Ratings Of Others Research Articles

Individual Difference Predictors of Attitudes toward Polyamorous Targets and Likelihood to Date a Polyamorous Partner in a Student Sample

An online survey was completed by a convenience sample of 495 students to assess attitude toward polyamorous targets as an outgroup using 0–100 feeling thermometers. Also assessed was the likelihood of dating a polyamorous partner. These two measures were only weakly related for women participants but modestly related for men participants. Overall, feeling thermometer averages were favorable (66%) but dating likelihood was very low, with 89% rating dating a polyamorous partner as unlikely. Women were slightly more favorable toward polyamorous targets than were men but target gender showed no effect (i.e., ratings of polyamorous men were the same as those of polyamorous women). However, men were slightly more willing to date a polyamorous partner than were women. In terms of personality and individual difference variables as predictors of attitudes, authoritarianism, erotophobia–erotophilia, and participant sexual orientation accounted for a quarter of the variance in feeling thermometer ratings of polyamorous targets. Specifically, those who had lower authoritarianism, were more comfortable with sexuality, and were sexual minority in orientation were likely to rate the polyamorous targets the most favorably. Individual difference variables did not predict willingness to date a polyamorous partner consistently across gender and sexual orientation participant subgroups; the most consistent predictors were sociosexuality and erotophobia–erotophilia. This study adds to our knowledge in a nascent area of sexual attitude and discrimination research—it demonstrates the differences between rating an outgroup person and attitude toward engaging with them personally. The latter appears to involve more complexity in terms of the relationship with personality and the type of social perceiver. More research is needed into the differentiation between general ratings of others who engage in non-mainstream, stigmatized sexual practices versus when the ratings involve personal involvement or behavior of the social perceiver (i.e., such as dating).

Motor vehicle traffic fatalities by race and ethnicity (2010 – 2021)

Motor vehicle traffic fatalities (MVTFs) are a public health issue that substantially affects the growing Black or African American, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) population. To further understand the racial discrepancies that exist in MVTFs, data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and U.S. Census were utilized to explore factors such as rurality, urbanicity, restraint use, and alcohol-impairment. Calculations considered yearly driver and occupant fatality rates per 100,000 population for each race and ethnicity from 2010 through 2021. A Poisson regression model was used to quantify the relationship between the MVTF rates and the factors of interest. Results demonstrated that the American Indian or Alaska Native population was statistically the most overrepresented group in fatality rates across all factors explored. Additionally, the American Indian or Alaska Native population and Black or African American populations were the only groups to have statistically significant increases in fatality rates in recent years when accounting for factors such as unrestrained vehicle driver/occupants and alcohol-impaired fatality rate. In contrast, the Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander population has consistently experienced one of the largest statistically significant reductions in driver and occupant fatality rates over time. Further analysis is necessary to develop and implement countermeasures that may reduce the increasing fatality rates of the most vulnerable populations while continuing to decrease rates for others as well. Despite limitations of FARS and population data, these results provide a pathway to reducing MVTFs and associated racial inequities that exist in the nation, particularly as the BIPOC population continues to grow.

The prevalence of sickle cell phenotype and its association with clinical outcomes in patients with solid malignancies.

