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Interactive effects of agricultural landscape heterogeneity and weather conditions on breeding density and reproductive success of a diurnal raptor
No full textAgricultural intensification and climate change are serious threats toward animal populations worldwide. Agricultural intensification reduces the heterogeneity of agricultural habitats by diminishing crop variation and destroying microhabitats, such as small woody features, whereas the effects of climate change range from the growing frequency of weather extremes to disrupted prey-predator dynamics. We collected long-term ringing data from a population of Eurasian kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) located amidst agricultural areas in western Finland during 1985-2021, which we combined with density indices of their main prey species (voles), spatial data consisting of land cover classification of kestrel territories, and weather data, to study the effects of different environmental drivers on breeding density and success. We found that the density of inhabited nests rose with vole abundance and springtime snow depth, with the overall trend of population growth being stronger in areas with more heterogeneous landscapes. Clutch size was influenced negatively by the age of male parent and landscape heterogeneity, and positively by vole abundance, with rainfall having a negative influence conditional to other variables. Likewise, the number of produced fledglings was affected by male age, but it was additionally positively associated with landscape heterogeneity and its interaction with rainfall, with greater fledgling output in heterogeneous landscapes during high precipitation. The discrepancy between factors predicting large clutches and high numbers of fledglings suggests that while kestrels do not prefer heterogeneous landscapes when prospecting for territories, heterogeneous habitats provide better circumstances for foraging during the nestling period, which ensures nestling survival, particularly during adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, breeding in areas under intense agricultural use is more suboptimal to kestrels than their territory preferences would indicate. As changing climate may reduce prey availability and heighten the probability of weather extremities, agricultural intensification may lead to weaker reproductive success in densely populated farmland habitats.The article describes a study that combines long-term ringing data of Eurasian kestrels (Falco tinnunculus), spatial data with land cover classification, density indices of main prey species, and weather data to study the effects of different environmental parameters on breeding density and success of an avian predator in agricultural habitats. We found a discrepancy between factors predicting large clutches and high numbers of surviving fledglings, suggesting that while kestrels do not find benefits to landscape heterogeneity when prospecting for territories, heterogeneous habitats provide better circumstances for foraging during the nestling period, which ensures nestling survival, particularly during adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, breeding in areas under intense agricultural use may be suboptimal to kestrels, particularly under the effects of climate change.imag
Aspired communities : Reconsidering community in light of the temporal dimensionality of social life
No full textI argue in this article that our understanding of community is enhanced by examining the formation of collective aspirations for a shared future. Using examples from my fieldwork on long-term community recovery after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 in the town of Yamamoto, I illustrate the potential of using the social process of collective aspiring as an analytical tool in theorizing and studying community. Instead of treating community as a particular grouping or identity, I approach the concept of community as a processual analytical frame for understanding various forms of sociality constituted by continuous and mutually constitutive enacting and envisioning within social practices. This practice approach not only overcomes the tensions between the agency, structure, actualization, and abstraction characteristic of conceptualizations of community, but also enables us to explore the significance of the future dimension of social life. The concept of future orientation of collective aspiring allows us to ethnographically grasp the contingent formation of community in the dynamic process of striving toward the desired futures in contrast to anticipation of uncertain futures. To capture the many aspects of this process, aspiring is explored as shared objectives, action-oriented pursuing, and affectively charged yearning. This proposed analytical tool sheds light on ever-evolving forms of sociality not only in their unity and togetherness but particularly in their ambiguities, conflicts, and power relations
Evidence of a Causal Relationship Between Smoking Tobacco and Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
