Changes In Population Structure Research Articles

Wings are not perfect: increased wing asymmetry in a tropical butterfly as a response to forest fragmentation.

Habitat fragmentation and ecosystem changes have the potential to affect animal populations in different ways. To effectively monitor these changes, biomonitoring tools have been developed and applied to detect changes in population structure and/or individual traits that reflect such changes. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) represents random deviations from perfect symmetry in bilateral traits from perfect symmetry in response to genetic and/or environmental stresses. In this study, we evaluated the use of FA as a tool to monitor stress caused by forest fragmentation and edge formation, using the tropical butterfly M. helenor (Nymphalidae) as a model species. We collected adult butterflies from three fragments of Atlantic Forest in Brazil encompassing both edge and interior habitats. Four wing traits (wing length, wing width, ocelli area, and ocelli diameter) were evaluated. Butterflies captured at edge sites exhibited higher FA values for wing length and wing width compared to those captured at interior sites, whereas traits related to ocelli did not show differences between the two habitat types. Our results suggest that the differences in abiotic and biotic conditions between forest interior and edges can act as a source of stress, impacting the symmetry of flight-related traits. On the other hand, as ocelli are crucial for butterfly camouflage and counter-predator strategies, our results indicate that this trait may be more conserved. By employing FA, we identified trait-specific responses to habitat fragmentation, thus suggesting its potential as a biomarker for environmental stress that can be used in butterflies to monitor habitat quality and change.

Demographic history of the Punjab urial and implications for its management

AbstractThe Punjab urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) is endemic to Northern Punjab, Pakistan, and is categorized as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The urial population has declined by 30% over the last 3 generations. We used non‐invasive fecal samples to identify individuals and estimate population size of Punjab urial in the Kalabagh Game Reserve, Pakistan. We genotyped samples using 12 microsatellite markers to assess genetic variation, population structure, and demographic changes. Microsatellite analysis revealed high levels of genetic variation in urials in terms of expected and observed heterozygosity and allelic diversity. The population structure of the Punjab urial in the Kalabagh Game Reserve, based solely on microsatellite variation using Bayesian clustering, indicated 3 different clusters in the reserve. Results revealed that the urial population may be facing inbreeding pressure because its ancestral effective population size has declined from between 20,000 and 50,000 to ≤1,000 animals today. This reduction has partly occurred because of a bottleneck that occurred about 10,000 years ago. Results also indicate that 1 urial population cluster has the signature of a bottleneck, which may be due to population isolation. The 3 urial clusters are small and broadly dispersed in a large territory, meaning they could be extirpated without any opportunity for natural re‐population through dispersion. The results of our study support a management strategy that encourages maintaining connectivity between urial localities within the Kalabagh Game Reserve, increased diversity so the effective population size may recover from the historical decline, and the use of data generated here as a baseline of urial genetic diversity in the reserve for monitoring diversity over the long term.

Research on Population Aging, Human Capital Accumulation and High-quality Economic Development

In the 21st century, the huge scale of aging population, the rapid growth of the elderly population, and the "aging before getting rich" have led to tremendous changes in China's population structure. The ultimate reason is that China's fertility rate has dropped significantly. The change in China's population structure is bound to have an important effect on the social and economic development of China. Therefore, this essay creates a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of China's aging population on China's high-quality economic development through the literature review method, and draws the conclusion that China's aging population has a profoundly favorable effect on China's high-quality economic development.

Responses of straw foam-based aerobic granular sludge to atrazine: Insights from metagenomics and microbial community variations

Atrazine (ATZ) has caused serious environmental pollution, but the biodegradation of ATZ is relatively slow and inefficient. Herein, a straw foam-based aerobic granular sludge (SF-AGS) was developed, the spatially ordered architectures of which could greatly improve the drug tolerance and biodegradation efficiency of ATZ. The results showed that, in the presence of ATZ, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN) were effectively removed within 6 h, and the removal efficiencies were as high as 93.37%, 85.33%, 84.7%, and 70%, respectively. Furthermore, ATZ stimulated microbial consortia to secrete three times more extracellular polymers compared to without ATZ. Illumina MiSeq sequencing results showed that bacterial diversity and richness decreased, leading to significant changes in microbial population structure and composition. ATZ-resistant bacteria including Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Burkholderia laid the biological basis for the stability of aerobic particles, efficient removal of pollutants, and degradation of ATZ. The study demonstrated that SF-AGS is feasible for ATZ-laden low-strength wastewater treatment.