10563 Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States and is caused by a mutation of β-globin ( HBB-Mt). The risk of developing solid malignancies in this population remains controversial, with research showing increased rates of some solid tumors (colon, kidney, and thyroid) and decreased rates of others (breast and male genitourinary). We report the prevalence of HBB mutations across a cohort of solid tumors and clinical outcomes between HBB-Wild type (-Wt) v Mutant (-Mt) tumors. Methods: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, N = 3307), breast (BC, N = 1960), colorectal (CRC, N = 2161), prostate (N = 899), and gynecologic cancers (N = 2,805) in persons of African descentwere tested at Caris Life Sciences (Phoenix, AZ) with NextGen Sequencing of DNA (whole exome) and RNA (whole transcriptome). Her2/Neu (+: ≥3+ and >10%) and HR (ER or PR+: ≥1+ and ≥1%) expression was tested by immunohistochemistry. Tumors were assessed for single nucleotide variations (SNVs) and insertions/deletions (indels) in HBB associated with a sickle cell phenotype. Mutation prevalence for all other genes was calculated for pathogenic SNVs/indels. Differentially regulated pathways were assessed by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Fisher’s Exact/χ2 tests were applied as appropriate with p-values adjusted for multiple comparisons ( p < .05). Real-world overall survival (OS) and ethnicity data was obtained from insurance claims and log-rank estimates were calculated for molecularly defined subpopulations. Results: Amongst persons of African descent, uterine sarcoma had the highest prevalence of HBB-Mt (17.1%, 43/251) followed by uterine serous carcinoma (9.1, 70/768) and endometrial carcinoma (7.8, 55/708). Tumors with the highest absolute number of HBB-Mt tumors were NSCLC (7.0, 230/3307), CRC (8.1, 176/2161) and BC (6.7, 131/1960). In CRC, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of right-sided tumors between HBB-Wt v Mt (42% v 51, p = .06), nor in the prevalence of HBB-Mt by consensus molecular subtype ( p = .34). No significant enrichment of HBB-Mt across BC subtypes was observed (HR- HER2-: 7.8%, HR-HER2+: 9.7, HR+/HER2-:5.8, HR+/HER2+: 8.1, p = .34). No difference in the prevalence of pathogenic alterations was observed between HBB-Mt vs -Wt across NSCLC, CRC, and BC ( p > .05). HBB-Mt NSCLC were significantly enriched (GSEA) for genes related interferon /, inflammatory response and IL6/JAK/STAT3. No significant difference in OS was observed in CRC (median survival HBB-Wt: 957 days v -Mt: 1034, p = .43), NSCLC (-Wt: 591 v -Mt: 648, p = .59) or BC (-Wt: 924 v -Mt: 922, p = .61). Conclusions: No significant differences in the genomic landscape nor in OS of HBB-Mt vs HBB-Wt NSCLC, CRC or BC were observed. NSCLC HBB-Mt was enriched with inflammatory response genes. Future work should focus on potential role HBB-Mt plays in NSCLC.

Suicide rates among health-care professionals in Norway 1980–2021

BackgroundSuicide rates have been high in several health-care professions. Suicide rates were described in physicians, dentists, veterinarians, psychologists, pharmacists, nurses, as well as theologians, other graduates and the general population in Norway. MethodsData on educational attainment were linked to data on suicide and all-cause mortality from 1980 to 2021. Suicide rates were reported per 100,000 person-years. The total number of person-years included in the study was 66.4 and 67.2 million for males and females, respectively. ResultsBetween 1980 and 2021, male veterinarians (35.9, 95 % CI 19.3–52.4), physicians (25.7, 21.3–30.2) and nurses (22.2, 16.6–27.7) had higher suicide rates compared others with higher education (11.7, 10.7–12.7). For females, this was the case for psychologists (15.0, 8.2–21.7) and nurses (9.3, 8.3–10.3), vs. others with higher education (5.1, 4.2–6.0). Suicide rates declined over the four decades for most groups. For physicians, suicide rates declined and approached the suicide rate of others with higher education. Suicide rates among physicians increased with age, with physicians over 60 years having twice as high suicide rates compared to others with higher education. LimitationsThe study included only educational status, not current occupation or employment status. This is a descriptive study, with some known risk factors for suicide not accounted for. ConclusionsSuicide rates for physicians declined over time, but not for nurses. From 2010 to 2021, nurses of both genders was the only group with higher suicide rates compared to other graduates. The increased suicide rates among veterinarians, nurses, female psychologists and elderly physicians are concerning.

When stroke survivors' self-ratings are inconsistent with the ratings of others: a cohort study examining biopsychosocial factors associated with impaired self-awareness of functional abilities.

