Home range of the parthenogenetic lizard Aspidoscelis maslini (FRiTTS, 1969), on a beach strand

Se logró la caracterización del ámbito hogareño de una lagartija microendémica de la Península de Yucatán.he average home range size of A. maslini represents the smallest within the genus Aspidoscelis recorded to date (P ERRY & G ARlANd 2002), including both parthe - nogenetic [616 m 2 in Aspidosceli s unipa - rens (W RiGHT & l OWE , 1965), H ulSE 1981; 45.1 m 2 in A. cozumelus , H ERNáNdEZ -G Al - lEGOS et al. 2015] and gonochoristic species [400 m 2 in Aspidoscelis tigris (B AiRd & G iRARd , 1852), j ORGENSEN & T ANNER 1963; 306 m 2 in Aspidoscelis hyperythrus (C OPE , 1863), R OWlANd 1992]. This result con- trasts with theoretical predictions of broad home ranges for widely foraging species (H ulSE 1981; R OWlANd 1992; V ERWAijEN & V AN d AmmE 2008). Reduced home ranges at coastal habitats in other species of lizards including both sit and wait predators (R O - CHA 1999; k ACOliRiS et al. 2009) and wide foraging species (H iRTH 1963) have been recorded previously

Prevalence and sociodemographic determinants of public stigma towards people with HIV and its impact on HIV testing uptake: A cross-sectional study in 64 low- and middle-income countries

Background: HIV stigma and discrimination are drivers of adverse HIV outcomes because they deter individuals from engaging in the HIV care continuum. We estimate the prevalence of public stigma towards people with HIV, investigate individuals' sociodemographic determinants for reporting stigmatizing attitudes, and test the impact of HIV stigma on HIV testing uptake. Methods: This was an observational study based on an analysis of cross-sectional surveys from 64 low- and middle-income countries. We used nationally representative survey data for the population aged 15–49 years from 2015 to 2021, which was the latest available data. HIV public stigma was measured using an index of two questions about attitudes towards people with HIV. First, prevalence estimates of HIV stigma were calculated by country, across countries, and by sociodemographic characteristics. Second, country fixed-effects multivariable logistic regression models were fit to assess sociodemographic determinants of holding stigmatizing attitudes towards people with HIV. Additional logistic regression models assessed country-level income and HIV prevalence as determinants of stigma and assessed the role of HIV public stigma as a driver of testing uptake. Results: A total of 1 172 841 participants were included in the study. HIV stigma was prevalent in all countries, ranging from 12.87% in Rwanda to 90.58% in Samoa. There was an inverse dose–response association between HIV stigma and educational level, wealth quintile, and age group, whereby higher levels of each were associated with lower odds of holding stigmatized attitudes towards people with HIV. The odds of stigmatized attitudes were lower among men and individuals with adequate knowledge of HIV. HIV stigma was lower in countries with greater gross domestic product per capita and HIV prevalence. Holding stigmatized attitudes towards people with HIV was associated with lower testing uptake, including having ever tested or having tested in the last year. Conclusion: HIV stigma is present to a highly varying degree in all countries studied, so different approaches to reducing stigma towards people with HIV are required across settings. Action to eliminate HIV stigma is crucial if we are to progress towards ending HIV because holding stigmatized attitudes towards people with HIV was associated with reduced testin

Estudio de viabilidad para la creación de una aplicación móvil para la comercialización de hortalizas con productores agrícolas en el municipio de Sibaté Cundinamarca.

