 95% confidence interval of 3.4% to 4.3%. These estimates concern recorded diagnoses, which may not capture every rotator cuff tear that was present but never entered into the medical record.

For twins in which one member had received a rotator cuff tear diagnosis, the risk of the same diagnosis in the co-twin was generally higher for monozygotic than dizygotic twins. The difference was clearest among men. The preferred biometric twin model, known as the AE model, attributed 49% of the variance in liability to rotator cuff tear to additive genetic effects, with a 95% confidence interval of 27% to 70%.

Unique environmental effects accounted for the remaining 51% of the modeled variance, with a 95% confidence interval of 30% to 73%. Sex-stratified results suggested a stronger genetic contribution among men, while estimates among women were less precise. The authors characterized clinically diagnosed rotator cuff tear as a common, partially heritable musculoskeletal disorder.

Their results support considering inherited susceptibility alongside occupational and environmental exposures when assessing population-level risk and clinical management. Because the analysis was based on nationwide clinical registries rather than direct examination of every participant, it characterizes variation in liability to a recorded clinical diagnosis rather than proving that genes alone cause an individual tear.

Subject of Research: Genetic and environmental contributions to clinically diagnosed rotator cuff tears in a nationwide Danish twin cohort.

Article Title: Genetic and environmental influences on rotator cuff tears: a population-based twin study

Article References: Jørgensen, C. D., von Bornemann Hjelmborg, J., Lindahl-Jacobsen, R., & Frich, L. H. (2026). Genetic and environmental influences on rotator cuff tears: a population-based twin study. BMC Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-05284-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12916-026-05284-y

Keywords: rotator cuff tears, twin study, heritability, Danish registries, genetic susceptibility, environmental effects, shoulder disorders, population-based research, clinical diagnoses, Genetic, environmental, influences

The researchers established 200 fixed survey grids across an approximately 5,500-square-kilometre region at the boundary of the Palaearctic and Oriental zoogeographic realms. Each grid contained one 200-metre transect, positioned close to a stream or pond because amphibian detection and reproduction are closely associated with aquatic habitats. The same transects were surveyed in April–May and September–October of both years, with nighttime fieldwork timed to coincide with the nocturnal activity of most local species. Teams of two observers and one recorder walked each transect at 2–3 kilometres per hour, identifying animals visually and by their calls. Individuals that could not be identified reliably were sampled non-lethally and identified through laboratory DNA barcoding. For every encounter, the team recorded the species, number of individuals, geographic coordinates and elevation.

The effort yielded 23 species from 20 genera, nine families and two orders. Ranidae was the most species-rich family, contributing nine species, or 39.13% of the total; Dicroglossidae contributed four species, or 17.39%. Microhylidae, Rhacophoridae and Salamandridae each contained two species, while Bufonidae, Megophryidae, Hylidae and Cryptobranchidae were represented by one species each. The dominant species were Fejervarya multistriata, with a Berger–Parker dominance index of 0.43, Microhyla fissipes at 0.18 and Bufo gargarizans at 0.14. The survey also detected Hoplobatrachus chinensis and Andrias davidianus, both listed as nationally protected Class II species.

A Chao2 estimator placed total expected richness at 23.995 species, with a standard error of 2.299 and a 95% confidence interval of 23.069–37.273. Observed richness therefore represented 95.85% of the estimate, and species-accumulation curves approached an asymptote in both survey years, indicating that the sampling captured most of the regional species pool. This estimate is consistent with the survey’s broad spatial coverage, although it does not eliminate the possibility that some species were missed during particular seasons. The effort involved 800 transect surveys in total, because all 200 fixed locations were visited during each of four survey periods. Repeating the same locations helped reduce false absences and make temporal comparisons possible, while the consistent transect length and team protocol maintained comparable sampling effort across sites and periods.