Background Stroke survivors' self-ratings of functional abilities are often inconsistent with ratings assigned by others (e.g. clinicians), a phenomenon referred to as 'impaired self-awareness' (ISA). There is limited knowledge of the biopsychosocial contributors and consequences of post-stroke ISA measured across the rehabilitation journey. This multi-site cohort study explored biopsychosocial correlates of ISA during subacute rehabilitation (inpatient) and at 4 months post-discharge (community-dwelling). Methods Forty-five subacute stroke survivors participated (Age M (s.d.) = 71.5 (15.6), 56% female), and 38 were successfully followed-up. Self-assessments were compared to those of an independent rater (occupational therapist, close other) to calculate ISA at both time points. Survivors and raters completed additional cognitive, psychological and functional measures. Results Multivariate regression (multiple outcomes) identified associations between ISA during inpatient admission and poorer outcomes at follow-up, including poorer functional cognition, participation restriction, caregiver burden, and close other depression and anxiety. Regression models applied cross-sectionally, including one intended for correlated predictors, indicated associations between ISA during inpatient admission and younger age, male sex, poorer functional cognition, poorer rehabilitation engagement and less frequent use of non-productive coping (adjusted R 2 = 0.60). ISA at community follow-up was associated with poorer functional cognition and close other anxiety (adjusted R 2 = 0.66). Conclusions Associations between ISA and poorer outcomes across the rehabilitation journey highlight the clinical importance of ISA and the value of assessment and management approaches that consider the potential influence of numerous biological and psychosocial factors on ISA. Future studies should use larger sample sizes to confirm these results and determine the causal mechanisms of these relationships.

Autistic and Non-autistic Children's Pain Perception is Modulated by Their First-Hand Pain Sensitivity and Theory of Mind.

The current study examined whether autistic children's perception of others' pain could be modulated by their first-hand pain sensitivity and theory of mind (ToM). We measured the first-hand pain sensitivity, the rating of others' pain intensity, and the performance in the ToM tasks in 43 5- to 8-year-old autistic and 30 neurotypical children. Our results revealed hyposensitivity to first-hand pain, underestimation of others' pain intensity, as well as difficulties in the False Belief subtasks of ToM in autistic children. Furthermore, we detected an interaction between children's first-hand pain sensitivity and ToM in predicting their perception of others' pain. To be specific, for autistic and NT children with normal or hyper-sensitivity to first-hand pain, better performance on ToM predicted higher ratings for others' pain intensity; while for autistic and NT children with hyposensitivity to first-hand pain, ToM did not predict ratings for others' pain intensity. Our study contributes to the understanding of pain perception in young children and provides implications for clinical practices to improve social understanding in autistic children.

Whose Approval Matters Most? Examining Discrepancies in Self- and Other- Perceptions of Drinking

Background Research demonstrates that perceptions of others’ attitudes toward drinking behaviors (injunctive norms) are strong predictors of alcohol consumption and problems. Personalized normative feedback (PNF) aims to reduce the discrepancy between one’s perception of others’ attitudes toward drinking and others’ actual attitudes toward drinking. An implicit assumption of PNF is that self and (perceived) other attitudes toward drinking are aligned (thus, shifting one’s perceptions of others’ attitudes shifts one’s own attitudes). However, there is minimal research on the extent to which alignment (or discrepancy) in self-other attitudes toward drinking is associated with alcohol-related outcomes. Methods College students (N = 1,494; M age = 20.11, 61.0% female, 66.4% White) who endorsed past-month heavy episodic drinking reported injunctive norms toward drinking on weekends, drinking daily, drinking to black out, and drinking and driving. Participants reported their perceptions of attitudes toward these drinking behaviors for three reference groups: close friends, typical university-affiliated peers, and parents. Outcomes included weekly drinking, alcohol problems, and alcohol-related risk. Results Response surface analyses indicated that alignment in approval (versus alignment in disapproval) of drinking demonstrated a linear association with alcohol-related outcomes. Discrepancies in self-peer and self-parent attitudes were associated with alcohol-related outcomes and one’s own attitudes (versus one’s ratings of others’ attitudes) of drinking were more strongly associated with outcomes. Conclusions Results provide evidence of how self-other discrepancies in attitudes toward drinking are associated with alcohol-related outcomes. Future work is needed to test whether self-other discrepancies in attitudes toward drinking impacts response to norms-based interventions.

