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Climate change is driving shifts in fish stock distributions, creating challenges for transboundary fisheries governance and quota allocation. Traditional negotiation processes often fail to achieve consensus among stakeholders, leading to geopolitical tensions and unsustainable resource use. To address this, we introduce FishPoll, an innovative serious game designed to simulate the complexities of quota negotiations under changing ecological conditions in a fictional scenario. FishPoll provides a structured, yet flexible, role-playing environment where participants take on the roles of coastal state representatives, negotiating catch allocations based on shifting stock distributions. The game incorporates a dynamic “sliding scale” mechanism that transitions quota allocation from historical rights to zonal attachment, offering a realistic and interactive framework for decision-making. Through structured gameplay and facilitated discussions, FishPoll simulates quota negotiations to illustrate the consequences of participants failing to reach consensus. Thereby, the game fosters collaborative problem-solving, policy exploration, and stakeholder engagement in fisheries management. Furthermore, it encourages discussions about allocation agreements. Playtesting with scientists and policymakers demonstrated that FishPoll enhances understanding of allocation challenges, stimulates constructive dialogue, and serves as a practical tool for research, education, and stakeholder training. Hence, FishPoll may contribute to the discourse on the tragedy of the commons while offering a valuable addition to previous intervention games. FishPoll represents a novel application of serious gaming in fisheries governance, bridging the gap between scientific modelling and real-world negotiation dynamics.

Studying oceanic eddies in the Antarctic marginal ice zone (MIZ) is essential due to their unique characteristics and their significant influence on polar climate systems. However, the automated detection of such features remains largely underexplored in general. Moreover, even manual eddy detection has been practically neglected within the Antarctic MIZ specifically. This work presents the first study on the implementation of the machine learning approach for automatic eddy identification in the Antarctic MIZ. We investigate the potential of YOLOv11, a state-of-theart deep learning model, to detect and classify Antarctic eddies using high-resolution synthetic aperture radar imagery. By fine-tuning YOLOv11 on a specialized dataset representing the dynamic Antarctic MIZ, we achieved robust detection of submesoscale and mesoscale eddies. Special significance was placed on distinguishing between cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies, providing essential insights for compiling statistical datasets. Moreover, YOLOv11 architecture was evaluated through a variety of quantitative metrics and visual inspection. The integration of SAHI module with YOLOv11 demonstrated its capability to improve detection of small eddies and increased the mAP 0.5 -0.95 by 50% in comparison with the baseline YOLOv11 model.Experimental results highlight the model’s capability to reliably identify eddies across diverse scales and environmental conditions. Overall, this study addresses a significant gap in Antarctic eddy research and sets the stage for advancing automated oceanographic studies in polar regions.

To estimate the prevalence of refractive error in adults across Europe. Refractive data (mean spherical equivalent) collected between 1990 and 2013 from fifteen population-based cohort and cross-sectional studies of the European Eye Epidemiology (E3) Consortium were combined in a random effects meta-analysis stratified by 5-year age intervals and gender. Participants were excluded if they were identified as having had cataract surgery, retinal detachment, refractive surgery or other factors that might influence refraction. Estimates of refractive error prevalence were obtained including the following classifications: myopia B-0.75 diopters (D), high myopia B-6D, hyperopia C1D and astigmatism C1D. Meta-analysis of refractive error was performed for 61,946 individuals from fifteen studies with median age ranging from 44 to 81 and minimal ethnic variation (98 % European ancestry). The age-standardised prevalences (using the 2010 European Standard Population, limited to those C25 and\\90 years old) were: myopia 30.6 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 30.4–30.9], high myopia 2.7 % (95 % CI 2.69–2.73), hyperopia 25.2 % (95 % CI 25.0–25.4) and astigmatism 23.9 % (95 % CI 23.7–24.1). Age-specific estimates revealed a high prevalence of myopia in younger participants [47.2 % (CI 41.8–52.5) in 25–29 years-olds]. Refractive error affects just over a half of European adults. The greatest burden of refractive error is due to myopia, with high prevalence rates in young adults. Using the 2010 European population estimates, we estimate there are 227.2 million people with myopia across Europe.

International audience

Background Proton therapy (PRT) is an innovative radiotherapeutic modality for the treatment of cancer with unique ballistic properties. The depth-dose distribution of a proton beam reduces exposure of healthy tissues to radiations, compared with photon-therapy (XRT). To date, only few indications for proton-therapy, like pediatric cancers, chordomas, or intra-ocular neoplasms, are reimbursed by Health systems. There is no published or recruiting prospective study evaluating the impact of proton-therapy or conventional irradiation on neurocognitive function for meningioma patients. Notably, long-term cognitive or ocular impact of these modern irradiation schemes remains poorly known. Yet, these patients had a long life-expectancy, and are at risk of developing long-term sequelae. Thus, according to its ballistic advantage, an improvement of patient functional outcomes and a reduction of neurocognitive long-term toxicity are expected if tissue sparing proton-therapy is used .Randomized trial seems crucial to further assess proton-therapy indication for patients with cavernous sinus meningioma.Methods COG-PROTON-01 is the first worldwide randomized phase III prospective study evaluating long-term toxicity of these two irradiation modalities (PRT and XRT)for the treatment of cavernous sinus meningioma. Primary objective is to compare long-term cognitive and/or functional (visual, hearing, neurological and/or endocrinological) deterioration between patients treated by fractionated proton-therapy (PRT) or photon radiotherapy (XRT), 5 years after the end of irradiation. The primary endpoint is based on the individual neurocognitive test scores (grouped into five cognitive domains: attention, executive functioning, verbal memory, working memory, information processing speed) and on visual, hearing, endocrinological and neurological evaluations, five years after radiotherapy. Eligible patients with low-grade cavernous sinus meningioma will be 1:1 randomised, with stratification on age, sex, MoCA score. Overall, the inclusion of 160 patients is planned (80 in each arm). To be considered as positive, asumming that 47% of patients will not develop long-term cognitive disabilities deficits after XRT radiotherapy, thus at least 70% of the patients treated with PRT should not develop functional impairment. First inclusions started on September 2023 (NCT05895344 ).Trial registration The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov on June 8, 2023 with the following number: NCT05895344