Local diversity varied more between seasons than between years. In both 2023 and 2024, spring values were significantly higher than autumn values for the Shannon–Wiener index, Simpson index, Pielou evenness, Berger–Parker dominance and species richness. The combined-year comparison also showed significant seasonal differences for the Shannon–Wiener, Simpson, Pielou, dominance and relative-abundance measures, although not for species richness. By contrast, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests found no significant interannual difference for the Shannon–Wiener index, Simpson index, evenness, dominance or relative abundance. Species richness did differ between 2023 and 2024, but its median was four species in both years, indicating that the statistical difference arose from the distribution of paired site-level changes rather than a shift in the central value. The two-year record therefore suggests short-term stability in most measures, but it cannot establish a long-term trend or a direction of change.

For the environmental analyses, the researchers initially considered annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, elevation, aspect, slope, NDVI, distance to the nearest major river and the Human Footprint Index. Pairwise Spearman correlations were used to identify strong collinearity, and variables with absolute correlation coefficients above 0.8 were removed in favour of factors with clearer biological interpretation. Six predictors remained: annual precipitation, NDVI, slope, aspect, distance to river and the Human Footprint Index. Values were extracted at the midpoints of the 200 sampling grids from source layers with native resolutions ranging from 30 metres to approximately one kilometre. Because the analysis used point extraction rather than raster overlay or cell aggregation, no resampling was performed, an approach intended to avoid artificial values created during interpolation. This design also meant that the environmental estimates represented broad conditions at grid midpoints rather than every habitat surrounding an amphibian encounter.

Simple correlations showed that the Shannon–Wiener index, Simpson index and species richness were positively associated with annual precipitation, NDVI, slope and distance from a river, and negatively associated with the Human Footprint Index. No alpha-diversity metric had a significant correlation with aspect. Generalized additive models, checked for variance inflation and selected using the corrected Akaike information criterion, sharpened these patterns. Annual precipitation was positively and significantly related to all three alpha-diversity measures, each with p-values below 0.001 and a model weight of 1.0. NDVI was also significant for all three measures, with model weights of 1.0 for Shannon diversity and richness and 0.900 for Simpson diversity. The Human Footprint Index had a significant negative relationship with species richness at p = 0.035, but its relationships with Shannon and Simpson diversity were not significant. Slope and distance to river received lower model weights and had non-significant model-averaged coefficients.

Community composition differed sharply across the 200 transects. Mean pairwise Sørensen dissimilarity was 0.981. Partitioning this total dissimilarity produced a turnover component of 0.960, accounting for 97.86%, and a nestedness component of 0.021, accounting for 2.14%. The result means that changes in species composition were overwhelmingly associated with replacement: sites with different assemblages generally contained different sets of species, rather than being species-poor versions of a common regional pool. This pattern is consistent with environmental sorting across Huangshan’s pronounced gradients in moisture, productivity and topography, but the observational findings do not establish a specific causal mechanism. The measured pattern shows that nested species loss was a minor component of spatial differences among the surveyed communities.

Distance-based redundancy analysis was used to estimate how six environmental predictors and spatial trends were associated with multivariate community patterns. The overall model was significant, with F = 2.06, p = 0.0001 and an adjusted R-squared of 4.1%, but individual effects were concentrated in two predictors. Annual precipitation had a marginal contribution of 1.797 and latitude a contribution of 1.337; both were significant at p = 0.0001. Longitude contributed 0.63%, NDVI 0.49%, distance to river 0.71%, the Human Footprint Index 0.48%, aspect 0.42% and slope 0.29%, with none of these remaining effects significant. Forward selection found only the first constrained-axis result significant, with CAP1 yielding F = 9.4219 and p = 0.0001; CAP2 through CAP8 were not significant. Residuals showed no detectable spatial autocorrelation, with Moran’s I = 0.0074 and p = 0.771, indicating that the spatial terms adequately addressed the measured structure. Thus, precipitation was associated with both local diversity and broad compositional change, whereas NDVI had a strong relationship with local diversity but was not a significant independent predictor of beta diversity in the final multivariate model. The relatively low adjusted R-squared also shows that the measured environmental and spatial terms accounted for only a limited share of beta-diversity variation after adjustment.