No full textThere has been emerging evidence of an association between tobacco smoking and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Two meta-analyses have reported that people who smoke tobacco have an similar to 2-fold increased risk of incident schizophrenia or psychosis, even after adjusting for confounding factors. This study aimed to critically appraise the research which has examined the association between tobacco smoking and SSD against the Bradford Hill criteria for causality, to determine the strength of the evidence for a causal relationship. Eight longitudinal studies (seven cohort studies and one case control study) were identified which examined tobacco smoking as an exposure and psychosis as an outcome. All seven cohort studies were assessed as being of high quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Six of the eight studies found a statistically significant positive association between tobacco smoking and onset of SSD. These studies reported a consistent association with a moderate to large effect size and a dose response relationship. The studies adjusted for multiple potential confounders including age, sex, socioeconomic status, shared genetic risk, prodromal symptoms, and comorbid cannabis and other substance use. The studies did not adjust for exposure to childhood trauma or prenatal tobacco. There was substantial though inconclusive evidence supporting a causal relationship between tobacco smoking and increased risk of SSD. If a causal relationship does exist, nicotine is most likely responsible for this association. This raises serious public health concerns about the increasing use of e-cigarettes and other products, particularly by adolescents whose nicotine use may increase their risk of SSD. Research is urgently needed to examine the association between e-cigarette use and incident psychosis, particularly in adolescents and young adults
Nurses' collegiality: An evolutionary concept analysis
No full textCollegiality is one of the fundamental values of the nursing profession. During the nursing history, collegiality has been described as part of a nurse's relationship with their peers and it influences the quality of care they provide and job satisfaction and commitment to their work. Despite earlier definitions, the concept of collegiality in nursing has remained unclear. The aim of this study was to clarify the concept of collegiality in the nursing profession, using Rodger's evolutionary concept analysis. We carried out electronic searches using the CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, SocINDEX, PsycINFO and Eric databases and manual searches of the reference lists of the selected papers. The searches were limited to peer-reviewed papers published in English language from the inception of database to November 2022. This identified 25 papers. Based on our analysis, the attributes of the concept of collegiality were achieving mutual goals together with equality, reciprocity, trusted advocacy, powerful self-regulation and engaged belongingness. Antecedents of the concept included existing professional group, connection between professionals and professional self-esteem. The consequences were strengthening nurses' professional status, job satisfaction and their ability to provide the best possible patient care. We found that nurses' collegiality was a value-based concept, with a unique character based on professional connections. The concept brought together ethical and pragmatic strategies to achieve the best possible results for the nursing profession. Provided knowledge can be applied for further development of the concept and applying it in clinical research and practice. The concept of nurses' collegiality should also be studied in the future because both the profession and their working environment are constantly changing.</p
Smartphone application versus written material for smoking reduction and cessation in individuals undergoing low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for lung cancer : a phase II open-label randomised controlled trial
No full textBackground: Counseling, nicotine replacement, and other cessation medications have been proven effective in smoking cessation. The wide-scale adoption of smartphones and other mobile devices has opened new possibilities for scalable and personalized smoking cessation approaches. The study investigated whether a smartphone application would be more effective than written material for smoking cessation and reduction in smoking in individuals undergoing low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for lung cancer (NCT05630950).Methods: This randomized controlled trial enrolled 201 current smokers with marked smoking history (smoked ≥15 cigarettes/day for ≥25 years or smoked ≥10 cigarettes/day for ≥30 years). Participants were stratified by age and pack-years and randomized in 1:1 fashion to the developed smartphone application (experimental arm) or written material (standard of care). All the subjects underwent LDCT screening. Self-reported smoking cessation at three and six months were the primary endpoints of the study. The smoking-related secondary endpoints of the study were the percentage of individuals who had reduced the number of smoked cigarettes/d from the baseline.Findings: Between Nov 18, 2022, and Apr 14, 2023, 201 patients were screened at Oulu University Hospital, Finland, of whom all were randomly assigned to smartphone application (n = 101) or written cessation material (n = 100); 200 were included in the full analysis set. Study arms were well-balanced for all the studied demographic factors. Subjects randomized to the smartphone application arm had significantly higher rates for self-reported smoking cessation at three (19.8 versus 7.1%; OR 3.175 CI 95% 1.276-7.899) and six months (18.8 versus 7.1%; OR 2.847 CI 95% 1.137-7.128). In the experimental arm, individuals with a frequent use of the application had a higher chance for smoking cessation at three (p Interpretation: The study showed that the developed smartphone application increases the likelihood for smoking cessation in individuals undergoing lung cancer LDCT screening.</p
