Does display type matter for change detection? comparing immersive and non-immersive displays under low and high semantic availability

Qualitative differences in tree species distributions along soil chemical gradients give clues to the mechanisms of specialization: why boron may be the most important soil nutrient at Barro Colorado Island

In many US high schools, the athletic trainer (AT) has the responsibility to identify and manage athletes with concussions. Although the availability of ATs varies a great deal among schools, how the level of AT availability in high schools affects the reported incidence and management of sport-related concussions (SRCs) is unknown. To determine how the presence of an AT affects the reporting and management of SRCs. Prospective cohort study. A total of 2459 (female = 37.5%, age = 16.1 ± 1.2 years) athletes from 31 Wisconsin high schools were categorized as having low availability (LoAT), mid availability (MidAT), or high availability (HiAT) of ATs. Athletic trainers recorded the incidence, days lost from sport, and postconcussion management through return to sport. The incidence of SRC reporting among categories was examined using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Fisher exact tests were used to determine if postconcussion management differed based on AT availability. The incidence of reported SRCs was lower for the LoAT schools (2.4%) compared with the MidAT (5.6%, hazard ratio = 2.59, P = .043) and HiAT (7.0%, hazard ratio = 3.33, P = .002) schools. The median time before the first AT interaction was longer for LoAT schools (24.0 hours) than for MidAT (0.5 hours, post hoc P = .012) and HiAT (0.2 hours, post hoc P = .023) schools. The number of post-SRC interactions was different in all groups (LoAT = 2 interactions, MidAT = 3, and HiAT = 4; all post hoc P values < .05). Days lost were greater for MidAT and HiAT (both 14 days lost) schools compared with LoAT schools (11.5 days lost, post hoc P = .231 and P = .029, respectively). Athletes at LoAT schools were less likely to undergo a return-to-play protocol (9/18 SRCs, 50.0%) than athletes at MidAT (44/47 SRCs, 93.6%; post hoc P = .001) or HiAT (64/64 SRCs, 100%; post hoc P < .001) schools. The level of AT availability positively influenced the reported incidence of SRCs as well as postconcussion management activities in this sample of high schools.

Access to essential medicines is a critical component of healthcare. Conflicts severely disrupt pharmaceutical supply chains. This study examines the availability and prices of essential noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) medicines in Northern Syria, and explores the underlying factors contributing to medicine shortages and price variability. We applied a mixed-methods approach, combining a cross-sectional quantitative survey based on the World Health Organization/Health Action International (WHO/HAI) methodology with qualitative interviews. Medicine availability and price data were collected from public healthcare facilities and private pharmacies across Northeast and Northwest Syria. Availability was calculated as the percentage of facilities with the medicine in stock and categorized into four levels. Prices were reported using median price ratios. Qualitative data were collected from retailer pharmacists, representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and personnel working in medicine warehouses and wholesale distribution. Thematic content analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data. The findings indicate low medicine availability, falling well below WHO targets. The mean availability was 45.5%. Of 28 medicines surveyed, 11 had somewhat high availability (50%–80%), 12 had low availability (30%–49%), and 5 had very low availability (<30%). Epilepsy medicines had the lowest availability, highlighting a particularly neglected area of care. Qualitative report suggested that the observed price variations were largely driven by the geopolitical tension, supply chain disruptions, and the absence of effective regulatory mechanisms. The conflict has caused or exacerbated shortages through the destruction of infrastructure, trade restrictions, and economic instability. Additionally, concerns over the quality of medicines were frequently reported. This study highlights challenges in accessing essential medicines in Northern Syria but also reveals that medicine supply systems, although disrupted, continue to operate through alternative and informal channels. Moving forward, efforts must prioritize coherent, context-sensitive policies that build on existing structures and human resources to rebuild a well-regulated and equitable system.

