Background: Attitudes toward aging influence many health outcomes, yet their relationship with cognition and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remains unknown. To better understand their impact on cognition and AD risk, we examined whether positive attitudes predict better cognition and diminished risk on AD biomarkers. Methods: A subsample of older adults with a family history of AD (n=54; women=39) from the McGill PREVENT-AD cohort participated in this study. Participants completed the Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire (AAQ-24), providing three scores: psychosocial loss, psychological growth and physical change. Participants underwent cognitive testing (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT; Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System-Color Word Interference Test, D-KEFS-CWIT), and AD blood-based biomarker assessments (p-tau217, Aβ42/40). Regression models tested associations, adjusting for covariates (age, sex, education, depression, APOE4), and were Bonferroni corrected. Results: Positive attitudes were associated with better recall and recognition (RAVLT) and improved word reading, colour naming, switching, and inhibition (D-KEFS-CWIT) (p<0.00077), while negative attitudes showed the opposite pattern. Negative attitudes were correlated with lower Aβ42/40 ratios, while positive attitudes were linked to lower p-tau217 (p<0.0167). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that positive attitudes predict better cognition and a lower risk profile for AD biomarkers, suggesting that life outlook may be an early disease feature or a risk factor.

Recent changes to US research funding are having far-reaching consequences that imperil the integrity of science and the provision of care to vulnerable populations. Resisting these changes, the BJPsych Portfolio reaffirms its commitment to publishing mental science and advancing psychiatric knowledge that improves the mental health of one and all.

Online platforms and activities, including smartphones, computers, social media, video games and applications involving artificial intelligence, have become a regular part of daily life and offer individuals a wide range of benefits. The purpose of this document is to increase psychiatrists’ awareness of the frequency and potential risks associated with excessive internet use, and to emphasise the need for psychiatrists to routinely question patients about their online activities. Internet use may become excessive and result in both psychological distress and physical impairments. Treatments and countermeasures may be required to address the harmful consequences of excessive internet use. Psychiatrists should be aware of patient online activities. Understanding of a patient’s online behaviour should now be a routine part of a psychiatric interview.

Kochia [Bassia scoparia (L.) A.J. Scott] is an invasive tumbleweed in the North American Great Plains that is difficult to manage in croplands and ruderal areas due to widespread resistance to up to four herbicide sites of action, including auxin mimics (Herbicide Resistance Action Committee [HRAC] Group 4) and inhibitors of acetolactate synthase (HRAC Group 2), photosystem II (HRAC Group 5), and 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (HRAC Group 9). Poor B. scoparia control with protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-inhibiting (HRAC Group 14) herbicides was noted in a brown mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern.] field near Kindersley, SK, Canada, in 2021. Similar observations were made in a sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) field near Mandan, ND, USA, and in research plots near Minot, ND, USA, in 2022. Whole-plant dose–response experiments were conducted to determine whether these B. scoparia accessions were resistant to the PPO-inhibiting herbicides saflufenacil and carfentrazone and the level of resistance observed. All three B. scoparia accessions were highly resistant to foliar-applied saflufenacil and carfentrazone compared with two locally relevant susceptible accessions. The Kindersley accession exhibited 57- to 87-fold resistance to saflufenacil and 97- to 121-fold resistance to carfentrazone based on biomass dry weight at 21 d after treatment (DAT). Similarly, the Mandan accession exhibited 204- to 321-fold resistance to saflufenacil and 111- to 330-fold resistance to carfentrazone, while the Minot accession exhibited 45- to 71-fold resistance to saflufenacil and 88- to 264-fold resistance to carfentrazone. Substantial differences in visible control at 7 and 21/28 DAT were also observed between the putative-resistant and susceptible accessions. This study represents the first confirmations of PPO inhibitor–resistant B. scoparia globally and the fifth herbicide site of action to which B. scoparia has evolved resistance. It also documents this issue present at three locations in the Northern Great Plains region that occur up to 790 km apart and on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border.

During 1978, the High Court of Australia and the New South Wales Court of Appeal handed down decisions which announce a departure from the long-standing rule that decisions of the Privy Council bind all Australian Courts. In this article, Mr Geddes analyses these decisions and considers their future impact on the authority of Privy Council decisions in the various courts which make up the Australian judicial hierarchy.