Several limitations constrain the interpretation of this two-year landscape snapshot. Surveys occurred only in spring and autumn, leaving the summer breeding period unsampled, and nocturnal fieldwork may have missed diurnal or crepuscular species. Environmental values were extracted at grid midpoints, potentially masking local features such as temporary ponds, and one 200-metre transect per 5-by-5-kilometre grid may not capture within-grid heterogeneity. Transects were deliberately located near water to improve detection, but that placement also means the design does not represent every habitat equally. The study’s broad coverage and high estimated sampling completeness support regional comparisons, yet additional seasons, repeated microhabitat sampling and denser transect replication would be needed to test fine-scale relationships and determine whether the observed patterns persist under climate change. Within those bounds, the evidence identifies precipitation and latitude as the main correlates of community turnover, and vegetation productivity as a major correlate of local diversity across the Huangshan Mountains.

Subject of Research: Environmental correlates of amphibian alpha and beta diversity across the Huangshan Mountains

Article Title: Patterns and Environmental Drivers of Amphibian Alpha and Beta Diversity in the Huangshan Mountains, Southern Anhui, China

Article References: Wang, S., Wang, Z., Sun, Y., He, Z., Sun, Q., Wei, J., Li, Y., Liu, M., Shi, J., Zhang, C., Wu, S., Bai, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhao, N., & Wang, S. (2026). Patterns and Environmental Drivers of Amphibian Alpha and Beta Diversity in the Huangshan Mountains, Southern Anhui, China. Ecology and Evolution, 16(10), Article e74556. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.74556

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1002/ece3.74556

Keywords: amphibians, alpha diversity, beta diversity, species turnover, precipitation, NDVI, Huangshan Mountains, environmental gradients, field survey, biodiversity hotspot, Patterns, Environmental

Participants performed an additional-singleton visual-search task while their eye movements were recorded. Distractor presence followed either high- or low-volatility sequences, and the overall prevalence of distractors remained constant across the two regimes. That difference disappeared when comparisons were matched by position in the run.

The pooled effect was therefore consistent with a structural consequence of the manipulation: high-volatility blocks contained more early-run positions, where capture is intrinsically more frequent. On distractor-absent trials, which isolated the effect of volatility without a competing item, capture showed no detectable difference between regimes. Behavioral differences emerged later in the decision process.

Under high volatility, participants produced longer response times, made more fixations, spent more time dwelling on the final target and committed fewer errors. Target-acquisition latency—the time needed to reach the target—remained unchanged. Together, these observations locate the volatility effect after the first saccade, when observers were deciding whether the available visual evidence justified a response.

The authors evaluated the data with a hierarchical drift-diffusion model and a complementary volatility Kalman-filter model. Both analyses indicated that manual responses contained boundary-related and drift-related structure, linking environmental volatility to the accumulation of evidence and the thresholds used for decision-making. With distractor frequency held constant, the findings support increased response caution rather than a direct change in early oculomotor capture.

The authors describe this pattern as consistent with precision-weighted adjustment to environmental uncertainty. Because the evidence comes from a controlled laboratory task with eye tracking, the study establishes an association within that search paradigm rather than demonstrating how volatility influences decisions in everyday settings.

Subject of Research: How environmental volatility affects oculomotor capture and cautious decisions in visual search

Article Title: Environmental volatility is associated with adaptive caution in visual search

Article References: Qiu, N., Allenmark, F., Chen, S., Müller, H. J., & Shi, Z. (2026). Environmental volatility is associated with adaptive caution in visual search. PLOS Computational Biology, 22(10), e1014310. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014310

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014310

Keywords: visual search, environmental volatility, eye tracking, response caution, decision-making, drift-diffusion model, Kalman filtering, oculomotor capture, visual uncertainty, Environmental, volatility, associated

The analysis considered RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, identified in the study as moderate- and high-emissions pathways, and evaluated both present and future climatic suitability. Model performance was reported as robust, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of at least 0.78 and a true skill score of at least 0.60. These metrics support the reported predictive performance of the suitability framework, although they do not establish the feasibility of individual projects.

