Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on the Mental Health of Adults

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic incidents before the age of 18 years that can lead to health problems. Globally, it is estimated that 40 million children suffer from abuse or neglect. ACEs have long-term effects on physical and mental health. There is a lack of research on the prevalence of ACEs in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, information is scarce regarding the correlation between ACEs and the mental health of adults. This study was conducted to assess the impact of ACEs on mental health (social anxiety disorder (SAD), aggression, and low self-esteem) among adults in the Middle Region of Saudi Arabia.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 430 adults. An online self-administered questionnaire was used, and it included five sections, which are sociodemographic characteristics, assessment of ACEs, aggression, SAD, and self-esteem.Results: The prevalence of ACEs was high, with 48% of participants reporting having five or more ACEs. There was a significant association between ACEs and aggression. Those with a high level of aggression had a higher score of ACEs compared to those with low aggression levels (6.3 ± 2.6 Vs. 3.2 ± 2.2). This difference was statistically highly significant (F= 26.7 and p <.0001). Participants with a high level of SAD had a higher score of ACEs compared to those with low SAD levels (5.5 ± 2.5 Vs. 3.9 ± 2.5). This difference was statistically highly significant (F= 21.7 and p <.0001). Those with a low level of self-esteem had a higher score of ACEs compared to those with high self-esteem levels (6.6 ± 1.8 Vs 3.4 ± 2.3). This difference was statistically highly significant (F= 29.3 and p <.0001).Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of ACEs among adults. ACEs were significantly linked to low self-esteem, aggression, and SAD in adulthood. Sexual abuse and physical neglect were identified as common predictors of these mental health issues. It is recommended that other studies to be conducted to explore the key factors contributing to the high prevalence of ACEs and to understand the impact of ACEs on the physical health of adults as well

No behavioural response to kin competition in a lekking species

The processes of kin selection and competition may occur simultaneously if limited individual dispersal i.e. population viscosity, is the only cause of the interactions between kin. Therefore, the net indirect benefits of a specific behaviour may largely depend on the existence of mechanisms dampening the fitness costs of competing with kin. In lekking species, males may increase the mating success of their close relatives (and hence gain indirect fitness benefits) because female prefer large leks. At the same time, kin selection may also lead to the evolution of mechanisms that dampen the costs of kin competition. As this mechanism has largely been ignored to date, we used detailed behavioural and genetic data collected in the black grouse Lyrurus tetrix to test whether males mitigate the costs of kin competition through the modulation of their fighting behaviours according to kinship and the avoidance of close relatives when establishing a lek territory. We found that neighbouring males’ fighting behaviour was unrelated to kinship and males did not avoid settling down with close relatives on leks. As males’ current and future mating success are strongly related to their behaviour on the lek (including fighting behaviour and territory position), the costs of kin competition may be negligible relative to the direct benefits of successful male-male contests. As we previously showed that the indirect fitness benefits of group membership were very limited in this black grouse population, these behavioural data support the idea that direct fitness benefits gained by successful male-male encounters likely outbalance any indirect fitness benefits

Vitamin D Deficiency and Psychotic Features in Mentally Ill Patients: A Systematic Review

Objectives: To compile the literature\u27s findings and shed light on how vitamin D deficiency affects psychological traits in individuals with mental illnesses Methods: A thorough search of pertinent databases was done in order to find studies that satisfied the requirements for inclusion. A thorough search of PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Science Direct was conducted to find pertinent literature. Results: Fifteen studies, including a total of 2196 participants diagnosed with psychiatric illness, and 1115 (50.8%) of them were males, were included in our data. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among patients with mental illnesses ranged from 22% in schizophrenia patients to 76% in AD patients. In AD patients, vitamin D may be useful short- and long-term predictors of cognitive deterioration, motoric cognitive risk, and depression. In bipolar patients, a manic episode may be triggered by a decreased vitamin D level and the worsening of depression. Patients with first-episode schizophrenia should have their plasma vitamin D levels tested, particularly if they have a longer duration of untreated psychosis and more pronounced negative and severe depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Low vitamin D levels are found in neurological and psychiatric patients, but the significance of these findings is not entirely clear because low vitamin D levels are also frequently found in healthy subjects or because several study flaws severely reduce the significance of the findings. Future studies\u27 primary objective would be to map out the variables affecting supplementing efficacy and identify people who benefit from taking vitamin D analogs. This may contribute to the advancement of vitamin D understanding to practical therapeutic needs

