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Strategic communication can motivate target audiences to take conservation action. Yet, whether audiences are motivated by more information or more influential visuals is unclear. Using online surveys, we compared different visual communication strategies using text, graphics, and photographs for encouraging parrotfish-friendly conservation behaviors to see which one yields greater emotion, interest, and intended action. Experiment 1 explored whether a scientific-oriented poster would be more or less effective in promoting conservation behaviors than a graphical poster using social marketing techniques. Experiment 2 contrasted the two posters with a photograph and graphic icons without text against a blank control. Results revealed how engaging visuals can inspire reactions and behavioral intentions. The posters both elicited positive reactions, but with less text and content to process, the social marketing poster more efficiently inspired the desired reactions. This work highlights that conservation communications can strategically use psychology and graphics to efficiently inspire desired actions.

[INLINE:1] After spinal cord injury, there is an extensive infiltration of immune cells, which exacerbates the injury and leads to further neural degeneration. Therefore, a major aim of current research involves targeting the immune response as a treatment for spinal cord injury. Although much research has been performed analyzing the complex inflammatory process following spinal cord injury, there remain major discrepancies within previous literature regarding the timeline of local cytokine regulation. The objectives of this study were to establish an overview of the timeline of cytokine regulation for 2 weeks after spinal cord injury, identify sexual dimorphisms in terms of cytokine levels, and determine local cytokines that significantly change based on the severity of spinal cord injury. Rats were inflicted with either a mild contusion, moderate contusion, severe contusion, or complete transection, 7 mm of spinal cord centered on the injury was harvested at varying times post-injury, and tissue homogenates were analyzed with a Cytokine/Chemokine 27-Plex assay. Results demonstrated pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 were all upregulated after spinal cord injury, but returned to uninjured levels within approximately 24 hours post-injury, while chemokines including monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 remained upregulated for days post-injury. In contrast, several anti-inflammatory cytokines and growth factors including interleukin-10 and vascular endothelial growth factor were downregulated by 7 days post-injury. After spinal cord injury, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1, which specifically affects astrocytes involved in glial scar development, increased more than all other cytokines tested, reaching 26.9-fold higher than uninjured rats. After a mild injury, 11 cytokines demonstrated sexual dimorphisms; however, after a severe contusion only leptin levels were different between female and male rats. In conclusion, pro-inflammatory cytokines initiate the inflammatory process and return to baseline within hours post-injury, chemokines continue to recruit immune cells for days post-injury, while anti-inflammatory cytokines are downregulated by a week post-injury, and sexual dimorphisms observed after mild injury subsided with more severe injuries. Results from this work define critical chemokines that influence immune cell infiltration and important cytokines involved in glial scar development after spinal cord injury, which are essential for researchers developing treatments targeting secondary damage after spinal cord injury.

Abstract Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological condition that results in a loss of motor and sensory function. Although extensive research to develop treatments for SCI has been performed, to date, none of these treatments have produced a meaningful amount of functional recovery after injury. The primary injury is caused by the initial trauma to the spinal cord and results in ischemia, oxidative damage, edema, and glutamate excitotoxicity. This process initiates a secondary injury cascade, which starts just a few hours post-injury and may continue for more than 6 months, leading to additional cell death and spinal cord damage. Inflammation after SCI is complex and driven by a diverse set of cells and signaling molecules. In this review, we utilize an extensive literature survey to develop the timeline of local immune cell and cytokine behavior after SCI in rodent models. We discuss the precise functional roles of several key cytokines and their effects on a variety of cell types involved in the secondary injury cascade. Furthermore, variations in the inflammatory response between rats and mice are highlighted. Since current SCI treatment options do not successfully initiate functional recovery or axonal regeneration, identifying the specific mechanisms attributed to secondary injury is critical. With a more thorough understanding of the complex SCI pathophysiology, effective therapeutic targets with realistic timelines for intervention may be established to successfully attenuate secondary damage.

As land use change drives global insect declines, the value of enhancing habitat in urban and suburban landscapes has become increasingly important for flower-visiting insects. In order to help identify best landscaping practices, we conducted plant surveys and insect bowl-trap surveys in 34 suburban yards for 21 months in Gainesville, FL, USA, which resulted in 274 paired days of plant and insect survey data. We assessed the impact of nearest greenspace size, distance to greenspace, yard area, plant richness, plant type, bloom abundance, bloom richness and bloom evenness on insect abundance and richness. Our samples include 34,972 insects captured, 485,827 blooms counted and 774 species of plants recorded. We found that bloom evenness had a modulating effect on bloom abundance—a more even sample of the same number of blooms would have a disproportionately greater positive impact on flower visitor richness, insect richness and insect abundance. Bloom abundance was also highly significant and positively associated with flower visitor abundance, but nearest greenspace size, distance to greenspace, plant type (native vs. non-native vs. Florida Friendly), and yard area were not found to be important factors. Plant richness was a highly significant factor, but its effect size was very small.

