Abundance and Habitat Preference of the Genus Euplectes in Protected and Non protected Habitats of Jos East Plateau State, Nigeria

The knowledge on the factors influencing habitat selection is of uttermost importance because it guides the development of conservation action plan for species. Till date, there is no baseline study on the genus Euplectes in Northern Nigeria thus, an attempt to investigate the habitat preference of the genus was carried out in Amurum Forest Reserve and the nonprotected habitats of Fobur. Line transects of 200m were randomly laid across the study sites. The abundance of Bishop species was highest in farmland compared to grassland and rocky outcrop. Therefore, the number of the species was significantly different between habitats (F2, 573 = 5.454, P = 0.0015). There was a significant relationship between flock size and number of seeds across habitat types. Number of individual birds increased with increase in seed number (F1, 57 = 21687.786, P < 0.001). With the exception of grass height, there was a highly significant difference in relation to vegetation variables taken between plots where Bishop species were sighted and the random points where they were not seen (P < 0.001). The finding suggests that farmlands should be integrated into conservation plan in the nonprotected area based on the high population of the genus recorded

Two spatially distinct posterior alpha sources fulfill different functional roles in attention

Directing attention helps extracting relevant information and suppressing distracters. Alpha brain oscillations (8-12Hz) are crucial for this process, with power decreases facilitating processing of important information and power increases inhibiting brain regions processing irrelevant information. Evidence for this phenomenon arises from visual attention studies (Worden et al., 2000b), however, the effect also exists in other modalities, including the somatosensory system (Haegens et al., 2011) and inter-sensory attention tasks (Foxe and Snyder, 2011). We investigated in human participants (10 females, 10 males) the role of alpha oscillations in focused (0/100%) vs. divided (40/60%) attention, both across modalities (visual/somatosensory; Experiment 1) and within the same modality (visual domain: across hemifields; Experiment 2) while recording EEG over 128 scalp electrodes. In Experiment 1 participants divided their attention between visual and somatosensory modality to determine the temporal/spatial frequency of a target stimulus (vibrotactile stimulus/Gabor grating). In Experiment 2, participants divided attention between two visual hemifields to identify the orientation of a Gabor grating. In both experiments, pre-stimulus alpha power in visual areas decreased linearly with increasing attention to visual stimuli. In contrast, pre-stimulus alpha power in parietal areas was lower when attention was divided between modalities/hemifields, compared to focused attention. These results suggest there are two alpha sources, where one reflects the ‘visual spotlight of attention’ and the other reflects attentional effort. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that attention recruits two spatially distinct alpha sources in occipital and parietal brain regions, acting simultaneously but serving different functions in attention

Believability of new diseases reported in the 2014 Surgeon General's Report on smoking: Experimental results from a national survey of US adults

Background Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death globally. The 2014 Surgeon General's Report included new diseases linked to smoking, including liver and colon cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis. As more diseases are linked to smoking, which diseases should we communicate to the public and what message source has the most impact? Methods Data were collected through a nationally representative phone survey of US adults (N = 5014), conducted from September 2014 through May 2015. We experimentally randomized participants to a 2 (new smoking disease messages - liver and colon cancers compared to diabetes and tuberculosis) by 4 (message sources - CDC, FDA, Surgeon General, and none) experiment. The outcome was message believability. Results About half the sample was female (51.5%) and 17.8% were a current smoker. Overall, 56% of participants said the messages were very believable. Cancer messages (liver and colon cancer) were significantly more believable than messages about chronic disease (tuberculosis and diabetes), 61% vs. 52%. Smokers were less likely to report both sets of new disease messages as very believable compared to non-smokers. Significantly more smokers intending to quit (44.5%) found the messages to be very believable compared to smokers not intending to quit (22.6%). Believability did not differ by message source. Conclusion Important differences exist in believability of disease messages about new tobacco-related information. Messages emphasizing the causal link between smoking and new diseases should be considered for use in mass media campaigns

Tissue and nitrogen-linked expression profiles of ammonium and nitrate transporters in maize

