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This paper investigates the boundaries of the recent result that eliciting more than one estimate from the same person and averaging these can lead to accuracy gains in judgment tasks. It first examines its generality, analysing whether the kind of question being asked has an effect on the size of potential gains. Experimental results show that the question type matters. Previous results reporting potential accuracy gains are reproduced for year-estimation questions, and extended to questions about percentage shares. On the other hand, no gains are found for general numerical questions. The second part of the paper tests repeated judgment sampling’s practical applicability by asking judges to provide a third and final answer on the basis of their first two estimates. In an experiment, the majority of judges do not consistently average their first two answers. As a result, they do not realise the potential accuracy gains from averaging.
In many European regions, neolithization processes are linked with ritual economies that include the construction of megalithic monuments. As paleo-environmental and archaeological archives of the North Central European and South Scandinavian Funnel Beaker societies have proven to be excellent, the reconstruction of social processes linked with the introduction of horti- and agriculture and with the construction of first monuments displays a well-researched example for the investigation of long-distance contacts. It becomes obvious that long-distance contacts of these societies indicate different purposes in different stages of their economic and social development.
Snakes are sensitive to both environmental and climate gradients. To design conservation plans, a scientific understanding of snake habitats in light of environmental and climatic variables is an essential prerequisite. For venomous snakes, denoting favourable habitats should also be relevant for snakebite management. We have considered 18 spatial variables to portray the range of terrestrial venomous snake distribution in Bangladesh. Our results indicate that the distribution of 29 studied venomous snakes in this country is primarily driven by climatic and environmental variables. We found that especially low elevation and flood risk constrain the distribution of those terrestrial snakes, i.e. regular floods in central Bangladesh push venomous snakes towards the edges of the country. Moreover, none of these species occupies the whole of its anticipated climatically favourable area. Projections into the future indicated that 11 studied species, Amphiesma platyceps, Boiga siamensis, Chrysopelea ornata, Pseudoxenodon macrops, Rhabdophis himalayanus, Rhabdophis subminiatus, Bungarus lividus, Ophiophagus hannah, Daboia russelii, Ovophis monticola and Trimeresurus popeiorum will lose their entire climatically suitable area within the country. Therefore, we suggest establishing more protected areas in the hilly ecosystems in the eastern part and in the mangrove forests in the south-western corner of Bangladesh to mitigate future extinction risks, such as climate change, sea-level rise and increase in flood severity. Conserving village forests and croplands, which are subject to rapid change, will also need to be addressed equally, as these are inhabited by almost one-third of the studied species. The occurrence of the cobras and kraits in village forests and cropland dominant habitats demands more attention to minimise snakebite related mortality and morbidity.
The Cretaceous fossil record of snakes demonstrates the origin and evolution of the snake body and the early ecological and biogeographic history of the clade during the first 80 million years of their history. Consisting primarily of isolated vertebrae as well as a small number of mostly complete specimens, the record shows the elongate body of snakes evolved no earlier than approximately 100 million years ago. Stem snakes are present in terrestrial and marine palaeoenvironments throughout the Late Cretaceous of northern and southern continents. Conversely, the oldest records of living clades are restricted to the Campanian of South America, Africa, and possibly North America, which requires episodes of dispersal, or unrealistically long ghost lineages extending back to tectonically-mediated vicariance, to explain geographic distributions. Most Maastrichtian-aged stem and primary living clades extend into the Paleogene, indicating that the K-Pg extinction event had little visible effect on the evolution of snakes, whereas major diversifications of crown clades are constrained from middle Paleogene to Neogene.
The inhabitants of the vast Chalcolithic Trypillia sites of Eastern Europe required highly organised strategies to meet subsistence needs. Here, the authors use isotopic analyses of faunal remains from Maidanetske, Ukraine, to identify intensive and extensive grazing practices. The former demanded intra-community negotiation to ensure access to high-quality pastures for valuable animals such as dairy cows, suggesting that pasture may have also served socially integrative functions. The simultaneous use of extensive pasturing strategies for cattle placed on different pastureland suggests that landscapes were partitioned, with access determined by cooperation or competition. Maidanetske's dual pasturing system reflects the importance of spatially organised practices in maintaining social structure.
The recent discovery of several late Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Europe, including Vráble in south-west Slovakia, has revealed evidence for increasing diversity in Neolithic mortuary practices, which may reflect inter-community war and socio-political crisis at the end of the LBK. Here, the authors combine osteological and radiocarbon analyses of inhumations from Vráble. Rather than a straightforward sign of inter-community conflict and war, this development reflects a culmination of internal conflict and a diversification in the ritual treatment of human bodies. The emerging variability in LBK methods of manipulating and depositing dead bodies can be interpreted as an experimental approach in how to negotiate social conflicts and community boundaries.