Sydämen rasituskaikukuvaus
No full textSydämen rasituskaikukuvaus on pitkään käytössä ollut, monipuolinen sydänsairauksien tutkimusmenetelmä. Rintakipupotilaan hemodynaamisesti merkittävä, ahtauttava sepelvaltimotauti on mahdollista todeta seinämäliikehäiriönä, joka kehittyy rasituksen aiheuttaman sydänlihasiskemian seurauksena. Kaikukuvauksen avulla on mahdollista arvioida sydänlihasiskemian sijaintia ja laajuutta sekä sen yhteyttä potilaan kuormitukseen ja oireisiin. Rasituskaikukuvaus mahdollistaa sydämen rakenteen ja toiminnan monipuolisen tutkimisen, kuten vasemman kammion systolisen ja diastolisen toimintahäiriön toteamisen. Tutkimuksen käyttöaiheet ovat laajentuneet, ja sitä käytetään aiempaa enemmän muun muassa läppävikojen vaikeuden, sydänlihassairauksien ja epäselvän hengenahdistuksen selvittelyssä. </p
Assessing the Relevance of the 1992 Namibian Language in Education Policy (NLiEP) Document
No full textThe current Namibian Language in Education Policy (NLiEP) document was first introduced in 1991 immediately after the country gained its independence. Even though this document has been in existence for more than 30 years, it has never been formally assessed or modified despite the changing socio-economic and language practices. Using four criteria (authenticity, representativeness, meaning, and credibility) suggested to evaluate documents for relevance, the article seeks to establish the relevance of the current NLiEP document. The findings suggest that the NLiEP document is out of touch with the developing multilingual realities of Namibians and the current debates on multilingual pedagogies in postcolonial Africa and the Global South generally. The article concludes with a discussion of an ideal prospective language policy document for Namibian schools.</p
Language-specific hotspots of interest in IUCN Red Listed terrestrial mammals
No full textBiodiversity conservation continues to be a global priority and insights into societal interest and support for targeted species conservation actions are essential for their success. Taking advantage of emerging culturomics methods, here we propose a new methodology for mapping societal interest towards terrestrial mammals by combining the IUCN Red List range maps with indicators of societal interest towards species derived from Wikipedia pageviews data for different languages. We show that societal interest towards terrestrial mammals varies between different language groups and is not necessarily concentrated in areas of high biodiversity. We propose that our mapping method can help to identify hot- and cold-spots of societal interest towards biodiversity for different taxonomic and language groups, and we discuss potential conservation applications of the proposed mapping method
Bioinformatics insights into CENP-T and CENP-W protein-protein interaction disruptive amino acid substitution in the CENP-T-W complex
No full textKinetochores are multi-protein assemblies present at the centromere of the human chromosome and play a crucial role in cellular mitosis. The CENP-T and CENP-W chains form a heterodimer, which is an integral part of the inner kinetochore, interacting with the linker DNA on one side and the outer kinetochore on the other. Additionally, the CENP-T-W dimer interacts with other regulatory proteins involved in forming inner kinetochores. The specific roles of different amino acids in the CENP-W at the protein-protein interaction (PPI) interface during the CENP-T-W dimer formation remain incompletely understood. Since cell division goes awry in diseases like cancer, this CENP-T-W partnership is a potential target for new drugs that could restore healthy cell division. We employed molecular docking, binding free energy calculations, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the disruptive effects of amino acids substitutions in the CENP-W chain on CENP-T-W dimer formation. By conducting a molecular docking study and analysing hydrogen bonding interactions, we identified key residues in CENP-W (ASN-46, ARG-53, LEU-83, SER-86, ARG-87, and GLY-88) for further investigation. Through site-directed mutagenesis and subsequent binding free energy calculations, we refined the selection of mutant. We chose four mutants (N46K, R53K, L83K, and R87E) of CENP-W to assess their comparative potential in forming CENP-T-W dimer. Our analysis from 250 ns long revealed that the substitution of LEU83 and ARG53 residues in CENP-W with the LYS significantly disrupts the formation of CENP-T-W dimer. In conclusion, LEU83 and ARG53 play a critical role in CENP-T and CENP-W dimerization which is ultimately required for cellular mitosis. Our findings not only deepen our understanding of cell division but also hint at exciting drug-target possibilities.</p