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This study examines how men and women in heterosexual partnerships influence each other’s parental leave decisions through their gender role attitudes. We differentiate between attitudes toward women’s parental role, women’s worker role, men’s parental role, and men’s worker role, and consider the role of traditional gender ideology denoting an attitude of negatively evaluating mothers’ employment when children are young. We investigated communal traits as a potential moderator to better understand partner effects, i.e., one partner’s role attitudes affecting the other partner’s leave decision. We analyzed longitudinal data from N = 365 heterosexual, mainly German dual-earner couples, collected between pregnancy and about 18 months after the birth of their first child, using the actor-partner interdependence model. We examined mothers’ and fathers’ attitudes toward all five types of gender roles and found that both mothers and fathers were influenced in their leave decisions by their partners’ attitudes toward early maternal employment. Mothers whose partners were more traditional in this regard took longer leaves; fathers whose partners were more traditional took shorter leaves. Fathers’ leave length was also influenced by their partners’ attitudes toward men’s worker role, with more traditional attitudes resulting in shorter leaves. The latter relationship was moderated by fathers’ communal traits, such that more communal fathers were more strongly influenced by their female partners’ attitudes. Overall, this research extends the understanding of mutual influences and decision-making dynamics in dual-earner couples in the early family phase.

Dreaming plays a part in many of the world’s religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism Christianity, and Islam. However, research into what the actual dreams of religious persons look like is very rare. Within a series of 2,055 dreams recorded over more than 30 years by a Benedictine nun, the frequency and content of church dreams were analyzed. The church dream frequency (11%) was high compared to other samples. The findings indicate that the daily religious practices of the dreamer as a nun is reflected in her dreams, with the most frequent church being “her” church and the most frequent activity related to the church being religious (praying, singing, a church service). Interestingly, the nun’s dreams also included profound religious dreams of inner liberation, insights, and positive feelings. It would be interesting to study the beneficial effects of dreams in other persons who have dedicated their lives to religious practice, whether within Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, or any other faith.

Allergic diseases are becoming increasingly common, and they are a threat to people’s health. Exploring the distribution characteristics of allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) in people from Sichuan province, southwest China, can provide clinical epidemiological data. This study enrolled 12,204 consecutive patients with suspected allergies from May 2018 to May 2021. Among the patients, 4206 were diagnosed with allergic rhinitis or asthma. The Rayto Lumiray 1600 detection system and sIgE and total IgE (tIgE) detection kits were used to measure the levels of nine common sIgE and tIgE. sIgE ≥ 0.35 IU/mL was considered positive. The sensitization rate of D1 (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus) is the highest (22.97%), followed by D2 (Dermatophagoides farinae) (23.33%); M3 (Aspergillus fumigatus) has the lowest positive rate (1.5%). E5 (Canis familiaris) and I6 (Blatella germanica) exhibited relatively high sensitization rates (8.64% and 12.35%, respectively). Allergen sensitization was significantly higher in men than in women. Moreover, 90.3% of sensitization samples from D1 were combined with at least one of the other eight allergens. Similarly, a positive correlation was demonstrated between D1, D2, and E1 (Felis domesticus). In addition, patients with allergic rhinitis (91.88% and 91.54%, respectively), allergic asthma (72.44% and 74.01%, respectively), and allergic rhinitis with asthma (92.12% and 93.22%, respectively) were mainly sensitized to D1 and D2. D1, D2, I6, and E5 are the main allergens. Moreover, D1 and D2 are the main allergens in patients with respiratory allergic diseases. Research focusing on the distribution of allergens and the characteristics of hypersensitivity in different people helps prevent, diagnose, and treat allergic diseases.

Low temperature driven carbon shortage is often assumed to explain slow growth and treeline formation at high elevations. To test this hypothesis, we analysed mobile carbon pools in Pinus cembra across the treeline ecotone in the Swiss Alps. Concentrations of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in needles, branches, stems and roots, as well as lipids (acylglycerols) in all woody tissues were measured throughout the growing season. Starch was the most prominent non-structural carbon compound in needles, whereas lipids represented 50-75% of the mobile carbon compounds in wood. The relative seasonal variation of the lipid fraction was very small, but due to the high absolute amount of lipids, the annual variability of carbon in lipids exceeded that of NSC in woody tissues. Mobile carbon compounds were highly abundant throughout the year and were never significantly depleted. Across a 110 m altitudinal transect from timberline to the uppermost site of tree existence, NSC and lipid concentrations generally increased. This trend became even more pronounced when the increasing structural density of tissues at higher elevations was accounted for. An estimation of the whole tree mobile carbon concentration (fraction of mobile carbon compounds within the whole tree biomass) also revealed an increasing trend of NSC and lipid pools with elevation. We therefore conclude that carbon limitation is unlikely to be responsible for reduced tree growth at the alpine treeline studied. Increased concentrations of NSC and lipids at the upper tree limit rather suggest that sink activity is limited. Hence, treeline formation is most likely the result of a direct thermal restriction of tissue formation (investment in structures) under otherwise sufficient carbon assimilation during the growing season.