BACKGROUND:In order to grow, plants rely on soil nutrients which can vary both spatially and temporally depending on the environment, the soil type or the microbial activity. An essential nutrient is nitrogen, which is mainly accessible as nitrate and ammonium. Many studies have investigated transport genes for these ions in Arabidopsis thaliana and recently in crop species, including Maize, Rice and Barley. However, in most crop species, an understanding of the participants in nitrate and ammonium transport across the soil plant continuum remains undefined. RESULTS:We have mapped a non-exhaustive set of putative nitrate and ammonium transporters in maize. The selected transporters were defined based on previous studies comparing nitrate transport pathways conserved between Arabidopsis and Zea mays (Plett D et. al, PLOS ONE 5:e15289, 2010). We also selected genes from published studies (Gu R et. al, Plant and Cell Physiology, 54:1515-1524, 2013, Garnett T et. al, New Phytol 198:82-94, 2013, Garnett T et. al, Frontiers in Plant Sci 6, 2015, Dechorgnat J et. al, Front Plant Sci 9:531, 2018). To analyse these genes, the plants were grown in a semi-hydroponic system to carefully control nitrogen delivery and then harvested at both vegetative and reproductive stages. The expression patterns of 26 putative nitrogen transporters were then tested. Six putative genes were found not expressed in our conditions. Transcripts of 20 other genes were detected at both the vegetative and reproductive stages of maize development. We observed the expression of nitrogen transporters in all organs tested: roots, young leaves, old leaves, silks, cobs, tassels and husk leaves. We also followed the gene expression response to nitrogen starvation and resupply and uncovered mainly three expression patterns: (i) genes unresponsiveness to nitrogen supply; (ii) genes showing an increase of expression after nitrogen starvation; (iii) genes showing a decrease of expression after nitrogen starvation. CONCLUSIONS:These data allowed the mapping of putative nitrogen transporters in maize at both the vegetative and reproductive stages of development. No growth-dependent expression was seen in our conditions. We found that nitrogen transporter genes were expressed in all the organs tested and in many cases were regulated by the availability of nitrogen supplied to the plant. The gene expression patterns in relation to organ specificity and nitrogen availability denote a speciality of nitrate and ammonium transporter genes and their probable function depending on the plant organ and the environment.Julie Dechorgnat, Karen L. Francis, Kanwarpal S. Dhugga, J. Antony Rafalski, Stephen D. Tyerman and Brent N. Kaise

Improving adherence to acute low back pain guideline recommendations with chiropractors and physiotherapists: the ALIGN cluster randomised controlled trial

Background Acute low back pain is a common condition, has high burden, and there are evidence-to-practice gaps in the chiropractic and physiotherapy setting for imaging and giving advice to stay active. The aim of this cluster randomised trial was to estimate the effects of a theory- and evidence-based implementation intervention to increase chiropractors’ and physiotherapists’ adherence to a guideline for acute low back pain compared with the comparator (passive dissemination of the guideline). In particular, the primary aim of the intervention was to reduce inappropriate imaging referral and improve patient low back pain outcomes, and to determine whether this intervention was cost-effective. Methods Physiotherapy and chiropractic practices in the state of Victoria, Australia, comprising at least one practising clinician who provided care to patients with acute low back pain, were invited to participate. Patients attending these practices were included if they had acute non-specific low back pain (duration less than 3 months), were 18 years of age or older, and were able to understand and read English. Practices were randomly assigned either to a tailored, multi-faceted intervention based on the guideline (interactive educational symposium plus academic detailing) or passive dissemination of the guideline (comparator). A statistician independent of the study team undertook stratified randomisation using computer-generated random numbers; four strata were defined by professional group and the rural or metropolitan location of the practice. Investigators not involved in intervention delivery were blinded to allocation. Primary outcomes were X-ray referral self-reported by clinicians using a checklist and patient low back pain-specific disability (at 3 months). Results A total of 104 practices (43 chiropractors, 85 physiotherapists; 755 patients) were assigned to the intervention and 106 practices (45 chiropractors, 97 physiotherapists; 603 patients) to the comparator; 449 patients were available for the patient-level primary outcome. There was no important difference in the odds of patients being referred for X-ray (adjusted (Adj) OR: 1.40; 95% CI 0.51, 3.87; Adj risk difference (RD): 0.01; 95% CI − 0.02, 0.04) or patient low back pain-specific disability (Adj mean difference: 0.37; 95% CI − 0.48, 1.21, scale 0–24). The intervention did lead to improvement for some key secondary outcomes, including giving advice to stay active (Adj OR: 1.96; 95% CI 1.20, 3.22; Adj RD: 0.10; 95% CI 0.01, 0.19) and intending to adhere to the guideline recommendations (e.g. intention to refer for X-ray: Adj OR: 0.27; 95% CI 0.17, 0.44; intention to give advice to stay active: Adj OR: 2.37; 95% CI 1.51, 3.74). Conclusions Intervention group clinicians were more likely to give advice to stay active and to intend to adhere to the guideline recommendations about X-ray referral. The intervention did not change the primary study outcomes, with no important differences in X-ray referral and patient disability between groups, implying that hypothesised reductions in health service utilisation and/or productivity gains are unlikely to offset the direct costs of the intervention. We report these results with the caveat that we enrolled less patients into the trial than our determined sample size. We cannot recommend this intervention as a cost-effective use of resources

