Explore the vast range of titles available.

Often, factors that determine the risk of an environmental hazard occur at landscape scales, and risk mitigation requires action by multiple private property owners. How property owners respond to risk mitigation on neighboring lands depends on whether mitigation actions are strategic complements or strategic substitutes. We test for these neighbor interactions with a case study on wildfire risk mitigation on private properties. We use two measures of wildfire risk mitigation—an assessment by a wildfire professional and a self-assessment by homeowners. Taken together, the two assessments provide the first empirical explanation for strategic complements in wildfire risk mitigation and a more complete picture of how homeowners respond to this landscape-scale risk. We find homeowners that mitigate risk on their land are more likely to have neighbors that do the same, and homeowners that fail to mitigate risk are more likely to have neighbors that fail to do so as well. Due to spatial spillovers, motivating a few key residents to take action could reduce risk across the landscape.

Wildland–urban interface (WUI) homeowners who do not mitigate the wildfire risk on their properties impose a negative externality on society. To reduce the social costs of wildfire and incentivise homeowners to take action, cost sharing programs seek to reduce the barriers that impede wildfire risk mitigation. Using survey data from a WUI community in western Colorado and a two-stage decision framework, we examine residents’ willingness to participate in a cost sharing program for removing vegetation on their properties and the amount they are willing to contribute to the cost of that removal. We find that different factors motivate decisions about participation and about how much to pay. Willingness to participate correlates with both financial and non-monetary considerations, including informational barriers and wildfire risk perceptions, but not with concerns about effectiveness or visual impacts. Residents of properties with higher wildfire risk levels are less likely to participate in the cost sharing than those with lower levels of wildfire risk. We find widespread, positive willingness to pay for vegetation removal, with the amount associated negatively with property size and positively with respondent income. These results can inform the development of cost sharing programs to encourage wildfire risk mitigation on private property.

Private landowners are important actors in landscape-level wildfire risk management. Accordingly, wildfire programs and policy encourage wildland–urban interface homeowners to engage with local organizations to properly mitigate wildfire risk on their parcels. We investigate whether parcel-level wildfire risk assessment data, commonly used to inform community-level planning and resource allocation, can be used to “nudge” homeowners to engage further with a regional wildfire organization. We sent 4564 households in western Colorado a letter that included varying combinations of risk information about their community, their parcels, and their neighbors’ parcels, and we measured follow-up visits to a personalized “Web site”. We find that the effect of providing parcel-specific information depends on baseline conditions: Informing homeowners about their property’s wildfire risk increases information-seeking among homeowners of the highest-risk parcels by about 5 percentage points and reduces information-seeking among homeowners of lower-risk parcels by about 6 percentage points. Parcel-specific information also increases the overall response in the lowest risk communities by more than 10 percentage points. Further, we find evidence of a 6-percentage point increase in response rate associated with receiving a social comparison treatment that signals neighboring properties as being either low or moderate risk on average. These results, especially considered against the 13 percent overall average response rate, offer causal evidence that providing parcel-specific wildfire risk information can influence behavior. As such, we demonstrate the effectiveness of simple outreach in engaging wildland–urban interface homeowners with wildfire risk professionals in ways that leverage existing data.

For another 5 percent of respondents, their homeowners insurance company required wildfire risk mitigation as a condition of issuing a policy. (Because a small set of respondents (3 percent) noted multiple effects, these categories do not add up to the 18 percent total.) The remaining 82 percent of Delta County WUI respondents knew of no effect of wildfire risk on their homeowners insurance. [...]our findings suggest limited to no change in behavior by homeowners who know that wildfire risk affects their homeowners insurance. The patterns observed might not be generalizable beyond the communities studied. [...]the parcel-level rapid wildfire assessments do not reflect a full inventory of a property's wildfire risks; rather, they focus on key characteristics related to a structure's potential defensibility and survivability during a wildfire event (see Meldrum (2015a)). [...]our findings suggest that insurance might be an effective mechanism for raising awareness about wildfire risks, at least among people who attend to the details of their insurance policies.

Recent clinical studies demonstrate the high potency of regulatory T cells (Tregs) to control graft-versus-host disease in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). However, the adoptive transfer of Tregs is limited by their low frequency in unstimulated donors and considerable concerns that G-CSF induced SC mobilization might have negative effects on the stability and function of Tregs. The isolation of Tregs from the G-CSF mobilized SC grafts would extend this novel strategy for tolerance induction to the unrelated setting and simplify global clinical application. We characterized CD4(+)CD25(high)CD127(-) Tregs from SC donors before and after G-CSF mobilization for their phenotype, function, and stability. After G-CSF application the Treg cell yield increased significantly. Donor Tregs retained their cytokine profile, phenotypic characteristics and in vitro expansion capacity after SC mobilization. Most importantly, in vivo G-CSF stimulated Tregs remained highly suppressive on the proliferation of effector T cells, also after in vitro expansion, and displayed a stable phenotype in epigenetic studies. The surface expression of CXCR3 is transiently reduced. However, donor-derived Tregs maintain their migratory properties after G-CSF stimulation. Therefore, the adoptive transfer of Tregs from G-CSF mobilized SC donors seems to be a feasible and safe strategy for clinical application in allogeneic SCT.