▪ Abstract  Contaminated soils and waters pose a major environmental and human health problem, which may be partially solved by the emerging phytoremediation technology. This cost-effective plant-based approach to remediation takes advantage of the remarkable ability of plants to concentrate elements and compounds from the environment and to metabolize various molecules in their tissues. Toxic heavy metals and organic pollutants are the major targets for phytoremediation. In recent years, knowledge of the physiological and molecular mechanisms of phytoremediation began to emerge together with biological and engineering strategies designed to optimize and improve phytoremediation. In addition, several field trials confirmed the feasibility of using plants for environmental cleanup. This review concentrates on the most developed subsets of phytoremediation technology and on the biological mechanisms that make phytoremediation work.

The phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene of Nicotiana benthamiana was silenced in plants infected with potato virus X (PVX) vectors carrying PDS inserts, and a green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene was silenced in plants infected with PVX-GFP. This virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is post-transcriptional and cytoplasmic because it is targeted against exons rather than introns of PDS RNA and against viral RNAs. Although PDS and GFP RNAs are most likely targeted through the same mechanism, the VIGS phenotypes differed in two respects. PDS mRNA was targeted by VIGS in all green tissue of the PVX-PDS-infected plant, whereas PVX-PDS was not affected. In contrast, VIGS of the GFP was targeted against PVX-GFP. Initially, VIGS of the GFP was initiated in all green tissues, as occurred with PDS VIGS. However, after 30 days of infection, the GFP VIGS was no longer initiated in newly emerging leaves, although it was maintained in tissue in which it had already been initiated. Based on these analyses, we propose a model for VIGS in which the initiation of VIGS is dependent on the virus and maintenance of it is virus independent

Sucker-Rod Pumping Handbook presents the latest information on the most common form of production enhancement in today's oil industry, making up roughly two-thirds of the producing oilwell operations in the world.The book begins with an introduction to the main features of sucker rod pumping and an explanation and comparison of lift methods.

Background: Multimorbidity can be operationalized as the presence of multiple psychosomatic symptoms and has been shown to be detrimental to the quality of life across the life span. Middle-aged adults are generally engaged in multiple life domains simultaneously. This is one of the developmental challenges of middle adulthood as it can lead to conflict between the demands of different domains and, in turn, contribute to multiple psychosomatic symptoms, thereby diminishing the quality of life. This may be particularly true for women. Facilitation between life domains may serve to reduce the number of psychosomatic symptoms. However, this subject has been largely neglected in the literature. Objective: We aimed to close this gap by investigating the influence of conflict and facilitation between life domains (work, family, leisure) on self-reported psychosomatic symptoms in middle-aged women and men. Methods: Life domain conflict/facilitation and psychosomatic symptoms were assessed via self-report in a cross-sectional study with 277 adults aged 30-55 years (mean = 41.70, SD = 7.2; 56.7% women) who all worked at least 30 h/week and lived with their partner or family. Results: In line with our hypothesis, women reported more psychosomatic symptoms when they experienced conflict between life domains. However, contrary to expectation, they did not profit more from facilitation than men and, at low levels of facilitation, women even reported more psychosomatic symptoms than men. In men, there was no association between life domain conflict/facilitation and psychosomatic symptoms. The results were robust when statistically controlling for neuroticism. Conclusions: Engagement in multiple life domains influences the frequency of psychosomatic symptoms in women, but not in men: women suffer more and profit less than men from combining work, family and leisure.

Glucose is an essential signaling molecule that controls plant development and gene expression through largely unknown mechanisms. To initiate the dissection of the glucose signal transduction pathway in plants by using a genetic approach, we have identified an Arabidopsis mutant, gin1, (glucose-insensitive), in which glucose repression of cotyledon greening and expansion, shoot development, floral transition, and gene expression is impaired. Genetic analysis indicates that GIN1 acts downstream of the sensor hexokinase in the glucose signaling pathway. Surprisingly, gin1 insensitivity to glucose repression of cotyledon and shoot development is phenocopied by ethylene precursor treatment of wild-type plants or by constitutive ethylene biosynthesis and constitutive ethylene signaling mutants. In contrast, the ethylene insensitive mutant etr1-1 exhibits glucose hypersensitivity. Epistasis analysis places GIN1 downstream of the ethylene receptor, ETR1, and defines a new branch of ethylene signaling pathway that is uncoupled from the triple response induced by ethylene. The isolation and characterization of gin1 reveal an unexpected convergence between the glucose and the ethylene signal transduction pathways. GIN1 may function to balance the control of plant development in response to metabolic and hormonal stimuli that act antagonistically

Predator searching efficiency increases in response to a variety of environmental cues associated with its prey. The sugary excretion of aphids (honeydew) has been found to act as a prey-associated cue for many aphid natural enemies. In the present study, the honeydew excreted by Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) was identified as an arrestant and a contact kairomone for young larvae and adults of a common predatory hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus (De Geer) (Diptera: Syrphidae). First and second instar larvae increased their foraging behaviour in the honeydew-treated area. When plants were sprayed with crude honeydew, the speed of movement of female E. balteatus was significantly higher than in controls, resulting in a longer period of time spent on treated plants and laying eggs. We conclude that the honeydew excreted by A. pisum induces searching behaviour and acts as and arrestant not only for adults but also for young E. balteatus larvae.