응용학문으로서 의류학을 위한 융복합 연구 방향 제안

Background/Objectives: This study aims to illuminate the academic identity and convergence characteristics of Clothing and Textiles (C&T) and suggest future research topics as an applied study.
 Methods: An integrated literature review on the C&T identity and the latest convergence research in C&T was performed, and the Delphi technique was implemented to derive a convergence research agenda within C&T.
 Results: C&T is a convergence study to improve human life through clothing and the development of related industries. Ten topics are derived in consideration of importance, feasibility, and the necessity of convergence between specific majors in C&T. Eco-friendliness and digitalization issues within the fashion industry are the most prioritized topics. The development of new products for population structure or climate change, the creation of unique Korean clothes or brands with tradition, modernity, popularity, and practicality, and the vitalization of fashion startups are subsequently included.
 Conclusion/Implications: As a convergence discipline, the identity was confirmed by comprehensively recognizing the complexity of the C&T field. Using the 10 research topics derived from this study, specific majors in C&T that can be used for collaboration and design to strengthen uniqueness were discussed as convergence research. The obtained results not only contribute academically to the development of C&T as a convergence study, but also provide practical contributions to strengthen research on the derived topics to address social demand.

Spatiotemporal Dynamic Characteristics and Causes of China’s Population Aging from 2000 to 2020

Aging involves the transformation of the population reproduction mode under the rapid development of the social economy. We studied population survey data based on the WorldPop population statistics website and used ArcGIS to construct a spatial database and implement spatial analysis methods. In this study, we analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of population aging and its main influencing factors in counties of China, in order to provide a reference for the formulation of a national population development policy and the construction of a pension system. The results are as follows: ① The situation of population aging in China is becoming more serious, showing a point-line-area spatial pattern and two core–periphery aging patterns of high core–low periphery and low core–high periphery. ② The speed of population aging in China is characterized by rapid growth, large scale, and a high degree. Large areas of growing old before getting rich have emerged in the central and western regions. ③ The aging of the population has gradually spread to the northeast, southwest, northwest, and other regions. Influenced by factors such as population migration, population structure change, transportation facility construction, and geographic environment changes, a trend of aging that has spread across the Hu Huan-Yong line has appeared.

Flaws and uncertainties in pandemic global excess death calculations.

Several teams have been publishing global estimates of excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we examine potential flaws and underappreciated sources of uncertainty in global excess death calculations. Adjusting for changing population age structure is essential. Otherwise, excess deaths are markedly overestimated in countries with increasingly aging populations. Adjusting for changes in other high-risk indicators, such as residence in long-term facilities, may also make a difference. Death registration is highly incomplete in most countries; completeness corrections should allow for substantial uncertainty and consider that completeness may have changed during pandemic years. Excess death estimates have high sensitivity to modeling choice. Therefore different options should be considered and the full range of results should be shown for different choices of pre-pandemic reference periods and imposed models. Any post-modeling corrections in specific countries should be guided by pre-specified rules. Modeling of all-cause mortality (ACM) in countries that have ACM data and extrapolating these models to other countries is precarious; models may lack transportability. Existing global excess death estimates underestimate the overall uncertainty that is multiplicative across diverse sources of uncertainty. Informative excess death estimates require risk stratification, including age groups and ethnic/racial strata. Data to-date suggest a death deficit among children during the pandemic and marked socioeconomic differences in deaths, widening inequalities. Finally, causal explanations require great caution in disentangling SARS-CoV-2 deaths, indirect pandemic effects, and effects from measures taken. We conclude that excess deaths have many uncertainties, but globally deaths from SARS-CoV-2 may be the minority of calculated excess deaths.

