Connectivity in a real fragmented landscape: distance vs movement model based approaches.

Graph theory derived models and measures are increasingly being used to quantify landscape connectivity in order to contribute to conservation biology and management. This is particularly relevant in the case of real landscapes in which local actions may have crucial consequences for maintaining biodiversity on large scale. A number of graphs were compared sharing an identical node weight definition and whose link weights representing functional patch-connectivity, were derived from conceptually different approaches. Habitat suitability was taken into account. Calculated patch-connectivity was compared between all the graphs and these differences, evaluated by a set of indices describing network properties at the element structure level, were investigated

The effect of massage on localized lumbar muscle fatigue

BACKGROUND: There is not enough evidence to support the efficacy of massage for muscle fatigue despite wide utilization of the modality in various clinical settings. This study investigated the influence of massage application on localized back muscle fatigue. METHODS: Twenty-nine healthy subjects participated in two experimental sessions (massage and rest conditions). On each test day, subjects were asked to lie in the prone position on a treatment table and perform sustained back extension for 90 seconds. Subjects then either received massage on the lumbar region or rested for a 5 minute duration, then repeated the back extension movement. The median frequency (MDF), mean power frequency (MNF), and root mean square (RMS) amplitude of electromyographic signals during the 90 second sustained lumbar muscle contraction were analyzed. The subjective feeling of fatigue was then evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). RESULTS: MDF and MNF significantly declined with time under all conditions. There was no significant difference in MDF, MNF or RMS value change between before and after massage, or between rest and massage conditions. There was a significant increase in fatigue VAS at the end of the 2(nd) back extension with rest condition. There was a significant difference in fatigue VAS change between massage and rest condition. CONCLUSIONS: A significant difference was observed between massage and rest condition on VAS for muscle fatigue. On EMG analysis, there were no significant differences to conclude that massage stimulation influenced the myoelectrical muscle fatigue, which is associated with metabolic and electrical changes

The dramatic COVID-19 outbreak in italy is responsible of a huge drop in urological surgical activity: A multicenter observational study

OBJECTIVE: Italy is facing the COVID-19 outbreak with an abrupt reorganization of its national health-system, in order to augment care provision to symptomatic patients. The sudden shift of personnel and resources towards COVID-19 care has led to the reduction of surgery, with possible severe drawbacks. The aim of the study is to describe the trend in surgical volume in urology, in Italy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-three urological units with physicians affiliated to the AGILE consortium were involved in a survey. Urologists were asked to report the amount of surgical elective procedures week-by-week, from the beginning of the emergency to the following month. RESULTS: The 33 hospitals involved in the study account, globally, for 22,945 beds and are distributed in 13/20 Italian regions. Before the outbreak, the involved urology units performed an overall amount of 1,213 procedures per week, half of which were oncological. One month later, the amount of surgery declined by 78%. Lombardy, the first region with positive-cases, experienced a 94% reduction. The decrease in oncological and non-oncological surgical activity was 35,9% and 89%, respectively. The trend of the decline showed a delay of roughly 2 weeks for the other regions. CONCLUSION: Italy, the country with the highest fatality rate from COVID-19, is experiencing a sudden decline in surgical activity. It is inversely related to the increase in COVID-19 care, with potential harm particularly in the oncological field. The Italian experience can be helpful for future surgical pre-planning in other countries not so hardly hit by the disease yet

HPV16 E7-Dependent Transformation Activates NHE1 through a PKA-RhoA-Iinduced Inhibition of p38alpha

Background: Neoplastic transformation originates from a large number of different genetic alterations. Despite this genetic variability, a common phenotype to transformed cells is cellular alkalinization. We have previously shown in human keratinocytes and a cell line in which transformation can be turned on and followed by the inducible expression of the E7 oncogene of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16), that intracellular alkalinization is an early and essential physiological event driven by the up-regulation of the Na/H-+(+) exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) and is necessary for the development of other transformed phenotypes and the in vivo tumor formation in nude mice.Methodology: Here, we utilize these model systems to elucidate the dynamic sequence of alterations of the upstream signal transduction systems leading to the transformation-dependent activation of NHE1.Principal Findings: We observe that a down-regulation of p38 MAPK activity is a fundamental step in the ability of the oncogene to transform the cell. Further, using pharmacological agents and transient transfections with dominant interfering, constitutively active, phosphorylation negative mutants and siRNA strategy to modify specific upstream signal transduction components that link HPV16 E7 oncogenic signals to up-regulation of the NHE1, we demonstrate that the stimulation of NHE1 activity is driven by an early rise in cellular cAMP resulting in the down-stream inhibition of p38 MAPK via the PKA-dependent phosphorylation of the small G-protein, RhoA, and its subsequent inhibition.Conclusions: All together these data significantly improve our knowledge concerning the basic cellular alterations involved in oncogene-driven neoplastic transformation

The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups

Data availability: All data will be posted open access via https://psyarxiv.com/mrxy6/ and in interactive form via https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/kai.ruggeri. We will post these only once an accepted version of all analyses is possible to avoid confusion based on version control.While economic inequality continues to rise within countries, efforts to address it have been largely ineffective, particularly those involving behavioral approaches. It is often implied but not tested that choice patterns among low-income individuals may be a factor impeding behavioral interventions aimed at improving upward economic mobility. To test this, we assessed rates of ten cognitive biases across nearly 5000 participants from 27 countries. Our analyses were primarily focused on 1458 individuals that were either low-income adults or individuals who grew up in disadvantaged households but had above-average financial well-being as adults, known as positive deviants. Using discrete and complex models, we find evidence of no differences within or between groups or countries. We therefore conclude that choices impeded by cognitive biases alone cannot explain why some individuals do not experience upward economic mobility. Policies must combine both behavioral and structural interventions to improve financial well-being across populations.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (#2218595) and by Undergraduate Global Engagement at Columbia University. Additional support was provided to individual researchers from the Columbia University Office of the Provost, Masaryk University Centre for International Cooperation, and the Benjamin A. Gilman International Fund from the United States Department of State. This research was funded in part, by the UKRI [MR/N013468/1]