Cistanthe subspeciosa Hershk. (Cistanthe Spach sect. Cistanthe; Montiaceae) here is described as a herbaceous to suffruticose perennial from the vicinity of Copiapó, Chile. Its epithet is juxtaposed with its rank in order to highlight its subspecific aesthetic. In particular, the specioid is infrequent, locally restricted, and lacks unique diagnostic traits. Rather, it is diagnosed by a combination of traits characteristic of different Cistanthe species from the region, none of which can be identified as the referential species to which Cs. subspeciosa might be considered subspecific. The intersection between species nomenclature and species ontology thus is discussed. I hypothesize that Cs. subspeciosa is irrigated primarily by mountain runoff rather than localized precipitation, and that it might be both resistant to and dependent upon high substrate metal concentrations characteristic of the Copiapó region. The ornamental value of this and other Cistanthe species is discussed. Finally, additional historical details pertaining to Calandrinia spectabilis Otto & Dietr. and Cistanthe philhershkovitziana are provided.

ABSTRACT: Charismatic species, like the panda, play an important role in conservation, and velvet worms arguably are charismatic worms. Thanks to their extraordinary hunting mechanism, they have inspired from a female metal band in Japan, to origami worms in Russia and video game monsters in the USA. Objective: To assess their conservation status in Costa Rica. Methods: we located all collection records of the 29 known species from the Onychophora Database in the map of the Costa Rican Conservation Network. Results: We found that seven species are protected inside forest reserves, five in Protected Zones, four in Wildlife Refuges, two in National Parks and one, Principapillatus hitoyensis, in a strictly pristine Biological Reserve. The largest species in the world, Peripatus solorzanoi, occurs both inside a Forest Reserve and in protected private land. Protection inside Costa Rican nature areas is enforced year round by personnel that includes armed guards, and is supported by educational programs in surrounding communities. Twelve species have not been found in protected areas, but in Costa Rica, all biological species, named and unnamed, are protected by law and cannot be legally collected, or exported, without technically issued permits. Conclusion: Like in the only other country with similar information (New Zealand), the conservation of onychophorans seems to be of least concern for at least two thirds of the known species. Epiperipatus isthmicola, recently rediscovered after a century of absence in collections, can be considered Threatened because nearly all of its natural habitat has now been covered by a city.

In Zambia wild edible terrestrial orchids are used to produce a local delicacy called chikanda, which has become increasingly popular throughout the country. Commercialization puts orchid populations in Zambia and neighbouring countries at risk of overharvesting. Hitherto, no study has documented which orchid species are traded on local markets, as orchid tubers are difficult to identify morphologically. In this study, the core land-plant DNA barcoding markers rbcL and matK were used in combination with nrITS to determine which species were sold on Zambian markets. Eighty-two interviews were conducted to determine harvesting areas, as well as possible sustainability concerns. By using nrITS DNA barcoding, a total of 16 orchid species in six different genera could be identified. Both rbcL and matK proved suitable to identify the tubers up to genus- or family level. Disa robusta, Platycoryne crocea and Satyrium buchananii were identified most frequently and three previously undocumented species were encountered on the market. Few orchid species are currently listed on the global IUCN Red List. Local orchid populations and endemic species could be at risk of overharvesting due to the intensive and indiscriminate harvesting of chikanda orchids and we therefore encourage increased conservation assessment of terrestrial African orchids.

In Africa, 80% of households in urban areas are food insecure and is coupled with a dramatically changing urban food culture towards increased consumption of sugary and fatty foods. Consequently, incidences of obesity and undernourishment in many African cities are becoming escalating. Urban and peri-urban forestry emerges as a complementary measure to contribute towards elimination of urban hunger and improved nutritional security. However, there is scanty knowledge about the composition, diversity and socioeconomic contributions of urban food trees in African cities and this hinders policy discussions integrating urban forestry into the food security discourse. This paper examines the diversity and composition of the urban forest and food trees of Accra and sheds light on perceptions of urbanites regarding food tree cultivation and availability in the city. Using a mixed methods approach, about 105 respondents in six neighbourhoods of Accra were interviewed while over 200 100-m2 plots were surveyed across five land use types. Twenty-two out of the 70 woody species in Accra are edible. The food tree abundance in the city is about half of the total number of trees enumerated. The species richness and abundance of the edible trees and all trees in the city were significantly different among land use types (p<0.0001) and neighbourhood types (p<0.0001). The diversity of food bearing tree species was much higher in the poorer neighbourhoods than in the wealthier neighbourhoods. Respondents in wealthier neighbourhoods indicated that tree and fruit tree cover of the city was generally low and showed greater interests in cultivating fruit trees and expanding urban forest cover than poorer neighbourhoods. These findings demonstrate the need for urban food policy reforms that integrate urban grown tree foods in the urban food system/culture.

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) combines the nontoxic photosensitizer (PS) and visible light to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can cause oxidative damages in (on) microbial organisms. Previously, we have shown that chitosan can augment the bactericidal efficacy mediated by PDI against bacteria and Candida. In this study, we showed that the antimicrobial action of chitosan to augment PDI relates to the enlargement of cell surface destruction. The microbial cell surfaces exhibit severe irregular shapes after PDI in the presence of chitosan. Furthermore, increase in the concentrations or incubation time of chitosan significantly reduce the amounts of photosensitizers TBO required, indicating that chitosan could be a synergistic agent with PDI against human pathogens. A prolonged lag phase was found in PDI surviving microbial cells, in which chitosan can act to synergistically eradicate the cells. Once the impaired cells rebuild their cellular functions from PDI-induced damage, the increased cytotoxic effect of chitosan disappeared. Together, our results suggest that chitosan with an augmented bactericidal activity after PDI is to inhibit the rehabilitation of PDI surviving cells, leading to microbial death.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the relationship of the Mediterranean diet (MD) with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in Caucasian subjects between 35 and 74 years. The secondary aim is to analyze sex differences. Methods: A cross‑sectional trial. This study utilized data from the EVA, MARK, and EVIDENT studies, a total of 3417 subjects with a mean age of 60.14±9.14 years (57% men). MetS was defined based on the Joint Scientific Statement National Cholesterol Education Program III. Waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and lipid profile were measured. Adherence to the MD was assessed with the 14-item Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) questionnaire used in the PREDIMED study. Good adherence was considered when the MD value was higher than the median value. Results: The mean value of the MEDAS questionnaire was 5.83±2.04; (Men 5.66±2.06 and women 6.04±1.99; p&lt;0.001). Adherence to the MD was observed by 38.6% (34.3% men and 40.3% women; p&lt;0.001). MetS was observed in 41.6% (39.0% men and 45.2%women p&lt;0.001). In the multiple regression analysis after adjusting for possible confounders, the mean MD value showed a negative association with the number of MetS components per subject (β=-0.336), and with the different components of MetS: Systolic blood pressure (β=-0.011), Diastolic blood pressure (β=-0.029), glycemia (β=-0.009), Triglycerides (β=-0.004), Waist circumference (β=-0.026), except with the HDL-cholesterol value which showed a positive association (β=0.021); (p&lt;0.001 in all cases). The adjusted logistic regression models showed that an increase in MDA decreases the probability of MetS (OR =0.56) and its components: blood pressure ≥130/85 mmHg (OR = 0.63), fasting plasma glucose ≥100 mg/dL (OR = 0.62); triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL (OR = 0.65); waist circumference ≥88 cm in women and ≥102 cm in men (OR = 0.74), and increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol &lt;40 mg/dL in men or &lt;50 mg/dL in women (OR = 1.70); (p&lt;0.001 in all cases). The results by sex were similar, both in multiple regression and logistic regression. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that a greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet decreases the probability of presenting Mets globally and by sex.

The existing segmentation-based scene text detection methods mostly need complicated post-processing, and the post-processing operation is separated from the training process, which greatly reduces the detection performance. The previous method, DBNet successfully simplified post-processing and integrated the post-processing into a segmentation network. However, the training process of the model took a long time for 1200 epochs and the sensitivity to texts of various scales was lacking, leading to some text instances being missed. Considering the above two problems, we design the text detection Network with Binarization of Hyperbolic Tangent(HTBNet). First of all, we propose Binarization of Hyperbolic Tangent (HTB), optimized along with which, the segmentation network can expedite the initial convergent speed by reducing the amount of epochs from 1200 to 600. Because features of different channels in the same scale feature map focus on the information of different regions in the image, to better represent the important features of all objects in the image, we devise the Multi-Scale Channel Attention(MSCA). Meanwhile considering that multi-scale objects in the image cannot be simultaneously detected, we propose a novel module named Fused Module with Channel and Spatial(FMCS), which can fuse the multi-scale feature maps from channel and spatial dimension. Finally we adopt cross entropy as the loss function, which measures the difference between predicted values and ground truths. The experimental results show that HTBNet compared with lightweight models has achieved competitive performance and speed on Total-Text(F-measure:86.0%, FPS:30) and MSRA-TD500 (F-measure:87.5%, FPS:30).

This study aimed to conduct a cross-cultural adaptation of the development of the cat-owner/dog-owner relationship scales. The method encompassed several stages: conceptual, item, semantic, operational, measurement, and functional equivalence. Processes included translations, synthesis of translations, back-translations, consensus on the English versions, external evaluation by the original authors, expert committee evaluation, and pre-tests. The study involved surveying 342 pet owners throughout Brazil using a 20-item questionnaire. Data analyses utilized confirmatory factor analysis, covariance-based modeling, and multigroup analysis. The techniques confirmed that the scale preserved its psychometric properties and showed no variance between dog and cat owners, indicating that the measured constructs are universal and unaffected by specific cultural nuances. Hence, the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the scale facilitate applying and testing concepts and measures in diverse contexts, enriching our understanding of the dynamics between owners and their pets (dogs and cats) in different living situations. In addition, this research holds particular significance in Brazil, given the country’s vast cultural diversity.

The increasing focus on the development of positioning techniques reflects the growing interest in applications and services based on indoor positioning. Many applications necessitate precise indoor positioning or tracking of individuals and assets, leading to rapid growth in products based on these technologies in certain market sectors. Ultrasonic systems have already proven effective in achieving the desired positioning accuracy and refresh rates. The typical signal used in ultrasonic positioning systems for estimating the range between the target and reference points, specifically the linear chirp, can undergo shape aberration due to the effects of acoustic diffraction when the aperture exceeds a certain limit. The extent of the aberration is influenced by the shape and size of the transducer, as well as the angle at which the transducer is observed by the receiver. This aberration also impacts the shape of the cross-correlation, causing it to lose its characteristic easily detectable single global peak. In such instances, cross-correlation techniques yield results with a significantly higher error than anticipated. In this study, an alternative technique to global peak detection is proposed, leveraging the inherent symmetry observed in the shape of the aberrated cross-correlation. The numerical simulations, performed using the academic acoustic simulation software Field II, conducted using a typical ultrasonic chirp and ultrasonic emitter, compare the classical and the proposed range techniques in a standard office room. The results demonstrate that the proposed technique enables accurate range estimation even in the presence of severe cross-correlation shape aberrations. This allows the use of emitting transducers with a much larger aperture than that allowed by the classical cross-correlation technique. Consequently, it becomes possible to have greater acoustic power available, leading to improved Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).

The design of randomized controlled trials for low-resource settings has unique challenges. One challenge is ensuring recruitment success in the face of a lack of information about prevalence of disease in the population. What disease burden data may exist is old and from distant regions, adding guesswork into site design. This leads to a high chance that the sample size will not be recruited in any reasonable timeframe—a challenge even in high-resource settings. While cross-sectional prevalence studies could be used as a type of feasibility study informing trials by generating near real-time prevalence estimates for the future trial site, such studies take years to complete. This duration makes insertion of such a study in trial design impossible. An empirically supported combination of new approaches that sidesteps unnecessary hurdles is presented, the Pop-Up Prevalence with Private Ethics (PUPPE) design. PUPPE includes using a COVID-validated, more targeted method of data collection, use of accepted ethics review from universities or hospitals to avoid lengthy public ethics review, and—if needed—post-study in silico participant randomization. Only this design would enable clinical trial designers to insert fit-for-purpose prevalence studies within the design phase of their trials, leading to informative outcomes.

OSI model used to be common network model for years. In the case of ad hoc networks with dynamic topology and difficult radio communications conditions, gradual departure is happening from the classical kind of OSI network model with a clear delineation of layers (physical, channel, network, transport, application) to the cross-layer approach. The layers of the network model in ad hoc networks strongly influence each other. Thus, the cross-layer approach can improve the performance of an ad hoc network by jointly developing protocols using interaction and collaborative optimisation of multiple layers. The existing cross-layer methods classification is too complicated, because it’s based on the whole manifold of network model layers combinations, regardless their importance. In this work, we review ad hoc networks cross-layer methods, propose the new useful classification of cross-layer methods, and show future research directions in ad hoc networks cross-layer methods development. The proposed classification can help to simplify the goal-oriented cross-layer protocol development.