Ecologists working with stable isotopes have to deal with complex datasets including temporal and spatial replication, which makes the analysis and the representation of patterns of change challenging, especially at high resolution. Due to the lack of a commonly accepted conceptual framework in stable isotope ecology, the analysis and the graphical representation of stable isotope spatial and temporal dynamics of stable isotope value at the organism or community scale remains in the past often descriptive and qualitative, impeding the quantitative detection of relevant functional patterns. The recent Community Trajectory Analysis (CTA) framework provides more explicit perspectives for the analysis and the visualization of ecological trajectories. Building on CTA, we developed the Stable Isotope Trajectory Analysis (SITA) framework, to analyse the geometric properties of stable isotope trajectories on n-dimensional (n≥2) spaces of analysis defined analogously to the traditional multivariate spaces (Ω) used in community ecology. This approach provides new perspectives into the quantitative analysis of spatio-temporal trajectories in stable isotope spaces (Ωδ) and derived structural and functional dynamics (ΩƔ space). SITA allows the calculation of a set of trajectory metrics, based on either trajectory distances or directions, and new graphical representation solutions, both easily performable in a R environment. Here, we illustrated the use of our approach by reanalyzing previously published datasets from marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. We highlight the insights provided by this new analytic framework at the individual, population, community and ecosystems levels, and discuss applications, limitations and development potential.

Several foraminifera are deposit feeders that consume organic detritus (dead particulate organic material with entrained bacteria). However, the role of such foraminifera in the benthic food web remains understudied. Foraminifera feeding on methanotrophic bacteria, which are 13C-depleted, may cause negative cytoplasmic and/or calcitic δ13C values. To test whether the foraminiferal diet includes methanotrophs, we performed a short-term (20 h) feeding experiment with Nonionellina labradorica from an active Arctic methane-emission site (Storfjordrenna, Barents Sea) using the marine methanotroph Methyloprofundus sedimenti and analysed N. labradorica cytology via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We hypothesised that M. sedimenti would be visible post-experiment in degradation vacuoles, as evidenced by their ultrastructure. Sediment grains (mostly clay) occurred inside one or several degradation vacuoles in all foraminifers. In 24 % of the specimens from the feeding experiment degradation vacuoles also contained bacteria, although none could be confirmed to be the offered M. sedimenti. Observations of the apertural area after 20 h incubation revealed three putative methanotrophs, close to clay particles, based on bacterial ultrastructural characteristics. Furthermore, we noted the absence of bacterial endobionts in all examined N. labradorica but confirmed the presence of kleptoplasts, which were often partially degraded. In sum, we suggest that M. sedimenti can be consumed via untargeted grazing in seeps and that N. labradorica can be generally classified as a deposit feeder at this Arctic site.

Polar oceans and sea ice cover 15% of the Earth's ocean surface, and the environment is changing rapidly at both poles. Improving knowledge on the interactions between the atmospheric and oceanic realms in the polar regions, a Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) project key focus, is essential to understanding the Earth system in the context of climate change. However, our ability to monitor the pace and magnitude of changes in the polar regions and evaluate their impacts for the rest of the globe is limited by both remoteness and sea-ice coverage. Sea ice not only supports biological activity and mediates gas and aerosol exchange but can also hinder some in-situ and remote sensing observations. While satellite remote sensing provides the baseline climate record for sea-ice properties and extent, these techniques cannot provide key variables within and below sea ice. Recent robotics, modeling, and in-situ measurement advances have opened new possibilities for understanding the ocean-sea ice-atmosphere system, but critical knowledge gaps remain. Seasonal and long-term observations are clearly lacking across all variables and phases. Observational and modeling efforts across the sea-ice, ocean, and atmospheric domains must be better linked to achieve a system-level understanding of polar ocean and sea-ice environments. As polar oceans are warming and sea ice is becoming thinner and more ephemeral than before, dramatic changes over a suite of physicochemical and biogeochemical processes are expected, if not already underway. These changes in sea-ice and ocean conditions will affect atmospheric processes by modifying the production of aerosols, aerosol precursors, reactive halogens and oxidants, and the exchange of greenhouse gases. Quantifying which processes will be enhanced or reduced by climate change calls for tailored monitoring programs for high-latitude ocean environments. Open questions in this coupled system will be best resolved by leveraging ongoing international and multidisciplinary programs, such as efforts led by SOLAS, to link research across the ocean-sea ice-atmosphere interface.