A comparative study between X-chromosome mapping of Sudanese and Egyptian Anopheles pharoensis theobald (Diptera: Culicidae) strains

Background: Current literature lacks information regarding Anopheles pharoensis malaria transmission patterns. Anopheles pharoensis succeeded in transmitting Malaria in Egypt. However, it was unsuccessful in doing the same in Sudan. From here arises these important questions: Why does it transmit malaria in Egypt but not in the Sudan or other Countries? Is it a Sibling species or a Sub-species? This investigation aimed to answer these questions by studying the genetics of Anopheles pharoensis collected from Egypt and Sudan.Methods: A comparative study was conducted in Egypt and Sudan to determine the population genetic structure of Anopheles pharoensis species based on chromosomal inversion of karyotypes. Fourth-stage larvae of Anopheles pharoensis were collected from Egypt (Faiyoum government) and from Sudan (Khartoum, Gezira and Sennar states).Result: Significant levels of differentiation were observed among the species studied.Conclusion: Investigations suggest that Anopheles pharoensis species collected from Egypt can transmit malaria due to the presence of an inversion in the X-chromosome. The lack of the aforementioned inversion probably prevented the transmission of malaria by Anopheles pharoensis in Sudan. The results above provide insight into malaria transmission patterns by Anopheles pharoensis. However, more needs to be done and hence it is recommended to undergo further research on genetics and morphological studies using molecular biological tool son Anopheles pharoensis in Sudan

Healing of Wounds by use of Spider threads in comparison with healing by Tetracycline ointment, an Experimental Analytical Study

Background: Spiders are distributed worldwide except in Arctic and Antarctica. More than 45,700 species of spiders and 114 families have been identified. Spiders produce silk in order to capture their prey. reported that people of the Carpathian Mountains used spider webs from Atypus spiders as bandages. Experiments showed that silk from spider house is bio-degradable, non-antigenic and non-inflammatory. These are ideal properties for healing wounds. We aimed to identify the effect of spider threads on healing wounds and injuries compared to healing of wounds by application of tetracycline ointment.Methods: This is an experimental analytical study in which we investigated ten participants tested in three groups. Group A participants were treated with tetracycline and group B were treated with spider threads. wooden rulers used to collect spider silk threads along with sterilizer, tissue, paper, bandages, and Tetracycline ointment. Silk was collected from four types of spiders: Cellar Spider, Salticidae Spider, Venatoria Hetropoda, and Galeodes Arabs.  These spiders are the mostly distributed in Sudan. Silk was collected by using wooden rulers from cracks and corners of walls at Alzaiem Alazhari University and then placed on clean, soft tissue paper.Results: revealed that spider threads heal surface injuries without leaving scars in 90% of participants. The healing process with spider threads lasts between 8 -24 hours. The comparison between three tests showed that the percentage of wound healing was highest by 70% by using spider threads in comparison with tetracycline and self-healing.Conclusion: It was observed that healing of injuries by using spider threads was 70% faster than healing by using tetracycline ointment. Self-healing was observed to be faster than healing by use of tetracycline ointment.Keywords: Spider threads; Healing; Injuries; Tetracycline 

How do water users perceive the quality of their irrigation services?: Report on a Training Course in the Use of Participatory Rural Appraisal for Irrigation Management Research, December 1994

Irrigation managementWater usersWater supplyIrrigation operationPerformanceParticipatory rural appraisalTraining

A high bandwidth dimension ratio compact super wide band-flower slotted microstrip patch antenna for millimeter wireless applications

A compact high bandwidth ratio (BDR) super wide band flower slotted micro strip patch antenna (SWB-FSMPA) for super wide band (SWB) applications is presented. The SWB-FSMPA is constructed on a FR-4 substrate having a size of 16 × 22 mm2. The SWB-FSMPA incorporates a 50 Ω tapered micro strip line and a rectangular beveled defected ground structure (RB-DGS). This design enables a simulation bandwidth from 3.78 to 109.86 GHz, allowing for coverage of various wireless applications such as WiMAX (3.3–3.6 GHz), 5G (3.3–3.7 GHz), WLAN (5.15–5.825 GHz), UWB (3.1–10.6 GHz), Ku– (12–18 GHz), K– (18–27 GHz), Ka– (27–40 GHz), V– (40–75 GHz), and W– (75–110 GHz) millimeter wave bands. The SWB-FSMPA antenna exhibits a gain that varies within the range of 3.22–7.23 dBi and a peak efficiency of 93.3 %. The SWB-FSMPA possesses a bandwidth ratio (BR) of 29.1:1, a BDR of 5284 in the frequency domain, a minimal group delay (GD) fluctuation of <0.48 ns, and a linear phase in the time domain, making it well-suited for SWB applications

