Minorities rely on social networks to publicize their issues A Survey of Minorities in Iraq (Nineveh as an example)

The research aims to identify the extent to which minorities depend on social networking sites to introduce their issues and to know the extent to which minorities follow these sites and to identify the most important sites they rely on and the extent of their trust in them and to know the effects resulting from their dependence on these sites after these sites have become one of the most important promotional means for what It is characterized by the ease of communication and creating a public space for discussion and formation of views. This research is a descriptive research that adopted the survey method. The research tools are observation, interview, and questionnaire that were used to collect data for the field study. The research sample is a simple random sample from the total community of minorities located within the geographical area of Nineveh Governorate. The research concluded with a set of results, most notably: the respondents’ reliance on social networking sites to get acquainted with the news of the sect to which they belong. Follow-up on social networking sites, and the search results showed the side of the terms closest to the respondent for the category (components) and then (minorities).

Temporal trends in intake category data for animal shelter and rescue organizations in Colorado from 2008 to 2018

OBJECTIVE To investigate trends in animal shelter and rescue organization intake for dogs and cats in Colorado from 2008 to 2018. SAMPLE 482 animal shelters and rescue organizations that reported annual intake data to the State of Colorado Department of Agriculture for 1,086,630 dogs and 702,333 cats. PROCEDURES Total intake, intake for each of 5 Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act categories (stray, owner surrender, intrastate transfer, interstate transfer, or other), and community-based intake (total intake after exclusion of transfers) of dogs and cats were assessed in total and for each organization type (shelter or rescue organization). The number taken in per year, number taken in/1,000 capita (human residents)/y, and number in each intake category as a percentage of total intake for the same species per year were analyzed with linear regression models. RESULTS Trend lines indicated that total dog intake increased over the study period, but there was no change when these data were adjusted for the human population. Cat intake decreased over time according to both of these measures. Total community-based intake decreased, whereas total intake by interstate transfer from other organizations increased for both species during the study period. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Increased transfer of dogs and cats across state lines into regions with low community-based shelter intake suggested that regional and national animal disease trends could potentially impact disease profiles for recipient areas. Findings supported efforts toward collecting animal shelter and rescue organization intake and outcome data across larger systems.

Microbial associations of shallow-water Mediterranean marine cave Solenogastres (Mollusca)

The first cave-dwelling Solenogastres—marine shell-less worm-like mollusks—were sampled from Mediterranean marine caves floor silt in the Marseille area. The mollusks were 1.5 mm in length, had a transparent body with shiny spicules and appear to represent a new Tegulaherpia species. Electron microscopy revealed a high number of microbial cells, located on the surface of the spicules as well as in the cuticle of Tegulaherpia sp. The observed microbial cells varied in morphology and were unequally distributed through the cuticle, reaching a highest density on the dorsal and lateral sides and being practically absent on the ventral side. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of V4 region of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, obtained from the DNA samples of whole bodies of Tegulaherpia sp. revealed three dominating microorganisms, two of which were bacteria of Bacteroidetes and Nitrospirae phyla, while the third one represented archaea of Thaumarchaeota phylum. The Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU), affiliated with Bacteroidetes was an uncultured bacteria of the family Saprospiraceae (93–95% of Bacteroidetes and 25–44% of the total community, depending on sample), OTU, affiliated with Nitrospirae belonged to the genus Nitrospira (8–30% of the community), while the thaumarchaeal OTU was classified as Candidatus Nitrosopumilus (11–15% of the community). Members of these three microbial taxa are known to form associations with various marine animals such as sponges or snails where they contribute to nitrogen metabolism or the decomposition of biopolymers. A similar role is assumed to be played by the microorganisms associated with Tegulaherpia sp.

Environmental Critical Aspects of The Conversion of Biomass to Biogas for Sustainable Energy in Indonesia

Renewable energy will become the foundation for meeting the world's energy needs in the future. However, Indonesia has not done much research on the development and application of technology for sustainable energy. Indonesia has potential energy sources. However, biomass conversion into other forms of energy, such as biogas, will hurt the environment. The development of biomass-based bioenergy is one of the best solution for meeting Indonesia's current and future energy needs. Biogas is biomass-based bioenergy, which is the potential for future energy sources. Minimizing the environment's degradation is a significant aspect of preparing the biomass to biogas conversion model. Furthermore, the production of biogas with automatic monitoring and control will minimize new waste formation. Indonesian government regulatory support and total community participation will increase converting biomass into biogas as renewable energy into electrical energy. The paper analyzes the environmental impact of biomass conversion into biogas and proposed an environmentally friendly conversion model.