Scarcity mindset reduces empathic responses to others' pain: the behavioral and neural evidence.

Resource scarcity pervades our life. A scarcity mindset triggered by perceiving insufficient resources has been proven to influence our cognition and behaviors, yet it remains unknown whether this mindset specifically influences empathy. The present study induced feelings of scarcity or abundance in separate groups of participants through experimental manipulation, and examined the effects of both mindsets on the behavioral and neural responses to others' pain. Behaviorally, pain intensity ratings of others' pain were lower in the scarcity group than in the abundance group. Analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed that N1 amplitudes for painful and nonpainful stimuli were comparable in the scarcity group but differed significantly in the abundance group. Additionally, while both groups showed larger late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes for painful stimuli than for nonpainful stimuli, this amplitude differential was significantly smaller in the scarcity group than in the abundance group. Thus, behavioral and neural evidence suggest that inducing a scarcity mindset significantly dampens the ability to empathize with others' pain during both early and late stages of empathic processing. These findings shed lights on our understanding of how scarcity mindset may influence social emotions and behaviors.

Emerging Dimensions of Marriage in Asia

This article contextualizes and highlights findings from the 14 articles included in this special issue that aims to examine emerging dimensions in Asia. The articles cover a wide range of topics and all make an original contribution to our understanding of different aspects of marriage in the region. The vast diversity in East, Southeast, and South Asia continues to be observed ranging from universal marriage and the high prevalence of child marriages in some countries to high singlehood rates in others. This issue explores the extent to which the “second demographic transition” occurs in Asia, documenting the rising cohabitation, singlehood, and divorce in the Philippines, China, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Transnational marriages in Singapore and South Korea and remarriage patterns in Thailand are also examined. The rise in women’s education remains a key determinant of union formation behavior empowering women in making decisions about whether, when, and to whom they marry.

OGC P27 A Review of Minimally Invasive Oesophagogastric Cancer Surgery in a High-Volume UK Unit

