"On a global basis, human cultural diversity is associated with the remaining concentrations of biodiversity. Both cultural diversity and biological diversity are endangered. Modern cultures are undercutting traditional cultures, and modern knowledge is replacing traditional knowledge." - E.O. Wilson INTRODUCTION One of California's greatest assets is that it harbors the richest plant diversity of any state in the continental United States. There are about 6,300 species, subspecies, and varieties of native plants. Another great treasure is the cultural diversity of its Native American tribes. With over one hundred indigenous languages once spoken on California soils, the state can legitimately claim to be the most linguistically diverse place on the continent. California at the point of Euro-American contact was more densely populated than any area of equal size in North America. Despite these dense populations, early non-Indian settlers did not find a biologically impoverished land. On the contrary, they found a vast abundance and diversity of plants and animals. The immense herds of tule elk and prong-horn antelope in the Central Valley, for example, rivaled animal numbers in Africa’s Serengeti.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are recommended for various conditions in cattle. Ibuprofen is an inexpensive short-acting NSAID and is readily available in liquid formulation for administration to bottle-fed calves. We compared the adverse effects of a 10-day course of ibuprofen and placebo in 16 five- to six-week-old Holstein bull calves that were being treated for experimentally induced bovine respiratory syncytial virus infection. Ibuprofen was administered as a liquid in milk replacer at 30 mg/kg divided three times daily. We found an increased prevalence of abomasal ulceration 5 of 8 in the ibuprofen compared to placebo group 2 of 6 (P = NS). There was one (1 of 8) case of mild interstitial nephritis in the ibuprofen and none (0 of 8) in the placebo group (P = NS). Renal function as measured by serum BUN and creatinine levels was not different between groups; no animal demonstrated an increase in creatinine.

Social cognition is facilitated by oxytocin receptors (OXTR) in the hippocampus, a brain region that changes dynamically with pregnancy, parturition, and parenting experience. We investigated the impact of parenthood on hippocampal OXTR in male and female titi monkeys, a pair-bonding primate species that exhibits biparental care of offspring. We hypothesized that in postmortem brain tissue, OXTR binding in the hippocampal formation would differ between parents and non-parents, and that OXTR density would correlate with frequencies of observed parenting and affiliative behaviors between partners. Subjects were 10 adult titi monkeys. OXTR binding in the hippocampus (CA1, CA2/3, CA4, dentate gyrus, subiculum) and presubiculum layers (PSB1, PSB3) was determined using receptor autoradiography. The average frequency of partner affiliation (Proximity, Contact, and Tail Twining) and infant carrying were determined from longitudinal observations (5-6 per day). Analyses showed that parents exhibited higher OXTR binding than non-parents in PSB1 (t₍₈₎ = - 2.33, p = 0.048), and that OXTR binding in the total presubiculm correlated negatively with Proximity (r = - 0.88) and Contact (r = - 0.91), but not Tail Twining or infant carrying. These results suggest that OXTR binding in the presubiculum supports pair bonding and parenting behavior, potentially by mediating changes in hippocampal plasticity.

Recognizing the importance of Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) in a changing climate, Yuba Water and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) are working with Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at UC San Diego, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the National Weather Service, and other members of the Yuba-Feather Steering Committee to implement Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) at New Bullards Bar (NBB) and Lake Oroville (ORO) in the Yuba and Feather River watersheds. FIRO is a flexible water management strategy that uses improved weather and runoff forecasts to help water managers retain or release water from reservoirs to increase resilience to droughts and floods. The primary objective of this FIRO project is to reduce flood risk; a secondary objective is to achieve water supply benefits where possible, while supporting environmental needs. This FIRO Preliminary Viability Assessment (PVA) indicates strong potential for FIRO to be a viable water management strategy for reducing flood risk in the Yuba and Feather River watersheds.

This Final Viability Assessment (FVA) presents results and recommendations for future Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) at Prado Dam. In 2017, Orange County Water District (OCWD) initiated a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), UC San Diego, to form a multi-agency Steering Committee and test FIRO as a method to improve water supply reliability, while not impairing and possibly enhancing habitat and flood risk management. This FVA builds on the 2021 Preliminary Viability Assessment (PVA), which demonstrated that FIRO is viable at Prado Dam. The ultimate goal of this project is to inform the update of USACE’s Water Control Manual (WCM) for Prado Dam to allow flexible FIRO operations, as demonstrated by rigorous analyses and documented in this FVA.