Access to essential medicines is a critical component of healthcare. Conflicts severely disrupt pharmaceutical supply chains. This study examines the availability and prices of essential noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) medicines in Northern Syria, and explores the underlying factors contributing to medicine shortages and price variability. We applied a mixed-methods approach, combining a cross-sectional quantitative survey based on the World Health Organization/Health Action International (WHO/HAI) methodology with qualitative interviews. Medicine availability and price data were collected from public healthcare facilities and private pharmacies across Northeast and Northwest Syria. Availability was calculated as the percentage of facilities with the medicine in stock and categorized into four levels. Prices were reported using median price ratios. Qualitative data were collected from retailer pharmacists, representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and personnel working in medicine warehouses and wholesale distribution. Thematic content analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data. The findings indicate low medicine availability, falling well below WHO targets. The mean availability was 45.5%. Of 28 medicines surveyed, 11 had somewhat high availability (50%-80%), 12 had low availability (30%-49%), and 5 had very low availability (<30%). Epilepsy medicines had the lowest availability, highlighting a particularly neglected area of care. Qualitative report suggested that the observed price variations were largely driven by the geopolitical tension, supply chain disruptions, and the absence of effective regulatory mechanisms. The conflict has caused or exacerbated shortages through the destruction of infrastructure, trade restrictions, and economic instability. Additionally, concerns over the quality of medicines were frequently reported. This study highlights challenges in accessing essential medicines in Northern Syria but also reveals that medicine supply systems, although disrupted, continue to operate through alternative and informal channels. Moving forward, efforts must prioritize coherent, context-sensitive policies that build on existing structures and human resources to rebuild a well-regulated and equitable system.

This paper describes the density fluctuations of the adder Vipera berus and its prey during seven years. The reproduction during high adder density and low food availability was compared with that seven years later in the same population during low adder density and high food availability. Female length was similar but weight status (mass/length 2.56) was significantly higher during high prey density. Female mass loss when giving birth and clutch mass were significantly higher during high availability of food, but relative clutch mass and relative mass loss were similar in the two situations. However, the variance in relative clutch mass was significantly lower with high prey density. Clutch size and mass per young were significantly higher during high prey density. During high food availability there were significant positive correlations between female length (~ age) and birth mass loss, female length and clutch mass, female length and clutch size, clutch mass and mass per young and between relative clutch mass and mass per young. During low food availability there were significant positive correlations between clutch mass and clutch size and relative clutch mass and clutch size. A significant negative correlation was found between female length and relative mass loss. This study do not conform entirely to general theories on reproductive adaptations to varying food availability (r-K strategies). During high prey density both more and heavier young were produced than during scarcity of food. A high correlation of reproductive parameters during high food availability indicates a maximal utilization of reproductive capacity in most females, while the lack of such correlations during low food availability indicates a varying access to food and fat storage possibility among females.

Effects of food availability on the trade-off between growth and antioxidant responses in Caenorhabditis elegans exposed to sulfonamide antibiotics

Optimization of the use of Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans) in reproductive toxicology testing: describing the most optimal test conditions