We conducted a cross sectional survey in Zimbabwe to describe urban-rural disparity in socio-demographic characteristics and sexual behaviors of HIV-positive adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and their male sexual partners. Between September and November 2016, we interviewed 360 sexually active HIV positive AGYW, aged 15--24 years attending ART and PMTCT clinics in urban and rural health facilities in Harare and Mazowe district respectively. HIV positive AGYW in rural areas as compared to those in urban areas were older, less educated, more frequently married or cohabiting, had lower number of male sexual partners in their lifetime and in the last 12 months preceding the survey. They were mostly heterosexually infected, more likely to disclose their status to a family member and to be more adherent to ART (OR = 2.5-95% CI = 1.1-5.5). Most recent male sexual partners of HIV positive AGYW in urban areas as compared to those from rural areas were mainly current or former boyfriends, single, more educated, less likely to have a child with them and to engage in couple voluntary counseling and testing (CVCT). They were more likely to patronize dancing and drinking venues and involved in transactional sex (OR = 2.2-95% CI: 1.2-4). They were also more likely to be circumcised (OR = 2.3-95% CI: 1.3-4.1) and to use condom more consistently in the last 12 months preceding the survey. Our study findings called for the strengthening of HIV prevention interventions in urban areas among HIV positive AGYW who had more than one partner in their lifetime or are patronizing dancing and drinking venues. In Zimbabwe, promotion of CVCT, index testing, male circumcision and condom use should be sustained to engage male sexual partners of both urban and rural HIV positive AGYW in HIV prevention.

As the United States military engage with different countries and cultures throughout the world, personnel become exposed to new biospheres as well. There are many infectious pathogens that are not endemic to the US, but two of particular importance are Plasmodium and Leishmania, which respectively cause malaria and leishmaniasis. These parasites are both known to cause significant disease burden in their endemic locales, and thus pose a threat to military travelers. This review introduces readers to basic life cycle and disease mechanisms for each. Local and military epidemiology are described, as are the specific actions taken by the US military for prevention and treatment purposes. Complications of such measures with regard to human health are also discussed, including possible chemical toxicities. Additionally, poor recognition of these diseases upon an individual’s return leading to complications and treatment delays in the United States are examined. Information about canine leishmaniasis, poorly studied relative to its human manifestation, but of importance due to the utilization of dogs in military endeavors is presented. Future implications for the American healthcare system regarding malaria and leishmaniasis are also presented.

Climate change has caused many ecological changes around the world. Altered phenology is among the most commonly observed effects of climate change, and the list of species interactions affected by altered phenology is growing. Although many studies on altered phenology focus on single species or on pairwise species interactions, most ecological communities are comprised of numerous, ecologically similar species within trophic groups. Using a 12-year butterfly monitoring citizen science data set, we aimed to assess the degree to which butterfly communities may be changing over time. Specifically, we wanted to assess the degree to which phenological sensitivities to temperature could affect temporal overlap among species within communities, independent of changes in abundance, species richness, and evenness. We found that warming winter temperatures may be associated with some butterfly species making use of the coldest months of the year to fly as adults, thus changing temporal co-occurrence with other butterfly species. Our results suggest that changing temperatures could cause immediate restructuring of communities without requiring changes in overall abundance or diversity. Such changes could have fitness consequences for individuals within trophic levels by altering competition for resources, as well as indirect effects mediated by species interactions across trophic levels.

Hydrocarbon‐based lubricants are ubiquitous in industrial applications but typically consist of complex mixtures of branched molecules that are challenging to characterize and to relate to their macroscopic properties. Consequently, lubricants are typically optimized empirically for specific applications by blending base oils with organic or inorganic additives. In this study, we report the synthesis and characterization of molecularly defined lubricants via metathesis of branched terminal olefins, followed by hydrogenation. The resulting saturated hydrocarbons are characterized by ultrahigh‐field (28.2 T) 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopies to establish their molecular structures and resolve different stereoisomers, showing the utility of state‐of‐the‐art spectroscopic tools for analyzing structures of branched alkanes. Furthermore, the molecular‐level diffusion and bulk viscosity properties compare favorably to classical synthetic lubricants based on hydrogenated polyalphaolefin (PAO) blends, establishing olefin metathesis as a selective and scalable route to high‐performance lubricant oils with defined molecular structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eccentric quasi-isometrics (EQIs) are a novel, low-velocity resistance exercise technique that incorporates a holding isometric contraction to positional fatigue, followed by voluntary resistance of the resulting eccentric muscle action. As females are typically more fatigue resistant than males during isometric and low-velocity dynamic muscle actions, this study explored sex-differences in the muscle fatigue response to an EQI protocol. Twenty-five (n = 12 female) participants completed 4 unilateral EQI elbow flexions. Absolute and relative surface electromyography (sEMG) amplitude (iEMG, LE peak), mean power frequency (MPF), angular impulse (aIMP), and elbow angle were compared across repetitions and between sexes using discrete values and statistical parametric/non-parametric mapping. There were significant and substantial sex and repetition differences in absolute iEMG, MPF, and aIMP, however, males and females had statistically similar absolute aIMP by repetition 4. When expressed relatively, there were no significant sex-differences. Additionally, there were significant between repetition changes in sEMG amplitude and elbow angle with an increasing number of repetitions, largely in the first-two thirds of repetition time. The current study suggests that there are absolute, but not relative sex-differences in EQI induced muscle fatigue, and the effects across repetitions occur predominately in the first two-thirds of repetition time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]