Under RCP 4.5, the models projected a significant expansion of climatically suitable territory, particularly across central India. The newly suitable areas were expected to form a contiguous corridor, indicating that moderate warming could extend the climatic envelope for some agro-voltaic systems over a broader connected region. Its maps identify locations where climatic conditions are estimated to be suitable, not where all non-climatic requirements for deployment have been met.

The assessment under RCP 8.5 produced a more constrained picture. Suitable areas were projected to undergo spatial redistribution, while the geographic centers of suitability and the range of climatic conditions tolerated by agro-voltaic systems would change. The high-emissions results therefore do not simply extend the moderate-warming pattern.

They indicate that expansion of the total suitable area can coexist with reduced tolerance ranges and changing environmental limitations. The findings are also not uniform across the three models, which emphasized distinct environmental drivers, including the concentration of precipitation, thermal variability and interactions between moisture and temperature. Another important result was a change in the variables that most strongly controlled suitability.

Diurnal temperature variability was the leading influence in the earlier assessment, but temperature seasonality and precipitation extremes became more important in the projected future. This transition implies greater sensitivity to seasonal climatic fluctuations and monsoon variability in the modeled suitability patterns. Together, the results show why a national increase in suitable area should not be interpreted as a uniform reduction in environmental risk.

Overall, the study provides a spatially explicit, national-scale assessment of potential climate-driven suitability shifts in India’s agro-voltaic systems. Within those limits, the results support land-use planning that accounts for changing spatial patterns rather than assuming that future climatic suitability will remain stable.

Subject of Research: Climate-driven suitability and spatial shifts of agro-voltaic systems across India

Article Title: Environmental assessment of climate-driven suitability and spatial shifts of agro-voltaic systems in india using ensemble modeling

Article References: Mathur, M., & Poonia, S. (2026). Environmental assessment of climate-driven suitability and spatial shifts of agro-voltaic systems in india using ensemble modeling. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 157(11), Article 733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-026-06656-3

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s00704-026-06656-3

Keywords: agro-voltaic systems, India, climate change, ensemble modeling, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5, bioclimatic suitability, Earth System models, spatial redistribution, land-use planning, Environmental, assessment

The researchers combined a weekly field census in Tsukuba, Japan, with laboratory rearing, outdoor cages, controlled temperature treatments and hormone injections. During the 2021 field census, most nymphs were green, while yellow, brown, whitish and black-patterned individuals also occurred. Non-green morphs appeared more frequently later in the season: their proportion correlated positively with collection date (r = 0.93, N = 13, p < 0.001). The authors noted that the study area was a grassy site about 200 m long and 2 m wide, and that changes in surrounding plant color were a possible environmental correlate rather than a tested cause.

To test the influence of substrate color, the researchers reared newly hatched nymphs individually in transparent containers lined with yellow-green, white or black paper. The mean room temperature was 25.1°C, with a standard deviation of 5.3°C, from May 31 to August 15. The proportion of green nymphs was significantly higher in yellow-green containers than in white or black containers. Whitish nymphs appeared most often in white containers, while black spotting or patterning was more frequent in black containers. Reddish background coloration occurred in 17.8% of nymphs in black containers, compared with 4.3% in yellow-green and 2.7% in white containers. These findings support an effect of substrate color, but the experiment did not test interactions among substrate color, crowding and temperature.

Crowding produced a different response. Nymphs reared five per container developed black patterns after their molt to the second stadium, whereas some black patterning also occurred among solitary nymphs. Group-reared animals had a mean patterning grade that did not differ significantly among black, yellow-green and white containers, although the proportions in particular grades did differ, including fewer grade-5 individuals on the brightest substrate. The study therefore demonstrated density-dependent black patterning without establishing a single substrate effect for all measures of pattern severity.