Skeletal muscle glycogen is an important energy source for muscle contraction and a key regulator of metabolic responses to exercise. Manipulation of muscle glycogen is therefore a strategy to improve performance in competitions and potentially adaptation to training. However, assessing muscle glycogen in the field is impractical, and there are no normative values for glycogen concentration at rest and during exercise. The objective of this study was to meta-analyse the effects of fitness, acute dietary carbohydrate (CHO) availability and other factors on muscle glycogen concentration at rest and during exercise of different durations and intensities. PubMed was used to search for original articles in English published up until February 2018. Search terms included muscle glycogen and exercise, filtered for humans. The analysis incorporated 181 studies of continuous or intermittent cycling and running by healthy participants, with muscle glycogen at rest and during exercise determined by biochemical analysis of biopsies. Resting muscle glycogen was determined with a meta-regression mixed model that included fixed effects for fitness status [linear, as maximal oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O2max) in mL·kg-1·min-1] and CHO availability (three levels: high, ≥ 6g·kg-1 of CHO per day for ≥ 3days or ≥ 7g·kg-1 CHO per day for ≥ 2days; low, glycogen depletion and low-CHO diet; and normal, neither high nor low, or not specified in study). Muscle glycogen during exercise was determined with a meta-regression mixed model that included fixed effects for fitness status, resting glycogen [linear, in mmol·kg-1 of dry mass (DM)], exercise duration (five levels, with means of 5, 23, 53 and 116min, and time to fatigue), and exercise intensity (linear, as percentage of [Formula: see text]O2max); intensity, fitness and resting glycogen were interacted with duration, and there were also fixed effects for exercise modes, CHO ingestion, sex and muscle type. Random effects in both models accounted for between-study variance and within-study repeated measurement. Inferences about differences and changes in glycogen were based on acceptable uncertainty in standardised magnitudes, with thresholds for small, moderate, large and very large of 25, 75, 150 and 250mmol·kg-1 of DM, respectively. The resting glycogen concentration in the vastus lateralis of males with normal CHO availability and [Formula: see text]O2max (mean ± standard deviation, 53 ± 8mL·kg-1·min-1) was 462 ± 132mmol·kg-1. High CHO availability was associated with a moderate increase in resting glycogen (102, ± 47mmol·kg-1; mean ± 90% confidence limits), whereas low availability was associated with a very large decrease (- 253, ± 30mmol·kg-1). An increase in [Formula: see text]O2max of 10mL·kg-1·min-1 had small effects with low and normal CHO availability (29, ± 44 and 67, ± 15mmol·kg-1, respectively) and a moderate effect with high CHO availability (80, ± 40mmol·kg-1). There were small clear increases in females and the gastrocnemius muscle. Clear modifying effects on glycogen utilisation during exercise were as follows: a 30% [Formula: see text]O2max increase in intensity, small (41, ± 20mmol·kg-1) at 5min and moderate (87-134mmol·kg-1) at all other timepoints; an increase in baseline glycogen of 200mmol·kg-1, small at 5-23min (28-59mmol·kg-1), moderate at 116min (104, ± 15mmol·kg-1) and moderate at fatigue (143, ± 33mmol·kg-1); an increase in [Formula: see text]O2max of 10mL·kg-1·min-1, mainly clear trivial effects; exercise mode (intermittent vs. continuous) and CHO ingestion, clear trivial effects. Small decreases in utilisation were observed in females (vs. males: - 30, ± 29mmol·kg-1), gastrocnemius muscle (vs. vastus lateralis: - 31, ± 46mmol·kg-1) and running (vs. cycling: - 70, ± 32mmol·kg-1). Dietary CHO availability and fitness are important factors for resting muscle glycogen. Exercise intensity and baseline muscle glycogen are important factors determining glycogen use during exercise, especially with longer exercise duration. The meta-analysed effects may be useful normative values for prescription of endurance exercise.

Food storage in animals allows foragers to reap when food is plentiful and costs are low and eat when food is scarce and costs are high, thus shifting resources from periods of low value or high availability to periods of high value or low availability. To a caching animal, a food item has two components: its present value for immediate consumption and its future value if stored. We explored some properties of caching in the context of a food's future value using free-living fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) and manipulations of cacheability of supplemental food. We assessed squirrel behavior using giving-up densities (GUDS) of noncacheable food in artificial food patches. Squirrels had higher GUDs in assessment trays when given noncacheable supplemental food than when food was not augmented; when given supplemental food in a highly storable form, squirrels had intermediate GUDs. Thus, future value of food affects the foraging behavior of squirrels through the balancing of present and future needs.

In this research, the effect of soil application of three different sources of zinc (Zn) fertilizers including nano Zn chelate, Zn sulfate and nano Zn oxide (ZnO) each at three levels of 0, 250 and 500 mg kg−1 was examined in a 12-year-old vineyard. The results of the soil incubation test of different Zn containing fertilizers (with equal amounts of Zn) showed that these compounds had the highest availability during the first week they are added to soil, but over time this availability reduced. The highest Zn availability was related to nano Zn chelate and the lowest availability was related to nano ZnO and control treatments. Moreover, the amount of Zn extracted at the end of the growing season was lower in nano Zn chelate- treated soils than those treated with Zn sulfate and nano ZnO. The highest yield was related to those vines treated with nano Zn chelate at 500 mg kg−1 and the lowest was observed in control vines. Also, the highest and lowest total phenol and soluble sugars was detected in 500 mg kg−1 nano Zn chelate- treated and control vines, respectively. Berry anthocyanin, flavonoid, titratable acid, catalase, and guaiacol peroxidase activity, protein, ascorbic acid, iron, and potassium dramatically increased in response to nano Zn chelate application. For this reason, because nano Zn chelate is less stabilized on soil, it is better to use nano Zn chelate fertilizer instead of other Zn compounds for improving the yield and quality of grape berries, especially in calcareous soils.

