Conspecific cues mediate habitat selection and reproductive performance in a haplodiploid spider mite.

Selection of a suitable habitat by animals before settlement is critical for their survival and reproduction. In silk-spinning arthropods like spider mites, denser webs offer protection from predation and serve as a dispersal mode. Settling in habitats with the presence of conspecifics and silk webs can benefit the habitat-searching females.

Measuring Indigenous food security-A case for Indigenous designed tools.

Food insecurity disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples, leading to significant health disparities. Indigenous peoples globally share a deep and interconnected relationship to their lands, waterways and seas that ensures optimum health, and cultural, spiritual, social and emotional wellbeing. However, food security definitions and assessment frameworks in research and policy predominantly stem from capitalist and colonial food system values.

Heat Treatment of Bovine Milk Influences Gastric Emptying of Lactose but not its Apparent Small Intestinal Disappearance in the Growing Pig as a Model for the Adult Human.

Background: Heat treatment influences gastric emptying of proteins and lipids in bovine milk. Whether heat treatment influences lactose gastric emptying and small intestinal lactose disappearance remains unknown.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the gastric emptying of lactose and its disappearance from the small intestine of the growing pig as a model for the adult human.

Heritability estimates and genetic and phenotypic correlations of skin thickness and skin temperature with key production traits in FocusPrime, Texel, Romney and Highlander sheep.

Skin thickness was found to be moderately heritable and genetically associated with lamb survival in a previous study on Romney sheep. The aims of this study were to estimate the heritabilities of skin thickness and skin temperature at around five and 11 months of age, and determine genetic and phenotypic correlations between them and with production traits such as fat depth, loin-eye muscle depth and width, live weights at weaning, scanning, and 12 months, and 12-month fleece weight, in FocusPrime (n=2,088), Texel (n=732), Romney (n=825) and Highlander (n=1,801) sheep breeds. Heritability estimates of skin thickness at 5-month old were moderate in FocusPrime (0.

Invasive Plants' Root Extracts Display Stronger Allelopathic Activity on the Germination and Seedling Growth of a New Zealand Native Species than Extracts of Another Native Plant or Conspecifics.

The release of allelochemicals is one of the contributing factors to the success of invasive plants in their non-native ranges. It has been hypothesised that the impact of chemicals released by a plant on its neighbours is shaped by shared coevolutionary history, making natives more susceptible to "new" chemicals released by introduced plant species (novel weapons hypothesis). We explored this hypothesis in a New Zealand system where the two invasive plants of European origin, Cytisus scoparius (Scotch broom) and Calluna vulgaris (heather) cooccur with natives like Chionochloa rubra (red tussock) and Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka).

Sustainable management of potato tuber moth in storages using entomopathogenic fungi and an ectoparasitic mite.

Background: The potato tuber moth (PTM), Phthorimaea operculella, is an economically important pest of potato crops worldwide. So far, the application of chemical pesticides is the major measure to manage PTM, but it induces serious deleterious impacts on the environment and human health. Here, we screened the entomopathogenic fungi that are lethal to PTM, and tested their sublethal impacts on PTM development, mortality, and reproduction as well as that of ectoparasitic mite Pyemotes zhonghuajia, a natural enemy of PTM.

Achieving High Protein Quality Is a Challenge in Vegan Diets: A Narrative Review.

The transition toward plant-based (PB) diets has gained attention as a plausible step toward achieving sustainable and healthy dietary goals. However, the complete elimination of all animal-sourced foods from the diet (ie, a vegan diet) may have nutritional ramifications that warrant close examination. Two such concerns are the adequacy and bioavailability of amino acids (AAs) from plant-sourced foods and the consequences for older vegan populations who have elevated AA requirements.

Enhancing Veterinary Education in Cambodia: Evaluation of Web-Based Resources in Teaching Herd Health and Epidemiology.

It can be challenging for veterinary schools in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to teach the 11 Competencies identified by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) due to inadequate faculty and teaching resources. This paper discusses the evaluation of web-based educational resources to support teaching in the Veterinary Faculty at the Royal University of Agriculture in Cambodia. Content- and pedagogy-based materials addressing herd health and epidemiology/disease investigation, their most urgent needs, were developed via a collaboration between Iowa State University, Ohio State University, and Massey University (New Zealand).

