The perceptual effects of signal components: black sword margins are crucial for signal size discrimination in green swordtails .

The signals that mediate mate choice can be complex, comprising multiple components, and understanding how complex signals evolve under sexual selection has been the focus of much study. However, open questions still remain about the role of the female's sensory and perceptual processes in shaping the evolution of complex signals. Male green swordtails have an elongated caudal fin that comprises colour, length and a black melanic margin; females prefer males with larger bodies, longer swords and complete black sword margins.

Concomitant motor responses facilitate the acquisition of multiple prior distributions in human coincidence timing.

The brain optimizes timing behaviour by acquiring a prior distribution of target timing and integrating it with sensory inputs. Real events have distinct temporal statistics (e.g.

Estimation of end-of-outbreak probabilities in the presence of delayed and incomplete case reporting.

Towards the end of an infectious disease outbreak, when a period has elapsed without new case notifications, a key question for public health policymakers is whether the outbreak can be declared over. This requires the benefits of a declaration (e.g.

Geographic differences in the phenology of gonadal development and moult, but not of egg laying, are genetically based in a small songbird.

To forecast how fast populations can adapt to climate change, it is essential to determine the evolutionary potential of different life-cycle stages under selection. In birds, timing of gonadal development and moult are primarily regulated by photoperiod, while laying date is highly phenotypically plastic to temperature. We tested whether geographic variation in phenology of these life-cycle events between populations of great tits () has a genetic basis, indicating that contemporary genetic adaptation is possible.

Sexual selection matters in genetic rescue, but productivity benefits fade over time: a multi-generation experiment to inform conservation.

Globally, many species are threatened by population decline because of anthropogenic changes leading to population fragmentation, genetic isolation and inbreeding depression. Genetic rescue, the controlled introduction of genetic variation, is a method used to relieve such effects in small populations. However, without understanding how the characteristics of rescuers impact rescue attempts interventions run the risk of being sub-optimal, or even counterproductive.

The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution.

Publishing preprints is quickly becoming commonplace in ecology and evolutionary biology. Preprints can facilitate the rapid sharing of scientific knowledge establishing precedence and enabling feedback from the research community before peer review. Yet, significant barriers to preprint use exist, including language barriers, a lack of understanding about the benefits of preprints and a lack of diversity in the types of research outputs accepted (e.

Social learning preserves both useful and useless theories by canalizing learners' exploration.

In many domains, learning from others is crucial for leveraging cumulative cultural knowledge, which encapsulates the efforts of successive generations of innovators. However, anecdotal and experimental evidence suggests that reliance on social information can reduce the exploration of the problem space. Here, we experimentally investigate the extent to which cultural transmission fosters the persistence of arbitrary solutions in a context where participants are incentivized to improve a physical system across multiple trials.

Preferences of nurses in the United Kingdom for attributes of pediatric hexavalent vaccines: a discrete-choice experiment.

Background: We evaluated UK nurses' preferences for pediatric hexavalent vaccine attributes.

Research Design And Methods: In a discrete-choice experiment study, 150 nurses chose between 2 hypothetical pediatric hexavalent vaccines with varying attribute levels (device type, plastic in packaging, time on the market, and time the vaccine can stay safely at room temperature) in a series of choice questions. Using random-parameters logit-model estimates, conditional relative attribute importance (CRAI) and odds ratios (ORs) were calculated.

Top-Down Strategy Enabling Elastic Wood Nanocarbon Sponges with Wrinkled Multilayer Structure and High Compressive Strength for High-Performance Compressible Supercapacitors.

3D porous carbon electrodes have attracted significant attention for advancing compressible supercapacitors (SCs) in flexible electronics. The micro- and nanoscale architecture critically influences the mechanical and electrochemical performance of these electrodes. However, achieving a balance between high compressive strength, electrochemical stability, and cost-effective sustainable production remains challenging.

Nonlinear Harmonics: A Gateway to Enhanced Image Contrast and Material Discrimination.