Herbicides have been placed in global Herbicide Resistance Action Committee (HRAC) herbicide groups based on their sites of action (e.g., acetolactate synthase–inhibiting herbicides are grouped in HRAC Group 2). A major driving force for this classification system is that growers have been encouraged to rotate or mix herbicides from different HRAC groups to delay the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds, because in theory, all active ingredients within a herbicide group physiologically affect weeds similarly. Although herbicide resistance in weeds has been studied for decades, recent research on the biochemical and molecular basis for resistance has demonstrated that patterns of cross-resistance are usually quite complicated and much more complex than merely stating, for example, a certain weed population is Group 2-resistant. The objective of this review article is to highlight and describe the intricacies associated with the magnitude of herbicide resistance and cross-resistance patterns that have resulted from myriad target-site and non–target site resistance mechanisms in weeds, as well as environmental and application timing influences. Our hope is this review will provide opportunities for students, growers, agronomists, ag retailers, regulatory personnel, and research scientists to better understand and realize that herbicide resistance in weeds is far more complicated than previously considered when based solely on HRAC groups. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of cross-resistance patterns among weed species and populations may assist in managing herbicide-resistant biotypes in the short term by providing growers with previously unconsidered effective control options. This knowledge may also inform agrochemical company efforts aimed at developing new resistance-breaking chemistries and herbicide mixtures. However, in the long term, nonchemical management strategies, including cultural, mechanical, and biological weed management tactics, must also be implemented to prevent or delay increasingly problematic issues with weed resistance to current and future herbicides.

The malicious use of artificial intelligence is growing rapidly, creating major security threats for individuals and the healthcare sector. Individuals with mental illness may be especially vulnerable. Healthcare provider data are a prime target for cybercriminals. There is a need to improve cybersecurity to detect and prevent cyberattacks against individuals and the healthcare sector, including the use of artificial intelligence predictive tools.

Background: Adherence to healthy lifestyle behaviours or to prescribed medication requires perseverance with stamina, and this is captured by Grit, a non-cognitive trait defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Despite predicting cognitive decline and physical, emotional, and social functioning, Grit remains poorly understood and its neural substrates are unknown in cognitive aging. Methods: Ninety-five cognitively unimpaired older adults with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease were recruited through the PREVENT-AD longitudinal cohort. Participants completed tests that assess grit and conscientiousness and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA), a rigorous data-driven whole-brain approach, were used to examine if resting-state functional connectivity of connectome-wide voxels were associated with grit scores, controlling for age, sex, APOE ε4 carriership, mean displacement, and conscientiousness. Results: Our analyses identified two large (≥54 voxels) and statistically significant (p<0.01 corrected for family-wise error) clusters in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the left orbitofrontal cortex underlying grit. Conclusions: Being the first to identify functional neural correlates supporting grit in the aging population while accounting for the variance of conscientiousness, our study provides unique insights into the construct which has important applications in adherence to clinical and empirical neurological interventions as well as in successful aging.

Downy brome is a cleistogamous facultative winter-annual grass weed that invades cropland, pastureland, and ruderal areas in western North America. Glyphosate-resistant downy brome, the first known glyphosate-resistant grass weed in Canada, was confirmed in a glyphosate-resistant canola field in southern Alberta in 2021. A controlled-environment study was conducted to determine the impact of preemergence soil-applied residual herbicides on glyphosate-resistant and susceptible downy brome in two field soils. Flumioxazin/pyroxasulfone (70/89 g ai ha−1), carfentrazone/pyroxasulfone (18/150 g ai ha−1), sulfentrazone/pyroxasulfone (100/100 or 150/150 g ai ha−1), and saflufenacil/pyroxasulfone (36/120 g ai ha−1) resulted in excellent (≥90%) visible control and downy brome biomass reduction 8 wk after treatment (WAT). The low rate of carfentrazone/pyroxasulfone (12/100 g ai ha−1) resulted in good (≥80%) visible control and biomass reduction 8 WAT, while the low and medium rates of saflufenacil/pyroxasulfone (18/60 or 25/84 g ai ha−1) resulted in ≥80% biomass reduction but suppression only (66% to 75%) based on visible control. Flumioxazin alone (105 g ai ha−1) resulted in good visible control (81%) 8 WAT in a sandy loam soil, but poor (13%) control in a clay loam soil. Soil type affected plant growth as evidenced by reduced growth in the untreated sandy loam soil compared to clay loam soil. The glyphosate-resistant population emerged and grew more vigorously than the glyphosate-susceptible population resulting in greater plant densities in the untreated control and some less-effective herbicide treatments. These results suggest that mixtures of a protoporphyrinogen oxidase-inhibiting herbicide with the very-long-chain fatty acid elongase inhibitor pyroxasulfone applied preemergence at ≥89 g ai ha−1 could be effective components of an herbicide layering strategy targeting glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-susceptible downy brome.

