Search

Recent work in Australia and Africa has shown that heterothermy is widespread among phylogenetically diverse tropical and subtropical mammalian taxa. However, data on the use of heterothermy by Neotropical mammals are relatively scant, and those studies that exist focus on insect-eating bats. We investigated the capacity of fruit-eating Neotropical bats to use heterothermy when exposed to acute cold temperatures, and compared this to previous data focused on insect-eating bats sampled from the same region and time of year. We measured rectal temperatures prior to acute cold exposure (1 hr at an air temperature of 6, 7, or 10°C), and again after exposure. Our data show considerable variation in the thermoregulatory patterns of Neotropical bats, and generally, our results show that smaller bats cool quicker and to a greater extent than larger bats. Our results highlight the importance of energy conservation even in environments in which resources are relatively abundant. © 2020 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation

Ozone is a toxic gas with massive distinct chemical components from oxygen. Breathing ozone in the air can cause severe effects on human health, especially people who have asthma. It can cause long-lasting damage to the lungs and heart attacks and might lead to death. Forecasting the ozone concentration levels and related pollutant attribute is critical for developing sophisticated environment safety policies. In this paper, we present three artificial neural network (ANN) models to forecast the daily ozone (O3), coarse particulate matter (PM10), and particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in a highly polluted city in the Republic of China. The proposed models are (1) recurrent multilayer perceptron (RMLP), (2) recurrent fuzzy neural network (RFNN), and (3) hybridization of RFNN and grey wolf optimizer (GWO), which are referred to as RMLP-ANN, RFNN, and RFNN-GWO models, respectively. The performance of the proposed models is compared with other conventional models previously reported in the literature. The comparative results showed that the proposed models presented outstanding performance. The RFNN-GWO model revealed superior results in the modeling of O3, PM10, and PM2.5 compared with the RMLP-ANN and RFNN models. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V.

Purpose: The study investigates the effect of political risk on shareholder value, using an event study and a novel measure of firm-level political risk recently developed by Hassan et al. (2017). In addition, the authors explore how corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences the effect of political risk on shareholder wealth. Design/methodology/approach: The authors exploit the guilty plea of Jack Abramoff, a well-known lobbyist, on January 3, 2006, as an exogenous shock that made lobbying less effective and less useful in the future, depriving firms of an important tool to reduce political exposure. Findings: The results show that the market reactions are significantly more negative for firms with more political exposure. Additional analysis corroborates the results, including propensity score matching, instrumental-variable analysis and Oster's (2019) method for testing coefficient stability. Finally, the authors note that the adverse effect of political risk on shareholder value is substantially mitigated for firms with strong social responsibility, consistent with the risk mitigation hypothesis. Originality/value: This study is the first to explore the effect of political risk on shareholder value using a novel measure. Furthermore, it is also the first to show that CSR alleviates the cost of political risk to shareholders. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

This paper explores the phenomenon of pre-service teachers becoming accomplices for racial justice. Using hermeneutic phenomenology, we examine the experiences of three white, female pre-service teachers navigating this terrain. A framework we are naming autoethnography as praxis emerged from this inquiry. Our research interrogates the notion of white allies and the intersection of critical dialogue and action in pre-service teacher education. Building off of perspectives in critical race and critical whiteness studies, this work is grounded in the reality of the material permanence of white supremacy that white teachers must acknowledge and develop tools to dismantle. Autoethnography as praxis moves students from simply analyzing and reporting their experiences (including their emerging understanding of white privilege) through autoethnography to examining how their experiences have shaped and will continue to shape their identities and practices as teachers. By reframing autoethnography as a dialogue between researcher and her texts, we hope to push beyond reflection to action. By engaging participants in reflection on their actions, autoethnography as praxis also addresses the flaw of white teachers acting as benevolent allies who set their own agenda and position people of color as “needing their assistance.” © 2020, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. All rights reserved.

We report on the first measurement of the charmed baryon Λ±c production at midrapidity (|y|<1) in Au+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV collected by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The Λc/D0 [denoting (Λ+c+Λ−c)/(D0+¯D0)] yield ratio is measured to be 1.08±0.16 (stat)±0.26 (sys) in the 0%–20% most central Au+Au collisions for the transverse momentum (pT) range 3<pT<6 GeV/c. This is significantly larger than the pythia model calculations for p+p collisions. The measured Λc/D0 ratio, as a function of pT and collision centrality, is comparable to the baryon-to-meson ratios for light and strange hadrons in Au+Au collisions. Model calculations including coalescence hadronization for charmed baryon and meson formation reproduce the features of our measured Λc/D0 ratio.

The Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, is a fully aquatic, threatened marine mammal for which increased understanding of their physiology, reproduction, and nutrition supports management decisions. Manatees may use taste to distinguish saltwater gradients, toxin detection, food assessment, and social interactions. This study sought to locate and characterize manatee taste buds comparing location, structure, number, and size to other species. Entire heads from manatees (6 males, 4 females) of various ages were obtained. The muzzle, tissue surrounding the nares, oral cavity, and epiglottis were examined grossly for pits and papillae. Tissues were examined using light and transmission electron microscopy. Within the predominant taste bud location, the tongue root, taste bud number was estimated using samples from four animals. The average number of taste buds within the tongue root was 11,534 (range 2,711–23,237) with sparse taste buds located on the soft palate and epiglottis. The location along the lateral surface of the tongue root and bordered by grooves, through which tastants could be easily transported, has functional significance. Large numbers of taste buds within the tongue root suggest that taste is an important component of manatee sensory systems and behavioral research would clarify this. © 2020 Society for Marine Mammalogy

BACKGROUND: Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that can reverse an opioid overdose. Increased opioid-related mortality rates led to greater distribution of naloxone without a prescription and administration of naloxone by laypersons. This study fills a gap in knowledge of naloxone experiences among active users of opioids living in suburban communities. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to provide nurse practitioners with an in-depth understanding of current naloxone use practices among people who experience overdose events. The specific aims are to compare access to naloxone in diverse suburban towns, to examine administration differences across settings, and to understand perspectives on naloxone experiences from people who are actively using opioids. METHODOLOGICAL ORIENTATION: The data for this analysis were drawn from an ethnographic study in the suburban towns around Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; and New Haven, Connecticut. Short surveys and in-depth interviews were collected. Inductive methods were used to compare data across settings. SAMPLE: The sample of 106 included 48% female, 62% White, 24% African American/Black, 13% more than one race, and 21% Hispanic/Latinx. The mean age was 41.35 years. CONCLUSIONS: Differences between study settings in access to naloxone, administration frequency, and delivery systems were found. Findings suggest more education and training is needed in overdose prevention and harm reduction intervention. Studies on delivery systems need to address the increase in fentanyl-related overdoses. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Nurse practitioners can help to target distribution of naloxone in local communities, facilitate collaboration with harm reduction services, and provide evidence-based education and training to laypersons. Copyright © 2020 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Background: Non-motor symptoms (NMS) are common in Parkinson's disease (PD), but their relationships to nigrostriatal degeneration remain largely unexplored. Methods: We evaluated 18 NMS scores covering 5 major domains in relation to concurrent and future dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging in 344 PD patients from the Parkinson's Progression and Markers Initiative (PPMI). We standardized NMS assessments into z-scores for side-by-side comparisons. Patients underwent sequential DaTSCAN imaging at enrollment and at months 12, 24, and 48. Specific binding ratios (SBR) were calculated using the occipital lobe reference region. We evaluated the association of striatal DAT binding at the four time points with each baseline NMS using mixed-effects regression models. Results: Multiple baseline NMS were significantly associated with DAT binding at baseline and at follow-up scans. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) symptoms showed the strongest association – mean striatal SBR declined with increasing RBD symptom z-score (average of time-point-specific slopes per unit change in z-score: βAVG = −0.083, SE = 0.017; p &lt; 0.0001). In addition, striatal DAT binding was linearly associated with increasing baseline z-scores: positively for the memory (βAVG=0.055, SE = 0.022; p = 0.01) and visuospatial (βAVG=0.044, SE = 0.020; p = 0.03) cognitive domains, and negatively for total anxiety (βAVG= −0.059, SE = 0.018; p = 0.001). Striatal DAT binding showed curvilinear associations with odor identification, verbal discrimination recognition, and autonomic dysfunction z-scores (p = 0.001, p = 0.0009, and p = 0.0002, respectively). Other NMS were not associated with DAT binding. Conclusions: Multiple NMS, RBD symptoms in particular, are associated with nigrostriatal dopaminergic changes in early PD. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Retweeting is an important way of information propagation on Twitter. In this paper, we investigate the sentiment correlation between regular tweets and retweets. We anticipate our investigation sheds a light on how the sentiment of regular tweets impacts the retweets of different sentiments. We propose a method for measuring the sentiment of tweets. We categorize the Twitter users into different groups by different norms, which are the follower count, the betweenness connectivity, a combination of follower count and betweenness centrality,and the amount of tweets. Then, we calculate the sentiment correlation for different groups to examine the influential factors for retweeting a message with a certain sentiment.We find that the users with higher betweenness centrality and higher tweets amount tend to exhibit a higher sentiment correlation. The users with medium-level followers_count show the highest sentiment correlation compared to the low-level and high-level followers_count. After combining the two factors of followers_count and betweenness centrality, we discover that specifically at low-level betweenness centrality the users with medium-level followers_count have the highest sentiment correlation. Our last observation is that the difference for correlation coefficients exists between different types of users. Our study on the sentiment correlation provides instructional information for modeling information propagation in human society. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.