Visual exposure was sufficient to induce some patterning. Individually housed nymphs could see five similarly aged nymphs in a white container through adjacent transparent lids but could not touch them. Compared with controls that saw an empty white container, visually exposed nymphs were less likely to remain in the lowest black-patterning grade. The result indicates that visual stimuli can contribute to patterning, although it does not exclude chemical cues or other aspects of the setup. The authors also observed that crowded P. japonica nymphs were comparatively inactive and did not frequently touch or kick one another.

Outdoor cages revealed seasonal variation in the intensity of black patterning. Among cohorts hatching in June, July and August 2021, the proportion in the darkest grade rose from 0% to 19.0% and 57.2%, respectively, while mean grades rose from 2.6 to 3.7 and 4.5. A September-hatching cohort reared outdoors in 2022 included 67.7% in the darkest grade, with a mean grade of 4.6 among 31 scored individuals. Average temperature across the full development period did not track this increase, but temperatures during the latter half of nymphal development declined with later hatching dates.

A controlled temperature comparison provided direct evidence that 34°C suppresses much of the thoracic black patterning. Third-stadium nymphs that had been reared outdoors were divided between a cage maintained at 34°C and an outdoor control cage. The outdoor animals were strongly melanized, with most in grades 4 or 5, whereas most of the animals held at 34°C had bright yellow backgrounds and only limited black patterning, chiefly on the lateral pronotum. Melanization remained in the posterior head, abdominal midline and legs. The study tested a high-temperature treatment at one temperature and developmental stage, so it does not establish a general temperature-response curve across the species’ full life cycle.

Injections of [His7]-corazonin, a neuropeptide associated with color control in other acridids, induced dark patterning in P. japonica. Green nymphs receiving 1 nmol either once or three times during the fourth stadium developed yellow backgrounds and black patterns at the penultimate instar; by the last instar, all six individuals receiving a single injection were in grade 4 or 5, while all six oil-injected controls remained in grade 1. In a preliminary test, four nymphs injected with 1 nmol at 34°C all reached grade 5. These results support corazonin’s involvement in inducing the pattern, but they do not by themselves establish whether heat changes corazonin secretion, local tissue sensitivity, or another regulatory step.

Adult coloration was more uniform than that of the nymphs. Most field adults had brown bodies, dark markings beneath the compound eyes, brownish forewings and horizontal white stripes, providing a cryptic appearance against leaf litter. Some adults had orange regions or lacked pronotum markings, and one old male collected in July 2021 was nearly black except for its legs and abdomen. Hindwings were unpigmented before winter and reddish after overwintering in both sexes. The authors said that this change might be related to sexual maturation, as reported for a related species, but the mechanism was not tested. Overall, the experiments identify separate effects of substrate color, density, visual cues, temperature and corazonin on P. japonica body-color polyphenism, while leaving broader ecological significance and the molecular basis of yellow coloration unresolved.

Subject of Research: Environmental and hormonal control of body-color polyphenism in the grasshopper Patanga japonica

Article Title: Environmental and hormonal control of body-color polyphenism in Patanga japonica ( Orthoptera , Acrididae ): Effects of substrate color, crowding, temperature and [His 7 ]-corazonin injection

Article References: Tanaka, S., & Kayukawa, T. (2024). Environmental and hormonal control of body-color polyphenism in Patanga japonica (Orthoptera, Acrididae): Effects of substrate color, crowding, temperature and [His7]-corazonin injection. Journal of Orthoptera Research, 33(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.33.98133

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/jor.33.98133

Keywords: Patanga japonica, grasshopper, body-color polyphenism, homochromy, crowding, visual cues, temperature, corazonin, melanization, Orthoptera, Environmental, hormonal

The review synthesized 46 eligible studies conducted between 2007 and 2026 across 10 African countries. The evidence represented West, East, North, Central and Southern Africa, although it was geographically uneven: Nigeria contributed 28 studies, or 60.9% of the evidence, and Ethiopia contributed five, or 10.9%. Samples came from markets, food-vending sites, butcher shops, restaurants, hospitals, banks, universities, transportation systems and other community commercial settings.