Background

There is increasing evidence that bipolar disorder (BD) and conduct disorder (CD) are co-occurring disorders. Magnetic resonance imaging has revealed differences in the structure and function of the frontal cortex in these disorders when studied separately; however, the impact of BD comorbidity on brain structure in adolescents with CD has not yet been examined.

Method

We conducted an optimized voxel based morphometry (VBM) study of juvenile offenders with the following diagnoses: conduct disorder with comorbid bipolar disorder (CD-BD; n = 24), conduct disorder without bipolar disorder (CD; n = 24) and healthy controls (HC, n = 24). Participants were 13-17 years of age, in a residential treatment facility for repeat offenders. The three groups in this study were similar in age, gender, socioeconomic status and ethnicity.

Results

We found CD-BD subjects had decreased volume relative to controls at the voxel level in the right medial prefrontal cortex (PFC). Using a Threshold-Free Cluster Enhancement (TFCE) technique, the CD-BD subjects had significantly decreased volumes of the right medial prefrontal cortex and portions of the superior and inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate and temporal gyrus. The CD subjects did not have differences in brain volume compared to control subjects or CD-BD subjects.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest the comorbidity between CD and BD is associated with neurobiological impact namely volumetric differences from healthy controls. Furthermore subjects with this comorbidity had poorer lifetime functioning, more mood and attentional dysfunction, and more medication exposure than subjects with CD who were not BD.

High-resolution terrestrial records of Holocene climate from Southern California are scarce. Moreover, there are no records of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) variability, a major driver of decadal to multi-decadal climate variability for the region, older than 1,000 years. Recent research on Lake Elsinore, however, has shown that the lake’s sediments hold excellent potential for paleoenvironmental analysis and reconstruction. New 1-cm contiguous grain size data reveal a more complex Holocene climate history for Southern California than previously recognized at the site. A modern comparison between the twentieth century PDO index, lake level change, San Jacinto River discharge, and percent sand suggests that sand content is a reasonable, qualitative proxy for PDO-related, hydrologic variability at both multi-decadal-to-centennial as well as event (i.e. storm) timescales. A depositional model is proposed to explain the sand-hydrologic proxy. The sand-hydrologic proxy data reveal nine centennial-scale intervals of wet and dry climate throughout the Holocene. Percent total sand values >1.5 standard deviation above the 150–9,700 cal year BP average are frequent between 9,700 and 3,200 cal year BP (n = 41), but they are rare from 3,200 to 150 cal year BP (n = 6). This disparity is interpreted as a change in the frequency of exceptionally wet (high discharge) years and/or changes in large storm activity. A comparison to other regional hydrologic proxies (10 sites) shows more then occasional similarities across the region (i.e. 6 of 9 Elsinore wet intervals are present at >50% of the comparison sites). Only the early Holocene and the Little Ice Age intervals, however, are interpreted consistently across the region as uniformly wet (≥80% of the comparison sites). A comparison to two ENSO reconstructions indicates little, if any, correlation to the Elsinore data, suggesting that ENSO variability is not the predominant forcing of Holocene climate in Southern California.

Reduced speed of cerebral information processing is a cognitive deficit associated with schizophrenia. Normal information processing speed (PS) requires intact white matter (WM) physiology to support information transfer. In a cohort of 107 subjects (47/60 patients/controls), we demonstrate that PS deficits in schizophrenia patients are explained by reduced WM integrity, which is measured using diffusion tensor imaging, mediated by the mismatch in WM/gray matter blood perfusion, and measured using arterial spin labeling. Our findings are specific to PS, and testing this hypothesis for patient-control differences in working memory produces no explanation. We demonstrate that PS deficits in schizophrenia can be explained by neurophysiological alterations in cerebral WM. Whether the disproportionately low WM integrity in schizophrenia is due to illness or secondary due to this disorder deserves further examination.