With the recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), patients are increasingly exposed to misleading medical information. Generative AI models, including large language models such as ChatGPT, create and modify text, images, audio and video information based on training data. Commercial use of generative AI is expanding rapidly and the public will routinely receive messages created by generative AI. However, generative AI models may be unreliable, routinely make errors and widely spread misinformation. Misinformation created by generative AI about mental illness may include factual errors, nonsense, fabricated sources and dangerous advice. Psychiatrists need to recognise that patients may receive misinformation online, including about medicine and psychiatry.

Background: Saskatchewan’s Rural and Remote Memory Clinic (RRMC) has provided post-diagnostic virtual dementia care for approximately 19 years. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a new need for remote dementia diagnosis, we developed a virtual, team-based, interdisciplinary (neurology, neuropsychology, nursing), diagnostic memory clinic (vRRMC). We evaluated patient and caregiver satisfaction with the new virtual clinic. Methods: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with rural vRRMC patients (n=7), caregivers (n= 13), and one patient/caregiver dyad. Ages of respondents ranged from 40 to 70 years old (60% female). Level of diagnosed cognitive dysfunction ranged from subjective cognitive impairment to major neurocognitive disorder. Respondents saved an average of 460 km of travel compared to a trip to Saskatoon. Results: Thematic analysis of responses revealed universal satisfaction with the virtual model. The technology training sessions, offered prior to the first vRRMC visit, was described as important for satisfaction. Analysis of preference for future visits revealed more nuance; some preferred in-person visits and planned to travel for future appointments post-pandemic, while others preferred to maintain the virtual model due to perceived travel burden (cost, time, and inconvenience). Conclusions: When clinically appropriate, virtual diagnostic memory clinics should persist as an option post pandemic for families who experience high travel burden.

Downy brome is a troublesome facultative winter-annual grass weed that invades agricultural and nonagricultural lands in western North America and can cause substantial crop yield losses particularly in no-till winter wheat. Glyphosate-resistant (GR) downy brome was identified in southern Alberta in 2021, representing the first confirmation of a GR grass weed in Canada. This study was designed to evaluate alternative herbicides and herbicide mixtures applied postemergence (POST) for control of GR and glyphosate-susceptible (GS) downy brome populations at the seedling stage under a controlled environment. The GR downy brome did not exhibit cross-resistance to other herbicides applied POST. Quizalofop alone or in combination with imazamox, imazamox + bentazon, or imazamox/imazethapyr, and glufosinate mixed with either clethodim or tiafenacil resulted in ≥80% visible control, plant mortality, and reduction in biomass of both GR and GS downy brome populations 21 d after treatment. Diligent stewardship of these remaining herbicide options is warranted since downy brome populations with resistance to herbicides that inhibit acetyl-CoA carboxylase or acetolactate synthase have been reported in neighboring states.

Weeds represent one of the most important biotic threats to agricultural plant health, and the potential global impact of weeds on crop yields is similar to that of all other pests (animal pests and pathogens) combined. Canola is the most-grown crop in Canada based on seeded area and generates on average Can$29.9 billion in economic activity each year. The objective of this report, sponsored by the Weed Science Society of America Weed Loss Committee, was to provide an updated estimate of potential yield and monetary losses due to weed interference in spring canola grown in Canada and the United States. Quantitative yield data from field experiments were provided by researchers and weed science professionals in the northern Great Plains region; the major canola-producing area of North America. Overall, 89 yield loss estimates were compiled, covering the 18-yr period from 2003 to 2020. Average canola yield losses due to weed interference in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and North Dakota were 35%, 30%, 18%, and 28%, respectively. Potential yield losses weighted by canola harvested area averaged 30%, 28%, and 30% for Canada, the United States, and both countries combined, respectively. Therefore, unfettered weed interference in spring canola represents a potential monetary loss of Can$2.21 billion, $0.16 billion, and $2.37 billion for farmers in Canada, the United States, and both countries combined. The realization of such losses could manifest through continued selection for herbicide-resistant weeds, indicating the critical need for canola farmers to diversify resistance selection pressures by implementing proactive integrated weed management programs.