Abstract Background Oesophagogastric (OG) cancer resections are technically challenging and associated with peri-operative morbidity. Practice has evolved from open to minimally invasive surgery (MIS), with ERAS has seen peri-operative outcomes improve. OG surgeons have not transitioned to MIS at the rate of others; 2021 NOGCA results showed that 17.6% of oesophagectomies and 17% of gastrectomies were performed as MIS. Concerns regarding the technical ability to perform safe anastomoses and appropriate oncological clearance have been cited as common reasons for surgeons not transitioning to MIS. GSTT is a high-volume OG unit which has transitioned from a fully open to predominantly MIS practice. The unit has performed over 100 minimally invasive Ivor Lewis oesophagectomies and 97 laparoscopic gastrectomies, it was therefore decided to analyse the unit's peri-operative outcomes to ensure that appropriate standards were maintained during this change in practice. The primary aim of this study was to examine a decade of peri-operative outcomes for Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy and gastrectomies, comparing parallel open and MIS cohorts. The secondary aim is to perform a sequential cumulative sum control chart (CUSM) analysis of the cohort to determine whether a learning curve effect for OG MIS can be demonstrated. Methods A retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained comprehensive local database was performed. The results were cross-checked with NOCGA data, and a notes review was performed to capture any missing data.All Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy and gastrectomy (total, extended total and subtotal) performed for adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, neuroendocrine tumours and high grade dysplasia at Guy's and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK over a ten-year period (January 2012- December 2021) were included. MIS for oesophagectomy was defined as an Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy performed with both laparoscopic and thoracoscopic phases. A hybrid (laparoscopic abdomen and open chest phase) oesophagectomy was grouped with a two-phase open procedure to create an open cohort. Laparoscopic gastrectomy (with a laparoscopic oesophago-jejunostomy or gastro-jejunostomy for sub-total gastrectomy) was used as the definition of MIS. The cohorts were compared for: age, sex, BMI and use of neoadjuvant therapy. Temporal trends in surgical approaches were compared as were Individual surgeon (n=4) volumes. Peri-operative clinical and oncological outcomes including length of stay, anastomotic leak, return to theatre, chest complications, resection margins and lymph node harvest were all examined. A CUSM analysis is currently being completed to further analyse surgeon performance over time. Results 596 patients underwent resection in well matched cohorts, 197 patients had an oesophagectomy (100 MIO), 339 had a gastrectomy (97 laparoscopic). MIS rates increased with no operations being performed as MIS in 2012 compared to 81% of oesophagectomy and 67% of gastrectomy performed as MIS in 2021. Two surgeons performed over 170 resections with MIS rate over 40%. OR of MIS performed by a high-volume surgeon was 3.01 (p<0.001). Lower volume MIS surgeons were more likely to have two consultants present, OR 1.4 (p=0.16). Anastomotic leak rates following gastrectomy were 2% in both groups (p=0.66), 9% following open oesophagectomy and 11% after MIO (p=0.77). 10% of laparoscopic gastrectomy patients experienced a chest complication, 26% after open surgery, 22% MIO and 24% open (p=0.65). Mean length of stay was significantly reduced after MIS. An R0 rate of 96% was seen after laparoscopic gastrectomy, 90% after open (p=0.08). 68% of MIO patients had R0 resection compared to 70% after open. Positive CRM was 29% after MIO. The mean lymph node harvest was 29 after laparoscopic gastrectomy and 26 after open (p=0.24), 29 following MIO, 30 after open oesophagectomy. 97% of MIO harvested over 15 nodes. Conclusions This study demonstrates that a transition from open to MIS practice is achievable in the UK. Outcomes demonstrated similar peri-operative clinical and oncological outcomes between MIS and open surgery which addresses the concerns that prohibited the widespread uptake of MIS in UK centres. Developing a reliable surgical technique for lymphadenectomy and anastomoses that transitioned from open to hybrid and now MIS allowed for appropriate outcomes to be maintained. Unit outcomes compare well to both NOGCA/ECCG data with complication rates following MIO being significantly lower when compared to ECCG. Lymph node harvests were significantly higher in unit MIOs when compared to NOGCA (p=0.01). Volume played an important role in surgeons performing independent MIS. This should be considered when planning unit workload or a transition to MIS. It will be further explored in the CUSM analysis. A positive CRM was seen in more cases (29%) when compared to NOGCA (24%) and may be related to the preferred neoadjuvant regime being chemotherapy over chemoradiotherapy. The future of OG is moving towards robotic surgery. It is proposed that the evolution from open to MIS will make a second transition to robotics less challenging as the strategies needed to perform MIS have been addressed.

Why did preterm birth rates fall during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Why did preterm birth rates fall during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Subcentral Taxation in Spain

The latest reform of the Financing System of the Autonomous Communities of the common regime (AFS) has deepened Spain's fiscal co-responsibility and financial autonomy. In the Personal Income Tax, the income transfer has been accompanied by a growing regulatory capacity, creating a regional personal income tax (RPIT). Subsequently, Autonomous Communities must approve yearly an autonomous rate. Regional governments get the RPIT income by monthly payments on account (POA) based on the budget forecast for the following year on fractional payments and withholdings. Subsequently, there is the corresponding final settlement two years later. This work aims to study the RPIT from the POA, considering the potential and current taxation to evaluate possible inefficiencies. The methodology consists of estimating a Dynamic Panel Data of the fifteen Autonomous Communities for 2003-2019, using GMM. Results show that there was some degree of tax base overlap between levels of government in the Personal Income Tax. Besides, there was some type of reaction of the tax rate in one region to the tax rate of others. Consequently, the State transfers internalized vertical and horizontal externalities. In addition, efficiency concerns mainly were about taxation for entrepreneurs.
 