Comparison of molecular surveillance methods to assess changes in the population genetics of Plasmodium falciparum in high transmission.

A major motivation for developing molecular methods for malaria surveillance is to measure the impact of control interventions on the population genetics of Plasmodium falciparum as a potential marker of progress towards elimination. Here we assess three established methods (i) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) barcoding (panel of 24-biallelic loci), (ii) microsatellite genotyping (panel of 12-multiallelic loci), and (iii) varcoding (fingerprinting var gene diversity, akin to microhaplotyping) to identify changes in parasite population genetics in response to a short-term indoor residual spraying (IRS) intervention. Typical of high seasonal transmission in Africa, multiclonal infections were found in 82.3% (median 3; range 1-18) and 57.8% (median 2; range 1-12) of asymptomatic individuals pre- and post-IRS, respectively, in Bongo District, Ghana. Since directly phasing multilocus haplotypes for population genetic analysis is not possible for biallelic SNPs and microsatellites, we chose ~200 low-complexity infections biased to single and double clone infections for analysis. Each genotyping method presented a different pattern of change in diversity and population structure as a consequence of variability in usable data and the relative polymorphism of the molecular markers (i.e., SNPs < microsatellites < var). Varcoding and microsatellite genotyping showed the overall failure of the IRS intervention to significantly change the population structure from pre-IRS characteristics (i.e., many diverse genomes of low genetic similarity). The 24-SNP barcode provided limited information for analysis, largely due to the biallelic nature of SNPs leading to a high proportion of double-allele calls and a view of more isolate relatedness compared to microsatellites and varcoding. Relative performance, suitability, and cost-effectiveness of the methods relevant to sample size and local malaria elimination in high-transmission endemic areas are discussed.

FROM AN AGROPHILE TO A SYNURBIST: HOW THE COMMON HAMSTER (&lt;i&gt;CRICETUS CRICETUS&lt;/i&gt;) IS SETTLING INTO THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

In this review, using our own and published data, we discuss the processes that occur in populations of small mammals when they adapt to and master the urban environment, using the common hamster as an example. Originally, the common hamster was apparently associated with the forest-steppe zone, but with the development of agriculture, it became an agrophile, populating the outskirts of fields, which provided it with a good food base throughout the year. Changes in farming culture (fragmentary fields replaced with vast areas of arable land occupied by monocultures, the use of poisons and fertilizers) led to a shift in the ecological optimum of the species to areas occupied by gardens, kitchen gardens and urban ecosystems. This led to changes in the genetic structure of populations, a greater (compared to suburbs) diversity of alleles of the major histocompatibility complex responsible for resistance to pathogens, a reduced hibernation period up to its complete abandonment, and a reduced aggressiveness to conspecifics which allows for more burrows to be arranged in a limited space and for general food storages to be shared and consumed. The use of food wastes as an additional food resource by this species may have led to changes in its digestive and other systems. All of this has allowed the common hamster to successfully exist in an urbanized environment, despite the reduction in life expectancy due to many stressors (parasitic load, pollution etc.). It is assumed that not all of the above traits have been formed in the process of synurbization. Many adaptations acquired earlier, before urbanization, proved to be effective in its development of the urban environment. Obviously, the path taken by the common hamster from a non-commensal species to an agrophile, and finally a synurbist is not unique; many other species of mammals and birds have passed or are on this evolutionary path at the present time.

