Many have asserted that Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) play an important role in nature protection but few have assessed their conservation effectiveness for different taxa. We studied sacred groves in ...Epirus, NW Greece, where a large number of such SNS have been identified. Based on historical, ethnographic and ecological criteria, we selected eight of these groves and matching control sites and in them we studied fungi, lichens, herbaceous plants, woody plants, nematodes, insects, bats and passerine birds. Our results reveal that the contribution of SNS to species conservation is nuanced by taxon, vegetation type and management history. We found that the sacred groves have a small conservation advantage over the corresponding control sites. More specifically, there are more distinct sets of organisms amongst sacred groves than amongst control sites, and overall biodiversity, diversity per taxonomic group, and numbers of species from the European SCI list (Species of Community Interest) are all marginally higher in them. Conservationists regard the often small size of SNS as a factor limiting their conservation value. The sizes of SNS around the globe vary greatly, from a few square meters to millions of hectares. Given that those surveyed by us (ranging from 5 to 116 ha) are at the lower end of this spectrum, the small conservation advantage that we testified becomes important. Our results provide clear evidence that even small-size SNS have considerable conservation relevance; they would contribute most to species conservation if incorporated in networks.
•Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) are thought to play an important role in conservation but quantitative analyses are rare.•We studied the conservation capacity of SNS at multiple sites for multiple taxonomic groups.•The SNS studied deliver a small but important conservation benefit compared with corresponding control areas.•The contribution of SNS to species conservation is nuanced by taxon, vegetation type and management history.•The best conservation strategy for small SNS is to join them as parts of networks within conventional conservation schemes.
The roosts of many IUCN-listed cave-roosting bat species are under threat from tourist development in SE Europe and other regions of the world. Much-needed conservation strategies require, among ...other information, an understanding of their roost movements and population dynamics, which can now be obtained relatively quickly using advanced models. We have studied the long-fingered bat,
Myotis capaccinii, an obligate cave-dweller, in Dadia National Park, Greece. The species formed colonies of up to a few thousand individuals and was highly mobile, frequently switching summer roosts up to 39
km apart, even during late pregnancy. The bats migrated to distant hibernacula including a cave in Bulgaria 140
km NW of the Park. Adult recapture probabilities varied with season and sex: low female recapture rates in autumn, relative to spring and summer, indicated non-random temporary emigration following nursery colony dispersal. The opposite pattern was seen in males: increasing recapture rates in the autumn suggest that males gather in these roosts to mate with females in transit. Adult survival (0.86–0.94) was similar in females and males, similar in winter and summer, and comparable to recent estimates for other bats based on similar modelling techniques. Sex-based differences in juvenile recapture suggest female philopatry and male-biased dispersal. Our work shows that protection of
M. capaccinii roosts must extend beyond the Park’s and indeed the country’s boundaries: its conservation requires large-scale, trans-national integrated conservation plans. Our results will apply to many other warm-temperate species with similar life history cycles.
Many of us “see red,” “feel blue,” or “turn green with envy.” Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our ...languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient r = .88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.
Healthcare workers (HCWs) have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which may be driven, in part, by nosocomial exposure. If HCW exposure is predominantly ...nosocomial, HCWs in paediatric facilities, where few patients are admitted with COVID-19, may lack antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and be at increased risk during the current resurgence.
To compare the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 amongst HCWs in paediatric facilities in seven European countries and South Africa (N=8).
All categories of paediatric HCWs were invited to participate in the study, irrespective of previous symptoms. A single blood sample was taken and data about previous symptoms were documented. Serum was shipped to a central laboratory in London where SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G was measured.
In total, 4114 HCWs were recruited between 1st May and mid-July 2020. The range of seroprevalence was 0–16.93%. The highest seroprevalence was found in London (16.93%), followed by Cape Town, South Africa (10.36%). There were no positive HCWs in the Austrian, Estonian and Latvian cohorts; 2/300 0.66%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18–2.4 HCWs tested positive in Lithuania; 1/124 (0.81%, 95% CI 0.14–4.3) HCWs tested positive in Romania; and 1/76 (1.3%, 95% CI 0.23–7.0) HCWs tested positive in Greece.
Overall seroprevalence amongst paediatric HCWs is similar to their national populations and linked to the national COVID-19 burden. Staff working in paediatric facilities in low-burden countries have very low seroprevalence rates and thus are likely to be susceptible to COVID-19. Their susceptibility to infection may affect their ability to provide care in the face of increasing cases of COVID-19, and this highlights the need for appropriate preventative strategies in paediatric healthcare settings.
Marine biofouling imposes serious environmental and economic impacts on marine applications, especially in the shipping industry. To combat biofouling, protective coatings are applied on vessel hulls ...which are divided into two major groups: biocidal and non‐toxic fouling release. The current study aimed to explore the effect of coating type on microbial biofilm community profiles to better understand the differences between the communities developed on fouling control biocidal antifouling and biocidal‐free coatings. Biocidal (Intersmooth® 7460HS SPC), fouling release (Intersleek® 900), and inert surfaces were deployed in the marine environment for 4 months, and the biofilms that developed on these surfaces were investigated using Illumina NGS sequencing, targeting the prokaryotic 16S rRNA gene. The results confirmed differences in the community profiles between coating types. The biocidal coating supported communities dominated by Alphaproteobacteria (Loktanella, Sphingorhabdus, Erythrobacter) and Bacteroidetes (Gilvibacter), while other taxa, such as Portibacter and Sva0996 marine group, proliferated on the fouling‐release surface. Knowledge of these marine biofilm components on fouling control coatings will serve as a guide for future investigations of marine microfouling as well as informing the coatings industry of potential microbial targets for robust coating formulations.