Evaluation of Restrictions on Tobacco Sales to Youth Younger Than 21 Years in Cleveland, Ohio, Area

Tobacco 21 (T21) policies raise the minimum legal age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 years to curb youth access to tobacco products. While some studies have found that T21 is associated with reducing prevalence of youth tobacco use, little is known about the impact it may have on youth of different racial and ethnic identities. To evaluate the association of T21 policy with the prevalence of high school youth tobacco use across sex, race, and ethnicity. This survey study used representative survey data collected from the local biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey from 2013 to 2017 comparing Cleveland, Ohio (which has a T21 policy), to proximal jurisdictions in the first-ring suburbs in Cuyahoga County (which do not have T21 policies). Within-Cleveland demographic information was also collected for 2013 to 2019. Overall high school youth tobacco use rates were compared between Cleveland and the first-ring suburbs and then examined within Cleveland among Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White high school students. Percentage data were adjusted to more closely align with local population demographics. Data were analyzed from January to June 2022. T21 was implemented in Cleveland in 2016 and not adopted in proximal jurisdictions or at the state and federal level until at least 1 year later. The main outcomes were prevalence of past 30-day cigarette, cigar product, or e-cigarette use, measured using geographically representative high school youth survey data from 2013 to 2015 (prelegislation) and 2017 to 2019 (postlegislation) and compared using a difference-in-differences analysis. The unweighted sample included 12 616 high school students (27.0% [95% CI, 26.9%-28.0%] in 10th grade; 50.9% [95% CI, 50.3%-51.6%] females) participating in 1 or more Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 2013 to 2019, including 7064 students in Cleveland and 5552 students in the first-ring suburbs. Compared with the first-ring suburbs, Cleveland had a greater proportion of younger students (1623 [28.5%] ninth grade students vs 2179 [34.0%] ninth grade students) and Hispanic students (436 students [1.1%] vs 1433 students [12.6%]) and non-Hispanic Black students (2000 students [53.1%] vs 3971 students [75.1%]). Cigars were the most commonly used tobacco product in Cleveland, with use reported by 6201 students (19.8%) in 2013, 5877 students (21.3%) in 2015, and 5784 students (16.8%) in 2019. Compared with the first-ring suburbs, there was a greater decline in prevalence of use of cigars in Cleveland (β = 0.18 [SE, 0.05]; P < .001). The disparity across race, ethnicity, and sex decreased for all current tobacco product use. For example, the maximum difference between demographic subpopulations in current cigarette use was 11.6 (95% CI, 9.5-13.7) percentage points in 2013 between White females (16.1% [95% CI, 11.3%-20.8%]) and Black males (4.5% [95% CI, 3.5%-5.4%]). This maximum difference in current cigarette use decreased significantly to 5.1 (95% CI, 3.5-6.7) percentage points in 2019 between White females (6.9% [95% CI, 3.4%-10.3%]) and Black females (1.8% [95% CI, 0.7%-2.8%]). This survey study found that there was a decline in youth-reported tobacco use across every tobacco product category from 2013 to 2019. This decline changed the trajectory of use among several demographic groups and brought the youth populations with the highest tobacco product use to similar rates of others.

Ratings of the physical attractiveness of an interaction partner after a getting‐acquainted interaction

AbstractThis study examined college students' judgments of the physical attractiveness of an interaction partner after a getting‐acquainted interaction, including in comparison with other benchmarks (e.g., an experimenter rating, a self‐rating). With data combined from several past laboratory studies, we found that participants (particularly women who were interacting with another woman) overall rated their interaction partner after a brief interaction to be more attractive than three benchmarks: (1) how the partners were judged by more neutral experimenters who had less interaction with them; (2) how the partners rated themselves; and (3) the participants' own self‐ratings of physical attractiveness. Evidence was found for a prediction derived from interaction appearance theory – ratings of the quality (enjoyment) of the interaction were positively associated with ratings of the partner's physical attractiveness. We also explored whether participants' ratings of the physical attractiveness of their interaction partner were affected by factors about the participant (own physical attractiveness, relationship status) and about the context of their communication (modality, type of get‐acquainted task). Despite prior work suggesting that physical attractiveness ratings of others are malleable depending on a host of other factors, personal and contextual variables considered in this study were generally not associated with how the participants rated the physical attractiveness of their interaction partner.