Depression and coronary heart disease (CHD) are highly comorbid conditions. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in cardiovascular processes. Depressed patients typically show decreased BDNF concentrations. We analysed the relationship between BDNF and depression in a sample of patients with CHD and additionally distinguished between cognitive-affective and somatic depression symptoms. We also investigated whether BDNF was associated with somatic comorbidity burden, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or congestive heart failure (CHF).
Methods:
The following variables were assessed for 225 hospitalised patients with CHD: BDNF concentrations, depression [Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)], somatic comorbidity (Charlson Comorbidity Index), CHF, ACS, platelet count, smoking status and antidepressant treatment.
Results:
Regression models revealed that BDNF was not associated with severity of depression. Although depressed patients (PHQ-9 score >7) had significantly lower BDNF concentrations compared to non-depressed patients (p = 0.04), this was not statistically significant after controlling for confounders (p = 0.15). Cognitive-affective symptoms and somatic comorbidity burden each closely missed a statistically significant association with BDNF concentrations (p = 0.08, p = 0.06, respectively). BDNF was reduced in patients with CHF (p = 0.02). There was no covariate-adjusted, significant association between BDNF and ACS.
Conclusion:
Serum BDNF concentrations are associated with cardiovascular dysfunction. Somatic comorbidities should be considered when investigating the relationship between depression and BDNF.
Schizotypy is a putative risk phenotype for psychosis liability, but the overlap of its genetic architecture with schizophrenia is poorly understood.
Methods
We tested the hypothesis that dimensions of schizotypy (assessed with the SPQ-B) are associated with a polygenic risk score (PRS) for schizophrenia in a sample of 623 psychiatrically healthy, non-clinical subjects from the FOR2107 multi-centre study and a second sample of 1133 blood donors.
Results
We did not find correlations of schizophrenia PRS with either overall SPQ or specific dimension scores, nor with adjusted schizotypy scores derived from the SPQ (addressing inter-scale variance). Also, PRS for affective disorders (bipolar disorder and major depression) were not significantly associated with schizotypy.
Conclusions
This important negative finding demonstrates that despite the hypothesised continuum of schizotypy and schizophrenia, schizotypy might share less genetic risk with schizophrenia than previously assumed (and possibly less compared to psychotic-like experiences).
Our research at the large LBK settlement site of Vráble, southwest Slovakia, revealed dynamics of social integration and antagonisms unfolding in an agglomerated, early farming community. During its lifespan from 5250 to 4950 bc, it constantly grew until around 5050 bc it was inhabited by about 70 contemporaneous longhouses. We found that Vráble consisted of markedly autonomous farmstead units that were held together by village-wide social institutions including sharing and communality. Nevertheless, from the beginning, a contradiction between particular farmstead and collective village and neighbourhood interests existed and rose. Towards the end of the village's existence, around 5075 bc an elaborate enclosure was constructed around one of the three neigbourhoods, actively blocking contact with the others. Along this enclosure, human bodies were deposited, showing a social categorization that we interpret as relating to social inequality. This rising level of conflict and emerging social inequality was, we argue, not sustainable under the conditions of early farming societies and led to the village's abandonment at 4950 bc.
The skeletal anatomy of the Early Permian eureptile Thuringothyris mahlendorffae from the Bromacker Quarry, Germany, is redescribed on the basis of several new specimens. The taxon retains some plesiomorphic characters, such as an ectopterygoid and a tabular, but it also possesses low neural spines and nonswollen neural arches, a combination that is unique for early eureptiles. A phylogenetic analysis places Thuringothyris as the sister taxon of Captorhinidae, excluding any potential “protorothyridid” affinities. Implications of this study are that the swollen neural arches of captorhinids and araeosceloids might have evolved independently, that a downturned rostrum occurred only later in captorhinid evolution, and that the European Permian is important to the understanding of the origin of eureptiles.
A large-scale continuous system for recovery of root exudates from millet and cowpea was developed and tested extensively. Large quantities of germination stimulants were exuded into the medium flowing through the plant trays, which could be demonstrated by germination of seeds of three species of angiospermous parasitic plants, Alectra vogelii, Striga gesneriodes, and witchweed. Recovery of root exudates was affected by adsorption on the macroreticular polymer resin XAD-4 followed by desorption with methanol. Furthermore, indications were found that germination inhibitors are released into the medium. Subsequent testing confirmed the quantitative release of the germination stimulants as well as a large number of other compounds.