Site and Bioenergy Cropping System Similarly Affect Distinct Live and Total Soil Microbial Communities

Bioenergy crops are a promising energy alternative to fossil fuels. During bioenergy feedstock production, crop inputs shape the composition of soil microbial communities, which in turn influences nutrient cycling and plant productivity. In addition to cropping inputs, site characteristics (e.g., soil texture, climate) influence bacterial and fungal communities. We explored the response of soil microorganisms to bioenergy cropping system (switchgrass vs. maize) and site (sandy loam vs. silty loam) within two long-term experimental research stations. The live and total microbial community membership was investigated using 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing of soil RNA and DNA. For both nucleic acid types, we expected fungi and prokaryotes to be differentially impacted by crop and site due their dissimilar life strategies. We also expected live communities to be more strongly affected by site and crop than the total communities due to a sensitivity to recent stimuli. Instead, we found that prokaryotic and fungal community composition was primarily driven by site with a secondary crop effect, highlighting the importance of soil texture and fertility in shaping both communities. Specific highly abundant prokaryotic and fungal taxa within live communities were indicative of site and cropping systems, providing insight into treatment-specific, agriculturally relevant microbial taxa that were obscured within total community profiles. Within live prokaryote communities, predatory Myxobacteria spp. were largely indicative of silty and switchgrass communities. Within live fungal communities, Glomeromycota spp. were solely indicative of switchgrass soils, while a few very abundant Mortierellomycota spp. were indicative of silty soils. Site and cropping system had distinct effects on the live and total communities reflecting selection forces of plant inputs and environmental conditions over time. Comparisons between RNA and DNA communities uncovered live members obscured within the total community as well as members of the relic DNA pool. The associations between live communities and relic DNA are a product of the intimate relationship between the ephemeral responses of the live community and the accumulation of DNA within necromass that contributes to soil organic matter, and in turn shapes soil microbial dynamics.

Microbiome-Gut-Brain-Axis Communication Influences Metabolic Switch in the Mosquito Anopheles Culicifacies

Periodic ingestion of a protein-rich blood meal by adult female mosquitoes causes a drastic metabolic change in their innate physiological status, which is referred to as ‘metabolic switch. Although the down-regulation of olfactory factors is key to restrain host-attraction, how the gut ‘metabolic switch’ modulates brain functions, and resilience physiological homeostasis remains unexplored. Here we demonstrate that the protein-rich diet induces the expression of brain transcripts related to mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, possibly to cause a shift of the brain’s engagement to manage organismal homeostasis. A dynamic expression pattern of neuro-signalling and neuro-modulatory genes in both gut and brain, establishes an active brain-distant organ communication. Disruption of this comunication through decapitation, does not affect the modulation of the neuro-modulator receptor genes in the gut. In parallel, an unusual and paramount shift in the level of the Neurotransmitters (NTs), from the brain to the gut after blood feeding, further supports the idea of the gut’s ability to serve as a ‘second brain’. Finally, a comparative metagenomics evaluation of gut microbiome population dynamics, highlighted that blood-feeding not only suppresses Enterobacteriaceae family member by 50%, but favors rapid proliferation of Pseudomonadales to 46% of the total community. Notable obesrvation of a rapid proliferation of Pseudomonas bacterial sp. in the gut correlates a possible cause for the suppression of appetite after blood-feeding. Additionally, an altered NTs dynamics of naïve and aseptic mosquitoes provide the initial evidence that gut-endosymbionts are key modulators for the synthesis of major neuroactive molecules. Conclusion: Our data establish a new conceptual understanding of microbiome-gut-brain-axis communication in mosquitoes.Data deposition: Mosquito Brain RNAseq data are accessible under Accession IDs: SRR9853884 (Ac-Br-SF); SRR9853885 (Ac-Br-BF-30Min), SRR9853883 (Ac-Br-BF-30hrs) at NCBI repository. Mosquito Gut metagenomics data are accessible under accession IDs: SRR12579422 (Ac-MG-SF); SRR12622557 (Ac-MG-BF) at NCBI repository.