The relationship between mycorrhizal colonisation and phosphorus acquired by seedlings of the arbuscular mycorrhizal tree Oubanguia alata Bak f. (Scytopetalaceae) and the ectomycorrhizal tree Tetraberlinia moreliana Aubr. (Caesalpiniodeae) was evaluated at low and high inorganic phosphorus availability. AM colonisation was positively correlated with phosphorus uptake by O. alata at low, but not at high phosphorus availability. Seedlings growth was positively related to arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation at both low and high phosphorus availability, suggesting that growth promotion by arbuscular mycorrhizas is not simply related to an increase of phosphorus uptake. In contrast, phosphorus uptake by T. moreliana was correlated with EM colonisation at both low and high phosphorus availability, but there was no relationship between growth and ectomycorrhizal colonisation. Promotion of phosphorus uptake by arbuscular mycorrhizas and ectomycorrhizas at low phosphorus availability is consistent with the co-occurrence of the two types of mycorrhiza in tropical rain forests where available soil phosphorus is low. However, ectomycorrhizal colonisation may also be of advantage where inputs of phosphorus rich litter raise the phosphorus status of the soil, as seen in the groves of ectomycorrhizal trees in Korup National Park, and may be one of the factors reinforcing local dominance by these trees.

Root hairs are presumably important in the acquisition of immobile soil resources such as phosphorus. The density and length of root hairs vary substantially within and between species, and are highly regulated by soil phosphorus availability, which suggests that at high nutrient availability, root hairs may have a neutral or negative impact on fitness. We used a root-hairless mutant of the small herbaceous dicot Arabidopsis thaliana to assess the effect of root hairs on plant competition under contrasting phosphorus regimes. Wildtype plants were grown with hairless plants in a replacement series design at high (60 μm phosphate in soil solution) and low (1 μm phosphate in soil solution) phosphorus availability. At high phosphorus availability, wildtype and mutant plants were equal in growth, phosphorus acquisition, fecundity and relative crowding coefficient (RCC). At low phosphorus availability, hairless plants accumulated less biomass and phosphorus, and produced less seed when planted with wildtype plants. Wildtype plants were unaffected by the presence of hairless plants in mixed genotype plantings. Wildtype plants had RCC values greater than one while hairless plants had RCC values less than one. We conclude that root hairs increase the competitiveness of plants under low phosphorus availability but do not reduce growth or competitiveness under high phosphorus availability.

Two studies engaged in gathering data on injecting drug users (IDUs) employed supplementary resources to enhance their ethnographic components and compare patterns of use of needles/syringes (n/s) in two geographically similar but culturally distinct cities. Despite its policy of making n/s highly available at fair prices, Valencia, Spain, has markedly higher rates of HIV seroprevalence among its IDUs than does Miami, Florida, where possession of n/s is illegal. Ethnographically based models that track IDUs through choices of injection venues help to explain this difference. Inability of IDUs in Valencia to use their own domiciles as venues for injection contrasts sharply with problems of Miami IDUs, who have access to houses but have difficulty finding n/s. This research suggests that intervention in Valencia needs to focus on how people select places where they inject, and intervention in Miami needs to focus on improving availability of n/s.

Traditional financial trading systems were developed in database-based standalone model years ago. Given that there exist some evident drawbacks like high latency and low availability in such architecture, it is imperative to design a new model which can meet the requirements of time-sensitive financial transactions. Therefore, in this paper we design and implement a state-replication based matching system which includes the critical technical points like order sequencing and asynchronous data persistence. The performance experiment indicates that this new model can dramatically increase the throughput by three times and the latency only accounts for nearly 10% compared with the conventional architecture. High availability and robustness can be guaranteed as well.

The salt tolerance of the freshwater cyanobacterium Microcystis depends on nitrogen availability