Monitoring forest cover and land use change in the Congo Basin under IPCC climate change scenarios.

The Congo Basin tropical forests are home to many endemic and endangered species, and a global hotspot for forest fragmentation and loss. Yet, little has been done to document the region's rapid deforestation, assess its effects and consequences, or project future forest cover loss to aid in effective planning. Here we applied the Random Forest (RF) supervised classification algorithm in Google Earth Engine (GEE) to map and quantify decadal changes in forest cover and land use (LCLU) in the Congo Basin between 1990 and 2020.

Noradrenergic regulation of cue-guided decision making and impulsivity is doubly dissociable across frontal brain regions.

Rationale: Win-paired stimuli can promote risk taking in experimental gambling paradigms in both rats and humans. We previously demonstrated that atomoxetine, a noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, and guanfacine, a selective α2A adrenergic receptor agonist, reduced risk taking on the cued rat gambling task (crGT), a rodent assay of risky choice in which wins are accompanied by salient cues. Both compounds also decreased impulsive premature responding.

Predator-driven behavioural shifts in a common lizard shape resource-flow from marine to terrestrial ecosystems.

Foraging decisions shape the structure of food webs. Therefore, a behavioural shift in a single species can potentially modify resource-flow dynamics of entire ecosystems. To examine this, we conducted a field experiment to assess foraging niche dynamics of semi-arboreal brown anole lizards in the presence/absence of predatory ground-dwelling curly-tailed lizards in a replicated set of island ecosystems.

Dimensions of beliefs without strong supporting evidence and reasons for holding them.

Beliefs without strong supporting evidence (BWSSE) are commonplace, such as religious beliefs and conspiracy theories. The goals of the current study were to identify dimensions of BWSSE in the general public and study how reasons for holding each dimension depend on the strength of the belief. Participants completed a BWSSE questionnaire online, and principal component analysis suggested that the questionnaire captured 6 dimensions of beliefs that range in strength: New Age Spiritual, Traditional Spiritual, Nonconformist, Science, Mythical, and Conspiracy Theory.

Inferring Pathways of Oxidative Folding from Prefolding Free Energy Landscapes of Disulfide-Rich Toxins.

Short, cysteine-rich peptides can exist in stable or metastable structural ensembles due to the number of possible patterns of formation of their disulfide bonds. One interesting subset of this peptide group is the conotoxins, which are produced by aquatic snails in the family . The μ conotoxins, which are antagonists and blockers of the voltage-gated sodium channel, exist in a folding spectrum: on one end of the spectrum are more hirudin-like folders, which form disulfide bonds and then reshuffle them, leading to an ensemble of kinetically trapped isomers, and on the other end are more BPTI-like folders, which form the native disulfide bonds one by one in a particular order, leading to a preponderance of conformations existing in a single stable state.

Quantitative estimates of glacial refugia for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) since the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP).

Paleoclimate reconstructions have enhanced our understanding of how past climates have shaped present-day biodiversity. We hypothesize that the geographic extent of Pleistocene forest refugia and suitable habitat fluctuated significantly in time during the late Quaternary for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Using bioclimatic variables representing monthly temperature and precipitation estimates, past human population density data, and an extensive database of georeferenced presence points, we built a model of changing habitat suitability for chimpanzees at fine spatio-temporal scales dating back to the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP).

Structure of Chimpanzee Gut Microbiomes across Tropical Africa.

Understanding variation in host-associated microbial communities is important given the relevance of microbiomes to host physiology and health. Using 560 fecal samples collected from wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) across their range, we assessed how geography, genetics, climate, vegetation, and diet relate to gut microbial community structure (prokaryotes, eukaryotic parasites) at multiple spatial scales. We observed a high degree of regional specificity in the microbiome composition, which was associated with host genetics, available plant foods, and potentially with cultural differences in tool use, which affect diet.

Mapping suitable great ape habitat in and around the Lobéké National Park, South-East Cameroon.

As a result of extensive data collection efforts over the last 20-30 years, there is quite a good understanding of the large-scale geographic distribution and range limits of African great apes. However, as human activities increasingly fragment great ape spatial distribution, a better understanding of what constitutes suitable great ape habitat is needed to inform conservation and resource extraction management. Chimpanzees () and gorillas () inhabit the Lobéké National Park and its surrounding forest management units (FMUs) in South-East Cameroon.

Wheelchair service provision education for healthcare professional students, healthcare personnel and educators across low- to high-resourced settings: a scoping review protocol.

Purpose: Appropriate wheelchair provision is necessary for addressing participation barriers experienced by individuals with mobility impairments. Health care professionals involved in the wheelchair service provision process require a specific set of skills and knowledge to enable wheelchair use that meets individual posture, mobility and daily living requirements. However, inconsistencies exist in academic programmes globally about providing comprehensive education and training programmes.

A niche perspective on the range expansion of symbionts.

Range expansion results from complex eco-evolutionary processes where range dynamics and niche shifts interact in a novel physical space and/or environment, with scale playing a major role. Obligate symbionts (i.e.

Network-wide reorganization of procedural memory during NREM sleep revealed by fMRI.

Sleep is necessary for the optimal consolidation of newly acquired procedural memories. However, the mechanisms by which motor memory traces develop during sleep remain controversial in humans, as this process has been mainly investigated indirectly by comparing pre- and post-sleep conditions. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography during sleep following motor sequence learning to investigate how newly-formed memory traces evolve dynamically over time.

Body image emotions, perceptions, and cognitions distinguish physically active and inactive smokers.

Objectives: To determine if body image emotions (body-related shame and guilt, weight-related stress), perceptions (self-perceived overweight), or cognitions (trying to change weight) differ between adolescents characterized by smoking and physical activity (PA) behavior.

Methods: Data for this cross-sectional analysis were collected in 2010-11 and were available for 1017 participants (mean (SD) age = 16.8 (0.

Prazosin for treating sleep disturbances in adults with posttraumatic stress disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder with significant sleep morbidity and limited treatment options. Prazosin may constitute a novel management approach and has been tested recently in a number of trials. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the effectiveness of prazosin for nightmares and other sleep disturbances in adults with PTSD.

Thermodynamic analysis and optimization of a high temperature triple absorption heat transformer.

First law of thermodynamics has been used to analyze and optimize inclusively the performance of a triple absorption heat transformer operating with LiBr/H2O as the working pair. A thermodynamic model was developed in EES (engineering equation solver) to estimate the performance of the system in terms of the most essential parameters. The assumed parameters are the temperature of the main components, weak and strong solutions, economizers' efficiencies, and bypass ratios.

Quantification of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices in host tissue using real-time polymerase chain reaction.

•  A rapid method to quantify the colonization of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) Glomus intraradices in planta using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) technique. •  Specific PCR primers for the fungus (28S rDNA sequence) and host root tissue (chitinase and chalcone synthase gene) were developed and their respective specificity determined. •  The plant specific primers for Lycopersicon esculentum, Medicago truncatula amplified linearly over a concentration range of: 6.

When a Rose Is Just a Rose: The Illusion of Taxonomies in Infant Categorization.

The terms basic, superordinate, subordinate, and global are often used to describe the categories formed by infants. However, although infants' categories appear externally to match those formed by adults, it is not clear that they are grounded in an organized hierarchical system that embodies relations within and between domains; that is, a taxonomy. To assess whether it is appropriate to consider infants' categories as taxonomies, 3 criteria are examined: (a) similarity to adults' choice of category members, (b) hierarchical understanding, and (c) agreement with adults' bases for classification.