Estudio de factibilidad en la creación de una aplicación móvil, para la comercialización de hortalizas de productores agrícolas de Sibaté Cundinamarca según el alcance, costes y plazo definidos para el proyecto.Este proyecto propone la viabilidad para la creación de una aplicación móvil con el fin de realizar la comercialización de unas hortalizas en particular producidas en el municipio de Sibaté - Cundinamarca, estas hortalizas son cultivadas en un régimen constante durante todo el año en la zona de producción generando un insumo persistente para la investigación. La metodología a implementar durante todo el proyecto está basada de forma cualitativa y cuantitativa bajo el análisis de los aspectos económico, técnico, social y financiero. El análisis cualitativo se presentó bajo la metodología de encuesta, la cual se realizó a una población objeto suministrada por la secretaría de agricultura del municipio. La evaluación cuantitativa se llevó a cabo bajo el modelo de ingresos - egresos. Arrojando como resultado una mejor proyección de las ventas por parte de los productores así como un incremento en la formación tecnológica del municipio para poder establecer una tasa interna de retorno equivalente al 27.97% en un periodo de cinco años evaluados y una relación de los recursos e insumos a implementar a bajo costo

Estudio de viabilidad para la creación de una aplicación móvil para la comercialización de hortalizas con productores agrícolas en el municipio de Sibaté Cundinamarca.

Estudio de factibilidad en la creación de una aplicación móvil, para la comercialización de hortalizas de productores agrícolas de Sibaté Cundinamarca según el alcance, costes y plazo definidos para el proyecto.Este proyecto propone la viabilidad para la creación de una aplicación móvil con el fin de realizar la comercialización de unas hortalizas en particular producidas en el municipio de Sibaté - Cundinamarca, estas hortalizas son cultivadas en un régimen constante durante todo el año en la zona de producción generando un insumo persistente para la investigación. La metodología a implementar durante todo el proyecto está basada de forma cualitativa y cuantitativa bajo el análisis de los aspectos económico, técnico, social y financiero. El análisis cualitativo se presentó bajo la metodología de encuesta, la cual se realizó a una población objeto suministrada por la secretaría de agricultura del municipio. La evaluación cuantitativa se llevó a cabo bajo el modelo de ingresos - egresos. Arrojando como resultado una mejor proyección de las ventas por parte de los productores así como un incremento en la formación tecnológica del municipio para poder establecer una tasa interna de retorno equivalente al 27.97% en un periodo de cinco años evaluados y una relación de los recursos e insumos a implementar a bajo costo

The mental health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic in older adults and the role of physical distancing interventions and social protection measures in 26 European countries.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses, such as physical distancing interventions, pose risks to mental health that could be mitigated by social support systems. We examine associations between changes in mental health in the population aged 50 years and older in Europe and stringency of pandemic responses and social protection. METHODS: We analysed data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe: n = 50,278 individuals aged 50 years and older in 26 European countries between June and August 2020. Linear multivariable regression models were used to evaluate potential risk factors for deterioration in self-reported mental health and investigate whether social protection systems mitigate it. RESULTS: Across the European Union, 28.1% (95% CI:27.1-29.2) of participants reported worsening mental health since the beginning of the pandemic, ranging from 16.1% in Slovakia to 54.8% in Portugal. Factors associated with increased risk of deterioration included: being female (12.7 percentage points (ppt), 95%CI:9.2-16.2); experiencing unmet healthcare needs during the pandemic (14.6 ppt, 95%CI:11.2-18.1); job loss during the pandemic (6.2 ppt, 95%CI:1.1-11.8); and financial hardship (5.1 ppt, 95%CI:2.9-7.2). Greater stringency of physical distancing measures in countries was associated with worsening mental health (0.2 ppt per each one point increase on a stringency index, 95% CI:0.09-0.4); however, country-level pre-pandemic expenditures on various social protection packages was associated with decreased probability of worsening mental health (-1.3 ppt, 95%CI: 0.3 to -2.3 per €1,000 increase in health care expenditures per capita and, among the unemployed, -3.8 ppt, 95%CI: 1.6 to -2.4 per €100 increase in unemployment expenditure per capita). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with substantial mental health deterioration exhibiting social inequalities. Adverse mental health has been exacerbated by policy responses to the pandemic regulating physical distancing, but social protection expenditure might have helped mitigate the impact. Strengthening social protection systems might render the mental health of the population more resilient to the consequences of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic

Metagenomic Mining for Esterases in the Microbial Community of Los Rueldos Acid Mine Drainage Formation

Acid mine drainage (AMD) systems are extremely acidic and are metal-rich formations inhabited by relatively low-complexity communities of acidophiles whose enzymes remain mostly uncharacterized. Indeed, enzymes from only a few AMD sites have been studied. The low number of available cultured representatives and genome sequences of acidophiles inhabiting AMDs makes it difficult to assess the potential of these environments for enzyme bioprospecting. In this study, using naïve and in silico metagenomic approaches, we retrieved 16 esterases from the α/β-hydrolase fold superfamily with the closest match from uncultured acidophilic Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria (Acidithrix, Acidimicrobium, and Ferrimicrobium), Acidiphilium, and other Proteobacteria inhabiting the Los Rueldos site, which is a unique AMD formation in northwestern Spain with a pH of ∼2. Within this set, only two polypeptides showed high homology (99.4%), while for the rest, the pairwise identities ranged between 4 and 44.9%, suggesting that the diversity of active polypeptides was dominated not by a particular type of protein or highly similar clusters of proteins, but by diverse non-redundant sequences. The enzymes exhibited amino acid sequence identities ranging from 39 to 99% relative to homologous proteins in public databases, including those from other AMDs, thus indicating the potential novelty of proteins associated with a specialized acidophilic community. Ten of the 16 hydrolases were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. The pH for optimal activity ranged from 7.0 to 9.0, with the enzymes retaining 33–68% of their activities at pH 5.5, which was consistent with the relative frequencies of acid residues (from 54 to 67%). The enzymes were the most active at 30–65°C, retaining 20–61% of their activity under the thermal conditions characterizing Los Rueldos (13.8 ± 0.6°C). The analysis of the substrate specificity revealed the capacity of six hydrolases to efficiently degrade (up to 1,652 ± 75 U/g at pH 8.0 and 30°C) acrylic- and terephthalic-like [including bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-terephthalate, BHET] esters, and these enzymes could potentially be of use for developing plastic degradation strategies yet to be explored. Our assessment uncovers the novelty and potential biotechnological interest of enzymes present in the microbial populations that inhibit the Los Rueldos AMD system

Vascular interstitial cells in retinal arteriolar annuli are altered during hypertension

Research Areas: OphthalmologyABSTRACT - Purpose: It has been suggested that arteriolar annuli localized in retinal arterioles regulate retinal blood flow acting as sphincters. Here, the morphology and protein expression profile of arteriolar annuli have been analyzed under physiologic conditions in the retina of wild-type, β-actin–Egfp, and Nestin–gfp transgenic mice. Additionally, to study the effect of hypertension, the KAP transgenic mouse has been used.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What is the empirical basis for converting banded ordinal data on numbers of sex partners among MSM into a continuous scale level variable? A secondary analysis of 13 surveys across 17 countries

BACKGROUND: To provide empirically based guidance for substituting partner number categories in large MSM surveys with mean numbers of sexual and condomless anal intercourse (CAI) partners in a secondary analysis of survey data. METHODS: We collated data on numbers of sexual and CAI partners reported in a continuous scale (write-in number) in thirteen MSM surveys on sexual health and behaviour across 17 countries. Pooled descriptive statistics for the number of sexual and CAI partners during the last twelve (N = 55,180) and 6 months (N = 31,759) were calculated for two sets of categories commonly used in reporting numbers of sexual partners in sexual behaviour surveys. RESULTS: The pooled mean number of partners in the previous 12 months for the total sample was 15.8 partners (SD = 36.6), while the median number of partners was 5 (IQR = 2-15). Means for number of partners in the previous 12 months for the first set of categories were: 16.4 for 11-20 partners (SD = 3.3); 27.8 for 21-30 (SD = 2.8); 38.6 for 31-40 (SD = 2.4); 49.6 for 41-50 (SD = 1.5); and 128.2 for 'more than 50' (SD = 98.1). Alternative upper cut-offs: 43.4 for 'more than 10' (SD = 57.7); 65.3 for 'more than 20' (SD = 70.3). Self-reported partner numbers for both time frames consistently exceeded 200 or 300. While there was substantial variation of overall means across surveys, the means for all chosen categories were very similar. Partner numbers above nine mainly clustered at multiples of tens, regardless of the selected time frame. The overall means for CAI partners were lower than those for sexual partners; however, such difference was completely absent from all categories beyond ten sexual and CAI partners. CONCLUSIONS: Clustering of reported partner numbers confirm common MSM sexual behaviour surveys' questionnaire piloting feedback indicating that responses to numbers of sexual partners beyond 10 are best guesses rather than precise counts, but large partner numbers above typical upper cut-offs are common

What is the empirical basis for converting banded ordinal data on numbers of sex partners among MSM into a continuous scale level variable? A secondary analysis of 13 surveys across 17 countries

BACKGROUND: To provide empirically based guidance for substituting partner number categories in large MSM surveys with mean numbers of sexual and condomless anal intercourse (CAI) partners in a secondary analysis of survey data. METHODS: We collated data on numbers of sexual and CAI partners reported in a continuous scale (write-in number) in thirteen MSM surveys on sexual health and behaviour across 17 countries. Pooled descriptive statistics for the number of sexual and CAI partners during the last twelve (N = 55,180) and 6 months (N = 31,759) were calculated for two sets of categories commonly used in reporting numbers of sexual partners in sexual behaviour surveys. RESULTS: The pooled mean number of partners in the previous 12 months for the total sample was 15.8 partners (SD = 36.6), while the median number of partners was 5 (IQR = 2-15). Means for number of partners in the previous 12 months for the first set of categories were: 16.4 for 11-20 partners (SD = 3.3); 27.8 for 21-30 (SD = 2.8); 38.6 for 31-40 (SD = 2.4); 49.6 for 41-50 (SD = 1.5); and 128.2 for 'more than 50' (SD = 98.1). Alternative upper cut-offs: 43.4 for 'more than 10' (SD = 57.7); 65.3 for 'more than 20' (SD = 70.3). Self-reported partner numbers for both time frames consistently exceeded 200 or 300. While there was substantial variation of overall means across surveys, the means for all chosen categories were very similar. Partner numbers above nine mainly clustered at multiples of tens, regardless of the selected time frame. The overall means for CAI partners were lower than those for sexual partners; however, such difference was completely absent from all categories beyond ten sexual and CAI partners. CONCLUSIONS: Clustering of reported partner numbers confirm common MSM sexual behaviour surveys' questionnaire piloting feedback indicating that responses to numbers of sexual partners beyond 10 are best guesses rather than precise counts, but large partner numbers above typical upper cut-offs are common

A valid and reliable scale to assess cultural sensibility in nursing

Background: Cultural sensibility is an important concept linked to the achievement of cultural competence. Health professionals must first improve their cultural sensibility to become culturally competent and to be able to offer competent care to culturally diverse populations. Aim To develop and psychometrically test the Cultural Sensibility Scale for Nursing (CUSNUR), a cultural sensibility scale that can be used in nursing for the achievement of competencies needed to care for culturally diverse populations. Design and methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted over two stages. The first stage involved the cross- cultural and discipline-specific adaptation of an existing scale addressing this concept in the field of law using the reverse translation method. Second, validation of the scale was carried out from October 2016–June 2017 by studying the psychometric properties of the questionnaire through an analysis of content acceptability and reliability and through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The questionnaire was designed to be clear, easy to understand, and of adequate length, and experts involved in content validation agreed that the scale meets these criteria. A total of 253 nursing students participated in the validation stage. Four factors were identified from the EFA: (1) patient and health professional behaviours, (2) self-assessments, (3) self-awareness, and (4) cultural influence. Two items were excluded. Factorial saturation is adequate for all factors (>0.30). The Cronbach alpha was measured as 0.75. Conclusions: This study presents the first version of the CUSNUR and demonstrates that the scale is valid and reliable