Ravens Reconcile after Aggressive Conflicts with Valuable Partners

Reconciliation, a post-conflict affiliative interaction between former opponents, is an important mechanism for reducing the costs of aggressive conflict in primates and some other mammals as it may repair the opponents' relationship and reduce post-conflict distress. Opponents who share a valuable relationship are expected to be more likely to reconcile as for such partners the benefits of relationship repair should outweigh the risk of renewed aggression. In birds, however, post-conflict behavior has thus far been marked by an apparent absence of reconciliation, suggested to result either from differing avian and mammalian strategies or because birds may not share valuable relationships with partners with whom they engage in aggressive conflict. Here, we demonstrate the occurrence of reconciliation in a group of captive subadult ravens (Corvus corax) and show that it is more likely to occur after conflicts between partners who share a valuable relationship. Furthermore, former opponents were less likely to engage in renewed aggression following reconciliation, suggesting that reconciliation repairs damage caused to their relationship by the preceding conflict. Our findings suggest not only that primate-like valuable relationships exist outside the pair bond in birds, but that such partners may employ the same mechanisms in birds as in primates to ensure that the benefits afforded by their relationships are maintained even when conflicts of interest escalate into aggression. These results provide further support for a convergent evolution of social strategies in avian and mammalian species

Post-Conflict Affiliation by Chimpanzees with Aggressors: Other-Oriented versus Selfish Political Strategy

Consolation, i.e., post-conflict affiliation directed from bystanders to recent victims of aggression, has recently acquired an important role in the debate about empathy in great apes. Although similar contacts have been also described for aggressors, i.e., appeasement, they have received far less attention and their function and underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. An exceptionally large database of spontaneous conflict and post-conflict interactions in two outdoor-housed groups of chimpanzees lends support to the notion that affiliation toward aggressors reduces the latter's aggressive tendencies in that further aggression was less frequent after the occurrence of the affiliation. However, bystander affiliation toward aggressors occurred disproportionally between individuals that were socially close (i.e., affiliation partners) which suggest that it did not function to protect the actor itself against redirected aggression. Contrary to consolation behavior, it was provided most often by adult males and directed toward high ranking males, whereas females engaged less often in this behavior both as actors and recipients, suggesting that affiliation with aggressors is unlikely to be a reaction to the distress of others. We propose that bystander affiliation toward aggressors may function to strengthen bonds between valuable partners, probably as part of political strategies. Our findings also suggest that this post-conflict behavior may act as an alternative to reconciliation, i.e., post-conflict affiliation between opponents, in that it is more common when opponents fail to reconcile

Ecosystem engineers enhance the multifunctionality of an urban novel ecosystem: Population persistence and ecosystem resilience since the 1980s.

In degraded urban habitats, nature-based solutions aim to enhance ecosystem functioning and service provision. Bivalves are increasingly reintroduced to urban environments to enhance water quality through biofiltration, yet their long-term sustainability remains uncertain. Following the restoration of the disused South Docks in Liverpool in the 1980s, natural colonization of mussels rapidly improved dock-basin water quality and supported diverse taxa, including other filter feeders. While the initial colonization phase has been well documented, there has been limited published research since the mid-1990s, despite ongoing routine water quality monitoring. Here, we assessed the long-term persistence of mussel populations, their associated biodiversity, and physico-chemical parameters of the water in Queens and Albert Docks by comparing historical (1980s to 1990s) and contemporary data from follow-up surveys (2012,2022). Following an initial period of poor water quality (high contamination and turbidity, low oxygen), the natural colonization of mussels from Albert Dock in 1988 extended throughout the South Docks. By the mid-1990s, the environment of the South Docks and its mussel populations had stabilized. The dock walls were dominated by mussels which provided important complex secondary substrate for invertebrates and macroalgae. Surveys conducted in 2012 and 2022 confirmed the continued dominance of mussels and estimates of mussel biofiltration rates confirm that mussels are continuing to contribute to maintaining water quality. A decline in salinity was observed in both docks in 2022, with evidence of recovery. While these ecosystems appear relatively stable, careful management of the hydrological regime is crucial to ensuring the persistence of mussels and resilient ecosystem service provision through biofiltration