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The digitization of natural history specimens and the popularization of citizen science are creating an unprecedented availability of large amounts of biodiversity data. These biodiversity inventories can be severely affected by species misidentification, a source of taxonomic uncertainty that is rarely acknowledged in biodiversity data management. For these reasons, taxonomists debate the use of online repositories to address biological questions at the species level. Hedera L. (ivies) provides an excellent case study as it is well represented in both herbaria and online repositories with thousands of records likely to be affected by high taxonomic uncertainty. We analyze the sources and extent of taxonomic errors in the identification of the European ivy species by reviewing herbarium specimens and find a high misidentification rate (18% on average), which varies between species (maximized in H. hibernica: 55%; H. azorica: 48%; H. iberica: 36%) and regions (maximized in the UK: 38% and Spain: 27%). We find a systematic misidentification of all European ivies with H. helix behind the high misidentification rates in herbaria and warn of even higher rates in online records. We compile a spatial database to overcome the large discrepancies we observed in species distributions between online and morphologically reviewed records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Associations between breastfeeding intention, duration and post‐natal depression (PND) have been shown in pre‐COVID‐19 studies. However, studies during COVID‐19 have not examined the associations between breastfeeding intention, breastfeeding practices, and PND in an international sample of post‐natal women, taking into consideration COVID‐19 related factors. This is the first study to address this gap as both PND and breastfeeding may be affected by COVID‐19, and have important long‐term effects on women's and infant's health. A cross‐sectional internet‐based survey was conducted with 3253 post‐natal women from five countries: Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom from July to November 2021. The results showed that women who intended to breastfeed during pregnancy had lower odds of having PND than women who did not intend to. Women who had no breastfeeding intention but actually breastfed had greater odds (AOR 1.75) of having PND than women who intended to breastfeed and actually breastfed. While there was no statistical significance in expressed breast milk feeding in multivariable logistic regression models, women who had shorter duration of breastfeeding directly on breast than they planned had greater odds (AOR 1.58) of having PND than those who breastfed longer than they planned even after adjusting for covariates including COVID‐19‐related variables. These findings suggested the importance of working with women on their breastfeeding intention. Tailored support is required to ensure women's breastfeeding needs are met and at the same time care for maternal mental health during and beyond the pandemic. Key messages: This study identified independent associations of breastfeeding intention and actual breastfeeding practices with PND after adjustment for COVID‐19‐related covariates.Although women who intended to breastfeed during pregnancy were less likely to have PND, those who did not intend to breastfeed but did breastfeed were more likely to have PND than those who intended to breastfeed and breastfed.Women with shorter (vs. longer) than planned duration of breastfeeding on breast were more likely to have PND.Health care providers and policymakers should ensure tailored support is available for women's infant feeding plans and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women with COVID-19 experienced numerous concerns and doubts about the safety of breastfeeding their babies, and lack of support may have impacted breastfeeding practices. This study aims to compare breastfeeding beliefs, practices, and contact with healthcare professionals regarding the level of postnatal feeding support provided during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Methods: A multi-country cross-sectional study was conducted with postnatal women in five countries. Women up to six months postpartum were invited to complete an online survey concerning the transmission of preventative measures, beliefs toward breastfeeding, infant feeding practices in the last 24 hours and experiences of postnatal infant feeding support between July to November 2021. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the association. Results: Of the 3,253 eligible responses received, 39.5% of children were aged between one and two months, but in Taiwan (36%) and South Korea (42.8%) they were between three and four months. The mean of the belief score was significantly different among countries (p < 0.0001). Women in Brazil and the UK had a higher rate of breastfeeding at the breast (90.7% and 85.4%, respectively) compared to the three Asian countries (p < 0.0001) while feeding with expressed breastmilk in Thailand (59.9%), Taiwan (52.6%), and South Korea (50.4%) was higher than the others (p < 0.0001). Brazil and UK mothers (mean = 16.0 and 14.5 respectively) had a higher mean score for belief toward breastfeeding during the COVID-19 than the others. These results are inversely associated with breastfeeding but positively related to formula feeding practice. Postnatal feeding support during the COVID-19 pandemic was mainly provided by healthcare professionals (67.1%) and peers / family through face-to-face personal contact (51.6%) in all countries. Conclusion: Some differences were found in breastfeeding beliefs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Asian countries. A positive breastfeeding belief was associated with the practice of breastfeeding at the breast. Women from all countries received postpartum infant feeding support from health professionals and peers / family through personal contacts. Governments need to emphasize and disseminate the importance of breastfeeding safety, especially in Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK has one of the world’s most urbanised societies where nearly 83% of the total population lives in cities. The continuing population growth could lead to increases in environmental pollutions and congestion within cities. The framework of urban metabolism uses an analogy