This research deals with risk assessment for human life, man-made infrastructure, and agriculture in a landslide-prone area using GIS-based spatial methods. The study area landslide inventory map was prepared based on previous landslide information, aerial photograph analysis, and several field observations. A total of 550 landslides have been included with 182 debris flow and 368 soil slides. All included landslides were classified into two groups by random selection; half were used for model calibration and the rest were used for cross-validation. In the analysis, fourteen causative factors were vastly used, such as aspect, slope, curvature, elevation, topographic wetness index, forest timber diameter, forest type, forest crown density, forest age, land-use, geology, soil drainage, soil depth, and soil texture. Moreover, to identify the interaction between occurred landslides and causative factors, the affected pixels were divided into different sub-classes using a frequency ratio method. Based on the total dataset, three landslide susceptibility maps were constructed using Bayesian prediction, likelihood ratio, and fuzzy set method. By evaluating cross-validation and success rate curve, model susceptibility results were plotted with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC) was estimated. In addition, for risk assessment, each social data layer such as agriculture, house, industry, business, road, river, population intensity, monetary value, and vulnerability level was added based on the local standard and incident time and was converted into US dollars. During the analysis, each method hazard map was used with a specific group of thematic data layers. Subsequently, for preparing the probability table, study area total pixels and predictive landslide affected pixels were considered. Matching with the affected pixels, a standard of 5000 pixels was selected to run the final evaluation. Based on the results, the agricultural field showed the highest vulnerability and estimated risk of US $ 16.3 million. Further, the man-made infrastructure map showed a risk of US $ 31.3 million. The total estimated population casualties were 6.77, which was relatively similar to the published data.

This paper focuses on the impact of defects density and carrier capture cross-section area in the electron transport material (ETM), hole transport material (HTM), and absorber layers on the performance of perovskite solar cells and quantum efficiency (QE). Furthermore, the impact of defects density at the interface between ETM/absorber and absorber/HTM is also studied. SCAPS-1D software is used in the current study in determining solar cell performance. The proposed perovskite solar cell structure is a planar FTO/TiO2/ CH3NH3PbI3/ Cu2O. The results indicated that increasing the defect density in the absorber layer significantly affects cell performance, while in ETM and HTM layers, the cell parameters remain unaffected. It is also found that the defect capture cross-section has a similar behavior to the defect density in the main layers (ETM, absorber, and HTM). In addition, it is observed that by increasing the defects density in the ETM/absorber and absorber/HTM interfaces layer, the cell parameters FF, Jsc, and PCE have been slightly decreased, with no effect on Voc. Moreover, it is also noted that the quantum efficiency QE is sharply reduced. Finally, this paper introduced the correlation between the defect density and the capture cross-section, which is the first attempt to find such a relationship in perovskite solar cells to the knowledge of the authors.

Collagen, the most abundant structural protein found in mammals, plays a vital role as a constituent of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surrounds cells. Collagen fibrils are strengthened through the formation of covalent cross-links, which involve complex enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is responsible for catalyzing the oxidative deamination of lysine and hydroxylysine residues, resulting in the production of aldehydes, allysine, and hydroxyallysine. These intermediates undergo spontaneous condensation reactions, leading to the formation of immature cross-links, which are the initial step in the development of mature covalent cross-links. Additionally, non-enzymatic glycation contributes to the formation of abnormal cross-linking in collagen fibrils. During glycation, specific lysine and arginine residues in collagen are modified by reducing sugars, leading to the creation of Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs). These AGEs have been associated with changes in the mechanical properties of collagen fibers. Interestingly, various studies have reported that plant polyphenols possess amine oxidase-like activity and can act as potent inhibitors of protein glycation. This review article focuses on compiling literature describing polyphenols with amine oxidase-like activity and antiglycation properties. Specifically, we explore the molecular mechanisms by which specific flavonoids impact or protect the normal collagen cross-linking process. Furthermore, we discuss how these dual activities can be harnessed to generate properly cross-linked collagen molecules, thereby promoting the stabilization of highly organized collagen fibrils.

The corrugated board is a versatile and durable material that is widely used in the packaging industry. Its unique structure provides strength and cushioning, while its recyclability and bio-degradability make it an environmentally friendly option. The strength of corrugated board depends on many factors, including the type of individual papers on flat and corrugated layers, the geometry of the flute, temperature, humidity, etc. This paper presents a new approach to analysis geometric features of corrugated boards based on the images. It allows for precise determination of the geometry of the corrugated layer, as well as the thickness of individual papers in all cardboard layers. The experimental set used in the work and the created software are characterized by high reliability and precision of measurement thanks to the use of an identification procedure based on image analysis and evolutionary algorithms. This allows to quickly find the main geometric characteristics of the corrugated board, which in turn leads to the possibility of performing numerical analyzes taking into account the real model of the corrugated board. Calculations made on a real (correctly mapped geometrically) model allow, for example, a more reliable analysis of the composition of the cardboard, and thus also to obtain greater savings in the optimization process.

Dyslipidemia is a disorder where abnormally lipid concentrations circulate in the bloodstream. The disorder is common in type 2 diabetics (T2D) and is linked with T2D comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular disease. Dyslipidemia in T2D is typically characterized by elevated plasma triglyceride and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. There is a significant gap in the literature regarding dyslipidemia in rural parts of Africa, where lipid profiles may not be routinely captured through standard surveillance activities. This study aimed to characterize the prevalence and demographic profile of dyslipidemia in T2D patients in the rural community of Ganadougou, Mali. We performed a cross-sectional study of 104 subjects with T2D in Ganadougou between November 2021 and March 2022. Demographic and lipid profiles were collected through cross-sectional surveys and blood tests. The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia in T2D patients was 87.5% (91/104), which did not differ by sex (p = .368). High low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was the most common lipid abnormality (78.9%, [82/104]). Dyslipidemia was associated with age and hypertension status (p = .013 and p = .036, respectively). High total and high LDL-C parameters were significantly associated with hypertension (p = .029 and p = .006, respectively). In low-resource settings such as rural Mali, there is a critical need to improve infrastructure for routine dyslipidemia screening to guide its prevention and intervention approaches. The high rates of dyslipidemia observed in Gandadougou, consistent with concomitant increases in cardiovascular diseases in Africa suggest that lipid profile assessments should be incorporated into routine medical care for T2D patients in African rural settings.

The aim of this study was to adapt a treadmill-developed method for determination of inner-cycle parameters in cross-country roller ski skating for a field application. The method is based on detecting initial and final ground-contact of poles and skis during cyclic movements. Eleven athletes skied four laps of 2.5 km at low and high endurance-intensity, using two types of skis with different rolling coefficients. Participants were equipped with inertial measurement units (IMUs) attached to their wrists and skis, while insoles with pressure sensors and poles with force measurements were used as reference systems. The method based on IMUs was able to detect more than 97% of the temporal events compared to the reference system. The inner-cycle temporal parameters had a precision ranging from 49 to 59 ms, corresponding to 3.9% to 13.7% of the corresponding inner-cycle duration. Overall, this study showed good reliability of using IMUs on athlete’s wrists and skis to determine temporal events, inner-cycle parameters and the performed sub-techniques in cross-country roller ski skating in field-conditions.

The objectives of the research are to investigate the characteristics of the board of directors on the financial performance of the enterprise. Using a sample data from 52 construction and real estate enterprises listed on Vietnam stock exchange in the period 2006-2020. Using typical regression methods such as pooled OLS, FEM, REM and assessing the defects of the research model, the FGLS method is selected. At the same time, due to the existence of endogenous phenomena and the nature of interdependence among enterprises in Vietnam, research using the instrumental variables two-step generalized method of moments (IV-GMM) in order to correct for cross-sectional dependence, autocorrelation, endogeneity, and heteroskedasticity in the analysis. Research results suggest that board size, female board members, meeting frequency, and board members' education have a positive influence on financial performance. Moreover, the independence of the Board of Directors increases, the business efficiency decreases. The research also found a positive relationship of tangible fixed assets, and a negative relationship between capital structure choice, firm size and corporate financial performance.

Simulations based on Supernova (SN) observations predict several galactic SN explosions (SNe) occur every century. Unlike SNes within the Interstellar Medium (ISM) where ambient gas generally absorbs blast waves within a million years, SNes occurring in a rarified environment outside of the (ISM) generate blast waves which remain in a high velocity free expansion phase for more extended periods. The SN blast wave forms an expanding spherical shell and when multiple blast waves intersect, the overlapping region naturally takes the form of a ring, an arc, or an Einstein Cross structure. The analysis shows the high velocity plasma establishes a medium with permeability which drives the index of refraction greater than 1. As a result, when a shock discontinuity forms in the overlapping region, light is reflected from the host galaxy which exposes the intersecting blast wave regions. The expanding shells are shown to induce an achromatic redshift to the reflected light consistent with those measured for gravitational lenses. Further, it is shown that a Hubble equation for a blast wave around the Milky Way Galaxy can be parameterized to align with measured redshifts of extragalactic light fields over a wide range of distances.

In recent years, metabolomics has been used as a powerful tool to better understand the physiology of neurodegenerative diseases and identify potential biomarkers for progression. We used targeted and untargeted aqueous, and lipidomic profiles of the metabolome from human cerebrospinal fluid to build multivariate predictive models distinguishing patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and healthy age-matched controls. We emphasize several statistical challenges associated with metabolomic studies where the number of measured metabolites far exceeds sample size. We found strong separation in the metabolome between PD and controls, as well as between PD and AD, with weaker separation between AD and controls. Consistent with existing literature, we found alanine, kynurenine, tryptophan, and serine to be associated with PD classification against controls, while alanine, creatine, and long chain ceramides were associated with AD classification against controls. We conducted a univariate pathway analysis of untargeted and targeted metabolite profiles and find that vitamin E and urea cycle metabolism pathways are associated with PD, while the aspartate/asparagine and c21-steroid hormone biosynthesis pathways are associated with AD. We also found that the amount of metabolite missingness varied by phenotype, highlighting the importance of examining missing data in future metabolomic studies.

This study aimed to enhance a micro hydroelectric generator system driven by free-flow vortex and to compare efficiency of Propeller and Crossflow turbines. Series of turbines in each type were designed and tested at water-flowrate of 0.02 m3/s. The turbine housing has 1 meter in diameter and 0.5-meter height with 2 meters outlet drain at the bottom. The best efficiency extracted from Crossflow turbines with the same height (0.3 meter) but different in diameter (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 meter) and numbers of blade (12, 18, 24, 30, and 23) was from an 18 blades turbine at 23.01% of efficiency. The best efficiency extracted from Propeller turbines with 5 blades was from a 0.4-meter-high turbine with a diameter of 0.7 meter at 13.92% of efficiency. There were 12 Propeller turbines designed in this study. They were different in height (0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 meter) and, in each height, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 of diameter was applied. The result revealed that Cross Flow turbine had more efficiency to the system than Propeller turbine (9.09%) at the water-flowrate of 0.02 m3/s

This study aimed to examine trust in information provided by public authorities and financial measures put in place to address the impact of COVID-19. Using a cross-national approach among four Western countries; the United States of America, Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom provides an analysis of responses related to trust and how they were associated with age group, gender, education level, employment status, size of place of residence, infection sta-tus, and social media use. When controlling for all included variables in logistic regression analyses, the likelihood of having trust in the public authorities’ information was higher for women, those with higher levels of education, and those living in urban areas. Being infected with the coronavirus, and spending more time daily on social media was associated with lower likelihood reporting trust in information. Although policies implemented to respond to eco-nomic concerns varied cross-nationally, higher age, identifying as female, being employed, liv-ing in a city, and lower levels of social media usage were associated with higher likelihood of trusting in the financial measures put in place to counteract the economic effects of COVID-19.

Microglia are resident immune cells of the central nervous system such as brain-specific macrophages and also known to regulate the innate immune functions of astrocytes through secretory molecules. This conversation plays an important role in brain functions and homeostasis as well as in neuropathologic disease. In this study, we aimed to elucidate whether astrocytes and microglia can cross-talk to induce microglial polarization and proliferation, which can be further regulated under the brain stroke-mimic microenvironment. Microglia in mixed glial culture increased their survival and proliferation and altered to the M2 microglia, whose role was provided by CD11b-GFAP+ astrocytes by showing approximately tenfold increase in microglia cell proliferation after the astrocyte reconstitution. Furthermore, GM-CSF stimulated microglial proliferation approximately tenfold and induced to CCR7+ M1 microglia, whose phenotype could be suppressed by anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4, IL-10, and Substance-P. Also, astrocyte in the microglia co-culture revealed A2 phenotype, which could be activated to A1 astrocyte by TNFα and IFNγ under the stroke-mimic condition. Altogether, astrocyte in the mixed glial culture stimulated the microglia proliferation and M2 polarization possibly through its acquisition of A2 phenotype, both of which could be converted to M1 microglia and A1 astrocytes under the inflammatory stroke-mimic environment. This study demonstrated that microglia and astrocyte can be polarized to M2 microglia and A2 astrocytes respectively through the cross-talk in vitro and provided a system to explore how microglia and astrocyte may behave in the inflammatory disease milieu after in vivo transplantation.