Phylogeny and spatiotemporal dynamics of hepatitis E virus infections in wild boar and deer from six areas of Germany during 2013-2017.

The hepatitis E virus (HEV) can cause acute and chronic hepatitis in humans. Infections with the zoonotic HEV genotype 3, which can be transmitted from infected wild boar and deer to humans, are increasingly detected in Europe. To investigate the spatiotemporal HEV infection dynamics in wild animal populations, a study involving 3572 samples of wild boar and three deer species from six different geographic areas in Germany over a 4-year period was conducted. The HEV-specific antibody detection rates increased between 2013-2014 and 2016-2017 in wild boar from 9.5% to 22.8%, and decreased in deer from 1.1% to 0.2%. At the same time, HEV-RNA detection rates increased in wild boar from 2.8% to 13.3% and in deer from 0.7% to 4.2%. Marked differences were recorded between the investigated areas, with constantly high detection rates in one area and new HEV introductions followed by increasing detection rates in others. Molecular typing identified HEV subtypes 3c, 3f, 3i and a putative new subtype related to Italian wild boar strains. In areas, where sufficient numbers of positive samples were available for further analysis, a specific subtype dominated over the whole observation period. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the close relationship between strains from the same area and identified closely related human strains from Germany. The results suggest that the HEV infection dynamics in wild animals is dependent on the particular geographical area where area-specific dominant strains circulate over a long period. The virus can spread from wild boar, which represent the main wild animal reservoir, to deer, and generally from wild animals to humans.

The importance of ecotype diversity on duckweed growth with and without salt stress

Abstract The pollution of freshwater ecosystems is threatening freshwater plant species diversity worldwide. Freshwater plants, such as the common duckweed (Lemna minor), are potentially sensitive to novel stressful environments. To test if ecotype diversity could increase resistance to stressful environments, I used seven L. minor populations and measured their growth rates with and without moderate salt stress across an ecotype diversity gradient. The L. minor populations were grown over 5 months in 92 experimental mesocosms, either in ecotype monocultures or in polyculture with either one or three conspecific ecotypes (23 unique compositions). After growing the duckweed in unperturbed conditions (phase 1), the cultures were subjected to moderate salt stress (50 mmol/L NaCl) for several weeks (phase 2). The experiment was conducted in the presence of the natural epimicrobial community associated with the different ecotypes. In phase 2, a subset of these algae added an unintentional second stressor to the experiment. The ecotypes differed in their growth rates, the fastest growing at twice the rate of others. The diversity context further shaped the ecotype growth rates. Ecotype polycultures showed higher abundances towards the end of the experiment, thus over time, as the environment deteriorated, ecotype diversity gained in importance. These findings show that within-species variation in growth rates can translate to a positive effect of ecotype diversity on population abundance. Exposure of L. minor to moderate salt levels did not significantly impact growth rates, although the effect may have been masked by reduced algal stress in the saline environments.

Fast Multi-Shadow Tracking for Video-SAR Using Triplet Attention Mechanism

This article extends the shadow tracking for video-synthetic aperture radar (SAR) from a single-target framework to a multitarget framework, which is crucial for SAR ground moving targets’ identification. Inspired by FairMOT, the multitarget tracking framework for SAR shadow tracking is improved by using the triplet attention (TriAtt) mechanism and the lightweight multiscale network. By employing the ability to fuse spatial and feature dimensions of TriAtt and combining the lightweight network optimized by multiscale encoder–decoder and dilated convolution, a fast multiscale feature extraction module (FMsFEM) embedded with TriAtt is proposed for better tracking efficiency and performance. Experiments on the Sandiego video-SAR dataset validate that the TriAtt mechanism can improve the tracking performance of deep layer aggregation (DLA)-34, DLA-18, and FMsFEM significantly. FMsFEM with embedded TriAtt outperforms the state-of-the-art network (FairMOT with backbones of DLA-34 and DLA-18) with much faster frame rates. The average frame rates of FMsFEM and FMsFEM-TriAtt reach 60.32 and 56.13 fps for datasets with an image size of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1088\times 608$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , which are about three times higher than the frame rates of others.