between cities and ecosystems to study the metabolic processes within complex urban systems akin to natural biological systems. It remains as a challenge to fully understand the complicated distribution of resource flows within an urban network. In this paper, Ecological Network Analysis was applied to study the intra-city flows between economic sectors in 35 functional urban areas in order to investigate their respective metabolic relationships. The intra-city flows network of each area was also supplemented with the geographical distance between the workplace zones to study the impacts of spatial distribution on the density of resource flows. The metabolic systems were dominated by 64% of exploitative relationships with an average mutualism index of 0.93 and synergism index of 3.56 across all 35 areas. The consumption-control and production-dependency relationships revealed the hierarchical orders among the sectors resembling the pyramidal structure of an urban ecosystem. Network community classification emphasized the importance of inter-relationship within the organisation of each community class. The producer-type and consumer-type communities showed the tendencies of those sectors to cluster based on their respective hierarchical roles in the ecosystem. This work provides an insight into the wide range of intra-city ecological metabolic characteristics which can potentially expand to a multi-scale assessment of urban metabolism across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective is to build different Precious Metals (gold, silver, palladium, platinum and rhodium) and Gold Numismatic Mset Portfolios. The purpose is being able to build the best portfolio for the different investors and to know The Market Portfolio. For that, by means of The Portfolio Theory methodology (Markowitz, 1952; 1959), we build the efficient frontier and we will trace the Capital Market Line, CML. The program we use is Matlab (financial Toolkit). Research sample is composed by gold numismatic assets and precious metals. Those assets have been issued by Spain, USA, Great Britain and France from 1900 to 2009, and the research period is to 2003-2009. The results obtained confirm those not financial assets selected to build the efficient portfolio and the Market Portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two methodologies widely used in digestibility trials for determination of acid-insoluble ash (AIA) in feeds and faeces are the procedure described by Vogtmann et al., 1975, (VO; Br. Poult. Sci. 16, 531) based on the boiling of the complete sample (4N HCl for 30 min), followed by ashing at 600°C for 6 h, and the procedure described by Van Keulen and Young, 1977, (VK; J. Anim. Sci. 44, 282) based on the sequential analysis of DM, ash, and boiling (2N HCl for 5 min) to determine AIA. In our test we used 12 experimental diets of similar nutritive value to determine apparent retention of nutrients and the AMEn by both techniques in 18 d-old broilers. The main difference among diets was the cereal used (corn vs. rice), the type of processing of the cereal (raw vs. heat processed), and the inclusion of a fiber source (none vs. 3% oat hulls vs. 3% soybean hulls) and all of them included 1% celite an additional indigestible marker. Each treatment was replicated three times (9 birds caged together). The AIA values of feeds and excreta were lower when determined by VK than when determined by VO (1.693 vs. 1.748% DM for diets and 6.655 vs. 6.961% DM for excreta; P < 0.001) but no interactions of technique x dietary treatment were found. The correlation coefficient of the AIA content of feeds and excreta between VO and VK techniques was good (r > 0.99). Nutrient digestibility and AMEn of the diets were lower when calculated with the VK technique than when calculated with the VO technique (74.6 vs. 75.0% for DM, 79.1 vs. 79.5% for OM, and 3,022 vs. 3,033 kcal/kg for AMEn; P < 0.05) but no interactions between techniques used for AIA determination and dietary treatments were observed. We concluded that either technique is acceptable to determine the apparent retention of nutrients and the AMEn of diets in poultry experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Guidelines recommend initiation of dual combination antihypertensive therapy, preferably single-pill combination (SPC), in most patients with hypertension. Evidence on narrowing gaps in clinical practice relative to guidelines is limited., Methods and Results: Monte Carlo simulation was applied to 1.1 million patients qualifying for dual combination therapy from a previously conducted retrospective analysis of clinical practice, hospital statistics, and national statistics in the UK. We provide 10-year Kaplan-Meier event rates for the primary endpoint representing a composite of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke (ischaemic or haemorrhagic), non-fatal heart failure hospitalization, or cardiovascular death. Cox model results from a previously conducted study were utilized to estimate baseline risk, together with evidence on risk reduction from the Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists' Collaboration (BPLTTC) meta-analysis and published evidence on blood pressure-lowering efficacy of antihypertensive therapies. In the overall population, estimated 10-year event rates for the primary endpoint in patients with 100% persistence in monotherapy were 17.0% for irbesartan and 17.6% for ramipril. These rates were only modestly better than those observed in clinical practice (17.8%). In patients with 100% persistence in dual therapy, estimated event rates were 13.6% for combinations of irbesartan + amlodipine [absolute risk reduction (ARR) = 8.7% compared with untreated] and 14.3% for ramipril + amlodipine (ARR = 8.0% compared with untreated). The absolute risk of the primary endpoint was reduced by 15.9% in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and 6.6% in those without ASCVD. Similarly, the absolute risk was reduced by 11.7% in patients with diabetes and 7.8% in those without diabetes., Conclusions: This study represents the first to investigate guidelines-based treatment in hypertensive patients and demonstrates the opportunity for considerable risk reduction by ensuring recommended dual therapy in clinical practice, particularly in the form of SPC with high persistence, relative to no treatment or monotherapy., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)