Background Clinical assessment of low back pain provides limited information on posture and movement behaviour during daily life. Wearable sensors can quantify free-living lumbar kinematics. This case series explored whether real-world lumbar posture differed between a day recorded before and two weeks after a personalised physiotherapy session, and what behaviour preceded naturally occurring pain on each day. Methods Five individuals with chronic, movement-evoked back pain were recruited. Lumbar posture was recorded with wearable sensors during a full day before and two weeks after a physiotherapy assessment and individualised postural advice, delivered by a physiotherapist blinded to sensor data, with pain events recorded in a diary. Within each participant, posture distributions were compared between days using the Wasserstein distance with block permutation tests, and time towards end-range flexion in the 5–15 min before pain was compared with random pain-free periods from the same day. Findings Whole-day posture differed between days in three participants, alongside marked differences in activity. Time towards end-range flexion changed in the direction of the postural advice in four of five participants. Pain was preceded by more time towards end-range flexion in three participants, matching the clinical assessment in two. Pain events fell in four participants, and all five reported reduced disability. Interpretation In this small case series, wearable sensors captured individual differences in real-world postural behaviour and in the behaviour preceding pain, which did not always match the clinical assessment. Without repeated baseline measurements, differences cannot be attributed to the intervention, and the findings are hypothesis-generating.
Freshwater fish invasions are major drivers of global ecological change, disrupting native biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, many invasive fish hold significant socioeconomic value, resulting in conflict over their management. Centrarchidae, which are globally distributed and are important for sportfishing and aquaculture, are now potentially becoming a global threat. Yet, no comprehensive appraisal exists across taxa and regions integrating taxonomy, pathways, impacts and risk analysis for Centrarchidae. To address these gaps, we compiled published literature and leveraged publicly available databases to critically evaluate the current global status of non-native Centrarchidae, finding 30 species established outside their native ranges with 17 being outside of North America. Largemouth bass (Micropterus nigricans) and pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) are the most widely introduced centrarchids. Reported impacts of Centrarchidae introduction are mostly ecological, with predation, competition, hybridisation, and disease transmission as major mechanisms. Conversely, socio-economic and cultural effects are underreported. Currently, only ten species have undergone rapid risk screening, with 90% flagged as high risk. However, risk analyses remain sparse, confounded by taxonomic uncertainties (including hybridisation) and context dependence of impacts. With the changing climate and other anthropogenic disturbances in freshwaters, habitat suitability is expanding for centrarchids. Although concerning, Centrarchidae form a highly human-mediated invasion complex with predictable pathways and tractable leverage points, so limiting propagule pressure and standardizing assessments can curb their future spread while informing balanced and evidence-based fisheries policy that reconciles socioeconomic benefits with environmental costs.
Famous face recognition tasks have traditionally been used to diagnose prosopagnosia, offering striking examples of the inability to recognise highly familiar faces. Yet, their popularity has dwindled with the development of standardised unfamiliar face recognition tasks that are less cumbersome to administer and can readily be implemented online. Here, we argue that there is a danger of omitting measures of familiar face recognition from prosopagnosia screening: not only may this challenge the very definition of the condition, but, with some adjustments, famous face recognition tasks can continue to offer highly sensitive measures of everyday face recognition ability. Thus, we developed and evaluated an online, automated famous face recognition paradigm that can readily be implemented into large-scale screening programmes. This task improves on previous designs by (a) eliminating extrinsic cues to identity by including distractor as well as familiar faces, (b) supporting the use of unseen rather than “iconic” images of celebrities, and (c) offering a method for automated scoring. Multiple versions of the task were found to have high sensitivity in the detection of developmental prosopagnosia. When required, sub-scores collected from the same paradigm can be used to assess performance at different stages of recognition and identification, helping to probe more precise loci of impairment. The latter is important to guide the diagnosis of more complex cases and, potentially, their remediation.
To explore how non-geriatric specialists across UEMS bodies who care for older adults understand and approach frailty in order to guide future interspecialty educational initiatives. An online survey was conducted to capture their perspectives, practices and training needs regarding frailty. Non-geriatric specialists recognise the importance of frailty but report limited confidence and training, indicating a clear need for accessible and standardised education. Frailty in older adults is associated with increased vulnerability, poorer outcomes, and greater healthcare utilisation. To inform future inter-specialty educational initiatives, a survey across UEMS bodies was conducted. An online survey was disseminated between July and November 2025 via the UEMS Coordination team to all sections, divisions, multidisciplinary joint committees, and thematic federations. Eligible respondents were specialists not certified in Geriatric Medicine who provide care to older adults (≥ 65 years). Of 416 respondents, 283 were non-geriatric specialists caring for older people. They encompassed 40 specialties (40