The identification of salient beliefs concerning university students’ decision to participate in sport

The aim of this study was to identify salient beliefs toward university-provided recreational sport in first-year undergraduate students. A purposive sample of 76 students (36 males, 40 females; mean age: 19.2 ± 1.7 years) undertaking various degree subjects at a higher education institution in the North of England, United Kingdom, was used in the study. The instrument was a theory-based open-ended questionnaire informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior, addressing behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. Thematic content analysis and coding was conducted on 30 randomly selected questionnaires followed by a frequency count to identify the modal salient beliefs. The modal set revealed 17 beliefs from a possible 53: six behavioral, five normative, and six control. These beliefs were related to health benefits, enjoyment, friendships, time constraints, study workloads, awareness, and the perception of family, friends, and academics. The results highlight the factors that should be targeted for intervention and provide data to be utilized for a second main quantitative study which will identify more specific belief targets. Due to equivocal intervention success, this formative research can serve to help increase the number of students participating in university recreational spor

Lighthouse Schools and Crop Museums in the Philippines

In The Philippines, Lighthouse Schools (LSs) and school-based Crop Museums (CMs) serve as repositories of crop biodiversity. Specifically, LSs are research sites where the integration of school feeding, nutrition education and school gardens, is demonstrated and evidence is established; while CMs are located within the large network of LS and act as seed banks that enable the multiplication and exchange of crop types and varieties across schools. Together they have helped conserve and promote multiple varieties of traditional and indigenous vegetables (IVs)and fruits

Post-stimulus fMRI and EEG responses: evidence for a neuronal origin hypothesised to be inhibitory

Post-stimulus undershoots, negative responses following cessation of stimulation, are widely observed in functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) data. However, the debate surrounding whether the origin of this response phase is neuronal or vascular, and whether it provides functionally relevant information, that is additional to what is contained in primary response, means that undershoots are widely overlooked. We simultaneously recorded electroencephalography (EEG), BOLD and cerebral blood-flow (CBF) [obtained from arterial spin labelled (ASL) fMRI] fMRI responses to hemifield checkerboard stimulation to test the potential neural origin of the fMRI post-stimulus undershoot. The post-stimulus BOLD and CBF signal amplitudes in both contralateral and ipsilateral visual cortex depended on the post-stimulus power of the 8-13 Hz (alpha) EEG neuronal activity, such that trials with highest EEG power showed largest fMRI undershoots in contralateral visual cortex. This correlation in post-stimulus EEG-fMRI responses was not predicted by the primary response amplitude. In the contralateral visual cortex we observed a decrease in both cerebral rate of oxygen metabolism (CMRO2) and CBF during the post-stimulus phase. In addition, the coupling ratio (n) between CMRO2 and CBF was significantly lower during the positive contralateral primary response phase compared with the post-stimulus phase and we propose that this reflects an altered balance of excitatory and inhibitory neuronal activity. Together our data provide strong evidence that the post-stimulus phase of the BOLD response has a neural origin which reflects, at least partially, an uncoupling of the neuronal responses driving the primary and post-stimulus responses, explaining the uncoupling of the signals measured in the two response phases. We suggest our results are consistent with inhibitory processes driving the post-stimulus EEG and fMRI responses. We therefore propose that new methods are required to model the post-stimulus and primary responses independently, enabling separate investigation of response phases in cognitive function and neurological disease

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe