Analysis of Elephant Movement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ecological, Climatic, and Conservation Perspectives

The interaction between elephants and their environment has profound implications for both ecology and conservation strategies. This study presents an analytical approach to decipher the intricate patterns of elephant movement in Sub-Saharan Africa, concentrating on key ecological drivers such as seasonal variations and rainfall patterns. Despite the complexities surrounding these influential factors, our analysis provides a holistic view of elephant migratory behavior in the context of the dynamic African landscape. Our comprehensive approach enables us to predict the potential impact of these ecological determinants on elephant migration, a critical step in establishing informed conservation strategies. This projection is particularly crucial given the impacts of global climate change on seasonal and rainfall patterns, which could substantially influence elephant movements in the future. The findings of our work aim to not only advance the understanding of movement ecology but also foster a sustainable coexistence of humans and elephants in Sub-Saharan Africa. By predicting potential elephant routes, our work can inform strategies to minimize human-elephant conflict, effectively manage land use, and enhance anti-poaching efforts. This research underscores the importance of integrating movement ecology and climatic variables for effective wildlife management and conservation planning.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures, Accepted in ACM SIGCAS SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (COMPASS 2023

Community Health Worker Support For Disadvantaged Patients With Multiple Chronic Diseases: A Randomized Clinical Trial

In a randomized trial, a community health worker intervention reduced hospitalization and improved outcomes in uninsured or publicly insured patients with multiple chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and smoking. Community health workers can improve health and lower costs, and provide a scalable strategy to improve population health

Knowledge and awareness about optometry profession among rural versus urban population in Eastern India: a survey-based study

Background: The main purpose of this study was to determine the awareness of optometry and to create awareness of optometry among rural and urban population of Kolkata.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among rural and urban population. A total of 671 participants- male=378 and female=293, were enrolled in this study. An amplified self-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants through a survey camp.Results: Out of 671 subjects, (328 rural and 343 urban subjects), 62 (18.9%) and 166 (48.3%) (95%, CI: 1.93-1.88) were know about optometry in rural and urban population respectively. 4.9% and 14% (95%, CI: 1.97-1.94) did knew the difference between optometrist and ophthalmologists, while in participants opinion optometrist is assistant of ophthalmologist was 3.4% and 1.5% (95%, CI: 2.69-2.61) in rural and urban participants respectively. However, 18.2% (rural) and 32% (urban) (95%, CI: 2.31-2.17) participants think that optometrist is trained in detection and recognition of eye diseases while 22.6% and 26.8% (95%, CI: 3.20-3.02) thinks they can prescribe spectacles and contact lens independently in rural and urban participants respectively. All factors mentioned were found to be statistically significant (p<0.05) with the Chi square and ANOVA test in SPSS version 21.Conclusions: These findings seem to indicate lack of awareness and knowledge about optometry profession. There is a need to increase campaign in these areas via educational programs, awareness survey camp, a poster explaining the eye care, social media regarding eye care provider’s duties and practices, exhibitions for public concerning the profession of optometry

Jnk2 Effects on Tumor Development, Genetic Instability and Replicative Stress in an Oncogene-Driven Mouse Mammary Tumor Model

Oncogenes induce cell proliferation leading to replicative stress, DNA damage and genomic instability. A wide variety of cellular stresses activate c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) proteins, but few studies have directly addressed the roles of JNK isoforms in tumor development. Herein, we show that jnk2 knockout mice expressing the Polyoma Middle T Antigen transgene developed mammary tumors earlier and experienced higher tumor multiplicity compared to jnk2 wildtype mice. Lack of jnk2 expression was associated with higher tumor aneuploidy and reduced DNA damage response, as marked by fewer pH2AX and 53BP1 nuclear foci. Comparative genomic hybridization further confirmed increased genomic instability in PyV MT/jnk2−/− tumors. In vitro, PyV MT/jnk2−/− cells underwent replicative stress and cell death as evidenced by lower BrdU incorporation, and sustained chromatin licensing and DNA replication factor 1 (CDT1) and p21Waf1 protein expression, and phosphorylation of Chk1 after serum stimulation, but this response was not associated with phosphorylation of p53 Ser15. Adenoviral overexpression of CDT1 led to similar differences between jnk2 wildtype and knockout cells. In normal mammary cells undergoing UV induced single stranded DNA breaks, JNK2 localized to RPA (Replication Protein A) coated strands indicating that JNK2 responds early to single stranded DNA damage and is critical for subsequent recruitment of DNA repair proteins. Together, these data support that JNK2 prevents replicative stress by coordinating cell cycle progression and DNA damage repair mechanisms

