Drivers of disease cycles are poorly understood in marine ecosystems in spite of increasing outbreaks. We monitored a newly emerged fungal epizootic (aspergillosis) affecting sea fan corals (Gorgonia ventalina L.) in the Florida Keys to evaluate causes of its rise and fall over 6 years. Since August 1997, aspergillosis has nearly eradicated large sea fans at some sites. However, sea fan densities have remained relatively constant due to episodic recruitment replacing large fans with small. Recruitment itself was affected by infection and occurred only when prevalence of disease was low. This impact on recruitment occurred because the largest, potentially most fecund colonies had the highest prevalence of disease, and the pathogen significantly suppressed reproduction of infected fans. Moreover, high mortality among adults resulted in a demographic shift to smaller colonies. The most dramatic impact of aspergillosis was the Keys-wide loss of >50% of sea fan tissue from complete and partial mortality. Aspergillosis prevalence has declined steadily over the last 6 years, and we consider the following hypotheses for decline of the epizootic: change in environment, change in pathogen input, and increase in host resistance. We conclude that increasing host resistance is the most likely driver of the decline. However, a change in any of a number of factors, for example, recruitment of naive hosts, rate of pathogen input, or environmental conditions (water quality and temperature), is likely to promote reemergence of the epizootic.

Recently, graphene has been extensively researched in fundamental science and engineering fields and has been developed for various electronic applications in emerging technologies owing to its outstanding material properties, including superior electronic, thermal, optical and mechanical properties. Thus, graphene has enabled substantial progress in the development of the current electronic systems. Here, we introduce the most important electronic and thermal properties of graphene, including its high conductivity, quantum Hall effect, Dirac fermions, high Seebeck coefficient and thermoelectric effects. We also present up-to-date graphene-based applications: optical devices, electronic and thermal sensors, and energy management systems. These applications pave the way for advanced biomedical engineering, reliable human therapy, and environmental protection. In this review, we show that the development of graphene suggests substantial improvements in current electronic technologies and applications in healthcare systems.

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New studies have detected a rising number of reports of diseases in marine organisms such as corals, molluscs, turtles, mammals, and echinoderms over the past three decades. Despite the increasing disease load, microbiological, molecular, and theoretical tools for managing disease in the world's oceans are under‐developed. Review of the new developments in the study of these diseases identifies five major unsolved problems and priorities for future research: (1) detecting origins and reservoirs for marine diseases and tracing the flow of some new pathogens from land to sea; (2) documenting the longevity and host range of infectious stages; (3) evaluating the effect of greater taxonomic diversity of marine relative to terrestrial hosts and pathogens; (4) pinpointing the facilitating role of anthropogenic agents as incubators and conveyors of marine pathogens; (5) adapting epidemiological models to analysis of marine disease.

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This trial is promising, but further studies are required to evaluate the long-term clinical effectiveness of hippotherapy. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT 02482649.