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Objectives: Illness can disrupt training and competition performance of athletes. Few studies have quantified the relative contribution of the known medical, behavioural and lifestyle risk factors.Design: Cross-sectional.Methods: Olympic athletes from 11 sports (n=221) were invited to complete questionnaires administered nine months before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. These included the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire (DASS-21), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS), Recovery-Stress Questionnaire (REST-Q-52 item), Low Energy in Females Questionnaire (LEAF-Q), a modified Personal and Household Hygiene questionnaire, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and custom-made questionnaires on probiotic usage and travel. An illness (case) was defined as an event which limited training or competition for greater hours in the prior month. Odds ratios and attributable fractions in the population (AFP) were utilised for categorical variables with independent t-tests or Wilcoxon rank-sum for continuous variables.Results: Eighty-one athletes responded (male, n=26; female, n=55). There were 16 illness cases and 65 controls. Female athletes were at higher odds of illness (OR=9.4, 95%CI 1.3-410, p=0.01, AFP=0.84). Low energy availability (LEAF-Q score ≥8: OR=7.4, 95%CI 0.78-352, p=0.04, AFP=0.76), depression symptoms (DASS-21: depression score >4, OR=8.4, 95%CI 1.1-59, p<0.01; AFP=0.39) and higher perceived stress (PSS: 10-item, p=0.04) were significantly associated with illness.Conclusions: Female sex, low energy availability, and mental health are associated with sports incapacity (time loss) due to illness. Low energy availability had high attributable fractions in the population and stands out as a primary association with illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunting is a rural activity and attempts to influence it are often framed, in northern Europe, in terms of ‘urban elites’ seeking to impose their will on ‘rural’ cultures. Hunting cultures are the subject of this paper, but instead of focusing on their relationship with conservation, as most previous work has done, it explores their interaction with proposals to expand commercial hunting tourism to generate endogenous economic development in remote rural areas of Scotland and Finland. It does so by examining stakeholders' attitudes towards the potential for increased commercial hunting tourism in peripheral areas in Scotland and Finland. The paper identifies a neoliberal policy perspective that recasts such areas as ‘resource peripheries’ and outlines their dominant hunting cultures. Using qualitative, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, it explores the motives and means for dominant hunting cultures to exert ‘frictional’ resistance on attempts to ‘re-map’ peripheral areas in ways which were perceived to work against their interests. The paper highlights the importance of taking account of the influence of dominant hunting cultures on attempts to introduce neoliberal economic development policies in resource peripheries, especially where they may have an impact on game resources. By demonstrating the frictional resistance that they can exert on such policies, it sheds light on a neglected aspect of hunting cultures. The paper suggests that, rather than demonstrating the limits of neoliberalism, these northern peripheries are increasingly its deliberately constructed ‘other’. This is because Scotland's and, to lesser but growing extent, Finland's dominant hunting cultures are maintained by people who lives are led for the most part outside the ‘northern periphery’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effect of variation in morphology and size of filler particles, temperature and increase in condensation speed on packability of resincomposites was investigated. Eight experimental light-cured resin-composites (RZDn series) were tested. Each material was placed in a cylindrical mould at 26 or 32°C. A flat-ended stainless-steel probe (f=6 mm) was mechanically lowered with two different speeds 2 and 8 mm/s onto and into at the surface of the unset sample until a compressive force of 1 N was reached. This was repeated for five cycles, and from each cycle Fp was calculated. All spherical and irregular filler particle resin-composites showed a decrease in Fp with increase in number of compressions. Increase in temperature also decreased Fp, but this effect was not very prominent in the case of irregular filler resin-composites. Filler particle morphology, increase in temperature and compression cycle speed has a prominent effect on packability of resin-composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Determining nutritional development in wild primates is difficult through observations because confirming dietary intake is challenging. Physiological measures are needed to determine the relative contributions of maternal milk and other foods at different ages, and time of weaning. We used fecal stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (δ13C, δ15N) and fecal nitrogen concentrations (%N) from wild chimpanzees at Ngogo, Uganda, to derive physiological dietary indicators during the transition from total reliance on maternal milk to adult foods after weaning. Materials and Methods We analyzed 560 fecal samples collected non-invasively from 48 infants, their mothers, and 6 juvenile siblings. Most infant and juvenile