Determining health professional students' self-perceived cultural capability following participation in clinical placement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: A systematic review.

Background: Collective evaluation of studies assessing students' self-perceived cultural capability following clinical placement is required to help inform future cultural capability training for both university and healthcare service environments. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to evaluate studies investigating health professional students' self-perceived cultural capability following participation in a clinical placement with First Nations Peoples.

Methods: Electronic database searchers were conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, PsychINFO, Pubmed, CINAHL and Informit.

Multi-regional control of amygdalar dynamics reliably reflects fear memory age.

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is crucial for the encoding and expression of fear memory, yet it remains unexplored how neural activity in this region is dynamically influenced by distributed circuits across the brain to facilitate expression of fear memory of different ages. Using longitudinal multisite electrophysiological recordings in male mice, we find that the recall of older contextual fear memory is accompanied by weaker, yet more rhythmic, BLA gamma activity which is distally entrained by theta oscillations in both the hippocampal CA1 and the anterior cingulate cortex. Computational modeling with Light Gradient Boosting Machine using extracted oscillatory features from these three regions, as well as with Transformer using raw local field potentials, accurately classified remote from recent memory recall primarily based on BLA gamma and CA1 theta.

Out of (the) bag-encoding categorical predictors impacts out-of-bag samples.

Performance of random forest classification models is often assessed and interpreted using out-of-bag (OOB) samples. Observations which are OOB when a tree is trained may serve as a test set for that tree and predictions from the OOB observations used to calculate OOB error and variable importance measures (VIM). OOB errors are popular because they are fast to compute and, for large samples, are a good estimate of the true prediction error.

Teff (Eragrostis tef) phytochemicals: Isolation, identification, and assessment of allelopathic and antimicrobial potential for pollution control and environmental sustainability.

Setaria pumila (SP) and latuca sativa are the prominent teff (Eragrostis tef) weeds negatively impacting yield. The allelopathic (weed-suppressing) effects of ten teff varieties were examined for plant growth inhibitory effects, as well as for antagonism against certain major plant infections caused by bacteria and their subsequent antioxidant properties. The in vitro germination and antimicrobial assays were carried out in controlled laboratory settings.

Two new genera of tokoriro (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Macropathinae) from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Two new genera and three new species of forest inhabiting Macropathinae (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) are described from Aotearoa New Zealand. Crux Trewick gen. nov.

Potential Harm in the Psychological Treatment of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals show disproportionately high rates of mental distress relative to their cisgender, heterosexual peers resulting from minority stress, or unique identity-related stressors. The majority of research on minority stress and mental health in SGM individuals has focused on adults, a notable gap given that SGM youth face unique developmental factors that intersect with identity development and availability of support resources. SGM youth therefore represent a critical population for the mental health workforce to serve competently.

Integumentary and musculoskeletal indications for surgery predominate in a 15-year study of search-and-rescue dogs.

Objective: Analyze data from a 15-year longitudinal study of search-and-rescue (SAR) dogs to determine the indications for surgery and evaluate whether the risk varied by breed, sex, neutering, or deployment status during 9/11.

Methods: 150 SAR dogs: 95 dogs deployed to sites from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and 55 SAR dogs not deployed to these sites. Search-and-rescue dog handlers completed an annual health survey until the dog's death, or the handler withdrew from the study.

Depression and anxiety at 1- and 12-months post ischemic stroke: methods for examining individual change over time.

Background Depression is commonly studied post stroke, while anxiety is less studied. This study presents prevalence of depression and anxiety at 1- and 12-months post ischemic stroke alongside three methods for examining within-subjects change over time. Methods Participants were ischemic stroke patients of the Auckland Regional Community Stroke Study (ARCOS-V) with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale data at 1- (n =343) and 12-months (n =307).

Emulsifying properties of quinoa protein fibrillar aggregates and their influence on quinoa protein emulsion gel formation.

Fibrillization is a potential approach to improving functionality of seed storage proteins. Herein, the solubility, morphology, wettability, interfacial adsorption and emulsifying properties of quinoa protein fibrillar aggregates were compared with those of quinoa protein isolate (QPI). Effect of fibrillar aggregates on the formation of heat-induced QPI emulsion gels was investigated in the presence 0 or 100 mM NaCl.