Spatiotemporal variability of abundance size-spectra in streams across North America

Accepted version of this manuscript can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15862 The distribution of abundance and biomass within ecological communities is related to trophic transfer efficiency from prey to predators. While it is considered to be one of the few consistent patterns in ecology, spatiotemporal variation of this relationship across continental-scale environmental gradients is unknown. Using a database of stream communities collected across North America (18-68° N latitude, -4 to 25°C mean annual temperature) over 3 years, we constructed 162 mass-abundance relationships (i.e. size spectra). Size-spectra slopes declined (became steeper) with increasing temperature. However, the magnitude of change was relatively small, with median slopes changing from -1.2 to -1.3 across a 29°C range in mean annual temperature. In contrast, total community biomass increased 3-fold over the temperature gradient. Our study suggests strong conservation of abundance size-spectra in streams across broad natural environmental gradients. This supports the emerging use of size-spectra deviations as indicators of ecosystem health.

Species relationships in the extremes and their influence on community stability

Synchrony among population fluctuations of multiple coexisting species has a major impact on community stability, i.e. on the relative temporal constancy of aggregate properties such as total community biomass. However, synchrony and its impacts are usually measured using covariance methods, which do not account for whether species abundances may be more correlated when species are relatively common than when they are scarce, or vice versa. Recent work showed that species commonly exhibit such ‘asymmetric tail associations’. We here consider the influence of asymmetric tail associations on community stability. We develop a ‘skewness ratio’ which quantifies how much species relationships and tail associations modify stability. The skewness ratio complements the classic variance ratio and related metrics. Using multi-decadal grassland datasets, we show that accounting for tail associations gives new viewpoints on synchrony and stability; e.g. species associations can alter community stability differentially for community crashes or explosions to high values, a fact not previously detectable. Species associations can mitigate explosions of community abundance to high values, increasing one aspect of stability, while simultaneously exacerbating crashes to low values, decreasing another aspect of stability; or vice versa. Our work initiates a new, more flexible paradigm for exploring species relationships and community stability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.

Responses of phytoplankton benthic propagules to macronutrient enrichment and varying light intensities: elucidation from monsoonal estuaries

The ecological importance of phytoplankton-benthic-propagules (PBP) from coastal sediments, except tropical-monsoonal-estuaries/coast, is well documented. Monsoonal estuaries recieves a high amount of benthic suspension (sediments, other detritus, PBP, and nutrients) due to high river-discharge during monsoon, bringing drastic changes in the environment (affecting water transparency, macronutrients concentration, and salinity), which in turn influence the plankton and phytoplankton per se. This study elucidates PBP germination and subsequent growth representing downstream, midstream, and upstream locations of monsoon-influenced Mandovi-Zuari riverine systems (Goa, India), to macronutrients (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and in-combination) and light-intensities at higher salinity. Since, PBP, after introduction to estuary, experience higher salinity conditions with reduced river-discharge salinity of ~35 PSU was selected. Diatoms dominated the viable PBP community, but the maximum growth and sustained photosynthetic activity were observed when macronutrients were supplied in combination then individual supply. Here, the utility of the variable fluorescence technique in PBP resurrection (detection of viability and responses) was also explored. The PBP lag-period was similar for macronutrients but decreased with an increase in light-intensity. For PBP (germination and photosynthetic activity), light-intensities drive the rate of improvement/development, whereas the nutrients are essential for maintaining vegetative population upon germination. The PBP dominance of common planktonic species (Skeletonema and Thalassiosira) along the river also signifies the role of seawater intrusion in distribution. Both species are light-sensitive, responded similarly, and known to cause single species blooms and contributed significantly to the total community in the region, but on different occasions depending on the species tolerance to salinity.

Community drivers of tuberculosis diagnostic delay in Kampala, Uganda: a retrospective cohort study

Background Recent approaches to TB control have focused on identifying and treating active cases to halt further transmission. Patients with TB symptoms often delay to seek care, get appropriate diagnosis, and initiate effective treatment. These delays are partly influenced by whom the patients contact within their community network. We aimed to evaluate the community drivers of diagnostic delay in an urban setting in Uganda. Methods In this study we analyze data from a retrospective cohort of 194 TB patients in Kampala, Uganda. We characterized the patterns of contacts made by patients seeking care for TB symptoms. The main outcome of interest was total community contact delay, defined as the time patients spent seeking care before visiting a provider capable of diagnosing TB. Results Visits to health providers without access to appropriate diagnostic services accounted for 56% of contacts made by cohort members, and were significantly associated with community contact delay, as were symptoms common to other prevalent illnesses, such as bone and joint pain. Conclusions Education programs aimed at primary care providers, as well as other community members, may benefit case identification, by informing them of rarer symptoms of TB, potential for co-infections of TB and other prevalent diseases, and the availability of diagnostic services.