A mesocosm experiment investigating the effects of substratum quality and wave exposure on the survival of fish eggs

In a mesocosm experiment, the attachment of bream (Abramis brama) eggs to spawning substrata with and without periphytic biofilm coverage and their subsequent survival with and without low-intensity wave exposure were investigated. Egg attachment was reduced by 73% on spawning substrata with a natural periphytic biofilm, compared to clean substrata. Overall, this initial difference in egg numbers persisted until hatching. The difference in egg numbers was even increased in the wave treatment, while it was reduced in the no-wave control treatment. Exposure to a low-intensity wave regime affected egg development between the two biofilm treatments differently. Waves enhanced egg survival on substrata without a biofilm but reduced the survival of eggs on substrata with biofilm coverage. In the treatment combining biofilm-covered substrata and waves, no attached eggs survived until hatching. In all treatments, more than 75% of the eggs became detached from the spawning substrata during the egg incubation period, an

Mitigation of Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection in Venture Capital Financing: The Influence of the Country’s Institutional Setting

A venture capitalist (VC) needs to trade off benefits and costs when attempting to mitigate agency problems in their investor-investee relationship. We argue that signals of ventures complement the VC’s capacity to screen and conduct a due diligence during the pre-investment phase, but its attractiveness may diminish in institutional settings supporting greater transparency. Similarly, whereas a VC may opt for contractual covenants to curb potential opportunism by ventures in the post-investment phase, this may only be effective in settings supportive of shareholder rights enforcement. Using an international sample of VC contracts, our study finds broad support for these conjectures. It delineates theoretical and practical implications for how investors can best deploy their capital in different institutional settings whilst nurturing their relationships with entrepreneurs

CAN WE ALTER YOUTH ATHLETE’S LANDING STRATEGY IN A STOP-JUMP MOVEMENT?

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of four different neuromuscular training programs on the kinematic landing patterns of pre elite youth athletes during a stop-jump movement. Eighty-nine pre-elite youth athletes from the Western Region Academy of Sports Basketball, Netball, Softball, Triathlete and Hockey squads were recruited for biomechanical analysis before and after the completion of one of four randomly assigned 12-week training intervention programs, in conjunction with a strength and conditioning program. Results of this study identify youth athletes with poor movement competency acquire similar alterations in their kinematic landing pattern regardless of the type of training intervention completed, identifying that a basic strength and conditioning program can implemented to alter landing technique in a stop-jump task

Anthropometric Characteristics, Body Composition and Somatotype of Elite Pan-American Race Walking 20K