A Generalist Lifestyle Allows Rare Gardnerella spp. to Persist at Low Levels in the Vaginal Microbiome.

Gardnerella spp. are considered a hallmark of bacterial vaginosis, a dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiome. There are four cpn60 sequence-based subgroups within the genus (A, B, C and D), and thirteen genome species have been defined recently. Gardnerella spp. co-occur in the vaginal microbiome with varying abundance, and these patterns are shaped by a resource-dependent, exploitative competition, which affects the growth rate of subgroups A, B and C negatively. The growth rate of rarely abundant subgroup D, however, increases with the increasing number of competitors, negatively affecting the growth rate of others. We hypothesized that a nutritional generalist lifestyle and minimal niche overlap with the other more abundant Gardnerella spp. facilitate the maintenance of subgroup D in the vaginal microbiome through negative frequency-dependent selection. Using 40 whole-genome sequences from isolates representing all four subgroups, we found that they could be distinguished based on the content of their predicted proteomes. Proteins associated with carbohydrate and amino acid uptake and metabolism were significant contributors to the separation of subgroups. Subgroup D isolates had significantly more of their proteins assigned to amino acid metabolism than the other subgroups. Subgroup D isolates were also significantly different from others in terms of number and type of carbon sources utilized in a phenotypic assay, while the other three could not be distinguished. Overall, the results suggest that a generalist lifestyle and lack of niche overlap with other Gardnerella spp. leads to subgroup D being favoured by negative frequency-dependent selection in the vaginal microbiome.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00248-020-01643-1.

Securing Aerial-Ground Transmission for NOMA-UAV Networks

The efficient spectrum utilization of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and flexible mobility of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enable NOMA UAV to become a prospective approach for future wireless networks. However, its secure transmission remains a great challenge. in this article, we summarize several potential solutions to mitigate adversarial eavesdropping toward aerial-ground transmission in NOMA-UAV networks, and propose three effective security schemes accordingly. First, a power allocation scheme is proposed at the UAV to ensure the privacy of a specific user with the sum transmission rate of others maximized. A closed-form solution is derived. Then, beamforming is leveraged to provide efficient privacy protection for multiple users in the network via jointly optimizing the precoding vectors to avoid eavesdropping and to maximize the spectrum efficiency. Finally, we perform artificial jamming together with beamforming to protect all the users in the network. Numerical results are provided to evaluate the superiority of the proposed schemes. Some future research issues and challenges of this direction are also pointed out.

Housing affordability, borrowing constraints and tenure choice in Korea

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the linkages between housing affordability and borrowing constraints, and the impact of the latter on housing tenure decisions in Korean cities during the period 2006–2016. The conventional aggregate measures of housing affordability provide a mixed picture. The price to income ratio (PIR) increased in major cities but the home purchase affordability, or repayment affordability improved between 2006 and 2016. Also, the access to mortgage finance increased substantially thanks to the expansion of mortgage supply, low interest rates and lenient macroprudential regulations. We investigate whether and how these changes affected household home purchases using the household-level micro data from the 2006 and 2016 Korea Housing Surveys. We construct the variable indicating the degree of borrowing constraint in terms of wealth each household faces and show that the number of borrowing-constrained households dropped significantly between 2006 and 2016. We then investigate the effect of the wealth constraint by including a measure of the degree of the borrowing constraint as an explanatory variable in the tenure choice equation, together with other key variables such as the cost of owning relative to renting. Estimation results confirm that, as expected, the propensity to home purchases declines if households are judged as wealth-constrained. It was also found that the detrimental effect of the wealth constraint on home ownership increased significantly, particularly for severely constrained households, while the homeownership rates for others improved during our study period. Our findings suggest that affordability measures that do not consider borrowing constraints may not be very helpful in gauging affordability of home purchases at the household level.