Considering the relevance of understanding how biological factors influence athletes' performance, this study aims to analyze the interference of the menstrual cycle on the perceived effort of Handball players. To this end, the research involved eleven athletes who completed questionnaires on sociodemographic data and their menstrual cycle, in addition to filling out the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale after each training session. The study compared the athletes' perception with the coach's planning within 30 minutes after the training. The results indicated that perceived effort was higher during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and lower during the follicular phase. Thus, it is observed that hormonal variations directly influence perceived effort, which can affect the athletes' performance. It is concluded that personalizing training, taking into account the menstrual cycle, is essential to optimize performance in sports and respect the biological individuality of women. The research emphasizes the importance of monitoring these variables for more effective training planning. Keywords: Athletes. Handball. Menstrual Cycle. Training. Considerando a relevancia de entender como fatores biologicos influenciam o desempenho das atletas, este estudo objetiva analisar a interferencia do ciclo menstrual na percepcao de esforco das jogadoras de Handebol. Para tanto, a pesquisa contou com a participacao de onze atletas, que responderam a questionarios sociodemograficos e sobre o ciclo menstrual, alem de preencherem a Escala de Percepcao Subjetiva de Esforco (PSE) apos cada sessao de treinamento. O estudo comparou a percepcao das atletas com o planejamento do treinador, em ate 30 minutos apos os treinos. Os resultados indicaram que a percepcao de esforco foi maior durante a fase lutea do ciclo menstrual, sendo menor na fase folicular. Desse modo, observase que as variacoes hormonais influenciam diretamente a percepcao do esforco, o que pode afetar o desempenho das atletas. Conclui-se que a personalizacao dos treinamentos, levando em consideracao o ciclo menstrual das jogadoras, e essencial para otimizar o desempenho no esporte e respeitar a individualidade biologica das mulheres. A pesquisa reforca a importancia de monitorar essas variaveis para um planejamento de treino mais eficaz. Palavras-chave: Atletas. Handebol. Ciclo Menstrual. Treinamento. Considerando la relevancia de comprender como los factores biologicos influyen en el rendimiento de las atletas, este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar la interferencia del ciclo menstrual en la percepcion del esfuerzo de las jugadoras de balonmano. Para ello, la investigacion incluyo la participacion de once atletas, quienes respondieron cuestionarios sobre datos sociodemograficos y su ciclo menstrual, ademas de completar la Escala de Percepcion Subjetiva del Esfuerzo (PSE) despues de cada sesion de entrenamiento. El estudio comparo la percepcion de las atletas con la planificacion del entrenador, dentro de los 30 minutos posteriores al entrenamiento. Los resultados indicaron que la percepcion del esfuerzo fue mayor durante la fase lutea del ciclo menstrual y menor durante la fase folicular. Asi, se observa que las variaciones hormonales influyen directamente en la percepcion del esfuerzo, lo que puede afectar el rendimiento de las atletas. Se concluye que personalizar los entrenamientos, teniendo en cuenta el ciclo menstrual, es esencial para optimizar el rendimiento en el deporte y respetar la individualidad biologica de las mujeres. La investigacion destaca la importancia de monitorear estas variables para una planificacion de entrenamientos mas eficaz. Palabras clave: Atletas. Balonmano. Ciclo Menstrual. Entrenamiento.

Considerando a relevância de entender como fatores biológicos influenciam o desempenho das atletas, este estudo objetiva analisar a interferência do ciclo menstrual na percepção de esforço das jogadoras de Handebol. Para tanto, a pesquisa contou com a participação de onze atletas, que responderam a questionários sociodemográficos e sobre o ciclo menstrual, além de preencherem a Escala de Percepção Subjetiva de Esforço (PSE) após cada sessão de treinamento. O estudo comparou a percepção das atletas com o planejamento do treinador, em até 30 minutos após os treinos. Os resultados indicaram que a percepção de esforço foi maior durante a fase lútea do ciclo menstrual, sendo menor na fase folicular. Desse modo, observa-se que as variações hormonais influenciam diretamente a percepção do esforço, o que pode afetar o desempenho das atletas. Conclui-se que a personalização dos treinamentos, levando em consideração o ciclo menstrual das jogadoras, é essencial para otimizar o desempenho no esporte e respeitar a individualidade biológica das mulheres. A pesquisa reforça a importância de monitorar essas variáveis para um planejamento de treino mais eficaz.

Chromatin remodeling is required for essential cellular processes, including DNA replication, DNA repair, and transcription regulation. The ciliate germline and soma are partitioned into two distinct nuclei within the same cell. During a massive editing process that forms a somatic genome, ciliates eliminate thousands of DNA sequences from a germline genome copy in the form of internal eliminated sequences (IESs). Recently we showed that the chromatin remodeler ISWI1 is required for somatic genome development in the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia. Here we describe two paralogous proteins, ICOP1 and ICOP2, essential for DNA elimination. ICOP1 and ICOP2 are highly divergent from known proteins; the only domain detected showed distant homology to the WSD motif. We show that both ICOP1 and ICOP2 interact with the chromatin remodeler ISWI1. Upon ICOP knockdown, changes in alternative IES excision boundaries and nucleosome densities are similar to those observed for ISWI1 knockdown. We thus propose that a complex comprising ISWI1 and either or both ICOP1 and ICOP2 are needed for chromatin remodeling and accurate DNA elimination in Paramecium.