COVID-19 has been a global healthcare concern impacting multiple aspects of individual and community wellness. As one moves forward with different methods to reduce the infection and mortality rates, it is critical to continue to study the impact that national and local ‘social distancing’ policies have on the daily lives of individuals. The aim of this study was to examine loneliness in relation to risk assessment, measures taken against risks, concerns, and social media use, while adjusting for sociodemographic variables. The cross-sectional study collected data from 3469 individuals from USA, UK, Norway, and Australia. Loneliness was measured with the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Multiple linear regression was used in the analysis of associations between variables. The results showed that concerns about finances were more strongly associated with social loneliness, while concerns about the future was more strongly associated with emotional loneliness. Longer daily time spent on social media was associated with higher emotional loneliness. In conclusion, pandemic-related concerns seem to affect their perceptions of loneliness. While social media can be used productively to maintain relationships, and thereby prevent loneliness, excessive use may be counterproductive.

The prevalence of back pain (BP) among children and adolescents has increased over recent years. Some authors advocate promoting back-health education in the school setting. It is therefore important to adopt a uniform suite of assessment instruments to measure the various constructs. The present study aimed to perform a cultural adaptation of a validated measurement instrument (BackPEI), beginning with a translation and cultural adaptation phase, followed by a second phase to test reliability using a test-retest design. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation were performed based on the guidelines. Reliability was tested by applying the questionnaire to 224 secondary school students, at two different times with a 7-day interval between the tests. In general, the Spanish version presented adequate agreement for questions 1–20, with only question 9 achieving a low Kappa range of .312 [-.152- .189]. The question about pain intensity did not show differences between the averages for the test (4.72 ± 2.33) and re-test (4.58 ± 2.37) (p = .333), and the responses for these two tests were highly correlated (ICC= .951 [.928- .966]; p= .0001). Psychometric testing indicated that the Spanish version of the BackPEI is well-adapted and reliable, based on the test-retest design, providing similar results to the original Brazilian version.

An informative probe of myosin crossbridge behaviour in active muscle is a mechanical transient experiment where, for example, a fully active muscle initially held at constant length is suddenly shortened to a new fixed length giving a force transient, or has its load suddenly reduced giving a length transient. We describe the simplest crossbridge mechanical cycle we could find to model these transients. We show using the statistical mechanics of 50,000 crossbridges that a simple cycle with two actin-attached cross-bridge states, one producing no force and the other producing force, will explain much of what has been observed experimentally and we discuss the implications of this modelling for our understanding of how muscle works. We show that this same simple model will explain reasonably well the isotonic mechanical and X-ray transients under different loads observed by Reconditi et al (2004, Nature 428, 578) and that there is no need to invoke different crossbridge step sizes under these different conditions; a step size of 100 Å works well for all loads. We do not claim that this model provides a total mechanical explanation of how muscle works. But we do suggest that only if there are other observations that cannot be explained by this simple model should something more complicated be considered.

Modulation of the amplitude of high-frequency cortical field activity locked to changes in phase of a slower brain rhythm is known as phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). The study of this phenomenon has been gaining traction in neuroscience because of several reports on its appearance in normal and pathological brain processes in humans as well as across different mammalian species. This has led to the suggestion that PAC may be an intrinsic brain process that facilitates brain inter-area communication across different spatiotemporal scales. Several methods have been proposed to measure the PAC process, but few of these enable detailed study of its time course. It appears that no studies have reported details of PAC dynamics including its possible directional delay characteristics. Here, we study and characterize the use of a novel information theoretic measure that may address this limitation: local transfer entropy. We use both simulated and actual intracranial electroencephalographic data, and in both cases we observe initial indications that local transfer entropy can be used to detect the onset and offset of modulation process periods revealed by mutual information phase-amplitude coupling (MIPAC). We review our results in the context of current theories about PAC in brain electrical activity, and discuss technical issues that must be addressed to see local transfer entropy more widely applied to PAC analysis.

Various studies indicate that vaccination, especially with pneumococcal vaccines, protects against symptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection and death. This paper explores the possibility that pneumococcal vaccines in particular, but perhaps other vaccines as well, contain antigens that might be cross-reactive with SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Comparison of the glycosylation structures of SARS-CoV-2 with the polysaccharide structures of pneumococcal vaccines yielded no obvious similarities. However, while pneumococcal vaccines are primarily composed of capsular polysaccharides, some are conjugated to CRM197, a modified diphtheria toxin, and all contain about three percent protein contaminants, including the pneumococcal surface proteins PsaA, PspA and probably PspC. All of these proteins have very high degrees of similarity, using very stringent criteria, with several SARS-CoV-2 proteins including the spike protein, membrane protein and replicase 1a. CRM197 is also present in Hib and meningitis vaccines. Equivalent similarities were found at lower rates, or were completely absent, among the proteins in diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, and poliovirus vaccines. Notably, PspA and PspC are highly antigenic and new pneumococcal vaccines based on them are currently in human clinical trials so that their effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 disease is easily testable.

Background: This study aimed to assess the dementia literacy (DL) level of community-dwelling adults in the four cities (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Macau and Zhuhai) of the Greater Bay Area of China and to determine the preferred mass media for receiving dementia information. Methods: A multi-city cross-sectional study with 788 community-dwelling adults completed the survey. Dementia literacy was indirectly measured by two validated scales, 30-item Alzhiemer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and 20-item Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS). When the ADKS total score was <15 and DAS total score was <70, it was considered as ‘inadequate dementia literacy’. Participants were also asked to indicate whether they would like to receive dementia information via digital media or traditional media. Chi-square tests and logistic regressions were undertaken. Results: About one-third of the participants had inadequate dementia literacy. Those with young age or secondary education preferred to get dementia information from social media. But people living in public housing would like to get information from government or hospital websites. Middle-aged participants inclined to learn dementia from television or radio. Conclusion: It is worthy to conduct territory-wide public education in dementia and develop strategies according to their preferences in the types of mass media.

The future of the Colorado River water supply (WS) affects millions of people and the U.S. economy. A recent study suggested a cross-basin correlation between the Colorado River and its neighboring Great Salt Lake (GSL). Following that study, the feasibility of using the previously developed multi-year prediction of the GSL water level to forecast the Colorado River WS was tested. Time-series models were developed to predict the changes in WS out to 10 years. Regressive methods and the GSL water level data were used for the depiction of decadal variability of the Colorado River WS. Various time-series models suggest a decline in the 10-year-averaged WS since 2013 before starting to increase around 2020. Comparison between this WS prediction and the WS projection published in a 2012 government report (derived from climate models) reveals a widened imbalance between supply and demand by 2020. Further research to update similar multi-year prediction of the Colorado River WS is needed. Such information could aid in management decision making in the face of future water shortages.

used traditional microbial starters revealed that effective fermentation requires three microbial strains with complementary metabolic activities: filamentous fungi (Rhizopus oryzae), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum). Relative to natural communities, modulation of the ratio of these three microorganisms led to significant differences not only in terms of ethanol and organic acid production, but also with the profile of volatile compounds. However, inoculation of an equal ratio of spores/cells of the three aforementioned microbial strains led to a flavor profile and ethanol yield similar to that obtained with natural communities. Compartmentalization of metabolic tasks through the use of a biofilm cultivation device allowed further improvement of the entire fermentation process, notably by increasing the amount of key components of the aroma profile of the fermented beverage (i.e., mainly phenylethyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, and 2-methyl-butanol) and reducing the amount of off-flavor compound. This study represents an initial step toward understanding interkingdom microbial interactions with a strong potential for application in the food biotechnology.

In this paper, the far field and near field optical responses of a gold nanoparticle are studied and simulated numerically. The electromagnetic field was excited by an electric dipole located near one end of the nanorod, which is used to model the emission of a quantum dot. Another excitation method was also simulated in which an incident plane wave is used. The excitation of dark plasmon modes of the gold nanorod is presented. The Poynting equation was solved numerically to study the influence of the gold nanorod on the dipole radiative power. In addition, the extinction cross section of the gold nanoparticle illuminated by the incident plane wave was calculated to estimate the amount of the scattered and absorbed light.

Given the cross-scale interactions of agricultural ecosystems, it is important to collect ecosystem service data at the multiple spatial scales they operate at. Mapping of ecosystem services helps to assess their spatial and temporal distribution and is a popular communication tool of their availability and value. For example, maps can be used to quantify distance between areas of available ecosystem services and their beneficiaries and how services fluctuate with changes in land use patterns over time, allowing identification of synergies and trade-offs. However, a lack of local context and too large a resolution can reduce the utility of these maps, whilst masking heterogeneities in access due to equity dynamics. This review identifies and summarizes eight main methods of ESS mapping found in the literature—remote sensing, biophysical modelling, agent based modelling, economic valuation, expert opinion, user preference, participatory mapping, and photo-elicitation. We consider what spatial scales these methods are utilized at and the transferability of data created by each method. The analysis concludes with a methodological framework for mapping ecosystem services, intended to help researchers identify appropriate methods for a multi-scale research design. The framework is exemplified with an overview of a research project in Ethiopia.

Visual question answering (VQA) is receiving increasing attention from researchers in both the computer vision and natural language processing fields. There are two key components in the VQA task: feature extraction and multi-modal fusion. For feature extraction, we introduce a novel co-attention scheme by combining Sentence-guide Word Attention (SWA) and Question-guide Image Attention (QIA) in a unified framework. To be specific, the textual attention SWA relies on the semantics of the whole question sentence to calculate contributions of different question words for text representation. For the multi-modal fusion, we propose a “Cross-modal Multistep Fusion (CMF)” network to generate multistep features and achieve multiple interactions for two modalities, rather than focusing on modeling complex interactions between two modals like most current feature fusion methods. To avoid the linear increase of the computational cost, we share the parameters for each step in the CMF. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve competitive or better performance than the state-of-the-art.

This paper employs the two-step procedure developed by Cheung and Ng (1996) to analyze the causality-in-mean and causality-in-variance between the housing and stock markets of the UK. The empirical findings make two key contributions. First, although previous studies have indicated a one-way causal relation from the housing market to the stock market in the UK, this paper discovered a two-way causal relation between them. Second, a causality-in-variance as well as a causality-in-mean was detected from the housing market to the stock market.

The emission of [O I] lines in the coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission have been explained by electron impact dissociation of water rather than the process of photodissociation. This is the direct evidence for the role of electron induced processing has been seen on such a body. Analysis of other emission features is handicapped by a lack of detailed knowledge of electron impact cross sections which highlights the need for a broad range of electron scattering data from the molecular systems detected on the comet. In this paper we present an overview of the needs for electron scattering data relevant for the understanding of observations in coma, the tenuous atmosphere and on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission. The relevant observations for elucidating the role of electrons come from optical spectra, particle analysis using the ion and electron sensors and mass spectrometry measurements. To model these processes electron impact data should be collated and reviewed in an electron scattering database and an example is given in the BEAMD, which is a part of a larger consortium of Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre – VAMDC.

This study aims to quantify carotenoids and tocopherols in human milk from healthy Chinese women, and to explore their associations with region, lactation stage, and maternal socio-economic and obstetric factors. Human milk was obtained from 509 healthy mothers and the compounds of carotenoids and tocopherols were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography after mild saponification and solvent extraction. Socio-economic and obstetric characteristics of the mothers and their dietary intakes through a single 24-hour dietary recall were evaluated. The median content of each component [μg/100mL, median (interquartile range)] in colostrum and mature milk was, respectively, β-carotene 8.0 (4.7-15.2) and 1.8 (1.4-2.7), β-cryptoxanthin 6.2 (2.4-12.9) and 1.8 (1.1-3.4), lutein 5.7 (2.9-10.2) and 3.4 (1.5-6.0), lycopene 6.3 (4.0-9.9) and 1.4 (1.1-2.0), zeaxanthin 1.0 (0.6-1.5) and 1.0 (0.6-1.4), α-tocopherol 645 (388-1176) and 211 (131-321), γ-tocopherol 68 (48-121) and 77 (45-120). The levels of all those vitamins presented regional differences, and decreased as lactation stage increased except for zeaxanthin and γ-tocopherol. Associations of carotenoid contents with maternal education, delivery mode, and present body mass index were found in multivariate analyses. These results suggest that some region, lactation stage, obstetric and socio-economic factors are associated with human milk concentrations of carotenoids and tocopherols in healthy Chinese mothers.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

The limited information available on the structure of complexes involving transcription factors and cognate DNA response elements represents a major obstacle in the quest to understand their mechanism of action at the molecular level. We implemented a concerted structural proteomics approach, which combined hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX), quantitative protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid cross-linking (XL), and homology analysis, to model the structure of the complex between the full-length DNA binding domain (DBD) of FOXO4 and its DNA binding element (DBE). The results confirmed that FOXO4-DBD assumes the characteristic forkhead topology shared by these types of transcription factors, but its binding mode differs significantly from those of other members of the family. The results showed that the binding interaction stabilized regions that were rather flexible and disordered in the unbound form. Surprisingly, the conformational effects were not limited only to the interface between bound components but extended also to distal regions that may be essential to recruiting additional factors to the transcription machinery. In addition to providing valuable new insights into the binding mechanism, this project provided an excellent evaluation of the merits of structural proteomics approaches in the investigation of systems that arematerial not directly amenable to traditional high-resolution techniques.

This work reports 60 marine alien molluscs, collected by two Belgian citizen scientists, from nine countries across the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Some of their published observations concerning the collecting dates are compared with the year of first publication for these alien molluscs reported in the literature, which enabled to backdate some of these introductions. This underlines the importance of collaboration between volunteers and institutional scientists in tracing variations and changes in the environment and biodiversity.

