Activity

Predator recovery driven by single-species management approaches may lead to conservation conflicts between recovered predators and prey species of conservation concern. As part of an aggressive recovery plan, the Eastern Peregrine Falcon Recovery Team released (1975-1985) 307 captive-reared peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) and successfully established a breeding population within the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, a physiographic region with no historic breeding population and a critical spring staging area for migratory shorebirds. We examined the influence of resident falcons on the distribution of foraging red knots during spring migration. We conducted weekly aerial surveys (2006-2009) along the Virginia barrier islands during the spring staging period (25 April- 6 June) to map foraging red knots (Calidris canutus) and evaluated the influence of proximity (0-3, 3-6, >6 km) of beaches to active peregrine falcon nests on knot density (birds/km). Accumulated use of beaches throughout the season by red knots was significantly influenced by proximity of beaches to active falcon nests such that mean density was more than 6 fold higher on beaches that were >6 km compared to beaches that were only 0-3 km from active eyries. Whether or not an eyrie was used in a given year had a significant influence on the use of associated close (0-3 km) beaches. From 6.5 to 64 fold more knots used beaches when associated eyries were not active compared to when they were active depending on the specific site. Historically, red knots and other migratory shorebirds would have enjoyed a peregrine-free zone within this critical staging site. The establishment of a dense breeding population of falcons within the area represents a new hazard for the knot population.

The U.S. has experienced an unprecedented number of orders to shelter in place throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to ascertain whether social distancing; difficulty with daily activities; and levels of concern regarding COVID-19 changed after the March 16, 2020 announcement of the nation’s first shelter-in-place orders (SIPO) among individuals living in the seven affected counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We conducted an online, cross-sectional social media survey from March 14 -April 1, 2020. We measured changes in social distancing behavior; experienced difficulties with daily activities (i.e., access to healthcare, childcare, obtaining essential food and medications); and level of concern regarding COVID-19 after the March 16 shelter-in-place announcement in the San Francisco Bay Area versus elsewhere in the U.S.

In this non-representative sample, the percentage of respondents social distancing all of the time increased following the shelter-in-place announcement in the Bay Arealy among vulnerable populations, are urgently needed.Autophagy, a conserved cellular process in eukaryotes, has evolved to a sophisticated process to dispose of intracellular constituents and plays important roles in plant development, metabolism, and efficient nutrients remobilization under suboptimal nutrients conditions. Here, we show that OsATG8b, an AUTOPHAGY-RELATED8 (ATG8) gene in rice, was highly induced by nitrogen (N) starvation. Elevated expression of OsATG8b significantly increased ATG8 lipidation, autophagic flux, and grain yield in rice under both sufficient and deficient N conditions. Overexpressing of OsATG8b could greatly increase the activities of enzymes related to N metabolism. Intriguingly, the 15N-labeling assay further revealed that more N was remobilized to seeds in OsATG8b-overexpressing rice, which significantly increased the N remobilization efficiency (NRE), N harvest index, N utilization efficiency (NUE), and N uptake efficiency (NUpE). Conversely, the osatg8b knock-out mutants had the opposite results on these characters. The substantial transcriptional changes of the overexpressed transgenic lines indicated the presence of complex signaling to developmental, metabolic process, and hormone, etc. Excitingly, the transgenic rice under different backgrounds all similarly be boosted in yield and NUE with OsATG8b overexpression. This work provides an excellent candidate gene for improving N remobilization, utilization, and yield in crops simultaneously.Metastasis represents a dynamic succession of events involving tumor cells which disseminate through the organism via the bloodstream. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can flow the bloodstream as single cells or as multicellular aggregates (clusters), which present a different potential to metastasize. The effects of the bloodstream-related physical constraints, such as hemodynamic wall shear stress (WSS), on CTC clusters are still unclear. Therefore, we developed, upon theoretical and CFD modeling, a new multichannel microfluidic device able to simultaneously reproduce different WSS characterizing the human circulatory system, where to analyze the correlation between SS and CTC clusters behavior. Three physiological WSS levels (i.e. 2, 5, 20 dyn/cm2) were generated, reproducing values typical of capillaries, veins and arteries. As first validation, triple-negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) were injected as single CTCs showing that higher values of WSS are correlated with a decreased viability. Brr2 Inhibitor C9 RNA Synthesis inhibitor Next, the SS-mediated disaggregation of CTC clusters was computationally investigated in a vessels-mimicking domain. Finally, CTC clusters were injected within the three different circuits and subjected to the three different WSS, revealing that increasing WSS levels are associated with a raising clusters disaggregation after 6 hours of circulation. These results suggest that our device may represent a valid in vitro tool to carry out systematic studies on the biological significance of blood flow mechanical forces and eventually to promote new strategies for anticancer therapy.

A pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged and affected most of the world in early 2020. To inform effective public health measures we conducted a knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey among a Hausa Muslim society in Nigeria in March 2020.

The study is an analytic cross-sectional survey with questionnaires administered to the general population including Health Care Workers (HCW) in Kano, Nigeria. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling following informed consent. The percentage of KAP scores were categorized as good and poor. Independent predictors of good knowledge of COVID 19 were ascertained using a binary logistic regression model.

The questionnaire was administered among urban 32.8%, peri-urban dwellers 32.4%, and to online participants 34.8%. The peri-urban and urban participants were given paper questionnaires. There were 886 study participants with mean age 28.58yrs [SD10.25] (Interquartile range [IQR]22yrs-32yrs), males 55.4% with 57.3% having had or were in tertiary education.