Investigators searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, African Journals Online and Google Scholar, with the final electronic search conducted on 20 April 2026. The review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidance. Eligible studies investigated bacterial contamination of circulating paper or polymer currency in African countries and reported microbiological isolation and identification of bacteria. Only English-language publications were eligible, and studies of non-circulating or experimentally inoculated currency and non-bacterial contaminants were excluded.

Across the 12 studies in the primary meta-analysis, 1,455 of 2,003 notes were contaminated, a crude aggregate proportion of 72.6%. A random-effects model combining study-specific estimates produced the pooled prevalence of 79.3%. Individual estimates ranged from 39.6% in a Nigerian study to 100% in studies from Ghana and South Sudan; the studies reporting complete contamination generally had relatively small samples. Results varied substantially between studies, with an I-squared value of 95.6%, Cochran’s Q of 252.06 and a p-value below 0.0001.

Differences in sampling, currency-circulation settings, laboratory methods and geographic conditions contributed to that heterogeneity. Leave-one-out analysis produced pooled estimates between 75.2% and 81.9%, while I-squared remained between 93.9% and 96.0%. The stable pooled estimate suggested that no single study disproportionately drove the result, although the continued heterogeneity showed that contamination estimates varied markedly among settings. Egger’s test did not find statistically significant evidence of small-study effects or publication bias.

Only Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli had enough comparable species-specific data for organism-level pooling. Ten studies contributing 1,811 bacterial isolates produced a pooled S. aureus proportion of 31.2% (95% CI, 24.7% to 38.4%), while ten studies contributing 1,784 isolates produced an E. coli proportion of 24.0% (95% CI, 17.8% to 31.5%). These denominators represented bacterial isolates recovered from contaminated notes, not the number of notes examined. Klebsiella, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Proteus and Shigella species were also frequently reported in the narrative synthesis.

Antimicrobial resistance was not a primary outcome, but several included studies reported multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant and pan-drug-resistant isolates. Resistance to ampicillin, penicillin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, erythromycin and related beta-lactam antibiotics was commonly observed. Studies in Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt also reported methicillin-resistant S. aureus, multidrug-resistant enteric bacteria, resistant Klebsiella species and multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa. These findings document resistant bacteria on currency rather than demonstrating currency-mediated transmission of resistance.

Contamination also varied with the characteristics and collection setting of currency. Lower-denomination and physically worn notes generally carried higher contamination burdens than higher-denomination or newer notes, and several studies reported lower contamination on polymer notes than on traditional paper currency. Notes collected from food vendors, butchers, slaughterhouses and meat handlers showed higher bacterial contamination than notes from transport operators, market traders and banking environments. The authors proposed that deteriorated paper may support microbial attachment and persistence, whereas reduced porosity may make polymer notes easier to clean; these mechanisms were not directly established by the pooled analysis.

The findings have important limitations, including very high statistical heterogeneity, inconsistent isolate reporting, selective publication that could not be completely excluded, limited representation of several African regions and the restriction to English-language literature. Detecting bacteria on currency also does not establish that infection was transmitted; the review noted that potential risk would depend on factors including microbial viability, inoculum size, survival duration, handling frequency, hygiene and host susceptibility. Within those bounds, the authors identified hand hygiene, avoiding simultaneous handling of food and money, improved currency management and closer integration of environmental reservoirs into antimicrobial-resistance surveillance as potential One Health approaches to reducing contamination and microbial dissemination.