Recent advancements in atomic force microscopy (AFM) have enabled detailed exploration of materials at the molecular and atomic levels. These developments, however, pose a challenge: the data generated by microscopic and spectroscopic experiments are increasing rapidly in both size and complexity. Extracting meaningful physical insights from these datasets is challenging, particularly for multilayer heterogeneous nanoscale structures.

Dynamic regulation of ferroelectric polarization using external stimuli for efficient water splitting and beyond.

Establishing and regulating the ferroelectric polarization in ferroelectric nano-scale catalysts has been recognized as an emerging strategy to advance water splitting reactions, with the merits of improved surface charge density, high charge transfer rate, increased electronic conductivity, the creation of real active sites, and optimizing the chemisorption energy. As a result, engineering and tailoring the ferroelectric polarization induced internal electric field provides significant opportunities to improve the surface and electronic characteristics of catalysts, thereby enhancing the water splitting reaction kinetics. In this review, an interdisciplinary and comprehensive summary of recent advancements in the construction, characterization, engineering and regulation of the polarization in ferroelectric-based catalysts for water splitting is provided, by exploiting a variety of external stimuli.

Paton Prize Lecture Winner 2024: Gordon Holmes and the Irish spirit of adventure: Lessons for modern thinkers.

This lecture is given in honour of Sir William Paton (1917-1993), physiologist, pharmacologist and Fellow of the Royal Society. His passion for the history of medicine led to generous donations to the Society, who consequently founded the Paton Prize Fund for historical research. After his death, this eponymous Prize Lecture was debuted in 1994.

Increased sodium consumption is associated with psoriasis: A population-based cohort study.

Background: Sodium is stored in skin and may trigger or perpetuate autoimmune diseases including psoriasis. One previous study found skin sodium was elevated in a small group of patients with severe psoriasis compared to healthy controls, but the relationship between sodium intake and psoriasis within a population has not been investigated.

Objectives: To identify whether dietary sodium intake is associated with psoriasis and whether there are subgroups of individuals more likely to have salt-sensitive psoriasis.

Exploring Dietitians' Experience of Blended Tube Feed in Paediatric Inpatient Settings: National Cross-Sectional Survey, United Kingdom.

Background: Enteral tube feeding is used for children who are unable to meet their nutritional requirements orally. Gastrointestinal symptoms are some complications that can occur in enteral tube-fed patients. Blended tube feeds (BTFs) for children who are gastrotomy tube-fed have significantly increased in the last decade.

Curative Parathyroidectomy in Primary Hyperparathyroidism Improves Both Systolic and Diastolic Cardiac Dysfunction: A Six-Month Follow-Up Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Background: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is associated with hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, and myocardial and valvular calcifications, leading to increased mortality rates. While the association between PHPT and diastolic dysfunction has been well-documented, data on systolic dysfunction and its reversal after curative parathyroidectomy (PTX) remains limited.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of PTX on cardiovascular parameters, especially systolic dysfunction, in PHPT patients using conventional and speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE).

Adverse Cardiovascular Risk Profile and Increased Diurnal Salivary Cortisol in Girls With Turner Syndrome: An Exploratory Study.

Patients with Turner Syndrome (TS) and those exposed to high concentrations of glucocorticoids have a number of characteristics in common, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Pediatric TS patients underwent studies of salivary cortisol (SC) and cortisone (SCn), body composition, continuous glucose monitoring, vascular function, and ambulatory blood pressure (BP). Biochemical indicators of cardiovascular risk were also measured.

Proximal humerus fracture dislocations: outcomes of management.

Purpose: Proximal humerus fracture dislocations are amongst the most severe proximal humerus injuries, presenting a challenging management problem. The aim of this study was to report on long-term outcomes of management of proximal humerus fracture dislocations.

Methods: Patients with a proximal humerus fracture dislocation managed at a Level 1 trauma centre from January 2010 to December 2018 were included.