Marine biofilms constitute the pioneering components of biofouling, a phenomenon with significant environmental and economic impacts in maritime applications. Antifouling control strategies are applied on vessel hulls based on the application of protective paints. Here, we explored the in situ prokaryotic biofilm community composition and abundance on different types of commercial fouling control coatings (fouling release, biocidal) employing next‐generation sequencing targeting the 16S rRNA gene. Our results indicated distinct microbial community profiles between coating types, with specific genera contributing to differences between surfaces.
Accessible summary
What is known on the subject
The care of an adult son or daughter with psychosis is filled with overwhelming demands caused by the symptomatology and illness exacerbations.
Parents ...display disenfranchised grief over multiple losses and report increased levels of emotional burden.
Most studies use quantitative methods and rely on pre‐existing theoretical frameworks to investigate, through psychometric measures, the effects of being a carer.
Meaning attributions to the disorder, and changes in parent–child relations over time, are poorly understood.
What this paper adds to existing knowledge
This hermeneutic phenomenological study illuminates the subjective experience of parenting a son or daughter with psychosis, as it is lived and described by parents of young adults with psychosis.
Findings suggest that the parents' perceptions of their child changes over the course of the disorder, leading to a redefinition of the parent–child relationship, causing alternations in attachment.
Findings illuminate the parents' profound guilt over having contributed or not prevented the disorder, over not being ‘good’ parents and feeling ambivalent towards an ‘intimate stranger.’ Guilt is compensated by absolute dedication to the son or daughter's care, at the expense of their own well‐being.
What are the implications for practice
Interventions for parents must be available as soon as possible, both during hospitalization and after discharge.
Professionals should provide a therapeutic space, where parents could express intimate thoughts and feelings, address guilt, fear and resentment issues, be assisted in their parenting role as well as in the reconstruction of a sense of self and self‐esteem.
Professionals are invited to facilitate illness acceptance, provide accurate information, assist parents to redefine their relationship to the child and facilitate the integration of the traumatic experience into their personal and family narrative.
Professionals must develop in depth awareness of their biases and attitudes, have an ongoing training on how to respond to the parents’ needs, facilitate therapeutic change and accompany families through the course of their adult child's illness trajectory.
Introduction
Children who are diagnosed with psychosis often rely on their parents for prolonged care. The impact of such care is partially understood as most studies use quantitative methods and pre‐existing theoretical frameworks that limit their investigation to emotional burden, and emotional responses.
Aim
Explore the parents’ lived experience of caring for a child with psychosis.
Method
A hermeneutic phenomenological design was used with a sample of 16 parents of children with psychotic disorders who were hospitalized or attended the outpatient clinic of a large psychiatric Greek hospital.
Results
Identified themes were as follows: (i) the psychosis experience, (ii) redefinition of the parent–child relationship over the course of the disorder and (iii) challenges of parenting a child with psychosis.
Discussion
‘Caring for an intimate stranger’ reflects the parents’ overall experience, involving changes in the parent–child relationship, ambivalence towards caretaking and profound guilt, compensated by self‐sacrifice parenting practices. Implications for practice: Findings highlight the necessity to train mental health professionals to provide individualized information; facilitate family communication; address the parents’ guilt, ambivalence, meaning attributions that compromise adjustment; and support them through the challenges of parenting a son or daughter with psychosis.
Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov's valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions ...(valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov's methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov's original analysis strategy, the valence-dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence-dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 5 November 2018. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7611443.v1 .
To determine the influence of decentration and tilt of a pseudophakic aspheric intraocular lens (IOL) on visual acuity (VA) and higher-order aberrations (HOAs), and to analyze the agreement between ...pupil center/axis and iridocorneal angles center/axis when assessing IOL decentration and tilt.
A prospective interventional case series study including thirty-three patients undergoing Tecnis ZCB00 (Abbott Medical Optics) implantation. IOL decentration and tilt with respect to two reference systems (pupil and iridocorneal angles centers/axes), in cartesian (X,Y) and polar (radius/tilt, polar angle/azimuth) coordinates, were assessed with optical coherence tomography. VA and internal and ocular HOAs were evaluated. Multiple linear regression models and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were computed.
IOL decentration only showed a significant effect on internal HOAs for Formula: see text (R
= 0.20, P = 0.04). IOL decentration with respect to the pupil center showed a significant effect on ocular Formula: see text (R
= 0.18, P = 0.05), Formula: see text (R
= 0.36, P = 0.001) and Formula: see text (R
= 0.24, P = 0.02); and with respect to the center of iridocorneal angles, on ocular Formula: see text (R
= 0.21, P = 0.03), Formula: see text (R
= 0.32, P = 0.003), primary coma (R
= 0.41, P < 0.001), and coma-like (R
= 0.40, P = 0.001). Poor agreement between both reference systems was found for IOL decentration measurements (ICC ≤ 0.41), except for the polar angle coordinate (ICC = 0.83). Tilt measurements showed good agreement (ICC ≥ 0.75).
Tecnis ZCB00 decentration and tilt values after uneventful implantation appear not to have influence on VA, and their effect on HOAs are not high enough to clinically affect quality of vision. Pupil and iridocorneal angles used as reference systems may be interchangeable for IOL tilt measurements, but not for decentration.
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