Subject of Research: Systematic review and meta-analysis of bacterial contamination on circulating currency notes in Africa

Article Title: Currency as a mobile environmental reservoir of bacterial pathogens in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Article References: Anyanwu, C. N., Ugwu, P.-C. O., Neel, R., Terkimbi, S. D., Okon, M. B., Mohamed, Z. A. A., Bede-Ojimadu, O., & Anyanwu, E. G. (2026). Currency as a mobile environmental reservoir of bacterial pathogens in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 14, Article 1921421. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1921421

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1921421

Keywords: bacterial contamination, banknotes, currency, Africa, systematic review, meta-analysis, antimicrobial resistance, environmental health, One Health, public health, mobile, environmental

The included studies were assessed as direct when a prior stressor induced a macrophage or monocyte molecular or functional state that persisted after removal of the initiating stimulus, was maintained over time or through cell division, or altered the response to a subsequent challenge. Mechanistic studies demonstrated a relevant macrophage or monocyte mechanism without directly establishing persistence or recall, while contextual studies provided broader support. The review used this evidence base to develop the Macrophage Environmental Memory Systems, or MEMS, Framework.

It organizes the literature into six non-mutually-exclusive modules: transposable element regulation, represented in 107 studies; metabolic and signaling reprogramming, in 86; epigenetic regulation, in 33; systems integration, in 17; non-coding RNA regulation, in 14; and extracellular-vesicle-mediated communication, in seven. The overlapping assignments show that the proposed mechanisms are not confined to isolated molecular layers. Transposable element regulation was the most frequently represented module, appearing in 107 of the included studies.

Metabolic and signaling reprogramming was also prominent, with 86 studies assigned to it. Epigenetic regulation appeared in 33 studies, while systems integration, non-coding RNA regulation and extracellular-vesicle-mediated communication appeared in 17, 14 and seven studies, respectively. Together, these counts map the breadth of the literature that may be relevant to acquiring, maintaining, integrating or communicating persistent macrophage states.

The authors present MEMS as an evidence-organizing and hypothesis-generating framework rather than a validated six-component biological pathway. Its purpose is to bring together research that has developed across trained immunity, epigenetic regulation, non-coding RNAs, transposable elements, extracellular vesicles and immunometabolism. The framework does not establish that every module contributes causally to environmental memory, nor does it demonstrate that all six operate together as a single process.

The review also introduces the Macrophage-Mediated Molecular Memory, or M3, hypothesis. This is described as a downstream, experimentally testable extension of MEMS involving the possible communication of environmentally acquired molecular information. It is distinct from the evidence establishing the MEMS Framework itself and remains a hypothesis rather than a demonstrated mechanism.

Future work must determine which mechanisms causally establish and maintain persistent macrophage states. The authors specifically call for exposure-withdrawal studies, longitudinal observations, lineage tracing, perturbational experiments and rechallenge studies. These designs would address the central evidential problem identified by the review: showing not only that macrophages respond to environmental conditions, but that a state persists after the initiating stimulus is removed or that the cells respond differently to a subsequent challenge.

Overall, the systematic review supports the existence of numerous candidate molecular processes that may be relevant to macrophage environmental memory, while finding comparatively little direct evidence of persistence or altered subsequent responses. The MEMS Framework consolidates a scattered literature into six interacting areas for further testing, but the review’s restrictive conclusion is equally important: the biological plausibility of candidate mechanisms has not yet been matched by broad, direct demonstration that macrophages retain an environmental memory.

Subject of Research: Systematic review of molecular evidence for persistent environmental memory in macrophages and monocytes

Article Title: Environmental memory in macrophages: a PRISMA-guided systematic review and the macrophage environmental memory systems framework

Article References: Ruden, D. M. (2026). Environmental memory in macrophages: a PRISMA-guided systematic review and the macrophage environmental memory systems framework. Frontiers in Systems Biology, 6, 1955135. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsysb.2026.1955135

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fsysb.2026.1955135

Keywords: macrophages, environmental memory, monocytes, systematic review, trained immunity, epigenetic regulation, transposable elements, immunometabolism, non-coding RNAs, extracellular vesicles, Environmental, memory