The anthropometric and somatotype evaluation is an essential tool in the selection and control of high-performance athletes. The aim of this study was to describe the somatotype and body composition of male elite race walkers (20 k modality), and its relationship with athletic performance. Twenty-four race walkers participated in this study. The sample was divided into two groups: the race walkers with the best performance (upper 25 percentile; n=7) and the second group (n=17) that corresponds to the rest of the participants. Weight (kg), height (cm), seven skinfolds, two diameters and five perimeters were measured. Body fat percentage (BF%) were estimated with the Yuhasz formula, and the somatotype was used applying the Heath-Carter method. The best performing athletes were taller (178.3 +/- 4.4 cm vs. 173.7 +/- 5.6 cm, p<0.05) and showed a greater ectomorphic component (p<0.05) than the rest of the participants. The somatotype of the best performance athletes was 2.2-2.8-4.1 against the 2.5-3.8-2.9 of the lowest performing athletes. The average time (hours, minute, seconds) of execution of the race in athletes of better performances was 1: 22:40, in comparison with the athletes of lower performances with 1: 32: 41 (p<0.02). The ectomorphic component and height are morphological characteristics that can determine athletic performance of race walkers. It is suggested to consider these factors in the selection of the race walkers. La evaluación antropométrica y del somatotipo es una importante herramienta en la selección y control de los atletas de alto rendimiento. El objetivo de este estudio fue describir el somatotipo y composición corporal de hombres marchistas olímpicos, modalidad 20 k, y su relación con el rendimiento atlético. Veinticuatro atletas de marcha participaron en este estudio. La muestra fue dividida en dos grupos: los marchistas de mejores rendimientos p25 superior (n=7) y el segundo grupo (n=17) que corresponde al resto de los participantes. Se registró el peso (kg), talla (cm), siete pliegues cutáneos, dos diámetros y cinco perímetros. Se estimó el porcentaje de grasa corporal (%GC) con la fórmula de Yuhasz y se describió el somatotipo utilizando el método de Heath-Carter. Se reporta una mayor altura en los atletas de mejor rendimiento (178,3±4,4 cm vs. 173,7±5,6 cm; p<0,05) y mayor componente ectomorfico (p<0,05) que el resto de los participantes. El somatotipo de los atletas de mejor rendimiento fue de 2.2-2.8-4.1 frente al 2.5-3.8-2.9 de los atletas de menor rendimiento. El tiempo promedio (hora, minuto, segundo) de ejecución de la carrera en atletas de mejores rendimientos fue de 1:22:40, en comparación con los atletas de menores rendimientos con 1:32:41 (p <0,02). El componente ectomórfico y altura serian características morfológicas que pueden determinar el rendimiento deportivo de atletas de marcha. Se sugiere considerar estos factores en la selección de los marchistas olímpicos

Social odors conveying dominance and reproductive information induce rapid physiological and neuromolecular changes in a cichlid fish

Background: Social plasticity is a pervasive feature of animal behavior. Animals adjust the expression of their social behavior to the daily changes in social life and to transitions between life-history stages, and this ability has an impact in their Darwinian fitness. This behavioral plasticity may be achieved either by rewiring or by biochemically switching nodes of the neural network underlying social behavior in response to perceived social information. Independent of the proximate mechanisms, at the neuromolecular level social plasticity relies on the regulation of gene expression, such that different neurogenomic states emerge in response to different social stimuli and the switches between states are orchestrated by signaling pathways that interface the social environment and the genotype. Here, we test this hypothesis by characterizing the changes in the brain profile of gene expression in response to social odors in the Mozambique Tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus. This species has a rich repertoire of social behaviors during which both visual and chemical information are conveyed to conspecifics. Specifically, dominant males increase their urination frequency during agonist encounters and during courtship to convey chemical information reflecting their dominance status. Results: We recorded electro-olfactograms to test the extent to which the olfactory epithelium can discriminate between olfactory information from dominant and subordinate males as well as from pre- and post-spawning females. We then performed a genome-scale gene expression analysis of the olfactory bulb and the olfactory cortex homolog in order to identify the neuromolecular systems involved in processing these social stimuli. Conclusions: Our results show that different olfactory stimuli from conspecifics' have a major impact in the brain transcriptome, with different chemical social cues eliciting specific patterns of gene expression in the brain. These results confirm the role of rapid changes in gene expression in the brain as a genomic mechanism underlying behavioral plasticity and reinforce the idea of an extensive transcriptional plasticity of cichlid genomes, especially in response to rapid changes in their social environment.Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) [EXCL/BIA-ANM/0549/2012, Pest-OE/MAR/UI0331/2011]; Dwight W. and Blanche Faye Reeder Centennial Fellowship in Systematic and Evolutionary Biology; Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology Fellowship; FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learnings From a National Cyberattack Digital Disaster During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Department