Cutaneous mycoses are common infections whose treatment has become more complex due to increasing antifungal resistance and the need for prolonged therapies, hindering patient adher-ence and increasing the incidence of adverse effects. Consequently, the use of physical therapies, especially photodynamic therapy (PDT), has increased for the treatment of onychomycosis due to its antimicrobial capacity mediated by the production of reactive oxygen species. This study investigates the in vitro effect of the combination of blue light (448 nm) and red light (645 nm) with terbinafine on the cell viability of human keratinocytes and the production of reactive ox-ygen species. The combination of terbinafine and blue light exhibits a synergistic effect on the production of reactive oxygen species and a significant increase in the expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), an enzyme involved in the reduction of superoxide ions (O2-) and the genera-tion of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Such effect could be useful in clinical practice to improve the response of cutaneous mycoses to pharmacological treatment, reduce their toxicity, and shorten their duration.

Erastin (ER) induces cell death by utilizing the process of ferroptosis via generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ferroptosis is characterized by accumulation of ROS within the cell, leading to an iron-dependent oxidative damage-mediated cell death. Here, we have examined ferroptosis-dependent mechanism(s) of cytotoxicity of ER in K-RAS mutant human ovarian tumor OVCAR-8 and NCI/ADR-RES cell lines. We used these cell lines to decipher the mechanisms of ER as NCI/ADR-RES cells express higher activities of SOD, glutathione peroxidase and transferases than OVCAR-8 cells. We found that ER was equally cytotoxic to both cells; ER formed more ROS in OVCAR-8 cells than in NIH/ADR-RES cells. Ferrostatin-1, an inhibitor of ferroptosis, inhibited ER-induced cell death in both cell lines. In contrast, RSL3 (RAS-selective lethal 3), an inducer of ferroptosis, significantly enhanced cell death in both cell lines. ER induced significant lipid peroxidation only in OVCAR-8 cells. We found that RSL3 was more cytotoxic to NCI/ADR-RES cells and significantly enhanced ER-induced lipid peroxidation in both cells, indicating GPX4 was involved in the process of ER-mediated ferroptosis. ER treatment also differentially modulated several ferroptosis related genes (e.g., HMOX1/OH1, and CHAC1) in these cells, indicating ER-induced cell death may be mediated differently in OVCAR-8 and NCI/ADR-RES ovarian cells. Our studies suggest that combinations of ER and RSL3 may contribute significantly to the treatment of ovarian cancers, including those that are resistant to other therapeutic agents due to the presence of P-gp or tumors with Ras mutation in the clinic. ER induced ferroptosis may also be an important treatment modality for resistant tumors expressing MDR1 in the clinic.

In the recent past, the number of invasive species around the world has increased significantly due to increased globalization and climate change. Understanding biological invasions under climate change is crucial for sustainable conservation of biodiversity. The insect pest Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret) can cause damages to plants, resulting in leaf yellowing, leaf defoliation, and reduced plant growth. A serious attack by this insect post can even lead to the entire plant withering and dying, bringing huge economic and ecological losses. Despite these damages, the potential distribution range and management strategies for this insect pest are poorly understood. Based on historical distribution data and environmental factors, the present study predicted the potentially suitable areas for P. viburni spread under different climate change scenarios using MaxEnt (maximum entropy). The results showed that precipitation of the coldest quarter (Bio19), precipitation seasonality (Bio15), and mean temperature of the wettest quarter (Bio8) were the most important environmental factors determining the distribution of P. viburni. Under the current climate conditions, its potential suitable areas are southern China, the whole of Japan, North America (especially the eastern part of the United States), the southwestern part of South America, the Mediterranean coast and most of Europe, the central part of Africa i.e., the south of the Sahara Desert and most of the southern coast of Australia. The total area of habitats suitable for this insect pest is predicted to be increased in the future. In order to prevent P. viburni transmission and spread, there is a need to strengthen the monitoring and quarantine measures against this pest at the Southern ports.

This study analyzes tree diversity and its ecological importance value in silvopastoral systems in the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR), Ecuador, along an altitudinal gradient of 400-2000 masl. Twenty-six plots distributed in low (400-700 masl), medium (701-1600 masl) and high (1601-2000 masl) zones were used. The Shannon index and the Importance Value Index (IVI), based on abundance, dominance and relative frequency, were estimated. The results show variations in the diameter structure of the trees, influenced by factors such as settlement history and pasture management. The lower and middle zones showed higher tree density and diversity, linked to regeneration and the presence of nearby forests. Species of high commercial value, such as Cedrela odorata and Jacaranda copaia, were common, reflecting knowledge of the local timber market. In the lower and middle zones, the 10 most important species accounted for more than 70% of the trees, and up to 96% in the upper zone, indicating the need for further research on abundance factors and promotion of diversification in pastures. A total of 51 tree species were identified, mostly native, 64.7% are classified by the IUCN as "Least Concern", 31.4% as "Not Evaluated", and 3.9% as "Vulnerable", specifically highlighting Cedrela odorata and Cedrela Montana. The study concludes with policy recommendations related to the importance of trees in silvopastoral systems for the conservation of species and the livelihoods of local communities, highlighting the need for responsible management of Amazonian pasturelands.

Woody and non-woody plant species conservation is one of the ecosystem services provided by agroforestry (AF) systems across the agricultural landscapes. Little attention has been paid in as-sessing the plant diversity conservation of AF systems. The study was, thus, aimed to investigate plant species diversity, structure, and composition of three AF systems in Gedeo zone of south eastern Rift–valley Agricultural landscape of Ethiopia. The study was conducted in three agroforestry systems, namely, enset based, coffee–enset based (C-E based AF) and coffee-fruit trees–enset based (C-Ft-E based AF) agroforestry systems. Twenty farms representative of each AF system were randomly selected and inventory of the floristic diversity was employed in a 10×10 meter sample plot per farm. A total of 52 perennial woody and non–woody plant species belonging to 30 families were recorded. Of all species identified 33 (63.5%) were native, of which two species were registered as endemic. The highest proportion of native species was recorded in enset based AF (93.3%) and the least were in C–Ft–E based AF (59%). According to IUCN Red List and local criteria, 13 species were recorded as of interest for conservation in all AF systems. The woody species Prunus africana was identified as both vulnerable by IUCN Red List and rare for 25% of species that least occurred. The Shannon diversity index and richness showed that C–Ft–E based AF systems were significantly different from the two remaining AF systems. However, the species abundance and evenness did not show significant differences between the three AF systems. In general, retaining such number of woody and non–woody perennial plant species richness under AF systems of the present study underlines their potential for biodiversity conservation.

In recent years, magnetic fields have emerged as a non-thermophysical treatment with a signifi-cant impact on microbial fermentation processes. Brassica trispora is a microorganism known for its indus-trial-scale production of lycopene and high yield of single cells. This study aimed to in-vestigate the impact of low frequency magnetic fields on lycopene synthesis by Brassica trispora and elucidate the underlying mechanism for enhancing lycopene yield. The results indicated that both the intensity and duration of the magnetic field treatment influenced the cell. Exposing the cell to a 0.5 mT magnetic field for 48 hours on the second day of fermentation resulted in a lyco-pene yield of 1473.16 mg/L, representing a re-markable increase of 216.1% compared to the con-trol group. Transcriptome analysis revealed that al-ternating magnetic field significantly up-regulated genes related to ROS and cell membrane structure, leading to a substantial increase in lycopene production. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the magnetic field treatment resulted in rough, loose, wrinkled surface morphology of the mycelium, along with a few mi-cropores, thereby altering the cell membrane permeability to some extent. Moreover, there was a significant increase in intracellular ROS content, cell membrane permeability, key enzyme activi-ty involved in lycopene metabolism, and ROS-related enzyme activity. In conclusion, the alter-nating fre-quency magnetic field can activate a self-protective mechanism that enhances lyco-pene synthesis by modulating intracellular ROS content and cell membrane structure. These find-ings not only deepen our understanding of the impact of magnetic fields on microbial growth and metabolism but also provide valuable insights for developing innovative approaches to en-hance carotenoid fermentation.

Broomrape (Orobanche cumana), root parasitic weed, negatively affects sunflower, thereby causing severe yield losses and required controls on O. cumana infestation. Brassinosteroids (BRs) plays key roles in plant growth and provides resilience to weed infection. This designed study evaluated the mechanisms by which BRs ameliorates O. cumana infection in sunflower (Helianthus annuus). The pretreatment of sunflower seeds with various concentrations of BRs (1, 10, and 100 nM) were applied with and without O. cumana infestation. Under O. cumana infection, a significant reduction in plant height (38.61%), fresh/dry biomass, photosynthesis and regulation in plant defense (POX, GST), BRs signaling (BAK1, BSK1 to BSK4) and synthesis (BRI1, BR6OX2) associated genes. Moreover, O. cumana elevated the levels of MDA, OH‒, H2O2 and O2•‒ in leaves/roots by 77%/112%, 62%/104%, 57%/98% and 55%/89.4% and caused ultrastructural damages in leaves/roots, suggesting the severe oxidative or cellular damages in sunflower. In response, plants activate activities of SOD and POD enzymes as well as reduced or oxidized glutathione, but unable to stimulate APX and CAT activities. Addition of BRs, especially at 10 nM notably lowered the production of oxidative stress, activated the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. The downregulation in the reported genes by BRs attributed to the increased resilience of sunflower (via susceptible reaction). In nutshell, the pretreatment of BRs enhanced the sunflower resistance to O. cumana infection by improving the planta growth and biomass, photosynthesis, activating the antioxidant defense system, lowering the oxidative stress, cellular damages and modulating the expression of BR synthesis and signaling genes.

Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a primary contributor to the entanglement of numerous marine species. Utilizing digital media platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram we conducted an assessment of the detrimental effects of ALDFG and plastic litter, on the biodiversity of Italy's marine ecosystem. Our investigation revealed that plastic litter has adverse consequences on various forms of marine life, including reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, along different Italian geographical sub-areas. Several records of interaction between plastic and endangered and vulnerable marine species have been described. Our reports even highlight the impact on marine turtles, mainly on Caretta caretta. This is the first report of entangled with fishing nets in Cetorhinus maximus, Oblada melanura, Serranus scriba, Homarus gammarus, Octopus vulgaris, and Phoenicopterus roseus. Furthermore, we identified that ghost nets have repercussions for endangered and vulnerable marine species. This update sheds light on the ongoing adverse effects of ghost nets on the Italian marine ecosystem, yet it is crucial to acknowledge that the true extent of the problem remains underestimated.

Forest management aims to preserve ecosystem integrity, maintaining resilience thresholds. For this, conservation and invasion patterns must be determined in managed landscapes. The objective was to identify proxies (landscape and environmental patterns) that allowed the plant species invasion and define thresholds of human impacts to improve management practices. We also want to identify indicator species for the different kinds of impacts and environments. 165 plots were measured in Nothofagus antarctica forests and associated open-lands (dry and wet grasslands) in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). We found differences in the studied variables across landscape and among different uses and impact types. Human impacts influenced over land types, emphasizing the importance of managing intensities. Indicator plant species allowed to identify potential ecological thresholds related to human impacts and the establishment of species linked to ecological and economic degradation, e.g. Bolax gummifera and Azorella trifurcata were associated with high grazing pressure in grasslands and fire in forested areas, while Rumex acetosella and Achillea millefolium, typically associated with forested areas, were related to high harvesting pressure and fire impacts. These findings contribute to understanding the long-term effects of some impacts, and allow us to define variables of monitoring and indicator species for each impact type.

The Cosmonaut Sea is an under-studied area and a “blank canvas” for macrobenthos research. Here, we report on the species diversity and community structure of macrobenthos collected using the tringle trawl on the 38th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) in the Cosmonaut Sea, East Antarctica. A total of 11 tringle trawls were deployed at different depths across the shelf, slope and seamount of the Cosmonaut Sea. A total of 275 macrobenthic species were found from 207-1994 m. The species richness per station varied from 23 to 89. Echinoderms (100 species), arthropods (48 species) and mollusks (36 species) were the most dominant groups. Echinoderms and arthropods dominated in abundance at seamount stations, and echinoderms, arthropods and polychaetes dominated in abundance at slope stations, while bryozoans, corals, ascidians and sponges were abundant on the Cosmonaut Sea Shelf. Depth was the major driving force influencing the distribution of macrobenthos. The main components were two core communities. One was dominated by sessile suspension feeders and associated fauna. Variants of this community include sponges and bryozoans. The other core community was dominated by mobile deposit feeders, infauna and grazers–epifauna, which included arthropods and echinoderms. The results showed that the slope (40-50° E, 65-67° S) of the Cosmonaut Sea may be an important area with complex ecological processes. The results of this study contribute to the knowledge of species diversity and communities of macrobenthos in the Cosmonaut Sea and provide monitoring data for future ecosystem health assessments and better protection.