samples (90%) were matched to samples collected from mothers on the same day. Isotopic assessments were compared with observations of nursing and feeding. Results Infants ≤1 year old showed average δ15N, δ13C and %N ratios that were 2.0‰, 0.8‰ and 1.3% greater than their mothers, respectively, interpreted as trophic level effects. Although data collected on newborns were few, results suggest that solid foods were consumed within 2-5 months after birth. Trophic level differences decreased steadily after 1 year, which indicates a decreasing relative contribution of milk to the diet. Isotopic results indicated infants were weaned by 4.5 years old-more than a year earlier than observations of nipple contacts ceased, which revealed the occurrence of 'comfort nursing.' Juvenile isotopic signatures indicate no nursing overlap between siblings. Discussion Our results resemble the stable isotope differences of human babies. This study contributes to a model of chimpanzee nutritional development required to understand early life history patterns in hominins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical trials have identified secondary caries and bulk fracture as the main causes for composite restoration failure. As a measure to avoid frequent reinterventions for restoration replacement, composites with some sort of defense mechanism against biofilm formation and demineralization, as well as materials with lower susceptibility to crack propagation are necessary. Also, the restorative procedure with composites are very time-consuming and technically demanding, particularly concerning the application of the adhesive system. Therefore, together with bulk-fill composites, self-adhesive restorative composites could reduce operator error and chairside time. This literature review describes the current stage of development of remineralizing, antibacterial and self-healing composites. Also, an overview of the research on fiber-reinforced composites and self-adhesive composites, both introduced for clinical use in recent years, is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although numerous ecological and social factors influence range use in vertebrates, the general assumption is that ranging patterns typically accord with principles of optimal foraging theory. However, given temporal variability in resource abundance, animals can more easily meet nutritional needs at some times than at others. For species in which sociality is particularly important for fitness, such as chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) and other group-living primates, the influences of social factors can be particularly strong, and likely interact closely with ecological factors. We investigated home range use by a community of chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda, to determine whether range use corresponded to energy-based optimality principles. Chimpanzees were particularly attracted to areas of the home range where individuals of Ficus mucuso (a large but low-density resource) were found, but only if those areas also offered other preferred or important resource classes. The aggregation of large foraging parties at F. mucuso crowns (frequently seen year-round) facilitates a number of socially beneficial activities for both males and females. Because chimpanzees apparently seek out F. mucuso in areas where other high-quality feeding opportunities exist, these social benefits likely do not come at the expense of fitness benefits accrued from feeding on high-quality resources. Am. J. Primatol. 78:432-440, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the use of safeguards or protective behaviours by young adults to reduce the harm and negative consequences associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Participants were 210 Australian university students. Participants completed an online questionnaire which focused on their alcohol consumption and engagement in protective behaviours. Results indicate that all participants who consumed alcohol engaged in protective behaviours at some level, with females reporting similar levels of these behaviours to males. Protective strategy use was related to less negative consequences of alcohol use. These findings suggest that the promotion of harm reduction strategies is needed to complement prevention programmes which aim to reduce the consumption of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examined the suitability of two deciduous arctic shrubs ( Salix glauca L. and Betula nana L., hereafter Salix and Betula , respectively) for dendroclimatological analysis at two sites in West Greenland. Chronologies were successfully cross-dated, and the oldest covered the period 1954–2010 (Expressed Population Signal [EPS] > 0.85, 1977–2010). Distinctive pointer years, also called micro-rings, including those from a known outbreak of the irruptive moth Eurois occulta L. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) that peaked in 2005, assisted in the dating process. Climate-growth analyses were performed in two ways: first, using correlation analysis between residual site-level chronologies and monthly and seasonal climate data, and second, using linear mixed effects models (LMM) with seasonal climate data and standardized chronologies for each individual. We used climate data for the current and previous years for a given growth ring for both analyses. Both analyses revealed differences in climate-growth response among species and among sites of contrasting topography. Salix ring widths from south facing slopes correlated positively with current year’s summer temperatures, while those on gentle slopes associated negatively with current year’s spring precipitation. Betula was only sampled at one site (flat), and displayed associations with temperature and precipitation in spring. Results from the LMM largely corroborated the correlations for Betula and Salix on south facing slopes. Salix at the flat site displayed significant associations with a large number of climate variables, most strongly previous year’s summer and autumn temperatures, though precipitation in multiple seasons of the current and prior year did a better job of accounting for the variation in the data. Many dendrochronological studies in the Arctic illustrate clear summer temperature responses, but the majority were conducted on a single topographic position. Due to the heterogeneity of West Greenland’s landscapes, it is important to examine individuals from varying topographies. We found that samples collected from south facing slopes do appear to respond positively to summer temperatures, while those on shallow slopes respond to a wider array of seasonal temperature and precipitation parameters. Accounting for these species and topographic differences, when sampling, is imperative for improving our understanding of how plant communities in the Arctic will respond to ongoing and expected warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) provide valuable comparative data for understanding the significance of conspecific killing. Two kinds of hypothesis have been proposed. Lethal violence is sometimes concluded to be the result of adaptive strategies, such that killers ultimately gain fitness benefits by increasing their access to resources such as food or mates. Alternatively, it could be a non-adaptive result of human impacts, such as habitat change or food provisioning. To discriminate between these hypotheses we compiled information from 18 chimpanzee communities and 4 bonobo communities studied over five decades. Our data include 152 killings (n = 58 observed, 41 inferred, and 53 suspected killings) by chimpanzees in 15 communities and one suspected killing by bonobos. We found that males were the most frequent attackers (92% of participants) and victims (73%); most killings (66%) involved intercommunity attacks; and attackers greatly outnumbered their victims (median 8:1 ratio). Variation in killing rates was unrelated to measures of human impacts. Our results are compatible with previously proposed adaptive explanations for killing by chimpanzees, whereas the human impact hypothesis is not supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated hunting in an unusually large community of wild chimpanzees at Ngogo in the Kibale National Park, Uganda. Aspects of predation were recorded with respect to the prey, the predators, and hunting episodes. During 23 months of observation, the Ngogo chimpanzees caught 128 prey items from four primate and three ungulate species. Chimpanzees preyed selectively on immature red colobus primarily during group hunts, with adult males making the majority of kills. Party size and composition were significant predictors of the probability that chimpanzees would hunt and of their success during attempts. Chimpanzees were more likely to hunt red colobus if party size and the number of male hunters were large; party size and the number of male hunters were also significantly larger in successful compared with unsuccessful hunts. The Ngogo chimpanzees did not appear to hunt cooperatively, but reciprocal meat-sharing typically took place after kills. Hunts occurred throughout the year, though there was some seasonality as displayed by periodic hunting binges. The extremely high success rate and large number of kills made per successful hunt are the two most striking aspects of predation by the Ngogo chimpanzees. We compare currently available observations of chimpanzee hunting behavior across study sites and conclude that the large size of the Ngogo community contributes to their extraordinary hunting success. Demographic differences between groups are likely to contribute to other patterns of interpopulation variation in chimpanzee predation. KEY WORDS: Pan troglodytes; predation; primates

Purpose: To determine the effect of finishing and polishing time on the surface gloss of various resin-composites before and after simulated toothbrushing. Methods: Eight representative resin-composites (Ceram X mono, Ceram X duo, Tetric EvoCeram, Venus Diamond, EsteliteΣ Quick, Esthet.X HD, Filtek Supreme XT and Spectrum TPH) were used to prepare 80 disc-shaped (12 mm x 2 mm) specimens. The two step system Venus Supra was used for polishing the specimens for 3 minutes (Group A) and 10 minutes (Group B). All specimens were subjected to 16,000 cycles of simulated toothbrushing. The surface gloss was measured after polishing and after brushing using the gloss meter. Results were evaluated using one way ANOVA, two ways ANOVA and Dennett's post hoc test (P= 0.05). Results: Group B (10-minute polishing) resulted in higher gloss values (GV) for all specimens compared to Group A (3 minutes). Also Group B showed better gloss retention compared to Group A after simulated toothbrushing. In each group, there was a significant difference between the polished composite resins (P< 0.05). For all specimens there was a decrease in gloss after the simulated toothbrushing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]