Exposure and connectedness to natural environments: An examination of the measurement invariance of the Nature Exposure Scale (NES) and Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

Detachment from nature is contributing to the environmental crisis and reversing this trend requires detailed monitoring and targeted interventions to reconnect people to nature. Most tools measuring nature exposure and attachment were developed in high-income countries and little is known about their robustness across national and linguistic groups. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey to assess measurement invariance of the Nature Exposure Scale (NES) and the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). While multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) of the NES supported full scalar invariance across gender identities and age groups, only partial scalar invariance was supported across national and linguistic groups. MG-CFA of the CNS also supported full scalar invariance across gender identities and age groups, but only partial scalar invariance of a 7-item version of the CNS across national and linguistic groups. Nation-level associations between NES and CNS scores were negligible, likely reflecting a lack of conceptual clarity over what the NES is measuring. Individual-level associations between both measures and sociodemographic variables were weak. Findings suggest that the CNS-7 may be a useful tool to measure nature connectedness globally, but measures other than the NES may be needed to capture nature exposure cross-culturally

Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research

SV40 DNA Replication

Just as some of the pioneers of molecular biology turned to bacteriophages because of their relative simplicity (Cairns et al. 1966), investigations into the molecular biology of eukaryotes has often relied on studies of viruses. One of these viruses, Simian Virus 40, (SV40) has been the focus of many seminal studies. The virus, tumorigenic in nonpermissive rodent cells, was crucial in the early studies of oncogenic transformation. Because the virus is permissive in both simian and human cells, it has become a superb tool for investigating human cell biology. Biological questions as diverse as intracellular targeting, transcription, and transformation have all taken advantage of studies on SV40. Similarly, research on human DNA replication has benefited greatly by using the SV40 system as a tool. SV40 has the additional property that its DNA is assembled into chromatin in a way similar to human chromosomal DNA. Hence, the system can be used to study not only DNA replication but also the concomitant process of chromatin assembly

On stability of a neutron star system in Palatini gravity

We formulate the generalized Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations for the $f(\hat{R})$ Palatini gravity in the case of static and spherical symmetric geometry. We also show that a neutron star is a stable system independently of the form of the functional $f(\hat{R})$Comment: 8 pages, version accepted to EPJ