The process of rainfall interception by tree organs is crucial in mitigating the impact of intense rainfall on urban drainage systems, particularly in the context of climate change. this study selected ten commonly found tree species in Shanghai. Main parts of trees, including leaves, branches, and bark, were collected to analyze their ability to intercept rainwater. The optimized Artificial Rainfall Simulation System (ARSS) was applied to simulate the rainfall. The time-changing process of rainwater interception in three organs was measured during a 180-minute rainfall event which under four different rainfall intensities (4, 8, 12, and 16 mm/h, respectively). Process models of rainwater interception in different organs were fitted with adsorption kinetic equations. The rainwater interception process of tree organs complied with the quasi 2nd-order adsorption kinetic equation. The rainwater interception capacity of leaves, branches, and bark of ten urban tree species ranged from 0.05 to 0.34 mm, 0.13 to 0.24 mm, and 0.29 to 1.22 mm, respectively. The rainwater interception capacity of three organs significantly differs (p&lt;0.05). It reveals that bark exhibits the highest rainwater interception ability. Coniferous tree species have a greater ability to intercept rainwater than broad-leaved tree species. There are also differences in the rainwater interception ability of trees in urban and natural areas.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by itching, impaired epidermal barrier function and unbalanced inflammatory response. The pathophysiology involves immune dysregulation, with a predominance of T-helper 2 cells. AD is triggered by many known and unknown factors, including oxidative stress. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to AD pathogenesis by causing cellular damage and inflammation. Moreover, increased oxidative stress in AD leads to hyperactivation of the MAP kinase pathway, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38, with DNA damage and subsequent skin barrier dysfunction. This narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of the role of natural antioxidant compounds, highlighting their potential therapeutic value in AD management. They include vitamin D, vitamin E, pyridoxine (vitamin B6), Vitamin C, carotenoids and melatonin, in AD. Despite some studies have shown an association between vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin C and carotenoids levels and AD course, conflicting results exist. Pyridoxine supplementation has shown mixed results, and melatonin has demonstrated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in AD; in fact, melatonin treatment resulted in a decrease in symptoms in patients with AD, although no significant correlation with changes in sleep latency was reported. In addition, iron and zinc (Zn) supplementation can also improve AD symptoms. Further research is needed to elucidate the optimal use of these natural antioxidants in AD treatment

Salinity stress affect plant growth and development by causing osmotic stress, and nutrient imbalances through excess Na+, K+ and Cl- ion accumulations that induce toxic effects during germination, seedling development, vegetative growth, flowering, and fruit set. However, the effects of salt stress on such processes, especially in polyploidised leguminous plants remains unexplored and scantly reported compared to their diploid counterparts. This paper discusses the physiological and molecular response of legumes towards salinity stress based osmotic and ionic imbalances in plant cells. A multigenic response involving various compatible solutes, osmolytes, ROS, polyamines and antioxidant activity, together with genes encoding proteins involved in the signal transduction, regulation and response mechanisms to this stress were identified and discussed. This discussion reaffirms polyploidisation as the driving force in plant evolution and adaptation to environmental stress constraints such as drought, feverish temperatures, and in particular, salt stress. As a result, thorough physiological and molecular elucidation of the role of gene duplication through induced autopolyploidisation and possible mechanisms regulating salinity stress tolerance in grain legumes must be further studied.

The location of Israel at the junction of three continents leads to a unique faunal combination of Palearctic and Afrotropic zoogeographic origins. Following systematic revisions over the past sixty years and the discovery of new species, the only available key to the pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) of Israel (Beier 1963) has become outdated. We provide here an up-to-date checklist of the pseudoscorpion species of Israel including distribution maps, and the first illustrated identification key of the Israeli fauna based on morphological characters. Prior to our study this fauna comprised twelve families, 26 genera and 52 morphospecies, including several “subspecies”. We increase this number and list 61 pseudoscorpion morphospecies that belong to 28 genera and fourteen families. Most species are Palearctic and Mediterranean, and only a few are Afrotropic. Two families new to Israel are reported here for the first time: Syarinidae and Cheiridiidae. Both families are cosmopolitan and have representatives in the Mediterranean region. The putative new species are presented here at a genus level and will be described separately elsewhere.

The development of mineral deposits causes changes that are comparable to natural exogenous geological processes, and in local areas of intensive mining activity prevail over them. In this article, a diamond deposit is selected, developed by quarries of great depth, and a forecast is made of the impact of drainage water discharge on changes in the composition of surface water and bottom sediments during the entire period of development of the deposit. Modeling was per-formed according to various scenarios, taking into account changes in the total dissolved solids of groundwater from 0.5 to 21.7 g/kg H2O. Thermodynamic calculations were carried out using the HCh software package. The role of dissolved organic carbon in the migration of chemical elements and the effect of DOC on the precipitation of chemical elements from mixing solutions is given. It has been established that fulvic acid completely binds to Fe in the Fe(OH)2FA– complex in all types of natural waters and under all mixing scenarios. With humic acid, such a sharp competitive complex formation does not occur. It is distributed among the various elements more evenly. It was determined that the mass of precipitating iron in the presence of DOC decreases by 18-27%, and its precipitation in winter is more intense. In contrast to Fe, precipitation of Ca, Mg, and C from solution with DOC is higher in summer, and there are more of them in solution in winter. This study contributed to a better understanding of the behavior of heavy metals in surface waters and sediments under anthropogenic pressures in order to improve the sustainable management of water resources in the face of anthropogenic activities.

Species distribution modeling (SDM) has come a long way since its inception. Starting as simple bioclimatic envelope models based on expert knowledge, species distribution models (SDMs) have evolved into complex and sophisticated models that incorporate multiple sources of data and machine learning algorithms. Today, SDMs play a crucial role in addressing pressing conservation and management issues, including the impacts of climate change on species ranges and the as-sessment of species vulnerability to extinction. In this article, we will embark on a journey through the history, present, and future of SDM, exploring its evolution from bioclimatic envelopes to machine learning. We will also provide practical tips on how to use SDMs effectively and discuss the exciting future developments in this field. Whether you are a seasoned SDM expert or new to this field, this article will provide valuable insights into the exciting world of SDM. By exploring the rich history and current state of the field, we hope to shed light on the tremendous potential of SDM for improving our understanding of the distribution of species in a changing world.

The nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis has been reported worldwide, however, some basic questions remain unanswered about the presence of A. cantonensis in Ecua-dor: 1) Was the invasion of A. cantonensis in Ecuador unique, or did it occur in different waves? 2) Was this invasion as recent as historical records suggest? 3) Did this inva-sion come from other regions of South America or elsewhere? To address these issues, we assessed the genetic diversity of MT-CO1 gene sequences from isolates obtained in eleven of Ecuador's 24 provinces. Our Bayesian inference phylogenetic tree recovered A. cantonensis as a well-supported monophyletic group. All eleven sequences from Ec-uador were identical and identified as AC17a. The haplotype AC17a, found in Ecuador and the USA, formed a cluster with AC17b (USA); AC13 (Thailand); and AC12a-b (Cambodia). It is notable that all the samples, obtained in different geographic and climatic regions of different Ecuadorian provinces, had no genetic difference between them. Despite the lack of genetic information on A. cantonensis in Latin America, ex-cept in Brazil, our finding differs from previous studies by its absence of genetic diver-sity in Ecuador. We concluded that the invasion of A. cantonensis in Ecuador may have occurred: 1) as a one-time event, 2) recently, and 3) from Asia via the USA. Further re-search should include samples from countries neighboring Ecuador to delve deeper in-to this.

The greater U.S. Midwest is on the leading edge of tick and tick-borne disease (TBD) expansion, with tick and TBD encroachment into Illinois occurring from both the northern and the southern regions. To assess historical and future habitat suitability of four ticks of medical concern within the state, we fit individual and mean-weighted ensemble species distribution models for Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, Dermacentor variabilis, and a newly invading species, Amblyomma maculatum using a variety of landscape and mean climate variables for the periods of 1970-2000, 2041-2060, and 2061-2080. Ensemble model projections for the historical climate were consistent with known distributions of each species but predicted the habitat suitability of A. maculatum to be much greater throughout Illinois than what known distributions demonstrate. Presence of forest and wetlands were the most important landcover classes predicting occurrence of all tick species. As the climate warmed, the expected distribution of all species became strongly responsive to precipitation and temperature variables, particularly precipitation of the warmest quarter and mean diurnal range, as well as proximity to forest cover and water sources. The suitable habitat all species was predicted to shrink in the 2050 climate scenario, and then increase more broadly statewide in the 2070 scenario, but at reduced likelihoods. Predicting where ticks may invade and concentrate as the climate changes will be important to anticipate, prevent, and treat TBD in Illinois.

Environmental physical and chemical factors controlling the abundance and biodiversity of zooplankton in permafrost-affected lakes are poorly known yet they determine the response of the ecosystems to on-going climate change and water warming. Here we assessed the current status of zooplankton communities of lake ecosystems in the North-West of the Bolshezemelskaya tundra (Nenets Autonomous district), and provide new information about the composition and structure of zooplankton. Results demonstrate that the structure of zooplankton communities is influenced by morphometric features of lakes and the degree of their overgrowth by macrophytes. According to the level of zooplankton development, most tundra lakes were of the oligotrophic type with an average biomass of up to 1 g/m3. The largest number of species was observed in zooplankton communities of small lakes with an area of up to 0.02 km2 and overgrown with macrophytes. The analysis of factors that influence the formation of the lakes zoocenosis demonstrated that the species composition and quantitative characteristics of zooplankton are chiefly controlled by pH and water mineralization. A comparison of the results obtained with the literature data on the lakes of this region collected 60 years ago confirms that the ecosystems of the studied lakes are in a stable state. Overall, these new insights will improve our knowledge of factors controlling the zooplankton spatial dynamics in unique but quite abundant thermokarst lakes of NE European Tundra, subjected to on-going climate warming.

The Greek seas as a part of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, have been considered as a hotspot for the entrance of non-indigenous species (NIS). Ballast water functions as a major pathway for the spread of NIS in new environments, posing significant threats to both the ecosystems and human health. Nine non-indigenous fish species, originating from the Red Sea, have been introduced to the Greek seas since 1925. Despite the implemented laws for limiting the spread of NIS and the subsequent impacts, current global environmental issues, such as climate change and micro-plastic pollution, could result in a rapid spread and establishment of NIS in hot-spot regions, including the Greek seas. A more systematic use of advanced tools for the systematic monitoring of all NIS in the Mediterranean Sea is necessary.

Cold stress is a major environmental factor affecting the growth, development, and productivity of various crop species. With the current trajectory of global climate change, low temperatures are becoming more frequent and can significantly decrease crop yield. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the first crop to be domesticated and is the most popular cereal crop in the world. Due to a lack of systematic research on cold response pathways and gene regulatory networks, the underlying molecular mechanisms of cold signal transduction in wheat are poorly understood. This study reviews recent progress in wheat, including the ICE-CBF-COR signaling pathway in cold stress and the effects of cold stress on hormonal pathways, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and epigenetic regulation. This review also highlights outstanding issues that are crucial for understanding the interactions between wheat and low-temperature conditions.

This study aimed to exploring the intra-species distribution of genetic characters that favor the persistence in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and host interaction of bacteria belonging to the species Lacticaseibacillus genus. These bacterial species comprise commercial probiotics with the widest use among consumers and strains naturally occurring in GIT and in fermented food. Since little is known on the distribution of genetic traits for adhesion capacity, polysaccharide production, biofilm formation, utilization of substrates critically important for survival in GIT, that influence probiotic characteristics, a list of genetic determinants involved in such functions was created by a search for specific genes involved in the above aspects in the genome the extensively characterized probiotic L. rhamnosus GG. The presence/absence and variability of each gene in other Lacticaseibacillus spp. genomes was assessed by alignment with the publicly available fully annotated genome sequences. Eighty-two gene loci were compared, and 49 of these were found to be absent in some genomes in a species or strain-specific mode. A set of genes was found to be conserved, indicating that all strains of the genus may exert some probiotic effects. Among the variable loci a taurine utilization operon and a α-L-fucosidase were examined for presence/absence in 26 strains isolated from infant feces by PCR based tests. Results were variable among the isolates, though their common origin indicated the capacity to survive in the intestinal niche. This study indicated that the capacity to exert probiotic actions of Lacticaseibacillus spp. depends on a conserved set of genes and is enhanced by variable genetic factors whose role is only in part elucidated. The selection of strains of the most promising probiotic candidates to be used in food is feasible by analyzing presence/absence of a set of variable traits.

Familial colorectal cancer (CRC) is only partially explained by known germline predisposing genes. We performed whole genome sequencing in 15 Polish families of many affected individuals, without mutations in known CRC predisposing genes. We focused on loss-of-function variants and functionally characterized them. We identified a frameshift variant in the CYBA gene (c.246delC) in one family and a splice site variant in the TRPM4 gene (c.25-1 G>T) in another family. While both variants were absent or extremely rare in gene variant databases, we identified four additional Polish familial CRC cases and two healthy elderly individuals with the CYBA variant (odds ratio 2.46, 95% confidence interval 0.48-12.69). Both variants led to a premature stop codon and to a truncated protein. Functional characterization of the variants showed that knockdown of CYBA or TRPM4 depressed generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in LS174T and HT-29 cell lines. Knockdown of TRPM4 resulted in decreased MUC2 protein production. CYBA encodes a component in the NADPH oxidase system which generates ROS and controls, e.g., bacterial colonization in the gut. Germline CYBA variants are associated with early onset inflammatory bowel disease, supported with experimental evidence on loss of intestinal mucus barrier function due to ROS deficiency. TRPM4 encodes a calcium-activated ion channel, which in a human colonic cancer cell line controls calcium-mediated secretion of MUC2, a major component of intestinal mucus barrier. We suggest that the gene defects in CYBA and TRPM4 mechanistically involve intestinal barrier integrity through ROS and mucus biology, which converges in chronic bowel inflammation.

Introduction: Body size is correlated with many aspects of an animal species' natural history, such as life span, abundance, dispersal capacity and diet breadth. However, contrasting trends have been reported for the relationship between body size and these ecological traits. Methods: Butterfly species from fruit-feeding guilds were used to investigate whether body size correlates with species abundances, dispersal, permanence, and diet breadth in a Neotropical savanna in Brazil (Cerrado). We used Blomberg’s K and Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares models (PGLS) to measure phylogenetic signal strength in species traits, and to estimate size-dispersal-diet breadth associations while taking shared ancestry into account. Results: 539 individuals from 27 species were captured, and 190 individuals were recaptured, representing a 35% recapture rate. We found that body size negatively influenced butterfly abundance. In contrast, body size was positively associated with dispersal levels, distance traveled, number of traps visited, individual permanence, and diet breadth. These results indicate that larger butterflies have a greater proportion of dispersing individuals over longer distances, as they permanence were detected over longer periods than their smaller relatives. Moreover, larger butterflies are more generalized, based on the number of host plant families and genera they consume. Smaller butterflies demand fewer resources, which is reflected in their higher survival in small patches, and may explain their lower dispersal ability, and higher diet specialization. Nevertheless, lower dispersal ability, if not compensated by large population sizes, may threaten small-bodied species inhabiting environments with intense deforestation rates, such as the Cerrado. Conclusions: Body size positively influences dispersal and diet breadth in the fruit-feeding butterflies collected in this study.

The Ponto-Caspian region is the main donor of invasive amphipods to freshwater ecosystems, with at least 13 species successfully established in European inland waters. Dikerogammarus spp. and Pontogammarus robustoides are among the most successful, due to their strong invasive impact on local biota. However, genomic knowledge on these invaders is scarce, while phylogeography and population genetics have been based on short fragments of mitochondrial markers or nuclear mi-crosatellites. In this study, we provide: (i) reconstruction of four mitogenomes for four invasive gammarids; (ii) comparison between the structure of the newly obtained mitogenomes and to those from literature; (iii) SNP calling rates for individual D. villosus and D. haemobaphes from different invasion sites across Europe; and (iv) the first time-calibrated full mitogenome reconstruction of several Ponto-Caspian taxa. We have sequenced, assembled and annotated four mitogenomes, each from D. villosus, D. hae-mobaphes, D. bispinosus and Pontogammarus robustoides. We found that, in comparison to other gammarids, the mitogenomes of Ponto-Caspian species show a translocation between the tRNA-E and tRNA-R positions. Phylogenetic reconstruction using the mitogenomes identified that Ponto-Caspian gammarids form a well-supported group that originated in the Miocene. Our study supports paraphyly in the family Gammaridae. These mitogenomes serve as vital genetic resources for the development of new markers for PCR-based identification methods and demographic studies.

Leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Leptospira. This zoonotic disease affects humans, domestic, or wild animals. Colombia is considered an endemic country for leptospirosis; and Antioquia is the second department in Colombia with the highest number of reported leptospirosis cases. Currently, many studies report bats as reservoirs of Leptospira spp. but its prevalence in these mammals is unknown. In the present study we aimed to better understand the role of bats as reservoir hosts of Leptospira species and to evaluate the genetic diversity of circulating Leptospira species in Antioquia-Colombia. We captured 206 bats in the municipalities of Chigorodó (43 bats), Carepa (43 bats), Apartadó (39 bats), Turbo (40 bats), and Necoclí (41 bats) in the Urabá region (Antioquia-Colombia). Twenty bats were positive for Leptospira spp. infection (20/206 - 9,70%) and the species of infected bats were Carollia perspicillata, Dermatura rava, Glossophaga soricina, Molossus molossus, Artibeus planirostris, and Uroderma convexum. These species have different feeding strategies such as frugivorous, insectivores, and nectarivores. The infecting Leptospira species identified were Leptospira borgpetersenii (3/20 – 15%), Leptospira alexanderi (2/20 – 10%), Leptospira noguchii (6/20 – 30%), Leptospira interrogans (3/2 – 15%), and Leptospira kirschneri (6/20 – 30%). The results of this research show the importance of bats in the epidemiology, ecology and evolution of Leptospira in this host-pathogen association. This is the first step in deciphering the role played by bats in the epidemiology of human leptospirosis in the endemic region of Uraba (Antioquia-Colombia).

The treatment of benzylidenemalononitriles 3a-c with phenylhydrazines 4a-n in refluxing ethanol did not provide pyrazole derivatives but furnished hydrazones 1a-o. The structure of hydrazones was secured by X-Ray analysis. Newly synthesized hydrazones 1a-o were tested against 8 Candida spp. strains in a dose response assay to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC99). Five compounds 1c, 1d, 1i, 1k and 1l were identified as promising antifungal agents against Candida spp. (C. albicans SC5314, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis and C. glabrata (R azoles)) with MIC99 values ranging from 16 to 32 µg/mL. To further evaluate the antifungal potential of the active compounds, they have been assayed against a mammalian cell line HEK293 to determine general cell toxicity and on NCI-60 cancer cell lines panel, demonstrating selectivity antifungal activity over cytotoxicity.

Remote sensing/GIS techniques are a versatile tool for x-raying serial forest structural changes in retrospect. It would be impossible to evaluate past occurrences and changes in forest extents in past decades at Effan Forest Reserve without non-conventional means. Therefore, we adopted remote sensing technology using Landsat images to evaluate land-use change and degradation rates in the area with a view to ascertaining causal factors for possible minimization of forest degradation in Effan Forest Reserve. Land-use/land-cover changes were analyzed using USGS-Landsat TM and ETM images of 1987, 2002, 2014 and 2019. Field-data were collected using handheld GPS receiver and spatial statistical analyses were conducted using the ground control points (GCPs). For inventory data, a systematic sampling technique was adopted using ten 1.05 km-transects at 500 m intervals. A total of 50 sample plots of 50 × 50 m were used. All tree species with Dbh ≥10 cm were enumerated. Nineteen tree species in ten families were encountered with Vitellaria paradoxa as the most-frequently occurring species in the area. IUCN-listed endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus, hitherto abundant in the area, was rarely encountered during the survey, while Vitellaria paradoxa is gradually shrinking, going the relative abundance in the area. The result further showed that primary and secondary forests decreased considerably by 258.03 ha (46.72%) and 9.18 ha (3.63%), respectively, with a total forest loss of 50.3% in 32 years (8.4 hayr-1, 1.6% per annum). While forest plantation size doubled by 369.72 ha within the period. This is worrisome as the remaining fragmented forests appeared to be on the decline, except the riparian vegetation, due to inaccessibility to the riparian by loggers. It thus appeared that forest protection approaches were ineffective. Increased protection efforts could save this forest reserve, and the concerned authority should consider a focused-enrichment planting involving indigenous species for ecosystem-repair.

(1) Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a crucial role in the preparation of the normal wound healing response. Therefore, a correct balance between low or high levels of ROS is essential. Antioxidant dressings that regulate this balance is a target for new therapies. The purpose of this review is to identify the compounds with antioxidant properties that have been tested for wound healing and to summarize the available evidence on their effects. (2) Methods: A literature search was conducted and included any study that evaluated the effects or mechanisms of antioxidants in the healing process (in vitro, animal models, or human studies). (3) Results: Seven compounds with antioxidant activity were identified (Curcumin, N-acetyl cysteine, Chitosan, Gallic Acid, Edaravone, Crocin, Safranal, and Quercetin) and 46 studies reporting the effects on the healing process of these antioxidants compounds were included. (4) Conclusions: These results highlight that numerous novel investigations are being conducted to develop more efficient systems for wound healing activity. The application of antioxidants is useful against oxidative damage and accelerates wound healing. Designing biomaterials that can scavenge excess reactive oxygen species requires new technologies and further research, especially human studies.

Species have shown their habital variations in responding to climate change, especially during the spring and summer spawning seasons. The species distribution model (SDM) is considered the most favorable tool to study the potential effects of climate change on species distribution. Therefore, we developed the ensemble SDM to predict the changes in species distribution of Portunus trituberculatus among different seasons in 2050 and 2100 under the climate scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The results of SDM indicate that the distribution of this species will move northward and have obviouse seasonal variations. Meanwhile, the suitable habitat for the species will be significantly reduced in summer, with loses rates ranging from 45.23% (RCP4.5) to 88.26% (RCP.8.5) by 2100s. Habitat reduction will mainly occur in the East China Sea and southern part of the Yellow Sea, while there will be a small increase in the northern Bohai Sea. These findings will be important to manage the ecosystem and fishery, provide an information forecast of this species in the future, and maintain species diversity if the seawater temperature rises.

Research Highlights: Hagenia abyssinica is geographically localized, poor regenerated and endangered species in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been experiencing variability of rainfall and rise in temperature due to the climate change. This study has hypothesized that the suitable areas for the species will be narrowed by the year 2070. Background and Objective The prediction of species distribution models help to implement appropriate conservation actions. The aim of this research was to identify the current and likely future distribution range and suitable areas for the species, and to determine the presence of H. absyssinica in risk in a short-term future. Material and method: To this end, occurrence data, bioclim variables, soil, elevation, and land cover map of Ethiopia were used. MaxEnt was used to predict distribution. Climate change impacts on the distribution of the species was performed using bioclimatic variables of the future climate data, 2070 (average for 2061-2080) was obtained from IPPC5 (CMIP5) at 30 seconds (1km) spatial resolution. The climate data was projected from GCMs, downscaled and calibrated using rcp4.5. Results: Both current and likely future distribution models were excellent and significantly better than random performance. This study has computed 59987 km2 to be the low impact area for the species under current conditions and will remain habitat under future climates and 39025 km2 area has been identified as the possible high impact areas or declining habitat. The model has also determined that 1238724 km2 of the areas are unsuitable at present and for future climates. The current study found that 15751 km2 of the area will be modified as a new suitable area for H. abyssinica due to climate change. Conclusion: Species distribution modeling is essential for the implementation of conservation actions that are compatible with the inevitable changing climatic conditions of the country.

A Mamdani-type fuzzy-logic model has been developed to link Mediterranean seagrass abundance to the prevailing environmental conditions. Big Databases, as UNEP-WCMC (seagrass abundance), CMEMS and EMODnet (oceanographic/environmental) and human-impact parameters were utilized for this expert system. Model structure and input parameters were tested according to their capacity to accurately predict seagrass families at specific locations. The optimum FIS comprised of four input variables: water depth, sea surface temperature and nitrates and bottom chlorophyll-a concentration, exhibiting fair accuracy (76%). Results illustrated that Posidoniaceae prefers cool (16-18oC) and low chlorophyll-a presence (&lt; 0.2 mg/m3); Zosteraceae favors cool (16-18oC) and mesotrophic waters (Chl-a &gt; 0.2 mg/m3), but also slightly warmer (18-19.5 oC) with lower Chl-a levels (&lt; 0.2 mg/m3); Cymodoceaceae lives from warm, oligotrophic (19.5-21.0oC and Chl-a &lt; 0.3 mg/m3) to moderately warm mesotrophic sites (18-21.3oC and 0.3 – 0.4 mg/m3 Chl-a). Finally, Hydrocharitaceae thrives in warm Mediterranaean waters (21-23oC) of low chlorophyll-a content (&lt; 0.25 mg/m3). Climate change scenarios showed that Posidoniaceae and Zosteraceae tolerate bathymetric changes, Posidoniaceae and Zosteraceae are mostly affected by sea temperature rise, while Hydrocharitaceae exhibits tolerance in higher sea temperature rise. This FIS could be used by national and regional policy-makers and public authorities.

The land flatworm Platydemus manokwari (Platyhelminthes, Geoplanidae) is recorded for the first time from the island of Guadeloupe (French West Indies) in the Caribbean arc. Photographs and records were obtained from citizen science and ranged from the end of 2018 to 2020; specimens were deposited in the collections of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. This is the first record in Guadeloupe and the second for an island in the Caribbean, after Porto Rico.

The natural vegetation study was conducted in Kafta-sheraro national park (KSNP) North, Ethiopia to explore floristic composition, structure and regeneration of woody species in the home of African elephant. In the park, the above information is not well documented which is necessary for conservation. Data were collected From August to December 2018. The vegetation data were collected from 161 quadrats of size 20m×20m, 5mx5m for shrub ̸ tree, sapling and seedling respectively. Individual trees and shrubs DBH >=2.5cm and height >=2m were measured using Tape meter and Clinometer respectively. DBH, frequency, density, basal area, and IVI were used for vegetation structure. A total of 70 woody species 46 (65.7%) trees, 18 (25.7%) shrubs and 6 (8.6%) tree ̸ shrub) were identified. The total basal area and density of 79.3 m2 ha-1, and 466 ±12.8 (S.E.) individuals ha-1 were calculated for 64 woody species. Fabaceae was the most dominant family occupied 16 species (23.0%) followed by Combretaceae 8 species (11.4%). Acacia mellifera and Combretum hartmannianum were the most dominant and frequent species. Abnormal patterns of selected woody species were dominantly identified. Regenerating status all the woody plant species was categorized as “Fair” (18.75%), “Poor” (7.81 %) and “None” (73.44%). However, there is good initiation for conservation of the park; still the vegetation of the park was threatened by firewood collection, charcoal production, fire, intensive farming, mining and over grazing. Therefore, the study area as the habitat for the population of the African elephant; the KSNP should be recommended the highest conservation priority and studied the soil seed bank of species having poor regeneration condition.

Urgent action is required to ‘bend the curve’ on biodiversity loss. However, the ‘species goal’ (Goal B) unveiled in the recently released Zero Draft of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is inadequate for mobilizing conservation actions to achieve the outcomes required to halt and reverse species declines. Here we examine the limitations of the goal as presented in the Zero Draft and propose a more ambitious goal for species. The conservation community must ensure that the species goal of the GBF captures what is actually needed from a species perspective for the Post-2020 Framework to achieve its 2030 mission “to put biodiversity on a path to recovery for the benefit of planet and people”, lest the mission be doomed from the start.

Arthropod predators preying on vertebrates is generally overlooked in ecological studies, as it is not typically observed in nature and generally considered a rare event. This is likely due to the cryptic nature of these predatory events, the relatively small size of arthropods, and the difficulty in collating published data which is scattered throughout the literature. Although arthropods are known to readily hunt and consume vertebrates, very little is known about these predatory events. In this study, a systematic literature review was conducted to provide a conceptual framework, identify global patterns, and create a searchable database of arthropod preying on vertebrates. This study represents the largest global assessment of arthropod predators and vertebrate prey with over a thousand recorded observations collated from over 80 countries across every continent except Antarctica, where no arthropod predator exists. Arthropod predators were represented by six classes (insects, arachnids, centipedes, and crustaceans: Malacostraca, Ostracoda, Hexanauplia) and over 80 families. Vertebrate prey were represented by five classes (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish) and 160 families. The most common prey were frogs consisting of over a third of all observations. The most commonly preyed reptiles were nearly all lizards, half of mammal prey were bats, nearly a third of fish were Cypriniformes, and half of bird prey were passerines. Spiders represented over half of all predatory events found and were the main predator for all vertebrates except birds, which were preyed mostly upon praying mantises. However, prey varied between spider families. For insects, true bugs (Hemiptera) and beetles preyed mostly on amphibians while the aquatic Odonata larvae preyed on amphibians and fish. Decapod predators were observed preying equally between reptiles, birds, and amphibians; with centipedes preying mainly on reptiles and mammals. Predation was mostly recorded from the Americas and Australia, with countries and regions varying between predator and prey groups. This study demonstrates that arthropods are indeed an overlooked predator of vertebrates. Recognizing and quantifying these predator-prey interactions is vital for identifying patterns and the potential impact of these relationships on shaping vertebrate populations and communities. Understanding the possible threat of arthropod predators may be especially important to improve the success of conservation efforts by accounting for predators which may currently be overlooked.

The isolation and characterization of chitin (CHI) obtained from Vespa velutina (CHIVV) is described. Moreover, a trapping procedure is presented to selectively catch the invasive species. The chitin contents of dry Vespa velutina was observed to be 11.7 %. The physicochemical properties of CHIVV was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state NMR (ssNMR), elemental analysis (EA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Obtained CHIVV is close to pure (43, 47% C, 6.94% H, and 6.85% N) and full acetylated with a value of 95.44%. Also, lifetime and kinetic parameters such as activation E and the frequency factor A using model-free and model-fitting methods, were determined. For CHIVV the solid state mechanism that follows the thermodegradation is of type F2 (Random nucleation around two nuclei). Vespa velutina chitin should not be used at temperatures above 60ºC, since its half-life would be only one year, and from an industrial point of view it would not be profitable. Based on certain factors such as the current and probable continued abundance of Vespa velutina and the quality of the product obtained, the invasive Asian hornet is a promising alternative source of chitin.

Several transgenic rice lines have been developed and are currently under field trials around the world. There are future plans for the commercial release of transgenic rice into the environment. Rice is an autogamous plant and therefore not perceived to be a very high candidate for pollen mediated gene flow to wild and weedy relatives. However, in a tropical environment like Ghana, where sexually compatible wild Oryza species which belongs to the AA genome are present within the ecology of cultivated rice, the possibility of gene flow to wild species cannot be overlooked. There is little evidence on gene flow and its consequences on the wild rice species should they acquire useful genes through gene flow. This review discusses the chances of cultivated to wild rice gene flow in Ghana and the biosafety considerations that should be put in place before the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) rice.

The establishment and spread of exotic species is a contemporary major concern. Alien species may become invasive in their new habitat, leading to both/either environmental and/or economic impacts. I briefly reviewed the literature in the last decade about the relationship of exotic species and native communities. I identified that professionals usually approach the subject in two main points of view: (1) researchers tend to point out the impacts of alien species on entire communities, evaluating if the relationship is positive, negative or neutral; (2) they focus on the eco-evolutionary processes involved in the introductions, the dynamics of invasion, and individual study cases. When evaluating the response of introductions to entire communities, evidence seems to be ambiguous and may support positive, negative or neutral relationship, especially depending on the scale approached. The unique eco-evolutionary pathways of each introduction may be a great shortcoming in the searching for generalities. On the other hand, advances have been made in understanding the dynamics of invasion on different lineages through a more selective/individualized approach. I suggest that the dynamics of invasion might be studied through a perspective in which different eco-evolutionary processes, levels of organization (from gene to entire communities), the history of the organism(s) and time are taken into account. Individual cases might be compared in attempt to understand how the relationship exotic and native works and in the search for generalities.

Climate change and the overall increase of seawater temperature is causing a poleward shift in species distribution, which includes a phenomenon described as tropicalization of temperate regions. This work aims at reporting the first records of four species off the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, namely oceanic puffer Lagocephalus lagocephalus Linnaeus, 1758, Madeira rockfish Scorpaena maderensis Valenciennes, 1833, ornate wrasse Thalassoma pavo Linnaeus, 1758, and bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata Pallas, 1766. These last three species, along with other occurrences of aquatic fauna and flora along the Portuguese coast, reveal an ongoing process of poleward expansion of several species for which a comprehensive survey along the entire Iberian Peninsula is urgent. The putative origins of these subtropical and tropical species off continental Portugal are discussed, as well as the urgent need of public awareness due to potential health risks resulting from the toxicity of two of the four species reported in this paper.

Soil pH, either low (acidity) or high (alkalinity) is one of the major constraints that affect many biochemical and biological processes within the cell. The present study was carried out to understand the oxidative damage and antioxidant defense in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. BARI Gom-25) grown under different pH regimes. Eight-day-old seedlings were exposed to growing media with different pH levels (4.0, 5.5, 7.0 and 8.5). Seedlings grown in pH 4.0 and in pH 8.5 showed reductions in biomass, water, and chlorophyll contents; whereas plants grown at pH 7.0 (neutral) exhibited better performance. Extremely acidic (pH 4.0) and/or strongly alkaline (pH 8.5)-stress also increased oxidative damages in wheat by excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and methylglyoxal (MG) production, which increased lipid peroxidation and disrupted the redox state. In contrary, the lowest oxidative damage was observed at neutral condition followed by strong acidic condition (pH 5.5), which was attributed mainly due to better performance of the antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems. Interestingly, seedlings grown at pH 5.5 showed a significant increase in morphophysiological attributes compared with extreme acidic (pH 4.0)- and strong alkaline (pH 8.5)-stress treatments, which indicates the tolerance of wheat to the acidic condition.

Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum, is a variety of wild chili pepper belonging to the family Solanaceae and is considered as the origin for all cultivated chili species of the world. This species is an important genetic resource for agriculture and food, is widely distributed in northeastern Mexico in altitudes from 0 – 1200 m.a.s.l. This species grows mainly at low altitudes and its upper limit reaches 1000m., it prefers temperatures above 18.3^O C and its production and harvest may ocurr at two seasons, one during the beginning of the summer and the main one ocurring in the middle of the autumn in northeast México. It is estimated that the main production occurs in the state of Tamaulipas with 84 tons per year and is harvested from 23 municipalities. Concentration of capseicins and dihydrocapsaicine from wild populations may vary considerably from one location to another in the municipalities, ecotypes and diverse climatic conditions from this wide geographic zone. The high demands of wild chili as well as the variability on concentration of capseicins in fruits are considered as some of the main reasons why intensive cultivation of this species should be carried out in Northeastern Mexico.

The species and bio-availability of phosphorus (P) in primary, secondary and digested sludge were fractionated and further analyzed in this study. Results showed that inorganic P (IP) was the primary P fraction in the secondary sludge and digested sludge, in which non-apatite IP (NAIP) amounted to 91.6% and 69.3% of IP, respectively. Organic P (OP), accounting for about 71.7% of total P (TP), was the dominant P composition in primary sludge. The content of bio-available P was about 9.7, 43.4, 29.8 mg-P/g-TS in primary sludge, secondary sludge and digested sludge, respectively, suggesting secondary sludge is the optimal choice when land application of sewage sludge is taken into consideration, followed by digested sludge and primary sludge. Polyphosphate and orthophosphate, comprising approximately 54.3% and 89.2% of TP, was the dominant P species in the secondary sludge and digested sludge, respectively. Monoester-P (54.6% of TP in extract) and diester- P (24.1%) were identified as OP species in primary sludge by Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (31PNMR). The present results would be helpful for P recovery and recycle from sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plant.

Allometric equations are used to estimate accurate biomass and carbon stock of forests. However, in Ethiopia only few allometric equations as compared to its floral diversity and species-specific allometric equations for Acacia species are still not developed in Ethiopia. The numbers of tree marked for sampling are Fifty-four (54) using preferential sampling. Diameter at breast height, wood density and tree height were collected as independent variables to predict species specific dry biomass of Acacia species. The new species-specific allometric models have been performed using linear regression analysis in the R software. The Above ground biomass (AGB) have been validated using quantitative statically using the pantropic model. Six candidate models have been developed for each species and four best models for each species of dry biomass was selected based on goodness-of-fit statistics and equation performance analysis of the candidate models. The best model for predicting above ground biomass for Acacia seyal is 0.20636*((DBH²)Hρ) ^0.53167, for Acacia polyacantha is 7.26982((DBH)²Hρ)^0.21750, for Acacia ethibcia is 29.01898*((DBH)²Hρ)^0.21518 and for Acacia toritolis is 3.82427*((DBH)²Hρ)^0.16748. The selected models are the best performing (P> 0.01) and higher adjusted R² (>80%) and has lower Akaike’s Information Criteria (AIC) and residual standard error (RSE) values as comparing the rest of the model. The validation of new developed biomass model using Tukey test indicated that significant variation of mean biomass (P<0.05) between the new developed model and the generalized model. The statistics model performance analysis of Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) value is approaching to one, indicating that the new developed model has better performance model as compared with generalized model. Moreover, the percent bias of the new developed models is close to zero which indicates that the site-specific biomass models have more accurate estimator and the generalized biomass models have overestimated biomass for the four Acacia species.

Harmonia axyridis is an invasive ladybird (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) with the potential to outcompete native ladybird species in its invasive distribution area. It was introduced as a biological control agent in many countries but has also spread unintentionally in many others. Hesperomyces virescens (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) is a minute (200–400 µm in size) biotrophic fungus that infects over 30 species of ladybirds. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether elytral colour pattern, size, and sex of Ha. axyridis affect infection by H. virescens. Colouration in Ha. axyridis has been linked to the presence of an antimicrobial alkaloid (harmonine). In fall 2016, we collected 763 Ha. axyridis individuals in Cambridge, Massaschusetts, of which 119 (16%) bore H. virescens fruiting bodies. We analysed 160 individuals concerning prevalence and intensity of infection by H. virescens. Elytral sizes and colouration patterns were quantified using digital photography and analytical methods. Smaller ladybirds had a higher prevalence and higher intensity of parasitism. Additionally, male ladybirds bore more thalli compared to female ladybirds. Elytral colour patterns had an effect on neither prevalence nor intensity of infection by Laboulbeniales in our dataset. This suggests that development of Laboulbeniales may be unaffected by certain insect alkaloids.

Species data of 249 National Nature Reserves in China was used to identify potential underlying drivers of latitudinal gradients in plant diversity. We used generalized linear models (GLMs) to assess the correlations between predictor and response variables. We also used SAM (Spatial Analysis in Macroecology) to eliminate autocorrelation along each of the 249 studied locations. We used the Akaike information criterion (AICc; Montoya et al. 2007) to select the independent variables were those included in the best models from different combinations of climate, habitat and animal variables. Variance partitioning was used to decompose the variation in plant richness across different taxonomic levels among the three groups of predictors. We found that: Total plant species, gymnosperms, angiosperms and ferns showed significant latitudinal trends in richness (p < 0.001). Water-energy and habitat variables generally explained more variation in richness across different plant groups than did animal richness. Annual precipitation was selected as the best water-energy variable across different taxonomic plants groups, soil PH and elevation range were selected as the best habitat variables across different taxonomic plant groups. The independent effects of habitatvariables were higher than that of water-energy and animal variables across different taxonomic plants groups. Water-energy, habitat heterogeneity, and animal variables explain 48.8% of the variation in total species richness, 28.2% in gymnosperm richness, 44.2% in angiosperm richness, and 38.9% in fern richness.Plants showed significant latitudinal trends in richness (p < 0.001). Water-energy and habitat variables generally explained more variation in richness across different taxonomic plants groups than did animal variables. The independent effects of habitat variables were higher than those of water-energy and animal variables across different taxonomic plants groups.

Bent trees have been observed during the early years in juvenile plantations (less than 5 years-old) of Tectona grandis in Costa Rica. The relationship between bending and the morphological characteristics of the trees was explored. An evaluation of bent trees was conducted in six juvenile plantations (8, 17, 27, 28, 31, and 54 months old) of Tectona grandis. Site 1 with 8-month-old plantations did not display any relationship with any tree morphological variable (diameter, height, and crown weight of tree), whereas for the sites 2, 3, and 4 with 17-, 27-, and 28-month-old plantations, respectively, all the tree morphological variables were statistically correlated with the bent trees. A multiple regression analysis showed that the most influential variables were height to crown base, crown weight, diameter, and total height of the tree. An evaluation of the bending risk factor (RF) was correlated with the height to crown base, crown weight, and form factor. The modulus of elasticity and chemical compositions of bent trees differed from those of straight trees. The causes of tree bending are complex, involving, among other factors, the morphology of the trees, plantation conditions, and other factors specific to the xylem, such as the specific gravity, modulus of elasticity, and presence of calcium and magnesium in the wood.

Sunn pest is one of the most crucial noxious species in agriculture. As the sunn pest penetrates and makes damage to the grains, they can no longer be utilized to make bakery goods like bread, pasta, and other baked foods since they become unusable. Therefore, analysis and detection of damaged wheat grains are necessary for production to continue. We recommend that the dataset could be used for analysis and segmentation of the wheat grains, detection of the sunn pest damage condition, and classification of the 6 species of which the dataset consists. As mentioned, in our dataset, there are 6 different species of wheat, including Bezostaja, Müfitbey, Nacibey, Sönmez-2001, Tosunbey, and Ekiz, which are the species that were made in Türkiye. Our dataset differs from the others due to its various species and the condition, whether it is healthy or sunn pest damaged or broken wheat grain, and because the dataset is a multiclass one, it can be used for the classification of the varieties. On the other hand, when the sunn pest damage condition is taken into account, the dataset is suitable for the detection of the sunn pest damage. In addition to that, the dataset includes grains that touch each other which makes it more applicable to problems that arise in real-life. The dataset consists of 83 sunn pest damaged and 87 healthy wheat images. In addition, there are 170 images that contain 3565 wheat grains. As can be observed, the dataset contains a variety of wheat species with sunn pest affected which displays that the promised dataset is suitable for numerous machine learning problems such as classification, segmentation, and detection.

We report recent enhancements of the online atomic database at the Ohio State University, NORAD-Atomic-Data, that provides various parameters for radiative and collisional atomic processes dominant in astrophysical plasma. NORAD stands for Nahar Osu RADiative. The database belongs to the data sources, especially for the latest works, of the international collaborations of the Opacity Project and the Iron Project. The contents of the database are calculated values for energies, oscillator strengths, radiative decay rates, lifetimes, cross sections for photoionization, electron-ion recombination cross sections and recombination rate coefficients. We have recently expanded NORAD-Atomic-Data with several enhancements over those reported earlier. They are as follows. i) We continue to add energy levels, transition parameters, cross sections for atoms and ions with their publications. ii) Recently added radiative atomic data contains significant amount of transition data for photo-absorption spectral features corresponding to x-ray resonance fluorescence effect, prominent wavelength regions of bio-signature elements, such as phosphorus ions, and emission bumps of heavy elements, such as of lanthanides, that may be created in a kilonova event. We are including iii) collisional data for electron-impact-excitation, iv) experimental data for energies and oscillator strengths for line formation, v) experimental cross sections for photoionization that can be applied for benchmarking and other applications, and vi) introduction of a web-based interactive feature to calculate spectral line ratios at various plasma temperature and density diagnostics, starting with our recently published data for P II. We presented summary description of theoretical backgrounds for the computed data in the earlier paper. With introduction of experimental results, we present summary description of measurement of high resolution photoionization cross sections at Advanced Light Source of LBNL synchrotron set-up and briefly discuss other set-ups. These additions should make NORAD-Atomic-Data more versatile for various applications. For brevity, we provide information on the extensions and avoid repetition of data description of the original paper.

The plant productivity-richness relationship (PPR) is one of the most debated and important issues in ecology. There have been distinct stages in the research of this issue, including the discovery of the different PPR shapes, respective tests of influencing processes, and integrative research with vegetation investigation, manipulation experiments, and theoretical analysis. The debate largely focuses on what the dominant shapes and underlying mechanisms are. Recent integrative research works following analyses of respective processes affecting PPR have found that the humped, asymptotic, positive, negative, and irregular shapes of PPR are linked to each other. One shape of PPR may change into another. The balance between positive and negative processes determines the different shapes of PPR. Plant diversity has a globally positive effect on plant productivity.

This article is about a framework for determining the degree of realism of any given 1 passenger ride motion discomfort measurement formula. After providing some context and reviewing 2 evidence of deficiency in currently popular ride motion discomfort measurement formulas, the article 3 outlines the research program that needs to be carried out in order to establish such a framework. 4 The research begins with gathering recordings of uncomfortable ride motion episodes encountered in 5 a chosen type of passenger transport service. It then has test subjects compare the episodes via a ride 6 motion simulator and adjust their amplitudes pair wise until they cause equal discomfort. It explains 7 how to take the pair wise amplitude adjustments and determine amplitude adjustments that bring all 8 of the motion episode recordings to a common level of discomfort so that they form a normalized set. 9 Then, the lower the scatter of the scores assigned by any given discomfort measurement formula to 10 the members of that set, the more realistic that formula will be for the chosen service.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibit improved optical and spectral properties compared to bulk materials, making them suitable for detection of DNA, RNA, antigens, and antibodies. Here, we describe a simple, selective, and rapid non-cross linking detection assay, using approx. 35 nm spherical Au nanoprobes, for a common mutation occurring in exon 19 of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), associated with non-small cell lung cancer cells. AuNPs were synthesized based on the seed-mediated growth method and functionalized with a specific 16 bp thiolated oligonucleotide using a pH-assisted method. Both AuNPs and Au nanoprobes proved to be highly stable and monodisperse by ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electrophoretic light scattering (ELS). Our results indicate a detection limit of 1.5 µg mL−1 using a 0.15 nmol dm−3 Au nanoprobe concentration. In conclusion, this work is an effective possibility for a straight-forward, fast, and inexpensive alternative for the detection of DNA sequences related to lung cancer, leading to a potential platform for an early diagnosis of lung cancer patients.

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is a monoecious species and although it exhibits self-compatibility, presents incomplete overlap of pollen shed and female receptivity. Thus, cross-pollination is prerequisite for optimal fruit production. Cross-pollination can occur naturally by the wind, the insects, artificially, or by hand. Pollen has been recognized as one possible pathway for Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis infection, a pathogenic bacterium responsible for walnut blight disease. Other than the well-known cultural and chemical control practices, artificial pollination technologies with the use of drones could be a successful tool for walnut blight disease management of orchards. Drones may carry pollen and release it over crops or mimic the action of bees or other pollinators. Although this new pollination technology could be regarded as a promising tool, pollen germination and knowledge of pollen as a possible pathway for the dissemination of bacterial diseases remain crucial information for design and manufacture of aerial pollinator robot for walnut trees. Thus, our purpose was to describe a pollination model with fundamental components, the identification of the “core” pollen microbiota, specify an appropriate flower pollination algorithm, design an autonomous precision pollination robot, and minimize the average errors of flower pollination algorithm parameters through machine learning and meta-heuristic algorithms.

Background: The association between the individual and combined effects of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sleep quality with physical frailty in community-dwelling older adults is still unknown. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a participants pool comprising older adults who had not been officially assessed as requiring nursing care or support services.. Physical frailty was assessed using Liu's definition based on Fried's concept. MVPA was measured by a triaxial accelerometer, and individuals who meet either MPA for ≥300 min/week, VPA for ≥150 min/week, or both of them were defined as "MVA+." "SLP+" was defined as a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score &lt;5.5 points. We performed an ordinal logistic regression analysis to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) regarding the relationship between MVPA and sleep quality with physical pre-frailty and frailty. Results: The final analysis included 811 participants. After multivariate adjustment, compared to the MVA+SLP+, the MVA−SLP+ (OR 2.56, 95%CI: 1.80–3.62) and the MVA−SLP− (OR 3.97, 95%CI: 2.33–6.74) participants showed significantly higher ORs for physical pre-frailty and frailty. Conclusion: Community-dwelling older adults who did not meet MVPA criteria, regardless of sleep quality, had a higher risk of physical pre-frailty and frailty.

Haze always shrouds satellite images, obscuring valuable geographic information for military surveillance, natural calamity surveillance and mineral resource exploration. Satellite image dehazing (SID) provides the possibility for better applications of satellite images. Most of the existing dehazing methods are tailored for natural images and are not very effective for satellite images with non-homogeneous haze since the semantic structure information and inconsistent attenuation are not fully considered. To tackle this problem, this study proposes a hierarchical semantic-guided contextual structure-aware network (SCSNet) for satellite image dehazing. Specifically, a hybrid CNN-transformer architecture integrated with a hierarchical semantic guidance (HSG) module is presented to learn semantic structure information by synergetically complementing local representation from non-local features. Furthermore, a cross-layer fusion (CLF) module is specially designed to replace the traditional skip connection during the feature decoding stage, so as to reinforce the attention to the spatial regions and feature channels with more serious attenuation. The results on the SateHaze1k, RS-Haze, and RSID datasets demonstrate that the proposed SCSNet can achieve effective dehazing and outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods.

Liquid argon technology is widely used by many previous and current neutrino experiments, and it is also promising for future large-scale neutrino experiments. When detecting neutrinos using liquid argon, many hadrons are involved, which can also interact with argon nuclei. In order to gain a better understanding of detection processes, and to simulate neutrino events, knowledge of hadron-argon cross sections is needed. This paper describes a new procedure, which improves upon the previous work with a multi-dimensional unfolding, to measure hadron-argon cross sections in a liquid argon time projection chamber. Through a simplified version of simulation, we demonstrate the validity of this procedure.

The surface electromyogram (sEMG)--based gesture recognition to the development of intelligent prostheses has emerged as a promising avenue for upper limb amputees. However, the temporal variations in sEMG have rendered recognition models less efficient than anticipated. Cross-session calibration and training data indicate the capacity to reduce this variation. The impact of varying calibration and training data amounts on gesture recognition performance for amputees is still unknown. To assess these effects, we present four datasets for the evaluation of calibration data and examine the impact of training data volume on benchmark performance. Two amputees who had undergone amputations years prior were recruited and seven sessions of data were collected for analysis from each of them. The experimental results show that the calibration data improved the average accuracy per subject by 3.03% and 6.16%, respectively, compared to the baseline results. Moreover, it was found that to collect training data for modeling, boosting the number of training sessions proves more efficient than increasing the number of trials within a single session. Two potentially effective strategies are proposed in light of this research to enhance the cross-session models further. We consider these findings to be of the utmost importance for the commercialization of intelligent prostheses, as they demonstrate the criticality of gathering calibration and cross-session training data, as well as offer effective strategies for maximizing the utilization of the entire dataset.

A millimeter-wave microstrip leaky-wave antenna array based on the substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) and the complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR) is proposed in this paper. The slow wave characteristics of the SIW are enhanced by etching two rows of symmetrical CSRR-type slots on the surface of the SIW layer. The magnetic coupling between the CSRR-SIW layer and equally spaced circular patches array on the upper layer realizes the radiation of electromagnetic energy. In the 23~30 GHz (relative bandwidth 26.4%) operating frequency band, the horizontal polarization radiation beam scanning from -62° to -2° is realized, with a peak gain of 9.6~11.7 dBi, and the cross-polarization ratio is more than 43.8 dB.

There is currently no set of instruments or procedures to evaluate the effectiveness of cross-sectoral collaboration in the current CFC program. This study aimed to develop a tool for evaluating the cross-sectoral contributions to the CFC program. A paper-based questionnaire was developed by the research team after a preliminary qualitative procedure, and it was subsequently employed to collect data. This process resulted in 17 indicators (41 items) of cross-sectoral collaboration in the development of the CFC in Makassar. These indicators were categorized into five dimensions: governance, administration, autonomy, mutuality, and norms. There were 32 items remaining after several items that were determined not to correspond with the model were eliminated prior to the CFA analysis. According to the CFA results, the five-domain model corresponded to the data with standardized loading factor (SLF)<0.5, indicating that the convergent validity of SLF was acceptable. In addition, these results suggested that the items employed in the tool were really significant in reflecting these five domains. The developed and validated tool was expected to be beneficial in evaluating cross-sectoral collaboration in the CFC program developed in Makassar City. The findings of this study would serve as a benchmark indicator, enabling the assessment process to gauge the significance with which a city is developing with cross-sectoral restriction measures.