In their detailed comments, Das et al. (2023) try to discount our arguments that the strata cropping out at the so-called Jhura pond locality are not Late Jurassic in age but Miocene. We wrote this paper (Fürsich et al., 2023) because of the far-reaching conclusions that have been drawn from the molluscan fauna at that locality, in particular with respect to the evolution of turritellid gastropods and the evolution of drilling predation by naticid gastropods. We still maintain that the beds containing abundant turritellids are not Jurassic but Neogene, most probably Miocene, in age. In no way do we contest the various analyses on the material collected from the outcrop by the authors, but just the erroneous age assignment of the strata. In order to keep this reply short, we support our point by referring to just to two aspects: the position of the outcrop and the composition of the fauna. Rather than refuting each of the other arguments of Das et al. (2023), we think that a joint visit to the locality would be more productive for arriving at a consensus on the origin and age of the fauna of the Jhura pond locality.

In 2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b became enzootic and caused mass mortality in Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis and other seabird species across north-western Europe. We present data on the characteristics of the spread of the virus between and within breeding colonies and the number of dead adult Sandwich Terns recorded at breeding sites throughout north-western Europe. Within two months of the first reported mortalities, 20,531 adult Sandwich Terns were found dead, which is >17% of the total north-western European breeding population. This is probably an under-representation of total mortality, as many carcasses are likely to have gone unnoticed and unreported. Within affected colonies, almost all chicks died. After the peak of the outbreak, in a colony established by late breeders, 25.7% of tested adults showed immunity to HPAI subtype H5. Removal of carcasses was associated with lower levels of mortality at affected colonies. More research on the sources and modes of transmission, incubation times, effective containment, and immunity is urgently needed to combat this major threat for colonial seabirds.

A diverse molluscan assemblage dominated by turritellid gastropods found in Kachchh, western India, has been interpreted in the past as Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) in age, based on associated undoubtedly Oxfordian ammonites. Recently, several investigations focused on the assemblage dealing with taxonomic, paleoecological, and evolutionary aspects. An analysis of the associated bivalve fauna, foraminiferal assemblage, and the geological context strongly suggests a Miocene rather than a Jurassic age and invalidates several conclusions drawn from the alleged Jurassic age of the fossils.

In October 2017, the National Poll on Healthy Aging surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,007 adults aged 50–80 years to assess attitudes toward influenza (flu) vaccination policies in long-term care facilities. Support for requiring vaccinations was lowest for visitors. Policy makers can use these findings to develop sustainable vaccination strategies.

Smoke-derived seed germination is an important trait for plants to colonize postfire habitats. The well-characterized smoke-derived chemicals of karrikins germinate seeds of species not known to occur after fires in nature. Hence, the ecologically relevant germination cues in smoke remain to be explored for native postfire plants. With the fire-chaser, Nicotiana attenuata, we revisit a bioassay-driven fractionation of liquid smoke to identify ecologically relevant germination cues. By combining bioassay-guided fractionation and comparative unbiased metabolomics, we developed a robust and efficient method to identify germination cues in smoke. Syringaldehyde (SAL) was re-identified as a germination cue in fractions of liquid smoke that promote seed germination. SAL was found to be produced during wildfires in the plant's native habitat, efficiently adsorbed to N. attenuata seeds from aqueous solutions and not readily leached from soil and accurately predicted the boundaries of natural fire events that reflect the occurrence of native postfire N. attenuata populations. We propose that SAL is an ecologically relevant germination cue in smoke for this species.

The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Nigeria with a view of generating evidence to enhance planning and response strategies. A national surveillance dataset between 27 February and 6 June 2020 was retrospectively analysed, with confirmatory testing for COVID-19 done by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The primary outcomes were cumulative incidence (CI) and case fatality (CF). A total of 40 926 persons (67% of total 60 839) had complete records of RT-PCR test across 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 12 289 (30.0%) of whom were confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of those confirmed cases, 3467 (28.2%) had complete records of clinical outcome (alive or dead), 342 (9.9%) of which died. The overall CI and CF were 5.6 per 100 000 population and 2.8%, respectively. The highest proportion of COVID-19 cases and deaths were recorded in persons aged 31–40 years (25.5%) and 61–70 years (26.6%), respectively; and males accounted for a higher proportion of confirmed cases (65.8%) and deaths (79.0%). Sixty-six per cent of confirmed COVID-19 cases were asymptomatic at diagnosis. In conclusion, this paper has provided an insight into the early epidemiology of COVID-19 in Nigeria, which could be useful for contextualising public health planning.