Objective: The primary objective was to analyze the impact of the national cyberattack in May 2021 on patient flow and data quality in the Paediatric Emergency Department (ED), amid the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A single site retrospective time series analysis was conducted of three 6-week periods: before, during, and after the cyberattack outage. Initial emergent workflows are described. Analysis includes diagnoses, demographic context, key performance indicators, and the gradual return of information technology capability on ED performance. Data quality was compared using 10 data quality dimensions. Results: Patient visits totaled 13 390. During the system outage, patient experience times decreased significantly, from a median of 188 minutes (pre-cyberattack) down to 166 minutes, most notable for the period from registration to triage, and from clinician review to discharge (excluding admitted patients). Following system restoration, most timings increased. Data quality was significantly impacted, with data imperfections noted in 19.7% of data recorded during the system outage compared to 4.7% before and 5.1% after. Conclusions: There was a reduction in patient experience time, but data quality suffered greatly. A hospital’s major emergency plan should include provisions for digital disasters that address essential data requirements and quality as well as maintaining patient flow

Febrile seizures and mechanisms of epileptogenesis: insights from an animal model.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most prevalent type of human epilepsy, yet the causes for its development, and the processes involved, are not known. Most individuals with TLE do not have a family history, suggesting that this limbic epilepsy is a consequence of acquired rather than genetic causes. Among suspected etiologies, febrile seizures have frequently been cited. This is due to the fact that retrospective analyses of adults with TLE have demonstrated a high prevalence (20--&gt;60%) of a history of prolonged febrile seizures during early childhood, suggesting an etiological role for these seizures in the development of TLE. Specifically, neuronal damage induced by febrile seizures has been suggested as a mechanism for the development of mesial temporal sclerosis, the pathological hallmark of TLE. However, the statistical correlation between febrile seizures and TLE does not necessarily indicate a causal relationship. For example, preexisting (genetic or acquired) 'causes' that result independently in febrile seizures and in TLE would also result in tight statistical correlation. For obvious reasons, complex febrile seizures cannot be induced in the human, and studies of their mechanisms and of their consequences on brain molecules and circuits are severely limited. Therefore, an animal model was designed to study these seizures. The model reproduces the fundamental key elements of the human condition: the age specificity, the physiological temperatures seen in fevers of children, the length of the seizures and their lack of immediate morbidity. Neuroanatomical, molecular and functional methods have been used in this model to determine the consequences of prolonged febrile seizures on the survival and integrity of neurons, and on hyperexcitability in the hippocampal-limbic network. Experimental prolonged febrile seizures did not lead to death of any of the seizure-vulnerable populations in hippocampus, and the rate of neurogenesis was also unchanged. Neuronal function was altered sufficiently to promote synaptic reorganization of granule cells, and transient and long-term alterations in the expression of specific genes were observed. The contribution of these consequences of febrile seizures to the epileptogenic process is discussed

Financing micro-entrepreneurs for poverty alleviation: a performance analysis of microfinance services offered by BRAC, ASA, and Proshika from Bangladesh

Microfinance services have emerged as an effective tool for financing microentrepreneurs to alleviate poverty. Since the 1970s, development theorists have considered non-governmental microfinance institutions (MFIs) as the leading practitioners of sustainable development through financing micro-entrepreneurial activities. This study evaluates the impact of micro-finance services provided by MFIs on poverty alleviation. In this vein, we examine whether microfinance services contribute to poverty alleviation, and also identify bottlenecks in micro-finance programs and operations. The results indicate that the micro-loans have a statistically significant positive impact on the poverty alleviation index and consequently improve the living standard of borrowers by increasing their level of income

Improved attitude stabilisation system augmented sounding rocket design, integration, Verification & launch

A common barrier to maximising the altitude of a sounding rocket is the attitude deviation from the vertical fight induced by wind, known as weather cocking. An active stabilisation with canards, which was first proposed and implemented in the previous academic year (2022-23), is significantly improved as follows: a compact fight computer, a robust canard mechanical system, the linear quadratic regulator gain tuned and a new telemetry with extended data monitoring/analysis. The Verification process, which includes the fight mode detection, the wind tunnel experiment, the telemetry test and the attitude estimation test, has been performed. A successful launch in April 2024 shows the effectiveness of the integrated attitude control system and the ground data supporting system