Background: Our pilot study has demonstrated improvements in health outcomes through participation in a new sport, light volleyball (LVB), among older adults. In response to the promising results of the LVB pilot study and the priority of allocating resources to the prevention of age-related fitness degradation by the Hong Kong (HKG) government, the present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a LVB intervention on physical and psychological health attributes among older adults at a larger scale in HKG. Methods/design: This study will apply both quantitative and qualitative methods with a large sample (approximately 315 participants). We will adopt a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to further evaluate the effectiveness of a LVB intervention on health outcomes against a comparison group, Tai Chi (TC), and a control group (C). Older adults will be eligible to join the intervention if they are (a) aged 65 years and above; (b) living in the community independently; (c) absent of diagnosed cognitive impairment; (d) not regular participants in a structured PA program for two years preceding the study; and (e) able to achieve a passing score on the Timed-up-and-go test (TUG) and Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT). About 315 participants will be randomly assigned into 3 groups in 1:1:1 ratio. LVB group participants will receive 16-week LVB program; TC group will utilize a simplified 24-form Yang Style TC, and C group participants will be instructed to maintain their normal daily activity and join regular non-exercise social gatherings. Measurements will be collected before and after the intervention, and 6 months and 12 months after completion of the intervention. Discussion: This intervention, if effective, will enhance older adult's physical and psychological health, and provide the data and evidence to support policymaking in relation to future PA promotion for older adults. Trial registration number: ChiCTR1900026657. © 2020 The Author(s).

Health education and promotion researchers and practitioners are committed to eliminating health disparities, and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) has continuously supported this effort through its journals, professional development, annual conferences, and advocacy. The COVID-19 pandemic elucidated inequities directly caused by racism and other social determinants of health. In order to achieve health equity, we need to become antiracist in our research, practice, and advocacy work by standing united against racist policies and practices. I invite us all to heed the call to action on these five points: place racism on the agenda, practice cultural humility, claim your privilege and eliminate microaggressions, utilize strategies that promote inclusion and equity, and embrace your inner leader and activist. Just as SOPHE as an organization pivoted its annual conference from on ground to virtual in March 2020, so can we be innovative and brave as professionals to face the hard work and dedication needed to become antiracist., (C)2020Sage Publications

The mechanisms responsible for aspiration are relatively unknown in patients recovering from acute respiratory failure (ARF) who required mechanical ventilation. Though many conditions may contribute to swallowing dysfunction, alterations in laryngeal structure and swallowing function likely play a role in the development of aspiration. At four university-based tertiary medical centers, we conducted a prospective cohort study of ARF patients who required intensive care and mechanical ventilation for at least 48 h. Within 72 h after extubation, a Fiberoptic Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) examination was performed. Univariate and multivariable analyses examined the relationship between laryngeal structure and swallowing function abnormalities. Aspiration was the primary outcome, defined as a Penetration- Aspiration Scale (PAS) score of 6 or greater. Two other salient signs of dysphagia—spillage and residue—were secondary outcomes. A total of 213 patients were included in the final analysis. Aspiration was detected in 70 patients (33%) on at least one bolus. The most commonly aspirated consistency was thin liquids (27%). In univariate analyses, several abnormalities in laryngeal anatomy and structural movement were significantly associated with aspiration, spillage, and residue. In a multivariable analysis, the only variables that remained significant with aspiration were pharyngeal weakness (Odds ratio = 2.57, 95%CI = 1.16–5.84, p = 0.019) and upper airway edema (Odds ratio = 3.24, 95%CI = 1.44–7.66, p = 0.004). These results demonstrated that dysphagia in ARF survivors is multifactorial and characterized by both anatomic and physiologic abnormalities. These findings may have important implications for the development of novel interventions to treat dysphagia in ARF survivors. Clinical Trials Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02363686, Aspiration in Acute Respiratory FailureSurvivors. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.