The authors summarize the results of selective-area growth of vertical MnAs/InAs heterojunction nanowire (NW) arrays and present a preliminary characterization of the transport properties of a single MnAs/InAs heterojunction NW and a single InAs host NW for MnAs inclusions. During the endotaxy of MnAs after the selective-area growth of host InAs nanowires (NWs) on partially SiO2-masked GaAs(111)B substrates, hexagonal NiAs-type MnAs nanoclusters (NCs), which exhibit spontaneous magnetization at room temperature, are formed with the 〈0001〉 direction oriented parallel to the 〈111〉B direction of the zinc-blende-type InAs host NWs. For InAs host NWs, a large positive ordinary magnetoresistance (MR) effect up to 165% is observed at temperatures between 7 and 280 K. In addition, magnetotransport measurements reveal universal conductance fluctuations and a weak Anderson localization at temperatures up to 20 K due to a charge-accumulation layer formed at the surface. Single MnAs/InAs heterojunction NWs, however, exhibit only a negative MR effect, which is independent of temperature T < 10 K and linearly decreases up to −10% at 10 T with increasing magnetic field. These results reveal the tremendous influence of ferromagnetic NCs on the transport behavior inside the InAs host NWs.

The mass-loss mechanism of asymptotic giant branch stars has long been thought to rely on two processes: stellar pulsations and dust formation. The details of the mass-loss mechanism have remained elusive, however, because of the overall complexity of the dust formation process in the very dynamical pulsation-enhanced atmosphere. Recently, our understanding of AGB stars and the associated mass loss has evolved significantly, thanks both to new instruments which allow sensitive and high-angular-resolution observations and the development of models for the convective AGB envelopes and the dust formation process. ALMA and SPHERE/ZIMPOL on the VLT have been very important instruments in driving this advance in the last few years by providing high-angular resolution images in the sub-mm and visible wavelengths, respectively. I will present observations obtained using these instruments at the same epoch (2.5 weeks apart) of the AGB star Mira that resolve even the stellar disk. The ALMA data reveals the distribution and dynamics of the gas around the star, while the polarised light imaged using SPHERE shows the distribution of the dust grains expected to drive the outflows. Moreover, the observations show a central source surrounded by asymmetric distributions of gas and dust, with complementary structures seen in the two components. We model the observed CO v = 1, J = 3−2 line to determine the density, temperature and velocity of gas close to the star. This model is then used to estimate the abundance of AlO. Our results show that only a very small fraction of aluminium (≲0.1%) is locked in AlO molecules. We also calculate models to fit the observed polarised light based on the gas densities we find. The low level of visible-light polarisation detected using ZIMPOL implies that, at the time of the observations, aluminium atoms are either not efficiently depleted into dust or the aluminium-oxide grains are relatively small (≲0.02μm).

Time series of terrigenous source elements (Al, K, Ti, Zr) from core GeoB4901-8 recovered from the deep-sea fan of the Niger River record variations in riverine sediment discharge over the past 245,000 yr. Although the flux rates of all the elements depend on physical erosion, which is mainly controlled by the extent of vegetation coverage in central Africa, element/Al ratios reflect conditions for chemical weathering in the river basin. Maximum sediment input to the ocean occurs during cold and arid periods, when precipitation intensity and associated freshwater runoff are reduced. High carbonate contents during the same periods indicate that the sediment supply has a positive effect on river-induced marine productivity. In general, variations in the terrestrial signals contain a strong precessional component in tune with changes in low-latitude solar radiation. However, the terrestrial signal lags the insolation signal by several thousand years. K/Al, Ti/Al, and Zr/Al records reveal that African monsoonal precipitation depends on high-latitude forcing. We attribute the shift between insolation cycle and river discharge to the frequently reported nonlinear response of African climate to primary orbital configurations, which may be caused by a complex interaction of the secondary control parameters, such as surface albedo and/or thermohaline circulation.

Recent Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have identified four low-penetrance ovarian cancer susceptibility loci. We hypothesized that further moderate- or low-penetrance variants exist among the subset of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) not well tagged by the genotyping arrays used in the previous studies, which would account for some of the remaining risk. We therefore conducted a time- and cost-effective stage 1 GWAS on 342 invasive serous cases and 643 controls genotyped on pooled DNA using the high-density Illumina 1M-Duo array. We followed up 20 of the most significantly associated SNPs, which are not well tagged by the lower density arrays used by the published GWAS, and genotyping them on individual DNA. Most of the top 20 SNPs were clearly validated by individually genotyping the samples used in the pools. However, none of the 20 SNPs replicated when tested for association in a much larger stage 2 set of 4,651 cases and 6,966 controls from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Given that most of the top 20 SNPs from pooling were validated in the same samples by individual genotyping, the lack of replication is likely to be due to the relatively small sample size in our stage 1 GWAS rather than due to problems with the pooling approach. We conclude that there are unlikely to be any moderate or large effects on ovarian cancer risk untagged by less dense arrays. However, our study lacked power to make clear statements on the existence of hitherto untagged small-effect variants.