Increasing longevity raised the prospect of a workplace for ageing workers. Previous studies reveal that work ability decreases with age, even among the healthy, and decreased significantly with age ...among women. The aim of the study is to examine the perception of work ability of public sector employees aged 55 years and older and gender differences in three European countries.
A prospective longitudinal study design and standardized "Work Ability Index" (WAI) were used. This study analysed the relationship between ageing, gender, and perceived work ability among 1653 employees aged 45.06±10.90 years (562 men and 1091 women) from Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Monte Negro. The research was conducted in 2018.
Older employees had a better WAI than their younger colleagues (P<0.001). The lowest prevalence rate 20% of excellent WAI was between 35 and 44 years of age. The reduction of WAI in Bosnia and Herzegovina was huge 68%, compared with 30% in Monte Negro (more than 2 times) and 14% in Spain (almost 5 times more).
Gender and age was not protector and predictor of excellent or reduced work ability. Work ability did not decrease with age among women and men, public sector employees. Work ability depends of health and safety, promotion and preventive activities at the workplace.
Frosty pod rot disease of cacao (FPR), caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri, has severely impacted the production of cocoa in Latin America since its discovery. Prior to the 1950s, FPR was ...known only from Colombia and Ecuador. However, beginning in the 1970s, its geographical range has dramatically expanded throughout most of the cacao‐producing regions of the Americas. The origin of the pathogen remains unknown. In this study, we evaluated the genetic diversity of M. roreri from areas spanning, as much as possible, its current geographical range using simple‐sequence repeat markers and a publicly available single‐nucleotide polymorphism data set. Two hotspots of genetic diversity were found: coastal Ecuador and the inter‐Andean Magdalena Valley of Colombia, neither of which correspond to the Amazonian origin of the host. However, both areas were early centres of intense cultivation of cacao. Our results indicate that M. roreri was introduced into both areas from its centre of origin, where intensive cacao cultivation probably led to the increase of inoculum and further dissemination of the disease. Current invasions can be traced to two genotypes responsible for all known instances of the pathogen in Central America, the Caribbean, Peru and Bolivia. We also report for the first time M. roreri in Maynas (Peruvian Amazon), which is probably the result of a recent introduction from Colombia.
The highest genetic diversity of the cacao pathogen Moniliophthora roreri is in Ecuador and Colombia, while it drastically decreased in recently invaded countries
Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. Presence-only SDMs such as MaxEnt frequently use natural history collections (NHCs) as occurrence data, given their ...huge numbers and accessibility. NHCs are often spatially biased which may generate inaccuracies in SDMs. Here, we test how the distribution of NHCs and MaxEnt predictions relates to a spatial abundance model, based on a large plot dataset for Amazonian tree species, using inverse distance weighting (IDW). We also propose a new pipeline to deal with inconsistencies in NHCs and to limit the area of occupancy of the species. We found a significant but weak positive relationship between the distribution of NHCs and IDW for 66% of the species. The relationship between SDMs and IDW was also significant but weakly positive for 95% of the species, and sensitivity for both analyses was high. Furthermore, the pipeline removed half of the NHCs records. Presence-only SDM applications should consider this limitation, especially for large biodiversity assessments projects, when they are automatically generated without subsequent checking. Our pipeline provides a conservative estimate of a species' area of occupancy, within an area slightly larger than its extent of occurrence, compatible to e.g. IUCN red list assessments.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disproportionately affects lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The factors influencing outcomes in LMIC have not been examined as rigorously as in higher-income ...countries.
This study was conducted to examine clinical and demographic factors influencing TBI outcomes in Latin American LMIC. Data were prospectively collected during a randomized trial of intracranial pressure monitoring in severe TBI and a companion observational study. Participants were aged ≥13 years and admitted to study hospitals with Glasgow Coma Scale score ≤8. The primary outcome was Glasgow Outcome Scale, Extended (GOS-E) score at 6 months. Predictors were analyzed using a multivariable proportional odds model created by forward stepwise selection.
A total of 550 patients were identified. Six-month outcomes were available for 88%, of whom 37% had died and 44% had achieved a GOS-E score of 5–8. In multivariable proportional odds modeling, higher Glasgow Coma Scale motor score (odds ratio OR, 1.41 per point; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.23–1.61) and epidural hematoma (OR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.17–2.86) were significant predictors of higher GOS-E score, whereas advanced age (OR, 0.65 per 10 years; 95% CI, 0.57–0.73) and cisternal effacement (P < 0.001) were associated with lower GOS-E score. Study site (P < 0.001) and race (P = 0.004) significantly predicted outcome, outweighing clinical variables such as hypotension and pupillary examination.
Mortality from severe TBI is high in Latin American LMIC, although the rate of favorable recovery is similar to that of high-income countries. Demographic factors such as race and study site played an outsized role in predicting outcome; further research is required to understand these associations.
In continuation of our previous research we carried out the karyological investigation of 53 populations of four Aegilops species (A. geniculata, A. triuncialis, A. ventricosa, and A. neglecta) ...sampled in different eco-geographical habitats in Algeria. The genetic variability of the chromosomal DNA loci of the same collection of Aegilops is highlighted by the Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization technique (FISH) using three probes: 5S rDNA, 45S rDNA, and repetitive DNA (pSc119.2). We found that the two rDNA loci (5S and 45S) hybridized with some chromosomes and showed a large genetic polymorphism within and between the four Aegilops species, while the repetitive DNA sequences (pSc119.2) hybridized with all chromosomes and differentiated the populations of the mountains with a humid bioclimate from the populations of the steppe regions with an arid bioclimate. However, the transposition of the physical maps of the studied loci (5S rDNA, 45S rDNA, and pSc119.2) with those of other collections revealed the existence of new loci in Aegilops from Algeria.
Amazonia's floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and ...how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions they underpin. Here we address this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region's floodplain forests. We show that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within the fluvial network and contingent on the most extraordinary flood magnitudes regionally. Our results provide a spatially explicit view of ecological specialization of floodplain forest communities and expose the need for whole-basin hydrological integrity to protect the Amazon's tree diversity and its function.
PDF