Characteristics and Determinants of NEET Youth in Kalimantan Barat

The change in population structure in Indonesia shows an increase in the young population. As an indicator to see youth's activeness in education and work, NEET has become one of the centers of attention for the government. The number of NEETs in West Kalimantan has increased over the past five years. It indicates that young people who do not work or attend school have not integrated into the labor market. This study investigates the characteristics and factors influencing NEET youth in West Kalimantan. The descriptive and inferential statistical method with a binary logistic regression model is the analytical approach taken in this study. This research use BPS data from the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) in August 2021, with a sample of 4,750 young people spread over 14 districts/cities of West Kalimantan Province. The study's findings stated that most NEET youth in West Kalimantan were female, with the highest proportion of women aged 20-24. In addition, NEET youth in West Kalimantan were unmarried youth. Gender, age, completed education, marital status, education of the Head of the Household, and significant disability status are the determinants that determine whether a person is more at risk of becoming a NEET in West Kalimantan in 2021, according to the determinant findings of this study. Some of the recommendations from this study are the suitability of the educational curriculum with the availability of employment, equitable distribution of educational facilities, and information convenience. Furthermore, we need skill training for the younger generation, especially for the disabled, so they can advance their home areas so that they can advance in their place of origin.

공공택지 조성 및 공급에 관한 법체계 개선방안

The supply of housing and housing sites in Korea has been mainly centered on public development. However, such public development-oriented supply does not properly respond to changes in the social structure, such as changes in population and household structure and diversification of housing demand. In the case of the first and second new cities, which are representative public developments, development was carried out according to different supply purposes based on the ｣Housing Site Development Promotion Act｢. In the case of the recent third new city, the ground law was changed to the Special Act on Public Housing, not the ｢Housing Site Development Promotion Act｣, and factors to meet social demand were reflected. However, based on various special laws in supplying large-scale public housing sites centered on new cities, problems often arise due to inconsistencies with existing national space plans or urban plans or lack of connection with higher plans. In addition, as a result of the creation and supply of large-scale public housing sites, the real estate economic recession due to short-term oversupply, unsold problems, regional conflicts, and distortion of housing supply and demand. Problems with reckless development or bed towns arise as the housing site supply plan does not reflect the characteristics of the region and focuses on specific policy purposes such as the dispersion of the population in the metropolitan area. Furthermore, problems include inconsistency between plans and laws in the public housing supply legal system, inefficiency and rigidity in business procedures and housing site supply methods, and lack of urban function and project disconnection due to bias centered on the supply of large-scale housing sites. Accordingly, through the analysis of the legal system for the creation and supply of public housing sites, measures to improve the legislation for efficient and sustainable cities were proposed. It suggested improvement directions according to changes in the goals, policy directions, functions, and roles of the ｢Special Act on Public Housing｣, which is the basis for the supply of public housing sites, and suggested ways to improve the consistency of the legal system. In addition, measures to strengthen the functional elements of the city were reviewed by creating large-scale public housing districts centered on the ｢Special Act on Public Housing｣, efficient management of the created housing sites, and acceptance of social changes. Above all, in order to ensure the sustainability of the city, the direction of improvement in the overall legal system was suggested, from the planning stage to urban management after the supply of housing sites.

The effect of cycles of genomic selection on the wheat (T. aestivum) genome

We documented changes in the wheat genome attributed to genomic selection including loss of diversity, and changes in population structure and linkage disequilibrium patterns. We conclude that training and prediction populations need to co-evolve instead of the use of a static training population. Genomic selection (GS) is widely used in plant breeding to shorten breeding cycles. Our objective was to assess the impact of rapid cycling GS on the wheat genome. We used 3927 markers to genotype a training population (YTP) and individuals from five cycles (YC1-YC5) of GS for grain yield. We assessed changes of allele frequency, genetic distance, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium (LD). We found 27.3% of all markers had a significant allele frequency change by YC5, 18% experienced a significant change attributed to selection, and 9.3% had a significant change due to either drift or selection. A total of 725 of 3927 markers were fixed by YC5 with selection fixing 7.3% of the 725 markers. The genetic distance between cycles increased over time. The Fst value of 0.224 between YTP and YC5 indicates their relationship was low. The number LD blocks decreased over time and the correlation between LD matrices also decreased over time. Overall, we found a reduction in genetic diversity, increased genetic differentiation of cycles from the training population, and restructuring of the LD patterns over cycles. The accuracy of GS depends on the genomic similarity of the training population and the prediction populations. Our results show that the similarity can decline rapidly over cycles of GS and compromise the predictive ability of the YTP-based model. Our results support implementing a GS scheme where the training and prediction populations co-evolve instead of the use of a static training population.

