The 7-items version of the connectedness to nature scale: A study of its validity and reliability with Brazilians

Human actions are largely responsible for environmental problems such as climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss (Steffen et al. 2015). Hence, several authors have highlighted the importance of a better understanding of the drivers of pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) (Collado et al. 2015; Whitburn et al. 2019). Connectedness to nature (CN) has been defined as a latent construct that represents the connection between individuals and nature and is related to individuals’ emotions, beliefs and behaviors toward nature (Mayer and Frantz 2004; Tam 2013; Pasca et al. 2017; Whitburn et al. 2019). CN is thought to be one of the main factors leading to PEB (Tam 2013; Frantz and Mayer 2014; Gkargkavouzi et al. 2018) and, as such, there is a growing interest on the factors leading to CN (Di Fabio and Kenny 2018; Rosa and Collado 2019). For example, experiences in nature (e.g., nature-based recreation) are seen as a relevant determinant of CN (Duron-Ramos et al. 2020; Rosa and Collado 2019)..

Antibacterial and antimalarial activity of Angolan Cymbopogon citratus essential oil

Bacterial infections and malaria remain a major public health problem due to the emergence and spread of drug resistant strains. There is an urgent need to investigate new sources of antibacterial and antimalarial drugs, which are more effective. One of the potential sources of antibacterial and antimalarial drugs is traditional medicinal plants. Our ethnopharmacological studies, in several Angolan regions, showed that Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf., has high bioactivity against bacterial infections and malaria. The constituents of Cymbopogon citratus essential oil (CCEO), obtained by hydro-distillation, were analysed by GC and GC-MS and identified from their retention indices and mass spectra. The antimicrobial activity of CCEO and major natural volatile compounds were tested against several bacterial strains. The antimalarial assays where performed in continuous in vitro cultures of asexual erythrocyte stages of P. falciparum using the parasite lactate dehydrogenase assay. CCEO exhibits broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Our results showed that multi-resistant Stafilococus aureus (MRSA) isolates were more sensitive to CCEO than non-MRSA. When tested against MRSA resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid combination, penicillin G and methicillin, CCEO shows a significant increase in bactericidal activity when compared with the commercial antibiotics. The same results were obtained using vancomycin resistant S. epidermidis and other strains. Regarding the anti-malaria activity, test samples where considered active for in vitro antimalarial activity exhibiting IC50 values of 5.34±1.01 μg/ml and 7.06±0.47 μg/ml. Our work shows that CCEO has higher antibacterial activity than commercial antibiotics against MRSA strains, as well as antimalarial activity. This offers opportunities for clinical treatments since preliminary in vivo studies showed no toxic effects and high antimalarial activity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Whole Genome and Tandem Duplicate Retention facilitated Glucosinolate Pathway Diversification in the Mustard Family.

Plants share a common history of successive whole genome duplication (WGD) events retaining genomic patterns of duplicate gene copies (ohnologs) organized in conserved syntenic blocks. Duplication was often proposed to affect the origin of novel traits during evolution. However, genetic evidence linking WGD to pathway diversification is scarce. We show that WGD and Tandem Duplication (TD) accelerated genetic versatility of plant secondary metabolism, exemplified with the glucosinolate (GS) pathway in the Mustard Family. GS biosynthesis is a well-studied trait, employing at least 52 biosynthetic and regulatory genes in the model plant Arabidopsis. In a phylogenomics approach, we identified 67 GS loci in Aethionema arabicum of the tribe Aethionemae, sister group to all Mustard Family members. All but one of the Arabidopsis GS gene families evolved orthologs in Aethionema and all but one of the orthologous sequence pairs exhibit synteny. The 45% fraction of duplicates among all protein-coding genes in Arabidopsis was increased to 95 and 97% for Arabidopsis and Aethionema GS pathway inventory, respectively. Compared to the 22% average for all protein-coding genes in Arabidopsis, 52 and 56% of Aethionema and Arabidopsis GS loci align to ohnolog copies dating back to the last common WGD event. While 15% of all Arabidopsis genes are organized in tandem arrays, 45% and 48% of GS loci in Arabidopsis and Aethionema descend from TD, respectively. We describe a sequential combination of tandem- and whole genome duplication events driving gene family extension, thereby expanding the evolutionary playground for functional diversification and thus potential novelty and success

The evolutionary history of wild, domesticated, and feral brassica oleracea (Brassicaceae)

Understanding the evolutionary history of crops, including identifying wild relatives, helps to provide insight for conservation and crop breeding efforts. Cultivated Brassica oleracea has intrigued researchers for centuries due to its wide diversity in forms, which include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and Brussels sprouts. Yet, the evolutionary history of this species remains understudied. With such different vegetables produced from a single species, B. oleracea is a model organism for understanding the power of artificial selection. Persistent challenges in the study of B. oleracea include conflicting hypotheses regarding domestication and the identity of the closest living wild relative. Using newly generated RNA-seq data for a diversity panel of 224 accessions, which represents 14 different B. oleracea crop types and nine potential wild progenitor species, we integrate phylogenetic and population genetic techniques with ecological niche modeling, archaeological, and literary evidence to examine relationships among cultivars and wild relatives to clarify the origin of this horticulturally important species. Our analyses point to the Aegean endemic B. cretica as the closest living relative of cultivated B. oleracea, supporting an origin of cultivation in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Additionally, we identify several feral lineages, suggesting that cultivated plants of this species can revert to a wild-like state with relative ease. By expanding our understanding of the evolutionary history in B. oleracea, these results contribute to a growing body of knowledge on crop domestication that will facilitate continued breeding efforts including adaptation to changing environmental conditions

Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eμ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σtt¯) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σtt¯ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented

Search for strong gravity in multijet final states produced in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC

A search is conducted for new physics in multijet final states using 3.6 inverse femtobarns of data from proton-proton collisions at √s = 13TeV taken at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector. Events are selected containing at least three jets with scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) greater than 1TeV. No excess is seen at large HT and limits are presented on new physics: models which produce final states containing at least three jets and having cross sections larger than 1.6 fb with HT > 5.8 TeV are excluded. Limits are also given in terms of new physics models of strong gravity that hypothesize additional space-time dimensions

Search for TeV-scale gravity signatures in high-mass final states with leptons and jets with the ATLAS detector at sqrt [ s ] = 13TeV

A search for physics beyond the Standard Model, in final states with at least one high transverse momentum charged lepton (electron or muon) and two additional high transverse momentum leptons or jets, is performed using 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 at √s = 13 TeV. The upper end of the distribution of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of leptons and jets is sensitive to the production of high-mass objects. No excess of events beyond Standard Model predictions is observed. Exclusion limits are set for models of microscopic black holes with two to six extra dimensions