Role of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in mediating mammary cancer cell migration and metastasis

textThe c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are MAPK family members and are activated by stress, growth factors and cytokines. They are encoded by three separate genes (jnk 1, 2, and 3), spliced alternately creating 10 isoforms. JNK signaling promotes both cell death and cell survival in a stimuli and tissue specic manner and is also implicated in tumorigenesis. Using the Polyoma Virus Middle T Antigen (PyVMT) transgenic mouse model where jnk2 was either expressed or deleted, we found that the PyVMTjnk2-/- tumors expressed higher Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Substrate 8 (EPS8) mRNA and protein. EPS8 regulates EGFR signaling from Ras to Rac and EGFR tracking via Rab5 and RN-Tre. EPS8 is a prime candidate for connecting the EGFR signaling to actin cytoskeleton remodeling, thus mediating cell migration, a critical step in metastasis. In migration assays, PyVMTjnk2+/+ cells migrated ve fold more than the PyVMTjnk2-/- cells. Re-expression of JNK2[alpha] in the PyVMTjnk2-/- cells rescued this phenotype. Expression of shRNA EPS8 in the PyVMTjnk2-/- cell increased migration in vitro. EPS8 localization at dorsal rues and internalization of EGF-EGFR complexes coincided with JNK2 expression. Expression of shEPS8 in the PyVMTjnk2-/- cells increased EGF internalization suggesting that in absence of JNK2, EPS8 participates in Rab5-RN-Tre complex that inhibits EGFR internalization. Finally, we report that in absence of JNK2, EPS8 protein stability is greatly increased, suggesting that JNK2 is essential for endosomal sorting and degradation of EGFR associated cargo, of which EPS8 is a critical part. In contrast, silencing JNK1 (p46) in 4T1.2 mammary tumor cells, consistently enhanced cell invasion and tumor growth. Tumors derived from orthotopic injection of the 4T1.2shJNK1 expressing cells into the mammary fat pad reached target volume signicantly earlier than non-silencing vector expressing tumors. When injected intravenously, signicantly higher lung metastasis was observed in the 4T1.2shJNK1 group. The more aggressive behavior of 4T1.2shJNK1 tumors was associated with an increase in CCR5 and pAkt as detected by microarray analysis. Taken together, our data suggest that JNK1 suppresses the expression of proteins associated with tumor growth and invasive phenotype, contributing to tumor progression.Pharmac

Can You Answer This? – Exploring Zero-Shot QA Generalization Capabilities in Large Language Models (Student Abstract)

The buzz around Transformer-based language models (TLM) such as BERT, RoBERTa, etc. is well-founded owing to their impressive results on an array of tasks. However, when applied to areas needing specialized knowledge (closed-domain), such as medical, finance, etc. their performance takes drastic hits, sometimes more than their older recurrent/convolutional counterparts. In this paper, we explore zero-shot capabilities of large LMs for extractive QA. Our objective is to examine performance change in the face of domain drift i.e. when the target domain data is vastly different in semantic and statistical properties from the source domain and attempt to explain the subsequent behavior. To this end, we present two studies in this paper while planning further experiments later down the road. Our findings indicate flaws in the current generation of TLM limiting their performance on closed-domain tasks

Applying Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) Concept for Post-Pandemic Development: A Case of Hingna Tahsil, Nagpur (India)

COVID-19 has become one of the most significant events in the history of globalization. The prolonged &lsquo;lockdown&rsquo; adopted across various countries in the world as a countermeasure for containing the spread of the virus profoundly brought forth socio-economic and infrastructural vulnerabilities in urban as well as rural parts of India. While urban and rural areas have been greatly studied with respect to the environment, human health, safety, livelihoods, associated risks, etc., in the context of pandemics, many of these studies seldom accommodate their interdependency as a pragmatic approach to planning. This is observed to be primarily due to the dynamic and diverse nature of interactions coupled with the development disparities between rural and urban areas, thereby adding complexity to development decision making. The present study, therefore, applies the lens of the circulating and ecological sphere (CES), introduced by the Japanese government for the localization of resource flows between urban&ndash;rural regions, to consider possible alternative development approaches to achieve smooth transitions during pandemics through the case study area located in Hingna tahsil in the Nagpur Metropolitan Area, India. The methodology uses the critical examination of rural&ndash;urban linkages amidst the crisis through key-informant surveys involving representatives from local governments. Using this feedback and spatial analysis tools, the research identifies probable entry points in post-pandemic regional planning. The research contributes to understanding the impact of spatial development during pandemics through ground-based evidence. The findings from this research highlight the need to manage rural dependencies on urban areas and underline the potential of the rural&ndash;urban linkage as an approach, acknowledged and emphasized through CES, for managing such regional-scale hazards. The investigation concludes with the discussion and future research scope for achieving the pronounced needs reflected through the study