Investigation of bacterial and fungal population structure on environmental surfaces of three medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To evaluate the population structure of environmental bacteria and fungi in three different types of medical institutions and the potential risks due to antibiotic resistance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. One hundred twenty-six environmental surface samples were collected from three medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 6,093 and 13,514 representative sequences of 16S and ITS ribosomal RNA (rRNA) were obtained by amplicon sequencing analysis. The functional prediction was performed using the Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States tool based on the Greengenes database and the FAPROTAX database. On environmental surfaces in three medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Firmicutes (51.6%) and Bacteroidetes (25%) were the dominant bacteria, while Ascomycota (39.4%) and Basidiomycota (14.2%) were the dominant fungi. A number of potential bacterial and fungal pathogens were successfully identified by the metagenomic approach. Furthermore, compared with the bacterial results, the fungi showed a generally closer Bray Curtis distance between samples. The overall ratio of Gram-negative bacteria to Gram-positive bacteria was about 3:7. The proportion of stress-tolerant bacteria in medical institutions A, B and C reached 88.9, 93.0 and 93.8%, respectively. Anaerobic bacteria accounted for 39.6% in outdoor environments, 77.7% in public areas, 87.9% in inpatient areas and 79.6% in restricted areas. Finally, the β-Lactam resistance pathway and polymyxin resistance pathway were revealed through functional prediction. We described the microbial population structure changes in three different types of medical institutions using the metagenomic approach during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that the disinfection measures performed by three healthcare facilities may be effective on the "ESKAPE" pathogens, but less effective on fungal pathogens. Moreover, emphasis should be given to the prevention and control of β-lactam and polymyxin antibiotics resistance bacteria during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effect of complete abolition of Eucalyptus species on under canopy species diversity in Gullele Botanic Garden, Ethiopia

Fast-growing, stress-tolerant tree species belonging to the genus Eucalyptus have historically been introduced in the central highlands of Ethiopia to support various economic and environment-regulating functions. While these non-native tree species are often highly useful, many are simultaneously invasive, generating negative environmental impacts and becoming the greatest global threat to biodiversity. This study is aimed at determining the impacts of the complete removal of the eucalyptus and its replacement by an indigenous species on the undergrowth vegetation of the Gulele Botanic Garden (GBG), Ethiopia. Vegetation data were collected from a total of 60 plots with a dimension of 20 m x 20 m that were laid out and equally distributed among invaded and indigenous species that dominate the landscape. Beside, diversity indices and population structural change parameters were employed for the comparison of changes. Results show that a total of 118 species (103 genera and 57 families) were recorded, and out of those, Eucalyptus camaldulensis was the most dominant species. On the other hand, the richest landscape (Juniperus procera plantation) contained 105 species and 51 families, whereas the poorest landscape (Eucalyptus plantation) was comprised of 66 species and 36 families. Furthermore, the alpha diversity index and vegetation vertical structure of the dominant Eucalyptus plantation differed significantly from those of other landscapes. Regeneration potential was not observed in Eucalyptus-dominant plantations since the inherent physiology of Eucalyptus species repels the regeneration of others. The population structure of the wood species showed an inverse-J curve. The total basal area (BA) of woody species decreased from 64.14 ± 1.54 m2 ha−1, 21.46 ± 0.54 m2 ha−1, and 17.18 m2 ha−1 ± 1.04 for Juniperus procera plantation, mixed plantation, and eucalyptus plantation, respectively. It was concluded that E. camaldulensis was one of the most dominant invasive species that reduced species diversity in the understory. While landscapes replaced after abolition by indigenous plantations demonstrated "fair" to "good" regeneration potential and an alpha diversity index.

Virulence and molecular genetic diversity, variation, and evolution of the Puccinia triticina population in Hebei Province of China from 2001 to 2010.