Rapid, Accurate and Reproducible Prediction of the Glass Transition Temperature Using Ensemble-Based Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

For the computational design of new polymeric materials, accurate methods for determining the glass transition temperature () are required. We apply an ensemble approach in molecular dynamics (MD) and examine its predictions of and their associated uncertainty. We separate the uncertainty into the aleatoric contributions arising from dynamical chaos and that due to the computational scenarios chosen to compute .

Perceptions and Attitudes of People With Cancer and Diabetes Towards Patient Guidelines: A Mixed Methods Study.

Objective: To explore patients' perceptions and attitudes towards patient guidelines (PGs) and to identify specific factors related to PG content, design, presentation, and management that may influence patients' use or adoption of PGs.

Methods: An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Initial semi-structured interviews were conducted with a diverse group of individuals, including people with diabetes or oncology, and clinicians.

School Attendance Among Autistic Students in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A Population Cross-Sectional Study Using the Integrated Data Infrastructure.

Background: Extant literature indicates autistic students have lower school attendance compared to the general population. However, there remains considerable heterogeneity between studies, a lack of large population-based studies beyond the UK and US, and insufficient consideration of age and sex differences in attendance rates. The aim of this study was to examine school attendance among autistic compared with non-autistic students including stratification by age and sex.

Lignin-Based Mucus-Mimicking Antiviral Hydrogels with Enzyme Stability and Tunable Porosity.

Mucus is a complex hydrogel that acts as a defensive and protective barrier in various parts of the human body. The rise in the level of viral infections has underscored the importance of advancing research into mucus-mimicking hydrogels for the efficient design of antiviral agents. Herein, we demonstrate the gram-scale synthesis of biocompatible, lignin-based virus-binding inhibitors that reduce waste and ensure long-term availability.

The Impact of Motivation on Sustained Attention in Very Preterm and Term-born Children: An ERP Study.

Objective: To compare the effect of motivational features on sustained attention in children born very preterm and at term.

Method: EEG was recorded while 34 8-to-11-year-old children born very preterm and 34 term-born peers completed two variants of a cued continuous performance task (CPT-AX); a standard CPT-AX with basic shape stimuli, and structurally similar variant, with a storyline, familiar characters, and feedback.

Results: Higher hit rates, quicker response times and larger event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes were observed during the motivating, compared with the standard, task.

Assessment of Commercial Baby Food Quality and Promotion in Malaysia for Policy Development.

Nutritional quality of food for infants and young children (FIYC) is key to optimum development and health. To evaluate commercial FIYC products, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO-EURO) has defined a Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model (NPPM). Although FIYC is commonly used in Malaysia, its quality is largely unknown.

Pharmacokinetics of Depemokimab Delivered by Safety Syringe Device or Autoinjector in Healthy Adults: A Phase I, Single-Dose Study.

This Phase I, randomized, multicenter, open-label, parallel-group, single-dose study assessed the relative bioavailability of the anti-interleukin-5 antibody depemokimab (100 mg) when administered subcutaneously via either a safety syringe device (SSD) or an autoinjector (AI). Healthy adult participants were randomized I:I to SSD or AI treatment arms and I:I:I to the injection site (upper arm, abdomen, or thigh). Participants were followed up for 30 weeks; blood samples were collected for pharmacokinetic (PK) assessment before dosing on Day 1 and up to Week 26.

"Am I in 'Suboptimal Health'?": The Narratives and Rhetoric in Carving out the Grey Area Between Health and Illness in Everyday Life.

This paper examines the concept of 'suboptimal health' (subhealth, ), a term popularised by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) professionals and widely used in public health discourses in China at the turn of the century. Despite criticisms of it being a commercial buzzword, subhealth provides a unique lens for individuals to articulate their health experiences concerning work and life pressures. Through virtual ethnography on Chinese social media such as Weibo and interviews, this study explores the usage and implications of subhealth in everyday life.