Wheat leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina, is one of the most important fungal diseases of wheat in China. However, little is known about the dynamic changes of population structure and genetic diversity of P. triticina during a period of time. In this study, 247 isolates of P. triticina collected from Hebei Province from 2001 to 2010 were tested on 36 Thatcher near-isogenic lines for virulence diversity and detected by 21 pairs of Expressed Sequence Tag derived Simple Sequence Repeat (EST-SSR) primers for genetic diversity. A total of 204 isolates were successfully identified as 164 races, and THTT, THST, PHRT, THTS, and PHTT were the most common races in Hebei Province from 2001 to 2010. The cluster analysis based on virulence showed that P. triticina has a rich virulence polymorphism, which had a certain correlation with the years, while the cluster analysis based on EST-SSR showed that the genetic diversity of the P. triticina population was significantly different between years in Hebei Province from 2001 to 2010. In addition, the population structure of P. triticina may have changed greatly in 2007 and 2009, which was significantly different from that of 2001-2006 on either virulence or genetic characteristics. The variation frequency of the population structure had an increasing trend during this period. From 2001 to 2010, there was a certain degree of gene flow among the P. triticina populations. No significant correlation was found between virulence and molecular polymorphism. The genetic differentiation analysis of the 10 tested populations (each year as a population) showed that the coefficient of genetic differentiation (Gst) was 0.27, indicating that there was a certain genetic differentiation among or within populations of P. triticina in Hebei Province. The genetic variation within populations (73.08%) was higher than that among populations (26.92%), which indicated that the genetic variations were mainly found within populations. Our study provides the foundation for a better understanding of the population structure change and genetic diversity of P. triticina over a period in Hebei Province of China.

Dynamic Analysis of the Bacterial Community and Determination of Antioxidant Capacity during the Fermentation of Sour Tea

The imbalance of the redox state caused by extra reactive oxygen species is closely related to many diseases. Therefore, it is necessary for people to ingest antioxidants through food. The safety of some synthetic antioxidants has been questioned. In this context, it is worth exploring natural and safe antioxidants from biological sources. Tea has good antioxidant activity, and the antioxidant activity of fermented sour tea is better than that of other types. It is necessary to clarify the antioxidant capacity of sour tea during fermentation, as well as the microbial community and its sources. Nonculture and culture-dependent methods were adopted to track the changes in the microbial population and community structure during the fermentation of sour tea. Sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplification revealed significant differences in community complexity and structure at different fermentation times. The highest proportion of operational taxonomic units (OTU s) in all samples was Latilactobacillus, which was determined to be Lactiplantibacillus plantarum by further analysis. The second highest proportion of OTUs was Enterobacter. With the fermentation of sour tea, the antioxidant capacity increased, and all isolated Lb. plantarum had good DPPH clearance rates. Our findings suggest that Lb. plantarum plays a crucial role in the fermentation process of sour tea. The possibility of discovering new antioxidants was provided by the determination of the antioxidant capacity and bacterial community during the fermentation of sour tea.

Immigration as the main driver of population dynamics in a cryptic cetacean.

Empirical evidence about the role and interaction of immigration with local demographic processes in shaping population dynamics is still scarce. This knowledge gap limits our capability to derive a conceptual framework that can be used to inform conservation actions. Populations exposed to nonstationary environment do not converge to a stable stage distribution, implying the need for evaluating the demographic role of both vital rates and stage distribution using appropriate tools. This is particularly important for species with larger generation times like cetaceans. We explored the relative demographic role of vital rates and population structure of a poorly known cetacean, the Mediterranean Cuvier's beaked whale, while accounting for the exposure to nonstationary environments. We performed a retrospective analysis through transient life table response experiments (tLTRE) using demographic rates and population structure of both sexes obtained from an integrated population model. The contribution of immigration to variation in realized population growth rates was 4.2, 7.6, and 12.7 times larger than that of female apparent survival, proportional abundance of breeding females with a 2-year-old calf, and proportional abundance of breeding females with a 3-year-old calf, respectively. Immigration rate and proportional abundance of breeding females with a 2- or 3-year-old calf explained, respectively, 65% and 20% of total temporal variability in realized population growth rates. Changes in realized population growth rate between successive years were mainly driven by changes in immigration and population structure, specifically the proportional abundance of breeding females with a 2-year-old calf. Our study provides insight into the demographic processes that affect population dynamics and in a cryptic cetacean. We presented an analytical approach for maximizing the use of available data through the integration of multiple sources of information for individuals of different distinctiveness levels.

Genetic diversity and structure of Brycon henni in regulated and non-regulated water flow rivers of the Colombian Andes

The sabaleta, Brycon henni, is a medium-size fish species found in the Andean range of the Magdalena-Cauca river basin in Colombia, where it is a fishery resource. Recruitment of sabaleta has affected construction of dams with unknown consequences on its genetic diversity and structure. Understanding the current genetic architecture in the dam-influenced areas compared to non-regulated water flow systems is crucial to diagnose the impact of human interventions and formulate proper management strategies. In this study, we evaluated the genetic structure and diversity of B. henni by using a set of microsatellites in individuals from 14 localities to identify the number of distinct genetic pools. We used various approaches to compare populations between regulated and non-regulated areas in the Magdalena-Cauca basin, and identified eleven well-differentiated and highly diverse population groups with marked genetic structures at local and regional levels. Genetic diversity of B. henni was very similar among non-regulated and dam-regulated water flow areas; however, one of the populations in non-regulated areas showed evidence of a founder effect associated with recent introductions. The effect of dams on the genetic structure of B. henni in the Magdalena-Cauca basin was negligible, probably due to their recent construction. Future reduction of genetic diversity and the loss of unique populations is expected due to the combined effect of geographic isolation and population declines. Thus, monitoring programs are necessary to detect changes in the genetic structure of fish populations to develop useful conservation actions.

Population Changes with a Special Reference to Mortality

The age structure of a population is governed largely by demographic factors, though these factors in turn are influenced by economic and social conditions. The three factors that contribute to changes in population age structure are fertility, mortality and migration. These demographic factors are reasonably independent of each other. The key components of population changes such as fertility, mortality, and migration are always measured as age- and time-specific events. Mortality is defined as the estimated total number of deaths in a population of a given sex and/or age, divided by the total number of this population, expressed per 100,000 population, for a given year, in a given country, territory, or geographic area, Social Awareness and Actions to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully (SAANS) initiative implemented since 2019 for reduction of Childhood morbidity and mortality due to pneumonia. The principal reason for the higher rate of population growth, particularly between 1941 and 2022, was a substantial drop in the mortality rate without a corresponding decline in the fertility rate. The present paper deals with mortality, its rates, types, causes and remedial measures to reduce mortality rates.

Effects of population age structure on parenteral antimicrobial use estimations

Antimicrobial use (AMU) is conventionally reported as unadjusted defined daily doses (DDDs) or population-adjusted DDDs per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID). DID is frequently used to monitor national AMU trends, this metric does not intrinsically take temporal changes in population age structure into account. We examined the effects of population age structure on DID estimates of parenteral AMU in Japan, and predicted future trends in DDDs based on population projections. Parenteral AMU data from 2013 to 2018 were acquired from a national claims database. We assessed temporal trends in parenteral AMU by age group (children aged < 15 years, working-age persons aged 15–64 years, and older persons aged ≥ 65 years) using both DID and DDDs. In addition, we modeled DDD predictions based on age-specific population projections from 2019 to 2030. DID values for older persons were 8.08–10.15 times and 5.43–5.63 times higher than in children and working-age persons, respectively. DID was stable, but DDDs increased in older persons. The prediction models showed that DDDs will continue to increase until 2030 if DID remains steady or decreases. DID estimates were skewed by the older population. More rigorous antimicrobial stewardship efforts targeting geriatric care are needed to counter the aging-associated increase in AMU.